Blue Moon by Laurell K. Hamilton Page A

guys telling me?”
    He hit his turn signal and waited for a pickup truck to go past, then turned left between yet more trees. “It’ll take longer to get to the cabins.”
    â€œJamil, what is going on?”
    Cherry tried her best to sink into the seat, but when you’re model tall and in the middle, it’s hard to play invisible. That one body movement told me she knew, too. That they both knew something I didn’t.
    I looked at her. “Cherry, tell me what’s going on.”
    She sighed and sat up a little straighter. “If anything happens to you, Jean-Claude’s going to kill us.”
    I frowned at her. “I don’t understand.”
    â€œJean-Claude couldn’t come here himself,” Jamil said. “It would be seen as an act of war. But he’s worried about you. He told us all that if we let you get killed, and he survives your death, he’ll kill us, all of us.” He watched the road as he talked, turning onto a gravel road that was so narrow that trees brushed the sides of the van.
    â€œDefine all,” I said.
    â€œAll of us,” Jamil said. “We’re your bodyguards.”
    â€œI thought you were Richard’s bodyguard?” I said.
    â€œAnd you’re his lupa, his mate.”
    â€œIf you’re a real bodyguard, you can’t guard two people. You can only guard one at a time.”
    â€œWhy?” Cherry asked.
    I looked at Jamil. He didn’t answer, so I did.
    â€œBecause you can’t take a bullet for more than one person, and that’s what a bodyguard does.”
    Jamil nodded. “Yeah, that’s what a bodyguard does.”
    â€œYou really think anyone’s going to be shooting at Anita?”
    â€œThe bullet’s a metaphor,” Jamil said. “But it doesn’t matter. Bullet, knife, claws, whatever it is, I take it.” He pulled into a wide gravel turnaround and a huge clearing. There were small, white, boxy cabins scattered around the clearing like a Motel 6 that had been cut into pieces. There was a neon sign, pale in the sunlight, that said Blue Moon Cabins.
    â€œAnita is our Nimir-ra. She’s supposed to protect us, not the other way around.”
    I agreed with her. I’d picked Zane and Cherry not for their bodyguarding ability but because they didn’t mind sharing blood with the vampires. Even among the wereleopards, most of them didn’t like donating. They seemed to think being a blood cocktail for the vamps was worse than sex for money. I wasn’t sure I agreed with them, but I wasn’t about to force them to do it if they didn’t want to. I didn’t donate blood, and I was sleeping with one of the undead.
    â€œNo,” I said. “I didn’t agree to this. I can take care of myself, thank you very much.” I opened the door, and Jamil reached across and grabbed my arm. His hand looked very dark against the paleness of my arm. I turned very slowly and looked at him. It was not a friendly look. “Let go of me.”
    â€œAnita, please, you are one of the toughest humans I’ve ever met. You are the most dangerous human female I’ve ever seen.” His hand squeezed just enough for me to feel the immense strength in it. He could probably deadlift an elephant if it didn’t wiggle too much. He could certainly crush my arm.
    â€œBut you are human, and the things you’re up against aren’t.”
    I stared at him. Cherry sat very still between us, half-pinned by Jamil’s body. “Let go of me, Jamil.”
    His hand tightened. It was going to be a hell of a bruise. “Just this once, Anita, stay in the background, or you’re going to get us all killed.”
    Jamil’s body was extended across the seat, across Cherry. I was on the edge of the seat, butt half in the air. Neither he nor I were balanced very well. His grip was on the middle of my forearm, not a good place to hold on.
    â€œWhat you