Left for Undead by L. A. Banks Page A

him.”
    Hunter glanced over his shoulder at Sasha as she
looked up.
    “But the truth in this case could make him lose face.”
She pushed herself up with a weary sigh. “I mean, are they really that much
worse than a Shadow male at the full moon?” She dragged her fingers through her
hair.
    “I don’t know.” Hunter paused for a moment and looked
at her. “You tell me?”
    Sasha opened her mouth and then closed it for a
second. “Not fair. Not fair at all. I wouldn’t know and you know that I
wouldn’t know!” She jumped off the stool and left her coffee on the counter.
Oh, hell yeah, it was time to get back to New Orleans.
    “All right, maybe that was uncalled for,” Hunter
finally muttered, now standing in the bedroom doorway, watching her pack.
    “Ya think?” She didn’t miss a beat slinging clothes
into her duffel bag.
    “All of this hits too close to home.” He rubbed the
nape of his neck and then pushed off the wall. “You’ll have to allow me that.”
    She stopped packing for a moment and placed one hand
on her hip. “So, every time your brother comes to town and whenever there’s
some personal whatever going on in the family, you’re going to go back to
something that almost happened but didn’t—when nobody, not even you guys, knew
you were related—am I hearing you right?”
    “No,” Hunter said in a low rumble. “What it is, is
that I thought Shogun was settled, and he’s not.   and that unsettles
me, all right. You want the honest answer, that’s the honest answer. I told you
when we first met that I was no liar.”
    “Unsettled, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Both hands went to her hips as she dropped the duffel bag onto the floor.
    “He’s unsettled because you’re still unsettled,”
Hunter said without blinking.
    “That is such bull, ” she said, snatching up her
duffel bag and walking deeper into the bedroom.
    “Look me in my eyes and tell me it’s bull and then I
will leave this subject for dead forever.”
    “I’m not even going to dignify this wolf
interrogation,” she snapped, yanking clothes from the drawer to jam into the
duffel with her back still turned.
    Hunter nodded and crossed his arms, watching her jerky
motions. “You and I are linked at the soul.   when you’re unsettled I
feel it. My brother and I share DNA, and when he’s unsettled I feel it. This
doesn’t mean I think anyone will act on what is there, but you will have to
allow me my occasional growl for hating that it even exists—especially when you
are so near phase and it is during the full moon.”
    She felt her face get hot as her motions slowed. What
could she say? She couldn’t look at Hunter as he quietly stalked out of the
room and she straightened and closed her eyes, furious at herself and the whole
damned situation.
    “She knows?” Bear Shadow was incredulous as he sat up
and pulled his body from beneath three casino beauties. He held the cell phone
to his ear, speaking softly as he climbed out of bed. “What on earth possessed
you to tell Jennifer while still in a hotel, little brother?”
    Bear Shadow listened intently and then shrugged. “Seems
like a logical explanation to me—but let’s hope that delivering the message to
Silver Hawk goes as well. You may want to call Sasha first.”
    Sasha clicked off the call and went to find Hunter,
bags packed. What was with everybody today? Last night’s full moon definitely
wreaked havoc. Settled? Hell, what was that? The world had gone loco in the
last twenty-four hours after months of serenity. Her brother had actually gone
to Vegas and gotten married? Good for him, but sheesh.
    But it was a great conversation opener,
regardless—that is, if she could find Hunter and get him to sit down and have
breakfast with her. She wasn’t surprised that he’d left the cabin, just
thoroughly disappointed. She dropped the duffel bag on the living-room floor
with a thud, went out on the porch, and then leaned her head back