The Luna Choosing Game

When I asked Julian if he wanted to continue the investigation, I had thought he might be a hard sell.

What I hadn’t expected was for him to put me down flat.

“No.”

“No?” I said, startled.

“No, Piper. Nicholas is right. It was wrong of me to try to include you. I knowingly placed you in danger.”

“I’m old enough to make my own choices,” I argued. “I could have said no at any time.”

“Could you? Really? At the mere mention of your wolf, you were ready to do anything. And when you felt it, and you chased after that car, you were practically out of your mind. I should have stopped you then. I should have ended the Investigation right at that moment.”

“Ending it wouldn’t solve anything,” I said. “I wasn’t lying last night. Whether I find my wolf or not, it doesn’t matter. What matters is we put a stop to the people that are doing this. I don’t care how high up the conspiracy goes.”

“Face it, Piper. We flew too close to the sun. We could have lost everything.” He looked at me with meaning, in a way I hadn’t seen before from him, or could discern. “We nearly lost you.”

sit back for a moment, surprised. Since when did Julian worry about me? And he

that I didn’t know how to evaluate. I was so used to Julian’s teasing that I

must have known that, or at least, been able to figure it out, because he dropped his head. When he lifted it again, he wore

needed to move past an impossible moment. So I grasped onto it and gave him a smile of my own.

better than your face,” I said,

placed his hand to his heart. “You

serious this time. Not even a black eye could detract

the moment stretched and silence began once more, I knew I had

didn’t want to devalue such a

plight because of it.

I

Terry at all was because I was led there,” I

of something sparked in Julian’s good eye, and

“By whom?”

a black dress,” I said. “Not