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 wasn’t taking it back. He was just leaving it out

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

he dropped his head. When he lifted it again, he wore a charming smile. “You should see your face right now. Priceless.”

of teasing it was weak, but it gave us both the opening we needed to move past an impossible moment. So I grasped onto it and gave him a smile of my

better than your face,” I said,

his hand to his heart. “You

even a black eye could detract from the

I knew

flattering, certainly, and I didn’t want to devalue such a rare emotion from him.

just forget my plight because of

I

at the ball, the reason I found Terry at all

good eye, and I hoped that meant

“By whom?”

I said. “Not one of the