“What’s that?” Jessie’s voice grew fainter, as if she’d lost track of the vengeful wife persona that had sent her rushing after her husband. As if she’d sank down onto the curb when her legs grew weak.

  “It’s kitsune magic,” Ito answered, his voice choked. “Stop it, Kaito. You know I can’t resist this any more than you can.”

  Sure enough, his voice was a little closer than it had been a moment earlier. Inches from my nose, Kaito smiled. “Don’t resist then, brother. Our mistress will be doubly powerful with both of us in her honor guard. Think how wonderful it will be to work together again.”

  I shook my head. Honor guard? Was that what I wanted? I didn’t think so....

  And it was almost as if my confusion had given Ito the strength to reject me. Because his voice was no closer when he refused his brother. “That’s not what I want, Kaito. I’ve found a new life. I’ve come to peace with the yearning.” His voice grew muffled then, as if he’d turned away from us and toward his wife. “I only hope Jessie can come to peace with it also. I know this is a lot to take in, Jessie, but the part that matters is simple. I love you. You and the kids.”

  A pause, and when Jessie spoke her voice trembled. “You could have told me.”

  “I should have told you. Can you forgive me?”

  No words emerged in answer. Just the sweet scent of marital affection. Of unity and understanding. Of love that started with the physical then deepened into something much more.

  And their reconciliation woke in me a memory of what I truly wanted. Yes, I yearned for the future Kaito had painted where my presence wouldn’t be a danger to my sister. But, more, I yearned to ask Thom the question that had sat on the tip of my tongue since the moment I’d set eyes on him yesterday on the Reed border.

  Thom, who had managed in three months to turn a hodgepodge of lone wolves into a pack without a single bloodletting. Thom, who knew me more deeply than anyone ever had before or might ever again.

  Thom, whose piercing blue eyes and subtle smile brought everything back into focus. The reality was that Kaito had manipulated first Ava then me. He needed to be neutralized and, from the murmurs and lip smacks behind me, it appeared Ito wasn’t going to be any help in the matter.

  Which was fine, because my mind was clear now. And, with a clear mind, I understood that I could defuse the Kaito situation while also giving him what he truly craved.

  A mistress. Not me, not Ava, but another kitsune who had willingly taken on an additional honor-guard member not so many years ago.

  After all, back at the funeral, I’d overheard Dixie Lee learning how Ava’s father had been unable to resist the draw of past behaviors. How he’d returned to a country where kitsunes were numerous and honor guards were customary.

  Withdrawing my sword from Kaito’s sword, breaking the connection that had fogged my brain and strengthened his magic, I observed, “I’m buying you a plane ticket to Japan.”

  ITO AND JESSIE PROMISED to escort Kaito on his journey, an issue I couldn’t take care of personally because my time in Gate City was waning. With every passing second, my oath to Chief Reed was doing its darnedest to draw me north and east.

  I fought the pull long enough to break my blood command exiling Thom and his pack mates from their own territory. Then, while I waited for them to return to Gate City, I headed back into the Moon Room to speak to a chunk of bone.

  Because the fox skull had fueled Kaito’s spells. I knew that in my gut and knew, also, that the artifact could be manipulated toward even worse ends if I didn’t do something to prevent that eventuality. A trap door apparently wasn’t nearly enough.

  So I spoke to the skull the same way I’d speak to a partner. Explained that it had been used to kidnap an unwilling kitsune. To force me to the brink of making a decision I’d always regret.

  “I can’t stay here,” I told what I hoped wasn’t just an inanimate remnant of a long-dead kitsune. I hoped I wasn’t wasting my final moments in Gate City on a flight of fancy. “But I can protect you,” I continued. “If you’ll let me be your gatekeeper, I’ll prevent others from taking advantage of the power you’ve stockpiled.”

  I drew the necklace that Chief Reed’s dead heir had given me out from under my shirt. Tapped the open halves against the orbital ridge of the fox skull. Then I explained what I hoped to do. “This necklace binds kitsune magic,” I told the artifact. “It can bind you if you let it. I’ll ensure you’re not manipulated another time to harm a child.”

  I waited. Nothing happened. Well, nothing other than the door to the outside blowing open. The scent of alpha wafting in.

  I itched to jump out of the pit and spend my last few minutes with Thom. But I didn’t. Not yet. Instead, I waited...

  ...And the tiniest chip of bone fell away from the artifact. Fell straight into the open orb of my necklace. I snapped the two halves shut, not expecting much. After all, I’d tried to pry the necklace open for days, had no clue how Chief Reed had locked it closed or what Ava’s star ball had done to release my magic.

  But just completing the circle worked. Something shot through me, a shock ten times stronger than the one that had greeted me the first time I touched the artifact. A shock that almost felt like a female voice.

  “Welcome, Keeper of the Gate.”

  I’D HAVE TO DISCOVER the meaning of those words later. Because my time had nearly run out.

  I didn’t have the hours I wanted to make my proposal to Thom special. All I could do was whisper a question in his ear then grin as he whirled me around and around and around.

  “Of course I want that,” Thom told me when he finally let my feet settle back onto the floorboards. “I want that more than anything.”

  “I have to leave again,” I reminded him. “Pretty much immediately afterwards. I can’t bond with your pack while I’m on Chief Reed’s hook.”

  The ecstatic sweetness surrounding both of us dampened just a little, but Thom nodded. “I know that. And I still want this. If you’re part of the deal, I’ll take whatever I can get.”

  So I woke up Mai with a sunrise phone call. Gathered the people I cared most about together even if some only tuned in virtually. And with Mai’s kids and mate, Charlie and Dixie Lee and Ava, Thom’s entire pack, and even Chief Reed’s grandniece watching, I poured everything I felt for Thom into my right hand while he poured everything he felt for me into his left hand. Our palms clasped together and a mate bond ignited, its brilliance eclipsing the rising sun.

  The new bond joined tethers I’d accepted willingly. The pack bond to Willow that niggled at the skin of my wrist, requiring attention. The whatever-it-was between me and the artifact that twitched every time I thought about leaving Gate City. The oath I’d sworn to Chief Reed that meant I couldn’t stay here more than another twenty minutes.

  My mate bond to Thom layered on top of and around all of them. It warmed me even before he—my mate—slipped his mother’s medallion over my head then kissed me soundly. Even before our audience started laughing and Grub shouted, “Gross!”

  Then I left them, all the people I loved plus the alpha werewolf who was the other half of my soul now. I got into my car and drove myself across the border between Gate City and Reed territory, back to a pack leader who was thoroughly distasteful but who might one day tell me more about who I was and how my magic worked.

  More important, though, was the bond that stretched tight between me and Thom. The bond that strained but didn’t break as distance yawned between us.

  This time, even leaving my heart behind, I no longer traveled alone.

  I HOPE YOU ENJOYED Rogue Moon. Book three in Kira’s series will be live on all retailers in fall 2022. While you wait, why not sign up for my email list to download a slew of fan-only extras, along with two free werewolf novels and a bio of the real-life Pumpkin the cat?

  Thank you for reading. You are why I write.

 

 

  Aimee Easterling, Rogue Moon

 

 

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