By Moon or By Blood 1: Imprint

Imprint

Are they following her?

Jace Bana peered through his rain-streaked windshield. Across the street, three men stalked a petite woman with a mass of curls. Two were tall and the third was short and husky. The husky one walked with a bit of a hunch: a characteristic of lycanthropes who spent more time in their animal form than as a human. All three had their eyes trained on the lovely young woman.

Jace took a deep breath and glanced back at the subject of his investigation. The guy he'd been following for a week was definitely cheating on his wife with his busty blonde secretary. The wife's instincts had been spot on. Jace snapped a few more pictures of the guy and the secretary kissing in the hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant. After the last click of his shutter lens, Jace refocused on the young woman being followed.

Her midnight hair bounced around her shoulders as she jogged up the steps to the library's front doors. The three men exchanged glances before once again focusing on the woman. The hairs on the back of Jace's neck stood straight. In fact, so did the hairs on his arms. He made it a habit not to rely on his animalistic instincts, but it wasn't normal to see a trio of lycans stalking a human. None of their faces were recognizable and that alarmed him. Who were they and why were they following her?

She slipped a book into the return slot near the library doors. The two tall guys casually ascended the steps but about-faced as soon as she descended. The third posted at the bottom of the staircase. The three men fell into step a few paces behind her and all four walked up Lincoln Avenue.

Jace released a frustrated groan. He was on assignment. Although he'd gotten proof of his target's indiscretion on film, he didn't know this girl with the natural hair. Nor did he know her three shadows. Jace preferred it that way. He'd spent years building a life for himself out from under the umbrella of the city's lycan clan. This is probably another attempt by my uncle to drag me back.

The girl was beautiful.

And she appeared to not notice her tails.

If anything happened to her and he could've stopped it...

Jace jumped out of his car, keeping his eyes on the group. The young woman stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to collapse her umbrella. She ducked into a nearby coffee shop. Her tails loitered outside.

Jace adjusted the hood of his windbreaker and crossed the street to the bank ATM a few doors down from the coffee shop. He sniffed the air. Past the undeniably floral fragrance of the woman was the combined stench of the three lycans. Jace wrinkled his nose. One of them hadn't showered in at least a week. Probably the hunchback.

Jace feigned checking his bank balance at the machine while distinguishing the voices of the three from the sounds of the rain, the passing cars, and the rush of people's feet through puddles of water on the sidewalk.

"What is she doing in there?" The hunchback.

"Probably getting coffee." Tall lycan with a gruff voice.

"How long do we have to wait out here?" Hunchback.

"You know what we have to do. Stop asking stupid questions." The other tall lycan's voice held a touch of command. The leader.

They were so focused on their subject, Jace remained undetected by the trio. He took a chance and moved from the ATM to the edge of the curb. They could smell him from here, if they took a quick sniff. Facing the three, he moved his gaze to look in the shop windows. The young woman was at the counter, paying for her coffee. Jace's eyes shifted back to the lycans. Their gazes were on the woman.

What are you three doing? Jace mused to himself. If this wasn't a setup by his uncle, then he had three rogue lycans overtly pursuing a human female for a purpose that wouldn't be sanctioned by clan leadership. And her smell... Women were sweet, but not this intoxicating. Maybe that's why they're losing it.