Page 4 of Moonlight & Mayhem

"Most?" Tempest questioned.

Moon frowned. "There are microscopic fragments I can't remove surgically without causing more damage. His wolf should eventually push them out, but it's going to take time."

"How much time?" Tempest asked.

"Days, maybe longer,” Moon admitted.

Tempest glanced through the glass to where Mayhem lay. "Can he be moved?" she asked.

"No,” Moon said. “Moving him would put both him and his wolf in jeopardy.”

"Shit,” Tempest grumbled. Moon could tell by her tone that something had happened while she was working on Mayhem.

Moon studied her friend's expression. "What's happened?" Tempest didn't answer quickly enough. "Tempest."

"Howler found something,” Tempest said. Moon waited her out. "One of the men who attacked them was still alive."

"Was?" Moon asked. Tempest's mouth flattened, and Moon shook her head. "I don't want to know."

"Probably not,” Tempest agreed.

"What did he say?" Moon asked.

Tempest moved closer and lowered her voice. "The ambush wasn't random." Moon's stomach tightened, not because she was worried but because a part of her already knew that. Maybe not logically, but somewhere inside herself, she had known. That same terrible feeling she'd had before Tempest walked into her clinic had returned. Her instincts had warned her something was coming, even though she had spent years refusing to trust the strange premonitions that sometimes plagued her.

Moon wrapped her arms around herself. "They were trying to kill Howler?" Tempest shook her head, letting Moon know that she had guessed wrong. Moon's wolf stopped pacing. Everything inside her became unnaturally still. “They were trying to kill Mayhem." It wasn’t a question, really, but Tempest still nodded.

A chill crawled down Moon's spine. "Why would they want him dead?"

"We don't know,” Tempest admitted.

"Then how do you know he was the target?" Moon questioned.

"Because the guy admitted it to Howler,” Tempest said.

Moon glanced toward the trauma room and noticed that Mayhem hadn't moved. "Did he say who ordered the hit?"

"The Capitol Wolves,” Tempest almost whispered.

"That doesn't make sense. Why single out Mayhem? Why not go after Howler since he’s the club’s Prez?"

"That's what Howler is trying to figure out,” Tempest said. “He’s worried that The Capitol Wolves have a vendetta against Mayhem since he used to be one of them.”

Moon rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself, but the cold wouldn't seem to leave. "There's more," Moon whispered. “Isn’t there?”

Tempest studied her. "What? How did you know that?"

"I don't know, I just do,” Moon breathed.

That wasn't an answer Tempest liked, and Moon could see it immediately. "Moon⁠—”

"I said I don't know how I know these things,” she said, cutting Tempest off. She sounded defensive even to her own ears.

"But you feel something,” Tempest filled in for her. Moon looked away. Tempest had always believed in Moon's instincts more than Moon did. Sometimes she wondered if her Prez understood what was happening inside her before she understood it herself.

"I feel like this isn't about club territory anymore,” Moon said.

Tempest went still. "Why not?” she asked.