Chapter 9 · Moonclaim - Chapter 9: The Dead Man in the Frame

Someone broke into the backup lab.

Ivy knew it the second Leon's phone lit up on the nightstand. Three a.m. The screen said Security Alert - Sublevel 3. He grabbed it before the second buzz, already rolling out of the hospital bed they'd shoved together in the corner of his office. His hand had been wrapped around hers when he woke up. Now it was around the phone.

"Stay here," he said.

"Like hell." She was already on her feet. Her ribs still hurt from the dock, but she wasn't going to sit around while someone walked off with the only proof her father wasn't a monster.

Leon shot her a look. The wolf was right there under his skin. She could see it in the way his pupils blew wide, the way his shoulders locked up. "Ivy. If it's hunters—"

"Then I'll know them, won't I?"

He didn't have an answer for that. Or maybe he did and didn't want to say it. Either way, he turned and headed for the door. She followed.

The hallway down to Sublevel 3 was the kind of cold that sank into your teeth. Ivy's breath misted in front of her face.