03 Long Night Moon - Seasons of the Moon (14 page)

“You got a problem?” he spat.

Scott held up his hands in the universal gesture of peace. There was no way he could out-intimidate Abel. He was shorter, heavier, and forty years too old. “This isn’t the place. Why don’t we talk outside?”

Abel’s lip peeled back. “Don’t think I won’t take care of you too.”

They were attracting attention. People had stopped dancing and turned to watch them, stepping back to make space on the dance floor. Rylie’s cheeks flamed.

“Abel,” she whispered, tugging on his arm. The music picked up again, and she spoke quietly enough that Scott wouldn’t be able to hear her. “We can’t do this here. People will get hurt.”

His eyes flicked between Rylie and Scott. She felt him falter. “Outside,” said the older man.

Abel stepped back with a sharp nod.

She hadn’t seen him approach, but Seth was hovering nearby, waiting to intervene.

“Follow them,” she mouthed.

All three men went outside. Levi broke away from Tate at the back of the room and followed.

Rylie sat heavily at a table. Her body was wracked with shivers. She hadn’t realized how strongly the confrontation affected her until she realized her gums were aching and her fingernails were bleeding again.

The moon called to her. Rylie couldn’t push it away.

And then Bekah Riese sat at her table.

“We don’t have much time,” Bekah said. “My dad will try to distract them for as long as he can, but—well, you need to come with me. And fast.”

“Back off,” Rylie said.

It wasn’t a threat. It was a warning. Her heart was pounding, driving blood like molten lava through her veins.

“Me and Levi haven’t hurt anyone, and I don’t have to tell you it isn’t coyotes. Right?” she whispered. “But if it’s not us, and it’s not you, then that leaves a big question jumping out at us, doesn’t it?”

“Who would it be?”

“Exactly.”

The full force of Bekah’s suggestion struck her.

Could Abel be the killer?

“No,” she said. “No way. Why should I believe you? You’ve moved in on my territory, and you—”

“We’re here to save you. There’s only ever been one person bent on turning this into a territory battle. Think about it. You know it’s true.”

Bekah tried to pull Rylie away from the table. She shook her off. “Don’t touch me!”

“I wanted to tell you sooner, but him and his brother are always around you. Please, Rylie, they’re dangerous. You have to come with me.”

“I’m not safe tonight.” Her voice came out rough, like it did shortly before the change.

“We have a safe place for moons. All three of us—you, me, and Levi. Dad told you his specialty is teen wolves, didn’t he? But we have to hurry. You’re going to change soon. You should see your eyes.”

“It’s too soon,” she whispered.

“You’re not in control. Come with me! Please!”

Her muscles shivered under her skin.
So many people
…

The room was crowded with bodies. Hormones ran high. They were all on edge, and all so tender.

Nobody would expect an attack. She could feast.

Seth’s hands caught her shoulders from behind. The comfort of his skin brought her human mind back to the surface, if only a little bit. She stepped back into his arms and leaned against him.

“Back off,” he barked at Bekah, and her eyes went wide and round. “You heard me! Go!”

“Rylie…”

He dragged her toward the doors. Abel was waiting outside.

“We have to hurry,” Seth said. “You’re changing.”

Rylie felt drawn to get in the Chevelle with Abel, but Seth threw her into the truck. “Not now,” he said sharply.

“Bekah said Abel’s killing people,” she said.

Seth put the truck into gear and roared out of the parking garage. “That’s what Scott said, too.”

“It’s not possible. Is it?”

His eyes cut over to her. “Rylie…” His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. “I’ve had suspicions, but there’s an easy way to find out. We’ll lock both of you up. If people die tonight, we’ll know it couldn’t have been him.”

“And if nobody dies?”

He didn’t respond.

Seth had prepared a safe place for Rylie to change after hunters began combing the wilderness for coyotes. It was an old cellar beneath an unoccupied farmhouse a couple miles from the ranch, and they had to race to make it there in time.

Rylie hadn’t expected he would lock Abel up in there on the moon, too.

She had to keep her forehead pressed to her knees to keep from getting sick as they drove. Seeing the night sky was too much. It made the wolf want to run into the darkness searching for prey.

The Chevelle beat them to the cellar. Abel leaned against the hood, arms folded tight and brow drawn low over his eyes.

“Let’s get this over with,” he said.

Seth stopped him before he could go inside. “Let Rylie get ready first.”

Get ready? She looked down at her dress and realized she would have to strip if she didn’t want to destroy it. She hadn’t been able to figure out a way to change with her clothes on. The build of the wolf was too weird—aside from being four-legged and hairy, she developed a lot of chest muscle that she didn’t have as a human, and her body became as thick around as a keg of beer.

And the tail was another thing entirely.

“Can we change in different places?” Rylie whispered, clinging to Seth’s arm. She tried to keep her skirt out of the snow, but the hem was already soggy. “Please?”

He rubbed her shoulders. “I don’t know anywhere else secure to put him, and we’re out of time. This is all we have.”

“But what if Abel isn’t becoming a werewolf again? What if he’s still human, and I hurt him?”

“You’ll both be tied up tight. Don’t worry.”

Rylie went into the cellar alone. The air was musty and stale. Cobwebs clung to the low ceiling. Dusty old boxes were labeled with things like “Vacation 1983” and “Christmas decorations,” but it looked like Seth had cleared a dark, empty corner for her.

She stripped to her underwear. Knowing she would have to transform after the dance, she had spent way too long trying to decide if she should wear something sexy or modest—though she had only expected Seth to see it. She picked a strapless bra and panties with lacy parts on the sides. Now she wished she had worn long johns.

Seth joined her after a minute and laid a blanket around her shoulders. “I’m not cold,” she said.

“Keep it anyway.” He was bundled up in a leather jacket, gloves, and a scarf over his tuxedo, and he still looked like he was freezing.

The stairs creaked as Abel came down. He looked even bigger without a shirt on. The scars on his face went all the way down his chest and side, breaking up the black curls that covered his torso.

Seth dropped black ropes and thick steel chains on the ground. Rylie shuddered. She remembered those way too well.

He separated out some of the ropes and tossed them to Abel before sitting next to her. Seth touched her cheek. “You okay? You’re being awfully quiet.”

She tried to smile and failed. “I don’t want to do this.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Seth helped Abel with the restraints first. As soon as his wrists were bound, she pulled the loose rigging over her head. It sagged in the front where her muzzle would grow to fill it. She did the latch in the back with shaking fingers, then fit her hands into the wrist loops and wrapped the ropes around her ankles.

Seth had to tighten the chains for her. They pinched.

“Comfortable?” he asked.

“Not really. You’ve upgraded.” She pillowed her head on her arms while he cinched the ankles tight.

“You used to be weaker.”

Seth checked the ropes one last time, gave her a kiss, and tossed her voluminous dress over his shoulder. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“I’ll be right outside. Just think… when you guys wake up, it will be Christmas Eve.”

“Yeah. Merry freaking Christmas,” Abel muttered. He sat stiffly in the corner with his chains looped around a wall hook.

“Lay out my dress so it doesn’t get wrinkled,” she said.

Seth winked at her. It was probably meant to be encouraging.

Once he shut the doors and latched the lock, it was quiet in the cellar. Rylie stretched out as much as she could and tried to get comfortable, but something about being hogtied made relaxing impossible.

“Are you scared?” Rylie asked.

Abel folded his arms on his knees and didn’t respond. He definitely smelled scared.

A familiar shudder rolled through her body. She gasped.

It was time.

Her fingernails had already fallen out, and her jaw had begun to shift, so she felt it in her spine first this time. Her lower back snapped and began to grind, like two rocks smashing her spinal column.

She thought it would hurt less if she changed more often. But it didn’t. It only got worse.

Her tailbone erupted from her back and wrenched free with a sick
pop
. Her chin cracked and spread forward as her ears slid up the sides of her head.

Rylie screamed—she always screamed—and she registered the smell of adrenaline coming off Abel.

Her chains rattled as she writhed. Her shoulders twisted as she strained to break free. Heat spread down her neck, shoulders, and hips as fur emerged. Her bra snapped off as her breastbone spread.

She swelled within her bindings. The ropes pulled tight against her wrists. Her face filled the muzzle.

As her body expanded within the ropes, the wolf expanded within her mind. It took control. Calm settled over her. A sense of peace—until it realized it was bound.

The wolf thrashed, growling and snapping and straining to chew at the chains. But the muzzle held its mouth shut, and that only made it angrier.

Abel’s screams pierced through her frenzy. She tried to get to her feet to help him, but she couldn’t.

His human body distorted as the wolf fought to come through. His skin bulged in strange places. His back arched and his feet drummed against the floor.

And then he became a wolf.

Seth got in the truck, turned on the heater, and prepared to spend the night staked out by the cellar.

He thought he could get some studying done. He wanted to make up time he had lost to recent distractions, so he had brought everything with him even though they were on winter break for the next two weeks: binders, text books, note cards, the works.

“Muscle memory,” he read aloud off his notes. It was cold enough in the truck that his breath fogged.

Cerebellum
. Easy stuff.

He imagined Rylie sitting next to him, cheeks pink with cold and a big smile on her face. Teasing him for cheating even though he hadn’t. Promising to let him operate on her brain. They both knew his chances of getting into medical school weren’t great, but she would have supported him through anything.

She was in the cellar—right now—in immense agony.

Trapped with his brother.

Seth dropped the cards and stared out the window at the snowy night. He hadn’t been shocked when Scott Whyte took him outside the dance to tell him that Abel was a werewolf. He wasn’t even shocked when the psychologist accused him of being the murderer and said they should leave town.

What surprised him was how jealous he became when Abel demanded to dance with Rylie.

Those powerful, possessive feelings had come from nowhere. He didn’t like the thought of Rylie giving Abel that dimpled smile.

What kind of game was he playing? Asking his brother’s girlfriend to
dance
?

He made himself pick up the flash cards again.

Heartbeat
. That was the brainstem.

Which part of the brain controlled jealousy?

He threw the cards across the dashboard. No way would he get any studying done with thoughts like those.

Motion on the horizon caught his eye. For a moment, Seth thought it was the wind blowing through the trees, but then a light flickered. It wasn’t a star—it was a flashlight.

The hunters
, he realized. Rangers and cops looking for coyotes to shoot.

He glanced at the cellar door. It was locked from the outside.

The hunters didn’t turn in his direction. The silhouettes on the horizon stayed on the horizon, then faded as they went the other way. The tension in his shoulders relaxed. It would be a long night.