Moonlight (15 page)

“Sure. You’re right. It’s been a day of discovery.”

A day of betrayal was what I was thinking.

He walked me to my tent and said goodnight. I crawled into the tent I was sharing with Monique. She was already curled up in her sleeping bag and reading a book.

“So all the flirting you were doing with Lucas . . .?”

She smiled. “Just part of the lure. Although he is hot. And if he is this wolf, that makes him so much hotter.”

She was sick. Totally.

As I got ready for bed, I slipped my metal nail file out of my backpack and tucked it into the pocket of my shorts. I would need it to pick the lock.

It may seem strange, but after all, my adoptive dad is a cop. I was bound to pick up a few tips on criminal activities like hotwiring cars and breaking and entering.

I made my way into my sleeping bag. “Goodnight.”

It was several minutes before Monique turned out the light. I lay there, not moving, just planning.

I finally heard Monique’s breathing drop into that slow shallow rhythm that meant she’d gone to sleep. I hadn’t zipped my sleeping bag because I hadn’t wanted the rasp of the zipper to wake her up. I scooted out from my bag. Looking over my shoulder at her, I tugged on my boots. A bright moon provided enough light for me to see her silhouette. She didn’t move at all. I slipped my hand back into my sleeping bag and wrapped my fingers around my flashlight. I always kept it handy in case I had to get up in the middle of the night. I definitely needed it tonight.

I crept out of the tent. I didn’t take my backpack with me. I wasn’t planning to leave—I didn’t think I could make it back to the village on my own anyway. I just wanted to set the wolf free. If Mason and his dad figured out it was me, they might get mad, but they weren’t going to shoot me. Would they? Of course not. I did think they’d gone over to the dark side, but they were scientists, not murderers.

The camp was eerily quiet. I straightened and slipped around behind the tent. I moved stealthily until I reached the outer perimeter where Ethan was once again watching the cage. He was sitting cross-legged. Every now and then, he poked the wolf with a sharp stick. I guess he figured if he wasn’t getting any sleep, the wolf shouldn’t either. Or maybe it was part of their plan to wear the wolf down until he shifted back into human form. Personally, I thought it was a bad idea to prod wild creatures.

I tightened my hold on the flashlight. It was a good, heavy, solid tool. When needed, it made a terrific club. And right now I needed a club.

My heart was pounding so hard that I was surprised the guy didn’t hear it. Actually, I was surprised it didn’t wake the entire camp. I took another step—

Snap!

I landed on a dry twig and grimaced. Ethan started to twist around—

I swung with everything I had in me. The flashlight slammed against his skull. I felt the shock of the contact ricochet up my arm. Ethan keeled over in a sprawl. He never even saw me. I knelt beside him and checked his pulse. It was steady. He probably wouldn’t be out for long. I had to work fast.

I took a quick look around. I couldn’t believe they had only one person guarding their precious prize, but I figured they thought he was securely locked up. And only Evil Scientist had the key.

I scrambled around to the door, turned on my flashlight, and set it so the light illuminated the padlock. It wasn’t anything fancy. This was going to be easy. I pulled the file from my pocket and went to work.

“I’ll have you out of here in a minute,” I whispered.

I was surprised by how alert the wolf seemed. Especially since they’d been denying him any sort of comfort or essentials—like food and water—while trying to weaken him. Sadists.

He issued a low growl, almost a purr. A throaty sound. I ignored it. I didn’t want him trying to communicate with me. I just wanted him to get the hell away.

I heard the lock click. I snapped it apart and jerked open the door. Swallowing hard, I scooted back.

With lithe movements, the wolf sauntered out of the cage and went over to the guard. He began sniffing around. I wondered if he was considering eating him.

I moved over to him. “No!” I hissed. “You have to go. Shoo! Go!”

But he didn’t go. He just got very, very still, unnaturally so, and I could feel a small electric charge in the air. I stood up and glanced around. We were still lucky. No one was in sight. Maybe if I hit the wolf with my flashlight, it would frighten him away. I reached down, grabbed it from where I’d left it on the ground, and turned back—

The wolf was gone. But I felt no relief. As a matter of fact, I felt close to panic. Because while the wolf was no longer there, Lucas was.

A very naked Lucas was crouched near Ethan. I couldn’t process that.
He was a werewolf? Dr. Keane and Mason were right? No, no, no.
There was another explanation. There had to be. My world tilted and I had an urge to scream hysterically.

I stared at his bare back while he tugged off Ethan’s cargo pants. He had absolutely no tan lines. He was like a perfect bronzed god. I might have fallen in lust right then and there if I didn’t know that he came with issues in the form of a furry body and canine incisors.

“Good luck,” I said. My voice quivered, and I knew I sounded completely dazed. I was close to totally losing it. Maybe I was still in my tent dreaming. I took a step back toward the shadows.

“Wait!” Lucas ordered in a low voice.

I glanced back. He’d already pulled on the pants and was zipping them up.

“I have to go,” I said.

Before I could race away, he was beside me, grabbing my arm.

I jerked away. “Leave me alone. You’re free. Just go.”

“I’m not leaving you here with Mason. Not after what he tried to do to you—”

“It was all fake. He wasn’t going to hurt me.” I shook my head. “I don’t know how or why, but he knew you were around and he was trying to draw you out. Obviously it worked.”

He clenched his jaw. “I fell right into his trap. I forgot about everything when he attacked you. I just wanted to rip his throat out. He might try it again—”

“No, I’m on to him now. I won’t let him put me in that position.” As a matter of fact, I was thinking that I might head out on my own as soon as I saw that Lucas was safely gone.

“You have to come with me,” Lucas said.

“I’ll be fine.”

“No. You won’t be,” he said with incredible seriousness. But then he was always serious. The guy never laughed, and he seldom smiled. But, oh, when he smiled, the things it did to my heart.

“They don’t know it was me who let you out,” I insisted.

“That doesn’t matter. In less than forty-eight hours there will be a full moon, the first full moon since your birthday.”

“So?”

“The first transformation happens during the first full moon after your seventeenth birthday.”

“Okay, great, nice to know, but we don’t have time for a
Werewolves for Dummies
lesson. You need to get out of here.”

I should have run when he stepped over to me, but I didn’t. I stood there gazing into his silver eyes. They held me captive. They wouldn’t let me look away. I felt this strange pull. I wanted to lean into him. I wanted to wrap myself around him. Around Lucas, who always made me feel like I wanted to crawl out of my skin. His eyes were so solemn. But there was something else there, something possessive.

>

I wanted this to be a romantic moment, like those corny movies. I wanted him to take me in his arms and kiss me like his life depended on it. Then I wanted him to run off into the woods and disappear forever. Be safe.

Why was it suddenly so important to me that he be safe?

He wrapped his hands around my arms. I thought he would jerk me toward him now and plant that kiss that I so desperately wanted.

Instead he said solemnly, “Kayla, you’re one of us.”

TWELVE

For such a little word,
us
had huge ramifications.
Us
could mean the human race. Well, except that he wasn’t human, not totally. Or at least, I didn’t think he was.

It could mean that since I’d rescued him, I was now destined to follow him around. In some cultures, when a person saved someone’s life, they were tied together forever. I’d read that somewhere. My babbling mind was searching for other explanations for
us
. Maybe it meant . . .

God, who was I kidding here? There was only one thing that it could mean and it wasn’t what I wanted it to mean.
Us.
Whatever he was, he was including me in that little circle of weirdness. It wasn’t natural. People did not turn into wolves. I had enough freakish baggage to deal with. I was not going to add being physically abnormal to the list.

Ethan moaned.

Lucas took my hand. “Come on, we gotta go before he sounds the alarm.”

I shook my head. “I’m not like you.”

“We’ll discuss it later. We have to go.”

“I’m not going.”

“Kayla, in less than forty-eight hours they’ll know the truth about you, then you’ll be the one in the cage. If you survive the transformation. You need me to help you do that . . .
if
you want to survive.”

This was just getting better and better. Not only was he saying that I was going to go all furry, but . . . I might die in the process if he wasn’t there? My mind was trying to process this, and it just wouldn’t. I was human. I was not like him. And
us
? How many of
us
were there? I couldn’t make sense of any of this. I just couldn’t understand it. It was too large to comprehend. My mind wanted to shut down.

There really were people who could transform into wolves? And I was one of them?

The whole idea was totally out of control.

Ethan groaned louder and started struggling to get up. Lucas and I were back in the shadows, but it wouldn’t be long until Ethan was aware of us.

Lucas apparently had reached the end of his patience, because he dipped down, picked me up, and slung me over his shoulder. Before I could even catch my breath to voice a protest, he was running. Fast. His feet, as always, were silent.

How could he be so strong, so quick, so quiet when I was draped over his shoulder? What was he? Superwolf?

I was still clutching my flashlight. I thought about swinging it between his legs. That would stop him and dump me on the ground at the same time. But I didn’t. I just hung there with trees rushing by in a blur.

You’re one of us.

I’m one of them.

I thought about this strange fear that had been circling inside me—the fear with origins I couldn’t figure out. I considered all the strange inner sensations I’d had, the feeling that I was changing in ways I couldn’t comprehend.

I told myself they were normal teenage fears, normal teenage changes.

I wasn’t one of
them
. Lucas was wrong. Maybe he wanted me to be like him.

But he was mistaken. I wasn’t like him. I was normal. I was Kayla Madison, confused teenage girl.

I was not about to become a werewolf.

I don’t know how long or how far Lucas ran before I finally yelled, “Okay already, stop!”

He didn’t listen. He just kept going.

I hit his butt with my flashlight. “Stop! I mean it! Stop or I’ll—”

I’ll what? He’s bigger, tougher, stronger.

Maybe he heard something in my voice, or maybe he was just worn out, but he came to a halt and let me down. My feet hit the earth, but my legs were wobbly and I collapsed onto the ground.

He crouched beside me. He was breathing heavily, like I did when I ran up stairs. But it seemed like after all that running with me over his shoulder, he should be panting, gasping. I’d never in a million years be so in shape.

The moonlight was breaking through the branches, but I wanted more. I wanted sunlight, but it wouldn’t be here for a few more hours. I turned on my flashlight. I didn’t shine it directly into his face. I didn’t need to. Just having it on was enough.

“You didn’t run into anything,” I said. It was a mindless thing to say. I guess he thought so, too, because he looked a little surprised.

“I have really good night vision,” he finally said.

“Is that because you’re a—”

“Yeah. Vision, hearing, smell—they all improve after the first transformation.”

I nodded and swallowed. “So what are you . . . exactly?”

“Technical term is lycanthrope. We refer to ourselves as Shifters. People who don’t know any better call us werewolves.” He glanced around. “We need to start walking, put more distance between us and the Statics.”

“Statics?” I asked.

“Those who never change.” He said it with a hint of sadness. I didn’t know if he was feeling sorry for those who didn’t have the ability to shift or those who did.

He took my hand and pulled me to my feet. I swayed. If I hadn’t knocked against him, I probably would have hit the ground again. His arms came around me and he held my gaze. “I know it’s a shock, everything you’ve learned tonight.”

Ya think?
I shook my head, then nodded. I was still so confused. My brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders. “What did you mean when you said ‘if I wanted to survive’?”