Page 38 of Bad Moon Rising
“I know, but it’ll still leave a mess, and we completely trashed that room.” I touch the cuts on his arm. “You got nicked, so there might even be your DNA at the scene. Plus, Lily and Becka might tell the cops what they saw.”
“But the police won’t believe that Chase turned into a wolf and—” Jackson’s pleading now, and I realize then it’s because he knows what I’m going to say next. What I’m going to ask of him.
The greatest sacrifice any of us can make.
“It doesn’t matter. They’ll connect us to Chase, and with our reputation in this town, that’s enough to condemn us. We’re leaving.” I pat his shoulder even as my own heart breaks down the center. I always knew I couldn’t remain with Lily, but I suppose a part of me assumed if I were to go, my brothers would remain. It’s agony to know none of us will be with her, but I remind myself this is for the best. She’s not safe with the three of us, not now. Not ever. “I’ll go back to the house and pack our things. As soon as it’s light and Orion’s turned back into himself, we’ll put as much distance between us and Haddenwood as we can.”
“But you don’t have to leave yet?” He sounds like a little kid again as he snuggles in harder against me. In the silo behind us, Orion growls as he slams his body against the door.
“No.” I pull my kid brother closer, and the weight of what we’re going to do presses on my heart. “I’m going to stay right here with the two of you. I’m here to protect you.”
15
LILY
It’s impossible to keep pace with Becka’s brisk strides as we skirt around the side of the school, heading down a long pathway cocooned on either side by spindly tree branches.
The full moon is bright up above, but the golden glow of it feels ominous as it beats down on my skin. The silvery strands seem to coil around my throat, choking me…
Panic laces my veins, and I pause in the middle of the pathway, dropping my hands to my knees. I can’t hear anything over how loudly my heart is beating. Ragged pants of air escape my lips as I struggle to make sense of everything that just happened.
I’d been with Chase, and it had been…fun. Not wow, but decidedly enjoyable. I was feeling overwhelmed, so he offered to walk with me to get some air. He made a passing joke about the nurse’s office where we met, and then…
And then he transformed into that thing. That monstrous, hideous thing plucked straight out of those stupid horror movies Jackson would force me to watch.
But it’s Chase’s words that replay in my head—those horrible, stomach-churning words he whispered to me a second before he transformed.
“I’m so sorry about this, Lily Dean. But my master insisted it be done.” Despite his apology, I didn’t see a flicker of remorse in his light eyes, only malicious satisfaction that chilled me to the bone.
And then the Bellua brothers arrived, their weapons drawn in a way that suggested they were familiar with using them.
Oh God…
What happened to them?
What happened to Chase? What he turned into… That wasn’t normal. Isn’t normal. A high school boy doesn’t have the ability to turn into this wolf-man-monster. Right?
He looked like a wolf, but there was something distinctly intelligent in his amber eyes, something human. His limbs seemed slightly too big to belong to a normal animal as well, and his disproportionate size only made him more terrifying to me.
“Breathe, Lily. Breathe.”
Becka.
Her voice reaches me as if from the opposite end of a long tunnel. A second later, her hand tentatively presses down on my shoulder, a surprisingly reassuring presence.
Tears blur my vision and cascade down my cheeks as I force myself to look up at her. Force myself to see through the haze of terror and despair that seem to press in on me from all sides. The world is closing in, compressing my insides, squeezing my body like a tube of toothpaste.
“Lily!” A sharp slap against my cheek accompanies my name. Pain splinters down my face.
But it also clears some of the lingering fog from my mind.
“Becka?” I blink dazedly at the girl before me as I cradle my no doubt reddened cheek.
She winces. “Sorry about that. You were panicking, and I didn’t know how to snap you out of it.”
“It’s okay,” I reply mechanically, unsure if that’s the truth or not. Then again, I’m not sure of anything at the moment. My world has just been tilted on its axis. Not just tilted—folded over, turned around, flipped in the air, and then stomped on for added effect.
“A-are you…okay?” Becka stares at me, a frown curling down the corners of her mouth.