A Cursed Moon: A Weird Girls Novella (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) by Cecy Robson

chest and filling his lungs with her breath. Tears streaked her bloody face as she sobbed and pleaded him not to die.
    My body lurched forward and bound to their side. Dan’s vacant and unblinking stare was like a punch in the gut. My wolf eyes took in his chalk white skin and blue lips, while the man within me begged him to move, to speak, to
breathe
.
    I sniffed at him. . . . Christ, he was still alive, but my wolf could sense the light in his soul dwindling away with every passing moment. Every muscle in my body tensed. I couldn’t let him die. He needed a chance.
    So I shoved Celia away and pierced his heart with my fangs.
    I vaguely remember her screaming and trying to wrench me off him before the world faded into black.

Chapter Eight
    Sunlight beat against my heavy lids, resolute it was time to wake my ass up. I blinked several times, fighting the haze that followed one hell of a nap. I swore and rubbed my eyes. Damn, I was friggin’ starving. The warm sheet slipped from my chest, exposing my pecs as I pushed up on my elbows and took in my bedroom at a glance. Hell, someone had tidied up. A basket full of clean laundry lay folded on top of my bureau, filling my nose with the clean scent of “summer breeze” fabric softener. And shit, had the babe lying next to me vacuumed?
    I did a double-take when I realized the “babe” sleeping beside me was Celia. She cuddled against my pillow and tucked her bare feet deeper beneath her long brown skirt, causing the collar of her light blue sweater to droop between the swells of her breasts. I yanked her by the waist and pulled her to me, burying my nose into her neck. “I always knew we’d end up in bed.”
    She laughed and pushed me off of her, smiling as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. “I see you’re finally awake, sleeping beauty.” Her smile softened as she sat up. “Do you feel okay?”
    “Yeah, I guess.” I scratched at my beard, pausing when I realized how thick it was. “How long have I been out?”
    Celia reached for her cell phone. “Hmm, almost forty hours. You missed a full moon last night.”
    I jerked up as a swarm of memories came flooding back. The spirits . . . the witch . . . Shit—
Dan!
    Celia cupped my shoulder gently with her small hand and smiled. “He’s okay, Bren. You did it.” She glanced at the door when the soft pads of urgent feet echoed down the hall. “Speaking of which . . .”
    A giant wolf stumbled in his haste to round the corner and launched himself upward. He landed in a belly flop between us before scrambling to the foot of the bed. Jesus, never had I seen such an ungainly lupine.
    The wolf spread out his long scrawny body. An excited glimmer lightened his intelligent amber eyes while his long tongue draped out of his mouth in true goofball glory. “Dan?” He wagged his tail and barked out a happy yip. “You’re . . . fucking
blue
.”
    Celia laughed again and leaned forward to stroke the top of his narrow head. “He’s a blue merle, extremely rare for a werewolf. According to the pack Elders it’s symbolic of rare and powerful magic.” A note of concern shadowed her husky voice. “He’s supposed to develop a special ability. One that will impact the entire
were
race.” She cleared her throat and forced a hopeful smile. “He keeps admiring himself in the mirror and hasn’t wanted to
change
back to human.” Her smile widened, becoming more genuine. “I must say, he is awfully cute.”
    Dan’s tail thumped louder against the mattress. He jerked up suddenly and dive-bombed Celia with his ridiculously dorky tongue. Celia wrinkled her nose and batted his long snout. “Ew, Danny. Cut it out.”
    Dan was alive, well, and a goddamn blue werewolf. Maybe knowing his freak new
were
mo-jo could knock our entire species on its ass should’ve scared me, but it didn’t—at least not then. I was stoked we’d survived and decided it was time my boy had some fun.
    I locked Celia in a full nelson and