Full Moon by Rachel Hawthorne Page B

honestly didn’t know any more. “Are you serious?”
    “Yeah, I think I am.”
    He started to walk away.
    “Connor, wait!” I hurried after him. “I don’t want things to end—”
    I came to an abrupt halt. The hairs on the nape of my neck began to prickle with the weird sensation you get when something just isn’t right.
    “Connor!” I whispered harshly, loud enough for him to not only hear me but to detect the dread in my voice as well. Before I knew it, he was back at my side, emitting a low, throaty growl.
    “Do you feel it?” I asked. It felt like…a disharmony in the universe—which makes me sound like some sort of New Age guru or something, but I don’t know how else to explain it. The forest just felt… wrong .
    I heard Connor inhale deeply.
    “Blood,” he said in a low voice. “A lot of it. Still warm. Maybe a recent kill. Or someone badly wounded.”
    “ Someone? Maybe it’s an animal.”
    “Definitely human.”
    My stomach roiled at the thought of who might be out there, wounded and possibly dying. I knew we had to find out what had happened—and Connor knew it, too.
    He took my hand, our fight apparently forgotten. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this?”
    “Of course.” In fact, I actually wasn’t sure, but no way was I going to admit it.
    He released my hand, and I was aware of his movement and his clothes being shoved into my arms.
    “What if it’s a trap?” I asked.
    “It’s human blood, Lindsey. Someone might be hurt.” And he could find whomever it was far more quickly in wolf form. “We won’t be able to communicate, so just stay close. If you think there’s a danger to you, run as fast as you can. Holler to get attention if you have to.”
    “Got it.”
    He quickly brushed his lips over mine, and I could only hope that it wasn’t the last kiss we’d ever share. Could I be any more confused? One minute I’m not sure we should be together and the next I’m hoping that kiss wasn’t the last.
    A sort of electricity filled the air, and then fur was brushing up against me. Connor wasn’t too difficult to see in the dark because his fur was pale blond in color, a little darker than my hair. As a wolf he was able to read my thoughts, so I focused on the task before us. I brushed my hand along his fur. As he began to walk, sniffing the ground and air, I remained close enough so I wouldn’t lose him, my fingers occasionally sifting through his fur.
    So I was very much aware when he suddenly bristled, as though whatever we were searching for, he had found. I could smell it now, the metallic odor saturating the air so thickly that it made me queasy. I could see a shadowed form lying prone on the ground.
    Connor released a long, low howl. I didn’t know why the call of the wolf could carry so far and so effectively. I could be screaming bloody murder and few would hear me to come and help, but many of our kind would hear Connor. They would come. And with any luck, they’d bring flashlights. A lot of information could be communicated in a howl.
    Connor was suddenly hairless, and my fingers were touching his warm, bare shoulder. He was in a crouched position. “He’s dead,” he said somberly.
    “Who is it?” I dared to ask.
    “Dallas. I recognized his scent a while back, and my night vision is good enough that I can see him clearly now.”
    Stunned, I was barely aware of a tug on the clothes I held in my arms. I released them. The inside of my mind was screaming, Who would do this? Why would they do it? Only one answer came to mind: Bio-Chrome.
    Connor wrapped his arms around me. He’d put his jeans back on, but he was shirtless. I could feel the warmth of his skin against my cheek.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    With him so near, I could now ask for the answer I’d been dreading. “How did he die?”
    Connor’s hold on me tightened as though he needed as much comfort as I did. “Looks like someone—or something—ripped out his