Under the Blood Moon by Jenny Garcia (golden son ebook txt) 📕

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I can hear a muffled voice and my body is being shaken, “Niki please wake up!” I am stuck in blackness and I cannot move any part of my body. I want to get back to Travis. I can hear him frantic yelling. My heart starts to beat quicker just hearing his voice. My fingers begin to tingling and sensation moves up my arms to my shoulders, chest, stomach and down my legs. Finally I take a deep breath in and sit straight up. My eyes rip open and the sun burns them making me squint them closed and throw my hand in front of my face.

“What happened?” I can smell Travis cologne and feel him rush to my side. “Niki you freaked out. I think you had an extreme panic attack or something. How are you feeling now?” I blink my eyes over and over until they adjust to the light. We are still on the island and it’s starting to get dark. The trees are casting shadows across the forest floor. “I am alright. I just feel really tired. We need to get back to the house before they come looking for us.” He puts my arm around his shoulders and pulls me to his feet. I collect myself and feel all the blood rush from my head. We stand for a moment until the dizziness passes.

“Where is Charles?” Travis brushes some loss hair out of my eyes and says “He had to leave. He doesn’t want my mother to see him. Niki are you sure that you are going to be able to swim all the way back?” I take my arm off his shoulder and walk ahead of him. “I’m fine Travis. I bet you I can beat you there.” He laughs and jogs a few steps to catch up to me. “I highly doubt that babe.” I look back and he winks. God that devilish wink kills me every time. I swear he could do whatever he wanted and get away with it just by winking. I give him a smile “You wanna bet?” He lets out a laugh and claps his hands together. “You’re messing with fire your highness.” He bows his head. He is such a smartass. “So what would you like to bet on, Queen Niki?” I fold arms and stare straight back at him. “If I win you have to go skinny dipping at 3am. It’s the coldest time of night here and the lake is freezing ass cold.” He tilts his head to the side and says “And If I win? What do I get?” I put my hands on my hips “Well what do you want?” He rubs his fingers across his chin “I want you to tell me who Derek is.” My heart stops and the heat from my body rushes out of me pulling all my air from my lungs. How does he know about Derek? I have never talked about him before. Is this one of his mind reading tricks? Anger begins to fill me and I clench my fists. I begin to scream at him “How do you know about Derek? Are you reading my thoughts again?” He rushes to me and grabs my arms with a force I have never felt before, how is he so strong? I try to wriggle out of his grip but it only makes him hold me tighter. “Niki calm down, I hear you saying his name in your sleep sometimes and I just wanted to know who it was.” The rage inside me begins to calm. I don’t know why I still let his name upset me. I have a man now that loves me and would do anything for me. Why am I still so scared of talking about Derek? I really don’t want to tell Travis anything about him. I don’t want to relive the Derek incident again. If Travis is really the person that I am going to spend the rest of my life with I guess I need to be honest with him. I let out a deep breath and say “Alright Travis if you win I will tell you who Derek is.” He jogs past me and stands at the edge of the lake and says, “Are you ready?” I walk over to him and we both get into the water until we are waist deep. The sun is almost down and the water is starting to chill. It’s so cold that it takes my breath away the minute it touches my stomach. My body begins to shake all over and I instantly wish that I wasn’t wearing this two piece bathing suit. I look over to Travis and he doesn’t even look cold. He just looks back and me a laughs, “What’s wrong Sugar? Is it cold?” I smile back at him and splash him as hard as I can. The water flies over his head and drenches him. I can’t stop the giggles that are rising up and I burst out laughing. I jump into the water before he can splash me back.

My body begins to adjust to the freezing water and Travis swims up next to be splashing me in my face. “Are you ready to lose Travis” I give him a wink and push off from the bottom of the lake. I can feel the sand squish between my toes. We are both racing as fast as we can towards the shore. I keep my face is the water and free style all the way. I am sure that I have won.

I get out of the water and stand up on the shore. I see Travis sitting on the edge of the sand, “Jeez Niki I didn’t think you would ever make it.” My mouth drops open. I have never been beat before. I was State swimming Champion 4 years in a row. “How in the hell did you get here so fast.” He brushes imaginary dust from his shoulders says “I am a werewolf remember. I am way stronger and faster than you.” I walk up to him and slap his arm “So you knew that you were going to win! You cheated!” He grabs his arm where a red hand print is starting to form. “I didn’t cheat. I can’t help it if I am stronger then you. Don’t be a sore loser brat.” I extend my hand and help him up from the sand. “Come on lets go into the house. I am starving.”

We grab our clothes from where we dropped them earlier this morning. As I bend over to slip on my shorts I begin to feel dizzy again and my ears start ringing. My body loses its strength and I collapse to the ground onto my knees. I look straight ahead trying to focus on something still to stop my head from spinning. I get an overwhelming feeling of anxiety that surges through my whole body and my heart races. I look over to the house and there is a cloudy figure that is walking out of the house. I can’t tell who it is. It starts to walk down the stairs and loses their footing falling down the three steps and landing on its front. The dizziness begins to fade and my hearing returns. I look over to Travis who is kneeling next to me trying to figure out what is going on.

This is the second time that I have felt this way and I am not enjoying it. For some reason this time it feels different. Like my body is forcing itself to adjust. I look back to the house to see who feel down the stairs and there is no one there. How is that possible? I know that I saw something come out of the house and fall down the porch stairs. I look back to Travis and hear him say “Did you see something?” I rub my temples with my index fingers and try to stand up. I get to my feet and finally get the strength to respond, “I saw someone come out of the house and fall down the stairs. Who was it?” He looks at me confused “Niki no one came out of the house. It’s just us out here.”

The door to the house swings open and my mother walks to the edge of the stairs. “MOM STOP!” She looks out towards me and ignores my warning. She goes to take a step down and she loses her footing. Travis rushes over to her before she hits the ground and catches her midair. I have never seen someone move so quickly before. His whole body seemed to blur as he ran towards her. “Are you alright Michelle?” Travis stands her up on the dirt and she looks over to me. “Niki did you know that was going to happen? Did you see it?” I don’t know what to say to her. The last time I told her about my visions she locked me in the crazy house. Now that she knows the truth about what I am going to become, I guess it doesn’t matter. There is nothing that she could do to convince me that I am crazy ever again. I take a deep breath and walk over to her. “Yes mom. I saw a cloudy figure fall down the stairs. For some reason I couldn’t see your face so I didn’t know who it was. From what I can remember from my visions, is that they were always clear. I’ve never had to guess who the person is that was going to be affected.” I look to the ground with disappointment and worry. “Maybe I am not meant to be the chosen one like everyone thinks I am. My visions are broken and blurry now.” She walks over to me and puts her hands on my shoulders “Niki you have been on medication for the visions for a long time. It’s going to take few days to get all of the medication out of your system. That is probably why they are blurry.” She kisses me on the forehead and walks back into the house. She shouts over her shoulder “It’s almost dinner time by the way. It’s getting dark come inside kids.” I turn to Travis and he shrugs his shoulders.

Why is she being so supportive now? I don’t understand how she can go from being so against my gift and trying to change me, to being supportive and helping me get them back. She confuses me. I don’t really want to think about this right now. My head is still hurting from passing out on the island. I must have hit my head on something on the way down. I run my fingers through my wet hair and feel a small bump on the side of my head. I pull my hand out of hair and check for blood. Thank god there isn’t any. Travis takes my hand and we walk up the porch and into the house. Denise is sitting on the couch starting into darkness and my parents are busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. It smells so good. I forgot that I haven’t eaten since breakfast. The smell of Garlic, chicken, and veggies fill my nose and my stomach lets out a growl. Travis looks to me “Hungry Fella?” I giggle and let go of his hand “Yes I am starving. I didn’t realize that we haven’t eaten all day. Swimming always takes a lot out of me.” I walk into the kitchen and wrap my