Full Moon by Rachel Hawthorne (best biographies to read .txt) 📕

makes sense. But listen, I took a room at the hotel in Tarrant. Left some of my stuff there. I want to pick it up before we head out, because once I show you the lab, I’m going to Canada.”

Everyone else was looking at Dallas as though he was the enemy while I was viewing him as one of the good guys. I hope I wasn’t being naive.

“You risked a lot to come and tell us about the lab,” I said softly.

“Like I said, what they’re doing…it’s not right.”

“We appreciate you coming forward,” Lucas said, but his voice had an I-still-don’t-quite-trust-you edge to it.

“Yeah,” Dallas mumbled. “Just hope it doesn’t get me killed.”

I hoped it didn’t get any of us killed.

Dallas had a little pup tent that he was going to set up, but Lucas convinced him to sleep in the guys’ tent instead. Not that he could have slipped away without us noticing, because we were taking turns keeping watch.

I was lying on my back in my tent. Rafe was watching things now. Then it would be Kayla. I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk with Rafe, to thank him for the blackberries—and for saving my life.

Very quietly and cautiously, I peeled back my sleeping bag, sat up, and tugged my shoes onto my feet.

“Where are you going?”

My heart leaped into my throat at Kayla’s question.

“Can’t sleep. I’m going to get some fresh air.”

“Look, Lindsey, it’s none of my business—”

“No, it’s not,” I interrupted, certain I knew where she was heading with this. And immediately I felt guilty with my impatience. “Look, I just…I need to be sure.”

I didn’t want to tell her about my dreams of Rafe or how thrilled I’d been to see him. Both of these things were wrong if I was committed to Connor. But I couldn’t deny that I felt an excitement when Rafe was near. Was it just because he was novel and Connor was familiar?

“It’s not fair to Connor,” Kayla said.

“It’ll be unfair if I take doubts into our future.”

Without waiting for her to respond, I got up and walked out of our tent. I felt Rafe’s presence before I even saw him. He was back in the shadows near our tent. I felt his gaze fall on me. There was so much power behind it, he might as well have touched me. I grew hot, just as I had in my dreams. I crossed my arms over my chest as I walked over to him, because I was afraid I wouldn’t have the strength of will not to touch him.

“I wanted to thank you for the blackberries.” It was an inadequate start to the conversation, but how could I explain that I’d just needed to see him again?

“The blackberries?” It sounded as though he’d shoved out the words through clenched teeth.

I swallowed hard. “And for saving my ass.”

“I can’t believe”—he shook his head before continuing—“I can’t believe you went off by yourself.”

“These are my woods,” I stated emphatically. “Our woods. I’ve always felt safe in them.”

“They’re not safe anymore. Don’t you get it?” he whispered harshly. “If anything had happened to you, if I hadn’t been there—it would have killed me.”

Before I realized what he intended to do, he grabbed me, pulled me to him, and slashed his mouth across mine, kissing me with a ferocity that left me shaking and clinging to him as though I were suddenly drowning and he were my only hope.

I’d always thought a kiss was just a kiss. I’d been wrong. My body responded with a wild thrumming—I was a string on a harp that had been plucked and was now vibrating with a sweet sound. The kiss was hotter than any I’d ever received from Connor.

Or maybe it was just that the chemistry between Rafe and me was different. I wound my arms around his neck and pressed up against him. He drew me even closer to him, with one arm against my back and his other hand threading its way through the tangle of my hair. It seemed like he intended never to let me go. We were so close together that I wasn’t sure where my body ended and his started. Moonlight couldn’t have seeped between us.

Even as I relished the incredible pleasure pouring through me, my mind was screaming that this was wrong, so wrong. I belonged to Connor. I was his. It was decided.

I broke off the kiss and staggered backward. Breathing heavily I stared at Rafe, trying to understand what had just happened. He held out a hand toward me. “Lindsey—”

“No,” I whispered. Whatever he was going to say, I didn’t want to hear it. “That was wrong.”

Turning on my heel, I raced back to my tent with the truth pounding through my mind. There were things in the forest more dangerous than cougars, more dangerous even than Bio-Chrome.

NINE

It was nearly dark the next night when we finally reached the entrance to the park. I’d spent the entire day avoiding looking at Rafe, like I was afraid that I’d burst into flames if we made eye contact or that Connor would somehow find out Rafe and I had kissed.

I felt as though I needed a more powerful word to describe what had happened last night—kiss just didn’t cut it. The intensity of the encounter was probably just brought on by fear and relief and the whisper of danger that surrounded us. But still, it had left me shaken and unsettled.

“So it’s agreed? You’re going to go with Rafe tomorrow, show him the lab?” Lucas asked as we gathered at the park entrance.

“Yeah, dude, sure,” Dallas replied.

“I have a motorbike,” Rafe said. “We should be able to make good time. How about I meet you at dawn?”

“I’m not really an up-at-dawn kinda guy,” Dallas said. “How about mid-morning?”

They agreed on a time, and Rafe left with Dallas. I