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

“We didn’t exactly go after them. We just followed them, trying to figure out where they had their lab. You probably had way more fun with Daniel.”

She shook her head. “He’s not a loser or anything, but I’m so not into being set up.”

“But Brittany—”

“I’m going to be fine.”

Okay, so she didn’t want to talk about it. I guessed there were more important items on the menu of topics.

“So are you guys talking about how to get rid of that lab?” I asked.

“That’s what we’re trying to decide,” Lucas said.

“Don’t suppose you’d wait until after the next full moon…,” I suggested.

Connor leaned against the desk. “Actually we were just saying that there’s no reason to rush. They’re not going to tell the world we exist, because they want to keep us secret as long as possible.”

“Want to keep their work secret,” Kayla added.

“So what’s the plan?” I asked.

Lucas sighed. “Not sure yet. Although they’re not on actual national forest land, they are still surrounded by forest. Burning the place to the ground won’t work, because it might ignite the forest as well.”

“So we have to find a way to destroy it without destroying our home as well.”

“Exactly.”

“I’m going to talk with the elders. Whatever we decide, doing it during the next dark of the moon would probably be best.”

“Under the cover of darkness makes it all sound kinda Mission Impossible-ish,” Connor said.

“It will be,” Lucas confirmed. “We’ll want careful planning, not just to destroy the building, but to make a statement so Bio-Chrome will leave us in peace.”

“Do you think they realize all the sherpas are Shifters?” Rafe asked. “Do you think everyone is in danger?”

I shifted my attention over to him, and he held my gaze. I read a challenge there: Make your choice. The truth was, I already had.

“I don’t think they’ve figured that out,” Lucas said. “I don’t think they know how widespread we are. Besides, they still have no proof. They’ve never actually seen any of us shift. If they find our clothes, so what? Maybe they’re a little more convinced that whatever my brother told Mason about Shifters is true. But they’re scientists. They deal with facts.”

“How are you going to discourage them from coming after us again?” Kayla asked.

Lucas shook his head. “I haven’t a clue. But we’ll figure something out. We have time.”

He ended the meeting. He and Kayla left to go talk with the elders. Brittany left, too, as did Rafe, though reluctantly.

“Do you really think we can convince them to leave us alone?” I asked Connor.

“Probably not, but we can try.” He moved around the desk and took my hand. “You feeling okay?”

Physically or emotionally? I thought.

“Just a little tired.” I decided to go with the physical answer. It was so much easier to deal with.

“You feel up to a walk?”

I didn’t. My energy level was quickly declining, but I nodded. I had to explain some things to Connor. He was my best friend, besides Kayla. He was the friend I’d had the longest.

We made our way outside and walked to where trees grew in earnest. Although a wrought-iron fence surrounded Wolford, the property was large enough that we could go into the woods while still protected by the fence—or as protected as we could be when considering that bullets still could zip through. I’d always considered myself invincible, but now I knew that death could come quickly and unexpectedly.

“I’ve got a birthday present for you,” Connor said quietly, “but it’ll have to wait until after your transformation.”

My birthday had come while I was recovering. I didn’t even remember it. “You don’t have to give me anything,” I said.

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to.”

He stopped walking, reached into his jeans pocket, and brought out a small velvet box. My heart galloped.

“Oh, Connor.”

“Open it.”

With shaking hands, I did. Inside was a gold chain with a small, perfectly round pearl dangling from it. “It’s beautiful.”

“It’s supposed to represent the full moon,” he said.

I looked up at him. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”

“I knew you’d like it.”

He knew so much about me. I couldn’t believe how his gift overwhelmed me. Maybe because I’d almost died, everything seemed so much more important. When he took my hand, my fingers closed around his.

We took several steps in silence. Once we could have spent hours together without talking, and it had seemed the most natural thing in the world. Now it just seemed as though a lot of unsaid thoughts hung heavily between us.

I shoved them to the back of my mind and concentrated on the healing properties of the forest. I was already beginning to feel my strength returning, which was good, because when the full moon arrived, I’d be facing an ordeal that would require all the energy I could muster. But before that, I needed a question answered.

“Do you ever wonder if you declared me too soon?” I asked.

Connor tilted his head as though looking at me from a different angle might help him decipher my strange mood. “No. I’ve always known you were the one. I love you, Lindsey. I always have.”

There it was. The words he could say so easily. Something Rafe had never said. Quite honestly, I couldn’t see Rafe uttering those words—but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel them. It just meant that he isn’t as free about revealing his emotions as Connor is.

Connor held my gaze, and I could see how much my doubts had hurt him. Yet he never gave up on me; he always put me first.

“Your moon is almost here, Lindsey. You have to make a choice.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t have to make it. I already made it.” I took a deep breath. “It’s you, Connor. I love you.”

He looked stunned. “What about Rafe? What about your doubts?”

I shook my head. “It’s you. And my doubts are gone. This is going to sound strange, but I think getting shot might have been the best thing that