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

I watched in horror, knowing what Connor had really asked me: Which one of us do you want to die?

We are human, but we are also beast, and in our world a challenge isn’t made lightly. A challenge is a fight to the death.

I knelt in the grass and felt the tears washing down my face. I hadn’t been able to give Connor an answer. The battle that had been raging in my heart all summer had transcended into one of flesh and blood.

Tonight, beneath a full moon, someone I loved would die.

EIGHTEEN

They clashed, they snarled, they bared their teeth. They weren’t kidding here. They were both alpha males trying to claim their mate. At that moment I hated what we were, hated that we could be reduced to wild animals governed by instinct instead of by our hearts and minds.

“Don’t do this!” I yelled, but they ignored me.

This was worse than the fight they’d had in the cave. I’d sustain more than a black eye if I tried to get between them. I was likely to end up with a gaping hole in my throat.

They broke apart and then came back together, growling and snapping their jaws. Shifters are larger and stronger than the wolves in the wild. Connor and Rafe were well matched, and they weren’t afraid to fight, to tear at each other.

I pushed myself to my feet. I had to stop this madness. I’d loved Connor forever and loved Rafe just a short time. Which was more important: the length of time or the intensity of emotion?

They separated, and the golden wolf slowly circled the black wolf. Rafe seemed to be hurt. When we are bitten by one of our kind, the wound we receive doesn’t heal as quickly as those delivered by other animals. Something in our saliva stops the healing process that usually occurs when we’re injured while in wolf form. I wondered what Mason might do with that information. If you had no vulnerabilities, you could never be destroyed. We, however, could be destroyed.

Judging by how heavily Rafe was breathing, how still he was, how he was sizing up Connor and waiting…I knew he’d been hurt. In the moonlight, I could see a dark dampness on his fur. It flowed from near his throat, the most vulnerable part of his wolf form. If Connor had nicked Rafe’s carotid artery, though, he’d have bled out already. That hadn’t happened, but it looked like he’d gotten him good anyway.

I knew Connor, had seen him fight, knew he could be lethal. I knew he had the habit of sizing up his opponent and determining his weakness—and then he’d strike. He suddenly became still, put his weight back on his haunches, and I knew he was going to go for the kill….

I also knew that Connor’s primal instincts had taken over. He always worked so hard to control them, to be more human than beast, to be civilized. When Connor emerged from his barbaric haze, if Rafe was dead, Connor would never forgive himself. I suspected that if Rafe came out the victor, he would live with regrets over killing Connor. I also knew that regardless of who died, I would always blame myself because I hadn’t been strong enough to make my choice before it was too late.

“No!” I screamed as I ran for them.

The moonlight washed over me and pain shot through my body. It was more intense than I had ever expected. I doubled over and fell to my knees.

Connor launched himself at Rafe.

Rafe lunged for him in return. I heard the clash of bone and flesh. I struggled to my feet and staggered toward them. I felt as though my bones had turned into shards of glass.

I had to do this. I had to reach them. Since the beginning of summer I’d begun to have doubts. I’d shared my doubts with them and made them each feel less than who they were. This wasn’t their battle to fight. It was mine.

I thought about the joy I felt when I was with Rafe. I thought about how I always wanted him to touch me, how desperately I wanted to touch him. I remembered how he’d admitted hungering for me. That desire for him lived inside me, too, terrifying me with its intensity. I’d been afraid to give in to it, to embrace it. I’d feared that it was temporary.

But I knew now that it was the call of my mate, the lure of my destiny. If I didn’t accept and fight for it now, I would lose it forever.

Rafe and Connor were rolling over the ground, snarling and snapping at each other. Two feral beasts, exhibiting nature at its most untamed—but inside there was still that spark of human that separated us from the true wolves. I was counting on that now.

I dropped to my knees and cried, “I choose Rafe! With all that I am and all that I will be, I choose Rafe as my mate.”

They both stilled at once. I looked into the brown eyes of the one who, in only a short time, I’d come to love more than anything. In those brown depths, I didn’t see victory or satisfaction. I saw instead a love so deep, so powerful, that if I hadn’t already been on my knees I would have fallen to them.

I shifted my gaze to the eyes of blue. I saw hurt pride there—but no deep loss, no true devastation.

“I’m sorry, Connor,” I said softly. Pain ripped through me and I bit back a scream. “I wanted it to be you. You’ve been with me for every important moment in my life—but this moment belongs to Rafe. I love him so much that it scares me. You were the easier choice, but the wrong one.”

The black wolf pulled away from the blond