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

“God, Lindsey, you have to know by now….”

I felt as though all the air had been sucked right out of me. “It’s my name? Why would you do that? You knew Connor and I…that we were…why would you choose me?”

“Because you’re the one I want.”

His voice held such surety—no doubts whatsoever. How could he be so convinced?

“You don’t…you can’t mean it. Come on, Rafe, you know I’m with Connor.”

“Why? Because you’ve always been with him? What if he’s not the right one? What if he’s not your true mate?”

It made me angry to hear him voice the doubts I’d been having lately. “That’s not fair, Rafe. Why tell me this now? Why not last year before Connor declared me as his mate?”

“Because I didn’t know last year that I would feel this way. The first time I saw you after I came back from college I felt as though a tree had fallen on me. I’ve tried to fight this…attraction. You have to believe that. But it’s just growing stronger.”

I was unsettled. I couldn’t think. I didn’t know what to say.

Into the silence, he asked, “Do you ever think about kissing me?”

The dream roared into my head. Obviously my subconscious had given some thought to kissing him, but I wasn’t about to admit that.

“I’m with Connor,” I repeated sternly. I had been with him since I turned sixteen. He was like the old robe that you wore even after it got all frayed and ratty, because it had molded itself through the years until it was perfect for you.

“That’s not an answer,” Rafe insisted.

“It wouldn’t be fair to Connor.” That was as close as I was going to come to admitting that, at the moment, I wanted nothing as much as I wanted to kiss Rafe.

He sighed deeply. “Why couldn’t Connor be a jerk? It’d make things a lot easier. I could just challenge him—”

“Don’t you dare!” Suddenly I was almost shouting, about to go into panic mode. We were human, but we were also beast, and in our world a challenge wasn’t made lightly. A challenge was a fight to the death.

“So you do care about him,” he said as though he was surprised by the revelation.

“Of course I care about him.”

“But do you love him?”

I knew I was supposed to respond with a resounding yes, but my doubts surfaced once again. I did love Connor, but was my love for him deep enough?

I peered over at Rafe, who was staring up at the sky as though he’d find my answer there. The little bit of crescent moon and starlight limned his profile, revealing the strong jut of his chin, the sharp blade of his nose. His silhouette was powerful, as powerful as he was. He’d always seemed older, stronger than the others. Maybe because he’d worked in his dad’s auto shop when he wasn’t a sherpa. Late at night, he still did so. I often saw the light on in that old shed when I drove by. Sometimes I thought about stopping, but just like now, I knew it would be a bad idea. So why had I agreed to go on this ride with him? To quell my adventuresome spirit? For a last chance to do something I wasn’t supposed to do?

Our kind work in the outside world just like humans do. My dad is a lawyer; so is Connor’s. They share a very successful practice. I’ve never gone without; I’ve always had anything I wanted. Rafe, on the other hand, must have always wanted things he couldn’t have, things he’d never been able to afford. Was he suddenly interested in me because I was unattainable?

Instead of answering his question, I posed a scenario of my own. “Maybe you just want me because you can’t have me. Forbidden things are always sweeter, right?”

He turned around to face me squarely. “You really think that’s what this is?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Easy enough to find out…. Kiss me,” he challenged. “If that’s all it is, one kiss should satisfy this hunger I have for you.”

“Hunger? You make it sound like you’re going to devour me.”

“That doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling, Lindsey. It’s primal. It’s like my wolf prowling inside me, waiting for yours to emerge.”

“So it’s just the wolves?”

“You can’t separate them. It’s not two different beings. I’m the wolf. And I’m the human. I think about you all the time, think about kissing you—I want to be with you during your first full moon.”

The intensity of his words terrified me. Connor was fun. He laughed and teased. Rafe was all serious, dark, and foreboding.

I moved around to face him.

The ground beneath my feet suddenly crumbled. I shrieked, my arms flailing as I felt myself dropping. Rafe grabbed me, but I had fallen too far away already. He couldn’t pull me to safety.

All he could do was wrap himself around me as we both tumbled into the black abyss.

FOUR

Much to my astonishment, the landing wasn’t nearly as painful as I’d expected. I only had the wind knocked out of me. Rafe had somehow managed to twist around so he cushioned my landing. I was straddling him. One of his arms held me close. My face was buried in the curve of his neck, and his wonderful scent filled my nostrils.

Lying incredibly still, he gave a low groan.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

It sounded as though he’d forced out the word, and I realized that with me on top of him, he was probably having difficulty breathing. I knew I should have rolled off him. Instead I stayed where I was, relishing the firmness of his body beneath me when I knew I shouldn’t. If he turned his head just a little and I lifted mine a fraction, our mouths would meet and…

“You shouldn’t have said everything that you said up there, Rafe,” I whispered.