03 Long Night Moon - Seasons of the Moon (12 page)

“No. Hunting is
your
job, Mr. Destiny. My job is to stick around until you’re eighteen so you don’t go into foster care.”

Seth gritted his teeth. “It’s not my destiny. I hate it when you say that.”

“What are you saying, man? You want to get rid of me?”

“I’m just wondering what’s going on in your ugly head,” Seth said, giving a thin smile. “This stuff, this ranch thing… this isn’t normal for you.”

Abel studied him. “If you’re trying to say something, you better say it.”

Are you killing people because you’re restless?

Seth shook his head.

“You know what? Forget it.” He turned around to grab his jacket and gloves.

He heard the motion before he saw it.

Seth ducked, and Abel’s fist smashed into the post above his head. It cracked the wood.

Spinning, he swept out a leg and hooked it behind Abel’s ankle. He jerked. Abel stumbled, reaching out both hands for the nearest thing he could find—Seth’s shirt.

They toppled together.

Abel used their momentum to roll on top, rearing back to swing a right-hook into Seth’s jaw.

The room exploded with black stars. His skull rang.

When he swung again, Seth caught his wrist in a crushing grip, blinking rapidly to clear his vision. He could barely make out Abel’s white-toothed grin through the haze.

He snapped forward and head-butted Abel in the nose. His brother bellowed.

Seth shoved him back against the wall, punching him in the gut hard. He aimed for the floating ribs. Abel twisted and made him miss—just barely.

Scurrying to his feet, he tried to back off and get out of his brother’s range. But Abel lowered his shoulder and plowed into him like a linebacker, smashing them both into the wall. The entire barn shuddered.

The back of Seth’s head bounced on the wall.

Suddenly, he was on the floor looking at the ceiling.

“Ugh,” he groaned, grabbing his head. Pain radiated down his spine and shoulders.

Abel offered him a hand. “Dude,” he said, still grinning but no longer on the attack, “you blacked out. What a wimp.”

“Did you get the license plate on the train that hit me?”

“Don’t be such a baby. Get up.”

Seth gripped Abel’s wrist and let him haul him into a sitting position. He flopped against the wall. “What was that? Are you trying to kill me?”

Abel guffawed as he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. Blood shone on his knuckles. “Nah. You’re a punk. You deserved it, that’s all.” He looped his arm around his brother’s neck and pulled him in for a noogie, but Seth shoved him off. His head hurt way too much for that.

“Yeah, and you’re an inbred moron. I better not have any bruises tomorrow. Rylie’s going to be mad if I show up for the Winter Ball looking like ground beef.”

“If I’m inbred, you know what that says about you,” Abel said. “Explains your stupid face, doesn’t it?”

Seth couldn’t help it. He laughed. But the image of Isaiah Branson crept into his mind, like inky tendrils of fear, and his laughter died.

“Winter Ball, huh?” Abel mused that with a sour look. “Sounds pretty gay.”

“You’re pretty gay,” Seth muttered. Not his best comeback, but his head still felt like a shattered bell.

“Nice. Real nice.”

They sat together on the floor, backs against the wall, and listened to the wind rising outside. Cold seeped through a crack in the window. After a few minutes, Seth didn’t feel quite so terrible, and his eyes could actually focus again. He squinted at his brother.

The first time Abel had been bitten by a werewolf had thrown them into a hellish three-month nightmare. The battle against the curse was the hardest they fought in their life until Seth met Rylie.

As much as they fought, they were more than brothers. They were best friends.

Or at least, they used to be.

“You can tell me whatever. You know that, right?” Seth asked. Abel’s smile faded. He nodded.

Seth’s first attempt to stand failed, so Abel helped him up. He started grinning again. “Your eye looks awesome,” he said. “That’s going to be a nice shiner.”

“You jerk,” Seth said, giving him a small shove.

“You’re welcome.”

Abel didn’t put his coat on again before mounting the ATV to take it to the shed. Seth followed him more slowly on foot.

His brother couldn’t have killed anyone. He was scary sometimes, but he wasn’t crazy—and there was compassion in there somewhere deep down.
Really
deep down.

It had to be someone else killing. Seth was sure of it.

Mostly.

Christmas Eve arrived, and so did the day of the Winter Ball. Rylie woke up as exhausted that morning as she had every other morning for weeks and found she didn’t have the energy to get out of bed.

Her dress—that gorgeous dress—hung over her door where she could see it. But she couldn’t move. Her thoughts overwhelmed her.

Gwyn was still in the hospital and might not come back.

She could only learn to control the change if she left Seth.

There were hunters outside her home with guns—right now—searching for things to shoot at, and they wouldn’t care if they spotted coyotes or wolves.

And she was going to change into a monster again that very night, whether she liked it or not.

It was all too much. Hugging her pillow to her chest and hiking the sheets to her shoulders, Rylie burrowed into her bed and wished it would turn into a big stone sarcophagus to entomb her away from life.

She heard engine sounds through her shut window and detected a faint smell that meant Abel was nearby. He would take care of the ranch. At least that was one less thing to worry about. It was strange to feel grateful for his presence.

But she smelled Seth too, and didn’t want to face him. She originally planned to dress up and surprise him, but she couldn’t imagine getting in the shower anymore, much less doing her hair and makeup.

Someone knocked on her door. She didn’t move.

“Are you awake?”

Seth didn’t raise his voice, like he was trying not to wake her up. She stayed silent so he would think she was sleeping.

Even though she didn’t move, the door opened and he slipped in. He sat on the edge of her bed. “I can’t do this,” Rylie mumbled. “Any of it.”

Seth kicked off his shoes. She lifted the covers and he climbed underneath them, spooning his body around hers. His arm was warm and secure and safe around her stomach.

“Yeah. It sucks.”

They stayed there all morning.

Eventually, Rylie got too hungry to stay in bed. Seth left to get his tuxedo, and she took a plate of barely-cooked bacon into her room for breakfast. She stared at her dress as she chewed on it.

How was she supposed to put that giant thing on without Gwyn’s help?

She washed her hands off before wrestling it over her head, twisting her arms around to zip it halfway up her back. Rylie studied herself in the full-length mirror on her wardrobe door, heavy with helplessness.

It was a full-length ball gown with layers of blue silk. Against her winter-pale skin and white blonde hair, she looked like an ice fairy. The high waist made her legs impossibly long. It sparkled with tiny beads. Even without her makeup done, she looked amazing.

She closed the wardrobe so she wouldn’t have to see herself anymore.

Rylie did her hair in a loose bun and added sparkly clips to match her flowing skirt. Even though she kept her makeup simple, by the time she finished, she heard Seth come in the front door. She stepped out of the bathroom to find him waiting in the living room.

Seth’s mouth dropped open, and all the hours she spent wrestling with herself over the dress and the dance were instantly worth it. He looked amazing in a tuxedo. It made him look taller, broader, and all around manlier. The ice blue tie with his black shirt and jacket matched Rylie’s dress perfectly.

And he only had eyes for her.

How long had she been holding her breath? She felt lightheaded.

Somehow she drifted toward him, closing the gap between their bodies, but she didn’t remember taking a single step. “You’re beautiful,” Seth said.

She bit her bottom lip. That was basically her thoughts about him, too, except punctuated by “hot” and “oh my God” and incoherent babbling noises.

“You’re late,” she teased, trying to bring her brain back to Earth before she lost herself in Seth’s crooked smile. Rylie stretched up to kiss him, but he pulled back and cleared his throat. “What…?”

“Cute. Really cute.”

Abel stood in the doorway, dirty and sweat-soaked despite the snow outside. She dropped back on her heels and rolled her eyes. “Great, just who I wanted to see.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “Nice dress.”

“What are you doing tonight while we’re out?” Seth asked, stepping forward to shield Rylie from him.

“I have plans,” Abel said airily. “Don’t worry about me. Have fun, children.” He was only nineteen. She fought not to roll her eyes again. She didn’t want them to fall out of her head.

She wrapped herself in a fake fur shrug and held hands with Seth as they walked out to the truck. He waited until they both climbed in to pull a box out of his jacket.

Rylie gasped. There was a gorgeous white flower in full bloom inside, glittering with dew.

“I got this for you,” he said. “But I don’t want you to feel like you have to go to this, no matter what Gwyneth said. We can stay home if you want. Your night’s going to be hard enough after the moon rises.”

She took a deep breath. “I want to go. I do.” She couldn’t muster very much conviction.

Rylie held out her arm. He put the corsage on her wrist, fingers lingering on her skin. “We’ll do this together,” Seth said. “You don’t have to be alone.”

For the first time that day, she smiled.

“Thank you.”

Seth and Rylie arrived at the dance late and had to park all the way on the top floor of the parking garage (which only had two levels). He put on a watch before getting out of the truck. “It’s after six now,” he said. “The moon shouldn’t hit until eleven, but we’ll need to leave by nine to get home in time. Tell me when you feel the wolf.”

Rylie nodded. He offered his arm, and they walked out together. The stairs were decorated with balloons, and the sidewalk toward the hall was draped in fluttering ribbons. It was like standing in a storm of silk.

The line to get in stretched all the way to the road, so they took position at the back. She craned around to see through the doorway. Everything inside was decorated in twinkling lights and glitter, and the room shimmered as though encrusted in snow. An ice sculpture of a swan guarded the entrance.

She gasped, holding tight to Seth’s arm. “Do you see that?”

“It’s beautiful,” he said. He wasn’t looking at the decorations.

She hoped it was too dark for him to see her blushing.

Seth kissed her, but they couldn’t enjoy the moment for long. It was too cold. A crowd of high school students came in from the parking garage and caught them in their hurry to get indoors. They were swept inside.

The building was already packed. Rylie had no idea there were so many teenagers in the whole state. The leadership committees had done an awesome job: there was a whole table of food against the wall, including giant strawberries dipped in chocolate, and (even better) platters of meat and cheese.

Smells surrounded Rylie, crashing into each other until they were impossible to distinguish. Perfumes. Lotions. Sweat. Shampoo. Food. The fake mist coming out of the machines on the dance floor. Cigarette smoke. Even the ice by the doorway.

And, of course, other wolves.

Her eye fell on a girl in a white dress at the other end of the room. Bekah smiled and wiggled her fingers in a little wave. After her talk with Scott Whyte, she wasn’t sure how to respond.

After a moment, Rylie waved back.

Seth nudged her. “Do you see that?”

People were clustered around the door. Through a gap in the bodies, Rylie saw Tate in a white tuxedo with Levi on his arm. Tate was making a huge scene, of course. He was all about the attention, and there wasn’t anything more attention-grabbing than the son of the county commissioner showing up with his boyfriend.