Page 33 of The Way We Were(wolf)

The full moon is high in the sky.

Wait a second…the full moon was high in the sky.

He jerked his head in her direction as she puffed out her chest and gave him a crisp nod.

“I don’t want to say I told you so, but…” she trailed off as she leaned back and looked at him.

He looked at himself too, his body still unchanging and the hair on his forearms gone. “That’s…” he began, his eyes bouncing from hand to hand, his thoughts scrambling to put together the pieces of a puzzle that should have included him as a full-fledged werewolf. “That’s never happened before. How did you know?”

She untied him, and his appendages flopped to the ground. “I didn’t.” Rolling over, he rose to meet her, his face inches from hers, close enough that he could smell the candy they’d eaten together earlier on her breath. “But I knew you wouldn’t hurt me.”

“You risked your life tonight.”

“Eh,” she said with a shrug. “The things we do for the people we love, right?”

He scooped her into his arms, bringing her onto his lap as he held her as close to him as he could. He breathed in the scent, sweet chocolate mixed with the comforting vanilla of her perfume, when a flash of something near the wood line caught his eye.

Nathan.

“The love spell,” he whispered, a tiny crack forming in his chest.

“What spell?”

He cleared his throat before he spoke. “There was a legend that said love could save a werewolf, but that didn’t really work for my brother.” Which made his protectiveness a little easier to understand. All this time, Nathan had been protecting Eric from hurting like he had when the spell hadn’t worked for him, saving him from the disappointment he’d felt when he thought his life was on the brink of change and then quickly realizing it wasn’t.

Or worse, perhaps he’d just seen what happened here in the woods and now recognized the spell hadn’t worked for him because Carrie had never loved him.

“That’s a shame.”

“Yeah,” he breathed. “It really is.”

He’d have to find Nathan, of course. But first, they needed to get away from the woods in case Nathan came back. He needed to get them back to Wheeling. Backhome.Boy, he loved the thought of that.

Eric stood, offering his hand to Lucy. “What do you say we get out of here?”

She placed her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “I say hop on and hold on tight.”

“Oh, you’re driving us back?” he asked, knowing the answer before he’d even asked, but he couldn’t resist seeing the twinkle in her eyes.

“You bet. Get ready for a wild ride.”

Oh, he was ready. The last few weeks had been about as wild as anything he’d ever encountered. But tonight…that was the wildest part yet.

As Lucy sat atop the four-wheeler, looking back at him with a smile that simultaneously made his heart melt and pound with excitement, he couldn’t imagine anyone else better suited for this adventure with him than the woman who’d risked everything to save him with just three little words.

“I love you, Lucy.”

“I love you more.”

He hopped on the back, wrapping his arms around her middle, and whispered the one thing he knew would get her moving faster than anything. “You’ll love me even more when I tell you there’s extra pumpkin roll in my fridge, if you’re interested.”

Epilogue

ONE YEAR LATER…

“All aboard the hot-mess express,” Lucy said as she looked down at her muddy shoes…and even muddier backside.

“I feel like maybe you’re the lukewarm-mess express, since Old Man Winter decided to wake up a little early this year.”

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