Page 85 of Blood Moon
Car alarms rang as they tumbled into them. I took that as an opportunity to escape, leaving the area and sprinting down a sidewalk. In the distance, a cityscape. If I got far enough away, I could figure out where I was and call for a car.
I hiked the trumpet of my dress above my calves, limping downhill as fast as my adrenaline would allow me to go. My ankle wasn’t sprained; I at least knew that much. I’d had a sprained ankle before, but it was probably just swollen, a little bruised—with medicine and ice, it would go down.
Minutes into running and crying, I heard the sound of someone rushing behind me. A look, and it was Julian. He’d changed, and was now wearing a pair of gray shorts and pulling a white shirt over his torso. “Mira! Wait!”
I did no such thing. Nothing made sense anymore.
But Julian was so much faster than me, and it didn’t take long for him to catch up and block my path, abruptly forcing me to stop.
“Listen to me. It’s not safe for you here. We have to leave now.”
I shook my head while I tried to catch my breath, too tired and too stunned to say anything in response.That football player was a wolf, and he was after me. It was happening.
“Please,” Julian begged. “We have to go!”
I stood upright, looking at the murky evening, the far-away city, the amount of time it would take me to get there. If Julian could catch up to me in seconds, how much quicker would it take one of those larger wolves to get me?
Leaving with Julian was the best option, and I knew it. “Okay, fine. Whatever. You don’t have to yell,” I huffed.
He gritted his teeth. “If you would just listen, I wouldn’t have to.”
“Why would I listen to you when you still refuse to be honest with me? It would have been helpful if you said there were other wolves here!” I shouted. “And why is that wolf so damn large? God! How many more are there?!”
Julian dismissed me. “Look, my car is parked nearby. You have two options. You can hop on my back, or I can carry you. Either way, we need to go.”
I didn’t like either option. “I can run just fine.”
He looked at me like I was joking. “Not with that ankle you can’t.”
I eyed the swollen thing and grimaced. “It’s not that bad. It’ll heal. I’m fine.”
“It’s not going to heal if you keep—” he paused, exhaled through flared nostrils. “We’re not going to argue about this. Choose one,please.”
“Fine,” I grunted. “Turn around. I’ll get on your back.” When he did, I pulled my dress up and hopped on.
He hiked me up. “Hold on tight,” he said, and then we were gone. We moved so fast, it felt like we were flying. The night blurred into a sea of darkness, and I had to close my eyes to keep from feeling dizzy. Less than two minutes—that was probably how much time had passed before we made it to his jeep. It was parked a few streets over.
Julian unlocked the doors, and when I climbed in, he snapped for me to buckle my seat belt, which I was already doing. I started to yell, but the door had already closed. The moment he turned the car on, he was speeding down the empty streets. “Will you slow down!”
He glared at me, reduced his speed.
I pulled my phone from my purse. “I’m calling my dad.”
“Don’tdo that,” he said, muscles stiffening.
“Why not? He’s a sheriff. He can help.”
Julian clenched his teeth. “Not with this.”
“But if I explain it in a way that he might understand …” I let the rest of my sentence go unfinished, because it didn’t matter what kind of danger I was in, Bobby would come if I asked. “That guy back there was clearly after me because of, what,my blood?” I tried to wrap my head around the fact that it was actually happening, that werewolves were after me today, right now.
Every fear I had was summed up in this moment. “This isn’t okay. None of it—” Julian swiped my phone away in one quick move. I screamed. “Give it to me now, or I swear to God I will jump out of this car!”
He pressed on the brakes so hard, his tires squealed, and the car skidded to the left. “Why are you being so difficult?” He said once he pulled over. “Can’t you see that I’m trying to save you from them?”
“Why are you being an ass? Can’t you see that I can’t trust you right now?!”
“Someone clearly has an only child complex …” he mumbled.
