Page 93 of Blood Moon
Through a blink, I saw the panic in his face, and when he touched me again, I felt the fear coursing through him. There was a tremble in his voice as he stammered, “Bell …Mirabella, listen to me.” He halted, flickering his gaze to the empty space behind his shoulder. Observing, anticipating. Back again, leaning close, he begged, “I know it’s hard, but please. Please fight the urge to fall back asleep.”
I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy, languid. The desire to sleep was irresistible. My eyelids fluttered.
“Don’t,”he pleaded. “Don’t close your eyes. I—I messed up, and I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry,” he said. The immediacy woke me a little, but not enough. “Whatever happens outside this tent, you need to know that everything has changed. There’s not enough time to explain it, but …” His words faded, and I felt my head nod off to the side as the darkness crept in.
Julian grabbed my face, fingers pressing into the hallows of my cheeks. “Mira, wake up.” He lifted me upright, an attempt to get me to sit. More alert now, he blurred into focus before me. It was his mouth I saw first, the quickened pace at which his lips moved.
“I swear on my life I won’t let them hurt you. You’ll have to trust me,” he said, squeezing my hand. “You have me. I promise, youhaveme,” he whispered and then he stopped speaking. I kept blinking, so confused as I tried to understand what was happening.
“What?” I croaked, my vision clearing again. Before me, he was placing his shoes on my feet, tying them as if it would keep them in place. He had full range of motion in his arm. Cuts practically faded or gone. His vessel almost completely healed.
“You have to go; you have to run,” he stressed. A wild look in his eyes.
“What? Why am I running? Where am I running to?”
He kneeled next to me. “Anywhere. As far as you can. Don’t look back, don’t stop. They can’t know we were together.” Hands on my arms as he helped me to my feet. “There is a chance they will catch you, and if they do … don’t fight it. It’ll only make things worse.” My face creased and hardened as I tried to understand the complexity of the situation I’d been woken into. Julian undid the zipper of the tent and whispered sharply, “Go!”
My knees wobbled as I entered the misty night with fear that someone was after me. Without light, the forest blended into itself, and I bumped into trees as I sprinted, still feeling high on the venom that remained in my blood.
Don’t stop, he’d said, and water pooled at the bottom of my pants. Behind, ripping through branches, I felt a vibration in the earth. Something emerging, something following close. I held in a gasp, even though I wanted to cry out. Kept running, heart slamming against my chest like an angry wind.
The faster I ran, the more aware I became of my bruised ankle. It came with a throbbing that wouldn’t abate. There was no time to stop and wrap it, something I should have done hours ago, or however long it’d been. Couldn’t track time without my phone or a watch. The sky was a royal blue. The Blood Moon still massive as it inhabited the heavens, gleaming down on all that was.
Every thought veered toward survival and the hope that I’d make it through a break in the trees, into the city. Find humanity and get to Bobby.
Streetlight poured through leaves. Past branches, the sound of cars swished by. Close.I was close to life.Pushed harder, accelerating, until glowing eyes appeared a few feet ahead.
I skidded to a halt, almost falling in these shoes. Turned left, half my body slamming against a tree. The blow was so powerful, it sent me back a few feet. But I kept going, the adrenaline immobilizing the pain. I only stopped at the reveal of another wolf. The sudden motion jerked me to the ground, where I landed on my chest, nose breathing in the smell of earth.
Fingers pressed into mud, and I rose as a snarl ripped the air. When I stood, another wolf appeared. Ivory-yellow coat, body slunk as it neared. It growled, lips rippling away from thick slime coating its teeth. It crept closer, hunting me, and I scurried backward, running into another snarl. Paused and turned, another wolf. Then, another wolf, until I was enclosed by a choir of snarls and glowing eyes.
How would I escape this? Every option ended with me being torn apart. But there, a few yards past the trees, was the city. I was so close, and I wouldn’t let them keep me here, trapped. I’d go down kicking and screaming until the end.
It was as I planned my diversion that the snarls subsided. A man peeled between two wolves, entering with a bellied laugh.
Under the glow of the moon, he appeared older, rugged, with short midnight hair, pale skin and a scar across the apple of his cheek. In his hand, he held a rifle. “Ain’t no place for you to go,” he said, a twang there, and he smiled with all his teeth.God, I hated him already.“Reparations have begun for you, missy.”Reparations for what?
I took a step back. “Who are you?” I yelled, hands squeezing.
He snickered. “Your worst nightmare.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.So, I was to choose between the teeth of these hybrids—my assumption due to their frames, much smaller than the football player I’d seen before—or die by the barrel of a gun.
I steadied my breathing, pissed that it’d come to this. I was choosing the latter, but just as I set to dive between the legs of a creature, Julian appeared. At first, his presence came with a wave of relief. That subsided when I took in the way he stood tall beside the man, feet grounded with no chance of moving forward.
“You,”I bellowed, throat closing in. This, all of this, was a set up. He’d betrayed me.
“Tsk, tsk.” The man clicked his tongue, wiggled a finger at me. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned at the mention of my subtle move.
Julian’s jaw flinched, hands folded in front of him, chin tilted to the red of the moon. “We both know this ends in blood,” he said, and before I could make another move, or even think, the stranger was aiming that rifle at me, and Julian didn’t intervene. He studied. He stared. This memory would follow me in death.
A pull of the trigger. A blow to my chest. I fell to the ground, my whole body set ablaze. Still, I managed to crawl, even as footsteps approached.
“Well, I’ll be damned. She’s a tough one, isn’t she?” he said with a snicker. Each step bringing splatters of mud. “You ain’t makin’ it far. Not with that tranquilizer in you.”
I persevered until I physically couldn’t move a single limb. Then the tugging came. The Blood Lycans huddled around me, pressing in. I felt a bite to my pants. The smell of wet dog and mud encased me.
My tongue numbed, and I wanted to roar to the heavens, curse whoever was responsible for my fate. But I was inert, consciousness fading as iridescent eyes surrounded me and paws scratched at my skin. A rip into my flesh, blood feeding the fungi. This was how I’d go. Head in the dirt, worms beneath my brain.
