Page 3 of Bad Moon Rising

Movement out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. I stare out the window just as the porch light next door clicks on.

There she is. She must’ve been at the library, because she’s juggling a giant stack of books as she fumbles for her keys.

Lily Dean. The scrappy red-haired girl who played the damsel in distress in every one of our childhood games. Not that she was any good at it. My brothers and I would be neck-deep in imaginary demons to protect her, and at the very last minute, she’d break her bonds and wade in to help us bring down the baddies.

And, then, when we were older and our parents put us into training, she insisted on learning things, too. Lily doesn’t know that monsters are real, but she saw us doing cool stuff with weapons and grappling, and so of course we had to show her. Kids at school were mean to her sometimes because she was smart and hung out with the weird Bellua boys, and I wanted her to be able to protect herself when we could no longer watch out for her.

Lily Dean. She’s all grown up, too.

And damn, she grew up good.

That red hair of hers reaches nearly to her ass, and it’s the kind of ass men write poetry about. The moonlight catches the flecks of gold on the edges of her dark eyes, and her lips curl up into a secretive smile as she remembers something amusing. Maybe she’s thinking about a book she read, or remembering the time we replaced my Dad’s herbal tea blend with grass clippings.

As she roots around in her pocket for her keys, I catch a glimpse of something metallic glinting on her wrist.

She’s still wearing my charm.

I tear my gaze from Lily and turn back to the twins. They see her, too. Jackson’s gone stiff, his shit-eating grin frozen on his face. And Orion’s hair is out of his eyes now, those green orbs trained on Lily.

“You can’t leave us out of this.” Jackson doesn’t take his gaze off Lily as if she’s the only thing who truly matters. “This is our town, too.”

I know what he’s not saying. If a werewolf is in Haddenwood, then Lily is in danger.

And we won’t have that.

Even if it means that every moment I’m here, I risk breaking her heart all over again. I ran away from Haddenwood two years ago because of her. Because the only thing I wanted to do when I stared into those gold-flecked eyes was throw away the life I’m destined for and hold her forever.

She was sixteen then, and she’d just stopped looking like a scrappy kid and started to grow into the kind of girl who gives men like me dark, depraved dreams.

So I left. I tell myself I left to give Jackson and Orion a real life, but the truth is that I see the way they look at her, and I know that one of them will give her what I never can—a chance at a normal life.

Lily deserves that. She deserves everything.

And now Jackson and Orion are trying to ruin the plan.

I don’t like it. Everything I’ve done is to keep my brothers out of this world. But I only have twenty-seven days to find my target, and as long as I do the actual staking, the twins will be useful. Jackson can sweet-talk his way into any secret, and Orion’s hacking skills will crack the library card’s owner in ten seconds flat. With these two helping me, I can have this job done and be out of here before Lily even knows I’m back.

“Fine.” I hold out the bottle to Jackson, trying to ignore the sizzle running down my spine at the thought of seeing Lily Dean again. “You’re in. We’ll find this wolf and put it down before it hurts anyone we love.”

2

LILY

You can do this, Lil.

You practiced what you were going to say twenty-seven times in your bathroom mirror last night.

You can do this.

You can totally do this.

Against my better judgment, I glance towards the prom poster taped to the cinder block wall. The theme? Books and ballgowns…a total wet dream for a book nerd like me. The poster depicts a young woman in an elaborate gown, complete with a corset top and hoop skirt cascading around her ankles in layers of golden lace and tulle. The expression on her face is decidedly serene as she studies the pages of her novel.

She’s probably not panicking over asking two of her guy friends to accompany her to prom.

She’s probably not also in love with said guy friends in a way that quite literally makes her want to vomit.

Panic has my hands turning clammy by my sides and my face heating up. At this rate, I’ll burn the entire school down before I get the words out.

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