“What if this thing with Dallas is a trap?” I asked. “If they need one of us…we’re handing them Rafe on a silver platter.”
Connor’s fingers tightened around mine. “Major rule tonight: We can’t talk about Bio-Chrome or any of this other stuff that’s happening. Just for a few hours, let’s pretend everything is normal.”
It hadn’t occurred to me that I wasn’t the only one craving the safety of the world we’d lived in before. But he was right. We were trying to escape from reality for a few hours.
“Okay, then. What movie is showing, anyway?” I asked. Tarrant had a small theater that showed only one movie at a time.
His smile flashed white in the near darkness. “Something with Reese Witherspoon—which means a chick movie. You’re going to owe me big-time for this.”
“Going to a movie was your idea,” I felt the need to point out, punching his arm playfully.
“Ow!” He rubbed his arm, then pulled me off the road into the shadows of the trees, until my back was pressed against bark. “You know, Lindsey, you’ve shared every moment of my life, big and small.”
“Not your first transformation.”
“You would have been there if it were allowed. I want to be there for you, for your first time. I love you.”
My heart slammed against my ribs, but not for the reasons it should have. I should have felt joy, but instead I was hit with terror at the enormity of what Connor had said and at my inability to return such a heart-felt sentiment. Either Connor was aware of my inner struggle or he wasn’t expecting a reply from me because his mouth covered mine. His kiss had never seemed so important, so significant, because it had never followed those three little words that were so monstrously huge.
I fought not to compare it to the unexpected kiss I’d had last night—the one that had stolen my breath and left me trembling.
Connor pulled back. I could sense tenseness in him as his hands closed around my arms. “You’re thinking about Rafe.”
“What? No.”
“Tell me you love me.”
“You know I do.”
He released a short burst of hard laughter and stepped away from me. “Do you love him?”
I felt tears burning my eyes. “Connor, let’s not do this.”
“Do. You. Love. Him.”
I’d always been able to talk to Connor about anything. Suddenly it was so hard to force out the words. “I don’t know.”
“God, Lindsey, your transformation moon is coming up and you don’t know? Don’t you think you need to know?”
“What do you suggest? I go to the movies with him?”
A heavy silence descended as though I’d dropped a bomb and we were waiting for it to explode.
“How do you know that I’m the right one, Connor?” I asked, hating that my voice sounded so small, so unsure.
“I just know.”
“That’s not an answer. How do you know?”
He took several steps away and then came back toward me. “Yeah, okay. Maybe you do need to go out with him.”
My heart thumped; I was panicking with the possibility that we were breaking up. Was this what I wanted? I honestly didn’t know any more. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
He started to walk away.
“Connor, wait!” I hurried after him. “I don’t want things to end—”
I came to an abrupt halt. The hairs on the nape of my neck began to prickle with the weird sensation you get when something just isn’t right.
“Connor!” I whispered harshly, loud enough for him to not only hear me but to detect the dread in my voice as well. Before I knew it, he was back at my side, emitting a low, throaty growl.
“Do you feel it?” I asked. It felt like…a disharmony in the universe—which makes me sound like some sort of New Age guru or something, but I don’t know how else to explain it. The forest just felt…wrong.
I heard Connor inhale deeply.
“Blood,” he said in a low voice. “A lot of it. Still warm. Maybe a recent kill. Or someone badly wounded.”
“Someone? Maybe it’s an animal.”
“Definitely human.”
My stomach roiled at the thought of who might be out there, wounded and possibly dying. I knew we had to find out what had happened—and Connor knew it, too.
He took my hand, our fight apparently forgotten. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this?”
“Of course.” In fact, I actually wasn’t sure, but no way was I going to admit it.
He released my hand, and I was aware of his movement and his clothes being shoved into my arms.
“What if it’s a trap?” I asked.
“It’s human blood, Lindsey. Someone might be hurt.” And he could find whomever it was far more quickly in wolf form. “We won’t be able to communicate, so just stay close. If you think there’s a danger to you, run as fast as you can. Holler to get attention if you have to.”
“Got it.”
He quickly brushed his lips over mine, and I could only hope that it wasn’t the last kiss we’d ever share. Could I be any more confused? One minute I’m not sure we should be together and the next I’m hoping that kiss wasn’t the last.
A sort of electricity filled the air, and then fur was brushing up against me. Connor wasn’t too difficult to see in the dark because his fur was pale blond in color, a little darker than my hair. As a wolf he was able to read my thoughts, so I focused on the task before us. I brushed my hand along his fur. As he began to walk, sniffing the ground and air, I remained close enough so I wouldn’t lose him, my fingers occasionally sifting through his fur.
So I was very much aware when he suddenly bristled, as though whatever we were searching for, he had found. I could smell it now, the metallic odor saturating the air so thickly that it made me queasy. I could see a shadowed form lying prone on the ground.
Connor released a long, low howl. I didn’t know why the call of the wolf could carry so far and so effectively. I could be screaming bloody murder and few would hear me to come and help, but many of our kind would hear Connor. They would come. And with any luck, they’d bring flashlights. A lot of information could be communicated in a howl.
Connor was suddenly hairless, and my fingers were touching his warm, bare shoulder. He was in a crouched position. “He’s dead,” he said somberly.