Cascades of Moonlight (The Parker Harris Series: Book #1)

by Amy McClung

  Evening two of defying my parents; I allow the boys to stay over again. The doorbell rang waking me from my deep slumber. I left Quinn in the bed, ran down to see who it was, and found Will standing there. “Hey, I hope it's okay that I came by. I wanted to talk to you guys about what happened to Christine.” I silently motioned for him to come in. We went to the kitchen so I could cook breakfast.

  “Are you going to go after the vampire that killed her? If so, I want to be in on it,” he said.

  “Why? You didn’t know her, and if you did, it couldn’t have been that well,” I replied.

  He looked a bit uneasy, but I figured he was as scared as I was of going after this thing. “I know a werewolf needs to kill her and I'm willing to put myself out there,” he continued. Wait, her? How did he know it was a female?

  “Have you seen who killed Christine, do you know who it is?” I asked.

  He looked a little confused and shook his head. “Why did you say her?“ I inquired.

  “I don’t know, no reason really, I just picked a pronoun,” said Will.

  That was not the most believable answer, but he was pretty nonchalant about it so it was probably true. We have all gone back and forth on the pronouns when talking about this thing. It would be a lot easier if we had a better idea of what we were going after.

  The smell of food must have woken everyone up because they were all in the kitchen by the time it was ready. They were surprised to see Will, but were all very cordial to him and greeted him as one of the gang. Even Quinn was friendly, which was surprising. Of course, he did have to come over and kiss me right in front of Will, even adding a dip for pizzazz, but I wasn't complaining. This would be a nice morning with my friends. Well, I was hoping for that at least. I should have known better.

  Remembering my drive the previous day, I filled everyone else in on the part about the shadow running through the woods and the dumb part where I tried to see what it was; Quinn was not happy about either part. “Could you take me back to where you saw it? It might be the area they're staying in,” Quinn said.

  “Well, I doubt that. When you were living in the woods did you see anyone?” I asked as I turned my gaze to Will.

  He was caught off guard. “No, why?”

  I replied, “Well, I saw the shadow right there where I found you. That’s why I don’t think this person is living in the area because you would've most likely seen or heard them sometime.”

  Quinn shot a suspicious look at Will, “You sure it was a black bear who attacked you that day, buddy? It seems a bit strange that you'd be so comfortable with vampires so quickly. It’s also kind of weird that Christine died shortly after you showed up.”

  Will got angry and pushed his chair back and got in Quinn’s face. “If you remember, I did freak out when I found out what you were and I got to town not long after you did. This was a vampire kill, I’m a werewolf, if anyone looks suspicious, it is you! And don't call me buddy,” As he said the last part, he put his hands out and shoved Quinn off balance.

  Quickly, I stepped up and got between them, putting a hand on each of their chests. Quinn was angry, it was written all over his face, and if his heart still beat it would be beating through his chest right now the way Will’s was. “Will's right, he did freak out when he found out what you were. Remember, I had to convince him you were safe. No one in this room is a suspect in this as far as I'm concerned.” I said that to defend both of them, but it ended up more like I was on Will’s side. I could tell that didn’t sit well with Quinn. He smirked and stormed out of the room.

  Excusing myself, I went after Quinn. I found him in the living room looking livid. He turned to me abruptly, “Do you trust me at all?”

  I was bowled over by his tone and said, “Of course I do. Why would you ask that?”

  He scoffed, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because every time something goes wrong you seem to think the worst of me. Like when I told you about Mitchell, you just took off running like I would put your best friend in danger. And just now, you took Will’s side over mine.”

  In anger I said, “You forgot about the time you told me that you were using me and had no feelings for me, I thought the worst of you then too.”

  He was hurt by that and I immediately regretted it and tried to recant. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, Quinn.”

  His mood calmed, “Yes you did,” he replied, “I’m going to go. I shouldn’t be here anyway and right now I just don’t want to be. I'll call you sometime. I need to think.” I reached for him and he disappeared out the door before I could touch him.

  Will came in the living room and sat on the couch beside me. He extended his arm to show me he was there for comfort. I leaned against him.

  "I'm really sorry for causing trouble between you and Quinn. You're the only real friend I have and I appreciate you taking up for me," Will's words were filled with sincerity; disputing them would only hurt him so I let it go. I liked Will, our friendship was important to me because of the fact that we both shared the same curse. He was such a good friend to me…for a few minutes, then he went and ruined it.

  “Why are you with Quinn? I mean he's our enemy. How can you fall in love with a vampire?” Will asked.

  I sat up and turned toward him, “It doesn’t matter to me what he is, it is who he is. He has a kind heart. He's not evil like vampires are thought to be. He would never kill someone like that rogue vampire has done. I haven’t seen any evil come from him at all.”

  Will gave me a look of uncertainty. “He never drank human blood?” I ignored that question, remembering back to the conversation where Quinn had told me that he killed people for a while and how guilty he felt about it. That was fifty years ago and he has changed since then. I honestly believe there's no evil inside him anymore.

  When I didn’t answer, he continued, “He turned Mitchell and could've killed him, that doesn’t bother you? Aren’t you afraid he could turn on Jackie? What if he can’t control himself at that point?”

  I shook my head, “No I’m not afraid he’ll hurt Jackie, he didn’t kill Mitchell. He made sure that he taught him how to control himself and his hunger. If you ask Mitchell, I don’t think he would say he hates Quinn for changing him either. They're like brothers now, they've become so close. There’s no danger from Quinn; I'm sure of that. You have no idea how much strength and willpower it takes for him to control killing someone when he feeds. And we aren’t that different from them. I still don’t know how to completely control myself when I shift and it scares me to death.”

  Will stared in my eyes as he spoke, “We're the same though. We could help each other cope and learn how to control ourselves when we shift. We should be spending time together and learning how to do that instead of you being all love struck.”

  That was rude and it flew all over me. “Screw you, Will. I've been the only girl in this town without a boyfriend for years now and I'm happy to finally have one. I finally feel like a normal person for the first time in two years. Ever since I was bitten, I've had to keep secrets from everyone I care about and have had to deal with this alone. I'm glad that I have friends to help me carry this burden now. I count you as one of those friends. That's the most important thing you can be to me, Will. Please don’t ruin that by talking about us trying to have more. I don’t want to hurt you, but there'll never be anything more than friendship between us.”

  Will apologized awkwardly and went to get us some drinks from the kitchen. I took the opportunity to text Quinn.

  Me: I understand why you needed time. Just want you to know that I miss you and I love you.

  I got a reply instantly which made my heart soar.

  Quinn: I love you too, be back soon.

  Will came back with drinks and with Jackie and Mitchell following him. They were all telling stories and laughing. I excused myself to make my daily call to my parents and confessed t
hat the guys had spent the night. They weren’t too happy, but they said it made them feel better that I wasn’t alone because the Martin’s, Jackie’s parents (also known as their best friends), had told them about Christine’s murder. They had been on the phone trying to get an earlier flight home once they heard about it. Now that they knew I wasn't alone they felt more at ease. I was in the kitchen talking to them while everyone else was setting up a game of poker in the living room.

  While on the phone, I had been gazing out the back window and I felt a chill. Someone watched me from the edge of the woods. I could make out the shape and could feel the eyes boring into me. Calmly, I told my parents I wanted to get back to my company and added, "Have a safe trip, enjoy yourselves. I love you both." As soon as I hung up the phone, I called Quinn.

  He answered, “Hey sweetheart, don’t worry I'm…”

  I interrupted him and said, “Are you in the woods behind my house right now, looking at me standing in the kitchen?”

  With panic in his voice, he said, “Make sure the doors are locked and get with everyone else. I'll be there in two minutes.” He hung up and was literally there in two minutes, might have been a minute and a half even.

  He ran in the door and made sure everyone was safe and asked me to take him to the kitchen and show him what I saw. We went to the window and I pointed to the area where the shadow was, but it was gone. “I’m going to go outside and take a look around,” Quinn said.

  I grabbed his arm and stopped him, “Please don’t go out there; it could be dangerous.”

  He brushed his hand against my cheek, “I'll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” In a blink, he was gone. I screamed for Mitchell and he was by my side before I finished his name.

  “Quinn went into the woods to look for a vampire, please go help him, Mitch.”

  He turned toward the living room, “Will!” he called out, and Will came into the kitchen. “I need you to stay with the girls and protect them. You guys should be safe together. If it’s a vampire it has to be given an invitation, so don’t invite anyone in. I'm going to go after Quinn. Do you mind, man?”

  Will appeared a bit apprehensive when he heard this, but said, “No, I can do that, I'll protect them with my life. Go, help Quinn.”

  Mitchell took off into the woods after him. I hoped he'd catch up to him quickly. I locked the door behind him. Will and I went back to the living room to let Jackie know what was going on. Poor Will, not only was he left as the babysitter, he had to put up with the fact that Jackie and I were both worried sick over our guys and that meant our minds were only focused on that.

  “Let’s play cards or something. We can’t sit here and fret all night,” Will said as he grabbed a deck off the coffee table and started shuffling.

  “I don’t think I could concentrate on the game right now, Will. Sorry,” I said as I stared out the window. There hadn't been much movement in the woods and it had been over an hour now. I grabbed my phone and started to dial. Will snatched it out of my hand. “What the hell?"

  He pushed the end button on the phone and sat it down. “If Quinn's hunting, the sound of the phone could give away his position. You could be putting him in danger.”

  My face fell, I never even thought about that. I flopped myself down on the couch. Will sat next to me and put his arm around my neck. “Cards?” He asked as he looked at me and smiled.

  “Fine, let’s play; Jackie…Go Fish sounds thoughtless enough, right?” Jackie plopped down on the floor in front of the coffee table and Will started dealing the cards out. We were on the third round when I heard a loud noise from outside. The trash cans had been knocked down and were rolling through the yard.

  We all jumped up at the noise. Will told us to stay inside while he checked it out. I went to watch from the door. Will was sniffing at the air which is weird; I suppose he thought he could sniff out vampires as a human.

  There was a flash, followed by a brush of air that went by, and it knocked Will over. He screamed and held out his hand covered in blood. I grabbed a cloth and ran outside to help him. I held his hand with a rag over it when I heard something behind me. I turned around quickly and Mitchell and Quinn were coming out of the woods. I took off running to Quinn and it felt like I hit a brick wall and then I was dizzy and standing in my kitchen again.

  My balance was a bit off; I stumbled back and someone caught me. “What…what happened?” I asked.

  Quinn replied, “I brought you back inside. You're safer here. We lost the vampire right before we heard the trash cans fall. We figure it did that to lure you outside. You're safe inside and I needed to get you back as quickly as possible. Sorry, that's why you're a bit dizzy right now.”

  Will came in the door, threw his injured hand in the air, and said sarcastically, “I’m fine…werewolf, so I heal quickly…thanks for asking though.” Moving away from Quinn, I went to check Will and when I took his hand he snatched it back.

  “Watch it, Will!” Quinn shouted angrily as he started toward him. I put my hands on his chest and pleaded with my eyes. Quinn took the hint and walked out of the room.

  I turned back to Will. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have left you out there. Everything happened so fast.” I said. He stopped me by putting his hand up in front of my face.

  “Just forget it; you made it clear that nothing matters to you, but that blood-sucking demon. When he's around, no one else matters, not me…not Jackie, no one.”

  Now I was angry, “That isn’t fair, Will. I do care about you and Jackie. And don’t call him a demon, he's a good person. Quinn means the world to me, but that doesn’t mean I can’t care for anyone else.”

  Will dropped his head and put his arms around me, "I'm sorry."

  We were hugging when Quinn cleared his throat behind me. We pulled apart and Will knocked into him roughly as he went into the living room. Quinn glared at him, another of those stabbing glares, and then took a deep breath.

  He walked over, looking me over for a minute. He was relieved and hugged me tightly. “I love you.”

  Pulling back to look at him, I said, “I love you too. So what happened out there? Did you see anyone? Do you think it was the vampire that killed Christine?”

  His voice radiated concern, “If it was, then it knows you're a wolf and it's probably going to come after you. I'm not letting you out of my sight again.”

  I winked at him and said, "I can handle that."

  “Has Will been here the whole time?” he asked.

  Exhaling loudly, I rolled my eyes. “Please don’t start on Will again.”

  He shook his head as he said, “No, I’m not. I was just wondering. I was wrong for getting mad at him earlier. He's your friend and I understand the need for you to be able to talk to someone who goes through the same thing as you. I never had anyone to talk to about that stuff before Mitchell and it has made an enormous difference. I don’t feel alone like I used to.” He ran his fingers through my hair, “You helped me with that as well, and I know I have helped you some. Having someone that goes through the exact same thing as you is important. I just wish you had met a girl werewolf instead.”

  I squeezed him and said, “Thank you, it means a lot to me that you understand that. If it makes you feel better, Will's like a little brother to me. No romantic feelings there at all. I made that clear to him as well.”

  If I hadn’t witnessed it with my own two eyes, I never would have believed what happened next. Quinn walked into the living room, straight up to Will, and apologized for everything. They shook hands to signify a truce. When he first started toward him, my whole body tensed, scared that he was going to hit him, but I was pleasantly surprised with his gesture. He even invited him to move back into his cabin. Will turned him down saying he was getting a rush from sneaking into the school at night and hiding out. From that moment on, they got along like best friends. It was so strange h
ow everything came together like that, but I wasn’t going to take it for granted.

  The guys noticed the cards on the table and decided on a new game to play. We started playing poker, using pennies for money. The first suggestion was strip poker, but Jackie and I shot them down quickly on that one. I was kicking butt with a grand total of 50 cents when Will got a text and left the room.

  A few minutes later, I heard him yell out and slam the door. Everyone jumped up at once. Quinn and Mitchell took protective stances in front of Jackie and me. I decided I would see what was up. If something made him that angry, it could cause him to shift and I was the only safe one if that happened. Quinn was hesitant at first and grabbed my hand firmly. I gave him an insistent look and he knew that I was right.

  He let me go and said, “Be careful, please.” I smiled and went to check on Will.

  He was in the kitchen with his hands trembling against the counter He saw me and said, "I'm sorry for making so much noise."

  “How are you? Do you feel out of control, like you might shift?” I asked. He said no, but I still didn’t want anyone near him right now. “What happened?” I asked.

  “That was my sister, she’s upset. She said things haven’t been the same since I left and she said mom and dad don’t pay any attention to her because they're spending all their time trying to find me. She wants me to come home, she misses me,” he said.

  I put my hand on his shoulder, “Go back, Will. If you need to be with her, then go. Look at me, I have kept this secret for two years and no one has been hurt by it. You have four friends here if things get rough, four people that know your secret and still care about you no matter what. Family is important though. You love your sister, you saved her life.”

  Will put his hand on mine and said, “I can’t go back yet, at least not until after this week.” I was confused and asked why. “This week is a full moon, did you forget?” I had forgotten for a minute actually.

  We went back into the room with everyone else and reminded them of what was coming this week. We had to devise a plan on how to use the full moon to track down a rogue vampire. Will began telling us about the cave he lived in, near where I found him that day. He said, "I can show you where it is and we can spend our shift time there." Quinn wasn’t happy about that, not because I would be with Will as much as the fact that the area is where we last saw something that could've been a killer.

  “Quinn,” I said, “that's the point. We have to track this person down and we're going to be the best for that once we've shifted.”

  Will chimed in saying, “You have my word, man, I won’t let anything happen to Parker. She's the best friend I’ve had in a long time. I'll take good care of her.” They were civil again and even working together. They're both really impressing me right now.

  The plan came down to this; Jackie and Mitchell will be together at my house because my parents will still be out of town. Quinn would be staying there too, but he would be doing a lot of patrolling to see what he could find on his own. He'll be far from the woods where we'll be so that we're not distracted by another vampires smell. Will and I will spend both days in a cave. At the end of the two days, once I have shifted back, I will call Quinn and he'll pick us up. I was a nervous wreck, but it made me feel somewhat better that Will would be there with me.

  As I was upstairs packing a bag, Quinn came in the room and shut the door. “Are you sure you’re ok with this?” He asked.

  As I turned to face him, I said, “I'm scared to death actually, but it'll be fine. This is what we have to do to keep other people from getting hurt.” Before I finished my sentence, he hugged me and leaned in for a kiss. I didn’t want to stop, but there was a knock on the door and the sound of Will clearing his throat.

  We pulled apart and Quinn turned to Will with a look of annoyance on his face. So much for the truce, I thought. “What do you want, man?” Quinn asked irritated.

  Will replied, “I wanted to see if it was cool if we changed the plans a bit. I think it would be better if Parker and I go to the cave on our own. The other vampire may pick up your scent and think it's strange for it to be around a werewolf scent.”

  Quinn started shaking his head before Will could even finish his thought and insisted, “I want to check out the area and make sure Parker's safe there.”

  Will replied, “I understand, but I told you I won't let anything happen to her. I promise you. It would mean a lot to me if you trusted me.”

  Quinn sighed, “Look, Will, it’s not that I don’t trust that you'll take care of her. I know you care about her. I would feel better knowing for myself that she's safe.”

  I thought it was time for me to interject, “I think Will has a point, Quinn. It would be less distracting if your scent weren't there. Plus, this is not my first full moon guys. I can take care of myself just fine. I'm big girl and I too have super powers in my wolf form.”

  He groaned and agreed at last. Tonight was the last night before we had to leave for the full moon. I wanted it to be special for us so I asked Will to leave and told him we would meet up at the school the next afternoon.

  Quinn and I snuggled up under the covers, in my queen sized bed, and talked most of the night. “So, tell me about your family, I don’t know much about them. I assumed by the red hair that you were of Irish decent in some way, but Harris is a British name.”

  I was intrigued by the fact that he knew that. I began to wonder if he was good with names or if he had done research to learn about my background. “I'm Irish, well my mom is, she has red hair too, naturally at least, she dyes it brown though.”

  He ran his fingers through my hair. “Please don’t ever do that to yours. I love this color, it's stunning.” There's that word again. For some reason, the word stunning sounds so old-fashioned to me. Then again, Quinn is pretty old-fashioned, being in his seventies and all.

  Smiling, I replied, “Don’t worry, I would never dye my hair, I actually like it a lot myself. Where was I? Oh yeah, my mom’s maiden name is McConaughey.”

  He looked confused, “Like the…”

  I stopped him, “Yes, but no relation…Thank goodness!”

  Confused again, he said, “Why's it a good thing you aren’t related to him?”

  Faking a shocked look, I said, “Because, then I would never have a chance to date him of course!”

  He grabbed me and started tickling me. “Oh really? You want to date him?” He said as I begged him to stop through the laughter and tears. He stopped and pressed his lips again mine fervently.

  I cherished every minute of it, terrified that something would go wrong when I shifted and I may hurt him, or worse. I tried not to think about it, but it kept creeping back into my thoughts. It must've been obvious that I wasn’t completely in the moment. Quinn stopped and kissed my forehead. “What’s wrong, baby?”

  Sitting up, I faced him and said, “Just thinking about my nightmare. I don’t want you anywhere near me once I’ve shifted. I’m petrified of what will happen.”

  Quinn brushed my hair behind my ear and said, “We’ve been over this, nothing is going to go wrong.”

  I cocked an eyebrow as I said, “Have you ever watched movies? Do you know that every time someone says ‘nothing is going to go wrong,' it goes terribly wrong?”

  Quinn snorted, “Sounds like you watch too many movies, hon. Nothing is going to happen to me, you're stuck with me whether you like it or not.”

  He kissed my head and I giggled, “Oh, you can bet I like it.”

  The morning came way too soon. The sun was shining in the window; I stretched and rolled over to see Quinn lying there so peacefully. Peacefully was the gentle way to put it. When he slept, he looked…well, there's no other way to say it…dead. Truthfully it was a little creepy at times to think about, so I made an effort not to. I curled up against his chest, not ready to face the full moon tonight and the dangers that
came with it. The only thing I did feel right about was that I wouldn’t be alone this time. I had Will to help me through it. There were noises coming from downstairs so I knew the others were up.

  Kissing his chest lightly, I started to say Quinn’s name trying to rouse him from his somber state. He wasn’t budging so I started to get louder, and then started calling him different cutesy names trying to wake him up by annoying him. “Quinny, QuinnBear, Q to the win, Quintessential, Qui-Qui, Q-Q-cachoo…”

  One side of his lips turned upward and that adorable dimple came out and his chest shook. “Ok, I like Q-Q-cachoo,” he said as he chuckled. He kissed me good morning and then got up out of bed and stretched his body. I marveled at the way his torso moved and the smoothness of his skin. He put his hand out to me and I reluctantly got out of bed and headed downstairs to greet the day.

  We had pancakes for breakfast, courtesy of Mitchell’s cooking this time. We were great at teamwork. Mitchell cooked, Jackie and I set the table and poured the drinks, and Quinn added butter and syrup to each plate as it was hot off the stove. Vampire speed helped him do it before they ever had a chance to cool in the slightest. It was really quite cool to watch.

  It had to be the best breakfast I’ve ever had, not just the food, but the company. I wanted to savor this moment between the four of us, in case it was the last meal we had together. It’s unhealthy to think that way, but I can be a bit of a cynic sometimes. Jackie and Mitchell kept stealing kisses and feeding each other pancakes. Quinn was pretty quiet. I think he was a pessimist too and didn’t want to admit it.

  Scooting my stool over to him, I kissed his shoulder. He turned and smiled, kissed my forehead, and fed me a bit of his pancake. He took his finger and dipped it in the syrup and I saw it moving toward me. Thinking he was trying to act sexy, I started toward it. He swiftly touched my nose, wiping syrup all over it. I jumped back and shouted, “Hey!” He rolled with laughter as I went to wipe my nose and couldn’t get it all off because of the stickiness. Instead, bits of napkin were sticking to my nose. Laughing still, he went to the sink for a wet paper towel and cleaned it off for me. By this time, my stomach hurt from laughing so intensely. He put his arms around me and hugged me, close, a little too tight.

  Quinn and I wanted to be alone for a few hours so we left the house and took a drive. He mentioned some particular place that he wanted to show me, so he took the wheel. We were driving for a while, I almost started to worry that it was too far, like he had changed his mind and was kidnapping me to keep me safe. Apparently the thought of being abducted pleased me, because I was a little disappointed when he pulled over to the side of the road. He walked around and opened the door for me, helping me out of the car. This place was unfamiliar to me so I didn't argue as he led the way.

  He lifted me into his arms and ran us to a clearing that had a beautiful waterfall. The surroundings took my breath away. The soft rumble of the waterfall lulled me into a state of tranquility; this is exactly where I needed to be to keep calm. "Stay put, I'll be back in a second." With him, a second was accurate. When he returned, he had a blanket and a picnic basket. He laid the blanket out and sat the basket on it. He patted the ground next to him to signal for me to join him.

  Everything had such a romantic feel to it. This place was beautiful, I couldn’t believe it was only an hour or so from home, but I had never discovered it. Quinn reached into the basket and pulled out two goblets and a bottle of champagne, he poured each of us a glass. “How did you get this stuff? Or should I say where?”

  A cunning grin came over his face, “I can be very persuasive that’s all I can tell you.” Boy, he isn’t kidding, I know many girls couldn’t resist his smile, I'm just lucky he's mine.

  The glass was at my lips when Quinn stopped me. “We have to have a toast,” he said. He held his goblet up and said, “Here’s to us. We will have the forever we deserve; no one will take that away.” Optimism filled the air as we clink our glasses together and then intertwined our arms to take a drink. That's much harder to do than they make it seem in movies. When the glasses were empty, Quinn took mine and set it down, and then stood up and extended his hand to help me up.

  “What are we doing now?” I asked.

  “Going for a swim,” he said as he lifted off his shirt.

  “Are you crazy? It’s October, it’s got to be freezing in that water!” That didn’t stop him, he took off all his clothes and…well my thoughts were gone.

  He took off running toward the edge and jumped in. He disappeared into the water for a brief moment and when he resurfaced, he screamed out, “Gah! That is freezing!” I fell back with laughter, still fully dressed on the blanket. “Are you coming in here or not?” He asked.

  “Not!” I said loudly, with a chuckle. He pulled himself up out of the water and ran over and grabbed me up in his arms, soaking me and my clothes. Laughing and screaming at the same time, I exclaimed, “You're so cold put me down!” He shook his hair out all over me and I tried to push him off. He kissed me through the laughter at first, and then it took a passionate turn.

  He frantically helped me out of my clothes and lay me back on the blanket. It resembled a moment in the movies, one that people imagine happening, but never actually seems to occur in reality. There was music in my head appropriate for the moment. No, it didn’t have the beat bow-chick-a-wow-wow. It was more like something by Sarah McLachlan, a love song with a backdrop of utter sadness. He wrapped me up in a blanket with him and we laid there and listened to the sound of the waterfall.

  The silence was broken by Quinn. “You know, this is a special moon for us.” I gave him an odd look. He continued, “In stories of old, the full moon of each month is given a name, this is called the Hunter’s moon or the blood moon.”

  As he paused, I snorted, “Did you just say stories of old?”

  He playfully smacked my shoulder, “I’m trying to be romantic here.” I apologized and he continued, “It sort of symbolizes us as a couple, the blood for me as a Vampire and the Moon for you as a werewolf. It’s our special moon.”

  The thought of that made me smile; instead of looking at the full moon as a curse on my life I could look at it as what brought us together. If I hadn’t been a werewolf, he might not have ever approached me at school. This being our first full moon together and it being the blood moon was a sign that we were meant to be. At least I could hope that for a while, right? He kissed my head at that moment and I leaned back against his chest enjoying this time with him. This can’t be the last time we do this, life wouldn’t be that cruel. There were more of these moments to come and I had to believe that.

  Quinn sighed, “We better get dressed.” My body didn’t even flinch because I wasn’t ready for this to end yet. Quinn pulled the blanket off and stood up. I put my hand on his arm and noticed the trembling. I guess he could tell, so he sat back down. He held me, stroking my hair. “We're going to come back here in a few days and do this all over again. I promise you that…you believe me, right?” Quinn said in a voice that exuded confidence.

  “I'm holding you to that promise,” I replied, with as much optimism and strength as I could muster.

  He placed his hands on my face, pulled me in for a kiss, and then he said, “Consider it a date. I'm not about to give you up, sweetheart.”

  Sigh. Every time he says sweetheart my heart swells. He ran his hand over mine and over the ring he gave me. “Oh, can you put this up for me and give it back to me after the shifting is over,” I asked him, as I held it out toward him. He took it and raised his hand above his head. He grinned facetiously with one dimple appearing on his left cheek. Adorable. “What are you doing?” I asked.

  Still grinning, he replied, “Putting it up.”

  I smacked his chest playfully. “You're so corny…nutball,” I kissed him one more time before we had to leave.

  Quinn carried everything to the car while I got
dressed. This was the most beautiful spot in the world. It was officially my happy place now and I wanted to make sure it stayed that way. I needed to give this up to a higher power, I took a deep breath and started to speak to the sky, God, goddess, whoever would listen. “Please let this plan work. Please keep Will and me safe while we hunt for this killer. But most of all, please keep Quinn safe. If I have to trade my life for his, I will. I can’t face losing him. Please, watch over him.”

  There was a noise behind me and I turned around. Quinn had a distressed look on his face. Solemnly he said, “It’s time to go.” He helped me up and we walked hand and hand to the car, as leisurely as possible.

  We were both pretty quiet on the ride back. Pulling into the school parking lot, Quinn reached over to stop me as I opened the door. I turned a little surprised. “What’s wrong? It’s getting late.” Part of me was happy he wanted to expand our time together and the other part of me worried about shifting next to him.

  He leaned over and kissed me with such gentle grace and love and whispered, “I love you…I just wanted to do that without Will standing by watching.”

  Chapter Twelve