Moon of the Terrible (Seasons of the Moon) by SM Reine Read Free Book Online Page B

his arm tighter. “Oh, Rylie! I didn’t hear you coming!”
    She gritted her teeth together. “Yeah, I bet you didn’t.”
    Abel’s glower shifted into a hint of a smile, like he thought her reaction was funny. “What do you want?” he asked.
    “You,” Rylie said. Crystal looked surprised, and Rylie realized what she had said. Her cheeks heated. “I mean, I want to talk to you. Pack stuff.”
    Abel glanced down at Crystal. “Catch you later?”
    The girl disengaged. “Okay. Sounds good.” Her cheeks dimpled when she smiled.
    Rylie glared at Crystal as she walked away.
    “Want to walk?” Abel asked.
    She nodded, and they set out. They walked together in the silent, snowy night, shoulder-to-shoulder. There wasn’t much town to walk through—the hospital was on the outer edges of the city, and they were soon on an empty highway.
    Abel stopped and sat on the fence, one knee propped up on the railing.
    “Why did they let me go?” Rylie asked.
    He didn’t look angry anymore. Instead, he looked worried. “I don’t know. A new beginning. What’s that even supposed to mean?”
    Rylie had no answers. It wasn’t like she had ever thought to prepare herself for “what to do when your zombie in-laws rise from the dead and attack.”
    “What do we do if he was right? If we get back to the California sanctuary, and everyone is…” Rylie bit her bottom lip. She didn’t need to say what they were both thinking.
    Abel’s brow dropped low over his eyes. “We’ll find Cain and kill him.” The words fell flat in the night. Rylie shivered. “Don’t worry about it. Not yet. We don’t know that anything is wrong.”
    That didn’t make her feel any better. She bit her bottom lip and ducked her head. “I think we need to talk about everything that’s been going on. Not the Cain thing. The… other stuff.”
    Abel lifted his eyebrows. “Yeah. I think we do.” He hooked a finger in the waistband of her jeans and dragged her to stand between his knees. He grabbed her hips, dug his fingers into her lower back, and leaned toward her neck.
    She pushed his hands off. “Not like that.”
    He gave her a look that was way too innocent to be genuine. He had instantly flipped from his gloom to something a lot more… intent. “Like what?”
    “Just because we kissed once doesn’t mean we have a…” She flapped her hands in the air. “Relationship. I’m already in a relationship.”
    Abel didn’t seem to be listening. He stood over her, so impossibly tall and broad that he filled her vision. She could barely breathe.
    She went on, even though it was really hard to keep track of her train of thought.
    “Werewolf packs have two Alphas. A man and a woman. I think that our wolves are just… drawn to each other. But that doesn’t mean…”
    Abel’s hand pressed into the small of her back, tugging her chest against his.
    Wait, what had she been saying?
    “I shouldn’t have kissed you,” Rylie rushed out. “I’m not going to pretend there isn’t something between us. There is.” In fact, there were two flimsy layers of clothing between them. And the wolf would have liked it if there was a lot less. “What’s happening is some werewolf thing . Seth and I have something else.”
    “A tedious relationship that’s hung around two years too long?” he asked, tracing his thumb over her bottom lip. How was she supposed to talk when he was doing that?
    “Love,” Rylie said. “And a history. He’s given up everything for me.”
    “But Seth doesn’t need you like I do.” He caught her hand and brought it to his face, pressing her palm against his scars. It always surprised her how much softer the ridges were than they looked. “I need you, Rylie. Just like I need air. And just like you need me.”
    He bent down, and she knew with sudden surety that he was about to kiss her—and that she wanted to be kissed.
    “Don’t,” she said faintly. He didn’t stop, and his lips brushed over hers. So she shoved him