Sometimes By Moonlight by Heather Davis Read Free Book Online Page B

things you mentioned,” he said slowly. “Someone here at the school must have done them.”
     
    “Why would they do that?”
     
    Austin released me from his embrace and leaned against the kitchen worktable. “I think they were hoping to encourage you to draw me here to Steinfelder.”
     
    “How could I do that?”
     
    “We have a bond stronger than you realize.” Austin began to pace the kitchen. “Who here is aware that you know me?”
     
    I gulped back embarrassment. “Um, like, everyone.”
     
    “Ah.” Austin’s cheeks colored. “You talked about me…”
     
    “Well, of course. I mean, I’ve been sad! What do you expect when you don’t write to me? I started to worry that the summer was all a stupid camp fling or something. And then, I saw you in that magazine with that Eva Maleva chick and I didn’t know what to think.”
     
    “I couldn’t write to you,” he said. “I couldn’t put you at risk.”
     
    “At risk for what? A broken heart? Too late,” I said, hitting him on the arm.
     
    “No, I didn’t want to risk anyone knowing that you associated with me.”
     
    “Oh, I get it, you’ve got to protect your image and Eva Maleva is like, the perfect, glamorous girlfriend or something.”
     
    “No, Eva is—”
     
    “I don’t want to hear it.”
     
    Austin grabbed on to my arms, stilling me. “Listen—she’s like me. She’s our kind.”
     
    “Yeah, rich and famous,” I said. “I get it. I know that I’m not fancy or anything but—”
     
    “Shelby, she’s a werewolf. A cousin of mine, actually.”
     
    “Oh.” I gave him an apologetic smile. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”
     
    He hugged me again, taking in a deep breath. “You didn’t give me a chance to.”
     
    “I still don’t understand,” I said, pulling back to look him in the eyes. “What couldn’t you put me at risk for?”
     
    “For being found out.” He leaned against the counter and regarded me with a serious expression. “I’ve been watching from a distance as often as I could. And I had a friend at the castle in Muldania hack into the video chat system, so I’ve seen your calls home to your parents.”
     
    “Muldania?”
     
    “Our homeland. I finally convinced Dad we should get away from the London paparazzi. He bought the ancestral castle in Muldania. It’s near the border between Romania and Yugoslavia…” His voice trailed off and he held a finger to his lips.
     
    Somewhere, I heard the squeak of floorboards. I glanced toward the door.
     
    “So, you hear it, too?” Austin asked.
     
    I nodded.
     
    “Your hearing is as good as mine now,” he said, his eyes darkening. “Doesn’t that tell you something?”
     
    I shrugged. “I don’t know what you mean.”
     
    “Let me see your arm.” He reached out and pulled up the sleeve of my hoodie, until he’d exposed the scar I’d gotten the summer before.
     
    “It’s fine. I mean, it’s ugly, and it itches sometimes, but I guess someday I could have it repaired. My stepmom knows lots of plastic surgeons, after all.”
     
    Austin lowered his head to my skin and kissed the scar. “Love, don’t you see? The scar, your improved hearing, your hunger, your eyes—”
     
    “What about my eyes?” I said.
     
    He led me over to the shiny chrome fridge in the corner of the kitchen. I could see our reflection in it. Austin’s eyes were silvery, reflecting the drops of moonlight around the room. And so were mine.
     
    “Holy crapola,” I said, backing away from our reflection. “That’s a trick of the light.”
     
    “Shelby, that night in the forest at Camp Crescent—”
     
    “You saved my life. That cougar would have shredded me. I would have been serious wildcat chow.”
     
    Austin didn’t smile. “Think back. After the cougar attack. Remember when I was still in wolf form? You bandaged my injured shoulder and I snapped at you.”
     
    “I already forgave you for that. You were hurt. You didn’t mean to do