“There has to be more to . . . whatever this is,” he reassured me. “It’s not your fault.”
I adored Brandon’s strength, not only physical but moral.
I reached for his face. Gingerly, I touched his goatee and stubble. He melted into my tender caress as if he’d been yearning for this touch for a lifetime.
He smelled delightfully woodsy, like burning leaves mixed with frosting snow.
He grazed the tips of his fangs along the tips of my fingers. Chills danced from them straight to my pounding heart. I felt completely spellbound, as though by being together—whether in this form or his daylight one—I felt complete. Brandon wasn’t alone, and neither was I.
“Please don’t go,” I said. “Not yet.”
There was one more thing I longed for. I felt a pull to Brandon more than ever before. If only I could get close enough to him to feel his lips against mine. By day Brandon was handsome, and by moonlight he was stunningly gorgeous and irresistible. Whatever coursed through his veins to make him a werewolf also made him unbelievably magnetic.
Brandon perked up as if he had heard something in the distance. Then I, too, heard the cry of a wolf.
Brandon lurched away. He shook his head, his long hair flowing wildly, and held me at bay. I wasn’t ready for our time together to end.
Before I knew it, I was standing in the woods alone.
His woodsy scent still lingered in the air, and my skin still danced from his touch.
But I knew now that it was true. I’d fallen in love with a werewolf.
Chapter Twenty-one
Into the Woods
The following day, I gazed at the empty chair in the back of the classroom.
Now that I was certain Brandon was a werewolf, I knew what I’d be dealing with when the full moon showed its haunting glow. As the moon would appear full for two more evenings, he’d be absent from school for several days, likely spending his nights in the woods. All day long police and animal control cars patrolled the suburbs and school in case the wolves showed up again. The people of Legend’s Run were up in arms about the strange animal behavior.
I was desperate to be with Brandon, but Ivy and Abby had wrangled me into watching Abby’s volleyball game after school.
Abby’s game was delayed and didn’t end until just after dusk. Ivy and Abby were going to join the other girls for a celebratory dinner, but I planned to head to Brandon’s. As I left the gymnasium, I heard faint howling coming from a tree-filled lot near the back of the school. I ignored it and continued on to my car until I saw Brandon’s Jeep parked by the school fence.
Two patrol cars were stationed in the middle of the student lot.
“Brandon?” I called.
I snuck into the edge of the woods without venturing in too far. I’d learned my lesson when I’d gotten lost in the blizzard. I wasn’t about to put my life or anyone else’s in danger.
Lights from the parking lot and gymnasium streamed in through the trees, illuminating a small portion of the woods. A fingerless-gloved hand reached out from the darkness. Brandon, in werewolf form, was leaning against a tree, smiling at me.
Happily, I took his hand and he drew me into him. He grazed his fangs against me. I touched his stubbly face. I ran my fingers through his locks, as he did the same to mine.
“I missed you today,” I said.
“I hunger for you all day and night,” he said as he kissed the nape of my neck.
He gazed at me. His lips were only inches from my own. I was longing inside to finally have them touch in the moonlight. You must never kiss a werewolf. I heard Dr. Meadows’s warning in my head, but I wasn’t sure if I could wait any longer.
He pulled my hair off my neck and leaned in. He breathed in as if he was inhaling me. I had dotted myself with perfume and sugary vanilla body lotion. The scent of my hair and body seemed to be intoxicating to Brandon. He tugged at my henley with his fangs and nibbled my shoulder. I was so entranced, enamored by his seductive power. I was only moments from kissing the most romantic werewolf in the world. I remembered Dr. Meadows’s words but I didn’t want to heed her warning. But my skepticism toward Dr. Meadows was what got Brandon into this state in the first place. What was I supposed to do?
“I don’t think I should—” I said, breathless.
“I understand.” Brandon must have sensed my distress.
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to—” I vowed.
He pulled away.
“I know someone who can help you—or at least wants to try,” I said.
“Who?” he asked, excited.
“Dr. Meadows. She’s the one who gave me the reading and warned me about the full moon.”
“Does she have experience with werewolves?” he asked.
“Almost—she’s a psychic.”
“I know . . . but has she dealt with werewolves before?”
“Well . . .” I said, “she’s never seen one.”
He couldn’t hide his disappointment. Brandon turned away from me. “There isn’t anyone to help me—” he said.
I felt awful.
“I don’t want to be some stranger’s experiment,” he continued.
“I understand—”
“It’s hard enough making excuses to my grandparents why they don’t see me for a few nights,” he said. “If word gets out in town about me, then I’ll have to remain in the woods during the daylight, too. I won’t be able to show myself to anyone. But I’ve got to find a way to stop this from happening.”
“Celeste?” I heard my name called from outside the woods.
“I have to go,” I whispered, but Brandon had already retreated into the darkness. I heard his heavy breathing but couldn’t see him to even hug him good-bye.
“Celeste! Where are you?” a girl’s voice called.
I jumped out of the woods to Ivy and Abby’s shock and horror.
“What are you doing in there?” Ivy asked. “Are you okay?”
“Of course I am,” I said. My hair was damp from the snow and my coat soiled from brushing against the tree bark.
“What were you doing in there?” Ivy asked. “We saw your car and freaked!”
“I thought I saw someone,” I said.
“Someone in the woods?” Abby said.
“There could have been wolves in there!” Ivy warned.
“Or worse!” Abby said. “Are you crazy?”
I think I was. Crazy in love, that is. But I wasn’t about to tell them that.
“You’ve been acting so strangely lately,” Ivy said, “ever since you and Nash broke up. You’re hard to get hold of and always seem distracted. But we’ll fix that, won’t we?”
Ivy took one arm and Abby linked the other. Both girls escorted me back to my car and followed me as I drove out of the school parking lot.
I was lucky I had friends who watched out for me. It was one of the many reasons I didn’t want anything to jeopardize my relationship with them.
The following day I stopped in Penny for Your Thoughts again. It was the third glowing of the full moon and I wanted to see if I could finally get help for Brandon.
I waited for a client to leave and another one to pay for some amethyst geode bookends. I was getting so agitated I was almost pleading for her herbal tea.
“He doesn’t want anyone to see him,” I told Dr. Meadows when the store was finally empty of customers. “Can you still help him?”
“I’m afraid not,” she said.
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t you have a crystal charm or some of those teas you make? Surely you have something I can just give to him.”
“I need to see him to properly diagnose him,” she said emphatically.
“You have to believe me. When it’s a full moon he turns into a werewolf. I didn’t believe it myself at first, but there really isn’t any other explanation.”
“A doctor can’t give a prescription to someone they’ve never met.”
However, the patient had to be w
illing to be seen. And in this case, I’d have to do more convincing.
“Then I must see him, tonight,” Dr Meadows pressed. “Tell me where he will be.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “The woods.”
“Which ones?”
I shrugged.
“Then bring him to me before sunset,” she said. “I’ll meet you here at my shop. Then I can help him.”
Dr. Meadows was pushing me in one direction while Brandon was pushing me in another. With all my research for my own essay and helping Brandon, the only cure I’d found was a silver bullet. And that definitely wasn’t an option.
I knew Brandon didn’t want anyone to see him after the sun set. I would do my best to delicately broach the subject again with him, but if I pushed him too hard, he wouldn’t want to be around me, either.
Chapter Twenty-two
A Date with a Werewolf
On Saturday morning, I woke up without knowing what to do next. Ivy and Abby had insisted I join them and Nash at the mall. I couldn’t convince Ivy that today wasn’t good. Once she got something in her head, there was no changing her mind. There wasn’t much daylight in the winter months and I didn’t have much time, so I’d have to make my visit with them quick in order to still have time to convince Brandon to go with me to Penny for Your Thoughts before the sun set.
I wanted to take a quick stroll with Champ prior to heading out. It would give me a chance to get some fresh air and maybe some fresh ideas on how to convince Brandon to meet Dr. Meadows. As soon as we hit the end of our street, Champ was barking wildly. I did my best to calm him down, but all the dogs in the neighborhood were barking as we passed by their houses. Champ was growling toward the wooded area behind the snow-filled soccer field, and I began to wonder if I should be worried about wolves, even with Champ along with me. I started pulling him back toward home when “Fly Me to the Moon” started playing from my back pocket. I was exhilarated. It was Brandon.
“I’m right behind you,” he said when I answered the phone breathlessly.
I spun around. There was a figure standing next to the woods beyond the soccer field; it was the exact direction in which Champ was barking.
I tried my best to hold on to Champ’s leash but he broke loose. I chased after him down the hill.
As soon as Champ reached Brandon, my out-of-control dog was suddenly silent.
Without so much as a command or a treat, Champ sat down and faced Brandon.
“You have a way with animals,” I said when I finally caught up.
“And girls, I hope.”
I wanted to kiss Brandon so badly my heart hurt.
Brandon petted Champ as if he were his own dog.
“I’d like to take you out on a real date,” Brandon said. “But I know there are many complications with that. I mean, there’s Nash, for one, and me being from the wrong side of town . . . and of course we’d have to be back before sunset.”
“But I’m not dating Nash,” I tried to assure him. “And to me, any side of town you live on is the right side.”
He smiled a sweet smile.
“I should have listened to Dr. Meadows,” I said.
“I don’t know why you blame yourself.”
“If I hadn’t been so skeptical of her prediction, none of this would have happened.”
“Celeste—there is no way you could have known. Besides, it’s not like Dr. Meadows predicted the future. She said things that anyone could have said to you.”
“I know—but it happened. Perhaps she really knew.”
“And what if she didn’t? What if it was just coincidence? Or you read too much into her reading?”
“But she’s the only one I know who can help you,” I said wearily. “She wants to see you. She says that is the only way she can help you. And if you don’t go, then you might be a werewolf . . . forever.” Tears began to well in my eyes.
“It’s okay . . .” he said, putting his arm around me.
I couldn’t even bear to look at him.
“I’ll meet her,” he said.
“You will?”
“Yes, if it will make you happy.”
I gave him a huge hug. I didn’t care whether the neighbors saw me do it, even though I knew we were hidden away.
“I’ll just take Champ home and I can drive us.”
“We’re going now?” he asked.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was hoping I’d get to see you today—for a real date. But it seems like you already have plans.”
“I do—but I can see you later tonight.” I realized I might have been too eager.
“Because it occurred to me,” he continued, “since I can’t remember the nights, I don’t know how I am when the moon shows . . . I don’t want you to be in any danger, so I thought I’d just try to get a glimpse of you before sunset.”
“You haven’t hurt me before when you’ve been in your werewolf form,” I said. “And I’ve seen you change twice. What makes you think you would harm me now?”
He turned away. “I don’t know what I’m like, Celeste.”
I would love a real date with Brandon, but convincing him to be with me while in his werewolf form was another thing.
“Then let me be with you and I’ll tell you tomorrow what you were like. I’ll be able to reassure you.”
I wanted to see him again as a werewolf, with his magnetic features. And since he needed to know what he was like in his werewolf form, I could tell him. I’d been waiting for months to have a real date with Brandon. Dr. Meadows had only been waiting for a few hours.
I could see that Brandon was torn.
“I’ll bring Champ,” I said. “If that will make you feel better. He can protect me.”
“Against a werewolf?” he asked.
“I don’t think either one of us is in any danger. I know you don’t remember, but I do. You could have hurt me last time—I fell and you could have overpowered me, but you didn’t. Instead it looked like you were going to help me.”
“Okay, then,” he relented. “Will you meet me tonight?” he asked. “In the woods behind my house?”
I nodded excitedly. It was official: our first real date.
“You won’t remember,” I said. “But I’ll be there.”
“I’ll remember this,” he said, and pulled me into an embrace and kissed me.
As soon as he left, Champ began barking again in the direction Brandon had gone.
When I arrived at Brandon’s hilltop hideout in the woods behind his grandparents’ house, the scene was magical. Tiny snowflakes danced down from the sky.
Brandon was waiting for me next to a bonfire. He was as majestic and handsome as I’d ever seen him. The fire crackled and lit his features. His dark hair was tousled and sexy. I walked up to him, and I could feel the heat radiating off his body as strongly as from the campfire. I was addicted to Brandon Maddox. He wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met. During the day, I found him to be a sensitive, caring guy—unlike all the guys I’d ever hung out with—and when the sun set and the full moon glowed, he was wild and irresistible. He had fangs that could pierce a girl’s soul.
Champ was silent at my side. It was as if he was as mesmerized by Brandon as I was.
All at once the woods filled with the sounds of howling. Champ began to bark, too.
It was then I noticed the eyes of several wolves peeking from the dark edges of the clearing. Champ was still. Normally he would have lurched forward and I’d have been thrown into the snow. Instead, all the animals were tranquil.
I was frozen with fear. Too recently, wolves had surrounded me and I feared for my life.
“Don’t be afraid,” Brandon assured me. “It’s okay.”
I stood behind him, and Champ did, too.
The wolves, one by one, lay down in the pure white snow. The sight of the gorgeous gray wolves, which looked soft and sweet instead of fierce and dangerous, was unbelievably breathtaking. It was as magical as any footage I’d seen on anima
l and nature programs—only this was real.
Brandon happily petted the wolves, which were as playful as any domestic dog.
“Don’t try this at home,” he teased. “But do you want to try it with me?”
“I’m not sure.” The wolves were amazingly beautiful. A smaller one came forward. Brandon nodded to me, and under his careful watch I suddenly felt safe. I reached out and gently touched the wolf pup. Its fur was soft and luxurious; I caressed the adorable wolf just as I had petted Champ for so many years.
It nuzzled up to me and licked my cheeks, causing me to burst out giggling.
“Okay now—” Brandon said to the pup. “Now you are getting on my territory.”
He whistled, and the wolf retreated from me and returned to the pack. They all hunkered around Brandon.
Brandon seemed more at peace than I’d seen him since his arrival in Legend’s Run. These wolves comforted him—like Champ comforted me.
Brandon took me in his arms. Normally, in a situation such as this one, I’d be terrified. I was in the woods, surrounded by wolves, and in the company of a werewolf. But with Brandon, I felt at ease. I must have been under his spell.
“I must say, I’ve never had a date like this one,” I said.
“Me neither,” he said.
“But if you don’t remember,” I said, “you could be bringing cheerleaders back here every night.”
“I promise you that isn’t happening.”
I gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“I’m starved,” he said.
He pointed to the fire, where several steaks were cooking. I peered over them.
“Where did you get these?” I asked.
“I don’t remember . . .” he said.
My stomach turned. It couldn’t be. A once-cute deer with Bambi’s face now lying on this fire? I turned away.