New Moon Summer (Seasons of the Moon) Read Online Free Page B

mood.”
    Abel pushed his head low to the ground, tail high in the air. Even though he didn’t use words, his message was meant to be obvious: Come play with us .
    Rylie laughed. “But Abel…” He darted at her heels and nipped lightly. She jumped. “Hey! Don’t forget who’s the Alpha here.”
    He rolled onto his side in a good patch of dirt and wriggled. More wolf-speak. This time: I’m not listening to you .
    She rolled her eyes. “You’re a disrespectful jerk.”
    Pyper zoomed past with Analizia and Levi hot on her tail. Rylie whirled to watch them run, and Abel couldn’t resist—he lunged into Pyper’s side, sending both of them rolling down the hill.
    Levi pounced. The three of them were a tangled mess of legs and tails, and Abel had no idea who he was biting.
    Rylie’s laughter drifted toward the stars.
    Abel would have done pretty much anything to evoke that noise from her.
    “Okay,” she said. “Fine. I’ll be right there.”
    Rylie changed, and the pack ran as one.
    Abel woke up covered in dew with someone pressed against him. He twisted around to see Rylie curled in the fetal position, her back against his. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet. A line of sugar ants marched over her bare hip.
    He sat up to look at her, and for once, he really looked at her. The long line of her ribs down to her waist, the swell of her hip, the delicate lines of her legs. The bottoms of her feet were dirty. Four parallel, silvery scars marked her chest. Feathery white-blond hair fanned through the grass.
    They were laying in the grass near the pond, far from the barn and any other wolves. Abel wasn’t sure how they had ended up alone. He couldn’t remember his nights as a wolf. But he had the vague impression of a beautiful night and the wind in his face.
    And Rylie. Always Rylie.
    His brother’s girlfriend.
    But when was the last time that asshole spent longer than a weekend with her? Seth had sent her flowers for her eighteenth birthday. Flowers. That was it. He hadn’t even been able to go to her graduation.
    She was turning into a woman while he was away at medical school. How was Abel supposed to keep from noticing that? He wasn’t selfless. And he definitely wasn’t blind.
    “By becoming a priest,” he muttered, glancing at her bare hip again.
    He brushed the ants off of her. Rylie gave a sigh and rolled onto her back without waking up.
    Abel’s fingertips lingered on her skin, so soft and smooth.
    Bad idea .
    He turned from her with a groan and rubbed a hand over his eyes. Coffee sounded good. Better than thinking those kinds of thoughts about Rylie.
    Abel left her sleeping peacefully by the pond and went to make coffee.
    As it turned out, Abel really sucked at not thinking about Rylie. And the faster Saturday approached, the harder it became.
    He probably should have been excited for his idiot brother to come back. They always had fun when Seth was around. It meant getting to tussle in the dirt, race through the fields, and shooting cans in the back forty. Brother stuff.
    It also meant that Rylie was going to spend every waking moment with Seth instead of Abel.
    He watched her out of the corner of his eye while they ate dinner together the next night. The werewolves were enjoying an entire cow’s worth of beef in the barn, but he sat on the stoop with Rylie, like the two of them always did. The setting sun turned her skin the same shade of gold as her hair.
    “I’ve decided to take the year off,” Rylie said. She cut her steak into a lot of tiny pieces and ate them one by one. “Before going to college, I mean. If I go to college at all.”
    “But you got a million acceptance letters.”
    She shrugged. “Seems weird to leave when you still need me here.” Rylie glanced at him. “I mean, the werewolves need me. All of them. It’s not like a year without school will atrophy my brain.”
    He pushed lightly on the side of her head. “It might. You could turn into a vegetable.” She elbowed