Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) Read Online Free

help on the walk between here and Maddie’s place,” I took another step up the stairs. “I’m fine. I’m always fine.”
    “I’m just worried about you,” she told me.
    “I know I’m still a child in your eyes, but I can take care of myself. It’s why I’m saving up for my own car.”
    “I’ll chip in –”
    “You’ll chip in no more than we already agreed upon,” I climbed higher up the steps. “Goodnight, mom.”
    “We’re not done talking about this,” my mother got up from the piano bench. “Come back down here.”
    “I’m safe. I’m safe today, I’ll be safe tomorrow, and the next day. Worse comes to worst I’ll run like my life depends on it.”
    “Why do you always…” she sighed loudly. “Just be careful. In today’s society, there’re all kinds of creeps.”
    “Goodnight,” I called over my shoulder. I sighed as I ascended the stairs. In the upstairs hallway, I ran into my little sister. She, like the rest of the girls in my family, was blond and blue-eyed, a direct contrast to my mousy brown hair and green eyes. Height varied greatly in our family, Sophie being the shortest at five foot one. My oldest sister, Sydney, was the tallest at five eight. I would have thought I was adopted if my father didn’t have brown hair similar to mine. Mom always told me I got my looks from his side of the family.
    “I don’t know why you bother telling her the truth,” Sophie told me. “You can do as you like, and she doesn’t have to worry so much. Everyone’s happy.”
    “I don’t like lying,” I said. And it was true. I would get immense guilt when I lie, and I couldn’t shake the feeling for hours. Days, depending on what I was lying about. I was good at it, too. I just got lousy side-effects that I didn’t like. It was a good thing, I guess. Too many people lie too much these days.
    Sophie rolled her eyes. Our relationship was unsteady, my little sister’s and mine. Some days we didn’t get along, and others we got along so well that my parents would tell us to be quiet when we couldn’t stop giggling. Today was one of those rougher days for us.
    “What?” she scowled at me.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You’re looking at me funny,” she said, crossing her arms.
    “Then you should stop being funny looking,” I replied instantly, unable to stop myself from being rude to my little sister. She just made it so easy.
    She huffed, going into her room and closing the door loudly. I blew a hair out of my face, going into my own bedroom and changing my clothes. In my sheep-covered pajama pants and tank top, I crawled into bed, plugging my phone into the charger and quickly shooting Maddie a text.
    What a night.
     

Chapter 2: Blake
     
    The Alpha stared me down across the living room’s coffee table. He sat in ‘his’ chair, which was big, old, wore in; the royal blue fabric was faded and there was a small hole in the armrest, right next to where his hand rested. When he was in a good mood, he pulled lightly at the loose strings. When he was serious or had business on his mind –a thing that I liked to call ‘Alpha mode’ –he refrained.
    Carlos was in Alpha mode now. Black hair grazed his shoulders, the longest I’ve ever seen him have. His eyes –the same golden-brown that seemed to come with lycanthropy –were focused on me. Most of my Pack brothers squirmed under his stare –but I’d grown up with it. I met it evenly, even when I knew I should be more humble.
    Having finally gotten back from the town of Eiden, I’d put in my request to move the Alpha house south. He’d been surprised, and while I never tried to understand my father, this I could comprehend to a certain degree. I’d left angry, and had come crawling back with a personal request. And I never asked for anything from my father.
    “We have the beach house along Lake Erie,” he said finally. “It’s a half hour drive, but –”
    “It has to be in town,” I interrupted. I knew of the beach