Hidden Moon (Hot Moon Rising #4) Read Online Free Page B

Closing early. Cooking
    less. When we asked about his health, he got really defensive.” Her lips twisted in a wry
    smile. “You know how he can be.”
    “Ornery as hell,” he agreed.
    “He collapsed in the middle of the breakfast shift earlier this week. We’ve been
    helping out so we can keep the doors open. He tried to convince us it was nothing. That
    he was just working too hard.”
    Alan knotted his hands in his lap. Dad couldn’t die. He had the same mutation, but he
    dealt with it a lot better, channeling the rage into a safe level of crabbiness. Knowing he
    wasn’t the only person on Earth with the condition didn’t make Alan feel like such a
    freak.
    “I had a few bad feelings,” she admitted, “but I ignored them because he seemed so
    confident. Damn it. Why didn’t I trust my intuition?”
    “Hey, don’t blame yourself. Did you call a doctor?”
    “Because Don’s a wolf, Derek thought it better not to.”
    He frowned. “What does Derek have to do with it?”
    “Didn’t I tell you? He’s our new Alpha. Hector died in the attack.”
    And how many others? Alan shivered. The group in the diner tonight had been very
    small.
    “Anyway, it took time, but we found an expert who handles our kind.”
    “Dad’s going to die, too, isn’t he?”
    She reached over and covered his hand. “You know he’s two hundred years old.”
    He swallowed, drowning in the sensations from her special touch. “I know.”
    After she withdrew her hand, they sat in silence for a while. Strangely enough, it felt
    like the most natural thing in the world. His breaths came slow and easy, and his limbs,
    heavy and limp, sank into the seat. Being around her had always calmed him, especially
    in English class at test-taking time. It was his least favorite subject, but her mere
    presence made the time pass effortlessly.
    He glanced over at her, wondering why she hadn’t started the engine yet, but the
    ignition key rested on the seat between her legs. He covered his face, feeling like the
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    world’s biggest idiot again.
    “I have a rental car and a suitcase full of clothes. Why did I get in your truck?” he
    asked.
    But when he reached for the door handle, she grabbed his arm. Then she pulled his
    car key out of her pocket and dangled it in front of him.
    “Need this?”
    He grabbed it. “I can’t seem to think straight around you. Hey, thanks
    for…everything.”
    She’d done a lot for him tonight, but the key and the clothes were the least of it. Most
    importantly, she acted as if she gave a damn about him. Made him feel part of the pack.
    “Don’t go yet. There’s something I need to get off my chest.”
    His senses rose to full alert. What now? Her face looked so soft in the moonlight, and
    her eyes were wide and gentle, as if she’d opened a window to her soul. The brownish-
    green tint reminded him of growing things—Florida’s vegetation and farmland.
    “Are you angry at me about anything, Shelley?”
    “No, I’m angry at myself.”
    He settled against the seat. “I’m listening.”
    “There’s something you need to know about prom night.”
    He grabbed the door handle again. “No, it’s ancient history. A night I’d rather forget.”
    She gripped his arm. “You need to hear this. I liked you back you then, Alan. I really
    did.”
    “You had a strange way of showing it.” He glared out the windshield. “I really believed
    you sent me that invitation. Obviously, one of your friends forged it as a joke.”
    “I did write it,” she said quickly, letting her hand drop to the seat between them.
    “Before I sent it, my friend Barbara found it. When she assumed it was a practical joke,
    I-I went along with it. If I’d told her the truth about how I felt about you, my friends
    would have turned on me.”
    He swept a hand over his scalp. “I guess dating the school freak would have ruined
    your social life.”
    “Becoming a refugee after the pack was destroyed put it into perspective for