Moon Bound (Dreamshifters Book 2) Read online

  I asked her what she wanted and then ordered for both of us. This time we both had beer instead of wine. I watched hungrily as she licked the foam off of her upper lip.

  I liked it when she was less formal. She was so polite and shy, it made it harder to get to know her.

  It was incredibly cute though.

  "So..."

  She sipped her draft again. I knew she didn’t drink much. It was adorable the way she took teeny tiny sips. She drank beer like a grandma.

  "Okay. This is all kind of hard to explain, Dean."

  "Take your time. I need to understand what has you so spooked."

  I smiled at her and took her hand across the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

  "Do you remember those guys outside the stadium? After the game?"

  I frowned, not sure what she was talking about. But then a glimmer came to me... men standing around Krista... the desire to protect her… a fight…

  I had gotten into a fight.

  It was blurry but I had the distinct impression of a body flying through the air. I glanced at my knuckles, almost expecting them to be bloody.

  Nope, not a scratch.

  "It's fuzzy but yeah, now that you mention it. My God- did they hurt you Krista?"

  She shook her head adamantly.

  "No. That's just it. You rescued me."

  I grinned.

  "Good. I think you should go to the police though. File a report against those guys. They could try again. Or hurt someone else."

  She shook her head, her eyes wide as saucers.

  "That's just the thing Dean. They won't try again."

  "What do you mean?"

  “I mean I can’t go to the police.”

  “Why not?”

  She looked away, biting her lip.

  "You... hurt them. I think you hurt a couple of them real bad."

  I stared at her as her words sank in. She didn't notice that I was freaking out. She was caught up in her story, the words starting to really flow.

  "You were really upset. So angry. I thought you were going to kill them. All of them. But they ran away. Then..."

  My voice sounded raw and low as I asked her what happened next. I had to know. Even if it meant I would never forgive myself.

  "You picked me up and carried me for a long time. I didn't know where we were going but you didn't stop. You just ran deeper and deeper into the woods."

  I closed my eyes, trying to remember. But nothing was coming to me. Flashes of trees in the darkness maybe... but then even that was gone.

  "I'm sorry, I can't remember that."

  "You took me into the woods and then you- you were-"

  She trailed off, her breath coming in tiny gasps.

  "Shhhhh- it's okay Krista. Just tell me."

  "I don't think that you wanted to hurt me but you were... not yourself."

  I leaned back in my seat. A cold feeling was settling into my chest. I knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

  "What do you mean not myself?"

  "You changed, Dean. You were kissing me and-”

  I tried to make a joke. If we had fooled around then I was really wishing I could remember. But I was still afraid of what else she might say.

  "I like the sound of that."

  "No, Dean. You were rough, not listening to me. And it was my first time so I told you to stop."

  "Wait, what?"

  Her voice was soft as she stared blankly at her plate. She was clearly embarrassed about telling me she was a virgin. And that I'd basically tried to force myself on her. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought.

  "You were going too fast. So I told you to stop."

  My heart was beating hard in my chest. What the hell had happened to me last night? I would never hurt Krista, or scare her. But it sounded like I'd done just that. And then some.

  "And you did. You stopped."

  "Thank God. You were scaring me, Krista. Is that it? I'm sorry if I went too fast."

  "No, that's not it."

  I knew I wouldn't have roughed her up or pushed too hard. I never do that to a woman. Krista was so precious to me, I would never even think about doing anything to scare her.

  "What is it then?"

  "Your face… it looked different, Dean. And your eyes-"

  "My eyes what?"

  "They were red."

  "What, like bloodshot?"

  "No- I mean the pupils. They were big and red, Dean. They glowed. They didn't look..."

  She trailed off. I knew what she was going to say but I needed to hear it. I needed her to spell it out for me.

  "They didn't look what, Krista?"

  She lifted her eyes to me and I saw the awe in them. The fear. The truth.

  “Human. They did not look human."

  The waitress chose that exact moment to bring our food. I ignored her, staring intently into Krista's eyes over the steaming plates. The silence spun out between us, pushing us farther apart from each other.

  I could feel it. And I hated it.

  "That sounds like something out of a horror movie. Are you sure you weren't dreaming?"

  She shook her head softly. Her eyes were sad. Almost as if she knew she was hurting me.

  "No, Dean. I wasn't. But I have seen something like that before.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes. In a dream. It’s not like the movies. It’s real.”

  “What’s real?”

  “I think you’re a… werewolf.”

  I cursed and stood up. I wanted to say ‘that’s crazy’ but I knew deep down that it wasn’t. I was a monster. An actual freaking monster.

  I was cursed.

  Even worse, I had scared her and now she would never want to see me again.

  "Go on and eat. I just- I need some air."

  "It's okay, Dean. I can go. You stay. Eat."

  "No! I'll be back in a minute. Please, don't leave. I need to talk to you about this.”

  But when I came back a few minutes later, she was gone.

  Chapter 4

  Krista

  Beautiful paper-thin moths followed me home. The streetlights made their wings look like antique lace. Delicate and enduring.

  Out of season and strange, I barely noticed how many people stopped to look at me. At us.

  Me and my traveling bug show.

  Tears were streaming down my face as I walked through town back towards campus. I had said what I needed to say. I owed him the truth, as strange and horrible as it was.

  What Dean did with it was up to him.

  The worst part was that I couldn't think of a single way to help him. It all sounded so crazy. I knew that. How could you help a monster?

  Even if that monster had a heart of gold.

  And he did. Even when he’d been so out of control, he hadn’t hurt me. Not even a little.

  I wanted to help him, even if I was afraid. But I didn’t know how.

  Something inside me kept saying that I should help him… maybe even that I was the only one who could help him.

  How was that even possible?

  If Dean was ill- or under some sort of a curse- the moon had summoned it last night. He was a danger to himself and others, and he would continue to be. At least once a month if I was right about the cause.

  Well, not everyone. He hadn't been a danger to me.

  He'd protected me. Maybe that was what had started this. Maybe the fear and anger from the attack outside the stadium had made him change...

  As scary as it had been last night, I knew now he wouldn't have hurt me.

  It wasn't in his nature.

  He had proved that last night. He could have easily overpowered me. Hurt me in some way. Anyway he wanted to, really. He could have eaten me with those fierce teeth of his.

  I would never have been able to stop him.

  Thankfully, he’d stopped himself.

  It didn't even matter that he was amped up from the change last night. He wouldn't have needed sup
er powers to do that. He was a big guy and I was... not.

  For a moment it had seemed like he was really out of control. Instead, he'd just curled up around me, refusing to let me leave. He'd held me until he'd fallen into a deep sleep, his arms locked around me as the moon started to sink towards the horizon.

  I had tried to extricate myself from his grasp, but he'd held me firmly, growling softly in his sleep each time I'd tried to move away. It was terrifying, but in a way it might have been worse if he'd let me go.

  Because at the very least, Dean gave off a lot of heat. He was basically a big, incredibly strong furnace. It had been dark but I could have sworn he was hairier than usual too.

  His embrace had been warm and safe. Wandering off on my own could have gotten me into way worse trouble.

  Towards dawn, he'd started to change back again. Back to his normal self. I’d seen him more clearly in the faint light that lit the sky. His breathing had evened out, his features shifted, his muscles transforming from super sized to their normal, already substantial state.

  I slipped away finally, watching in morbid fascination as his body contorted. He grimaced and groaned without waking. It looked like it hurt him to change. Even though I'd been frightened, I hated seeing that.

  I didn't want him to hurt.

  Not now.

  Not ever.

  I could have just left him there. Maybe I should have.

  I might have gotten lost in the woods but that wasn’t what kept me from running.

  I didn't even leave the clearing. I almost felt that physically I could not leave his side. But tonight, I had done what I should have done that night in the woods.

  I'd finally walked away.

  Chapter 5

  Dean

  I stared up into the stands as I ran out onto the field. I’d always loved playing sports. Even more now, that my physical abilities were so exaggerated.

  But my mind was not on the game.

  It was somewhere else. Someplace across campus. Not here with me.

  I was a monster. A beast. And Krista was the only person who understood what that meant.

  Unfortunately, she had been avoiding me all week. I'd decided not to push it. I wanted to give her time to come to grips with what had happened.

  We both needed to wrap our heads around it.

  I had done some research online but there was very little actual information on there. In some theories werewolves could be made. Some indicated it was a strain, a bloodline, passed down through generations. But all agreed that the strongest were born.

  A strange number of the leads led to romance novels. There were a lot of romance novels about werewolves. And even though it was silly, I read a few of them. I was so desperate for clues. For information I could take back to Krista.

  To prove to her that it was safe for her to be around me.

  I'd done my best to be mature. To respect her wishes. But I needed her. Now more than ever.

  I could feel the familiar pressure growing inside me. The urge to see her was so strong that it felt like there was something ferocious in my belly, waiting to be let out.

  The monster wanted to be set free.

  I had texted her at least five times this week already. She hadn't responded to any of them. I’d called. And I’d stood outside her dorm a few times too, staring up at her window. She hadn’t even opened the blinds.

  Okay, even I have to admit that was a little creepy.

  She hadn't worked her shifts at the field house either.

  I wasn't the only one who noticed that.

  All the guys wondered about the gorgeous girl with the thick drawl who served the mashed potatoes.

  They'd all noticed her over the semester, that was for sure. They made comments almost every time she was there. Comments about what they'd like to do to her, and what they would like her to do to them.

  They were very descriptive. Creative even. Disrespectful and disgusting.

  If it wasn't Krista I would have tuned it out. It was typical locker room talk. Anywhere guys congregated, some insecure jerk would always find a way to objectify women. You could speak up or you could try to ignore it.

  Normally, I would have just walked away.

  Instead, I wanted to rip all their heads off.

  I wanted to rip everybody’s heads off.

  And that was before I showed up for Freshman Lit and Krista was nowhere to be found. I could feel a vacuum in the room. She wasn’t coming. I could just feel it.

  Her absence was almost physically painful.

  I was worried about her on top of being mad. She was on scholarship. If she didn’t keep up her grades she’d be out of here.

  All my tackles had been especially brutal at practice that day. Some of the guys were limping on the way back to the locker room.

  So yeah, I was fired up.

  The girl I was in love with was hiding from me. She wouldn’t even talk to me. Or look at me. Or let me look at her.

  That wasn't playing fair.

  She had to give me a chance to tell her I would never hurt her. That she didn’t have to be afraid. We had to work things out.

  The truth was, I was just as freaked out about what was happening as she was. I was the one turning into a monster. I just wished I didn’t feel so comfortable in that monster’s skin.

  Krista was the only one who could gentle me. Tame the beast inside.

  I needed her. It was more than just someone to talk to about what was happing to me. Plus, she was tied up in this too somehow. It wasn’t just me in this mess.

  It was happening to us.

  It's not like anyone else would understand. But she wasn't even giving me a chance.

  Now I was starting to get more than worried. I was pissed off.

  Really, really pissed off.

  Howl at the moon pissed off.

  I smirked. That was almost funny. Werewolf humor, man.

  I wondered if Krista would think so.

  I pushed my mouthguard into place and took position. The game was almost over. We were already winning by a lot, but it didn't matter. I wasn't going to hold back. I wanted to crush the opponents.

  I wanted to break something.

  So I did.

  I called a play that had me running the ball instead of passing it. I smashed through their defensive line like the players were cardboard cutouts instead of real people.

  It was better, more effective, to think of them like that. Not flesh and bone. Just paper.

  It made it easier to bash through them.

  Easier to hurt them.

  In the end, winning was like taking candy from a bunch of babies. We didn’t just win. We crushed them.

  Fifteen minutes later and I was in the locker room, getting slapped on the back. I'd dominated the end of the game. The whole game really.

  Every game.

  There were reporters waiting in the locker room to interview me and snap pictures.

  Even the national sportscasters were talking about me now. I had my own segment called D-watch. Agents were calling too.

  I was insta-famous. The new rage. An anomaly.

  If only they knew why.

  It would a whole different sort of news frenzy.

  Monster Fever.

  As it was, I was the flavor of the month. And it showed no sign of slowing down.

  It was insane. It was more than I'd ever dreamed of when thinking about going into sports as a career. It was more than I wanted.

  Much more.

  I loved playing ball but I really didn't like the attention. It made me want to crawl out of my skin and hide. At this moment, I wanted to be anywhere but here.

  But I smiled and gave the interviews, trying to keep them short. By the time I was done the locker room was empty. I pulled on my jacket and walked out, checking my phone for a message from Krista.

  Nothing.

  I wasn't going to put up with this much longer. I was going to have to go over there and-

  CRAC
K

  Something me in the back. Hard. It even hurt a little. Not much, considering my bones felt like they were made of steel, but still. It wasn’t pleasant.

  I turned to see a man lifting a two by four and swinging it towards me.

  Right at my head.

  I dropped and rolled into the guy's legs without even thinking. I felt the two by four fall to the ground, brushing my shoulder as the man above me screamed.

  Guess I must have knocked out his kneecaps. He'd probably walk with a limp for a long ass time. Maybe forever.

  Good.

  There were others there, in the shadows. I could sense them without even looking. Four of them jumped out at me and attacked. I fought ferociously, without thought, like an animal.

  They yelped in surprise at my ferocity. It was clear they'd expected to be delivering an ass whooping, not getting one. But that was exactly what was going down.

  Surprise, dirtbags!

  Two guys tried to grab my arms but I just lifted them up. They dangled in the air, staring at me in shock until I tossed them away. They fell to the ground, struggling to get up again and gasping for air.

  One guy punched my stomach and I just looked at him. I heard his hand breaking from the impact. His jaw dropped as he gripped his injured hand. I put him on the ground with one punch.

  Then I dealt with the two cowards who had tried to restrain me.

  That left just one. This guy looked familiar. I had a feeling he'd been there the night Krista had been attacked. Probably all of them had.

  My blood started to boil.

  I grabbed him by the throat, while he swung at me again and again. I could barely even feel his fists where they landed. That's how feeble he was compared to me. I took a moment, wondering what the most satisfying way to deal with him would be.

  I wanted to hurt him. Badly. In the darkest part of me, I probably would be glad to end him once and for all.

  The human part of me was terrified. Not of them.

  I was terrified of myself.

  I decided not to choke him. Krista wouldn't like that. And I didn't want to get in trouble.

  Even now, when she was nowhere near by, she could tame my monstrous temper.

  I threw him instead. I decided to let gravity figure out how badly he was injured. Then my hands would be relatively clean.