Free Six Moon Summer by SM Reine Page A

than she could deny her suddenly overpowering sense of smell.
     
    Rylie sleep-walked through her day in a haze, desperately wishing the sun wouldn’t go down and the moon wouldn’t rise. But they did. It grew darker and darker, and she grew more anxious.
     
    At dinner that evening, Rylie recalled Seth’s order to eat protein. Her stomach growled. She had a feeling she could eat pounds of tofu and it wouldn’t be good enough. Not tonight.
     
    The meatloaf smelled appealing, but her disgust overrode her cravings. Rylie had seen how cows were slaughtered, and the idea of eating them was sickening. She couldn’t eat meatloaf. She just couldn’t. Rylie scarfed down as much vegetarian food as she could and tried to ignore her hunger.
     
    Louise visited her loft at bedtime.
     
    “Are you okay?” she asked.
     
    Rylie forced a smile. “I’m great. I’m having fun. I love camp.”
     
    The counselor gave her a knowing look. “If you’re having a problem, I want to help you with it. Please. You know you can talk to me.”
     
    “Yeah, I know,” she said with false enthusiasm.
     
    Rylie waited a few minutes after Louise left, watching the sky outside. The full moon felt different than the new moon. Instead of feeling weak and sick, the beast inside was strong.
     
    And hungry.
     
    Even though she had eaten a huge helping of pasta, a big salad, and her usual tofu (which came in the form of fake turkey that night), her stomach growled as if she hadn’t eaten in days. Rylie couldn’t shake the thought of rare, dripping meat.
     
    She changed from her pajamas into a pair of shorts and a loose tank top, hoping her partial transformation wouldn’t lead to the clothes-ripping she always saw in werewolf movies. Slipping from her window feet-first, Rylie dropped to the ground outside and broke into a run.
     
    Seth was waiting for her at the meeting place. His shaggy hair was gathered at the nape of his neck in a stubby ponytail, and he wore a white shirt that glowed in the night. Rylie was surprised. She had never seen him in anything but black before.
     
    “You ready?” he asked. She nodded, unable to speak. “Come on.”
     
    They climbed deep into the trees, scaling the mountain until the path was no longer visible and they could look down on camp. There were only a few pinpoints of light. It looked peaceful from above.
     
    “How are we going to do this?” Rylie asked.
     
    “I’ve got a few things in my bag to keep you away from everyone,” Seth said. “There’s this one thing I got from a sporting goods store. It makes a smell like a wolf marking its territory. If I spray it around, it should keep your attention.”
     
    “So it’s wolf pee,” she said.
     
    “I didn’t say it was glamorous.”
     
    “Shouldn’t we... I don’t know... chain me to a rock or something? Aren’t I going to be super strong?”
     
    “Stronger than usual. Do you
want
to be tied up?” he asked.
     
    Rylie glanced up at the moon. Part of her gave an emphatic, “Yes!” But a much larger part of her—a part that grew bigger by the second—bristled at the thought. “No, but if you’re not going to chain me up, then how are you going to keep me out of camp? That marking stuff is only going to distract me.”
     
    He grinned. “I have a plan. Don’t worry about it.”
     
    She barely heard him. She couldn’t tear her eyes from the moon.
     
    Shuddering, Rylie hugged her arms tight around her body and stepped into the shade of a tree. Tremors rippled through her bones. Her ribs and spine ached as though something was growing inside her.
     
    “What’s happening to me?” she whispered.
     
    “The new and full moons are different,” he said. “You change on the new moon because it makes the human weak, so the wolf emerges. On the full moon, the wolf becomes strong. It dominates you.”
     
    “Is that something else you read? Why haven’t I seen it?”
     
    “I can’t bring you any more books. It’s too