Free Beneath the Neon Moon by Theda Black Page A

a gunshot. It was a bad dream, a nightmare. They walked single file, steps creaking dryly beneath their feet. Kane hooked them together again while Aaron stood back and watched. When he finished, Kane stood.
    "Tonight's the night," Aaron sing-songed, his voice melodic.
    Kane inclined his head at Mal. "You're going wolf."
    Mal stood beside Zach, watching Kane and Aaron. He didn't react.
    "You were bitten. It's the third night of the full moon. You've been feeling it and now you're going to complete the transformation. You'll be one of us." Aaron waited, looked impatient. "Full moon fur fest, get it?"
    Mal looked down at his arm where the dog—no, wolf—had bitten him, then at the two men. His voice was drawling, his face impassive. "You know, I kinda feel like the slow kid in class, but I finally noticed how fast I've been healing. Acknowledged it. It's just, there was no rational explanation for it, so I didn't have to believe it. Nobody heals like this. Nobody human, anyway. I couldn't quite make the leap, you know? Didn't want to, to be honest. But yeah, I got it now." He looked at Zach. "You've known for awhile what they want me to do to you. I bet they thought it was fun to tell you what you had to look forward to. Why didn't you tell me?"
    Zach stared at Mal. He couldn't begin to figure out how to answer.
    "I won't hurt you," Mal said, his voice firm.
    Kane threw back his head and laughed. "You will. You'll love it."
    "It'll be me first." Mal yanked the chain deliberately, the spikes digging into his skin. "You hear me. Believe me. I won't." His teeth were bared and white, every line of his face taut. He bent and touched his ankle. He raised his hand to Zach, offering the blood.
    "I promise. This is a promise," Mal said. Zach flinched back. "I won't hurt you. They think I will. You think I will but I won't."
    Kane laughed again. "A covenant offered in blood. Just like a pup. The blood means more than this piece of meat knows, but you can't keep your word this time, Mal." He looked at Aaron, grinning, but Aaron's face was thoughtful, studying Zach and Mal.
    "Stop, Mal." Zach grabbed the bloody hand, his face wrenching, and pushed it away. "You keep hurting yourself as if it'll keep anything from happening, and it won't."
    "Just—tell me you believe me? Zach?"
    Zach ignored the plea in Mal's voice. His stomach hurt. His eyes felt dry and swollen. He let the terror and the grief show naked on his face, but he couldn't look at Mal. "You think I don't want to? It's my life we're talking about here. You can't change what's happening to you, Mal, no matter how hard you try. I'm going to die, and God, I don't want it, but it's going to happen. You're the one who's going to do it." He could barely finish saying it.
    He stared at the ground, found a blood-soaked patch of dirt and fixed on it. He waited for the sounds that told him Aaron and Kane were gone, counting every beat of his pulse until the door closed at the top of the stairs.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 10
     
     
     
    M AL SLOUCHED WITH his back against the wall, looking down at his hands folded in his lap.
    "You were being overprotective. You showed them too much of what you were thinking," Zach whispered into the silence Aaron and Kane had left behind. They'd gone upstairs, but he knew their hearing was extraordinary, and he couldn't have them knowing what he had to say. Zach put a hand on Mal's shoulder. "Aaron noticed." His fingers dug in harder. " Mal. They told me upstairs that they were leaving and they won't be back until tomorrow morning. They said it's what they do for the first transformation. The pack leaves you alone, safe and with your—your—"
    "Victim? Prey? You think that's how I see you?" Mal flared, then closed his eyes.
    "No." Zach paused, rubbing his forehead and looking away to break the intensity between them. "I don't. I've been in this cellar with you and I knew what they were doing and I still believed in you, Mal. They've turned others in