Free Blood Moon by A.D. Ryan Page A

okay.” He paused to press his lips to mine lightly. “I’ll be
right back. I swear.”
    I nodded slowly and lowered myself into bed,
pulling the warm comforter up beneath my chin. Closing my eyes, I
allowed the fog in my head to take over until I found myself on the
precipice of sleep, and the last thing I remembered was the bed
dipping behind me and David pulling me into his warm embrace.
     

Chapter five | awake
    H er cold, dead eyes
stared up at me, pleading with me to help her as I circled her body
slowly, looking down on her broken form with intrigue. The pallor
of her skin was whiter than white, and her long brown hair moved in
the gentle breeze, small wisps flowing across her face and
neck…
    Her neck .
    Something in the back of my mind flickered,
but before it had a chance to ignite, the crisp wind picked up,
bringing with it the refreshing scent of a rare rainstorm on the
horizon, and I inhaled deeply.
    Along with the elemental smells of water and
earth, I picked up something entirely different… something not
unlike that of death and decay. I tried to tell myself that it was
just the body, but that didn’t seem plausible since I could tell
from just looking at her that she was nowhere near the decomp
phase. The smell intensified even as the rain began to fall, and
every hair on my body prickled, my instincts telling me to run.
Without questioning the urge, my feet moved until I was running for
cover in the woods.
    The dirt was cold and wet against the pads
of my feet, and I could smell the leaves on the trees and the
cactus blooms as I darted past, around, and under. Faster and
faster, my legs moved, propelling me deeper and deeper into the
forest. Trees whipped by at an alarming rate as I raced along the
rugged path left by hikers and animals, and the wind blew through
my hair.
    Everything seemed a little sharper to look
at, and I could hear absolutely everything around me—the birds in
the trees, the worms in the earth—but it was the low growl ahead of
me that forced me to stop in my tracks. The deep, rumbling sound
grew louder until everything else cancelled out entirely, and a
pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the shadow of the brush
before me.
    The urge to run disappeared as the brown
wolf stalked toward me and the lingering smell of death dissipated.
Uncertain, I remained in place and assessed the situation. I didn’t feel threatened by the animal, but I was definitely
intrigued by it, looking over his thick coat as it gleamed in the
moonlight and admiring the grace in his gait. He was beautiful, and
I felt a kindred connection between the two of us that I couldn’t
quite explain.
    Smiling, I held out a hand and crouched down
to the wolf’s level, my instincts telling me that I wasn’t in any
danger. The animal stopped walking, eyeing my hand curiously, but
when his beautiful yellow eyes locked on mine and narrowed, his
ears flattening against his head, I inhaled sharply, realizing my
error.
    And then it leapt for me, its jaws open
wide, and its long, sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight.
     

     
    I jolted awake, sweat on my brow and the
images of my dream already beginning to fade as the burn in my
shoulder grew hotter. Not everything from my dream was forgotten,
though; I still remembered the wolf lunging for me, and it stirred
up memories of the night before. Some of the events were hazy, at
best—which was probably thanks, in large part, to the pain
medication I had taken—but I remembered David and me arriving at
Chaparral Park, the woman, the wolf…
    Pain pulsed in my shoulder again, spreading
the fire further down my arm as I recalled the strong jaws of the
wild animal sinking into my flesh, burying so deep they grazed the
bone before I kicked it off of me and shots were fired. The trip to
the ER and everything after that was a little fuzzy, but I could
recall bits and pieces of it.
    When the pain was too much to ignore, I
carefully pushed myself up on the bed, being sure to