My Blood Moon

Chapter 31

This chapter's especially for you guys ;) Hope you all like it! Sorry it's taking so long to write. Also, for those of you in/near Longview, TX come meet me tomorrow at Hastings (3 to 5pm) for my book signing! I'd love to see some of you there.

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Sitting at the nice little picnic table I watch Derreck exploring the outside world. He still has trouble with his wolf side - more times than not the wolf takes over and freaks out. Since he seemed to be okay I decided to take him to the park. The other day when he asked why he was in the cellar gave me a new hope for him, but those moments are few right now. He goes through cycles of being completely wolf, to acting like a child, and then for just a moment he's himself...but it's still something. If we had more time to just wait on his mind to heal - that's what Old Man Henry tells us he needs - then I'd be fine with all this. Unfortunately, we have an ever-growing mixed pack of alpha wolves and vampires out there in the city somewhere, planning their next move against us. By now, they must have at least heard about our alliance with the hunters.

Shaking the thought away, I let myself focus on this oddly beautiful day. The sun shines above in a sky mixed of glorious blue and white, with a nice addition of fluffy clouds to give a bit of shade. The trees rest peacefully around the quaint and quiet park like a fortress protecting the delicate life within. The grass is bright green mixed with browns, signaling winter is about to hit with full force. Around here Summer persists through much of Fall, but all is quickly changed at the end of November. Within a few days, this place will look completely different. Even now I notice the changing colors of the leaves and the light scattering of dead leaves on the ground. By this time next week, this place could be covered in snow...

"Bekah!" Derreck's voice calls out excitedly as he carries something over to me.

I smile at his unveiled glee and look into his hands where a baby rabbit nibbles on one of his fingers. "It's cute."

He smiles wide at me and nods as a larger rabbit comes over to us, probably the baby's mother. Derreck frowns down at her before sighing and reluctantly setting the small critter on the ground. I watch as the pair hops off into the foliage before looking over at his disgruntled appearance.

"What's wrong?" I ask, holding a hand out to him and he sits on the ground in front of me.

"She didn't like me holding her baby. She said it was rude for me to just grab it." He frowns, looking up at me with tears in his eyes.

"That's because we're technically predators and she's its mother. Mothers can be a little overprotective of their young." I tell him, softly patting him on the head and running my fingers through the growing locks.

I play with the long strands and find myself surprised at how long it has grown since he fell off that cliff. It's at least two to three inches longer than before - he usually kept it pretty short because he hated having it long. Much like Paul's, when it's long it has a slight curl to it...his mother had loved it and would let it grow until he complained too much. I now see why, it's oddly silky and soft to the touch. Honestly, his hair is much better than my own.

He shuts his eyes and stiffens after a moment, eyes slowly opening before he looks around us. That's when I see the difference in him. I look around just to make sure no one's here and focus on the glowing red-eyed man before me as he starts to growl. It's a deep rumble that reverberates through the ground, up my legs, and squeezes at my chest in both fear and sadness. I'm not afraid of Derreck, but what he could do in this state.

His eyes gradually go from scanning the area around us to watching me in an eerily hungry way. I force my body to relax and not give him any reason to distrust me, but I can already see his body recoiling. Just before he lunges, I duck beneath the table and roll away, shifting immediately and running as fast as my legs would go. I hear him land on all fours as loud howl rings through the air - I guess this isn't such a great day for him...I should have known. I don't focus on my mistake because doing so could get one of us seriously hurt. As my paws propel me forward, I scan the area for a place to lose him so I can circle around and get the upper hand...well, paw. Just when I lose hope of not finding anything suitable I see a small hole in the trees, just small enough to trap him for a moment. Veering to the right I manage to slip through the sliver of space and force myself not to react when I hear him yelp as the little space catches him. Pushing myself to move faster, I weave through the thickening foliage and jump behind a little group of bushes.