A Werewolf's Moon (The Council) by J.C. Isabella

jeans, sneakers, and a green t-shirt. When I met him in the hallway his eyes were glowing again.
    “Ready?”
    “Sure, but won’t we be noticed appearing out of nowhere?” Excited didn’t begin to describe how I felt. I was ready to burst from the anticipation, and not so freaked out anymore .
    Okay, that was a lie. I was just hiding how freaked out I still was.
    “I’m not going to phase where anyone will see us.” He held out his hand and I slipped mine into it. I felt a cool rush of air. My vision blurred. When I could see again I was standing in a very dark alley next to an old brick building. I heard sirens, and drivers honking their horns. Steam rose from a grate out of the building beside us, dampening my face as Quinn led me down the alley. When we reached the sidewalk I could barely contain my amazement as I stared up at the tallest buildings I’d ever seen.
    Everywhere I looked I saw something too magnificent to describe. The buildings went so high up I had to tilt my head all the way back to see their tops. The lights were multicolored, illuminating offices and signs. A man was selling watches on the corner, next to a man selling hotdogs. A woman whistled for a cab and waved her hands until one stopped abruptly and took off just as s oon as she sat in the backseat.
    “You look shocked.” Quinn said, keeping a firm hold on my hand as we walked down the crowded sidewalk. I was so distracted by the sights and sounds I just let him pull me along.
    “I’ve never been anywhere like this before. It’s all cement and metal.”
    When we crossed the street, a swarm of people from the other side bisected the group we were walking with, and they didn’t care if you got jost led about. They just shoved on.
    “This isn’t the friendliest part of town,” he grunted, making sure we didn’t get separated.
    As we continued the crowds thinned out and the atmosphere quieted. Little shops and restaurants had chalkboards outside to illustrate their menus. People were rushing in and out with paper bags of yummy smelling takeout. It was so different from Capeside.
    “Here it is.” Quinn steered me toward a short flight of steps down to an old green door.
    Inside the restaurant was filled with people eating and chattering. A line of patrons waited to be seated along a plastered wall. Candles sticking out of empty wine bottles lit small tables covered in red and white-checkered cloths. Italian music played softly in the background from speakers hung over an arched doorway leading into the kitchen. It was like being in Lady and the Tramp .
    “So,” Quinn eyed me, taking time to let suspense sink in. “You have a choice.”
    I stepped closer to him to hear over the background noise, “I do?”
    “Yeah, we can eat here or get it to go. I have an apartment in the city.”
    “You live here?” the surprises just kept on coming.
    I glanced at a little clock on the wall, the whiteboard hanging below it said there was a forty minute wait for dining in, due to the limited seating, and fifteen for takeout.
    Stay or go? Part of me wanted to go, because this wa s starting to feel like a date.
    Taking me to a nice place, holding my hand…yep, this had date written all over it. Quinn probably didn’t intend for it to be that way, but I didn’t want to sit at table with candlelight and romantic music floating in the background. Way too soon.
    “Your place,” I said confidently.
    Once we had our pizza, Quinn took me behind the restaurant and held my hand again. I curled my fingers around his feeling butterflies flutter in my stomach. It was nice. I really liked it.
    He was a good person, a little surly, but he didn’t make me feel as if I had to be anyone but myself. Not to mention the freaky need to have him around. I couldn’t describe it. The more I was with him the more I wanted to know about him and be in his presence. The want was becoming a need. There was this pull that made me shift closer to him as we walked, or