Dark of the Moon by Rachel Hawthorne

how long he’d been observing.
    Connor gave a barely perceptible nod and then he was coming for me again. He went high and I went low, grabbing his leg and using his own weight to toss him to the floor. In the fierce moments that followed, I twisted around, grabbed his arm, slammed his elbow across my thigh, and torqued it. Some referred to the maneuver as an arm lock, but I seldom paid attention to the technicalities. I just knew it gave me an advantage when my opponent was bigger than I was. Connor roared, the beast within him not at all happy with being restrained.
    I felt his muscles relaxing, knew he was about to surrender. I loosened my grip—
    He had me on the floor, his body pressing down on mine before I could blink. I stared up into his blue eyes. Maybe he thought he had me where he wanted me, but the truth was that I had him exactly where I’d always wanted him—so close, skin on skin.
    I watched as his gaze wandered over me as though he was trying to figure out exactly who I was. His head dropped just a fraction, his nostrils flared, and I knew he was inhaling my scent. I had an urge to say something stupid, like, “Let’s make love, not war.” It would be just like me to ruin an intense moment with a cheesy one-liner.
    But luckily my survival instincts were on high alert, controlling the part of my brain associated with speech. Instead, I just said, “I’m done here.”
    Connor’s heated gaze settled on my mouth with more intensity than it had last night. Then it shifted up to my eyes. His brow furrowed. Finally, he nodded and rolled off me. He held his hand out to me and I wrapped mine around it, feeling the strength of his hold and roughness of his palm. Both sent pleasure rippling through me as he pulled me to my feet.
    “Okay,” Connor said, looking past me. “She’ll do.”
    “What?” I jerked my head around to see Lucas, arms crossed over his chest, appearing incredibly pleased with himself. Beside him, Kayla smiled at me.
    “Connor’s in charge of his own group of Guardians,” Lucas said.
    “Yeah, I saw the list on the wall,” I told him.
    “Every leader needs a second in command he trusts to guard his back,” Lucas said. “I suggested Connor selectyou, but he had his doubts. Think you just beat those into the ground.”
    I glared at Connor. He was running a towel over his slick skin as though he had no idea of the magnitude of what I’d felt pinned to the floor beneath him: the way my heart had pumped with more force than it ever had, how I’d thought he was actually becoming more interested in me as…a girl. I swung back and slammed my fist into his arm.
    “Hey!” He rubbed his arm. “What the hell?”
    “You were testing me? Testing me ? God, Connor, you’ve known me forever, and you had doubts about me?”
    Anger burned in his eyes, but I had a feeling it didn’t come close to what he was seeing in mine. “Sorry if you’re offended, but I’ve never seen you in warrior mode, so yeah, I wanted to confirm what you’re capable of.”
    I got right up in his face. “Don’t you dare try to test me in wolf form. If you do, you won’t be getting up from the mat.” It was a lie, bravado that I couldn’t back up with action, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let anyone force me into revealing my dirty little secret.
    The challenge darkened his expression, turned his anger into something primal—and my body reacted strongly to the message he was sending. Suddenly we were breathing heavily as though we were near the end of a workout, our hands tightened into fists—not to fight but to control the impulse to touch. It took every bit ofwillpower I possessed not to pounce and take us both to floor. I could tell he was engaged in the same battle. He was scenting me again, and I was afraid my fragrance was laced with the heat of passion.
    “Oookay,” Lucas said, putting his arm against Connor’s chest and pushing him back. “We get it. No more tests.”
    The