Dark of the Moon by Rachel Hawthorne Page A

awareness between us broke. I felt like I was coming out of a trance.
    “I mean it,” I snarled, before storming through the room. Shifters moved out of my way as though I were made of silver.
    In the hallway, I heard the patter of rapid footsteps.
    “Brittany, wait up,” Kayla said.
    I spun around so fast that she staggered back. I could only imagine what my expression was showing: the hurt, the anger, the disappointment.
    “I take it you knew about this…test or whatever the hell it was.”
    She looked startled by my vehemence, but as far as I knew no other Guardian had ever been tested. Why me? Did they sense that the moon had betrayed me? Were they afraid I’d do the same to them?
    Kayla appeared uncomfortable. “In a way. I knew if Connor saw a chance to assess your skills, he was going to take it.”
    “And you didn’t think to give me a heads-up?”
    “I tried,” she said flatly. “But you wanted to go running.”
    Damn. She had tried. Now I felt bad for taking my frustration out on her. She was new to our society. She hadn’t grown up in it. She didn’t understand the subtleties, didn’t know everything we were capable of. The fury seeped out of me. “The girl stuff, the wolf stuff? You couldn’t have been a little less cryptic?”
    “I didn’t want anyone to overhear us and know that I was going against orders. Everyone around here has such incredibly sensitive hearing. I don’t know how anyone keeps a secret.”
    I shook my head, the fear of discovery spiking. “They don’t usually.” Now it was my turn to feel uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken my anger at Connor out on you.”
    “It doesn’t matter. I’d have been pissed, too. But, hey, you handled yourself better than anyone else would have.”
    The results of the test finally slammed home. I’d passed. Connor was giving me a position of great responsibility. I’d impressed him—but for how long? Until the first time that he needed me to shift. And when I couldn’t, all the respect I’d worked so hard to attain would dissolve. I considered going back in the gym and telling him the truth, but I was tough. I’d just proven it. I could be avaluable asset—as long as a situation didn’t arrive where we had to shift. I didn’t want to lose this opportunity to be with Connor, so I pretended everything was okay, that my nerves weren’t suddenly jangling. I grinned. “I kicked his butt.”
    “Almost…Until the end anyway.”
    I didn’t respond. What could I say to that? Deny what everyone had seen?
    “Don’t let it get you down,” Kayla said. “You put up a good fight. You should hang with Lucas and me tonight.”
    “Yeah, getting scorched while you two get it on sounds like fun.”
    She gave me an indulgent smile. “We’ll behave. Lucas told me about the media room—that it has a huge flat screen hooked into a DVD player. A bunch of us are going to watch movies tonight. I’m hoping for something with Brad Pitt.”
    “Good luck with that. These guys tend to go with the worst movies ever made.”
    She shrugged, being a good sport about it. “That works, too. The main thing is to be part of the pack.”
    And no doubt making out while the lights were low.
    The door to the dungeon opened, and Connor strode out. He nodded in acknowledgment as he went past me.
    Tremors cascaded through me. I was used to themhappening after a hard workout, but I knew these had nothing to do with my exhausted muscles. They were all because of Connor.
    I’d seen him fight in wolf form when we encountered an animal in the wild that threatened us. I’d thought he looked beautiful, but lethal. But I’d never seen him in warrior mode as a human. He was as sexy as hell and even more dangerous.
    Especially because I saw in his eyes that he knew the truth about what I’d done. I’d let him win.

SEVEN
    The long hot shower I took back in our room made my body go wonderfully languid. But it tensed right back up when I was