Dark of the Moon Read online

  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 select you, 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 of willpower 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 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 a valuable 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 them happening 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 toweling off and spotted bruises forming on my thigh and upper arm. In frustration I hit my balled fist on the counter. Any self-respecting Shifter would shift and heal those suckers right up. My solution was going to be carefully selecting clothes that didn't show too much skin.

  That's so not going to get Connor's attention.

  I couldn't believe that in less than an hour, after his ridiculous test, I caught myself looking forward to seeing him again. I couldn't deny that wrestling him had been a total turn-on—even if the reason for it had sucked.

  After our close encounter on the wrestling mat, I knew I'd finally caught his undivided attention and that result was more invigorating than being given a position of authority. He'd scented the pheromones my body had been releasing with his nearness. I wondered what might have happened if we hadn't had an audience in the dungeon. Would he have dipped his head farther for a kiss? Would