Once in a Full Moon Page 0,55

have much sunlight left before the full moon was going to shine. I was worried about Brandon and what might happen to him.

"I have to run out - but I'll be back soon," I said, grabbing my coat.

"You're not going anywhere tonight," my mom said. "You can't go out when there are wolves running around. Give it a few days to see how it plays out."

I was always well behaved and it was very rare that I didn't follow the rules. It was as unlikely for me to get in trouble as it was to discover that a transfer student could become a werewolf. But both things were possible tonight.

"I'm sorry, Mom, but I have to go - " I said defiantly, closing the back door behind me.

Chapter Twenty Six Senses

The sun was beginning to set over the trees, and it wouldn't be long until the rise of the full moon. I hurried to Brandon's. I needed to see him face-to-face - and see which features stared back at me, those of a handsome guy or those of a wolf.

I found him in the backyard stacking wood into a pile alongside a small shed.

This time Brandon wasn't pleased by my presence.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "I told you I couldn't see you. Especially tonight."

"I wanted to be near you, just like the wolves did when they came to see you at school," I confessed.

"You have to leave, Celeste." He backed away, but I followed.

"I'm not going," I said.

He picked up a few pieces of wood that had tumbled from the pile. "You have to - it's the only way."

"Then you will have to carry me off," I said, finally facing him. "And I'm much heavier than that pile of wood."

He returned the logs into the pile and stared off at the setting sun. "Celeste, what is happening to me?" he asked.

His pain and torment were palpable. I would have taken it all away if I could. I hugged him and he caved in on me.

"I don't know, Brandon. It seems odd, mystical, paranormal. Or maybe it's nothing at all. Maybe it's all coincidence."

"But I never felt anything like this before... until that day when I heard you calling in the woods. And then I was never the same."

"It was a full moon, then. I knew it was my fault."

"It's not - "

I'd experienced Brandon Maddox through my five senses. One, I first saw Brandon in class that day that he transferred. Two, I heard him speak when Ivy and Abby confronted him. Three, we touched that day he saved me in the woods. Four, his scent still lingered on his shirt that I kept on my nightstand. Five, I had tasted his lips against mine. But there was one more sense I was desperate to witness; I needed to confirm my suspicions through the sixth sense - the paranormal.

"I'm not leaving," I said.

"You have to go - I don't know how I'll be - or what I'll be."

I held on to him with all my strength. "It's okay."

I wanted to see for sure if what we'd experienced under the last full moon was coincidence or could be explained away by another reason - one other than legends, folklore, or predictions.

The full moon shone down upon us as Brandon enveloped me in his arms and kissed me. He was so passionate and intense, I was afraid I was going to be the one who would have to throw off my coat this time.

Brandon was kissing my neck when he suddenly broke away.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm burning up. Like the sun is lighting me on fire - only there's no sun."

"Just the moon..." I barely managed to say.

"You must leave. Now!"

I had Brandon's shirt at home, so I knew last month's episode wasn't a dream. But that didn't mean I'd seen what I thought I'd seen. Tonight, I wouldn't let Brandon out of my sight. I had to see the transformation for myself.

Brandon's blue eyes turned intensely gray. He covered them and retreated. He went into the woods, using trees to block my view. He was desperate for me not to see him, but I followed him anyway. I ran past trees and jumped over fallen branches and trudged through snow. By the time I caught up to him, his hair was savagely long and lush. His face sported that sexy goatee