Full Moon Kisses:A Full Moon Novel(14)

"So are you this rude to everyone?" I asked in a huff.
"I can be worse." He stared into me as if he was daring me to test just how far he could take this.
"Hard to imagine," I shot back.
That made him smile. "So what's your name?"
"I don't have one."
"My name is Ryder."
He grabbed his change and his pack of cigarettes. He didn't appear old enough to buy them, so I assumed he had a fake ID.
"Now it's your turn," he said snidely, gesturing to me to step up to the register. He pretended to tip an imaginary hat.
I gave him one last scowl and broke eye contact with him. He headed out the door.
There were two guys around the same age waiting for him outside. One had fiery ginger hair; the other's was shaggy, long, and blond. For some reason they kept looking back at me. Ryder took out two cigarettes and handed them to his friends. They smoked while he just stared at me. I thought they'd laugh at me, the girl who tried to stand up to the bully, but they didn't. Instead they just smoked and talked, as if they were discussing something important-me. I paused inside the store, pretending to read a mag, to make sure they weren't waiting for me to leave. It seemed like an eternity until they threw their butts on the ground and smashed them with their black boots. They got into their car-a vintage black Firebird-and pulled out. I went quickly to my car and started the engine, then saw them idling at the corner. I sped out of the gas station. Once on the road to Brandon's house, I checked my rearview mirror and was relieved to find they weren't following me.
I'd never seen these guys before in town. And I was hoping that they were just passing through.
When I reached Brandon's guesthouse, he was already waiting outside for me, fixing a broken kitchen chair. "What took you so long?" Brandon asked, looking worried.
"I had to stop for gas. There was this guy at the store who was so rude. He jumped in front of me, and when I said it was my turn, he was like, ‘Too bad.'"
"That is rude." He wiped his hands and gave me a long, heavenly kiss.
For a moment, I was distracted. But when we stopped, my thoughts turned back to my unusual encounter. I shook my head. "I've never seen anyone like him. He was just so brazenly impolite. He should have had manners."
"Maybe he wasn't taught any. You'll have to let it go … ."
"You're right. Maybe I should feel sorry for him instead of angry."
"Yes," he said, gently rubbing my back. "Now tell me what happened at Dr. Meadows's."
I felt even more stressed, like I was going to explode. "Nash had his reading. He wanted to know what to do. He insisted she tell him. He even grabbed her hand. Then she said a cure would be revealed to him and that he should take it. That he would be cured."
"With my dad's serum?" he asked.
"She didn't say. Only that it would be revealed to him. But yes, I think that's what she meant. I don't know of any other cures."
"But my dad wants me to take it."
"I know. So you will, and then we can get some for Nash. He'll take it and be cured. Then all our werewolf problems will be solved."
For a moment I fantasized about a life at Legend's Run High as ordinary as any other student's. I'd take my classes and see my boyfriend every day. I'd hang with my friends, and Nash could continue to be the star athlete. Our only problems would be what movie to see on the weekend or what dress I'd wear to the next dance. I had to admit, I'd miss those nights under the full moon when Brandon was so wild and irresistible. But I'd forgo those extraordinary times for the chance for him to live a normal life again.
"That's great news," he said excitedly. Then he changed his tone. "If you believe in that stuff."
"Well, usually I don't. But she's been right before … . But then, it is Dr. Meadows. She wants someone to become a werewolf-so she can get her camera out, tape it, show it to the world, and become famous. And she has more to gain with Nash being a werewolf full-time. Do you think she told him to take it to become a werewolf full-time?"
"Isn't that unethical?"
"Yes. It is. But she was trying to use us when I told her about you."
"She did do that."
"But she was touching him when she gave him that advice. I think she must have really been channeling something."
"Well, if she gives wrong advice, then she has more to worry about than anyone, don't you think? She'd be putting herself in harm's way if she told him to take it, knowing he'd transform every night."
"I guess you're right," I said, sort of relieved.
"And if she predicts he will be cured-then I assume that means … "
"That you will be, too."
He smiled. "Then I can be. If we believe her."
"Yes."
"But she didn't say I would be, too."
"No, but I assume so. You are going to take it first, right? Nash can't be cured until you are."
Brandon put his arm around me. I sensed the relief he was feeling, and I could only figure he was imagining our lives together without being a werewolf, just as I had a moment ago. However, there were other predictions Dr. Meadows warned of, and I wasn't too keen on being the one to shake him out of his good mood.
He gave me a luscious kiss.
I couldn't make eye contact with him.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "Isn't this good news-if it's true?"
"Yes," I said. "But there's also the other thing she said." I chewed my lip as I decided how to tell him about the last prediction she had made. "Nash is going to bite me," I finally blurted out.
"He's going to do what?" he asked, half laughing. "I thought you went there to find out if he's going to be cured."
"It's not a joke. I think Nash is going to bite me and turn me into a werewolf."
"Why would you think that? Did Dr. Meadows say that?"
"Sort of."
"Slow down." He put his arm around me and guided me to a picnic bench in his grandparents' backyard. We sat on the tabletop. "Now, tell me everything."
"When I left, she said, ‘Beware of the full moon. A werewolf wants to take you into his world. Forever.'"
"That can mean a lot of things," Brandon surmised.
"It means one thing. Nash is going to turn me into a werewolf. I'm the next one in line."
Brandon thought for a moment. "What-how is he going to take you into his world?" he asked.
"He could bite me. You've seen him when he changes. He's violent."
"But now he's aware of himself when he's a werewolf. We were hoping your kiss would cure him of the thoughtless violence."
"I know. But that was before Dr. Meadows made this horrible prediction."
"What if she's not talking about that werewolf? What if she means me?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. I hadn't even thought of Brandon.
"Maybe she is warning you that I'm going to hurt you-bite you. Maybe the warning was about me." Brandon was visibly disturbed. He stood and paced around the table.
"Why would you hurt me?" I asked. "You haven't before. I've been with you a bunch of times when you were in lycan form. But Nash-he's tried to attack me at least two times. The next full moon is coming soon, Brandon. What if he finds me?"
"It's okay," he reassured me. He came back and sat beside me.
I was really scared. My life seemed to be spinning in chaos. The thought of my becoming a werewolf? My hands began to tremble.
I was so shaken up by the visit, the prediction, and the rude boy, I began to cry. I wanted our love life to be easier. Do homework together, kiss and cuddle, take walks in the woods. Now it was spiraling out of control. I felt like I was in danger.
Brandon held me tightly as I wiped away tears that streamed down my face.
"I was scared when you first turned," I said. "Then again when Nash did. Now I'm scared again."
"Maybe you shouldn't have gone to Dr. Meadows. She puts horrible thoughts in your head. And who says she's right?"
"She's been right all along," I argued. "I knew I shouldn't have gone with Nash. But I felt sad for him. And now look what has happened."
"But what does she know, really?" Brandon proposed.
"Uh … everything! She's been right about everything. And if I'd listened to her from the beginning, I wouldn't have walked home alone … ."
"And, I know … I wouldn't have been bitten," Brandon said as if finishing my sentence.
"It's true," I said. "She said it first and then it happened."
Brandon paused. I knew he didn't believe in Dr. Meadows's predictions, but my nervousness was making him rethink the issue.
"Then we have to do something about it."
"Do what?" I asked.
"We have to let Nash take the serum," Brandon said firmly to me, "on the night of the next full moon. He'll come here, and I'll give it to him. We have to-if not for his sake, then for yours."
"Really?" I asked. "You decided … you were going to take it. Finally."
"But we didn't know about this. And now I can't take that chance."
I realized what he was really giving up: the cure for himself. "But that means you'll still be a werewolf."
"Well, if it means you won't, then I'm game."
"But your father-you promised you'd be the one who takes it first."
"That was before I knew about this prediction. If you say she's been right before, then we can't chance it this time. He can't change you into a werewolf if he isn't one."