Daniel sighed. He pointed up in the sky. “Looks like we quit just in time. Meteor shower’s started.”
I looked up as a shooting star streaked through the dark, clear night above us. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot about that.”
Daniel and I had planned on tracking the meteor shower after tonight’s training session. We were supposed to count how many meteors we saw in a thirty-minute period for an extra-credit science project at school.
I knew it bothered Daniel that Principal Conway wouldn’t even consider letting him graduate last year—he’d missed way too much school during the years he’d spent on the run from the curse that used to plague his every thought. But I, for one, was happy he hadn’t left for college yet. And with his attending summer school, doing some extra credit, and testing out of a few classes, we’d get to graduate together next spring.
“I’ll get the light,” I said after I pulled off my glove wraps. I flexed my fingers, stretching out my sore knuckles as I crossed the yard behind Maryanne Duke’s old house. I flipped off the porch light, grabbed my hoodie, and headed back over to the lawn. With my sweatshirt draped over my chest like a blanket, I took in a deep breath of autumn air and melted into the cool leaves of grass next to Daniel.
“That’s six,” I said after a long moment.
Daniel grunted in agreement.
“Oh! Did you see that one?” I pointed above my head at an especially bright star that glistened through the sky until it fizzled into nothing.
“Yeah,” Daniel said softly. “Beautiful.”
I glanced at him. He was lying on his side, staring at me.
“You weren’t even watching,” I teased.
“Yes, I was.” Daniel flashed me another one of his wry smiles. “I could see it reflecting in your eyes.” He reached out and brushed my cheek with his fingers. “One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.” He hooked one of his fingers under my chin, drawing my face closer to his.
I looked away from his deep, dark brown eyes, surveyed the curves of his muscles under the thin running shirt he’d worn for our training session. Then my gaze flitted to his shaggy hair, which had settled into a nice golden blond over the summer—all the dark had finally washed out. I followed the lines of his jaw and then rested my gaze on the curve of his smiling lips. It wasn’t his devious smile anymore, but the one he saved for moments like this—the one that meant he was truly happy.
He was still warm from our sparring match, and I could feel the heat radiating off his body only a few inches away. Drawing me to him. Willing me to close the gap between us. I looked back at his eyes, loving the feeling that I could get lost in them forever.
It was moments like these when I still couldn’t believe that he was even here.
That he was still alive.
That he was mine.
I’d watched him die once. Held him in my arms and listened to his heartbeat fade away into nothing.
It happened the night my brother Jude lost himself to the werewolf curse—just days before he left a note on the kitchen table, walked out into a snowstorm, and disappeared. The same night Jude infected me with the powers that taunted me now.
The night I almost lost everything.
“There goes another one.” Daniel leaned in and touched a kiss just beside my eye. He trailed his lips across my cheek and down my jaw, sending a tingling sensation through my body with the deliciousness of his touch.
Daniel’s lips came to my mouth. He brushed them softly there at first and then pressed gently. His lips parted, and he mingled them with mine.
My legs ached as I pulled him closer—finally closing the distance between us.
I didn’t care that we were out in the yard behind Maryanne Duke’s old house. I didn’t care that we were supposed to be tracking the meteor shower for class. Nothing existed outside his touch. There was nothing under the falling stars except Daniel and me and the blanket of grass underneath us.
Daniel jerked his head back slightly. “You’re buzzing,” he whispered against my lips.