Read Online Blue Moon by Lisa Kessler - Free Book Online Page B

lifting her feet off the floor. She laughed and shook her head. “Put me down, you brat!”
    Being a good son, I honored my mom’s request. “Is Dad here?”
    She picked up her towel. “Yep. He’s in the back concocting some new dessert.”
    My dad was an amazing cook. He’d never attended culinary school. His recipes were a family secret, passed down from his mother, and he had great instincts, morphing a simple burger into an event. If Luke and I weren’t werewolves with fast burning metabolisms, we would definitely be husky.
    I pushed through the swinging door to the kitchen, but the stove was deserted. “Dad?”
    “Back here.”
    Venturing farther into the food prep area, I found him hunched over a crème brûlée with a little blowtorch. He straightened, and we clasped forearms before he tugged me in for a tight hug.
    My dad was my height, with a solid build. No one would ever guess he was in his late fifties. He and his twin, Niko, were the youngest in Malcolm’s Pack. He’d survived the failed Operation Moonlight with Adam’s father. The project was one of Nero’s first contracts with the federal government, and Malcolm and the others had signed up, thinking they’d be able to use their enhanced abilities to serve their country, but Antonio Severino had visions of shape-shifting assassins rented to the highest bidder.
    After they escaped, my dad and the others settled here in Reno where he met my mom.
    I could’ve confided in her, too, but she’d never been in my shoes. Since the shifter gene is carried in the Y chromosome, only males are born as werewolves. And if we’re lucky enough to find our mate, we eventually have to navigate telling her the truth. If the couple wanted children, she had to be bitten, turned into a werewolf like her mate.
    My mom’s scar on her right hand was as precious to her as her wedding ring on her left.
    “What’s up Logan?” He set the torch aside.
    “Anna is back in town.”
    He leaned back against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest with a hint of a smile. “She’s a great girl.”
    I nodded. “Yeah, she is.”
    He pulled in a slow breath and raised a brow. “Are you two dating again?”
    Her scent on my clothes must’ve been a dead giveaway. “Uh…” Were we? “Not exactly.”
    His grin faded. “Want to fill me in?”
    “I should probably start with why I didn’t take her to the prom.”
    My parents never pressed me for answers that night. I’d survived my first shift into a wolf the night before—maybe they’d thought it made me sore, or moody. I never asked, but I appreciated them staying out of it. Distancing myself from Anna, not answering her calls or her notes stuffed in my locker, had been the darkest time of my life.
    So I kept it all inside and poured the pain into my music. My Gibson guitar was my only confidant.
    “Dad, she’s my mate.”
    He let out a whoop and grinned. My mom rushed in, towel at the ready. “Is everything okay?”
    “Laura, our boy has found his mate, and wait until you hear who she is…”
    Mom turned to me. They both looked giddy. Shit.
    “It’s Anna.”
    She beamed and hugged me so tight I could barely breathe. “I’m so happy for you, honey. You two are so good together.” She pulled back and frowned. “You didn’t tell us you guys reconnected.”
    “It just happened.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “Truth is, I’ve known she was my mate since the day of the prom.”
    Mom’s jaw slackened, and Dad’s brow furrowed. They looked at each other and back to me. Finally, Dad cleared his throat. “I don’t understand. You didn’t take her to the prom, and you didn’t talk to her again until now?”
    “Yeah, I remember.” I groaned. “It was stupid, it’s just…I panicked. I shifted for the first time the night before, and I was on such a high from that, and at the same time I was still shaken up from protecting Luke.”
    Not only had I experienced my first run with the Wolf Pack, but