Blood Moon (Moon Books) Read Online Free PDF

just...well, you know. So tell me what happened three years ago.”
    Noah put his forehead against mine for a second, then he drew back and continued, “I always knew there was something weird about my parents’ business trips, when I was left with Mrs. Clooney for weeks at a time, but until my eighteenth birthday even I didn’t know what they were doing.”
    “Why then?”
    “I guess because that’s when I technically became a man. That’s when I was supposed to join them.”
    “You mean become a hunter?” I tried not to say it sarcastically. I almost succeeded.
    “Yeah—the fucking Harper legacy. My parents sat me down that day and told me about our family. I would have had them carted off to an institution if they hadn’t shown me proof. Tons of it. They had photographs, contracts, research, journals back to the Middle Ages in Europe, letters, newspaper articles about ‘wild beasts.’ It was obvious they were telling the truth. When I asked why they were loading all this on me after so many years, they said it was time for me to join them.”
    “But you didn’t want to,” I murmured.
    “Of course not. I wanted to go to NYU with you. All I ever wanted was to be with you. I fought with them for weeks, Zack. I know you noticed there was something wrong. Then that night we kissed.” He paused smiling. “You have to already know that was the best night of my life. I’d wanted to tell you how I felt about you since we were kids. I thought you felt it too, but I could never tell for sure.”
    I squeezed his hand in mine. “Obviously I did. I still do.” He brought my palm up to his mouth and rubbed his lips across it in a soft kiss. Any small part of me that hadn’t been melted by him already turned to liquid.
    “You have no idea how happy that makes me, how happy it made me then too. I ran home that night ready to tell my parents to screw the Harpers and the stupid hunting legacy. I only wanted to be with you. I sat up all night practically floating off of my bed because I was so...euphoric. I spent hours trying to decide how I was going to tell you that I had been in love with you since, well, since practically forever.” He turned and smiled at me then sandwiching my hand between both of his. “I went to breakfast the next morning and confronted my family. I told them how I felt about you, that I wanted to be with you and not follow the tradition.” He stopped, looking out at the moon on the water.
    “What did they say to you, Noah?” I needed to hear the rest of the story, all the way to the crazy end.
    “They told me it didn’t matter if I joined them. That by being a Harper alone I was already a target and anyone who was close to me would be a target too. I wanted to protect you, Zack. My parents convinced me that pushing you away was the only way I could. They said that they felt awful, but that you weren’t equipped to deal with what we did. That it wasn’t fair to ask you to be a part of it.”
    “So you pushed me away because you thought you had to protect me from...movie monsters?”
    He sighed and tightened his grip on my hand, obviously not wanting me to bolt. “I told you, Zack. I can prove this is all true and I will. But there’s more.”
    “More? How can there be?”
    “I was a wreck after I said goodbye to you. I barely left my room for weeks. Finally my parents convinced me to go on a hunting trip with them. I guess they thought it would be good for me, get me involved with the family or whatever. Anyway, they were after some vampires in Boston, huge contract. You’d be amazed at what city officials will pay for something like that.” I looked at him with my mouth wide open.
    “Anyway, by that point I didn’t care if I lived or died so I finally said yes. I went with them, supposedly just to watch and learn, but I was reckless.”
    I held up my hand. “Wait a second. You went out on some government sanctioned vampire hunt?” I felt dizzy.
    “Yeah, but I didn’t