"No." Where had the last month gone?
"It was the day I first saw you again." Daniel dropped his hands from my hips, but he didn't step away. "Your dad had asked me to stay away from you and Jude until we figured things out, but I couldn't. I think he knew I wouldn't be able to, either; he was just doing the fatherly thing." Daniel studied the back of his hands. "I've always liked you, Grace. I don't know if you knew that?"
My heart fluttered. "Really?"
"Ever since the day you marched home with that three-legged runt of a puppy, I knew that there was no one else quite like you. Gabriel told me to find someone who loved me--and I hoped if there was anyone in this world who could, it would be you.
"So when I saw your name in that art class, I was so curious. ... I remembered you as this spunky, unbelievably caring, totally bossy kid, and I couldn't help teasing you a bit. But then when I looked at you and saw how beautiful and amazing and strong you had become--it was like something woke up inside of me."
He stepped back now. As if he needed to put distance between us. "I'd never felt that way before. I didn't know I was capable of feeling that way ... but the wolf felt it, too. And when the full moon came out, it told me to go find you. It told me I couldn't stay away. I even tried locking myself in my room, but that didn't work. Like I said, I was almost to your house before I came to my senses. I had more control, but I still couldn't leave--not until I saw you again." I gasped. "I saw you. You were that dog, that wolf, that sat under the walnut tree. The one that was watching me."
I don't know why that surprised me--that I'd seen him as a wolf. I guess I'd pictured some kind of grotesque mix of man and beast. But that dog had been beautiful, large--larger, I realized now, than any dog I'd ever seen before--and sleek, majestic. Like the sculpture of the wolf with Gabriel in the Garden of Angels.
"So you're afraid that now that you know--and the wolf knows--that I'm the one, the wolf will come for me?" I smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "At least I know I'll have one free night to myself a month."
"Three," Daniel said. "You'll have three nights to worry about."
"Huh?"
"The moon is technically full for three nights. I came looking for you on the third night of the last full moon. Tonight is the first of this month."
"Three nights to myself then? All the better, I guess. New relationships can be so time-consuming." I shrugged and tried to laugh.
Daniel didn't. "I wish making you lonely was the only thing I had to worry about. If I'm staying here, if we're going to be together, then I have other things to take care of tonight. That's why you need to stay in. Please, Gracie. Don't go to the dance, or dinner, or anywhere with Pete and your group. I can't be distracted tonight. I need you to be safe." "I can't just cancel."
"I've never been more serious, Grace. Please, do this for me." He engulfed me in his arms, pressing me to him with such urgency. "Promise me you'll stay out of harm's way." He kissed me then like he had under the walnut tree--like his life depended on it.
"Okay," I said, and sank into his arms.
Chapter Twenty-five The Other One
BEFORE THE DANCE
What is it about promises? They should just be outlawed. Seriously, I'm going to hell for this one, I thought as April slipped one last bobby pin into my upswept hair. "You look amazing," she said.
I'd tried to keep my promise to Daniel. I really did. I'd called April first thing when I got home. I thought I could soften the blow on Pete if I convinced her to call him for me and tell him I had the chicken pox or something equally contagious. But no, that had been a mistake.
"Don't do this to me!" April yelped over the line. I could hear the din of the Apple Valley Mall behind her. She'd just left Nails 18 and was fumbling with the phone, trying not to ruin her manicure. "I will never forgive you," she said, more than half meaning it. "Do you have any idea what this means to me? You will ruin my entire life if you don't go." April's used-to-be-absent mother was keeping her on a tighter and tighter leash as more and more days passed without the police finding Jessica Day. She would only let Jude come over for
"studying," and she'd agreed to the dance only if April shared a car with Pete and me. April was to go straight to dinner, then to the dance, and then back home, with absolutely no unplanned stops in between.
"But I'm sick. I can't go."
"No, you're not. You just told me that was your excuse for Pete." Crap.
"Please, please, please. You have to do this for me. I'll just die if I don't go to the dance with Jude."
I laughed. "Well, if it's a life-and-death situation ..." "Thank you, Grace. You will never regret this!" I really hoped I wouldn't.
It was just dinner, the dance, with no unplanned stops in between. Daniel wouldn't know I wasn't locked up in my room for the night. He wouldn't be distracted. I wouldn't be in danger. Seriously, why did I never learn?
April strategically situated a lone, curling tendril down the side of my cheek. "Pete is going to flip when he sees you."
I hope not, I thought, but smiled and thanked her anyway.
April had almost gagged when she came over early and saw the hairspray-mates-with-mousse mess I'd made out of my hair. I don't know why my hands shook so much--it's not like I was nervous for my date with Pete.
"You look like a 1980s beauty queen," she'd said, and sat me back down at the bathroom vanity.
"Isn't that look in this year?"
I could see April roll her eyes in the mirror as she set to work fixing the disaster. And I have to admit that I ended up looking pretty darn good. It was a good thing the guys were totally late, or I would have looked scary instead.
I stood up and inspected myself in the full-length mirror. Sometime during finals, April had dragged me to a dress boutique in Apple Valley. I hadn't been in the right frame of mind for shopping, so I'd let April pick out my dress--and I'd bought it without even trying it on. But I have to say: once again, she'd done a stellar job. I loved the way the white satin dress felt against my skin, and I loved even more the way it looked with my violet eyes and flawlessly coifed dark hair. The tight, sculpted bodice actually made it look like I had breasts, but my favorite parts were the pop of color in the purple sash around the middle that made my waist appear impossibly small, and the quick coat of matching purpley toenail polish that April had picked up for me at the mall.