Blue Moon (Colors of the Moon #1)

Chapter 30

Conner's upper body jerked backwards and as if in slow motion he began to fall toward the ground. A scream tore its way out of my throat just before he landed on the gravel road. Everything around me was spinning, but I still forced my legs to move forward.

"Stop."

I had managed nothing but a single step before the cold order whipped through the silence. Slowly I turned toward Aiko and regretted the action as soon as my eyes landed on her. She now had the gun aimed directly in the middle of my chest.

"Leave him." She didn't even glance at the completely motionless Conner.

I opened my mouth, but before any sound could leave it, the screeching of tires against the gravel filled my ears. A gray van came to a sudden stop a few steps behind Aiko. The second it stopped, the back door slid open and two guys jumped out.

"Take care of Kevin," Aiko ordered without throwing them even a single glance.

The guys I assumed were hunters, wordlessly rushed over to the beaten hunter, who was still kneeling in the middle of the road. Together they pulled him up to his feet and then began to carry him back to the van.

"I'm giving you your last chance." Aiko drew my attention back to her. "Who's it going to be? The monster or me, your family."

"You... You wouldn't shoot me."

"I won't shoot my sister." My blood ran cold at the cruel smile that crooked the side of her lips. "But I will shoot a traitor who allies herself with monsters."

"Aiko, let's go!" One of the hunters shouted the moment they lifted the beaten guy inside the vehicle.

"What's it going to be?"

I stared into my sister's cold eyes, searching for any kind of sign that she was the same girl I had grown up with. Yet all I could see was an emotionless shell, forcing me to choose.

"I'm not leaving." Despite the tremble in my hands, I forced myself to remain rooted to my spot. I refused to believe that my own sister would shoot me.

"Too bad."

She tightened her hold on the gun, but before she could pull the trigger a loud howl pierced our surroundings.

"She's not worth it," the same hunter shouted from inside the back of the van. "We need to go!"

The one howl was joined by another and another. They were getting closer.

"You're going to regret this," Aiko said with the gun still aimed at my chest. "Soon you'll wish you'd be dead."

With one last heartbeat of hesitation, she lowered the deadly weapon and without wasting another second, sprinted toward the van. Her fellow hunters pulled her inside the vehicle, and before they even got a chance to close the side door, the van sped off.

Dust flew everywhere, but all I did was stare at the disappearing vehicle. Had this really happened? Was my own sister really inside the van? Was she really a—

Another loud growl snapped me back to reality. I rushed to the fallen Conner and knelt down next to him.

"Conner?"

The first thing I noticed were his shut eyes, but when my eyes slid lower I saw it. The red mess coating the right side of his chest.

"Conner, can you hear me?" I pressed my hands against the wound, yet no sound came from the said guy.

He continued to lie in the middle of the crossing, completely motionless.

There wasn't even enough time for my hands to get too slippery when a group of werewolves jumped out of the surrounding forest. The first one to reach my side was Jared, who immediately ushered me to remove my hands. Then while someone else took over the task of making sure Conner wouldn't bleed out, Jared hauled me to my feet.