by Nancy Holder
She said nothing, just tried to look as if she wasn’t afraid. She didn’t want to appear fragile or needy in front of him. Werewolves despised weakness.
“You need to learn so much.” Even in the darkness, she could feel him studying her, assessing her. “So much.”
She remained silent, and he did, too.
“We’re not immortal, Katelyn. Of course Lee — our alpha — wasn’t around four hundred years ago,” he said finally. “We heal up quick, as you’ve already noticed, but we do have a normal human lifespan. We make the most of the time we have, though. In ways you can’t begin to imagine.” He pushed away from the tree trunk and ambled toward her. “Kat.”
Her name on his tongue was like a caress. Silky, sexy. She could feel herself reacting, and she glided out of reach.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” Justin said, and she thought there was just the slightest emphasis on the first word in the sentence.
She scanned their surroundings: the woods, the road, the front of the cabin. Was that someone creeping through the shadows beneath the overhang of the second story? A person, or a wolf?
“Who else is out here?” she asked again.
“You need to get used to being watched,” he said, still evading her questions. “You need to remember that Lee’s got to look out for the safety of the entire pack.”
“Then he needs to remember that someone did this to me. Without my permission, or his.”
“Listen to me,” Justin said, leaning forward. “You know about his dementia, that he’s losing touch with reality. He knows it, too, and he’s running scared. He can’t be seen as losing control. He’ll be challenged. He was going to pick Cordelia to succeed him but that’s out the window now.”
Katelyn couldn’t believe Cordelia would have become the new alpha. Cordelia was just seventeen. Cordelia’s two older sisters had bullied Cordelia mercilessly, and she spent half her time apologizing for things that weren’t even her fault. How could Lee Fenner have ever thought she would be able to lead the pack?
“I thought it was odd, too,” Justin said.
She knit her brows. “I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t need to. I read it. You’ll get better at reading body language, same as us.”
Us. She would have to be doubly, triply careful around him then. Just like with Trick. Justin could read her; Trick somehow just knew her.
“What happened to you happened on his watch,” he continued. “Something so counter to our moral code it’s never happened here in Wolf Springs, ever. You’re proof that he’s not in complete command of his pack. A source of shame. It might be easiest for him just to get rid of you.”
Threatened, she reared back, and he lunged forward and caught her by the shoulder. His head lowered toward hers and she knew he was going to kiss her.
“I’m standing between that decision and your life,” he said huskily. “You need me, Kat.”
And you need me, she thought, fighting not to let him kiss her, ever. I’m the only one immune to silver, and you’re the only one who knows it. He was planning something, and he needed her to pull it off.
His lips were brushing hers when she turned her head.
“Lucy,” she said. “Your girlfriend, remember?”
He grunted. “I’m sorry, Kat,” he muttered, and he let her go.
Katelyn took a sharp breath. Just being around Justin was like being hypnotized. It had to be something chemical, because they were both werewolves. It couldn’t be that she was that weak.
“Hormones,” he muttered.
“What?”
He huffed. “Look, I know you have to be going crazy right now. All the chemicals in your body have been shaken up, changed. The wolf side of you is fighting the human side and it’s like being a little kid again. Everything will feel more extreme for you and when you’re not with someone to remind you how to act, you’re going to have to remember that your life is riding on your behavior. It’s going to take a while to learn to handle it. Right now, the wolf in you is responding to the wolf in me but you don’t even have the impulse control of a two-year-old human.”
“Feeling like a two-year-old is not my current problem,” she snapped. Her problem was that she wanted to kiss him like there was no tomorrow.
“When your body learns to adapt to everything that’s happening to it, you’ll feel fully in control again.” He paused. “Until then . . . be damn careful around me or any other young wolf in the pack.”
“Like being alone out here with you is being damn careful,” she groused.
“Yeah, well, if we are truly alone.”
He was trying to joke, she could tell, but it just fed into her paranoia, her feeling of being watched.
“So not funny.”
He sighed. “Look. It’s not a question of whether you’re a human or an animal. You’re both. And you’re going to have to learn to live with that twenty-four/seven. There will be times when the animal part of you’ll want to act on something and it will be wrong. Same with the other way. So deal with the human issues with human responses and the animal issues with animal responses.”
“And what if the issue is both human and animal?”
His grin was evil. “Like making out?”
She nodded, completely humiliated to be discussing it with him like this. But she thought about Halloween when she’d gone from kissing Trick to kissing Justin while barely missing a beat, then hating herself for it.
“Then tread very, very carefully. You bite a human, draw even just a little blood accidentally, and they’ll change.”
Thinking of Trick, she swallowed hard. “Maybe they’ll change. We don’t know. Because I'm different.”
“You willing to take that chance?”
He reached out to push a strand of hair back from her face and even though she wanted to step closer to him she forced herself to take a step back.
“What’d you do with the animal trap I got caught in?” she asked, wanting desperately to change the topic.
“Hid it,” he said uneasily, as if he didn’t want to discuss it. “You tell no one, hear?”
“Someone already knows,” she insisted. “Knows enough to put out a trap.”
“That thing was old. It didn’t even spring. It would have taken your arm off when you fell into it if it had been working.”
“But it doesn’t matter when it was put out,” she said, sensing she should shut up but not being able to. “It matters that it was put out.”
“Kat, I’m not an idiot.” When she opened her mouth to speak again, he said, “You should go back before your grandfather misses you.” Then he added, “Lee wants you to come over tomorrow.”
Cold chills washed down her back. She never wanted to see Lee Fenner — or any of them — again. She knew that was too much to wish for, but she had hoped for some kind of reprieve before it all started—learning to fit in, groveling like a kicked dog before that madman —
“I have homework,” she said rebelliously.
He smiled grimly. “You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to stay alive. Make up some excuse to your grandfather. Say you have a project with Cordelia for school.”
It had only been a matter of hours, but it was still hard to believe that Cordelia was gone. Nobody outside the pack knew yet, but sooner or later someone would surely have to say something, especially when she didn’t show up for school. Wolf Springs was a small place. Once word got out it would spread like wildfire and as soon as her grandfather heard, Katelyn would no longer be able to use Cordelia as an excuse for going to the Fenner house. She felt a rush of hope. Maybe Justin figured Cordelia’s banishment was only temporary.
“You should head on over around ten in the morning or so,” he said. “We have a big Sunday dinner around noon.”
She wondered if they chose to eat different foods when they were alone — but she didn’t want to give him any more reminders that she didn’t know anything about the way werewolves liv
ed. Instead, she gave Justin a curt nod and brushed past him. After taking a few steps, she turned and watched him melt into the darkness. Then she could feel eyes upon her. Werewolf spies?
She felt a rush of wind and an invisible hand plucked at her sweatshirt. Something exploded against the tree just behind her and she jumped and let out a yelp. She clamped her hand over her mouth, ran toward the back of the cabin and then darted inside as quickly as she could.
She leaned against the kitchen door for a moment, then crossed resolutely to the window, meaning to shut the faded gingham curtains.
Then she glanced down. There was a hole in the side of her baggy sweatshirt. She picked it up and felt the warmth radiating from the area. A perfect little circle. She stuck her finger in and then realized there was a hole in the back of the sweatshirt as well. Something had gone clean through.
She clutched her sweatshirt.
Someone shot at me.
She began to shake.
Someone just tried to kill me.
2
Katelyn pushed away from the door. She hadn’t heard a shot. What did that mean — some kind of silencer? Maybe it wasn’t a bullet hole after all.
She knew who would know. Her grandfather — Dr. Mordecai McBride. Katelyn had called him Ed when she had first arrived, after her childhood nickname for him of “Extra Daddy.” When she didn’t call him “Grandpa”, of course — the name she knew he loved her to use.
But she stopped herself with a hand on the banister. She couldn’t tell him anything. Mr. Fenner had told her he would kill her — and her grandfather — if she said a word about her new life.
Maybe the shot was just meant to scare her, remind her that she was being watched and the stakes were the highest if she made a mistake.
Had Justin known someone had been waiting out there in the darkness?
Her knees wobbled and she plopped down in the chair in front of the computer station she, Trick, and her grandfather had set up a few hours earlier. She could feel her heart pounding and she struggled to calm herself down. They’d only shot once. A warning, surely.
Listening to each creak and groan of the trees outside, she sat in the darkness, stiff and fearful.
Katelyn.
Katelyn.
You can’t hide.
I know who you are.
I shall do thee mischief in the woods.
Soon.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Claws on the hardwood floor.
Click.
Katelyn.
She jerked awake, lifting her neck painfully. She had fallen asleep at the computer. Had someone called her name?
She guessed it was early morning from the way the light was streaming in the windows. Stretching her neck left and right, she pushed back, and for an instant she thought she detected something else in the room, a clicking like toenails on the hardwood floor. She froze, listening. But she couldn’t hear anything.
“Ed? Grandpa?” she called softly. “Is that you? Are you up?”
No answer. But the sense that she was not alone grew stronger.
Her hair stood on end as she rose and took a deep breath to steady herself. She looked at the rifle on the wall and walked over to it. Put her hand on it and listened.
When she’d first arrived in Wolf Springs, she would have flown upstairs to her room and hidden under the covers if she’d felt freaky-scared like she did right then. But now she had people to protect — her grandfather and Trick. And maybe, just maybe, Cordelia was in the house, seeking shelter.
The werewolves of the Fenner pack had been ordered not to help Cordelia in any way, on pain of death. Katelyn had been there when Lee Fenner had issued the command, and he had singled Katelyn out. In front of everyone, he had forced Katelyn to swear to be loyal to him as the alpha and to obey him no matter what. She knew she had to prove herself to Mr. Fenner, and to the pack, to survive.
It was crazy, especially since the reason Cordelia had been banished was because she had been protecting Katelyn. Cordelia had known there'd been a chance Katelyn was going to turn into a werewolf, but she had wanted to know for sure before going to her father with the shocking news. Swearing not to help Cordelia when Cordelia had sacrificed everything in helping her was just wrong.
But he had forced her to swear. Technically, though, she wasn’t a Fenner werewolf. Mr. Fenner hadn’t given permission for her to be changed, and there was no proof that a Fenner werewolf had done it. Ergo, she owed him no loyalty.
And he’s not here. At least, that was what she told herself as she took the rifle down and made her way into the kitchen. And if Cordelia had come to her, Katelyn would do all she could for her. Cordelia was the one Katelyn was loyal to.
The back door flew open and she jumped back. Her grandfather stared at her, clearly startled as he stepped into the house. She sagged against the counter. “You startled me,” she said.
“Seems like,” he answered, eyebrows raised. He looked at the rifle.
“What — what were you doing outside?” she asked, then winced as she realized how paranoid and suspicious that sounded. And after all, Wolf Springs was a place of possible danger. Two girls had died this year, one of them killed in the forest just before her arrival and the other soon after. No one knew what had killed them, but it had people plenty shaken up.
Mordecai lifted one hand and she noticed that he was carrying a log. “Fire needed it,” he said with a grunt. “Log’s already dead,” he added.
Katelyn felt like an idiot. He took the rifle and walked out of the room. She busied herself making coffee to hide how jittery she was feeling. She was exhausted and was beginning to think about having to go over to the Fenners. She didn’t know how she’d stay awake to drive out, let alone make it back.
Which could be moot if they want to kill me.
The phone rang, and she grabbed at it.
“Don’t come here today,” Justin said. “Stay away.”
Her grandfather walked back in the room and headed to the sink to wash his hands.
“Um, but, what about our project?” she said into the phone.
Justin hung up. She replaced the handset and stared at it for a moment. She was getting what she wanted, but why? Had Mr. Fenner decided to get rid of her? She wished she’d been able to tell Justin about the night before and being shot at. If she’d had his number she could have texted him.
“She still mad at you?” Mordecai asked as he dried his hands.
Katelyn jerked, startled. “What?”
“Trick told me you and Cordelia had a fight.”
“When did you talk to him?” she asked, her voice shrill, and she knew she had to calm down. “Yeah, it’s . . . bad,” she amended.
“She seems like a handful. Hard to be friends with.”
“Her whole family’s kind of weird.” She winced. She probably shouldn’t have said that. And she felt a prick of disloyalty for it. She poured a cup of coffee for each of them, adding the cream and sugar.
He took a sip of his coffee and nodded. “I figured we’d go into town in a bit. We’ll check to see if your new tire is in, and you can go to that store you like and get something for the Cirque show.”
Relief flooded her. She would much rather be in town with him than waiting here at the cabin wondering who was spying on her, and whether whoever had shot at her was going to try again.
~
After breakfast Katelyn hurried upstairs to shower and get dressed. When she came back down she was at least feeling a little better, a little more awake.
“I’m ready,” she said as she hit the bottom of the stairs.
He was holding the sweatshirt she’d been wearing the night before. She felt shaky. How could she have been so stupid to leave it out?
“Oh, sorry for being a slob,” she said, practically grabbing it out of his hand. She took it, ran back upstairs and tossed it on her bed. She had to get a grip. If she acted like nothing was wrong, he would
assume that nothing was wrong.
Heading back downstairs, she forced a smile onto her face. “Let’s go,” she said.
They drove toward town in silence. Fortunately, she was getting used to silence around her grandfather. Today, especially, it was a blessing; she had too much going on in her head to chat.
They went through the dark tree tunnel; then, on the crest of a hill, she saw that the town of Wolf Springs had replaced the Halloween decorations with baskets of holly and ivy hanging from the lampposts. Many of the doors of the Victorian buildings sported cheery winter wreaths. Thanksgiving was almost here; and after that came the Christmas vacation. A sign had gone up in a vacant lot announcing that Christmas trees would go on sale that weekend. To Katelyn there was an air of rebelliousness to all the festive cheeriness, as if Wolf Springs was fighting back against whomever — or whatever — had mauled those two girls to death.
“If we bought a Christmas tree in L.A. this weekend, it would be a brittle mess by December,” she said.
Her grandfather surprised her with a laugh. “I know. Used to be day after Thanksgiving that we got a tree. But once the snow hits everyone becomes more isolated, so we get started a lot earlier around here. Better to have some festivity while everyone can enjoy it.”
Isolated. A few days before, she wouldn’t have believed it would be possible to be more isolated than she was. But with the loss of Cordelia, and the fact that she had to protect her grandfather and Trick from her secret, she felt more isolated than ever. If they were snowed in on a full moon night . . . she looked out the window and clenched the arm rest.
“What happens when the snow hits? I mean, with school and everything?” she asked.
He shrugged. “On the bad days? No school. Rest of the time, snow plows keep the roads cleared. Of course, it’s easier for the folks who live in town. Everybody just takes it one day at a time.”
One day at a time. She couldn’t think like that. She had to make plans, contingencies. She would have to talk to Justin about it. Surely he and the others knew what to do.
But why would they? In their world, the pack was made up of families. They didn’t have werewolves living with non-werewolves. It was one more thing that made her different, one more way in which she was a liability.