by Nancy Holder
“Mr. Fenner,” Katelyn began, “she loves you. When I first met her, all she could talk about was you.” Because she was terrified of you, Katelyn thought silently, but Cordelia’s feelings about her father were very complicated. As miserable as he had made her, she still wanted to come home to him.
He shook his head. “Love’s not a factor when it comes to pack security. She knew someone had bitten you but she didn’t come to me.”
“She couldn’t believe it was a werewolf,” Katelyn said. “She thought it might just be a dog. Because I’m not from here, she thought I might not know the difference between a wolf and a husky. We were going to see what happened when I changed. Or if I changed.”
He huffed. “That was not a decision she should have made. She should have said nothing to you. Come to me.”
“But I made her tell me. I threatened her. I said that if she didn’t, I’d ask my grandfather about it. That’s the only reason she told me anything.”
“She still should have come to me,” he insisted.
“I was halfway out the door and on my way home to talk to him,” Katelyn said. “What was she going to do, kill me?”
He didn’t answer, and she nearly choked on sudden fear. “Did — did those other girls know? And that man who died? Is that what happened to them?”
“No,” he said. “We don’t attack people.”
“But you said you’d kill me,” she blurted. “And . . . Quentin—”
“We live by different rules. Our rules. But we don’t punish humans for not following them. That’s like blaming a bear for hibernating. So, she really did think a dog might have bitten you?” Katelyn heard a tremor in his voice and she was angry all over again for the whole big mess.
“A dog,” she agreed. “Or . . . she thought it might have been the Hellhound.” She heard herself lower her voice, and waited for him to make fun of her, the way all the Fenners had scoffed at Cordelia’s pathological terror of the supposedly mythical monster.
Silent for a moment, he shrugged, and he looked old and tired. “That night she thought she saw it? I almost thought so, too. Like to scare me to death, the way she started shrieking. We put guards out everywhere. Nothing.”
That doesn’t mean she didn’t see it, Katelyn thought.
“But I’ve come to a different conclusion.” She felt him looking at her and took her eyes off the road to meet his flinty gaze. “I think a Gaudin bit you. She planned it with them. Picked you out the day you got here, ran you to ground. A Gaudin bites you, you go to her, she turns you into their spy.”
“No,” Katelyn said, startled. But why couldn’t it have been a Gaudin who’d bitten her? “Wouldn’t you be able to tell? Wouldn’t I smell like a Gaudin?”
He blinked the same way Justin did when her ignorance caught him by surprise. “No. We have individual scents; we don’t have pack scents,” he said. “But we do have instincts. Loyalty to the pack, for one.” He set his jaw. “At least, most of us feel loyalty.”
“I don’t feel any loyalty to the Gaudins,” she said. But neither did she feel any loyalty to Mr. Fenner. Not a minute before, she’d considered shooting him. “I could have killed you in the meadow. I didn’t.”
That gave him pause. Then he nodded. “That doesn’t mean you’re loyal. It just means you’re not stupid.”
They reached the house. Mr. Fenner told her to bring the gun and she put it in the pocket of her jacket and followed him back into the yard. His daughters swarmed him, bringing him a robe and fussing over his wound; he was fake-crotchety with them, smiling as they fussed over him, batting their hands away and stomping into the house. Katelyn wasn’t sure where she should be in the parade. Arial and Regan had glued themselves to either side of Mr. Fenner. Doug and Al went next, and then Justin. Katelyn stepped in behind him, and the door shut behind her.
They sat at the dining room table and Mr. Fenner described what had happened. The group was thunderstruck — Justin especially — when she pulled out the gun. She put it down on the table but no one moved to examine it. In fact, Arial excused herself and hurried to the bathroom.
“Gaudins in our territory,” Justin said, when Mr. Fenner had finished.
“Don’t sound so shocked, boy,” Mr. Fenner said. “We’re in theirs.”
“One thing, Daddy,” Regan said. “If she took you near the mine, wouldn’t you be able to smell all the silver inside it?”
“Maybe there isn’t any,” Justin said quickly, and Katelyn stole a glance at him. “Maybe that’s just as much of a myth as the Hellhound.”
“Oh, Lord, not that again,” Arial said as she came back into the room. “I thought we’d heard the last of that.”
The two sisters tittered. They thought they’d heard the last because Cordelia had been banished, Katelyn translated. She had been the only one in the family who had believed in the Hellhound — the Bogey Man of the werewolf world. Misbehave and it will come and get you . . . Except, as it turned out, maybe Lee did as well.
“Perhaps the silver is buried deep,” Mr. Fenner said. “But it exists.”
That caught the attention of everyone at the table, but no one pressed Mr. Fenner to elaborate. Katelyn spun a fantasy where each new alpha learned various secrets of Wolf Springs. And that if the alpha wasn’t in his right mind, he might begin to spill them.
Heads turned toward Katelyn, as if she knew the secrets, too. She just shrugged and picked up the gun.
“Put that down!” Arial cried. “Daddy, you should get rid of that!”
“She’s the only one who can use it, and we can’t trust her,” Regan concurred.
Their husbands remained silent. Mr. Fenner sat very still. Then he glared at each of them in turn.
“Are you questioning my judgment?”
“No, of course not, Daddy,” Arial whined, practically batting her lashes at him. “It’s just, well, you know, we’re still upset about what a lying, cheating bitch—”
“Enough!” he thundered, slamming his fist on the table. “Do you take me for an idiot? I know what you’re trying to do.” He rose from his chair. “Don’t push me, girl. Ever.” Then he winced, and Katelyn saw his hand start to move toward his wound. But he slammed his fist down on the table instead. Concealing his vulnerability. Masking his weakness.
“She was the best of you,” he said brokenly. He sighed heavily and lowered his head. Katelyn thought he might be crying. But when he raised it again, his expression was hard. “This is a war council. Let’s get down to it. Twenty will go. Ten will stay behind with the kids. We’ll leave tomorrow morning, before dawn. It’s an eleven-hour drive to the Bayou des Loupes. If we leave early enough, we can prepare before moonrise.”
“We should wait until the full moon,” Justin said. “Some of us won’t be able to change.”
“I’m not waiting that long. They’re already nosing around up here. Sometimes the first change comes in the heat of battle,” Lee Fenner replied. “That’s how they used to do it back in the old country. Take the pups out, attack some Vikings.” He chuckled as if the image amused him.
“So what should we do if we still can’t change?” Katelyn asked. “Should we pack weapons?”
“That’s a good question,” Mr. Fenner replied. “Ordinary bullets don’t kill us.” He turned to Justin. “We’ll be out in the bayou, away from the humans. What do you think?”
“Swords. Decapitation works,” Arial said quickly, before Justin had a chance to respond.
Regan rolled her eyes. “You’ll get the Hellhound after us yet, sissy, if humans start finding heads floating in the water.”
Cordelia had explained to Katelyn that the Hellhound was thought to keep watch over all werewolves to ensure that they didn’t violate the code by which all werewolves lived — to shield their existence from humans, and never to attack humans. To obey pack hierarchy and maintain loyalty. Werewolves who broke these edicts could suffer the worst penalty — death, and not a pleasant one.
Justin turned to
Katelyn. “Guns make noise. The most important rule is to keep all the packs safe from discovery, not just ours. That’s a universal law. Humans can never know of our existence.”
“Even when we’re slaughtering rival werewolves,” Regan said.
Heat rushed across Katelyn’s face. That rule had nearly gotten Cordelia killed. Katelyn had had no idea what she’d been asking — demanding — of Cordelia when she had forced Cordelia into telling her what was happening to her. By rights, Cordelia should have gone to her father and told him about the new girl. But Cordelia had been afraid of what Mr. Fenner would do. Because he was the alpha, yes, but also because he was suffering from dementia. Cordelia had risked her life to protect Katelyn — and now they were going to war with the pack that had taken her in.
“That’s why we’re going to the swamp,” Mr. Fenner said. “No humans around. Us against them.”
“I like the sound of that,” Arial said.
Katelyn studied her, trying to reconcile her bloodthirsty aggression with her runway fashion-model appearance. What it must be like to have spent your entire life in and around the tiny town of Wolf Springs without anyone realizing that a pack of werewolves lurked in their midst. If a werewolf was mauling the victims — and it certainly looked that way to Katelyn — then he — or she — should be put to death for two reasons: taking human life and risking discovery.
It had to be Mr. Fenner. And once that was confirmed?
Except that the wolf that attacked me wasn’t Mr. Fenner.
She stirred, realizing the others were looking at her. Al and Doug, the husbands, hadn’t said a single word.
“We haven’t fought another pack in centuries, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t ready to fight,” Mr. Fenner said. “Justin hasn’t had time to bring you up to that level, but the Fenners have been getting ready for this war for a long time.” He spoke in the strange, almost happy tone he used on occasion. “And I wish we could wait it out until you and Jus could shift.”
“Don’t forget that I can shift, Daddy,” Regan said, preening.
“How can I forget that, little gal, when you remind me every chance you get?” he asked her, clearly amused.
When Katelyn had been bitten, she’d suspected Regan. But either Regan had been a consummate actress when demanding to know who had bitten Katelyn, or she hadn’t been Katelyn’s attacker. Katelyn decided she’d been hasty in assuming Regan was innocent.
“Kat, take the rest of the day to look for the mine. If you find more bullets and weapons, this will go a lot faster.”
He gave her a strange, almost pleading look. “You do that for me, darlin’, I might be disposed to grant you a favor.”
Cordelia. She knew that was what he meant. Her heart began to pound, and he gave her another long look.
“I will.” She got to her feet. “Starting now. See you.” She heard how rude she sounded but she didn’t back down.
Mr. Fenner chuckled and nodded at her as if impressed with her forthrightness. “Justin will go with you,” he said.
“On it.” Justin stood.
He and Katelyn headed for the front door, Katelyn wondering if this was the wisest thing to do. Lucy had agreed to stand down, but what was the point of throwing Justin and her together even more?
“Be careful of the Hellhound,” Regan called after them.
“And the Hellbitch,” Arial added, and the two sisters started laughing.
21
Katelyn and Justin had no luck finding the mine and he barely got her home before her grandfather showed up, telling her that Trick’s parents had arrived from wherever they’d been and picked Trick up from the police station.
Katelyn called him immediately, and he picked up.
“Kat,” he said. “Mike. I didn’t do it.”
“I know.” She chewed her lower lip so she wouldn’t cry. “They know that now, too, right?”
“I guess.” He didn’t sound convincing. “This all started when Haley died. It keeps getting worse. I want to tell you that I wish you hadn’t moved here, except I’m such a selfish bastard that I’m glad you did.”
A single tear ran down her cheek.
His breath caught. “I’m going to keep you safe.”
“I know you are.” You’ll keep my heart safe.
This was love. She loved Trick Sokolov and she always would. No matter what happened in her confusing, complicated life-within-a-life, there would always be an entire world inside her where she loved Trick and he loved her. Beyond dreams of flying on a cloud swing and the realities of running with werewolves, even if she died in the next heartbeat or was forced by Lee Fenner to let Trick go, there would be a secret forever place where she and Trick would be together. And if it had taken all the tragedies and terrors in her life for her to realize that, then she was glad for them.
And now she knew what friendship was, too. Cordelia had risked everything to help her. Katelyn could, and would, do no less. A strange new kind of peace settled over her, the knowledge that she wasn’t a powerless victim. Even in this dark place, the darkest place, there was hope.
“Keep the faith, Vladimir,” she said to Trick, and then she hung up.
Next, as she had planned, she told her grandfather that she was going over to study at Paulette’s in the morning. She figured that she could call him in the afternoon and tell him that she was going to spend the night there so they could work on some school stuff.
Then she took a very deep breath and said, “So, do you want that gun back?”
There was a barely perceptible pause, and then he answered, “Why don’t you keep it in your car?”
And another pause as she said, “Okay.”
People kept guns in their cars in Wolf Springs. Obviously, he assumed that she didn’t know her gun was very special.
In the morning she drove to the Fenners’, and when she made the call to her grandfather about spending the night at Paulette’s, he seemed distracted and told her to have a nice time. His lack of questioning was one of the first lucky breaks she’d had in a while. But it concerned her, too. He was usually so protective of her. And with another death, she had assumed he would have been even more so. Something was up with him. She remembered how he had snuck out and lied about it, and she wondered what secrets her grandfather was keeping from her. For now, those questions would have to wait.
After traveling south all day, switching drivers and gassing the trucks and cars as fast as they could, the Fenner pack had reached the border between Fenner and Gaudin territory: Bayou des Loupes — Bayou of the Wolves, not named as such on any map.
Katelyn held her breath as the sun sank beyond the horizon. The bayou was muddy and dark; ropy vines and trees hung over the water, and strange, knobby wooden growths jutted up beneath the surface. Things skittered and glided and the air felt heavy, wet, and leaden. It wouldn’t snow, but it might rain, and the wind made the tree trunks sway.
“Got your gun?” Mr. Fenner asked. She nodded. It was in a holster he had given her, pressed up against her ribcage. “Get it ready.” He looked up at the sky. “Sun’s coming down. They’ll wait for moonrise. It’s tradition.”
“Then we should attack now,” Arial said.
She and Regan stood with their husbands while Justin was with some of the other men in the back. And everyone was staying in their clothes. Did they assume they wouldn’t need them again? Were any of the Fenner werewolves around her preparing to give their lives for the pack?
Justin came up beside her. He looked down at her gun with a wounded look in his eyes — she hadn’t told him — then he slid his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze.
“Stay behind me,” he murmured. “I’ll protect you.”
Studying her face, he chewed the inside of his cheek, then exhaled harshly. He looked at his uncle, then pulled Katelyn away from the group. He glanced left and right, searching for something, then drew her with him into a shadowy den of ferns and vines, turning her toward him. Her senses clicked into place a
nd she could hear his heartbeat, fast. Smelled him, and only him. Every cell in her body hummed, as if tuning itself to his vibration.
Except . . . he wasn’t Trick.
He cupped her head between his large hands, licked his lips, and kissed her. Gently at first, and then his hand came around to the back of her head, cradling her as his tongue stole between her lips and he gave into passion. He yanked her against his chest and wrapped his other arm around her back, then moved down to her waist. Her hands found his face, the softness of the curls around his ears, the ropes of muscle across his shoulder blades.
One more kiss, she told herself, and then never again.
“I can’t stand it that you’re here,” he whispered. “People are going to die. I don’t want you to be one of them.”
“I won’t die,” she promised, but she gently moved out of his embrace. Her blood was singing, but she knew why, knew her wolf part was awake, aware. “I won’t die.”
He took her hand. “I’m going to get you out of here. We’ll run. They’ll be so busy they won’t be able to catch us.”
But she saw despair in his eyes. He didn’t believe that.
“If we ran, we’d die for sure, wouldn’t we?” she asked him.
He closed his eyes. Nodded. “Sooner or later, they’d come for us,” he said. “And they wouldn’t make it quick.”
She took a breath. “I didn’t tell you about the gun because—”
He trailed his fingertips over her lips, silencing her. “It doesn’t matter. It was the right thing to do. You don’t know me. You don’t know us. I told you that becoming a werewolf was a fantastic thing for you. But here we are, about to fight a rival pack.” He looked pale. “If anything happens to you, I’m going to kill my uncle.”
She believed him. Shaking, she laid her hand on his chest and tried to make herself breathe. Closing her eyes, she listened again to his heartbeat. Justin was a good man, but he just wasn’t her man. She hated what was happening to him and to his world, though. It was as if death kept circling her, them. She thought of her dreams and the voice in the forest; something had been stalking her every night since she’d arrived in Wolf Springs.