‘I knew something was wrong the same day you gave me the letter. I found my father, and it was the first and only time I ever saw him cry, but until I looked back I didn’t realize it. I was too focused on you. Something had happened, and you weren’t the same.’
Jared stopped talking as memories of the day flashed before Cassie—like a movie. She had been crying, but she wouldn’t tell him what was going on. When he got home, it was the only time he saw his father crying. Something had happened. The memory faded.
Jared was now standing in his house watching Ryder run around throwing things into a bag. They had to leave, and they had to leave immediately. Ryder went into action, but Jared couldn’t move. He was standing in the doorway to his parent’s room. His father had trashed the place, but that didn’t stop Jared from staring where his mother should have been. He couldn’t believe she was gone.
‘Bro, we need to leave now,’ Ryder interrupted Jared’s thoughts. ‘Dad gave me the address, and if we stay another minute, we’re going to come face-to-face with Mikel.’
Reaching down, Jared picked up his bag. He had already packed, and there was nothing more he needed. Jared looked one last time across the room to his mother’s dresser. Her perfumes and jewelry were still sitting on it like she was going to return any time, even though the room was trashed. She wasn’t going to return. Ever.
He left the house right behind his brother, running into the woods that were at the edge of their yard. Jared hefted his bag on his shoulder and kept pace with Ryder as he ran. He wanted to turn back and find Cassie one more time to tell her he was leaving, but they didn’t have time, and he was pretty sure he didn’t want to run into John either. Her uncle scared Jared as much as Nate’s father.
Ryder led them into the woods farther and around town. Jared kind of knew where they were going, but he had no idea why his father told them to go there. It was just woods. How were they going to live in the woods? Ryder stopped as he made his way to the exact spot they were going to meet their father. Jared joined him and waited. Their father was late, but that was to be expected. He said he was meeting someone else first. Jared sat down in the shade of the trees as the sun set. Ryder chose to pace. He wasn’t that good at waiting.
By the time darkness fell, Jared was ready to pass out. He had been up all day and now all night waiting for their father. They had to wait. There was nothing else they could do. When a flash of light caught their attention not too far down the hill, Jared was excited to finally see his father. Jared hurried ahead of Ryder this time. He needed to see that everything was fine. He needed his father to go back to being his father. Jared needed his dad now that his mother was gone.
Jared froze behind a large bush. His father was where the light was, but not as Jared expected. His father was tied down and not making any effort to escape. There was a man in a dark hooded cape walking around Jared’s father. Jared didn’t know what to do. His father wasn’t trying to do anything to fight back. There wasn’t time to think further before someone grabbed Jared and brought him into the light.
‘Seems they found us,’ the voice of the person holding Jared commented.
Jared thrashed in his arms. Something was off, really off.
‘Jared. Stop,’ his father commanded.
Jared immediately stopped and found Ryder not being held by anyone. Ryder stood and kept his eyes on the ground.
‘We’ve been cast out by the clan. The wendigo have offered to take us in. This will be our family now,’ his father said, still not trying to get out of the ropes.
From the shadows, more people appeared. There weren’t as many as the skinwalker clan, but there were plenty of them to fight against. And it didn’t look like Jared was going to get any help from his brother or father. Jared had heard enough about the wendigo to know they weren’t safe. The wendigo were the bad guys.
‘We can go alone,’ Jared answered his father finally. He would rather be without a clan than be a wendigo.
‘We might be able to make it, but your mother deserves vengeance.’ His father’s muscles bulged against the ropes as he spoke. ‘The wendigo will help us get that. The skinwalkers sent her off to be killed because Mikel fears his son won’t be the next alpha. He doesn’t want it to be you. He sent your mother away to be killed. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The skinwalkers are dead to us. From today forward we will be wendigo.’
Jared stared at his father. It wasn’t that simple. They were skinwalkers whether he wanted to be or not. At least, that is what Jared thought. He was completely wrong.
Images of that night played quickly: The moon rising and changing the older man into his animal totem, Jared’s father being held down while partially transformed, the chanting and witches around his father preparing. Jared had to be restrained as they cut the skin right off the beautiful black leopard that was his father. His father grunted in pain but never screamed or cried out. Jared watched the scene in horror. By the time the night was done, his father was a wendigo.
It was more than Cassie could have imagined, and to know that her cousin had been planning to do that exact thing to Nate made Cassie want to run far away or puke. She wasn’t sure which instinct called to her more. The whole wendigo world was more brutal than she wanted to be around.
‘There’s more,’ Jared told her, bringing Cassie back to his memories. Taking a deep breath, she watched as the story continued.
Jared was twelve when his animal came. That was younger than most skinwalkers, and no one had expected it. It would be another two years before Ryder, his own twin, transformed for the first time. Jared was able to keep it a secret for three months before his father figured it out. For three months, the full moon came, and he was free of the life he was now living amongst the monsters. As a skinwalker and as a black leopard—like his father—Jared was able to sneak closer to town and find Cassie. Three times he was able to see her. Three times wasn’t enough. He missed her more than anyone could tell or would ever know. Something about Cassie always drew Jared to her, but more once he was in his totem.
On the fourth full moon, Jared went down to the woods and expected to do the same, but that wasn’t going to be the case. His father knew and had a plan of his own. Jared would never be able to join their new family—which his father was now the head of—until his animal was gone.
Ben Colley, Jared’s father, looked completely different now. He was still the large blond man that Cassie remembered, but he was different. Anger and hate poured off him.
Jared tried to transform in his normal spot, looking forward to seeing Cassie again. He had been foolish and didn’t notice the changes around him. As soon as he was in his animal form, he felt the magic bind him. He was frozen in his spot.
His father came from the woods with Michael, Cassie’s uncle, beside him.
‘Jack needs to do this one,’ Michael said in a voice which sounded identical to John’s.
Jack came from behind the two large men. There was nothing Jared could do. He had stepped right into the trap. He knew exactly how it was going to end, and his father would do nothing to stop it. Jared didn’t even talk to them. There was no reasoning with his father. Jack’s eyes danced excitedly as he stepped closer.
‘Sorry, Son. This is going to hurt a bit, but you’ll thank me in the end. To join the wendigo, you have to be one of us,’ his father said as he leaned down and patted the cat head of Jared.
‘With it being his first time, it will probably hurt more than normal,’ Michael added.
Jared’s father shrugged, like that didn’t matter in the least to him.
‘A little more won’t change anything. Do it.’ Ben walked away without looking back at Jared.
Jack grinned as his father handed him a knife.
Cassie pulled back, ending the connection between them without seeing anything more. Reaching up, Jared wiped the tear from her cheek.
“Your own father and my cousin did this to you?” she whispered in horror.
Jared’s hand was still on her face as he stared at her, willing her to look inside his soul. Cassie closed her eyes and let more tears fall. She didn’t see what they did to him, but after seeing what was done to his father, she already knew.
“You were beautiful,” Cassie said quietly.
Jared chuckled. “I thought I was good enough. You never saw me.”
“I didn’t see you then.” Cassie opened her eyes and gazed into his. She could still see the pain behind his eyes from reliving probably the worst day of his life.
Jared’s brow furrowed in question.
“I saw your future when you were a skinwalker. That’s why I wrote the letter.”
Jared came back to sit by Cassie and handed her the water she had asked for. Cassie knew he was anxious to hear her story and change the topic from his, but now they could both see that they were connected.
Grasping the bottle, Cassie took a long swig of it. She didn’t want to go back to the memory she had buried for the past years, but Jared had shared his, and it was only fitting she did the same. The memory, for the most part, wasn’t bad. It was the ending. She could still feel the pain from the first time she saw the end of the future for Jared. She didn’t want to see it again. But she had made a promise.
When Jared held up the knife, Cassie took it and set it on the table. She didn’t want him inside her head when she told him. She didn’t want to cause him any more pain, or see the pain it had caused her. Being inside his head was intense and more than she thought it would be. She was used to catching glimpses and seeing things from people, but the feelings of being Jared were more than she ever felt off Whitney, who was the person she thought she knew the best. It was turning out that she might have known Nate and Jared even better than Whitney.
“I haven’t thought of that day in eight years. When they took my memories away, they took away what I could do. They made me a loner without any friends and without any real memories.”
Cassie shook her head. They took away a lot. All she could remember was that once John was nice to her and her life was different, but now she could remember more and knew that even that was a lie. Her life wasn’t just better; it was a completely different life.
“Do you remember when Nate had to run back and be with his dad for part of the time during the festival?” Cassie asked. She sure remembered. Jared’s face turned red. Yep, he remembered also.
“I think when you told me you were going to buy me a ring with a diamond as big as that bouncy ball, you must have triggered something in it, or I don’t know.”
“Man, I remember that. I was trying to be all suave and debonair. I thought if I told you that way, you would someday choose me instead of Nate. I didn’t expect that you wouldn’t understand.” Jared ran his hands through his hair as he shook his head and laughed.
Jared had taken Cassie down an alley in town. He gave her a whole long speech about how he was going to grow up and be someone someday. He was going to be famous, and all he wanted was to have Cassie with him. She didn’t have the slightest clue what he was talking about, but she could never imagine a world without her best friend in it, so she agreed with him. That’s when he took out the ball he had won in one of the games. He got down on a knee, and in his own way proposed to Cassie, promising to buy her a ring as big as the ball someday. Cassie had no clue what he was talking about, and asked why he would need to buy her a ring. She didn’t wear rings or jewelry. She hung out with two guys all the time. Jared covered up Cassie’s confusion by dragging her off to the fortune-teller instead of explaining.
“I really had no clue why you were offering to buy me a ring,” Cassie continued, and Jared laughed more.
Cassie paused as she thought more about the past and what she had seen. Seeing her hesitation, Jared reached over and took her hand. He gazed into her eyes and waited patiently for her to continue.
“I knew I was different before we went to the festival. I remember hearing everyone always talking about who they guessed my father was. Some people even guessed it was your dad or even Nate’s dad since I hung around you guys all the time. I asked John once, and he reassured me that the person wasn’t someone from town. John wasn’t too forthcoming with anyone about the man since the man had broken the last alpha’s law that my mother could never have a mate. He had never met the man before, and no one else had ever met him either.
“It doesn’t matter now. In order to take the exam, I needed parental permission. I signed the papers without it, which means my parents are dead.”
“Cas, I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” Jared rubbed the back of Cassie’s hand.
She gave him a half smile and a shrug. “Doesn’t matter much. It wasn’t like they were coming back for me. They had sixteen years to change their minds.”
“Cassie, don’t talk like that. If your mother was anything like your aunt and uncle, she would have never stayed away by choice,” Jared added.
Cassie shrugged again. She didn’t know what to think now. While in her old life she felt like nothing had ever been told to her, she now had many memories of John and Maria searching for her mother and father over the years. They never found anything, but there were more than enough leads to keep them busy. Cassie was going to have to apologize to John later. How she told him that her mother was dead wasn’t fair to him. He had never given up hope, and Cassie only knew a part of the extent he had gone to since she forgot eight years of her life.
“When we went to that fortune-teller, remember how she made us drink something? She said it would help her see the future.” Jared nodded as Cassie remembered back to that day even clearer. “It didn’t just help her see; it helped me. That was the first and only time I saw the future and not the past.”
“You saw the future?” Jared asked.
“Not the future that happened. I saw what would have happened if you stayed with the skinwalkers. I saw what my life was supposed to be like. Not this stuff now. Something changed it all, and while I don’t like that I lost my memories, and you had done what was done to you …” Cassie couldn’t even say out loud that his animal was skinned from him. “I’m glad it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to. I’m glad you’re still alive.”
Jared looked at her questioningly. “I’m missing something here. What did you see?”
Unable to reply, she closed her eyes as the image replayed in her mind just as it had that day.
Reaching up, he brushed her cheek. “Cassie, I want to know what you saw,” he said quietly.
Cassie gazed into his brown eyes. He wasn’t dead. He was right there with her. Cassie reached up, placing her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart beat beneath her hand. He was alive. He wasn’t supposed to be alive. The future she saw was gone, and he was still there.
Grasping her hand, Jared kissed the back of it. “Please show me.”
Cassie did know what to say. It had been eight years. She hadn’t thought of that day in eight years, and now looking at him made it all much more real. This was the Jared she loved. This was the Jared she had lost.
“You’ve had enough pain in your life; you don’t need to see something that never happened,” Cassie replied, wanting to look away from him, but failing to do so.
“Cas, I want to see.”
Searching his eyes again, she found that there were many questions behind his eyes. So much of his life he lost, and much changed. It did for Cassie also, but she didn’t have to live with it for years. It was all new to her, but it wasn’t for him. It was torment for eight years straight. He missed the skinwalkers and was constantly wondering what life would have been like. He wanted to see that Cassie was right, and the life he had was better for him. He needed to see it.
Hesitantly, Cassie picked up the knife. She didn’t really want him to know all the emotion from that day, but he needed to realize that joining the wendigo wasn’t all bad. There was one good thing that came from it. He was alive.
When she pricked her finger again and held it out f
or him, he sliced his hand without a second thought and took her hand in his. Cassie felt him as soon as they connected. It was easier the second time around. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember the day she wouldn’t forget now that she had her memories back.
She had just grabbed Jared’s arm and pulled him toward the booth that was near them. It had just opened. Cassie always loved fortune-tellers. She wanted to know how they did it and would study them as much as she could. She had grown better over the past two years at predicting things based on watching people, but the fortune-tellers were better than predicting. It was like they could actually see the future.
‘Should we wait for Nate?’ Jared asked as Cassie opened up the curtained doorway.
‘No. He’s been with his dad for forever. If we don’t go now, someone else will, and we’ll miss out,’ Cassie complained.
She would have liked to have Nate there, but he was busy. He had grown busier and busier over the last year. His father was always taking him some place or another to meet important people. It wasn’t what Nate wanted, but he couldn’t tell his father no.
‘Welcome,’ the lady sitting behind the table said to them when they entered.
Cassie stepped forward to the table. This one was different than the last one her uncle took her to at the fair. The lady, dressed in all black, reached for a pitcher next to the table. After pulling out two cups, she poured a drink in them.
The curtain to the booth opened, and Cassie turned to complain that it was her turn. Nate stood in the doorway pouting.
‘Hey. You guys said you wouldn’t go to any booths without me,’ he complained.
‘You took too long.’ Jared shrugged.
He was sticking up for him behind his back, but he never would to his face. Jared and Nate always had that sort of relationship. Cassie thought it was funny. They pretended to hate each other but were more like brothers than anything.
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