by Naomi Clark
“Well, it’s because of the Silky, yeah?” Molly began in a rush, like she couldn’t stop the words now she’d started. “I mean it’s good. I’m not lying, I’d kill for some right now, except I don’t ever want any again because of how much it messes you up. But I miss it. I really miss it. And Sly’s the only one who sells the wolf cut, right? So we all have to go to him and if he says he’s not giving us any, there’s nothing we can do. And this one time, I was desperate, yeah? It’d been like almost a week and I really, really needed some, so I found Sly and I told him I’d do anything, pay anything, and he said…” She stuttered, wiping tears from her eyes. Shannon shifted position to wrap her arm around Molly, hugging her.
“Take your time,” she said.
“I’m alright. I just …” Molly shrugged, took a deep breath and started again. “So Sly says, come with me and I’ll fix you up. So I go with him and he takes me off to this place in the middle of nowhere and he says that’s where all his supplies are and if I want some, I’ll have to do a job for him.”
“What kind of job?” I asked, stomach churning. I couldn’t think of many jobs an adult wolf might have for a fourteen-year-old cub.
Molly dropped her gaze, cheeks blazing red. “I don’t want Mum to know,” she whispered, staring at a pile of t-shirts in the corner. “I don’t ever want Mum to know.”
“Molly,” Shannon said gently, taking her hand again. “Did he—”
Molly’s head shot up again. “What, rape me?” she asked. Shannon and I both jumped at the word. Hearing Molly say it so bluntly was just so wrong. “No, he never did that.” She looked down again. “He made us fight.”
“He made you fight,” I repeated slowly. “For drugs?” I thought of Oscar and his hair-trigger temper, so quickly switching between pleading with me and attacking me.
“Yeah. He’d get us all high on Silky and then make us fight. People came and watched, you know, betting on it.” Molly ran her nails up and down her arms as if she could scratch away the memory. “I was one of the smallest, so I never won.”
“Betting.” Cold fury filled Shannon’s voice. “He was taking bets on werewolf fights? My God.”
“How many others were there?” I asked Molly, levering myself to my feet so I could pace the room. Fury filled me too, but molten and scorching. Suddenly Eddie’s plan seemed perfectly reasonable. Death might actually be too good for Sly. “Just kids, or adults too?”
Molly scrubbed her arm across her face. “I dunno, I only ever saw other kids, like Seth. I wasn’t there long and Sly didn’t use me much.”
“How did you get away?” My mind whirred, sliding it all together. The first time I’d seen Sly, he must have been taking Seth to his den for this. Must have been cultivating Oscar, withholding the drugs to get him as desperate as Molly had been.
“Sly dumped me,” Molly replied. “He said…they said I was no good, coz I couldn’t fight as well as the boys and they weren’t making enough money off me, so Sly beat me up and dumped me. I think he was going to kill me, but I made out I was more hurt than I really was and he just left me.”
He’d probably thought the cold would finish her off. It nearly had.
“And who’s they?” Shannon asked. “He had accomplices?”
“Humans. Dunno who. Didn’t pay much attention. I was high most of the time and out of it the rest.”
Alpha Humans. Shannon and I exchanged looks. I hated knowing Eddie was right. “You did the right thing, Molly, telling us all this,” I said. “And we won’t say anything to Tina—if you promise you’ll tell her.”
“I don’t know if I can. She’ll never let me out of the house again.” She sniffed and looked to me. “What… What did they do to Seth?”
I wasn’t sure I should tell her. All my anger had drained away as she talked. But she was a wolf, tougher than she looked too, given all she’d been through. And maybe knowing would kill any lingering need for Silver Kiss. “Internal injuries,” I said. “I guess he lost a fight.”
Molly sobbed and buried her face in her pillows. Shannon stroked her hair and tucked her in, folding the duvet around her before motioning to me to leave.
In the hall outside Molly’s bedroom, Shannon slumped against the wall with a heavy sigh. “Werewolf baiting. That was not what I expected.”
“It’s barbaric!” I growled, wanting to punch something. “Absolutely barbaric.” I paced the small hallway, the wolf inside me enraged, pushing the human part of me down and away.
“I’m calling Moira,” she said. “The Pack has to call the police in now, they can’t—” She broke off, staring at me with sudden alarm. “Ayla…”
I stopped pacing to look at her. The world had faded to sepia, like an old photo, so I knew before Shannon said it that my eyes had changed.
“You’ve gone all wolfy on me again,” she said softly, reaching for my hand. “Pull it back, baby.”
I blinked, trying to shake off the wolf’s influence. “I can’t help it. I just… I can’t believe it.” I closed my eyes and counted to ten slowly, curling and uncurling my fingers in a futile effort to calm myself. “Call Eddie,” I told Shannon. “He needs to know.” I opened my eyes, relieved to see color seep back into the world.
“Didn’t we hate Eddie this morning?” she asked. “I don’t want to deal with him anymore, Ayla, not today.” She slid her phone from her pocket, then glanced down the stairs. The hall was empty, but Tina wouldn’t be far away. I could smell her distinctly over the lavender furniture polish and fake-rose potpourri. She was lingering in the living room, waiting for us to come back down. Shannon slipped her phone back. “Outside,” she said.
I nodded. We’d promised Molly confidentiality. Part of me thought Tina ought to know—like me she was probably thinking abuse and rape - but it was surely better for Molly to tell her mother herself, when she was ready to.
As we were leaving, Tina poked her head round the living room door, face pinched and suspicious. “Is she okay? What was all that about?”
“She’ll be fine,” Shannon said, stopping to brush Tina’s arm. “She just needs a bit of time alone, that’s all.”
Tina’s eyes filled with tears. “But she won’t talk to me. And her dad won’t help, he says it’s my fault…”
“It’s not,” I cut in sharply. I grabbed Tina’s shoulders and shook her, harder than I meant to. “Listen to me, Tina, it is not your fault and don’t you let anyone tell you it is.”
“But the Pack…”
“Fuck the Pack,” I snapped, surprised to find I meant it. “Pack’s done nothing for you for years, so don’t let them tell you now that you’ve done wrong.”
She sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Will you tell me what she said?” she asked.
Shannon shook her head regretfully. “Molly made us promise not to tell you—she wants to tell you herself, okay?”
Tina nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thanks, Shannon. Both of you—thanks.” She slumped her shoulders, some of the tension leaving her. I hoped Molly really would tell her what had happened. It would help both of them, I thought.
Outside, Shannon wasted no time in calling Moira and reporting what Molly had told us. Standing behind Shannon, I heard Moira’s sharp intake of breath. “Oh God,” she said. “Have you contacted Eddie yet?”
“No,” Shannon replied, taking my hand and tugging me towards the car. “We’re… We had a bit of a difference of opinion with Eddie on how to handle things. I’m not sure where that leaves us.”
I bristled, thinking of Eddie’s veiled threats earlier. In the light of Molly’s information, I felt torn now. Did I believe Sly needed shutting down, immediately? Absolutely. Did I want to part of his cold-blooded murder? Absolutely not. The best thing we could do was tip off the police and leave it for them to deal with.
That’s what the human part of me thought, anyway. The wolf part had different ideas. Nastier, more violent ideas.
I got into the car, waiting for Shannon to finish her
call. When she slid into the driver’s seat, she mimed banging her head on the steering wheel. “Moira thinks Eddie’s being overzealous.”
“Really?” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm from my voice. “Overzealous?”
“She’s going to talk to him about how we—they—proceed.”
“Why can’t we just call the police and tell them where Sly is?” I grumbled.
Shannon drummed her fingers on the wheel. “I don’t want to antagonize Eddie,” she said. “After this morning, I don’t think we want to risk upsetting him.”
“But he’s not going to change his mind,” I said. “In fact, Molly’s news will just make him more determined to go and kill Sly.”
“I know.” She started the car and pulled away from the house. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
I watched Molly’s bedroom window as we drove away. Her curtains twitched and I caught a glimpse of her pale face peeking out at us. I imagined her, high as a kite and desperate to stay that way, forced to fight bigger, tougher werewolves for the entertainment of slavering humans. I bit my lip until I tasted blood. I didn’t know what we were going to do, but I knew what I wanted to do.
SIXTEEN
There was nothing I wanted less than to go into work the next morning. I lay in bed listening to the alarm clock ringing and contemplated calling in sick. My head felt like a black hole and I couldn’t face Kaye, couldn’t force myself to be chirpy and polite to the customers all day.
Shannon reached across me to switch the alarm off before flopping back onto her pillow with a groan. “You should go to work,” she said, as if reading my mind. She propped herself up on her elbow to look at me, her eyes crusted with sleep and shining with worry. “We need to try and stay normal, Ayla.”
I thought that was asking a bit much, but I grunted my agreement and levered myself out of bed. I couldn’t afford to lose another day’s pay and I hadn’t been at Inked long enough to get sick pay. I showered and made Shannon a cup of tea, bringing it to her in bed.
“What’s your plan for the day?” I asked her as I shrugged into the least-wrinkled clothes I could find in the wardrobe.
She pressed her palms to her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I should get in touch with Moira and see what’s happening.”
I bit my tongue to keep myself saying that was the last thing she should be doing. What happened to staying normal? Rage was still brewing in me after Molly’s revelation. The thought of it turned my vision red. But as much as my wolf wanted to rip Sly and his human helpers apart, my human side quavered and balked at the idea. My human side just wanted to run away from the whole miserable mess.
I ran my fingers through my wet hair and sat down on the bed to stroke Shannon’s cheek. “We’ve done enough I think.”
“It’s not that simple, Ayla. You know that. Drug dealing is one thing, but I can’t sit around and do nothing when children are being murdered.” Shannon’s eyes filled and I brushed the tears away, understanding and hating her change of heart.
“You know what Eddie wants,” I said, rising to look for my sneakers. “You can’t be agreeing with him.”
“No, of course not. But I’m hoping Moira will have talked him round, made him see we have to involve the police now.”
I nodded. “Call me, yeah. Once you’ve spoken to her?”
“I will do. And…” she hesitated, dropping her gaze and setting me on edge immediately. “I was thinking of looking at houses. Up north.”
I opened my mouth but she hurriedly cut me short. “I just think it’s the best solution,” she said. “I told you, I don’t feel safe here and we were happy before, weren’t we?”
“We were happy here before this whole Molly Brady thing,” I grumbled. “Once it’s all over, everything will settle down again.” I sat back on the bed, rolling her over so she looked up at me. “Shannon, I know things are horrible right now, but I don’t want to just turn tail and run. I don’t want to lose my parents and Vince again.”
She played with a stray thread from my shirt, eyes still downcast. “I never really understood what being part of the Pack meant until we moved here,” she said. “It just takes over everything, doesn’t it? No wonder you ran away.”
“I’m not saying it’s perfect. It never has been. But we can make things work, Shannon. Please.”
She sat up and kissed me. “You’d better go. You’ll be late for work.”
Way to avoid the subject. I sighed and said my goodbyes. I didn’t want to argue with her and that was the only way this conversation could end right now. So I left her in bed and headed to Inked. At least there I could argue with Kaye without feeling bad about it.
But Tuesday was Kaye’s day off so I had nobody to vent my anger on except Calvin, who didn’t deserve it, and Lawrence, who didn’t notice it. Both were busy with clients all morning, leaving me alone upstairs to man the till and check my mobile every five minutes to see if Shannon had called.
When it got to midday and I still hadn’t heard from her, I left Lawrence on the till chatting up a couple of young goth girls and headed to the Tipsy Fox to see Vince. I needed a drink and a friendly face.
I was halfway there before I remembered Vince’s news yesterday. Oscar had smashed the place up; no way would they be open already. I kicked my heels into the slush with a muffled curse and glanced around. Town was quiet, cold weather still keeping most people indoors. There were a couple of coffee shops up the street and the smell of brewing coffee and warm pastries was enticing enough to make my stomach growl. But both places were jammed full when I investigated and I didn’t want to waste my precious lunch hour queuing.
Restless and itchy, I flitted down the high street from one shop to the next, flipping listlessly through DVDs, clothes, books and chocolate bars whilst my mind circled endlessly from Shannon to Eddie, Molly to Oscar, Sly to Shannon and round again. My hour was almost up when I shook myself free of my daze and headed back to Inked, still hungry, still waiting to hear from Shannon.
I walked straight into my uncle before I saw him. Chris is a big wolf, all shoulders and chest and I smacked right into him, slipped on a patch of ice and would have ended up slamming into the pavement if he hadn’t caught me. He grabbed my arm and hauled me back onto my feet.
“Sorry, Ayla, I thought you saw me. I did call your name.”
“I’m sorry, I was miles away.” I dredged up a smile for him, but he just frowned in return.
“Is everything okay?” he asked.
“Not really,” I said, then bit my lip, wishing I could take the words back. Chris was still getting over Adam’s death; I didn’t need to dump any more grief on him. It was too late though. Chris had his arm round my shoulder and was guiding me towards one of the coffee shops I’d tried earlier. It was quieter now and the bitter, rich scent of mochas and cappuccinos was even more appealing. I made a token protest as he bundled me inside, saying I was due back at work.
“You look like you’re about to fall apart, Ayla,” Chris said. “It won’t kill you to be a few minutes late.”
Chris and I weren’t really that close anymore. Before I’d run away we had been. I’d spent a lot of time with Adam when he was a cub and Chris and my mum were always close. But I hadn’t seen much of my aunt or uncle since I moved back home. They’d cut themselves off from a lot of Pack activity—they hadn’t been at Lupercali—and so it felt weird to be sitting in oversized green leather chairs with Chris, stirring cinnamon into hot chocolate and picking at a blueberry muffin like we did this all the time.
“So what’s up?” he asked me. “I saw your parents the other day, they said you’d been having some problems with your girlfriend?”
Typical. I frowned and shook my head. “No, everything’s fine with Shannon.” Mostly. “It’s other stuff. It’s… hard to explain.”
He smiled sadly, looking weary and old. There were a few grey hairs in his dark blonde locks, a few crow’s feet around his eyes. It made me feel tire
d too.
“It’s been a tough few months for the family,” he said. “Vivian and I are thinking of going away for a bit, just to get a break. It’s hard being around the house…” He ran his hands through his hair. “Part of me keeps thinking Adam will walk in the door.”
I stared at my hot chocolate and said nothing. As long as Adam’s killers were free, Chris and Vivian would probably never feel comfortable in their house again.
He shook himself. “Sorry, Ayla. I didn’t drag you in here so I could moan. You are okay, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “I had a run in with Eddie Hughes. He’s just…” I trailed off and shrugged again, words failing me. I didn’t want to drag Chris into the middle of this mess.
“Oh Eddie.” Chris laughed; no humor in the sound. “That old vulture. He was round ours last week, poking through Adam’s stuff.”
“Really?” I looked up, surprised. “Why?”
“It’s this Silver Kiss junk. Eddie got it into his head that Adam was smoking it.” Chris scowled and tore a chunk out of his muffin. I wondered if he was imagining it was Eddie. “He’s bloody obsessed with the whole affair.”
“Did he find anything?” I asked, then regretted it when Chris shot me a fiery glare. “Sorry.” I bit into my own muffin and glanced at the big chrome clock hanging over the coffee bar. “I’m late. I’ve really got to go, Uncle Chris.” I crammed the rest of my muffin into my mouth and scrambled out of my seat. “Give my love to Aunty Vivian, yeah? I’ll stop by some time.”
Chris nodded, patted my hand and let me go without another word. I ran back to Inked, feeling guilty for upsetting Chris, but curious about Eddie’s visit to him. I couldn’t see Adam as a druggie, but then, what did I really know about the kid? And if so many other kids in town were using Silver Kiss, who was to say Adam wasn’t?
I got back to Inked twenty minutes late and accepted my dressing down from Calvin without protest. My mind wasn’t there at all. As soon as Calvin disappeared back into the basement, I went back to checking my phone. And finally, just when I was on the verge of caving in and phoning Shannon, a text came through from her.