Wolf-Run

by Linda Palmer

  "Why not? Mom and Dad will never notice." I buried my face in his shirt. "Oh God. I'm whining."

  "Who wouldn’t?” He stroked my hair. “We should probably leave first thing in the morning if you really want to go. It's a long drive."

  "Okay, but I want us to visit Los Lobos Cemetery first. I'd like to see that crypt in daylight."

  "Are you sure?" He clearly had doubts about the wisdom of that.

  "I'm sure."

  Wednesday morning I made Brody stop on the way out so I could pick some of the wildflowers growing on the side of the road. I intended to put them on Sara Marshall's coffin. She'd kept me company for almost a week, after all. Since it was hot in the truck, we lowered the windows. The resulting fresh air, though warmish, felt wonderful after being shut-up so many days.

  When Brody turned off the two-lane highway into the woods, I couldn't have been more surprised. I wondered how on earth he'd found the place without a GPS, then realized he must've stopped and asked for directions. Or maybe his mom told him exactly where to find me. I had no idea how psychics worked.

  The cemetery lay at the end of a narrow dirt road in a clearing surrounded by trees. Wildflowers grew all over, providing bright spots of color among timeworn gravestone crosses. I realized I didn't need the blossoms I'd gathered. My crypt, nothing more than a concrete box with a shattered wooden door, looked as creepy in the sun as under the moon. I don't know what I expected when I peeked inside. Probably the stench of that disgusting bucket, which I intended to empty out of respect for baby Sara. Instead, I found a room swept clean of everything except that coffin. A bouquet of fresh flowers decorated it and softly scented the place. I added mine and turned to see what Brody made of things. I found him standing near his truck, several yards away, with his eyes on the road. He sniffed the air.

  "Smells like perfume around here, doesn't it?" I walked over.

  He jumped when I put my hand on his bicep.

  "What?" I asked, unable to ignore the tension radiating from him.

  "Someone's coming."

  Chapter Five

  That's when I heard them.

  Motorcycles. Loud and getting louder.

  In seconds, four of them burst into the cemetery, shattering the peace. I barely registered that each rider wore a Wolfman mask before they began circling us. Shrieking my terror, I clutched at Brody, who shoved me into the truck. I scrambled over to my side, but he did not get in after me.

  "Don't panic." He kept his voice low. "You’re always safe if you’re with me.”

  “But they’re everywhere.”

  “It's a standard flanking maneuver."

  The bikers braked strategically and killed their engines.

  "Your ride's a piece of shit," one said, his voice loud in the sudden silence.

  Brody slammed his door shut and leaned back against it with his arms crossed over his chest. His body language said he didn't have a care in the world. "Fuck off, Jackson."

  "Oooh. A real bad ass." The Jackson dude dismounted his cycle, as did the others. They began to close in on foot. I twisted in the seat, frantically trying to see in all four directions at once. My heart had never beaten faster.

  "Bet his bitch has crapped her pants already." I gasped and jerked around to find a Wolfman in my face. Snatching the flashlight from the dash, I swung it at him. Something crunched when it connected with the mask where his nose might be.

  "Fuuuck!"

  Wolf jerk grabbed me by my throat as Brody came right over the top of the truck. I mean, one second his Docs pounded the roof. Bang! Bang! The next, they thudded in the dirt behind Wolf jerk, who spun to face him. I heard a grunt of surprise even louder than my own squeal before they became a blur of denim and fists in ankle-high wildflowers. Springing from the truck, I ran toward them, my only thought to help Brody. I shouldn't have bothered. The other three bikers broke up the fight in seconds. One blocked me. The second pulled Brody back. The third dragged Wolf jerk several yards away and punched him in the gut.

  Wolf jerk dropped right to his knees, cursing like crazy and screaming, "She broke my fuckin' nose!"

  I didn't know what to think.

  "Stewart was out of line," said the guy standing in my way, his gaze on Brody.

  "Yeah. We just want to talk." Jackson said that.

  "Did Roman send you?"

  "No. I swear."

  Brody shook off Jackson's hold. "Then what do we need to talk about?"

  "You. Us. The pack." That reply came from Wolf jerk’s guard, who had abandoned his post and headed toward Brody. Behind him, Wolf jerk suddenly sprang to his feet and charged me. I screamed. My boyfriend charged, in mid air exploding into the biggest reddest fiercest wolf I'd ever seen. At the zoo.

  On TV.

  In a book.

  At the movies.

  In my whole freakin' life.

  Twisting, Wolf jerk did the exact same thing, except in black. The wolves clashed mightily. Fangs gnashed. Claws gouged. Dirt, grass, and flower petals flew up around their thrashing bodies, mixing with the shreds of clothing and blood droplets swirling in the air. I gaped in horror for several slo-mo seconds before I came to life and ducked past my bodyguard to get closer.

  He caught me by the back of my shirt. "Are you nuts?"

  "Help him!"

  He laughed as if I joked.

  My furious sidekick caught him in the groin. He let go. I charged forward just as the red wolf shook the black like a pup might shake a toy. When he tossed the black aside, it didn't move again. The red spun to face me, baring ferocious fangs that dripped blood and saliva. I stumbled to a halt.

  Boys did not turn into wolves.

  They just didn't.

  At least not in real life.

  Then I saw the eyes. The bitter chocolate eyes.

  I knew those eyes. I loved those eyes.

  He's a wolf. My boyfriend's a wolf. Awolfawolfawolfawolfa...

  "Come on, Cassidy. Please wake up."

  A gentle hand brushed my hair from my cheek. I opened my eyes. I lay on the ground with Brody leaning over me, his face ashen. Deathly silence settled around us, almost as if the entire universe and not just three bikers in stupid masks, a

  bloody black wolf, and possibly a ghost or two waited to hear my answer.

  Brody cleared his throat, a nervous sound. "Cass?" I slugged him.

  "Clearly you do not know how to land a punch," said Brody, stepping into the jeans he'd just dug from the duffel stashed behind the driver's seat of his truck. With regret, I watched him zip them.

  "What are you talking about?" I sat on the passenger side.

  "You're bruising already."

  "So are you." He pulled on a very wrinkled T-shirt, and then reached for my throbbing right hand.

  I jerked it away.

  "What?" he asked, giving that up and slipping behind the steering wheel. We both had our doors open.

  "You said you'd told me everything."

  "Except minor details, yeah."

  "Turning into a wolf is not a minor detail!" I yelled, accenting every word with a hard punch to his right biceps.

  "Ouch!"

  He grinned.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and stared straight ahead. "I will never, ever forgive you for this."

  "Aw, baby, give me a break. I thought you'd wig, okay?" I looked at him. "Do I look like I'm wigging?"

  "No, and I'm not sure why. I know I did when I found out werewolves existed. Plus there's all the other stuff." Other stuff? There was more?

  My heart ca-thunked in my chest

  "Guess I should've known you'd be okay. You've been a surprise from day one." He glanced ahead at the four bikers calmly waiting to "talk" to him. One, wearing only jeans and with no mask, had a fat lip and a bloody nose. I did not feel sorry about it.

  "How come we've both been naked, but not at the same time?" I asked. "Talk about lousy planning. Let's ditch those guys and go back to that motel..."

  Brody choked.
<
br />   I decided I must've surprised him again. “So I’m attracted to sexy shapeshifters. It’s all those paranormal romances I read. And what’s wrong with that, anyway?”

  "Nothing, if I'm the only one." He looked pointedly at the bikers.

  "They're all werewolves, too?" Gulp. He nodded.

  “So that gang you were in really is a pack."

  “Yep. Ready to find out what they want?"

  I looked at them and shuddered before I nodded. There was just something about those masks… Brody got out of the truck, calmly waiting while I jumped out on my side and dashed around the front to join him. He grabbed my hand and walked right up them. I stayed slightly behind him.

  "Okay. We'll talk. But first, you've got to ditch the headgear. You're freakin' out my woman."

  The Wolf men exchanged glances. One of them pulled his off. The other two did, too. I now saw four remarkably normal teens with flushed, sweaty faces and smashed hair.

  "Cassidy, this is Jackson, Lee, Welch, and I believe you've already met Stewart."

  They nodded so politely I almost laughed. Almost.

  "Sorry about before," said Stewart.

  I couldn't even look at him.

  Brody draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me close. "So...what's up?"

  "We need a new leader, Anderson. We want him to be you."

  What!

  I stepped in front of my boyfriend, my arms outstretched to protect him. "No way! He's out of that now."

  "You gonna let a chick tell you what to do?" asked Stewart. I'd have punched him if Brody hadn't caught my wrist.

  "You'll break 'em this time."

  I didn't have to ask what he meant. My knuckles were killing me.

  "I can't be your leader, guys," my boyfriend said. "Find someone else."

  "But you're the smartest one of us," said Lee. I didn't doubt that, but still had a question, so turned to face the pack. "How do you know? Did you go to school with him or something?"

  "Jake, er, Jackson did." Lee winced. I could tell he hadn't meant to give me a first name. "Said Brody had a 4 point and made a 1500 on his SAT. He was already accepted into Stanford and a bunch of other colleges."

  I couldn't believe my ears and slowly turned to look at Brody. No wonder he couldn't face his mom.

  My boyfriend growled a very wolf-y sound that gave me the shivers. "Would you shut the fuck up?"

  Lee did.

  "But it's true," said Jackson. "And we need you." He took a step forward. "Look, man. I know you feel bad about what we've done. Hell, we all do. That's why we want to fix things."

  "Fix things? Fix things?" I felt Brody trembling against my arm. "We can never 'fix things.'"

  Lee got right in Brody's face. "We understand why you didn't take the cure, and we respect that, okay? What we don't get is why you're wasting your talents unloading midnight trucks at Wal-Mart."

  So that's where he worked, if he still had a job, that is. I realized if I just kept my mouth shut, I might learn a whole lot more about the boy I loved. But I had another question. "What do you mean 'take the cure'?"

  "There's this witch name Andee Rivera who— ack!" Brody's hands on Jackson's neck cut him right off.

  "I said 'shut up. '"

  So Brody still had secrets. Probably lots of them.

  Weren't people in love supposed to share?

  My heart sort of sank, as did my spirits. Brody gave me a sharp look, which told me he sensed the change. A wolf thing? I wondered, trying to keep my face blank.

  "Get to the point," said Brody, "and leave out all the personal stuff. Why, exactly, do you need a leader? Are you guys breaking out or something?"

  "We've already done it," said Welch. "We're going to use our talents for good instead of bad, and we need your smarts and sixth sense to make it happen."

  "So you're going to be super wolves." Sarcasm laced Brody's comment.

  "Why not?"

  "That's the stupidest thing I ever heard."

  The guys didn't seem to like Brody's answer. Jackson's eyes narrowed. "So tell me, Anderson, how'd you find your girl?"

  "You know my mom's a psychic."

  Jackson stepped closer. The other three moved in, too.

  "You mean she told you exactly what cemetery where…"

  "It doesn't work like that."

  They stepped even closer. "Then what did she tell you?"

  "What difference does it make?" asked Brody, actually leaning back a little. By now, Jackson stood nose-to-nose with him, and Jackson was quite a bit bigger.

  "I think you found her with your nose." Jackson poked a finger in Brody's face. "Your nose, your wolf wits, and that sixth sense you inherited from your mom."

  Brody opened his mouth to argue.

  Jackson didn’t let him. “Deny it all day, bro, but it’ll still be true.”

  Brody took a deep breath. "So?"

  "So what if we used our wolf wits to do the same? We'd never be as good as you, of course. But with you in charge, we'd track lost kids or confused old people and find 'em for their families."

  "K-9s do that already."

  "No dog is a match for a wolf. You know that." If he didn't, I did. I'd done a paper on them once. "So you'd hear about what happened, get together, and do what Brody told you to do?"

  My boyfriend glared at me. "Don't tell me you're buying this crap."

  "Well, it does sound pretty cool."

  “Cool?” He looked ready to blow—flushed and tense, with

  eyes glinting furiously.

  Oops.

  I abruptly pivoted and escaped to the truck. Let them work it out themselves, I decided. I had no stake in it.

  Stake.

  Vampires.

  Holy shit. Were they real, too?

  "You can start talking to me again anytime," said Brody, keeping his eyes on the road.

  "I’m afraid I’ll piss you off."

  "Am I that bad?”

  I didn’t answer. Turning slightly, I closed my eyes and rested my head against the seat, which pretty much put my back to my boyfriend. In the side mirror, I saw the mountains that we'd mostly left behind. Ahead lay more terrain that is rugged. I knew we'd cross the border soon and enter the colorful desert that was Arizona. Brody had warned me that Wolf-Run was three hours beyond the welcome-to sign. It would be a long, silent drive if we didn’t talk, but now I just didn’t feel like it.

  All I could think about was the things I didn't know about my boyfriend. What if more surprises than wolf-dom and goodstudent-ness lay ahead? And what if he’d done something really, bad? Could I handle it?

  I shifted position slightly so I could look at him. "Have you ever killed anyone?"

  He gave me an odd look, and then didn't answer the question. I assumed that meant it was 'no,' and I'd just insulted him.

  Flushing, I hurried right along. "Will you tell me how you got caught up in that gang and what it was like?" He shook his head. "I—"

  "Please, Brody. I don't care how it happened. I don't care what you did. I just feel like I'm in love with someone I don't even know."

  "That's because you are...and I thank God for that." He grabbed my arm. "Com'ere."

  I slid as close to him as I could with a gearshift sticking up between us. He put his hand behind my neck and pulled my face to his so he could kiss me. The right front tire ran right off the road. Brody yanked the steering wheel to the left. He gave me a rueful smile. "I'll tell you everything when we stop to eat. There's got to be a gas station or something up ahead."

  "Promise?"

  "Yeah."

  As it turned out, there were two choices. Brody pulled into the one that advertised "hot food," which turned out to be much more than I'd expected and ranged from sausage biscuits to bean burritos. Since we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere, I wondered who bought all that stuff on a daily basis. We'd seen very little traffic so far.

  With cardboard bowls of crispy chicken strips and potato logs in hand, we walked back to
the truck, which Brody had positioned under a shade tree. We sat on the truck bed, our legs dangling over the grass, and began eating.

  "So what do you want to know?" asked Brody around a mouthful of food.

  "How'd Titus get his claws into you?"

  "I was in the parking lot at a liquor store in Phoenix, trying to get someone to buy me a six pack."

  "You were in the eleventh grade, right?"

  "Uh-huh." He downed half his drink. "Mom’s site had been on the internet for a couple of weeks, and I was still totally pissed about it."

  "Because of the embarrassment."

  "Exactly." He sighed. "You have to understand how things were then. My dad and mom divorced when I was one, so he was never part of my life. But he still had an effect on me since everyone in town knew who and what he was. I was so crazy to prove I wasn't him that I overdid everything—went out for class president, starting quarterback, male lead in Hamlet, blah blah snore. And the thing is I always got what I wanted. Then Mom came out, I guess you could say, and all my hard work went right down the crapper. I was the joke of the school, son of Sister Sapphire and the gangster. So yeah, it embarrassed me. Hell, it humiliated me."

  "I'm so sorry, Brody."

  He shrugged.

  "And you went to the liquor store to...?"

  "Show Mom what it felt like to have someone she trusted humiliate her."

  "You don't think she already knew? Because of your dad and all."

  "Looking back, of course. But at the time, I had my head so far up my ass that never occurred to me. Do we really have to talk about this?"

  "You know all my painful secrets."

  "Yeah, but they're not painful because you did anything stupid."

  "Maybe they are. Maybe if I'd been prettier, more outgoing, smarter, my parents would've—"

  Brody grabbed both my wrists, stopping a bite of food halfway to my mouth. "Don't go there."

  "How can I not? Something has to be wrong with me."

  "It's not you, okay? It's them. All them."

  "But—"

  "No, Cass. No." He waited until I nodded, released me and finished off his drink.