“Sorry you came all this way—I just sprang it on her five minutes ago. My fault.” She smiled again. “I promise I’ll bring her back in one piece.”
I wasn’t sure she should be promising that, but I waited them out. At last Grey heaved a put-upon sigh. “All right. B, we’ll talk when you get back.”
“Thanks,” I managed, before Lacey closed the car door and Grey drove away. I was left looking dumbly at a satisfied Lacey.
“Well? Come on. My car’s this way. And then you can tell me what the hell is going on with you.”
She sounded suspiciously cheerful about it. I wondered how long that would last.
Her car was sleek and expensive, and outfitted with enough electronics to qualify as a computer on wheels. I felt ashamed again trying to get settled, in my clumsy, probably-scuffing-everything way. “So where exactly are we going?” Lacey began, starting the car with the press of a button.
“Left out of the parking lot, for starters.”
She gave me a deathly curious look. Anything resembling civilization was in the opposite direction. “All right,” she said, and drove.
We were heading toward what remained of the hills. I mean, the hills are still there, but most of the area had been clear-cut and built over beyond recognition. This direction, though, where Brandon had taken me before, was still wooded. I got a better look at it all this time. It struck me as exactly the sort of place werewolves ought to live—wild and uncontrolled.
Last time I was there, it had felt like they’d accepted me. Would it be the same if this Elder of theirs got a look?
“B,” Lacey prompted. “You still haven’t really explained all this.”
The road made a familiar curve, and I could see the dirt-road driveway. “Turn here,” I interrupted.
Lacey stopped partway through the turn. She peered at the overgrown proposed-land-use sign, barely visible between the brambles. I wondered if the developers had given up, or if they’d been chased off. Or eaten.
“What’s up there?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “But it’s where they wanted to meet. You don’t have to go all the way uphill, just…get me close. I can walk the rest of the way. Could you just wait in the car for a few minutes?”
She looked suspicious. “This has something to do with Pandora and Ayu? And that note?”
“They live up here. Sort of. I mean, they’re staying with Brandon’s family. I needed a ride, but I couldn’t ask Grey, okay? He wouldn’t understand. I just have to talk to them about something.”
“Brandon’s family? They’re here? B, what is going on?”
I really need to get better at lying, I thought desperately.
Lacey plowed ahead. “I know where Pandora used to live. It was across the street from me, two houses down. We were like sisters, we spent so much time together. Then whatever happened to her happened, and she cut everyone off. Me. Her family. Even after her dad tried to apologize and get her back home, she wouldn’t come. Her parents don’t even know where she is anymore, and you’re telling me she lives here?”
Shit, shit and triple shit. I hadn’t thought this through.
I did everything I could to defuse things. I told Cee that I’d be quick, and that I’d call her the instant I was done so we could get out of here—ninety-seven metric tons of ineffectual bullshit. Finally I shut up before I could dig myself any deeper. After all that, Cee looked convinced of only one thing.
“I’m going with you,” she said decisively.
“Oh, no. Lacey, you can’t.”
She shook her head and started the car again, making the long, snaking climb up the hill. “Too late for that. Pandora was my friend, and I’m not letting this go without some sort of explanation.”
I’d backed myself into a corner, and it was a terrible one. I couldn’t even open my mouth to do it until Lacey reached the end of the road. “All right, B.” She opened the door. “Which way is the house, then?”
I didn’t tell her. Instead, no matter how much I hated myself for it, I fixed my eyes on her and growled, “Stay in the car.”
She pressed back into her seat, slamming the door shut like someone had gripped her hand and yanked it in for her. I listened to her blood pounding until I realized I was leaning closer, breathing in her scent. Her heartbeat was hammering, and I could hear every shuddering thud. It sounded—
I realized where my thoughts were going, and scooted as far away as I possibly could. The strange feeling bubbling up inside me evaporated. In its place came horror.
“Oh, God,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
She didn’t say anything, but her huge eyes communicated enough. I gulped in air and tried to start over, desperately hoping I sounded normal again. “Just…drive away if you want, I’d understand, but please don’t go outside. It’s not safe out there.”
Cee looked like she didn’t feel safe now. She was right. All I could hope was that she’d wait, but I wouldn’t have blamed her if she didn’t. I got out of the car. She didn’t say a word.
Neither had Grey the first time I’d commanded him like that. It was years ago, when we’d been in the middle of a stupid fight. I finally yelled at him to just shut up, and it came out sounding more like the wolf than me. For hours after that, he couldn’t say a word. I was so scared that I was practically begging him to speak by the end. He never quite seemed to remember it all once the effects faded. Maybe he was just as desperate to forget it as I was.
I’d never known werewolves could do that, and I didn’t want to know. I’d never let myself do it since.
But here I’d done it to Lacey, the first real friend I’d ever had.
I blinked back guilty, terrified tears, and stumbled away from the car. It was too late. I just had to finish what I’d come for.
That meant I had a long way to walk, and this time, I was going to be doing it alone.
Chapter Eleven
The woods were eerily quiet, except for the sound of my own breathing.
It wasn’t an easy walk. The pathway Brandon showed me was difficult to find in this light, and soon I’d wandered off it by accident. It was muddy, and desperately uneven, and keeping my footing was almost impossible.
To call the situation metaphorically appropriate would’ve been an understatement.
Soon enough I caught my toes under a protruding tree root, and nearly fell. When I tried to tug loose, my leg didn’t cooperate. I yelled aloud, probably advertising my location to anyone—or anything—that may have been listening, and I was in one hell of a vulnerable position if anything decided to strike. I was bent half over, struggling and stuck.
It was then, of course, that I sensed something out there, moving in the trees.
My whole body shuddered. Something in me wanted with terrible intensity to change, to fight back this weakness and confront whatever was out there head-on. I was shaken by how intoxicating the idea was. Out here in the woods, with me alone against it all, it seemed right. And after what I’d just done to Lacey, it was much, much harder to shut the urges up.
I clenched my fists hard, concentrating on the very human pain of fingernails in my skin, and forced myself to go still. With tremendous effort, I began pushing myself upright again.
Then something gripped my arm.
“Easy,” someone said. “Hold on to me.”
I would have screamed, but the quality of the voice stopped me. It was rough but warm, and the reverberant depths suggested it wasn’t quite normal. It should have made me nervous. Actually, it did make me nervous, but in an unsettlingly excited sort of way. I tried to turn to see whoever had spoken, but got stuck again.
“Steady,” he said.
The stranger bent down to wrench the root loose. I gulped, watching clods of mud and one very startled mouse go flying aside. The mouse hit the ground and, sensibly enough, ran for its life.
I stayed put and stared. Stupid, stupid me.
He had to be a werewolf. The signs were there—the eerie
eyes, movements angled just a bit oddly, heat pouring off him like a furnace. He was so calm, though, compared to me. I felt like I was about to fly apart in all directions.
I also wanted to touch that tawny hair of his and see if it was as soft it looked.
Oh, boy, I thought. Down, girl.
“We don’t have much time,” he said, knocking me out of my trance. “The Elder’s waiting.”
I was bewildered. This guy was in the pack? Why had no one mentioned him? He barely looked like he belonged. He was in control of himself, certainly no feral, but still wild and strange. I couldn’t put him into any real category. I tried to figure out what to say.
“Who are you?” I asked, which wasn’t exactly a genius reply, but it was somewhere to start.
“I’m Raoul.”
I let out a desperate little giggle at that. Of course his name was something that could be howled.
He watched me, inscrutable, then offered a hand. Against my better judgment, I let him tug me up the slope.
The cabins weren’t as welcoming this time. There were no strings of lanterns, no bonfires blazing. The windows in the main house were lit, but not by electricity. The erratic glow within looked like firelight. In the rain and blowing leaves, the house looked like someone had ripped it from a Halloween card.
Kane was also waiting on the porch, and he didn’t look thrilled to see Raoul with me.
As if he’d been expecting that, Raoul carefully let go of me at the threshold. His only explanation was a reticent, “I guard.”
I frowned, wanting to ask what he meant, but Kane gestured for me to come inside. I looked plaintively at Raoul first. Could you keep an eye out for Lacey? I thought at him, as hard as I could. I had no idea if it would get through, but he gave me a tiny nod. I guess he could hear me.
Oh, God, that was bizarre.
I edged through the cabin’s front door, looking over my shoulder half the way. He kept watching me, too, his eyes burning gold. I had a hard time turning away.
What finally made me do it was Brandon.
“Fuckin’ A,” he said, from the sofa in the middle of the room. “She showed up.”
Pandora rose from her seat beside the fireplace. She’d dressed in black from head to toe—long sleeves, long skirt, the whole number. I couldn’t decide if she was trying to look formal or funereal. “Nice to know our grand entrance wasn’t wasted.”
I got some of my nerve back. “And where’s your accomplice? Terrorizing anyone else now that she’s done with me?”
“I would hope not,” Ilsa said, “seeing as she’s with the Elder.”
I jumped. I hadn’t seen Ilsa come in. Either she’d sneaked in behind me, or she’d been hiding in the shadows. Either idea was unnerving, since she was wearing white and shouldn’t have blended into anything. She stepped up to me, straightened my collar like she was neatening her untidy child for presentation, and spoke before I could begin asking the mess of questions in my head.
“There are rules. The Elder only has so much energy, so don’t waste it. Don’t speak until he prompts you. Don’t tire him. Don’t anger him. And remember, he’s family. Even yours.”
That was presuming a lot, but her sharp tone told me I better believe it. My knees chose that moment to wobble, which was embarrassing. I didn’t want to look afraid of her.
“Am I speaking to him alone?”
“No,” she said mildly, showing me to the stairs.
Predictably, they creaked as we climbed. They sounded like they’d split open if I stepped wrong, and I’m good at stepping wrong, so I braced one hand against the wall, scraping up splinters. They popped out of my rapidly-healing skin by themselves, but that didn’t mean they didn’t hurt.
Upstairs, the air was too warm. The fire’s heat rose there and lingered, along with wood smoke and other, stranger smells I didn’t recognize. Something sour, something medicinal, something…I didn’t know what. I rubbed my nose.
“Sensitive?” Ilsa said. I tried to repress a duh look. She only shrugged.
“That doesn’t always stay,” she said. Ilsa looked briefly jealous, and almost wary. Then she opened the door at the hallway’s end.
There were no lights, just the fading illumination through the window. So I only got the vague impressions of plain walls, a bed, a chair, a cabinet shut tight. Ayu stood beside it, like she was guarding the door. The room’s other occupant was at the window. It was hard to look at anything but him.
Even stooped, he was tall. His hands gripped the windowsill for support, making me feel a flash of empathy. He was staring intently at something outside. I thought about creeping up to see, but wasn’t sure I wanted to get much closer. He was intimidating enough from where I stood. Ilsa and all her posturing gave the impression of power, but with him, it vibrated all around, impossible to ignore.
Or at least it was until he coughed, at which point he looked human again. Sort of. The windowsill cracked with the spasm, and made a terrible, whining creak when he let go.
“You’ve come,” he said.
I wobbled on my feet when he turned. His gaze made me want to bow my head and whine, retreat into some far corner of the house, or maybe just run off, never to return. However, when he said, “You may go,” that dismissal was directed solely to Ilsa.
I have to give her credit. She didn’t let him cow her. She simply swept out, not quite closing the door. I wondered if she meant to listen in. Even so, I felt suddenly alone in the room. Even Ayu standing watch might as well have been miles away. It was just me and him that mattered, and that was kind of terrifying.
The Elder returned to the window.
“Raoul is watching someone,” he murmured. He’d cast one hand out to point. I could see how old it looked. “Someone…waiting.”
I cringed. Raoul was doing exactly what I’d asked him to do. I’d just been hoping no one else would notice. “It’s, um, my ride,” I said weakly. “I told her to stay in the car.”
“What does she know?”
“Nothing!”
“I’m sure that…will make everything better.”
He let out a low sound, either in amusement or anger. Then he swiveled again, dark eyes burning. “Come here.”
I tried. It was more awkward than usual, and that was saying a lot. Stump. Stump. Sudden stop. He took my chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting my head back and forth for a good look. I tried not to wince, but the grip hurt.
“Why do you try?” he asked.
I didn’t know what to say. He answered his own question for me.
“You cannot stand strong without help. Resisting the wolf is breaking you, yet you don’t wish to appear weak. Here in the home of those stronger and faster and better than you—”
“Not better,” I bit out.
He slowly smiled. “Some potential, then.”
He withdrew, making his own uneasy way to the chair. He looked awfully frail, but I wasn’t about to say so, especially since I wasn’t convinced he was even sane. The energy bleeding off him felt erratic, pulsing and fading, then jagging into life again.
“A drink,” he said hoarsely.
Ayu pulled a carafe from the cabinet. The smell made my nose and eyes burn when she poured him a glass. He curled claw-like fingers around it, drank, then grimaced at the taste. “Why do I always forget how much I hate this?”
“If those fake IDs you got said I was over twenty-one, it would be easier to replace,” Ayu said under her breath. He snorted wryly. Not entirely devoid of a sense of humor, then. The next words didn’t put me at ease, though.
“You have so many questions. I can hear them from here.” He tapped his temple. “Why did you think I would answer them?”
I said the first thing that came to mind. “Because Ilsa won’t.”
He tipped his head back with laughter. It ended in a rattling cough, and he forced the rest of the drink down his throat. “Interesting,” he said, his voice ragged.
Ayu moved to refill his glas
s. He snarled, though, suddenly violent, and smashed the glass against the arm of his chair. It splintered apart in an explosion of shards.
“Enough. You know what this is. You should know what it is. Have you not had enough proof?” He hauled in a painful breath. “All the things Ilsa will never tell you…”
Ayu, her eyes wide, pulled a handkerchief from one pocket—which was black lace. Of course—and tried to wrap his bleeding hand. He only shoved her away. “No. It will heal. Just clean it up. You.”
The Elder’s eyes blazed at me for a terrifying moment before the mad energy subsided. “Ilsa is not to be trusted. But neither am I. If you’re looking for allegiances…she has the strength in numbers.”
“Can she…really fix me?”
“Oh, you’ll be stronger. She has her ways.” He smiled crookedly. “And you’ll be under her thumb for as long as you live.”
I had no idea what he meant. Furious at everyone who wouldn’t give me a straight answer, I burst out with an angry retort. “Can you do better, then?”
He didn’t answer. Ayu, who was still picking glass fragments off the floor and dropping them with dire little rattles into another tumbler, arched an eyebrow at us. I guess she had reason. What was I doing choosing sides right in front of her?
I shivered, watching his sluggishly bleeding hand. If he’d been well, those wounds would have closed by now.
“I guess that’s a no,” I said, more darkly than I intended.
The Elder, very slowly, smiled.
“You’ve met a feral. Yes, I know. I heard the 9-1-1 call your friends made. The police…tend to help when I ask. Chief Barron is not an easy man to persuade, but he has his own secrets, and he knows how to keep them. That’s helped us resolve a thing or two. But it is not foolproof.” His voice hardened. “Which brings us to the hunt. And to you.”
“Brandon said Kane wanted help with that.”
Ayu snorted. The Elder echoed the sound, studying the blood on his palm. “Kane in no way wants help. But this feral is…unresolved business. He must be found.”
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