by Emma Wolfe
Grayson glanced toward town and then back over at me. “Some kid. I caught him making out with Brielle in the woods. He smelled like a traitor.”
It took a moment before I realized who he was talking about. I’d forgotten he’d been gone when Matthew came strutting into town. That he hadn’t been privy to our new guest.
Then I blinked as his words settled in around me. “Wait, he was kissing Brielle?”
Grayson glowered as if he were reliving a bad memory. “Not kissing, more like sucking the face off my sister. And his hands?” Grayson let out a deep, throaty growl.
I could feel his agitation, and it helped feed my own. “What are you going to do?” I asked, flexing my hands as adrenaline pumped through my veins. It felt nice, our mutual hatred for this newcomer bringing my best friend and me closer together.
When we were both hating on Matthew, we could forget our desire to dominate and just be friends. Friends determined to discover who had infiltrated our town.
We may not be able to control what was happening outside of Smoky Hills. But inside was a different story. We both knew what it was like to want to protect. To feel as if we would die for the ones we loved.
With a common enemy, we could band together and figure this out.
At least, we could do this for now. I knew it was ridiculous to think that things weren’t going to change. As soon as we sent Matthew back to where he came from, Grayson’s and my friendship would be over—it had an expiration date.
But for now, we were going to be friends again.
And, for now, that was all I could ask for.
18
Brielle
I felt like an idiot, spending the entire day at school looking for Matthew. After our incredible kiss last night—and Grayson’s ridiculous display of brotherly love—I hadn’t seen him, heard from him, or felt him.
And let me tell you, my senses were heightened to his presence like I’d never felt before. It was like I was a homing pigeon and he was my home. I felt as if my mind and soul would stop at nothing to find him.
Which is why when I headed to practice that afternoon after school, I felt exhausted. Nothing would make me feel better. Not soccer. Not running up and down the field to burn off this pent-up energy coursing through me.
Nothing.
Matthew was gone and my heart was broken.
After disposing of my backpack in my locker, I kept my head down as I walked toward the locker rooms. My mind was distracted, and I didn’t notice the two hands reaching out to grab me until it was too late.
I yelped as I was pulled into the nearby janitor closet and the door was shut behind me.
I didn’t need the light on. Even though it was pitch-black, I knew who was standing in the room with me. I could hear his heartbeat. It was the sound my soul had been begging to hear.
Matthew.
My hands found his arms, then his shoulders, then his neck. I pulled myself closer to him as I searched through the darkness for his lips. I needed him. I wanted to feel his arms around me once more.
With him, I felt like…me.
“Elle,” he whispered. I could hear the chuckle in his voice.
I growled, hating that we were this close to each other, and yet, he was keeping me at bay.
And then I heard Grayson’s voice and the instant change in Matthew’s heartbeat.
Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.
I pulled back as I focused my gaze upwards. Even though I was in human form, my wolf instincts came out and I was able to see Matthew in the darkness. His skin was grey, and his eyes lit up like flashlights, but I could see his worry. It was etched across his face and illuminated in his gaze.
“What’s going on?” I asked. Even though I wanted to pull away—my mind screaming that something was wrong—I couldn’t move. I had Matthew back, and my wolf couldn’t let him go.
Matthew’s hands rested on my hips as he leaned in. My soul sang from the fact that he felt the closeness too. That he cared for me like I cared for him.
“I can’t be around you anymore,” he whispered as he leaned in. His lips found my forehead and he pressed them to my skin.
I paused and blinked a few times, trying to register what he’d said. “What? Why? Because of Grayson?”
I loved my brother, and I was happy he was back, but if he scared off the one guy I cared about, I would wring his neck.
I put on my determined expression as I met Matthew’s gaze. “He’ll be fine. He’s a little prickly at first, but he’ll get used to having you around.” I moved to snuggle into him only to have him pull away once more.
“Elle, you don’t understand. This isn’t about your brother being overprotective. Grayson is right to feel the way he does about me. I’m not just a passerby. I’m here…” His voice drifted off.
Worry coursed through me, and I did the only thing I knew how to do. I pulled away to protect myself. “What are you talking about?” I asked.
Matthew didn’t pull me back to him. In fact, he stepped back and shoved his hands into his front pockets.
Which angered me.
He wasn’t supposed to give up this easily. He was supposed to fight for me. I was his fate. His destiny. How could he be okay with leaving me?
I couldn’t help the tears that formed on my eyelids. They stung as I forced them to keep from falling. I couldn’t let him see what his words were doing to me. I couldn’t let him see my breaking heart.
I was the idiot who thought we were destined to be together. I’d fooled myself into thinking we were fates. That he was meant to come to Smoky Hills. That he was meant to find me.
Man, I’d watched too many cheesy romantic comedies in my life. No wonder Grayson felt as if he needed to protect me. I was gullible and naive, and this just proved it.
I sniffled, holding back my sobs, and cleared my throat. I wasn’t going to allow my heart to break anymore. Matthew didn’t deserve my tears. He should be grateful that I didn’t shift right then and there and unleash my wolf on him.
Right now, she was pissed, and I didn’t know what she would do to him.
“You should go,” I said as I pointed to the door.
Matthew studied me for a moment. I could feel his gaze on me. And then he nodded and moved to place his hand on the door handle.
When he paused, my heart skipped a beat. For a moment, I allowed myself to think that, perhaps, he was changing his mind. That he wanted to stay here with me. That this had all been a joke. A mean one, but a joke all the same.
He turned, and from the slump of his shoulders and his frown, I could tell he wasn’t changing his mind. He was about to explain to me why he acted this way. Why he allowed me to care for him only to have him rip my heart out and stomp on it.
Oh, this was going to be rich.
“I’m sorry, Brielle. I never should have led you on. I never should have—”
“Don’t,” I snapped, holding up my hand. Sure, he could say he was leaving. That he wasn’t supposed to be here, and I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with him—that was my bad. That was my mistake.
But there was no way I was going to allow him to take back our kiss. To say what happened between us in the woods had been a mistake.
There was only so much heartbreak a person could take. I’d lost my parents and, for a short time, my brother—I wasn’t going to give Matthew the satisfaction of leaving me, too.
Not if I could help it.
So I turned, placed my hand on the door handle and turned it. I knew he heard the release engage because his whole body stiffened. This was ending, and I took some satisfaction in the fact that he’d reacted to my imminent retreat.
“Don’t ever come back,” I growled as I pulled open the door and stepped out into the hallway.
The lights felt blinding, but I didn’t care. Right now, I needed to escape. I needed to get as far away from Matthew as possible.
Once I was in the safety of the locker room, I collapsed on th
e bench in front of my locker. Tears slipped down my cheeks, and I bent forward and cradled my forehead in my hands.
I felt like an idiot. A giant, colossal idiot. What kind of person falls for someone after only a day? Did I really think that everything would work out?
My life was in the crapper right now.
Grayson was acting strange. There was so much unrest in the Mother pack, and I could feel it in every fiber of my being. And then this mystery guy showed up, and I was the idiot who decided to fate with him.
As much as I wanted to blame my aching heart on Matthew, I knew better. I was the one who leapt without looking. I was the one who decided to lower my walls and let him in.
I should have known better.
I wiped the tears from my face as anger boiled up inside of me. I wasn’t going to allow myself to cry over this for one more second.
We were done, and there was nothing I could do about it.
For now, I was going to change into my soccer clothes, head out to the field, and try to work off all my aggression.
Then, I was going to go home and confront Grayson. Since he’d been back, he hadn’t talked to me. In fact, I hadn’t seen him at all at school. Wherever he was, I could feel his agitation.
Something was eating him alive.
And I was tired of living in the dark, not knowing what was happening with him. With our parents.
Once practice was over, I was going to find my brother and we were going to talk.
If there was a war brewing, I wasn’t going to let him shield me from the truth.
I was going to fight.
I had to.
I had nothing left.
The house was quiet when I pulled open the front door. My ears perked as I glanced into the dining room and then the living room.
Mrs. Diggory was nowhere to be found.
Normally, I would hear the faint voices of her soap opera coming from her bedroom, but that wasn’t happening.
A cool feeling carried across my skin, causing me to shiver. I’d never felt so strange in my house before. Someone—or something—was here.
“Hello?” I called out. My wolf rose to the surface. If I had to, I was going to shift to protect myself.
If it was a human, I could kill them. If it was another wolf?
My heart pounded at the thought. I was a female wolf and a teenage one at that. I hadn’t evolved, which meant I was weak. But I wasn’t going to think like that. Not right now.
I was strong, and I would fight off anyone who was here if I had to.
“Mrs. Diggory?” I called out as I peered into the kitchen. A muffed voice startled me, and I hurried into the room. Just as I cleared the table, I saw her.
Mrs. Diggory’s eyes were wide and the skin around them swollen. A piece of fabric had been tied around her mouth, and her hands were tied in front of her. She was cowering on the bathroom floor.
When she met my gaze, she began to squirm and shout. But with the fabric in her mouth, I had no idea what she was saying.
Determined to free my foster mom, I hurried over to her and knelt down. I reached over to free her when a hand clamped around my wrist and pulled me up.
I started to scream, but there was a crack and then a blinding light. My entire body went limp as I crumpled to the floor.
I tried to shift. I tried to fight back. But there was nothing I could do. My mind and body were numb, and the only thing left for me to do was succumb to the darkness.
19
Grayson
It was getting dark as I ran alongside Liam. I really wasn’t sure what we were doing. Our excursion today had started out as a search for Matthew, but I doubted that was what we were doing anymore.
Liam was angry.
I was angry.
And we were running to burn off that anger.
It was nice, not to be alone. There were times when I allowed myself to believe that nothing had changed. That we were back where we’d been a few weeks ago.
Before the change. Before the death of the alpha. Back when the only thing we worried about was work and school.
It felt like a simpler time.
Now? We were faced with a future that both of us knew was inevitable but neither of us wanted to face.
Liam slowed as the sound of a river perked my ears. Sensing what he wanted, I followed alongside him as we made our way through the trees. As soon as they broke, we paused at the bank, each taking our time drinking.
The water was cool and refreshing. I lapped it up, reveling in the feeling of the fluid running down my throat. It helped relieve the tension that had built up inside of me. At least, it did for a moment.
I knew as soon as I lifted my head, things were going to change. I was going to be faced with a reality that I didn’t want to confront right now.
What do you think Evan and Noah are going to do? Liam’s voice cut through my mind.
I glanced over at Liam to see him sitting there on the rocks. He looked relaxed, which helped calm me down. We could have a conversation like we’d always had. We could be civil.
I stood and shook and then shifted. Once I was in human form, I sat down on the gravel, brought one knee up, and hooked my arm around it.
It was nice, sitting next to my best friend like this.
Liam shifted and sat a few feet away. We were both facing the river. I picked up a few rocks and chucked them into the water.
“I don’t know,” I said.
Liam nodded, and from the corner of my eye, I saw him grab some nearby rocks. “This sucks,” he said.
“Yeah.”
We both fell silent, and the only noise that filled the air was the trickling water. My shoulders slumped as I fished out a rock that was buried in the bank. The grit of the sand scraped my skin and I welcomed the feeling.
It helped ground me. It helped me realize that as much as I was a shifter, I was also a human. Something my family had forgotten.
“Cora’s going to homecoming with Christopher.” Liam’s voice startled me.
I turned to face him. “She is?”
Liam studied the ground as he ran his finger over the sand. “Yeah. He asked her while we were in detention.”
“You were in detention?”
Liam chuckled. “Stuff happens when you leave, man.”
Reality sunk in around me and I nodded. He didn’t know what the future held, and neither did I. We were both living in limbo, and it sucked.
I sucked in my breath and nodded. “Yeah,” I said.
Liam didn’t respond right away. I’d begun to relax when his voice broke the silence. “So what are we going to do?” he asked.
I glanced over at him. He was staring straight ahead. His eyes were narrowed and his forehead furrowed.
“My dad’s not going to stop,” I offered. My voice came out lower than I’d intended. It was as if the gravity of the situation was weighing on me. It felt as if it were crushing me. “I was his plan A, but since I won’t be his lapdog, he’s going to come up with a plan B.” I stretched out my legs in front of me. They were cramping, and I needed the distraction moving gave me.
“What do you think he’s going to do?” Liam asked.
I shrugged. “I overheard bits and pieces when I was with him. His henchmen weren’t too tight-lipped about anything.”
Liam glanced over at me. “And?”
I swallowed, realizing that I was going to have to speak. I was going to have to tell him. “First, take out the Smoky Hills shifters. Then go after your uncle.”
“Do you have a timeline?”
A rustling in the trees startled us. We both stood and whipped around to see Matthew emerging from the trees.
The entire world began to blur around me. All I could remember was Matthew with his arms wrapped around my sister. I let out a growl as I lunged toward him.
“It’s best if you get out of here,” Liam yelled, and I felt his arms surround me.
I glared over at him as I struggled against his res
traint.
Liam’s words didn’t seem to stop Matthew. Instead, he just raised his hands and stepped toward us.
“I don’t want to fight,” he said.
“Then you shouldn’t have touched my sister,” I yelled. I was seconds away from shifting. It was taking all of my strength to not bring my wolf to the surface and fight it out with this loser.
Matthew paused. A shadow fell over his expression. I could feel his pain as his shoulders slumped and his gaze fell to the ground.
I stopped trying to free myself. Instead, I stared at him. What was he doing? Was he serious? Had he…?
I growled as I glanced over at Liam. I knew I’d hate the guy that fated with my sister. I knew it was inevitable. But right now, knowing that he was in pain connected us. I knew what he was going through.
I felt that way for Rose.
The love for someone you can’t have. Staying away to protect them.
I adjusted my clothes and then turned to stare at him. “What do you want?”
Matthew paused as if to make sure that I wasn’t going to attack him. He must have felt safe because he relaxed and stepped toward me. “We have a problem.”
Liam folded his arms as he studied Matthew. I could feel his hesitation when it came to this intruder, but if I wasn’t going to attack, neither was Liam.
Matthew blew out his breath and then glanced in the direction of Smoky Hills. “They’re not safe,” he said.
I sighed. “Duh. My dad has it out for them.”
Matthew narrowed his eyes. “Your dad’s not alone.”
“What are you saying?” Liam asked.
Matthew glanced over at him. “Brutus has a plan as well,” he said finally. His voice had dropped an octave. He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He turned his gaze down to the ground.
I blinked, my ears ringing from what he said. “They’re taking the fight to Smoky Hills?” I asked. This couldn’t be. Humans lived there. How would they keep their secret if they were exposed?
Matthew shrugged. “I don’t know his plans specifically, but I know Brutus wants the Smoky Hills shifters gone. And I’m pretty sure he’ll stop at nothing to do it.”