~ 13 ~

 

 

 

I followed Fee out the back door and the moment the door opened in front of me my body’s warning system kicked into overdrive; the dull tingle becoming harsh pinpricks and goose bumps rose so fast, it felt like ants crawling over me. Instinctively, I searched for the source. My eyes landed on something unexpected.

At the edge of the yard, through the bare branches of trees that lined the dead grass, a roaring bonfire was visible. It’s yellow and orange flames rose several feet into the air and the branches piled high underneath crackled and popped, sending up sparks and ash overhead. But the thing that got my attention was the bodies that surrounded it. Half a dozen human forms ringed the fire and interspersed between them were at least as many Werewolves, all in wolf form. I faltered.

“Tara, they’re all friends,” Fee said, gently.

I glanced down and found Fee waiting patiently at the bottom of the steps.

“Right,” I said, with way more confidence than I felt. Mechanically, I descended the small porch, and fell into step beside Fee. As we grew closer to the trees my anxiety doubled. My heart thudded loudly, ringing in my ears, and in response to some instinctive protective part of my brain, I realized my fingers itched to draw my weapons. I ignored it at first, but then we passed through, into the small clearing, and the group noticed us approaching. Every single pair of eyes – human or otherwise – turned to stare at me. I felt my shallow breaths edging towards hyperventilation. My skin crawled and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Then a familiar figure broke away from the group and strode towards me.

Wes lowered his head and spoke low into my ear. “You’re doing great.” He took my arm and fell into step beside me, leading me around the group, to the far side of the fire, with plenty of breathing room between me and them.

When we stopped, I stood in between Fee and Wes. I didn’t look up to see if everyone was still watching me, I just stared at the fire and tried to keep my expression blank, or at least clear of any expression that said, ‘a big part of me wants to kill you right now’.

“Looks like most everyone’s here so let’s get started.”

I followed the sound of Jack’s voice and did a double take. His voice sounded exactly the same as it always did: burly and booming. But it was coming out of the body of a great brown wolf. The biggest wolf I’d ever seen; easily the biggest one here. His fur ruffled in the slight breeze and I wondered if half his size didn’t come from that alone, as thick as it was. I knew I was openly staring, but I didn’t care. He was magnificent and beautiful to watch. Even standing still, there was a gracefulness in him that would have been impossible to achieve in human form. Especially Jack’s human form. And in a way, this was the first time I’d really seen a wolf up close, like this. With Liliana, there hadn’t exactly been time to stand back and admire. So, I watched in fascination as Jack-the-wolf shifted on his paws – which were probably twice the size of my feet - and shot sharp glances at some who still hadn’t ended their hushed conversations.

“First, I’ll go ahead and properly introduce our guest,” he said, when the group had quieted. “Everyone, this is Tara Godfrey, a Hunter. Tara, this is our group. They’ve all given permission for you to be present today, so just watch and listen. If you have any questions about what you hear, I’m sure any one of them would be happy to answer them for you. We’re all glad you’re here.”

I could feel everyone watching me again so I just nodded and kept my eyes on Jack. I managed to stay relatively calm this time, though, with Wes beside me.

“Alright. Updates,” Jack said, shifting on his paws to look at someone across the fire. “Derek, how’d it go with the clan in the Outer Banks?”

A lanky wolf, with fur the color of mud and eyes to match, spoke up. His voice was gravelly and sounded young, close to my age, but it was impossible to tell from his wolf form. “Not great, Jack. They’ve had a problem with newbie Hunters lately.” His eyes flicked to me and then back to Jack. “The Hunters attacked without provocation and managed to take down a couple of the pack, including the alpha’s teenaged son. Emotions are running high and I wouldn’t be surprised if they retaliate. Not much hope of diplomacy there, at least not now.”

“Damn. Did you identify the Hunters?” asked Jack.

“No. New graduates from what they can gather. Glory seekers. Vigilantes. You know how it goes.” Derek’s eyes flicked back to me again.

“Alright,” said Jack. “I’m going to draw up a letter for you to deliver to Gabe, their alpha. You up for a second trip?”

“Sure.” Derek dipped his head and hunched his fur, giving an odd impression of shrugging shoulders.

Jack made a noise deep in his throat, something between a sigh and a growl, and then his eyes flicked down the line. “Cord? What have you got?”

Next to Derek, a blond haired girl stepped forward. Her hair was perfectly combed, with her long bangs swept to the side, covering part of her face, and she wore black leggings with black boots. I thought she looked mysterious and gorgeous – until she spoke. “Jonah’s still sending out new initiates with nothing more than a stake and delusions of grandeur.” Her voice was nothing like her appearance. It was hard and biting, and all business.

While she spoke, her eyes flicked to me, like Derek’s had, but the message in them was much more brittle. I shifted and looked away, with the unmistakable feeling of being sized up.

“How many of them?” asked Jack.

Cord turned her attention back to him. “Three for now. The next group doesn’t graduate until June and then we’ll have probably ten or twelve on our hands.”

“Where were they headed?”

“The mountains. Near Shenandoah. They’re camping to stay under the radar. All cocky confidence, too. They’d be easy to find again, though, trust me.” She rolled her eyes.

“We’d better follow them and make sure they don’t do any damage. Kelsey’s pack is just on the other side of those mountains and they’ve recently decided to ally with us. I don’t want anything messing that up,” said Jack.

“No problem,” she said. And I knew just from looking at her, that it wouldn’t be.

“Take Miles with you,” Jack added.

Cord’s expression hardened at that but she nodded. “Fine.”

Jack continued down the line, calling on Bailey, a smaller Werewolf, the color of vanilla ice cream. Jack asked him for an update on someone named Xavier, but Bailey said he hadn’t made any more progress, whatever that meant. He sounded really young, younger than me, when he spoke.

Jack moved on again; this time, to a Hunter named Jill who reported about some piece of land she had been sent to check on. Most of it was passing right over my head, but from what I could gather, these assignments were all pieces of a puzzle that Jack oversaw, a part of a bigger picture – and the thing that got me was that it was, above all, a peaceful picture. That appealed to me. These people didn’t go around killing each other. They found a way to defend themselves and others without violence. It was something to consider.

“That wraps up all the works in progress we have at the moment,” said Jack when Jill was done. “I know it’s not as many irons in the fire as we would like, but we have to be patient. We’re trying to reverse hundreds of years of a certain way of thinking.” He paused and then in a brisk voice added, “New business. Miles, what have you got?”

Miles, the man I’d met in the kitchen, cleared his throat. “We tracked Liliana’s last forty-eight hours to a motel outside of Warrenton. The clerk remembered her and said she came in with a guy but couldn’t describe him. Probably, he was too busy watching her to notice. They stayed the night, and he says she left alone the next morning. That would’ve been the same day she called you.” He nodded to Wes and I got a sinking feeling in my gut.

“Any leads on where she went that day? Or the guy at the motel?” Jack asked.

“Not yet. Still working on it,” said Miles.

Jack shook his head. “No, I need you to go with Cord in case any of those frat boys get carried away.” He shot a look at Cord. “No killing.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Fee can look into the Liliana situation while you’re gone. Vera can help, which may be easier than the usual channels,” said Jack, turning to a woman directly on his left.

She was tall and willow thin and even though she wore a pants suit and low heels, there was a regal authority about her that made you stop and take notice. I’d been glancing her way since the beginning of the meeting, unsure what someone like that was doing here, in front of a bonfire with a bunch of wolves.

“Of course,” she answered. Her voice was just as polished and regal as the rest of her.

Jack nodded and then addressed the rest of the group. “Okay, last order of business today is the situation with Tara.”

At the sound of my name, everyone looked over at me. The woman, Vera, met my eyes. (I must’ve still been staring at her without realizing it.) Her gaze was sharp and penetrating and made me feel like she was waiting for something. I looked away and stared back into the fire.

Why were they talking about me? Oh God, this was it. I was going to be called out for killing Liliana. Maybe even punished. So much for a jury of my peers. I squared my shoulders and braced myself. At my sides, my fingers twitched, ready to grab for my weapons. I wasn’t going to go easily.

“All of you know about the campers that were killed. It was in the paper. What you don’t know is the message that was left at the scene. Wes, pass that picture around, will you?”

Wes reached inside his jacket and pulled out the photograph he’d shown me earlier, with the bloody lettering. He passed it around me, to Fee. She barely glanced at it and passed it on. As much as that picture disgusted me, at this moment, I was beyond relieved to see it. This was why Jack had brought me up. Not because I killed one of theirs. I breathed out slowly and forced my hands to relax at my sides.

“The words are written in the victim’s blood on the side of their tent,” Jack explained, as the picture was passed around the circle. The humans all made sure whatever wolf was beside them got a look before passing it to the next outstretched hand. “Wes got there first, as he was on call that night. He snapped this before he disposed of the evidence. We need to find out what it means and who it was. Tara may not be an official member of our group, but she’s still one of us and she’s been thrown into this without any warning. She needs our help so we need to figure out what’s next.”

“This would’ve taken some time,” said Miles, when it was his turn to study the photo. “They would’ve had to change back to do the writing. They’re patient.” He studied it like a slide under a microscope and I wondered how he could be so detached about the gore.

“They’re sick, is what they are,” said Cord, with obvious disgust.

“How do they know Tara? Why do they want to scare her?” asked Bailey.

“We don’t know. Tara doesn’t have any enemies,” answered Jack.

“Everyone has enemies,” muttered Cord.

“She knew them,” Wes said. “The girl was an employee in her mother’s store. We should assume that he picked his victim because of her connection to Tara.”

Murmurs went around the group and Jack silenced them with his booming voice. “Tara knows nothing of what she is or of our world and how it works, which means our group has a better chance of finding who’s responsible, knowing what we know. So here’s what we need to do. Surveillance. Use your contacts. Find out if anyone new has come into the area recently. Especially Weres but not exclusively. It could be a frame. Anything is possible until we know more.” A few more whispers went around and then Jack wrapped up. “Alright, I think that’s about it for today. We’ll reconvene in one week, same time, to share what we’ve learned.”

“Jack,” Wes interrupted. Everyone stopped and waited. So did I. It was the first time he’d spoken during the entire meeting. He paused, seeming to second guess his words. I caught Vera looking at him. Their eyes met and she nodded. “I think it might be wise to widen the scope of our watches to include a regular patrol around Tara’s until this thing is figured out.”

Jack nodded. “I agree. Good idea, Wes.”

“I also think it might be wise to keep a close watch on her, personally, at all times. Whoever did this, if they come after her again, won’t be expecting one of us. We’ll have the advantage, and be able to ID him better if it’s one of us who sees his face.”

“I agree with that, too. But it’s a pretty time consuming job. We don’t really have the manpower for that-”

“I’ll do it,” said Wes.

Excitement speared through me. I really wanted to look up at him, to see the expression on his face but I couldn’t. If I did, my own emotion would show through and I could still feel everyone looking at me. Instead, I kept my expression as blank as I could and just kept looking at the fire. So, Wes would be with me all day, every day? The logical side of me knew that it was strictly for my safety, but I couldn’t help the wild fluttering that had taken over in my stomach.

For some reason, Jack didn’t seem surprised, at all, by Wes volunteering. “Okay, then. We’ll take you off the patrol schedule as much as we can spare you. I’ll get you the list so you’ll know who to call for backup.”

Wes nodded, and Jack ended the meeting. Wes and Fee stayed close to my side as everyone wandered off in different directions. Most of the wolves left the circle, cutting deeper into the woods in groups of twos and threes. The Hunters all turned toward the house.

“Where are they going?” I asked, gesturing to the wolves.

“Home,” said Wes.

“Through the woods?”

“It’s less conspicuous than parking fifty cars in Jack’s yard. So they run,” he explained.

“What did you think?” Fee asked, with a smile.

“It was um… interesting,” I finally said.

Fee smiled wider. “Yes, that’s a good word for our group. Do you have any questions about any of it?”

“I have questions about all of it,” I admitted. “I didn’t really understand much of what was going on, but from the little bit I did understand, I think what you guys are doing here is great.”

Fee’s eyes lit up, and Wes’ hand pressed down on my back, suddenly guiding me away.

“I’ll be inside,” Fee called, obviously confused but unwilling to intervene.

I managed a wave and then had to turn to keep from tripping over leaves and dead branches. Wes led me back into the yard and around the side of the house.

“What are you doing?” I demanded, jerking my elbow free of his grasp and taking a step back.

“Saving you.”

“From what? There was no danger.”

“From yourself. I could see the look in your eyes when you were talking to Fee.”

“What look in my eyes?”

“The look that said you want to hear more, maybe even get involved somehow. But that’s not going to happen. This is way more dangerous than what it looks like out in front of a big pretty fire. It’s not for you.”

I crossed my arms. “You’re just trying to scare me. Besides, it’s not up to you.”

His eyes widened, and his voice grew louder. “Trying to scare you? Are you serious? If anything, I haven’t scared you enough. I’ve sugar coated it or not been honest enough. I’ve been trying to protect you, keep you out of it. But apparently, you’re too stubborn to be grateful for that.”

“Apparently,” I agreed through clenched teeth.

His glare sharpened, and he actually bared his teeth at me. I could see his temper boiling but I didn’t care right now. I had a temper of my own, just as big, to go with it, and I wasn’t going to sit on it just because he was a good kisser. Okay, a great kisser.

“Fine,” he said. “Then here’s the truth. We spend most of our time doing one of two things: sitting for hours, staking out a Werewolf or Hunter, so we can learn how best to kill them, or actually killing them. It’s a war, plain and simple. One that you’ve only made worse by what you did to Liliana.”

I blanched. I felt my temper flare, like the fire we’d just left behind. “What I did? She attacked me,” I shrieked, letting my voice rise to drown out his.

He crossed his arms, apparently satisfied that he’d gotten to me. “Doesn’t change the fact that we have to do damage control.”

“Look, I get that you’re mad. I killed your little girlfriend, mistress, whatever she was. But I didn’t start it. So whatever damage control you’ve got is because of her, not me. Probably whoever she was holed up with, in that motel, is who is after me now.”

Wes’ eyes widened in genuine surprise, momentarily drowning out the anger. “Liliana wasn’t – we weren’t together.”

“But you said-”

“I said we were working on something… for The Cause…?” He trailed off like he was waiting for me to finally get it.

“Oh.” I did feel stupid then, for not figuring out that connection sooner, but I was mad now, and I wasn’t about to let him win. “Well, how was I supposed to know that? It’s not like you made it clear. Just like everything else, you only told me half the story.” I crossed my arms.

His eyes narrowed and when he spoke, his voice was lower. Dangerously low, actually. I could see I’d gotten to him. “What are you talking about?”

“Everything,” I said, with a sweep of my arm. “Like, for starters, the fact that Sebastian St. John was your father.”

“Oh.” His expression cleared, and he actually looked relieved.

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”

“I just thought-” He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled. “Look, I tell you what you need to know, to be safe. There are things you still don’t understand about The Cause. I get that you would be drawn to something like this. Our group, the idea of it; it probably seems exciting and noble. But it’s also dangerous and bloody and violent. People don’t always want to listen to reason and some of them don’t even want to talk to begin with. They figure out what message you’re spewing, and they attack you twice as hard. That’s not exciting or noble, and it’s not something you can just jump into, with no experience.”

“I get that. But you can’t keep trying to push me out of it all, either. I’m a part of this world too, apparently. And I have to figure out for myself where and how I fit into it all. And I can’t do that if the one person who has promised to help me is keeping secrets or always ordering me around.”

“Fine. I won’t order you, but I will insist, at least for now, that you do what you can to protect yourself and stay out of danger. Which means, staying on the sidelines of our little group.”

“Whatever,” I mumbled, with absolutely no intention of heeding his wishes. It wasn’t that I’d already decided to join, or anything, but I didn’t like being told I couldn’t, either.

“And since you don’t have the ability to protect yourself, I’m going to also insist on guarding you, like we discussed at the meeting.” His eyes flashed, challenging me to argue with him.

Suddenly, the idea of him spending every waking hour with me didn’t sound so good. Especially if he was just going to act like my mother the entire time, lecturing and telling me what I could and couldn’t do. “I managed just fine with Liliana.”

“And what about next time? Metal piping going to become your weapon of choice?”

His tone was mocking and meant to make me feel like an idiot, but I was too angry to give in. I didn’t need him. I could handle myself. Probably.

“Next time I’ll be ready,” I shot back. “I have weapons. See.” In a swift move, I reached behind me and yanked out the plunger handles, angling them downward in my palm, in what I hoped was a stance that made me look battle ready.

Wes’ eyes widened in surprise. I got a certain satisfaction out of that. Then his eyes narrowed as he got a closer look at my makeshift weapons. “Where the heck did you get these?”

“I made them.”

“Out of what?” He was still staring at the splintered ends, obviously trying to figure out what it had been before.

I hesitated, already regretting showing them to him. Finally, I sighed. “A plunger.”

Wes bit down on his lip.

I glared at him. “Well, I had to protect myself somehow,” I hissed. “Especially that first day. I had no idea where you were taking me or how Jack and Fee would react to me.” I knew I was rambling but I kept it up anyway, hoping the sound of my voice would drown out the laugh I could see building in Wes. When I was done, I shoved the wood pieces back in my pockets to get them out of sight.

Wes snickered, and looked like he was trying to hold in something louder. He managed to keep mostly quiet, probably from the murderous look on my face. “Okay, so help me understand,” he said, a little breathlessly. “You’ve actually been carrying these around since last week?”

“Every day.”

“Wow. That’s actually kind of impressive in a strange, disgusting, unexpected sort of way.”

“Whatever. Laugh it up. But I can protect myself.”

Wes’ face turned red from the pressure of holding his breath. Finally, it whooshed out of him, along with loud, knee slapping laughter. I glared at him a second longer - wondering if now might be a good time to test out the durability of my plunger handles - and then abruptly turned on my heel and strode away.