Pack Bound

by Holly Hook

  The Olivia situation is serious, then.

  "I don't want to kill her," I blurt, backing against and grabbing the stove. "Why am I such a good fighter?"

  Aunt May exhales. "I don't know. Your father and I never spoke about our true nature. That happens when you spend your life trying to avoid it." She faces me when she speaks instead of turning her gaze away. That tells me she's not lying.

  "Were your parents werewolves, too?"

  Aunt May nods. "Our mother was born one. She turned our father to save his life after he got attacked by Savage Wolves. They didn't bite him, but the other injuries they delivered caused an infection that would have taken his life for certain."

  "I thought Savage Wolves liked to turn people?"

  "They often try to kill," Aunt May says. She lowers her voice. "And then eat." She speaks like she wants this conversation to end. "Only those who survive deep bites turn. They ran my father off a steep incline. He broke several bones. My mother and her pack saved him."

  "A pack?"

  "They're gone now. Most died from the same Savage Wolves that almost killed your father. Your father and I would have been all that was left. Now the Lowes form the central part of the pack."

  Maybe I should tell her about the file in my car but I hold back. If it turns out Olivia sustained a deep bite, Aunt May will go along with Cayden's idea of attacking her. Though she hates this entire thing, even she agreed to follow the rules and treat Cayden as alpha. Aunt May isn't a shaker.

  So I don't tell her about Cayden's outburst, either.

  "Savage Wolves have been trying to get into Breck for a while?" I ask.

  "For as far as our family goes back," Aunt May says.

  "Why? I mean, it's not like they enjoy skiing. I know Breck has all this forest and nature around it, but there are plenty of places like this. Do you know the reason?" My thoughts turn to the attic again, and my parents' secrets. But I've already searched it and found only the box with a letter from my mother's father. The Hunter side of my family.

  "I don't know the reason they want this place," Aunt May says at last. "But we can't leave if Breck is important to them. Speaking of that, I have another meeting with the lawyer tomorrow morning, and I can take you to school before I go."

  She's offering to help keep me safe. "Sure," I say, knowing it will make her feel better. "What's going on with the store now?" Maybe she's ready to tell me.

  Aunt May swallows. "It's still up for sale, but no buyers have come forth. I can always take it off the market if things improve, so don't give up hope yet. I might be able to work some financial magic."

  There. She's said it out loud. "Maybe we need to sell candy?" I ask. "Get the local kids in?"

  "Sterling Grocery has had a tie to natural food for a long time," Aunt May says. "Leonora's family have helped us so much. We can't turn our backs on that vision now."

  "We need more business."

  "I know." Aunt May rubs her temples.

  "And thanks for being honest with me."

  * * * * *

  Cayden is, as I expect, sorry the next morning about how he acted the night before. He meets me in the parking lot when Aunt May drops me off. She smiles at me and pulls away to go see the lawyer yet again.

  Cayden stands at the doors of the school and not on the green as he often does. He's beat me here, so I walk up to him, trying not to let my anger hit from the night before. I have Olivia's file in my backpack, and I've decided that we will let Remo help us look through it. He's the one most likely to know what to search for. Then, we come up with a plan on how to deal with Olivia. If she even got a bite.

  "Look, Brie, I'm sorry about last night," Cayden says. "I shouldn't have gotten mad after you did what none of us thought of."

  "You're forgiven," I say, though I can't cast away the feeling that Cayden might get like that again. He has a wound. It threatens to open with every wrong move.

  He brushes his hand through his hair. "We both like to do things without thinking too much first."

  "You mean like facing the Baltic Wolves by yourself?"

  Cayden eyes the brick of the school building as people go inside. "Yes." He swallows and I see his Adam's apple rise and fall. "I don't want you to be as stupid as me. I went against my father when he was alpha."

  "The Baltic Wolves were at fault," I tell him, wrapping my fingers around his arm. "Not you."

  "But he copied me. He did everything I did. I should have known," Cayden says, pulling out of my grasp. Even though I'm strong now, strong enough to break every gym record and compete in the Olympics, Cayden should beat my strength. He's alpha.

  "I'm not stupid," I say.

  "I know you're not," Cayden says, keeping his back facing me as he enters the school. The warning bell rings. We've lingered outside too long. "I know you want to help and be a part of this, but standing aside sometimes is better than dying." He whirls to face me. Then he grabs my arms and pulls me close. "I don't want to lose you."

  He descends for the kiss, and before I can move, Cayden plants his lips on mine. Since turning, his kiss has taken on sharper flavors: fresh pine needles, mountain breezes, and even disturbed earth. If I listen, I can even hear his heartbeat.

  For a second, I forget our fight.

  But then we part, and the tension's waiting for us all over again. "If Olivia and other people turn into Savage Wolves, more might die. And since Olivia and her gang won't open and Noah's blinded by love, I had to do what I had to do. It's done now. We'll find out the truth at lunch."

  Cayden shakes his head. "Don't risk yourself in front of normal people again." Then he adds, "Please."

  "I'll try not to," I say. But as I speak, smoldering anger growls. No one warned me about this part of my new nature. I understand why Cayden's acting this way. But my animal side refuses to have someone tell me what to do.

  "I also grabbed your phone," he says, fishing my device out of his pocket. "Snatched it from the police as they were talking to the receptionist. Wasn't too hard. The cops would take it into the station and try to see who it belonged to. And the hospital staff have no clue what happened. The biggest rumor was someone's trained wolf went in. Nobody wants to say the truth."

  "I figured." Relieved, I take my phone, knowing I'm in the clear. It's not as if the police have my DNA on file. I have no record. "You have a tendency to sneak up on people."

  "Let's get to class," Cayden says, grinning. "I'll try to get a scent on Olivia. It's possible she'll smell like a Savage Wolf before she turns, but we won't have much warning."

  "And I'll check for the pendant," I say.

  Hand in hand, Cayden and I head to class and duck into Mrs. Connors's room right as the final bell rings. Most people already sit and Olivia has taken her usual chair next to Cayden. My gaze goes right to her neck.

  She's accepted her secret admirer gift.

  She has a thin metal chain on, but the pendant itself is buried under her shirt, as if she's unsure she wants to display it. Hope rises in me as I sit next to Noah. My pendant's a rare one of pure silver. Capable of holding back a werewolf's nature, provided they've never turned before. And since Olivia might not have recognized it—she hasn't hung around me in years—she won't realize it's not new.

  Maybe she won't turn...so long as she keeps it on.

  * * * * *

  The Lowes and I meet right outside the school for lunch. People occupy the picnic tables, so it's hard to find a spot to look at the medical records. What we're doing is illegal, and the last thing we need is to have a teacher or even another student catch us and report us to the police. The cops would connect us to the theft in no time, and might even blame me for the previous break-in to the records room.

  So Cayden waves us into the woods.

  The four of us head into the trees, using the entrance hidden in the clump of vines. Right away, the forest opens, and the sun pours through the canopy that remains above. The October air's crisp and cool, and we walk about a hundred feet from
the school grounds and sit on a pair of boulders that must have rolled down from the mountains a thousand years ago, perhaps on an avalanche.

  Unzipping my backpack, I fish out the manila folder. "Here's the truth," I say. "If it's a bite, we...we make sure Olivia keeps that silver pendant on I told you about. If she doesn't turn at all, that's the best we can hope for."

  Cayden twitches his lips like he wants to say something, but he remains silent and nods.

  "Let's see it," Everly says.

  I open the folder. An ultrasound image of a heart sits on top, and I fish it out. Red circles surround two arteries that look thick and whitish.

  "Olivia has a bad heart?" I ask.

  "Wait," Remo says, turning over another paper. "Oscar Bertram."

  I about choke. "Oscar?"

  Cayden and I look at each other. My cheeks betray me once again, filling with the heat of humiliation.

  I broke into Mountain Range's medical records and stole the wrong folder.

  Chapter Five

  "That was the only 'O' folder in the Bertram section," I insist as we continue to sit on our boulders.

  Remo gets up and paces around us, hand on his chin. The guy towers overhead as the sun shines off his sandy blond hair. "You said the security guards were talking about a break-in that happened before you got in there and tripped the alarms?"

  "Yeah," I say. I haven't spoken with Remo a lot, but his blue eyes are deep and thoughtful. His gaze doesn't match his huge body. He smells like other Noble Wolves--woodsy and fresh—but if it weren't for that, I wouldn't guess he was one.

  "Then maybe whoever broke into the medical records the week before you did took Olivia's chart," he says. Then he pauses and stares at each of us.

  "The Baltic Wolves?" Everly fills in. "Or another pack of Savage Wolves?"

  "Mountain Range is outside our territory," Cayden says. "It's possible."

  "And this is evidence the Savage Wolves are trying to establish a new presence in this town," Remo says. "Maybe they're hoping for revenge against us by infecting new people, making a new pack, and causing us continued problems."

  "So the savages want to make trouble from a distance," I say.

  "Precisely," Remo says. "Another tick of evidence in favor of our theory is that you smelled them on a guy in the ER who says he had a dog bite."

  "It could have been the smell of the log he was sitting on. The guy said he was drinking in the woods," I say. "I only picked it up for a second or two."

  "Possible," Remo says. But the tone of his voice tells me he doesn't think my idea is likely. And I don't think it is, either.

  Silence falls over us. What am I saying? The Baltic Wolves will want revenge. Cayden and I killed their leader. The air thickens until I get up from the boulder and join Remo in pacing around. "But good news. Olivia's wearing the silver pendant."

  "Might," Everly says. "But others aren't, and we don't know how many people have suffered bites."

  "I'll ask Leonora," I say. "I work at the store this afternoon, and she always has the police radio on for entertainment. In the meantime, I'll trail Olivia and make sure she keeps wearing the pendant."

  The task is easier said than done. I find her at the Shallow Table in the cafeteria when we go back inside, five minutes before lunch ends, and she still has the necklace tucked into her shirt. It is the same one, right? Lots of necklaces have silver chains that look like mine. But it's not as if I can go up to her and ask. As I enter the room, Noah waves and I sit, as much as I want to march over to Olivia and see the truth. But Tiffany and Alesha sit with her and the discussion today is how Olivia should date Matthew because he has a BMW his father bought him for his birthday.

  "Hey," I say to Noah.

  "Glad you're sitting with us more," he says.

  "We've missed you," Ellie adds.

  But I listen to the conversation across the room.

  "Did you see the car? It's amazing. Imagine cruising around in that. The selfies." Alesha.

  "Matthew's hot," Tiffany adds. "And his house--"

  "I don't know if he'll be interested." Olivia.

  "Come on. He's such a dream guy. Every girl in school wants him. And the BMW!"

  Shallow.

  Noah pats me on the back. "You feeling okay? And where were you for most of lunch?"

  I put my hand over my mouth. "My stomach's rolling. I spent most of lunch in the bathroom."

  "With Cayden?" Noah asks with a grin.

  "Not in the bathroom!" I wish he'd stay quiet so I can listen. I don't like where the Shallow Table conversation is going.

  "Ooh," Ellie says, grinning. "Tell us everything."

  "If we did anything, it wouldn't be among toilets and bad graffiti," I tell her. "I'd choose something with a little more class." Maybe I can split my awareness and listen.

  "Are you sure?" Sarah asks. "Some of that graffiti can be artistic."

  "It's still a bathroom."

  From four tables away and with my friends talking, it's hard to zero in on Olivia, even with my enhanced hearing. Cayden, meanwhile, sits alone just two tables from her. We've positioned ourselves on opposite sides. Sitting away from his family isn't like him, but we have a job to do.

  "Matthew," Olivia says. "He's just got an attitude and his sense of humor doesn't do it for me."

  Alesha: "But the car! At least get into it and take selfies with him!"

  "And why don't you go to the Spooktacular Dance with him?" Tiffany asks. "You should ask him. I would, but I'm already going with Ted."

  "That only gives me until Saturday to ask him," Olivia says. "Isn't it Sunday?"

  "Ask him already." Tiffany.

  My gaze shifts to Matthew sitting on the opposite side of the room as the Lowe table. He laughs with his buds. They're telling such lame dirty jokes I can't blame Olivia for not wanting to date the guy. All this time, I thought the two would go together like liver and onions, but my new hearing has opened the human world, too. Olivia shouldn't be able to hear Matthew from tables away, but I have to admit she has intelligence.

  "I don't know if Matthew would even go to the Spooktacular Dance," Olivia says. "If he does, it'll be to look down girls' dresses."

  "So what?" Alesha asks. "It's a small price to pay."

  "Ask him," Tiffany orders. "Right now. March over there and tell him you want to go to the dance with him. He might drive you there in his BMW."

  "Why are you staring at Olivia?" Noah asks.

  "Her friends," I blurt. "They're trying to get her to go to the dance this weekend with Matthew. I overheard them in the hall." Could Olivia want to ask someone else instead? The enthusiasm for Matthew is coming off her in waves. Not.

  "She what? Matthew's a future sex offender." Noah's jaw drops.

  "I know," I say, hating I had to deliver the news to my still-hopeful friend. "It's all about his new car. But I don't think she wants to date that guy."

  "You're not bashing her?" Noah asks, jaw dropping another level. Soon it'll hit the floor.

  "No. I'm not. I know. Stranger things have happened."

  Sarah and Ellie stare at me as if I've lost my mind. But my thoughts spin. Why did Olivia drift away from us back in junior high, anyway? She used to hang out with us and laugh at our stupid jokes. Then her parents divorced and things went downhill from there. Maybe some traces of the old Olivia still exist and it took Noah to see them.

  Noah stands. "She can't go with Matthew. He'll cop a feel the first chance he gets."

  "I agree," I say. Matthew will ask where Olivia got her necklace. If he learns it's from a secret admirer, he's the type of guy who'd want her to take it off. And maybe even throw it away.

  Noah gulps. "I'd ask her myself, but Tiffany and Alesha are over there. They're so toxic they leak radioactive waste. And Brie? Are you approving of me asking her out?" He's confused.

  "Maybe that's not a good idea," I say. Then I remember Cayden's words. If Olivia turns, Noah could be in danger on the off chance she thinks the p
endant's from him and the two date. And now Noah just might get the guts to ask Olivia to the dance. The only thing I could have done worse is tell Dr. Bertram that Noah wanted her to have the necklace.

  And Sunday is the full moon.

  And the dance goes until after dark, right?

  "But it's Matthew," Noah says. "I've seen him. He's disgusting. The guy even bothered you the day Cayden pushed him." Putting his chin on his open palm, he watches the Shallow Table. "She let me kiss her in the play and write my name on her cast."

  The bell rings, signaling time to get to class. We all rise from the table as Noah continues to stare at the Shallow Table. The girls there gather their purses and toss their trays. Olivia glances at Matthew for a moment, and then her gaze drifts to Noah.

  Uh, oh.

  When Tiffany pulls on her arm, Olivia obeys and follows her out of the cafeteria doors. The two lower their conversation to whispers as they head to their next classes. Even I can't hear them as they pass.

  Noah watches her go, and as he stares at Matthew, he clenches his fists.

  * * * * *

  "Sunday night is when Olivia might turn, right?" I ask Cayden as we enter the woods. Since we didn't patrol the day before, we need to do so today. I've gotten to know the woods much better in the past couple of weeks, including all the game trails that smell of deer and raccoons. One of them leads to the back of Sterling Grocery where we're headed this Tuesday afternoon. "When the moon rises?"

  "Yes," he says. "If she's not wearing the pendant. And I heard her conversation with those horrible girls."

  "Noah wants to ask her to the dance," I say. "And I'm afraid he's going to."

  "If she keeps the pendant on, he's safe," Cayden says, eyeing the trees ahead. He waves me around a group of boulders and down another trail. "The bigger danger will be if Matthew takes her to the dance, and she might not keep it on for him."

  I gulp. "So we think alike. But you said the necklace might put Noah in danger."

  Cayden frowns. The faint scent of metallic adrenaline fills the air. He's still angry. At me? At himself? Every time we talk of danger, his shoulders rise and his fists clench. Pain flashes in his eyes. He might never get over Wyatt. His brother's death is poison pumping through his veins.