Red Wolf
Page 27
Fear and anger warred inside me as I snuck toward him, my paws silent in the dirt.
“You’ve misunderstood,” Max insisted.
“Draw your bow!” Simon ordered, as dread stormed inside me. Like Grainger, he was an innocent man, trying to do the right thing. He didn’t deserve to die. But also like Grainger, he was a threat to my family, and by extension, to the entire village.
Slowly, Max lifted his weapon, pulling back on the lever with a bolt notched. But instead of pointing it at the wolf, he aimed right at Simon’s chest. “Put the axe down. You don’t understand what you’ve seen.”
Please, please believe him . . . Maybe if Simon backed down, he could be spared. Maybe he could be made to understand. Maybe he and Elena could still—
Simon’s brows furrowed. A desperate shout burst from his throat, and he pulled his arm back.
“No!” Max shouted, as Simon threw the axe at my grandmother.
Gran leapt at him as I raced across the clearing toward them, watching in horror as the axe flew end over end.
It struck the center of my grandmother’s torso. She hit the ground with a whimper, unmoving, and terror flooded me like fire flowing through my veins.
I pounced on Simon, driving him to the ground, where he screamed and twisted, trying to throw me off. Pleading for his life, even as he promised to see my family burn.
Suddenly, the chaos rioting in my head went still. Quiet. And everything became clear. I had no choice. So I lunged at him and sank my teeth into his neck. Then I tossed my head and tore his throat out.
Blood arced over me. Simon gasped, then he started choking. A second later, his blue eyes dulled, and his hands fell to ground.
Numb, I backed off of him and sat on my haunches, waiting for guilt to wash over me. For the horror of what I’d just done to sink in.
What came instead was grief. A complex feeling of mourning not just for the man—for the friend—I’d killed, but for the girl I’d been. The girl who didn’t have to choose between her family and her neighbors. To sacrifice the few for the good of the many.
“Adele!” Max shouted, and I turned to see him kneeling at Gran’s side. She lay in human form—pain having caused her to change, just like an arrow to the shoulder had for Romy. The axe was still buried in her stomach. “Adele!” he called again. “Come help me!”
But there was nothing I could do for her without hands, so I changed into human form again, as fast as I could. And when I finally stood on two legs, I dropped onto my knees next to him, staring into my grandmother’s eyes while she blinked up at me, sucking in short, pain-filled breaths.
“Adele,” she whispered. “Take care of them.” I wasn’t sure whether she was talking about the pups or the villagers, but it didn’t matter.
Tears filled my eyes as I took her hand. “I will, I promise.”
Her gaze shifted to Max. “And you take care of her.”
“I’ll never let her out of my sight again,” he swore. And as I knelt on the cold ground, crying while I held my grandmother’s hand, she took her last breath.
A sob tore free from my throat as Max tugged me to my feet, wrapping his arms around me. Over his shoulder, I saw Simon, still lying where I’d killed him.
I pulled out of Max’s embrace. “You still don’t think I’m a monster? I’ve killed an innocent man. My best friend’s fiancé.”
He took my chin and tilted my face up until I was looking into his hazel eyes, rather than at the carnage. “I think it takes a monster to answer your calling, Adele. There’s just no way around that. Your destiny is made of brutal choices. But try as the dark wood might to make you forget your humanity—to make you abandon it—I will try just as hard to help you cling to it.
“You asked me once what I bring to this union, and I had answers for you at the time. And those are still true. But I think the most important thing I can do for you is to remember you as you are now, no matter how hard the dark wood tries to change you. I will remind you of who you are, when you start to forget. If you will have me.”
Crying again, I pulled him into another embrace. “I will,” I whispered into his ear. “Of course, I will have you.”
His exhalation seemed to carry the weight of the world.
“But I can’t go to Ashborne, Max. I’m needed here. With the pups.” Especially now that Gran . . . I shook off that thought, not yet ready to confront the reality of my loss. “Will you stay here with me? Will you help me raise them and protect Oakvale?”
“I will.” He said it without hesitation. He chose me, over his own village. “But first, I’ll have to return to Ashborne to explain to my family. I’ll ask my brother to come visit, when he’s older, to get to know Sofia. To see if they are a match, and if she might like to see Ashborne. Someday.”
“She’s always wanted to travel,” I told him, sniffing back more tears.
“Adele?” Romy said. Startled, I pulled away from Max to find her looking up at me. Behind her, Tom stood—also in human form—in the doorway of the cabin. “You’re shivering.” Romy held up a familiar bundle of cloth, and I took my dress from her, then pulled it over my head.
A second later, Tom tugged on my skirt, and I looked down to see him holding a bright red bundle of material. “Thank you, Tom,” I said as I secured the cloak over my shoulders. “You two must be freezing. Go back inside, and I’ll come bathe you, then we’ll find you something to wear.”
But mostly, I didn’t want them out there with Gran and Simon. They’d seen enough death. They’d heard enough from the dark wood.
The children obediently headed into the cabin, and Max knelt at my side to help me with my grandmother. But before we could lift her, a twig cracked from the forest, and my head snapped up at the sound. My vision narrowed on a form in the shadows, as a man—had someone accompanied Simon?—took off down the path, headed for Oakvale. To tell them what he’d seen.
To tell them what we were.
“Adele.” Max handed me my crossbow with a solemn frown. “It takes a monster.”
I nodded as I accepted the weapon.
Then I pushed my red hood back and aimed into the shadows, at the shape still fleeing down the path. And I pulled the trigger.
Acknowledgments
This book was a special challenge for me, despite the return to my shifter roots. But I had fun with every single word! However, as usual, it takes an entire village to turn a story into a book, and some special thanks are due.
Thanks to Maria Barbo, the original editor for this story, whose enthusiasm for my “little army of red riding hoods” idea got the ball rolling. And to my agent, Ginger Clark, who makes things happen.
Thank you, especially, to Catherine Wallace, whose vision made Red Wolf the book it is today. Your guidance has been invaluable, and I could not be more pleased for the opportunity to work with you.
A huge thank-you to the HarperCollins art department, for one of the most beautiful covers ever to bear my name. I love this art. Seriously. I love it. Front and back.
My gratitude also goes to the HarperCollins editorial and production departments, for their incredible eye for detail. For catching the balls I dropped.
And, most important, a huge thank-you to everyone who will read this book and find a place in their heart for Adele and her little monsters. May she keep you safe in your dreams.
About the Author
Photo credit Kim Haynes Photography
RACHEL VINCENT is the New York Times bestselling author of several pulse-pounding series for teens and adults, including Shifters and Menagerie. A former English teacher and champion of the serial comma, Rachel hopes to spend the rest of her life with her fingers on the keyboard and her head in the clouds. She lives with her husband and two children in Oklahoma.
www.rachelvincent.com
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Books by Rachel Vincent
The Soul Screamers Series
The Stars Never R
ise duology
The Brave New Girl duology
Every Single Lie
100 Hours
99 Lies
Red Wolf
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
RED WOLF. Copyright © 2021 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover art © 2021 by Daniel Burgess
Cover design by Alice Wang
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Vincent, Rachel, author.
Title: Red wolf / Rachel Vincent.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2021] | Audience: Ages 14 up. | Audience: Grades 10-12. | Summary: When fulfilling her duty as a shapeshifting guardian for her village means abandoning the young man she loves, the future she imagines with him, and her values, sixteen-year-old Adele must decide how far she is willing to go to keep her friends and neighbors safe.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020044127 | ISBN 978-0-06-241162-4 (hardcover)
Subjects: CYAC: Werewolves—Fiction. | Monsters—Fiction. | Responsibility—Fiction. | Betrothal—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.V7448 Re 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044127
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Digital Edition JULY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-241164-8
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-241162-4
2122232425PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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