by Holly Hook
"This place is real friendly," Gavin mutters. "Never been back here. People just try to avoid the place because there are rumors of the Roses having armed guards patrol.”
"We're not on their property yet," I say. "And we're not going onto it today. Not until we're ready." The cameras will be the smallest of our problems.
Gavin and I find the spot that Tyler told us about: a split tree stump that looks as if it got on the bad side of Zeus. Gavin and I stop there, sitting on the part of the stump that's still upright, and we wait.
I hope this doesn't make all this look staged, and I can't help but study the woods like we need to be doing. I gulp, dreading what I could see. Sure, I've rubbed pine needles all over myself, masking my scent from every animal in the woods.
There is one wolf I don't want to see.
One I fear I will see.
And then every bit of denial in my mind will be broken.
"Well," Gavin sighs. "I wonder how long we'll have to wait. I know that as a hunter I should be used to this, but we are not dealing with deer here."
"Maybe a while?" I ask. "Gavin, you've been awesome through all of this. An awesome friend."
He turns his dark gaze to me as if thinking. "You do know we're just friends, right?"
So he finally is ready to admit the truth to me out loud even though we both know what's really going on. "Yeah. I do. And I'm totally fine with it. Do what you can to stay safe."
"Well, this is just until I can move out and get some space from my parents," Gavin says. "They're going to be home more often if the Roses just take the restaurant back and make them regular employees. I don't know if I can stand that. I'll have to sneak out."
"We all need space, trust me," I say. Then I get up the bravery to ask. "Do you like Chaz?"
Gavin gulps and stiffens, and I'm about to apologize when he nods.
"Is it that obvious?" he asks, blushing.
"Well, he fixed your truck for you, and then you got all upset when you found out he was a werewolf, and you've stuck with this mess for far longer than you should have if you didn't have a stake in this. Has anything happened?"
Gavin smiles at me. "We've just talked, but that's all. Chaz doesn't want to pursue anything until the curse is removed. You and Tyler are brave."
"We'll get this curse removed. We've all got a stake in this," I say. In Tower, Gavin's dating pool must be tiny, and difficult, and now it's also dangerous in more ways than one. Breaking this curse is the only way Gavin can be happy without abandoning Tower altogether.
He hugs me from the side. "I'm confident we will. Then we'll just need to hook Marion up with someone. She'll be the only one left out."
I nod in agreement.
And then movement from the corner of my eye makes me rise from the log. The silver-tipped arrow is already in the rib, ready to go, and I squint and aim at the brownish-gray motion in the distant trees.
"Shit!" Gavin rises beside me with a hiss, and we're both aiming our weapons at the group of approaching wolves, all snapping at each other and running, thrashing, and growling in our general direction.
I take a second to realize what's happening.
Two blond wolves snap at a pair of brownish, hackle-covered beasts, driving the angry and frustrated animals straight towards us.
Cammie and Valerie have found the rival wolves.
And now they're bringing them to us.
The pair of evil wolves backs towards us, focused on Cammie and Valerie, not realizing that they're drawing closer and closer to a pair of silver arrows. The male alpha of the evil pack, Jason, and the female. The female has a gimp. The male is as strong as ever.
"Get ready," Gavin breathes, even though it's not our goal to shoot them.
The sounds and the near-fighting closes the distance between us. My heart thuds in my chest. My finger curls over the trigger of my crossbow. We've got to draw all the right parties here. We've got to make noise.
"Hey!" I shout at the top of my lungs.
"Wolves!" Gavin yells, letting his voice echo off the surrounding trees.
The two monsters whirl on us just as one of the blond wolves jumps on the male, tearing at his scruff. A bit of blood draws, but our wolf lets go and allows the predator to back off. I aim my crossbow straight at the wolf now just twenty feet from me, and I suck in a breath and shout, "Get any closer, and I'll shoot!"
He growls and backs away, tilting his head and glaring at his partner with red-rimmed eyes.
Gavin fires, barely missing as intended, and then the former alpha of the decimated pack turns tail and runs. The female follows, yelping, and she casts a look of death back at us before turning her stare back to her escape route. Both wolves growl in warning and the male glowers back at us, promising death. I read revenge in his eyes.
Everything is going according to plan.
Only when the two vanish do I dare to lower my weapon an inch. Gavin, after making sure that Valerie and Cammie aren't going to lose control and attack us, runs to retrieve his valuable arrow under the watch of the wolves.
"Now for the other scary part," he mutters, eyeing all the wolf prints on the ground and in the snow. The area looks like a bunch of wolves have been gathering here, over and over. And that's according to plan, too.
Valerie growls.
And the two run in the opposite direction as if they've sensed something, leaving me and Gavin alone in the woods.
"That's the signal for phase two," I hiss, forcing myself to step away from Gavin. Now that the wolves are gone, we get to deal with the other moving piece, the humans.
The hunters take fifteen minutes to arrive. Gavin and I patrol around the area, checking out the wolf prints, and we make sure that we're doing that when I catch my first glimpse of the black jackets and brimmed hats from the trees, approaching from the direction of the road. Tyler and Chaz have come through. They've led them part of the way here, and our shouts have finished the job.
They won't shoot us, I think. We're not trespassing. Here, we're well off the Rose estate.
"Who's out there?" one of the men shouts as he runs in our direction. He does not sound friendly. In fact, the guy sounds like he owns the place. After the Roses gave the hunters the first installment of their payment, his head must have inflated.
I gulp. "We're hunting. This is public land."
"Hello?" Gavin asks. "We have our weapons lowered."
We stop and face the newcomers. There are two hunters approaching us, a man and the one woman I saw among the group of four. Both wear black jackets that cover what look like bulletproof vests, and both don heavy-looking black boots that must be military grade. Up close, they look like modern versions of Van Helsing with crossbows that must have cost a fortune. They step into our small clearing with the log, studying us for a bit. The man, who has a square face and a heavy jaw, frowns at us. Silver daggers hang from his belt and a perfect silver arrowhead shines in the arrow he's got in his crossbow already. In fact, both of these hunters have automatic crossbows that explain why they need so much money to do this job.
"Why are you here?" he asks, as if we haven't already given the answer. “Are you both okay?”
“Yes,” Gavin says. “Just spooked.”
"Maybe you can help us," I say, speaking my rehearsed words. “Something weird is going on in this town.”
"You kids need to leave after we check you out," the woman says simply. She searches the trees for any sign of trouble. The man produces a camera from a pouch on the side of his quiver and scans the woods as the woman covers him. Tension hangs in the air. They're clearing the area.
“No heat signatures,” he says. “We're safe.”
These are technologically advanced hunters, then. The woman turns back to us. "We have serious business out here." Then her eyes widen as she spies the arrow still in my crossbow. It's in the sun, shining, revealing the silver electroplating. Then she slugs the man on the arm and motions to my weapon. It's not as bright and shiny as the sil
ver arrow in her crossbow, but it's close.
That's just what we want. I hold my smile back even though I know these two will not want competition with the money they're due to make. These are hired hunters and they won't want anyone taking their kills.
"Look, man," Gavin says, stepping forward. "We know something serious is going on. My girlfriend and I have seen wolves around here, and one of them attacked and killed a friend of the family. Our police force is useless. You won't believe this, but—never mind. There are wolves around here." He emphasizes wolves.
The two hunters look at each other. The woman mutters something. They must realize that we know about the existence of werewolves, and they're silently debating on what to say to us.
I'm relieved when the woman looks at me and speaks with a reassuring tone. "The professionals are here now. You no longer have to take matters into your own hands. Whatever you've seen, it will stop." She really believes she's helping and I know she doesn't want to hurt innocent people. But I also sense she doesn't want to give away too much information. As if hunters are only hired by the elite.
"You can stop the wolves?" I ask. I've got to make this conversation as natural as I can.
I expect the hunters to brandish their weapons, but neither do. "Did you see any wolves out here? We heard shouting, and we saw two dark wolves running in this direction. Unfortunately, we lost their trail,” the man says.
"We did," Gavin says quickly. "They have run towards us. There were two lighter ones and a couple of brown ones that looked like they were about to fight with each other. This whole place looks like a wolf gathering ground.” He motions to all the prints.
"Did you have any physical contact with them?" the man growls, stepping closer.
Yes. One, almost two months ago. The words scream and dance in my head, but I shake it. "He fired at them, and they all ran off."
"Did any of them bite or scratch you?" The man tightens his grasp on his weapon, and I know that if the answer is yes, Gavin and I will be lucky to just be detained. This hunter is no-nonsense. I look to the woman, but she's gone steely as well.
"Not at all. They didn't come within twenty feet," I say as the man looks me and Gavin up and down, studying us for any rips in our clothing.
The man's face remains hard. "Turn around. Let us see. Put your hands up. We need to be absolutely certain."
Gavin and I do as we're told, holding our weapons over our heads.
"Coats off," he demands.
I wait for the woman to stop him, but she doesn't. These people are worse than airport security. But I understand why they're doing this.
"Are you going to ask us to strip down?" Gavin asks. "It's twenty degrees out here."
No one laughs as Gavin and I remove our coats and gloves for the hunters. The woman looks me over but doesn't touch me, and I'm required to pull up my pant legs as far as I can so she can see I'm not infected.
“What are you looking for?” I ask. “If we were hurt, what would you do?”
Neither hunter answers. They continue to check us over.
"Clear," the woman says after I'm required to pull my shirt up to show my waist.
"Also clear," the male hunter says as Gavin lowers his shirt.
The woman frowns at me. "We apologize. We can't be too careful. I'm sure you understand why we had to do this."
I nod. "We get it."
"The wolves. They were fighting each other?" the woman asks, backing off.
“Yes. It was two on two. Crazy,” I say, motioning to the prints.
Hint, hint. This is a werewolf hangout. You want to be here on the day of the full moon.
The man seems satisfied with my answer, though, and rejoins his companion. "That's unusual. There must be more than one pack in the area."
"So you're hunting wolves, too?" I ask, letting my words fill with meaning.
The man rubs his chin as if he knows there's no hiding the truth from us. They've seen our silver-coated weapons. They realize that we know why they're here. "Yes. So you've found a hot area." He eyes the paw prints all over the place.
"Yes," I say. "They used to be around this other spot in the woods where there's this castle-looking building, but now they seem to be over here. We almost shot one."
"These creatures are dangerous," the woman says. "The two of you need to leave. We will walk with you back to the road, and then you need to exit this area and stay out of the woods so long as you see our black SUV's in town. Our team will take care of this issue and keep this town safe. The two of you don't have the experience.”
I ball my fist, but then I get what they're saying. These people aren't here to kill a cursed young man. They're here, thinking they're doing a service to Tower. And to us. I don't want to hate these hunters who are doing what Gavin and I did just a month or so ago. They don't think they're killing people that Gavin and I love.
"Perhaps we need to stake out this area instead. The pack must have moved," the man says in a low voice. Then he turns away and waves us along.
The woman speaks as we follow. "Do not return to this area. The two of you should feel good about taking this on, but we're here now and you don't have to. Too many amateur hunters have fallen to wolves." Then she leans close to the man. "This is disturbing, being so close to that school."
"The pack may be trying to expand," the man says.
I gulp, hating that we've drawn the beastly wolves so close to Tower High School. That hasn't been our intent, but Rose Ranch is just half a mile from the school, leaving us no choice. The hunters will stay close to the Ranch, and with the Rose Pack's work, so will the vicious wolves.
And when the fateful day arrives, this crazy plan just might work.
We will need them both to carry out the final part of the plan. And after this little interaction, I have hope.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The hunters lead us back to the road without telling us their names. The woman frowns when we reach the black SUV parked in the school parking lot and she sees that Gavin and I don't have a ride. I wait for them to offer one, but the man shakes his head at his companion.
The two haven't even told us their names. Yeah, they're not going to spill all of their secrets and only said to us what they did because they know we went into the woods for the same reason they did.
"You two get home," the man says. "Stick to the roads, and don't cut through the woods. These creatures can move fast and they can come up on you quickly."
"We will," I promise, knowing that cutting through the woods won't be an option with the hunters watching us. We don't want to make them suspicious.
"Good luck," the woman tells me. "Stay safe."
Once we're away from the hunters and well down the school road, which is now made of ice and crushed snow, Gavin curses. "That wasn't violating."
"Well, they had to make sure we weren't infected. But we know some important things now, and the hunters will hang around that spot," I say. "So will the other wolves. I think that went very well."
"But the two parties can't meet each other until the time is right," Gavin says.
"The Rose Pack will keep them all apart until the time comes," I say. I hope.
This could all still go very wrong.
"What do you think they would have done if they thought we got infected?" Gavin asks.
I eye the road for a bit. "I don't know. I don't think they would have shot us right there, but we at least would have been detained. These people are secretive, it seems."
"They do care about the people they're protecting," Gavin adds. “And their tech was impressive.”
I just nod. Maybe that'll come into play later and help us. But right now, we have to get back to Sarah's cabin.
Gavin and I trudge over the ice and stay on the snow as much as we can, cutting through town instead of the woods. When we get close to town, we sling our crossbows over our backs, and quicken our pace past the police station. We approach the Tower Market, where Gia is not working today, a
nd then I tense as I remember.
I stop on the road. Gavin does, and we step aside as an old pickup truck passes, suspension clunking.
"Beckah?" he asks.
"We're close to Gia's cabin," I hiss, knowing full well that someone might be listening. My gut is telling me that even standing here is hazardous.
Gavin frowns. "I know we are. We should have brought the truck. He doesn't know about that. Let's go in the store, and I'll call Marion and see if she's willing to drive it from the vacation house."
"Good idea." The thought of walking past where Dad might be sitting is terrifying for more reasons than one. I don't want to see him in a cursed state, and if he spots these silver-tipped arrows in my quiver, he'll accuse me of turning against him in a heartbeat.
And then I might lose control.
And after that, I will have to fight back.
Gavin and I duck inside the store, where an old woman behind the counter squints at us. Gavin just waves as he peruses the junk food aisle, not caring about the deadly weapon on his back. I do the same, because this is Tower, and deadly weapons fit right in. This woman is probably used to having hunters walk in on her store.
"I need to use my phone," Gavin tells her. "Is that okay in here?"
The old woman, who probably should have been allowed to retire years ago, smiles and nods, but there are dark circles under her eyes. "Of course, Gavin."
"Thanks, Mabelline."
Gavin is just about to call Marion when I spot movement outside. A figure with a severe dark haircut, tan jacket, and matching slacks is about to walk into the store.
"Gavin," I mouth, heart stopping.
He looks at me, stopping his dialing mid-tap. I grab his arm and pull him down. We duck, just as the Tower Market door opens with a squeak.
The man—Dad—walks up to Mabelline, footsteps quick and all business. "I need a bottle of Whitman's and four packages of beef jerky," he snaps, his voice slightly slurred.
I swallow as Gavin's eyes open in questioning. Dad doesn't know we're in here, and I instantly get why. Since he got here, he's been drinking and dulling his senses, something I've never seen him do. I'm used to the way he snaps at retail workers and waitresses, but drinking?
