by Amber Riley
“You could have just called,” I told them.
Reece shrugged. “It’s kind of something that deserves more than a one-line text.”
Flo sat on the couch gloating. She was loving the fact that I was the only one not freaking out, because we all knew Reece was right. But she didn’t know that on the inside my head was spinning, my stomach was in a tight knot, and it was taking all I had not to tear something apart. I was just better at hiding my feelings from the outside world.
“So,” Sid started, “what do you expect from us? We’ve never met Phoenix, which makes you two the experts on what to do. But, if you don’t mind my being frank with you, I’d rather keep my pack off his radar.”
I nodded. It surprised me that Sid hadn’t been scooped up long ago. The master’s werewolf pack was enormous. He collected them like a pet hoarder would collect cats or dogs. If even one whisper hit his ears of a powerful wolf, then a team would be sent out to bring him back.
Both Sid and Reece had enough experience to put them at the head of Phoenix’s pack. During the war, they had both led missions that demolished everyone in their way. Whatever they did to stay away had worked though, because they had never been approached.
There wasn’t a vampire or werewolf in the five boroughs that didn’t have a shady past. All of them were looking for something different. That’s why they were there. Even the monsters of the world didn’t necessarily want to be that way. If I had to leave, it wouldn’t be just my life that would be ruined.
“The plan is apparently to have no plan,” Flo said sarcastically.
“There is a plan,” I sighed. “I just don’t know what it is yet, and to be clear, I don’t expect anything from you. I just want you to be careful.”
“I trust you.” Reece shrugged. “I heard you always kind of made things up as you went along. I just hope it works this time.”
“I trust him too,” Sid commented. “But I’m a planner. I can’t sit here and do nothing, so I’m going to set up a bus trip. I don’t want anything to happen that will cause early transformations. Something tells me that the people within city limits wouldn’t like a bunch of werewolves running around.”
They had monthly bus trips up north. The full moon held no sway, but they did have to change at least once every cycle. If they didn’t, they would lose their control. The younger ones especially had to be careful. Anything too stressful might set them off. If they changed now, the chances of that happening would be lower.
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “Try to get one leaving this week if you can, before things have the opportunity to get messy.”
“Messy?” Reece asked. “How messy are we talking here?”
It was my turn to shrug. “It depends.”
Flo let out a burst of laughter. “Are you kidding me? Messy? It’s going to get down and dirty. Expect blood and gore and death. Phoenix is always ready to play hardball, and if you’re really not going to give in, that’s what you can expect.”
“Stop being overdramatic, Flo.” I stood up stiffly. I didn’t want her putting ideas in their heads. “Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.”
“That’s all you have to say?” Flo growled.
As she started in on another long lecture, I said good night to Sid and Reece. I was grateful that they had shown up, even if they didn’t need to. If we could be united, then it would make things easier.
Flo was still yelling at me as I headed for the stairs. I was surprised that she wasn’t trying to physically stop me, but she probably knew better. It was respect, or so I liked to think. There was something to be said about starting battles you couldn’t win.
She would be a tough opponent, but ultimately it would end in my favor. I could only hope that the same thing applied with Francesca. Alone, she wouldn’t be an issue, but that was the problem. She wasn’t alone. Davis was with her, and I was sure there were others. I couldn’t take them all on and win.
I kicked off my shoes and flopped face-first onto the bed. I half groaned, half screamed into the down comforter. I took a few deep breaths and felt myself sink into a fitful sleep.
Chapter 6
It had been a week since the incident at the beach, and I was tired of being stuck in the house. The first few nights I spent thinking, really thinking. All it had really accomplished was that I made myself more confused. Countless times I started out to find Francesca and settle it then and there, but I never made it off the porch.
This hesitation was new to me. It was the first time I had been put into a situation where I had to choose between following my nature or following my conscience. This was different from the everyday struggle I faced with feeding. It was much more important than that.
After the first few days were over, I committed myself to staying inside to avoid accidental meetings. I was sure that if I saw Francesca, then I would lose myself. I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from trying to kill her.
I had daylight protection now. Sid and Reece had agreed to take shifts sleeping at my house. I didn’t like the idea. I had heard Francesca with my own ears say that they needed me alive. They weren’t about to drag me out of my light-safe bedroom to fry. Having the werewolves stay with me just gave them a reason to be killed.
Sid was fidgeting on the couch. He had gotten a pillow and blanket out and set up a bed. I tried talking him into using a spare bedroom, but both he and Reece had refused. They said it was easier to protect me from the living room. I thought it was a load of crap.
“Tired?” I asked.
He looked at me and blinked heavily. “I can’t sleep without noise. Do you mind if I turn on the TV?”
I shook my head. “How are things going at the bar?”
“Everything’s fine.” He pushed the power button, and an episode of Law and Order started playing. “Francesca hasn’t come back in since that night.”
“And the bus trip?” I asked.
“We leave in the morning,” he answered. “I’ll have someone stay behind for you, and we’ll be back around ten, maybe midnight at the latest. I don’t want to risk staying more than a day.”
I hugged a throw pillow to my chest and slumped in a chair. Maybe Flo was right. If he was more worried about protecting me than he was about his pack, maybe it was impossible to bring about a new age for them.
Sid pulled the covers up around his shoulders and rolled over. His long eyelashes twitched as he fell asleep, and his hand muffled his snoring.
That was it. I couldn’t take sitting there another second. I threw on my gray jacket and headed for the door. There had to be something to do. Sitting around just waiting for someone to make a move was getting on my nerves. I hated not having the upper hand. Even if we could find out who Francesca had brought with her, it would be something. I could rest a lot easier if I knew. A lot depended on that bit of information.
Francesca had such a knack for agitating me. I would love to wipe that little smirk right off her face. It didn’t even have to be me as long as I was there to see it done. I would settle for hearing a secondhand account.
And did she really think that Lyn was just dinner? I wondered. She had to. She was just pushing my buttons. I had a feeling that Francesca knew more than I’d like her to. They knew who Tom was, but there was no way they could know the connection to Lyn. I had only met her that night.
Even if they followed us back from the beach, they would only know I hadn’t bitten her that night. They would only know she was alive and where she lived. And I couldn’t call Tom to ask about her. I couldn’t very well tell him: “Sorry, but there might be some bad vamps after your niece. I just wanted to make sure she was still alive.” I would have to personally check on her, even if it seemed stalker-like.
Before I could make the conscious decision to go there, I was standing on her front porch and my finger touched the doorbell. There was just enough time to realize I was a complete idiot and for ding-dong-ditch to flit across my mind before the door opened.
“Is Lyn available?” I asked.
Her bottom lip stuck out. “She’s busy. Come back some other time.”
“Sarah!” Lyn pushed the blond aside. “Hey, Kaden. What’s up?”
Oh, just making sure you hadn’t been abducted or murdered. Checking for bogeymen under your bed. Goblins and the tooth fairy too. What was I doing?
“I just wanted to see how you were,” I said. “I was in the neighborhood.”
She cocked her head. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
There was a short, awkward silence. She didn’t understand why I was there any more than I did. “Right.” I scratched my head. “I’m sorry to bother you. Have a good night.”
“Well,” she called as I turned around, “since you’re here, did you want to come in for a while? My roommates have a couple people over, but I’m not hanging out with them.”
There was a shriek of laughter from a girl inside. Drunk humans didn’t sound like fun to me. “I should probably get going.”
“Are you sure? We ordered a couple pizzas.”
Her brown eyes smiled up at me. How wrong would it be to go in? I asked myself. Could I even handle sitting in a house full of warm-blooded humans? I had never put myself in that kind of situation before. The club was different. It didn’t have the right amount of privacy or that relaxing, homey feel. It was all business.
But this was business too. I had to check on Tom’s niece. I shook my head. I wasn’t kidding anyone. This had nothing to do with Tom. I had fulfilled my promise to him. She was fine. I was here for reasons I couldn’t explain.
“All right,” I agreed. “I’ll come in for a little while.”
My inner voice groaned, but I was going to find out what was so appealing about this girl. If I figured it out, then I might be able to stay away.
“Sorry. It’s kind of a mess in here.” Lyn moved a heap of mail off the dining room table. “This is my roommate, Sarah.” She pointed to the blond. “And my other roommate, Emma. Sarah’s boyfriend just ran out for more beer. He’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Sarah laughed a fake laugh.
“Oh, please. He’s here every night,” Emma scoffed. Her hair was dark with a layer of blond beneath it, and she had tattoos covering both arms. She got up from the card game she was playing with three other people and pretended she needed something from the kitchen. She “accidentally” bumped into Lyn and whispered, “You said he was cute, but you didn’t say he was drop-dead gorgeous. He’s hot. If you don’t want him, I’m making a pass.”
Please don’t.
I pretended not to hear by looking around. The house had an open layout. A counter separated the kitchen from the dining room. The floor was that vinyl stuff that comes on a roll; it was beginning to come up where it met a burnt orange carpet straight from the seventies. There were spots on the wall where pictures had once hung.
It wasn’t like I was going to be frequenting the place, but I really wanted to give it a good cleaning. Not me per se, but someone needed to. There was a pile of clothes in the corner. I couldn’t tell if they were clean or dirty. Dust was accumulating on top of the television, and empty bottles were sitting in odd places all over the house.
Then, like she was reading my mind, Lyn touched my arm and walked toward the stairs. She motioned for me to follow with a bob of her head.
I hesitated. When I was alive, you didn’t go into a girl’s room unless you were married. If you did, she was ruined and your only option was to marry her. The times had changed, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it. I’d had my fair share of bedmates, but that was all a matter of blood. And a temporary loss of morals. This was different. I would like to bite her, but it felt like there was more to it than that. It was more than not wanting to break my diet. I didn’t know what had happened to the “don’t play with your food” philosophy I had. Apparently my good sense had flown out the window.
I gave in though and followed her up the squeaky staircase. She walked lightly on the faded golden carpet covering the steps. She had on a soft-looking pink sweater with sleeves that covered most of her hands. I forced myself not to reach and touch it, or her hair, which was shining like glass.
I was doing all right until we got to her bedroom. Her scent hit me like a battering ram the second she opened her door. It was everywhere. I was being enveloped in lavender and vanilla. It was rich and warm and so tempting. I felt like I was suffocating. I cringed and held my breath.
On a better note, I realized that it wasn’t Lyn who had made all of that mess downstairs. It was like stepping into a room of a different house. Everything was in its place except for a notebook and a textbook that lay open on her desk. There was a Calvin and Hobbes calendar hanging on the wall above it. Her pens and highlighters were all sitting in a clay cup some child probably created in his or her first pottery class. Her bed was neatly made. A single stuffed pig sat carefully on stacked pillows. She was using a homemade quilt made of greens and browns as a bedspread, and a cream-colored afghan was folded at the foot of the bed.
Lyn carried the books to her bed and sat down. She pulled a pillow behind her and leaned against the wall. I stood frozen, closed in the little room with her and my aching jaw.
“You can sit down.” She smiled and clicked her pen.
“I should get going so you can study,” I said without really opening my mouth. I could taste her on my tongue. It was sweet and warm. It was all I could do to continue standing there.
“You don’t have to. I’m good at multitasking. Besides, no matter how much I look at this, I’m never going to pass.” She stuck her pen into the crease of her textbook and shut it.
I was still holding my breath. I couldn’t face her until the smell faded from my memory. I turned to look at a corkboard covered in photographs. There were various pictures of her with people her own age. The same photo Diana had shown me was stuck in one corner, next to one of Lyn blowing out birthday candles.
The bedsprings creaked, and she came to stand next to me. “This was my going-away party before I came here,” she told me, pointing to a photo.
She was standing so close, I could feel the heat jumping off her skin. Focus, I told myself. The picture was taken at a dining room table. A balding man with oxygen on was sitting in a wheelchair. Lyn had her arms around him. Next to them was a woman who looked exactly like Diana, and a young teenage girl who was blowing a noisemaker.
“My father, mother, and sister.” She pointed to each person in turn.
“You look very close,” I managed to say.
“Well …” She paused. “I guess you could say that. I’ve always been very close to my dad. I can tolerate my mother, and you never appreciate a sibling until you don’t live together. What about you? Do you have brothers or sisters?”
I shook my head. “I don’t have any family left.”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“It was a long time ago.” I looked over at her from the corner of my eye. She was looking at the board with a thoughtful expression. “So what’s your test on tomorrow?” I asked.
She wrinkled her nose. “The Civil War.”
“I thought you were going to be a nurse,” I said, surprised I had actually retained the information.
“I am. I needed more credits to get financial aid, but I should have picked something easier. I thought the class would be no problem because we learned about it in high school.” She shrugged. “But I’ve forgotten most of it.”
I smirked, feeling myself relax a little. “I believe history would be my best subject.”
“Really?” Her voice raised in excitement. “Would you mind helping me out? It’s okay if you don’t want to or if you have somewhere else to be though.�
�� She smiled nervously and pulled on her sweater sleeve.
I didn’t know if I wanted to help or not, but I wasn’t going to tell her no. I couldn’t with her looking at me like she was. There was a sparkle in her eyes, that proof of life, that I wanted to say yes to.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine. Sorry.” I had to snap out of it. My lungs were uncomfortable from the lack of oxygen. It wasn’t going to kill me, but it felt strange. I took a shallow breath to test the air. It was better than before—not as strong. “Do you know what you’re being quizzed on?”
She grabbed her notebook from the bed and flipped through the pages before pulling out a piece of paper. “The professor gave us a study guide, if it will help.”
I sat sideways in the wooden desk chair and scrolled down the list. It covered everything from key people and terms to major battles. It would take some time to learn everything. I hoped she picked up on things quickly.
When I looked up again, my breath caught in my throat. She was smiling so happily it was almost painful to look at. I forced my eyes back to the page. I could get through this if I was careful. I could.
It was three in the morning before we finished covering everything. I had completely lost track of the time. She had picked up the subject fairly well. She would be able to get a passing grade if she could remember it when she woke up.
She was lying on her back with her head hanging over the edge of the bed. Her hair skimmed the floor, and I felt myself wondering if it was soft again. I laced my fingers together and kept them securely in my lap.
Her eyes were straining to stay open as she looked over the study guide again. “My aunt has backed off since the other night,” she said, stifling a yawn. “I told her we might hang out again, so if you could just let her think that.” She looked away from the paper to meet my gaze, and she shrugged. “I didn’t really expect to see you again.”
