My mouth hung open, wordless. She knew. Oh, Jared, you idiot!
“Don’t look so shocked,” Mom giggled. “You two weren’t exactly being discreet.”
“We’ve been avoiding each other since we got home!” I exclaimed, wondering why she took this so lightly.
“Well, of course you are, at home,” she drawled. “But not in the woods. Aspen told me what he saw before his hunting group found you.”
“Oh, no,” I whined, hands over my face. Damn it, Aspen! I would have to threaten him, make sure he didn’t spill to anyone else. What kind of wolf goes and tattles to the alpha’s mother that she kissed a mortal?
“I think you’re condemning yourself by mating with Rex, Lume. Then again, I think you’re insane for loving a human, but I’ve come to accept your bad taste,” she smirked. “And in some ways he’s the lesser evil.”
“Are you saying that you want me to go with Jared?” The second I said it, my soul felt lighter. I’m not sure why. Maybe because Mom made it sound possible instead of like a dumb girl’s daydream. “But how am I supposed to do that?”
She cupped my chin between her fingers. “By making a choice. This pack survived before you were an alpha. We know how to fend for ourselves, and there are others who could take your place—”
“Yeah, others who Rex will run over. Some other girl will let Rex do whatever he pleases, whether it benefits or harms the pack.”
“We will live to see another alpha male.”
Of this, she sounded sure. Brushing her jeans off, Mom stood and stretched. Just before going inside, she stopped. She frowned over her shoulder. “This is your life, Lume. Don’t throw it away for us. If the wolves knew how much you’re dreading the Ceremony of Mates, I know they wouldn’t let you do it.” She leaned her head against the door. “I love you. No matter where you go or what you do. You know that, right?”
She looked like she wanted to say something more but closed her mouth and went inside. The door clicked shut behind her. I got up soon afterward, feeling . . . okay. This was a big improvement from the doom that had been eating at me all week. Her support seemed to make a world of difference, although I’m not sure why. I still faced the same problems.
This is your life, Lume. She was right. But what if I hated living among the humans? Where would I go if Jared dumped me? Not back to the pack. Once this decision was made, it’d be set in stone. The only way I would feel comfortable with such a huge change, the only way I’d feel secure in leaving was if . . . Jared offered me what Rex was offering me: a mate, a marriage.
But he’s just a kid. Young humans didn’t mature or have the same mentality as werewolves. They change their minds, especially when it comes to romance. One out of a thousand human teen couples stays together for life. But Jared wasn’t a normal human—he was a Finder, born of different genes—and me and him, it felt different. Lasting.
I would talk to him. If he had truly come to love me in the short time we’d been together, then I’d consider. There was so much to fear though, so much at stake. I never thought I’d be one of those girls who’d put it all on the line for love.
I headed inside, straight to Aspen’s room. I was shaking a little. When I got there, the room was empty. Huh. Aspen would be out hunting, I knew that, but where was Jared? In the kitchen I found his frying pan in the sink, but the room didn’t smell like cooked food. Not even a little bit. Did he not make breakfast this morning?
“Acai?” I addressed the spike-haired girl in the care center. She looked up from her magazine, sitting on the couch. “Was Jared in here this morning?”
“Mm-mm.” She shook her head. “At least, I didn’t see him. If he’s here he’s in with Hawthorn.”
I strode down the aisle to the purple curtains in the corner. I peeked in to find a little girl playing with some ragged dolls and a stuffed wolf. A long-haired boy, probably twelve or thirteen, had earphones on and was asleep on his bed. Even in human form, I recognized him; he was the kid who’d ripped Jared’s arm open.
“Ilume?” Another boy, this one younger, perked up against the wall. He sat with a notebook in his lap, color crayons spread across the floor. I glimpsed the picture he was drawing—a pair of stick figures, one of which had Jared’s name in messy font.
“Hi. Are you Hawthorn?” I asked him.
He smiled. “That’s me!”
“You haven’t seen Jared this morning have you?”
“Nope.” He stuck his lip out. “He supposed to take me to play ball today, but he hasn’t shown up yet. I wish he’d hurry up.”
“Oh. Okay.” Does Jared miss dates? Worry flickered through my head. No breakfast. He was supposed to meet someone and wasn’t here. “If you see him, tell him I’m looking for him. It’s important.”
“I will!” He grinned.
Where else would he go? I left the care center, glancing around the ballroom. He’d been here a couple times this week with Aspen and Holly. Oh my God. What if he left? No, he’d say goodbye. He would tell me, wouldn’t he?
I had just stepped onto the porch, deciding to go snoop around the woods, when Shadow come flying out of the trees. “Ilume!” he shouted.
“Shadow?” I trotted down the steps. His voice said it all: something was wrong.
He skidded to halt in front of me, wiping the sweat off his hairline. “It’s—it’s the Jackals,” he panted. “Oh, Ilume, I’m sorry.”
“What? Why are you sorry?” I put a hand on his arm, willing him to tell me.
A rustling came from the bushes. Fox and Rex appeared, both covered in sweat. Fox was doing what I called “the gargoyle,” which was where his face goes all tight and he just stands there, staring at you.
Rex came forward. He had blood coming out of his nose and the weirdest look on his face, like he too was sorry. “Ilume.”
His voice was soft, too soft for Rex.
That’s when I knew it was bad. “What happened?” I demanded.
He raked a hand through his blonde hair. “I’m just going to say it because I don’t know how else to tell you. It’s your pet, Jared. He’s dead.”
Chapter Twenty-nine—Jared
Something nuzzled my good foot.
“What is it?” someone whispered. “It doesn’t smell normal.”
“Oh, get out of my way you two,” growled a feminine voice. Legs shuffled away, all but for one pair. Faint sniffling noises echoed from the ground. “Whoa. Holy cow, he smells like him.”
“Kind of looks like him, too, doesn’t he?”
“You’re right, Bear. But I don’t remember him talking about kids.”
“No, I did. I thought.”
“Get back, he’s waking up!”
My head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, but I looked up anyway. I blinked, not seeing anything at first. This panicked me—had I gone blind? Was I dead? Wispy, dark strands waved by my face. Leaves from the willow tree. You’re not blind. It was nighttime, that’s all. I guess I passed out after hours of trying to get loose.
Silhouettes moved below me, two of them four-legged with long, pointy ears. I stopped moving, resisting the urge to pull my legs up out of reach. The third figure, however, wasn’t animal. It stood tall, humanlike, with long hair. If it wasn’t for her smell, I’d have thought it was Ilume come to save me after all.
“Stay back,” she said to the creatures, then came forward. It was too dark to make out her features, but her voice was young. Based on that fact alone, I guessed her to be around my age. “What are you, boy?” she asked me. “Human or an abnormal?”
“Um.” My voice was crackly, mouth dry. I was dehydrated. “Neither.”
She mumbled something that sounded like, that’s what I thought. “Who put you here and why?”
“A werewolf.” I sniffed at the intruders
. Their scent was familiar, but my head was too foggy to place it. Some kind of shape-shifters, I think. “As bait for a rival pack.”
Someone snorted. “And which pack might that be?” she asked.
“Jackals.”
They laughed. It was a strange chorus, like hyenas. “Why does that not surprise me? Rex and his sloppy battle tactics. What might you be baiting us for, nonhuman?”
I hesitated. Her question made me realize two things. One, these weren’t just any shape-shifters. They were Jackal members. Two, I had a plan of action. “Get me down and I’ll tell you.”
The group stopped cackling. The girl shifted on her feet. “Why should I let you down? Won’t you run off, tell your little government about us? I bet you will.”
“Cheetah,” the male Jackal—Bear, I think his name was—said. His ears fell back. She hushed him.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I said. “You get me down, I’ll tell you all I know and I won’t mention you to the government. If you plan to avoid mass loss, you’ll take it. I’ve made deals with your kind before and they’ll tell you I’m a man of my word.”
She tilted her head. The wolves fidgeted behind her, looking around. “All right,” she sighed. “I guess we’ll see how fair you are. Bear, Sparrow, get him down. We’ll take him back to the den. I smell trouble heading our way.”
Through the willow vines, four dark spots crossed the field. It couldn’t be members of the Rooks—the end of the woods was the boundary line. This field was Jackal territory. What else was there for them to be afraid of?
The two canines came forward and in a smooth movement went up the tree. I watched as their long, fingerlike toes grabbed my rope. One held it up while the other gnawed it in half. Together they eased me to the ground. I sat there, exhausted, unable to get up. My foot was swollen, and the tiniest touch set it off. It was in an odd position, too, unnaturally cricked. Oh, God, would I have to get it amputated?
The girl, Cheetah, crouched beside me. Her clothes reeked of damp dirt and plants, like she’d been underground. “Nasty,” she muttered. “Yeah, that looks like Rex’s handy work. Bear, you’re the biggest. You’re hauling. Can you hold on to—?”
“Jared,” I said. “Jared Ferlyn.”
The wolves fell still. “Ferlyn?” Cheetah whispered.
“Uh, yeah?”
Bear looked up at Sparrow, who was still in the tree. “Told you.”
After they untied me, we left the willow quickly. My hands hurt but I held onto Bear’s thin coat, riding on his back pony-style. It was awkward, knowing that except for the fur, it was a teenage guy beneath me. I’d have preferred Sparrow, although she was probably too small.
Actually, all the Jackals were smaller than the Rooks. Still large for canines, but even Ilume could take on a pair and I wouldn’t have worried. We had agility on our side, too. The Jackals were slow movers even when they ran, but they were sly, silent, and experts in camouflage.
We came within feet of the beings on the field. They never looked our way. I squinted over my shoulder at them. Humans? They were talking to each other, laughing and joking. My nose twitched, picking up on bloody breath and hearts that have never beaten.
I shuddered. Nightlings.
The government had their hands full of them right now, especially since the vampire fetish broke out. Girls aren’t running and screaming from them these days, so they’re getting braver. You used to only find them in small towns or places that were heavily wooded with good game. Now, they showed up in cities, dance clubs, high schools. I even heard about one getting into a sweet sixteen party. In the U.S., the number of missing teens had tripled in the last year. I owed the Jackals. If they’d have left me there, the bloodsuckers would’ve found me and eaten me for sure.
On the other side of the field was a marshy, curved pond. The forest restarted. Cheetah got up from crawling in the grass, then led the way under coniferous trees. It was pitch black by this point, so I startled when Bear went from trotting in a straight line to dipping downward. He was moving down stairs; I could feel it. The earthy smell on Cheetah’s clothes grew strong. We were headed underground.
At the bottom, Cheetah opened a door. Dim light flooded the tunnel, and Bear padded out onto a flagstone floor. Mounted on the rock walls were fancy, iron torches. No light bulbs. The place reminded me of last Halloween, of the haunted house the guys and I went to. Will hated haunted houses. That was the year we scared him at the Serpent Mansion and he about peed his pants.
At the end of the hall was another door, this one made of steel. A security camera hung nearby, the first sign of electricity. I’m not sure what I expected on the other side of the door, but it wasn’t a grand lobby.
The Jackals’ home made the Rooks’ look like a hobo shack: this place was fit for royalty. The polished white tile was clear of paw prints. Picasso paintings and a reprint of the Mona Lisa were framed on the walls. Music filtered out of a grand piano near the doors, played by a woman wearing a dress and fuzzy slippers. Along the room’s sides, two staircases arched together like a horseshoe.
“Quickly, into the wash room.” Cheetah made a shooing motion, whipping her head around. The lobby was empty save for the pianist, but I suspected it wouldn’t be for long.
Under the staircases was a normal-looking hallway. No more torches—we had lights now. They took me through the first door on the right, into a room dedicated solely to silver knobs and showerheads. Bear rolled me off his back. My blood had stained his fur.
In the light I could see them clearly. The Jackals didn’t look like the Rooks; they were grey dogs with darkened socks, black stripes across their long backs. Spots dappled their heads and chests. Their tails were bushy like a golden retriever’s and just as expressive. Each had hazel eyes flecked with bronze, even Cheetah.
Cheetah wasn’t as tall as I thought. She was a small-boned girl with messy brown locks, a jagged scar over one cheek and down her shoulder. She wore black shorts fused together with a tube top. What did the girls call those things? Jumpsuits? Flipping one of the knobs, she aimed a spray of boiling water down my back.
“Ouch! That’s hot!” I rolled out of the way. “What’s wrong with you? Are you trying to stew me?”
She chuckled and tapped the knob she’d turned. It was the cold water knob. “You’re just frozen. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you just came out of Mab’s court. Your lips are blue and you have the complexion of bleached flour. Well, except for your jaw.”
“My jaw?” I touched it and winced. Oh, yeah. Rex had swiped me. Jackass. I hoped my blow broke his nose.
Cheetah’s eyes dropped to my chest. “He bound you up pretty tight. You’ve got bloody stripes across your front and arms. I’m surprised he didn’t kill you.”
“Oh, trust me; I’m supposed to be dead. But he had his bodyguard deal with it and he didn’t want to literally hang me.”
I thought of Fox, wondering if I hated him yet. Nope. I saved all my malice for one individual—Rex, number one on my shit list, and he was going down.
That is, if I got out of here.
Easing myself back under the shower, which had cooled, I watched Cheetah. She acted like Ilume that first day at the mansion, staring at me, guarded, but curious.
“Are you going to kill me?”
Not the smartest thing to ask, but I figured what the hell? Judging by their home and attitudes, I suspected the Jackals were more domesticated than the Rooks. Less likely to cage or eat their guests. And, okay, I was sick of waiting to die.
She sat down on the dry tile. “Depends on what kind of a threat I think you are,” she said, half smiling. “Right now with your condition, I’m not particularly worried. If I decide to help you, however, bring you back up to par, then I might worry.”
“So I’d be a threat because I tag Otherworlde
rs?”
I wanted to understand what she was thinking, get inside her head, because again I had an idea. Keep on good terms with this girl, my gut-feeling said. If I could get her pack to like me, I might be able to help the Rooks as well as myself.
“No wolf wants to be monitored by some dinky, silver tracking bracelet.” She glowered. “You can trick a faerie into wearing one—the dumb things like anything that sparkles—but not us. We’d find a way to rip them off anyway.”
“I know all that.”
“Oh, you do, do you?”
“Yes. I do.”
She leaned back, hands around her knees. Her eyes tightened. “Not that I don’t believe you,” she said, “but how do you know? You don’t spend time among those you catch.”
The shower rained down over my back. I glanced at the red water running into the drain, then at my arm where my stitches were coming out . . . Ilume’s stitches. “But I have, which is why I’m not going to tag any of you. Ever.”
“Hmm.” Cheetah stared at the drain, thinking. “That’s what he said, too, when we brought him in.”
“What who said?”
“Rich Nylref. He was a Finder who tricked the governments into funding a werewolf project. The Canadian and U.S. governments set him up a lab in our territory.”
“And you killed him. Right?” I interrupted. Arasni had mentioned this Nylref guy, how the man and his lab went up in flames.
Cheetah’s nose wrinkled. “No. Let me finish before you ask questions?”
“Sorry.”
“He set up a lab in our territory. We were going to kill him, and then our alpha male, Raven, got injured in the woods. He would’ve died if it weren’t for Nylref’s help, and during his stay in the lab Raven learned that Nylref wasn’t sending all his research into the government. He was hoarding most of it, especially the part about the link between you mortals and us werewolves—”
Predator Girl (A Paranormal Romance) Page 17
