by Moira Rogers
“Fair enough. Why don’t you two come over for lunch tomorrow? I want Brynn to meet Sasha. Figured maybe they could spend tomorrow night together until we get back.”
“I think she’d like that.”
Joe watched as Keith jogged up the steps to his house. A few minutes later, Brynn stepped out onto the porch, looking sleepy and disheveled. She pulled Joe’s truck keys out of her pocket and smiled at him. “Hey. Guess they had a lot of talking to do.”
“Quite a bit.” His stomach clenched at her apparent exhaustion. “Lot of yelling, actually.”
She rested her forehead on his shoulder and sighed quietly. “I figured there would be.”
He listened to her heartbeat for several moments. “Let’s go home.”
They could have reached his cabin in minutes through the woods, but driving took them over a more circuitous route. When they stopped in the gravel drive, he opened the truck door for Brynn and kicked it shut behind her. “You did everything you could. They’re just a bunch of old coots. Set in their ways.”
She didn’t argue as they walked up the steps and to the door. They were almost to the bedroom when she finally spoke. “Cameron disagreed with me. So did Hazel. But Mary will be trouble. She wants you.”
“You’re not going to get Hazel,” Joe told her. “Her parents were killed by a rogue wizard. Who knows about Cameron?” When Brynn lay on the bed, he sat at the end to pull off her shoes. “Mary is…a long story. A long, unrequited story.”
Brynn frowned slightly, her eyes still fixed on the ceiling. “Her…partner, Albert. He’ll do whatever she says. I think Paul and Hazel will fight over it, but he loves her too much. He’ll give in. Evelyn thinks I’m a poor traumatized child who doesn’t understand what she’s saying, and Cameron…” The bed creaked as she moved, and Brynn tugged his shirt from his pants. “I’m sorry I couldn’t convince them. I thought if I tried hard enough…”
“It wasn’t your job to convince them. Just to tell your story. The rest is out of our hands.” He dropped a kiss to her forehead. “You did a damn good job.”
“I guess so.” She dragged his shirt up and stared expectantly until he let her pull it over his head. Then she dropped her hands to his belt. “Now get in this bed and cuddle with me. I earned it.”
“Yes, you did.” He nudged off his shoes and dropped his jeans. The bed was cool, so he curled around Brynn. “Want to meet Sasha tomorrow?”
“She’s the witch, right?”
“Right. We figured you two could hang out while the rest of us are howling at the moon.”
He heard her quiet laugh as she wiggled closer to his chest. “Is that what you do?”
“Sometimes,” he admitted. “What did you think we did?”
“I don’t know. I’m not up on my werewolf lore. My roommate made me watch the Underworld movies, though, so if I were going off of that, I’d say you fight vampires or have dirty sex with them. Possibly both. Concurrently.”
Joe laughed. “Sorry, but it’s been a while since I saw a vampire.”
“Good. All that tight leather is hard for us normal girls to compete with.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her the last vampire he’d met had been unfashionably stuck in the seventies. “Get some rest, honey. Tomorrow is going to be one damn long day.”
Chapter Seven
Sasha was a pretty redhead who looked traumatized in all the ways people expected Brynn to be. A livid claw mark on Sasha’s cheek made it clear that her run-in with angry werewolves had been far more violent than Brynn’s, even if it had been blessedly shorter in duration.
Of course, Abby had already won the girl over. Maybe having someone who would submit to her need to protect was good for her sister, because she seemed steadier today. Brynn found her in the kitchen with Sasha, rolling out pastry dough.
Abby inspected the flattened slab of dough. “Just a little thinner. Then I’ll show you how to roll it onto the pin.”
Sasha bit her lip in concentration. “All right.”
Abby looked up and beckoned to Brynn. “We’re making pie.”
She moved to the sink to wash her hands. “So I see. Do you have anything for me to help with that I won’t ruin?”
Her sister waved a hand toward the backyard. “Keith’s grilling.”
Which would usually be her preference, but the whole point of coming over had been to get to know Sasha. Brynn smiled and slid into the chair across from the witch. “Nah, I’ll stay in here with you guys. Joe said Sasha and I get to hold down the non-werewolf fort tonight.”
Sasha offered her a shy smile. Abby tossed a peeler at her and pointed to the vegetable rack. “Potatoes.”
“Yes, ma’am.” She plucked up a potato and set to work. “Sasha, I heard you’ve got some sort of…spell or something. That will let me see what it’s like to be a werewolf.”
“My mentor taught me. She said it was old magic, from before the rift.” She kept speaking even as Abby helped her roll her pastry onto the rolling pin. “So that the change isn’t so terrifying, I think.”
Brynn watched, remembering a hundred times Abby had done the same thing with her, patiently teaching her all the things their parents would have, if they’d lived. “I don’t know much about magic. Or, you know, anything. A month ago I didn’t even know it was real.”
“I found out I had the gift when I was a child.” Sasha handed the pin to Abby, who moved to fit it carefully into a pie pan. “I guess you could say it runs in my family.”
She didn’t look like she was up to a round of twenty questions, so Brynn bit back the urge and settled for another smile. “Well, I can tell you that baking doesn’t run in our family. I can’t touch the pie or it will come out inedible.”
Abby brought over a bowl for the potatoes. “She’s exaggerating, Sasha.”
But Sasha blushed and dipped her head. “I think maybe we’re in the same boat then, Brynn.”
Poor thing. “Too bad we can’t order pizza out here. It could be a pizza and movie night.”
“Maybe next time,” Sasha suggested.
“Keith has lots of movies, if you guys want to take a look at his DVD collection.”
It was tacit permission to flee the kitchen, and Brynn grabbed at the chance. “Want to go look, Sasha? Abby will yell at us if she needs us to come back. She’s bossy like that.”
Abby only laughed. “Yes, I am.”
Sasha followed Brynn quietly. “They seem to be doing a lot of work on the house. Did they just move in?”
“Yeah, just a week or two ago…” Brynn skirted the couch and went to the large bookshelf against the wall where Keith’s DVD collection had been haphazardly stacked to await organization. “It’s sort of been a crazy month.”
“That’s what Samantha said.” Sasha picked up a handful of DVDs and flipped through them. “She and Gavin are nice.”
“They are. So’s Keith.” Brynn hesitated, her gaze tracing the ugly red marks on Sasha’s cheek. “If you ever want to talk about what happened… I know everyone must be saying that to you. They’re still all saying it to me.”
“My mentor died. I almost did.” Sasha raised her hand, not quite touching the livid marks before she lowered it again. “It was frightening.”
“They kidnapped me. Not because they wanted me, but because they wanted to hurt my sister.” Brynn stared at the stacks of DVDs without really seeing them. “I was useful. It was…terrifying.”
“At least they only wanted to kill me.” The words weren’t at all ironic, and Brynn didn’t blame her. Maybe someday the thought of Pierce’s sick whispers wouldn’t make her stomach clench. Maybe.
“Keith won’t let anything happen to you,” she whispered, and the reminder wasn’t just for Sasha.
“So Abby keeps telling me.” She flashed Brynn a wan smile.
The look in Sasha’s eyes made Brynn’s chest tight. Tired, scared. Brittle. Everything Brynn fought against when the dreams woke her in the night. I don’t want to
be broken.
But watching Sasha as she picked through the movies made one thing clear to Brynn. She wasn’t broken. Whatever Pierce and Matthews had done, whatever they’d tried to do, she’d been stronger. She’d survived.
And now all I have to do is keep surviving.
After dinner, Joe pulled Brynn out onto the front porch and handed her a pistol. “This is the same handgun you trained with,” he murmured. “Keep it on you tonight.”
She stared at the gun, then glanced back up at him. “Is something going on that I need to be worried about?”
He shook his head. “Even Alan Matthews isn’t crazy enough to come here while the alphas are gathered, but I won’t be around. Always prepared, sweetheart.”
Brynn swallowed and checked the pistol like he’d taught her, fighting the urge to shiver. “Sasha might freak out if she sees this. She’s still upset.”
“She’ll have to get over it.” His eyes went hard. “If you don’t carry it, make sure you can get to it. Fast.”
Her borrowed hoodie had huge pockets. She slipped the handgun into the right pocket and ignored the way it hung a little crooked. “I’ll keep it on me.”
“Don’t worry about a kill shot,” he advised. “If something happens, get them down and run like hell for the center of town. And scream. I’ll hear you.”
It was casual. Almost offhand. Joe’s easy-going nature made her forget, sometimes, just what he was capable of. The memory rose before she could stop it, the image of Joe dressed in black and covered in weapons, his eyes cold as he pointed his gun at Pierce and blew off the top of his head.
It should have terrified her. The fact that it comforted her instead might have been the scariest part of all.
She ignored that nagging voice and leaned into Joe, resting her cheek against his chest so she could hear the slow, steady beat of his heart. “Okay.”
“I’ll see you later tonight, honey.”
Rocking up on her toes brought her close enough to kiss him. She nipped his lower lip teasingly and smiled against his mouth. “I’ll be waiting.”
His mouth descended on hers in a hard kiss, hot and wet and barely controlled. He dragged her to his chest and explored her mouth for a long, heady moment before releasing her. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
It took a second to catch her breath, and even then her cheeks felt heated. “Too bad I can’t be waiting in your bed naked.”
“Later,” he murmured. “Count on it.”
When she returned to the living room, she found Sasha still curled up on the couch, her eyes fixed on the small TV screen. Brynn dropped down on the other end of the couch and adjusted the gun in her pocket. “How’s the movie?”
“You haven’t missed much.” Sasha glanced over. “You’re dating Joe?”
Dating seemed like such a normal word, but she supposed it applied as well as anything. “Yeah. I guess I am.”
“He seems nice.” She turned back to the television, but she fidgeted nervously with the edge of a woven throw. “Are you going to do it? Become one of them? Is that why you were asking about the training spell?”
“I think so.” Brynn watched Sasha’s fingers as she worried at the fringe of yarn. “I don’t have a lot of options right now. But Gavin and Sam are going to make me wait.”
“Why? If it’s what you want?”
“Because there’s no going back, I guess.”
“Mmm. I guess not.” Sasha stared at the television. “Why do you want to do it? If you don’t mind me asking, I mean. You can tell me to shut up. It won’t hurt my feelings.”
Abby had asked. Joe and Keith and Sam and Gavin had asked. By now she had the answer down. “Because I don’t think I’ll ever be safe as a human again.”
Sasha’s eyes were huge as she studied Brynn. “What makes you think you’ll be safe as a wolf?”
“I’ll be harder to kill.” She tried not to hear Pierce’s voice, but it drifted up anyway. I could do you over and over again… She fought a shudder and slipped her hand into her pocket to seek the comforting weight of the gun. “I’ll be safer. Alan Matthews turned my sister, kidnapped me and killed my brother. I need to be safer.”
It took the other woman a while to say anything. “I like Abby, and I was sorry to hear about your brother.”
The fact that she hadn’t thought of Richard in over a day made guilt twist in her stomach. “Thank you.”
Sasha nodded. “Maritza—my mentor. She practically raised me.”
“I’m sorry. That must have been…” Brynn couldn’t even think of a word to describe it. “I’m sorry.”
“Yes.” Sasha leaned against the back of the couch and closed her eyes. “Yes, it was.”
Silence stretched out, interrupted only by the soft sounds from the television, and there was nothing to do but wait.
Brynn woke with a start, disoriented by the sound of Sasha’s gentle breathing and the blue glow from the television. The movie had probably gone off hours ago, judging by the time showing on the DVD player.
Something had woken her, but now she couldn’t figure out what. The house was silent. Brynn rose to her feet and stretched before moving toward the TV.
A noise behind her stopped her cold. When she turned, Sasha’s entire body had gone taut, trembling. She stared sightlessly at the ceiling. “Brynn—”
The soft click of nails on wood chilled her blood. Brynn thrust her hand into the pocket of her sweatshirt and groped for the gun, Joe’s instructions running through her head in an endless refrain. Don’t worry about a kill shot. Get them down and run like hell for the center of town. Don’t worry about a kill shot.
Another click of nails, this time to her left. Two wolves, approaching quietly from opposite directions.
Cornering them.
Brynn put her back to the TV and eased the gun from her sweatshirt pocket as she squinted into the darkness. “Sasha, get over—”
One of the wolves launched itself over the couch, and Sasha backed away with a startled cry, her eyes wild. “Go, Brynn. Hurry.” Her voice dropped to a harsh whisper, and she began to chant under her breath.
The air felt charged, like just before a lightning storm. The wolf sniffed at Sasha, snarled, and the darkness exploded in a flash of light. The animal dropped, writhing on its back and pawing at its face.
Brynn didn’t hesitate. She raised the gun, thumbed off the safety and sighted along her arm. Time slowed and she heard Joe’s low voice telling her to hold steady and trust her instincts. She squeezed the trigger, just like she’d done dozens of times with Joe watching, but the shot echoed loudly in the enclosed space of the house.
Her aim was true. The wolf on the floor jerked and stilled, and his companion howled.
Sasha screamed as the second wolf launched himself at Brynn, knocking her to the floor. Her head hit the hardwood with a painful crack as powerful teeth bit into her shoulder.
Pain ripped through her, but Joe had made her practice handling the damn gun until her fingers were numb. The gun came up again, this time out of instinct. Sharp teeth closed on her shoulder so hard she heard bone snap, and she screamed and fired without thought.
The wolf yelped in pain and released her. Relief had barely registered before those jaws closed on her again, this time on her neck. She couldn’t feel her fingers anymore, couldn’t feel her hands or anything but pain, but the gun went off again, then a third time, so she had to be shooting. She had to be, because otherwise…
The thought faded. The world faded. Her last thought was giddy. At least Sasha was smart enough to scream.
Joe’s heart stopped with the first scream.
He shot toward Keith’s house with a growl, still on four legs because it was faster, with Keith and Abby on his heels. The fact that he hadn’t heard Brynn didn’t mean anything, he reasoned desperately. Then she did scream, and he almost faltered. A shot rang out, then two more, and they were still too goddamned far away—
He didn’t shift back, even when
he hit the porch and shouldered through the open door. Blood assailed his nostrils, metallic and nauseating, and his paws skidded over the floor.
Sasha knelt next to Brynn, shivering violently. She squeaked and bent close when she saw them, her hand reaching for the gun still in Brynn’s limp hand.
With the moon high and still calling to him, his shift took longer than usual. “Stop,” he croaked, still moving across the floor toward the two women, naked and human now, and slipping through the blood on the floor. Brynn’s blood. “Christ. Shit.”
Keith shot past him, still in wolf form, and a terrified howl rose up from the back of the house, followed by Keith’s enraged snarl.
Sasha’s voice trembled. “I stopped most of the bleeding, but I can feel it. The wolf’s taken hold.”
Joe shivered even as he reached for Brynn’s hand. “It can’t.” If she changed for the first time tonight, on the full moon, she’d never survive it. The sheer power of it would rip her apart. “She’ll die.”
“The wolf can keep her alive.” Sasha slid a hand over his. “If she has a bond. Someone to help her.”
Brynn had already gone pale except for the dark lines of rent flesh on her neck and shoulder. He swallowed and hesitated, her words coming back to him. Last night I tried to decide what would be worse, this life or death…
“Do it.” Abby spoke behind him, her voice thick with pain. She’d resumed her human form, but she sat huddled against the side of the staircase, her knees drawn up to her chest, eyes unseeing. “Will you help her, Joe?”
He nodded shortly. Whatever his own issues, they were nothing when weighed against Brynn’s life. “Go ahead, Sasha.”
Joe could hear more people approaching, could feel the flood of angry power converging on the house from all directions. Most of the pack had ranged farther from town to hunt and run, but the shots would have been audible to the wolves for miles.
Keith appeared at the door again, human this time. Blood slicked his arms and chest, even his face. “He’s alive,” Keith snarled, his voice holding the same rage and fear Joe struggled against. “Bobby and Anna are watching him. The rest are coming, but Cindy and Dylan ran so far—”
