by Lori Drake
The question lingered in the back of his mind, scratching at it while he sat tethered to the wolf on the bed. It had ample opportunity to bug him because, as it turned out, being a lycanthrope blood bag was boring as hell.
The door opening was a welcome distraction, even though it was Joey on the other side. He spared her a nod, but that was the best he could do.
“Everything going okay?” she asked.
Chris let Ben answer.
“So far, so good. Her pulse is steady and she’s getting some color back. I’m going to set Chris loose in another minute or two.”
Joey nodded and stepped fully inside, closing the door. “Has she woken up at all?”
Ben shook his head. “Nope, but it’s probably for the best. It’s going to suck when she does. I don’t have anything stronger than ibuprofen. I can give her a mega dose, but it’ll take time to take effect. The only upside is that she probably won’t burn it off as quickly because of the new moon.”
“Someone needs to stay with her until she wakes up,” Chris said, shifting in his seat. One of his legs was starting to fall asleep, and he itched to stretch, to move. “She shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’ll do it,” Joey said.
“I didn’t mean one of us… it should be one of her pack, right?”
“Maybe.” Joey chewed on her lower lip for a moment, eyes locked on Jenny.
“You know how territorial Eric can be,” Ben said as he rose from the bed and moved toward Chris.
“I know,” Joey said. “That’s why I didn’t suggest you or Chris do it. He might not think as much of it if it’s me.”
Chris snorted softly, and Joey glanced his way but said nothing. He held his arm up for Ben, who peeled back the tape on his arm. A few arm hairs went with it. Chris winced and grunted.
“Sorry, bro.” Ben slid the needle from Chris’s arm and pressed a cotton ball against it. The tiny puncture would close in seconds, but there was no need to bleed all over the place in the meantime. Chris traded his finger for Ben’s so Ben could remove the needle from Jenny’s arm next.
Eager to be on his feet, Chris stood while holding the cotton in place. “I don’t suppose they caught whoever did this?” He glanced at Joey on his way across the room to check out that birth certificate. His foot tingled as if pricked by thousands of pins. It reminded him of the way his whole body had felt when he’d come to in his casket.
“No, and Itsuo is missing.”
Chris halted mid-step. “What?”
“Itsuo… little Japanese guy?”
“I know who he is,” Chris snapped, then clamped his jaw shut and took a deep, calming breath. “I assume they’re out looking for him?”
Joey shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “It’s not unusual. He isn’t a big fan of Eric’s parties. I think the only reason he came tonight was to meet you.”
“But still, given what happened…”
“Remember what happened upstairs earlier?” Ben gave Chris a meaningful look.
It took Chris a moment to realize what he was getting at. “Oh. Yeah, I guess he can handle himself.”
“Speaking of that, what did happen between him and Eric?” Joey said, dropping into the chair Chris had vacated. Her eyes flicked to Ben. “You said he put Eric on the ground, but why?”
Ben grinned. “Ask Chris.”
Chris rolled his eyes upward and continued across the room. “Itsuo dropped the bomb about me owning the house and suggested that made it my territory.”
“Not so much suggested as stated it outright,” Ben said.
“Anyway,” Chris went on, “Eric rushed him. I still don’t really get why. I mean, Eric was the one that thought it was so funny that I didn’t know, and said I had no territory to claim.”
“That’s… Eric,” Joey murmured.
Chris glanced over his shoulder at her and arched a brow, then turned back to the framed certificate on the wall. It read, “Leta Marie Jackson,” and was dated August 22, 1978.
His curiosity satisfied, he turned back to face the room and checked under the cotton ball to make sure the bleeding had stopped. “Anyway, he was wrong. I’m not claiming this as my territory, and I told Eric as much. They can have it, as long as they’re living here. What I don’t get is why Mom didn’t tell me Eric was renting my birth parents’ house.”
Joey shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. Ask her.”
“I will.”
Chris located a waste basket and tossed the cotton ball with its tiny dot of blood into it, then bent down to touch the floor, relishing the stretch that ran up the backs of his legs.
“You okay?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, just wanted to stretch.” Chris glanced up and caught Joey watching him with a knowing smile. She looked away quickly.
“I want to stay here tonight,” she said. “Can you two make it back on your own?”
“Sure.”
“No.”
Ben’s response had come at the same time, and Chris looked over at him in confusion.
“You stay, we all stay,” Ben said.
“That’s not necessary, really,” Joey said.
“Yeah,” Chris agreed. The last thing he wanted was to be under the same roof as Joey and her new boy toy.
“We have no idea what happened here.” Ben finished coiling up the medical tubing and hung it on the bedpost.
“That’s why I want to stay,” Joey said.
“There’s a would-be killer on the loose. It’s not safe.”
“I can handle myself,” Joey insisted, getting that obstinate look in her eyes as she folded her arms across her chest.
“Mom would literally kill us.”
“She ‘literally’ would not,” Chris muttered.
Ben shot him a look. “You know what I mean, smarty pants.”
“This is ridiculous,” Joey said, frowning. “There’s no reason for you to stay.”
“My bottle of scotch and ridiculously hot boyfriend disagree.”
Chris pinched the bridge of his nose. “He was making a little sense, before he got distracted. There is a killer out there. Lurking in the woods, for all we know. Maybe it’d be smarter to bring all of them home with us.”
Ben gave his jaw a thoughtful stroke, then shook his head. “Not a bad idea, but we can’t move Jenny without an ambulance, and I’m not established enough to call in that kind of favor yet.”
“What about a hearse?” Chris suggested, tilting his head.
“We’re not moving her in a hearse,” Joey interjected, then blew out a sigh. “Fine, we’ll all stay.” She stood up and marched for the door.
“Where are you going?” Ben asked.
“Outside to call Mom. The reception sucks in this house. No offense, Chris.”
“None taken,” Chris muttered, rubbing his face. Spending the night in his dead birth parents’ house with Joey and her asshole boyfriend, with a killer on the loose. How could that possibly go wrong?
“Wait,” Ben said, just after the door clicked closed. “Didn’t we just make a fuss about her not being alone?”
Groaning, Chris jogged for the door.
The house was eerily quiet. Enough people lived in the house that it was always noticeably occupied, whether it was a distant hum of music from someone’s room, Lucy and Adam playing video games in the living room, the ceiling creaking as someone upstairs moved around… something. Tonight it was quiet as a funeral, and Joey found herself stepping lightly.
“I wonder where everyone is.” She glanced at Chris. He’d caught up with her in the hall outside Kate’s room, which came as both a surprise and a comfort.
“Dunno,” he said, keeping his eyes forward. “If it were me, I’d be looking for a trail to follow. There was enough blood that it shouldn’t be too hard to find one.”
“True. But how the hell did the guy get out of the room without anyone noticing? He must’ve been covered in her blood, and the house was full of people.”
“Assuming it w
as a guy.”
Joey rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Person. Assailant. There, happy? How did he-slash-she get out of the house without anyone noticing?”
“Beats me, but the band was on stage. Maybe most people’s attention was there, you know?”
Joey shivered. “And that’s why no one heard her scream. If Lucy hadn’t gone to check on her…”
“Yeah.”
They found the back door closed and locked, as it should be in the wake of what’d happened. Joey opened it, and a cold gust of air blew into the kitchen.
“Where’s your coat?” Chris asked, hesitating in the act of zipping his up.
“Uh, Jenny’s room, I think. I’ll be fine. We’ll just have to make this quick.”
Chris started to take off his coat, but she shook her head and headed outside as she was, leaving him to close the door and follow in her wake. She took a deep breath of the crisp night air. Some of the tension eased from her shoulders. It was nice being out in the open again. Joey slipped her phone from her pocket and called the Grants’ land line. Her mother had a bad habit of leaving her cell phone on the charger, for a woman that liked to know everything about everything.
“Grant residence.”
“Hey, Sam, it’s me. Is Mom around?”
“Uh, yeah. You know it’s, like, ten-thirty, right?”
Joey glanced over at Chris, whose smirk said he’d overheard the question. “Of course I know what time it is. Would you put Mom on, already?”
“Is it important? She went to bed an hour ago.”
“Would I be calling this late if it wasn’t? Put her on the damn phone.”
“Hang on.”
There was a click and the line went quiet. Joey stamped her feet lightly, shifting her weight between them in an effort to keep the blood flowing. Maybe she should’ve taken Chris up on his offer. A glance to her left found him gazing up at the sky. It was a clear night, and the stars twinkled overhead. Brighter, it seemed, for the lack of moonlight. The moon was all but invisible in the night sky to the naked eye, but Joey knew right where it was, sensing its power overhead. Why had the attack occurred tonight, of all nights? Did the attacker know it would be when they’d be most vulnerable? The thought lent credence to Eric’s hunter theory, as much as Joey wanted to shrug it off.
Eric. She itched to bring Chris into the loop about Eric, but this wasn’t the time or place. Out in the open like this, where anyone with super-sharp wolf ears could overhear… it was a bad idea. A worse idea, she felt, than leaving him in the dark. Time alone would tell about that.
There was another click and the sound of a receiver being handled on the other end.
“Josephine? What’s going on? Are you still at the party?” There was worry in Adelaide’s voice, and rightly so.
“Yes, hell if I know, and sort of. In that order.” Joey paused a moment, then continued when her mother didn’t respond. “There’s been an attack. One of Eric’s was seriously hurt. Ben patched her up and we’re hoping she’ll be okay.”
“Are you all right? Your brothers?”
“We’re fine, Mom. Weirded out, but fine.”
“What happened?”
Joey wasn’t sure how much detail she ought to go into over the phone. She hesitated, long enough that her mother said, “Josephine?”
“I’m here. Jenny was knifed, and whoever did it wrote ‘run’ on the wall in blood. Presumably hers.”
“That’s troubling. Was the perpetrator caught?”
“No,” Joey said. As she spoke, a loud crack sounded from the direction of the trees. Startled, she whirled to look that direction.
“Was that a gunshot?” Chris asked.
“I want you home. Now,” Adelaide said in Joey’s ear.
“Mom, I gotta go. We’ll be home as soon as we can.” Joey hung up and sprinted for the trees.
“Joey, wait!” Chris called after her, his footsteps pounding the ground in her wake as he followed.
“Someone may need help!”
“I mean wait for me!” Chris said, but Joey ran ahead. Despite his longer legs, she was faster. She’d always been faster.
Joey struggled to hear anything over the pounding of her heart in her ears as she ran through the trees, scanning the forested landscape for any signs of life, human or wolf. Still, she almost didn’t see the big black wolf until it was right in front of her.
“Eric!” she cried, skidding to a halt.
More lupine shapes emerged from the darkness. Joey conducted a quick head count as they streamed past in the direction of the house. Only Eric lingered, to nip at her legs in an effort to herd her in the same direction. Everyone was accounted for—except for Itsuo, anyway. At least, she hoped Itsuo was the one missing. The twins were easy to identify, with their pure white coats, but the others streaked by too fast in the darkness for her to do more than count them.
“What happened? Is someone out there?”
Eric growled and threw a shoulder into her legs, nearly knocking her down.
“All right, I’m going! Yeesh!”
Joey turned and found Chris catching up, long strides slowing as he came in range.
“I passed the others. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know yet. Keep your ears peeled,” she said. As she jogged after the wolves, she glanced behind her now and then to check for signs of pursuit, but found none. She wasn’t running at top speed this time, so Chris kept pace with her easily. When they reached the house, she held the door open for the wolves to go in. Once everyone was inside, she locked the door, and by the time she turned back, there were seven agitated, naked humans all trying to talk at the same time.
Joey couldn’t make heads or tails of it, so she put two fingers in her mouth and whistled shrilly. The room went silent and she made the “timeout” symbol with her hands. “What happened? One at a time, please.”
Crickets. The Granite Falls wolves looked to their Alpha, and he folded his arms across his bare chest. He was a fine specimen of a man, but that didn’t make up for his other glaring shortcomings. He stood in silence for a few seconds before deigning to answer.
“There’s a man in the woods.”
Joey frowned. “A man with a gun?”
Eric hesitated, then nodded. It was a tense movement; the cords on his muscular neck stood out.
Something didn’t add up. Joey frowned as she surveyed the room. Eric’s whole pack—minus Jessica—was practically cowering. Even Jessica had an uneasy tightness to her mouth.
Joey’s eyes eventually landed on Eric again, but before she could press the matter, a commotion sounded behind her. She whirled in time to see Chris finish crashing to the floor. He’d upset a side table littered with beer bottles, cans, and plastic cups on the way down.
“Chris!” She flew to his side and took a knee beside him. He lay on the floor amidst the scattered beverage containers. His eyes were open but had a dazed look in them.
“What happened?” Chris asked weakly, his confusion plain.
Joey’s pulse hammered in her ears as panic gripped her. Something was wrong with Chris. She did her best to push it down and tried to keep the worry from her face, but surely a little concern was warranted. “You fell down. Are you okay?”
Chris tried to sit up, and Joey helped him with a hand behind his shoulder. “The room’s a little spinny.”
“Back off! Give them some room,” Eric barked.
Joey hadn’t realized quite how close the others had crowded around until then. She glanced at the concerned faces looking on. “Could someone get Ben?”
“On it,” Brandon said.
“I’m okay. No cause for a fuss,” Chris insisted, but Brandon was already gone.
“You just stay put for now, okay? You’ve made enough of a mess.” Joey put a hand on his shoulder, to better keep him down if he got any bright ideas about rising.
Chris wrinkled his nose. “If it makes you feel better, I think I’m sitting in a puddle of beer.”
Joey heard a snicker from behind her and barely suppressed one herself. “Serves you right,” she murmured, taking some comfort in his wisecrack. It couldn’t be that bad if he could still make jokes, could it?
“Make room, make room,” Ben said, pushing through the crowd of naked wolves to get to them.
“Go get dressed. Now! Pack meeting in ten,” Eric growled.
The crowd dispersed, if reluctantly, while Ben crouched on Chris’s other side. “What is it with you, little brother? Always gotta be the center of attention?”
Chris laughed weakly. “Sorry, force of habit.”
“What happened?” Ben asked, reaching for Chris’s wrist.
“Not sure. The last thing I remember is feeling lightheaded, and then I was on the floor.”
“You just gave blood, man. You’ve got to take it easy.”
“So, I guess going for a run was a bad idea…”
“Tell me you’re joking.”
Joey grimaced. “He’s not joking. There was a commotion in the woods.” She darted a glance toward Eric, who yet lingered, and gave him an “I’m not done with you” look. He snorted and sauntered away.
Ben groaned and rubbed his face. “Okay, you need some calories. I’m gonna raid the fridge. Joey, make sure he doesn’t move, okay?”
Although she really wanted to pin Eric down for some answers, there was no question as to Joey’s priorities. Family first. “Got it.” She gave Chris’s shoulder a squeeze and smiled at him when he looked her way.
Chris held her eyes while Ben walked away. It didn’t get awkward until the room was empty of all but the two of them.
“Why him?” he asked, his voice low.
“What? Who?”
“Eric.”
“Oh.” Joey grimaced. “Do you really want to talk about that right now?”
“It’s eating me up.”
The earnestness shining in his eyes made Joey’s heart constrict. She looked away and hoped that Ben would hurry. “That’s the blood loss talking.”
