In Spirit and Truth (In Spiritu Et Veritate Series)

by Reed, Zoe

  So Jonathan was just passing himself as a student. Even for twenty-three, he looked young. He also looked a lot like his father, only differing in his smaller, thinner features. His hair was longer, covering the tips of his ears and a little bit darker. His eyes, though they were the same dark blue as Luther’s, were much more threatening. The untamed, disturbed sparkle in them made every hair on my arms and neck stand on end. Aside from his wild eyes, though, he looked so normal that seeing him on the street I probably wouldn’t have given him a second glance.

  After passing Jonathan’s picture to Luna, I studied the last photo. Charles didn’t look quite as disturbed as Jonathan, but he certainly looked as muscular, if not bigger than Luther. His crooked, missing-toothed smile stuck out to me more than anything else. Charles was not an attractive man, and scars marred his big-jawed, tiny-nosed, bushy eyebrowed face.

  Sky uncrossed her arms to take a picture from Luna. “How many mutts per city?”

  “It varies, sometimes two, sometimes as many as four. Each of the new mutts has a criminal record, they’re all thugs, drug dealers and murderers,” my dad answered, and I watched each of my family members’ jaws either drop in shock or clench in anger.

  Most werewolves lived their whole lives never Changing a human. We’re all territorial creatures, and why make more that you’d have to compete with for resources? Some just couldn’t stay out of trouble, but even then they’d only bite two people in their lives at the most. Any more than two and the Pack stepped in.

  “So let me guess,” I started, mostly talking to myself. “The recruits wouldn’t talk to the Pack about why they’d been bitten?” My dad shook his head in response.

  “Are they building an army?” my mother asked, still sitting behind my dad.

  “It definitely looks that way doesn’t it? And it can’t be just a coincidence that their recruits aren’t model citizens.” He answered without looking up at her, and instead he looked each of us in the eye. “None of you are running unless it’s in threes. If you’re going into town be on your damn best look out, and don’t go down any side alleys, I don’t care how light it is.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Niko open his mouth to protest, but deciding better of it he closed it and sat back. None of us had ever before had to worry about where we went or when. Starting now would mean changing our habits. Being on guard where we were most comfortable.

  “So what?” Michael started angrily. “We sit tidy and hope they’re just passing through this time?”

  My father sighed. “No, if you see any of them watch and hopefully follow, from a distance, and see if you can figure out where they’re staying. The Pack is sending someone to help us keep things under control and speak for Eli. He should be here sometime next week. In the meantime, starting tonight we’ll be running patrols, see if we can pick something up or find out where they’re staying.”

  I could see the worry etched into my father’s face. This was the very reason he had left Oregon and parted with the Pack. But he knew as well as any of us that our world was a dangerous one. There would always be a mutt to fend off, humans to hide from. Loved ones to protect.

  “Who’s starting patrols tonight?” I asked, standing up. Even though I had already Phased, I was ready to go again.

  Everyone followed my lead and stood up, preparing to go. “You, Sky, Niko and I will be going tonight, but tomorrow we’ll start patrols in town all day, and at sundown go in two shifts, early and late.”

  I nodded, more than pleased that I’d be able to go on the first patrol. This whole situation already had me restless, and it would only get worse if I were sitting at home waiting for something to happen.

  I was following the first group to the porch when I could hear my cellphone ringing on the living room coffee table where I’d left it. There was really only one person I could think of who’d be calling me. While I was anxious to catch the three mutts, there was hardly anything that could keep me from wanting to hear Kyla’s voice. Even if it was just to tell her that I couldn’t talk.

  Waving the other three to go ahead I jogged back into the living room. “Hello?”

  “It happened again!” Kyla’s voice was near a whisper, but that didn’t hide the excitement in it.

  “What happened again?” I asked, making my confusion clear.

  She chuckled like she realized she was getting ahead of herself. “There’s something weird going on here.” A pause before she clarified. “In Tranquility.” Then the speed of her voice picked up like she was trying to get it all out as fast as she could. “The other night there was something in the orange trees. Snarling at me! And I just saw it right now. Eyes, like huge, massive glowing eyes. Looking right at me!”

  She paused again like she was waiting for me to say something. But I was frozen. All the blood drained from my face. None of my family ran through the Walters’ farm, always around. And certainly none of them would be growling.

  “It was like a dog or something. Or a wolf,” Kyla added when I remained silent, prompting me to say something. “The biggest wolf in the world probably.”

  Then my heart fluttered with excitement. She said she’d just seen it. Meaning if it really was the mutts, they might still be there. “I got to go,” I mumbled briskly, already turning for the kitchen.

  “Hey, wai–” I hit the end button and tossed the phone onto the kitchen table.

  The second I got to the porch I began tugging off my clothes. Each of the three wolves was sitting there waiting for me, watching with curious eyes. Wondering why I was pulling my clothes off in such a fury.

  “The Walters’ farm. Kyla just said she saw something like a wolf.” Each of them stood instantly at my words, and I threw my last article of clothing down without bothering to fold any of it. “They might still be there.”

  I didn’t waste another second Phasing, and the moment my paws touched down we took off toward the Walters’ farm. It didn’t make sense why the mutts would even be at Kyla’s house, and she made it sound as if they were watching her. She didn’t know anything about my family being werewolves, and she definitely wasn’t the mutts’ ideal recruit. Maybe they were covering their bases? Making sure she wouldn’t be a threat when they decided to make their move on my family.

  There was hardly a breeze tonight, so when we got to the Walters’ place it took us a minute with our noses down to find a scent. Kyla was absolutely right. It was the same scent as the one on the locker, Jonathan’s; it was as fresh as it gets, and he had definitely been watching the house. His scent followed the boundaries of the trees around the house and down toward the driveway. Keeping under the cover of leaves we followed the trail as quick as we could toward the main road, hoping it would continue and we wouldn’t be far behind the mutts.

  Our hopes were eliminated, however, when we got to the road. The trail stopped cold on the shoulder, meaning Jonathan had jumped in a car and they’d driven away. Not only were they long gone by now, but a car left no scent. There was no way we could follow.

  We all came to a halt at the edge of the road, and I heard my dad give a frustrated growl that we’d lost the scent. He glanced up and down thoughtfully, and then with a huff he was off, each of us following with our noses alert. Even now though, at the very start of our run, I knew it would be no use.

  We had no idea where these mutts were staying, and they were doing a damn good job of keeping their scents hidden. The only other thing we had to connect them to Tranquility was the locker at the high school, and while Jonathan’s scent on it was strong, it was old. It had been at least a week since he’d visited it. We had absolutely nothing to go on. We didn’t know how long the mutts had been here. Didn’t have any scents to point to where they were staying. No scents in town. No idea what they were really trying to do. Nothing.

  At least I felt assured that even though Kyla had been watched, the mutts wouldn’t risk coming out of hiding long enough to take on a human that wasn’t even close to being a threat. At le
ast she wasn’t in any immediate danger.

  ***

  The next morning Luna threw open my bedroom door, harshly pulling me from a deep sleep. “It’s nine-thirty ass face, get out of bed.” I blindly threw a pillow in her direction, and with an amused laugh she disappeared from the door and made her way back down the stairs.

  I muttered profanities under my breath as I groggily hopped out of bed. We’d patrolled nearly until the sun came up, and I wasn’t even close to being caught up on sleep. Regardless, the smell of eggs and bacon wafted up to me and made my stomach growl, effectively waking me up. By the time I got to the kitchen Luna had already sat down with a huge plate of breakfast. So I made my way over to bump her out of her chair and took her place, and her plate.

  I heard Niko laugh his amusement as Luna growled but grabbed another plate of food. Looking at my sister, someone would never guess we were twins. At five-foot-two she was the tiniest out of all of us, and she didn’t even weigh a hundred-ten pounds. Sometimes I couldn’t help but feel guilty about retaliating, but Luna, however small, could definitely handle it, and most of the time she deserved it.

  After breakfast Luna and I rode into town with Niko and Carter, splitting up in opposite directions. We started at a grocery store in the center of Tranquility and worked our way to the very edge of town, then met back at the middle. In a few of the hole-in-the-wall stores we walked into we caught the faintest whiff of another werewolf’s scent, but just like the locker at the school these scents were so old they were of no use to us. After the third store this happened in I started to grow impatient.

  I had never felt unsafe so long as we’d moved away from Oregon. While we’d have to exercise caution no matter where we lived, Tranquility had always been a place we could relax. The farmland was vast for running and the town was so small it didn’t exist to other werewolves. Now our safe haven had been knowingly invaded, and the invaders were purposefully hiding away. With the impatience that built into the pure frustration I felt by the end of our shift, I could sense that this was how it was going to be. A waiting game. We’d catch the slightest hint that one of the mutts had been around but have no way to find them.

  As we walked into the house after arriving home I let the front door slam shut behind me, causing my siblings to jump. Niko and Carter shrugged it off and dispersed, but Luna plopped down onto the couch and patted next to her, motioning for me to take a seat.

  “I knew you’d be the one having the hardest time with this,” she told me, a concerned look in her eyes as I sat down beside her.

  I sighed deeply, trying my hardest to relax in the safety of our house. “How’d you figure?”

  “You’ve always been the most protective,” she said, and then cautiously shot me a side-glance. Once the stabbing pain of her statement settled in my gut I glared at her for bringing it up. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I think it’s a good thing. It will come in handy now, if the mutts are still around.”

  I knew Luna hadn’t meant to dredge up the memory of mistakes I’d made in the past, and so I couldn’t hold it against her. Still, it brought back the guilt I’d buried away deep in the back of my mind, out of sight where it would take a reminder like hers to bring it forth again.

  My silence caused Luna to hastily try and change the subject. “Do we have first or second patrol tonight?”

  “I think Dad said we have first. We’re patrolling again tomorrow morning so I think he wanted us to get as much sleep as possible,” I told her and then added sarcastically, “Like that’ll be easy.”

  Luna nodded her agreement and sat there thoughtfully. In my own silence I could tell she was searching for something else to talk about. It was as if I could read her thoughts. Mutts. School. Kyla? But I knew that none of those were things she wanted to bring up, so feeling I was still hurt by her reminder she finally gave up on trying and went upstairs to her room.

  I tried to distract myself with homework until patrols that night. It was tough, but eventually I was able to focus and forget about everything but the math problems in front of me. By the end of the night, both patrols turned up with nothing. If the mutts had Phased recently, then they hadn’t done it near town. I tried to tell myself to be patient. Nobody is perfect, and the mutts would either turn up or mess up sooner or later. Until then we’d keep scouring Tranquility day after day.

  The next morning I had been patrolling for a couple hours with Luna when my phone started going off in my pocket. An enormous grin spread over my face when I read the caller ID that said ‘Kyla’. Since the first patrol the other night I’d been so preoccupied with all the mutt business that she had just been a fleeting thought every few hours. But now that she was calling me I realized how much I was starting to miss the adorable brunette.

  “Hey, Kyla,” I nearly shouted with excitement when I answered the phone, causing Luna to roll her eyes teasingly.

  “Hey, I finished all my chores early, I was going to see if you wanted to hang out?”

  “Um, hold on.” I lowered the phone from my ear and covered the microphone end with my hand so I could talk to Luna. “Kyla wants to hang out.”

  Luna laughed and then stopped walking to think about it. After a thoughtful pause and a glance around she nodded. “Ask her to come with us, we’ll just keep walking around.”

  I grinned happily. “Me and Luna are in town just walking around. Want to come?”

  I crossed my fingers and held my breath until Kyla answered. “Yeah sure! Where do you want me to meet you guys?”

  “There’s a little restaurant on Anthony and Tuft. How about there?” I asked as I began walking again and led Luna down the street toward the restaurant.

  I could hear Kyla shuffling around and then the metallic rattling as she found her keys. “Sounds good, I’ll see you guys soon.”

  Entering the near empty diner, I followed Luna to a booth near the center of the restaurant. The tan leather seat squeaked against my jeans as I slid in across from my sister, still facing the door so I could see when Kyla came in. I picked up the menu and inattentively flipped through without really reading it, and a second later set it back down only to anxiously tap my fingers on the table top.

  Luna scoffed at my restlessness, set her own menu down and folded her hands on the table in front of her. “Are you seriously nervous? You should be over it by now.”

  “No,” I answered impulsively, and then realizing that I was fidgeting laughed at myself and took a deep breath. “Kyla’s in your math class right? What do you think of her?”

  “She’s pretty cool,” Luna told me with a shrug as she picked up her menu to look through it again. Receiving an unsatisfied glare, she put the menu back down and took a moment to think. “She’s really nice, maybe one of the sweetest people in our class. She’s in a senior math so she’s smart, and she’s pretty cute I guess.”

  “Cute?” I repeated with an offended sneer, at which she laughed.

  “I know you think she’s like super beautiful. But to the casual observer,” Luna raised an argumentative eyebrow and repeated her former statement. “Cute.”

  I looked up to the ceiling thoughtfully and then nodded my agreement. Kyla was certainly cute. The waitress came by to take our drink order, and both Luna and I asked for Coke while I ordered lemonade for Kyla. As she disappeared I turned back to my sister to ask more about Kyla.

  “Does she talk a lot in class?” I leaned forward, interested in hearing Luna’s answer, but instead of responding she rolled her eyes.

  “Ever since you met her she’s all I hear about, and she’s going to be here any minute and I’m already going to be the third wheel. Can we talk about something else for like two minutes?” Luna picked up her menu once again and opened it to the sandwich page. “What are you getting?”

  I sighed in defeat, but then grinned as I teased, “I’ll order whatever Kyla gets.” Luna snapped her menu shut in exasperation and glared at me. At the look I laughed and threw my hands up, begging not
to get smacked. “Kidding! I might have a burger.”

  Finally letting her read the menu in peace I sat there, patiently and discreetly staring towards the door of the diner. I’d nearly begun daydreaming when about five minutes later the big wooden door swung open and Kyla stopped at the entrance to search the restaurant.

  “Kyla!” I called, standing to wave her over, and after I let her slide in I sat back down nearest the aisle.

  “Thank you,” Kyla said, and after settling into her seat she smiled at Luna. “Hi, Luna.”

  “Hey. You find this place okay?” Finally deciding what she wanted, Luna closed her menu and set it at the edge of the table.

  “Yeah, it wasn’t too hard to find,” Kyla answered and was about to say something else when the waitress returned with our drinks and set them in the center of the table.

  “I got you a lemonade, is that okay?” I asked, pushing it toward Kyla. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Luna teasingly mouthing my words, so I kicked her hard under the table.

  “Perfect, thanks.” Kyla smiled sweetly and then passed a questioning glance to Luna, who slapped her hand on the table in pain. An amused chuckle escaped me as I could tell Luna was holding back a growl. Had we been at home, she probably would have let out a full-blown snarl. Hell, she might’ve even jumped across the table at me. “So, what are you guys doing in town today?”

  “Just hanging out, walking around,” I answered and took an antsy sip of my drink.

  I don’t know how I was still nervous whenever I was around Kyla, but it was bad. Especially when Luna was around, because I wouldn’t put it past her to completely humiliate me just for kicks. It got even worse when Kyla shifted in the small booth, crossing her leg to put it beneath her and causing her knee to rest against my thigh. She didn’t even seem to notice, but my cheeks flared and I could see a smirk on Luna’s face when she looked at me, as it must have been obvious I was coming completely undone.