by Holly Hook
Cayden takes Alex's other shoulder. Together, we walk him towards Colling so fast that Callie, as athletic as she is, can barely keep up.
I'm carrying a man who tried to kill me.
And as I do, Alex keeps his gaze on the ground.
We reach Colling and pull him through the empty lot. Callie holds open the door to the now-closed Eatery and we pull Alex inside. In a twist of fate, we lay on the same table Remo occupied after his encounter with wolfsbane. Alex pants. And then he looks at Callie.
"I bet Earl's going to kill me."
"I'll try to stop him," Callie says. "Don't know where he is, but I might convince him not to strangle you." It's a threat and I realize what she's doing. If Alex tries to hurt her, she's going to make sure she gets people on her side. Callie's not stupid. She knows how to play this game.
"And Alex," I say, standing over him as he shivers.
He faces me but flicks his gaze down to his Hunter coat. "Yes?"
"I have the pack on my side. Your conspirator is gone now. I'm alpha and you have no authority over them. Got that?"
Alex swallows. "Got it."
Callie goes to call an ambulance. I smile, knowing Alex is about to take an expensive ride to the hospital for an even more expensive stay. But I eye Cayden and feel my smile falling away. He mouths, Lawrence.
We have to talk, then. I leave Alex on the table as Earl walks back into the restaurant to join Callie. Two guys I've never seen before walk behind him, and though they're both about his age, they walk with experience and purpose. Both wear long leather coats and I glimpse the handle of another dagger on a belt. One man who shares Callie's narrow nose nods at me. More Sterlings. More relatives who can never know who I am. I pray Callie's threat hangs over Alex enough to keep him silent to these guys.
"Looks like Earl has been calling more former Noble Order Hunters," Cayden says once the door closes behind us.
"Lawrence is still out there," I say, eyeing the trees. "We should drive him out, too."
"He did something stupid," Cayden says, fighting against my influence. "His grandmother duped him. I can't believe it."
"Well, she's old and she'd know the real history of the Order better than any of us," I say as another car pulls into the dirt parking lot of Maggie's Eatery. I smell more humans inside and spot two men and two women, all also dressed in leather, inside. The Hunters are gathering. Alex was just the first.
"That's why I drove her out," Cayden says.
"Can she come back?" I lean close and whisper in his ear.
"Once you're exiled, that's it. Coming back means death."
"Lawrence. We need to find him, now, before he blabs about me to anyone else. And then we need to figure out a way to explain to the new pack members why we drove them out. We're going to have to lie." Lawrence might have been duped, but he's still dangerous. And he'll maintain contact with his grandmother.
Cayden grins. "That's where acting comes in."
* * * * *
We run through the forest as Wolves again, since our senses pop in our wild forms. Everly, Remo, and Aunt May join us, summoned by Cayden's worried texts earlier. They also sprint as Wolves, past the thawing pond where Alex fell through. As the ambulance sirens go off in the distance and then cut out as they reach the restaurant, I bolt around the crater, determined to leave the memory behind me, and lead the others into the woods.
Mostly, I want to get away from the Colling part of the pack before they realize something's off. We're entering the most dangerous part of this fight. With the Order gathering, one wrong move could destroy me and everyone else.
It takes us a long time to cross the forest between Colling and Breck, even running at full speed, and though Lawrence's scent still lingers on the ground where we confronted him two hours before, one sniff tells me it's stale and he's fled to the south.
Follow him, I think.
The scent trail stays faint—Lawrence fled in human form—and remains so as we follow leaves, branches, and underbrush to the southern edge of our territory. I stop when I reach our scent border, revolted that Abigail's scent is still on the trees here. She was ready for the coup. Now that I see her intent, I nod to Cayden.
I'll take care of that soon, he says with angry hazel eyes.
We all will. Everly walks up beside me and glares at the tree that carries her scent.
I eye the woods ahead, at the neutral territory. Lawrence has fled, just as Matthew had on that terrifying night.
Cayden stands beside me. I don't know if he'll come back. We didn't drive him out.
I swallow. He left on his own. Lawrence can meet his grandmother again. She'll tell him my full secret. And then he might be free to come back when the Order is all together again. The scent trail leading into oblivion tells me he's going to be the worm that eats us from the inside out.
* * * * *
We all head back to the Lowe cabin, change back, and dress. I hate to leave my ransacked house in a mess and my box somewhere out in the woods, but a horrifying thought hits me as I step into the kitchen where the others stand around the table, waiting for my next decision. Abigail dropped my box of mementos out in the woods, including the Wolf Men book with my mother's name inside.
But as I open my mouth to say this, Callie hits Cayden's phone with a text. He hands it to me.
Got your box of stuff. Uncle A at hospital. We took his weapons so he 'wouldn't get in trouble.' :)
I grin. Callie and I are going to get along well.
"One problem's solved," I say with a sigh of relief. I hand Cayden his phone.
"She's awesome," he says. Even in human form, my hearing picks up the undertone of his words. He's still worried about Callie. We all are. And he's worried about me. I still have to tell him about Romulus's attempt to return to me in the woods. And we still have yet to go through Brett's little book.
"Cayden, you still have Brett's book?" I ask.
"Sure do. We'll take it to the Russells with us."
"Making sense of ugly symbols isn't your strong suit. Maybe it's the only thing you're bad at." I wink at Cayden, drawing a welcome smile.
Everly rolls her eyes.
Cayden must see it from the edge of his vision, because he wraps his hand in mine and squeezes. Electricity flies as he rubs his thumb on the back of my hand. My body craves another break from all of this and it will be painful to wait. But we're almost there and I can't wait to tell the Russells what I discovered at the pond. That just maybe, Remus is with us and needs a bit more coaxing to return.
"We're late to Leonora's get-together," I mutter.
Cayden frowns. "We'll take the book. They'll be able to help us with it."
"And I'll tell them what I experienced. I'm sure Leonora will forgive me after that."
"Oh. Remus?"
I kiss Cayden on the cheek to be awarded with another eye-roll from Everly. Remo just grins and holds an envelope in front of her eyes while Aunt May stifles a laugh.
"I'll tell you more about it we get to the Russells'," I say. "Getting the Order back together is a must. We'll just have to worry about everything else later. Like right after we get everyone to meet." I'm glad Earl and Callie are helping and we have Alex and Abigail out of the way. For now. But the danger will return.
Cayden returns my kiss. "Well, let's go and gather all our people and our pack. Princess."
END OF BOOK FIVE
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Holly Hook is the author of several Young Adult fantasy, science fiction, fairytale, post-apocalyptic and adventure series. She has been writing since very yo
ung and publishing her work since September of 2010.
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