Liz was always the best and always got what she wanted. She worked her ass off to be the best. And I never got in her way. It was exhausting to fight against her. She’d never failed at anything.
What if this was the real Liz under all her achievements, and she was finally showing her true self because she had no idea how to handle failure.
If this was the real her, I had no idea who my sister was, and Collin was right. She was dangerous.
Twelve
Liz wouldn’t even look at me anymore and refused to speak to me or accept my help in the kitchen.
It bothered me, but I could handle it.
Then one night she got a phone call and spent hours talking.
Her spirits raised, and she was almost back to normal. Was she talking to Collin again? If she was, I would kill him for making me sound like some lying, jealous freak.
She was also texting constantly, giggling whenever her phone beeped.
She was driving me up a wall.
I tried to ignore it. I mean my life was filled with more important stuff than my sister’s dating life.
Another hunt was approaching.
Dad had asked Greg what happened to the werewolves they captured, but apparently Greg’s reply had been vague.
I could see that it worried him. If they didn’t kill them, then what did they do with them?
“You really think that they might be setting them free? Dad, they live for the kill as much as we do,” Theo said.
“This is a different group, son.”
I continued washing the dishes, trying to make as little noise as possible so I could hear what they said.
Liz was looking down at her phone again and laughing.
“Who are you talking to?” I snapped at her.
“None of your damn business,” she snapped back and walked out of the kitchen, dialing a number with that excited look in her eye.
I could imagine Collin on the other side of that call and it bothered me more than it should.
Not that I had any idea why. Hell, if he wanted to take her back, then he could.
But after he’d told me he never should’ve let their relationship progress as far as it had what did this say about him? And if it was him, why was he doing this? To make me and my sister fight?
Nothing made sense to me.
My mind was so preoccupied with Liz’s phone conversations, I didn’t listen to the rest Dad and Theo’s conversation When I tuned into their conversation again, they were silent, and I turned my head to look at them. They both seemed deep in thought, worry marring the faces I loved.
That night, I had the same vision about the Alpha. It was almost as if he was calling out to me.
Why was I seeing this shit? To soften my view on the wolves? I was a hunter! I was meant to kill wolves.
I was taught to see wolves as sadistic monsters, but lately I didn’t know what they were.
They could think and talk rationally. Monsters weren’t rational. They killed, they loved the kill.
I froze. Did that make me a monster?
I loved the kill.
In the days before a hunt, I became furious because they wouldn’t let me join. And I missed hunting.
I wasn’t getting visions about their hunts anymore; now I only saw visions of the war and the Alpha.
It bothered me that my visions showed me three different versions of how the war would play out.
Why did I keep seeing this war? It had nothing to do with humans.
I needed answers, answers I doubted Collin would give me.
I eased into my old self when the hunt neared, and so did Liz. She was almost completely back to the Liz I knew, except she wasn’t speaking to me.
She hated me for what I’d said. Collin had made me sound like a liar.
Idiot.
I watched Greg’s truck roll up in front of our house the night before the next hunt. Collin opened his door and swung out on his crutches. I smiled to myself; he was more comfortable using them than before.
I was shocked when Liz ignored him completely. I’d thought she’d be all over him.
The corner of his mouth quirked up. He was unreadable. “Good evening, partner,” he said in a Cowboy accent.
“Evening,” I said sullenly.
“Ru,” my father said. “If you get control over your visions, I’ll be happy to have you hunt. Until then, this is it, kiddo.”
“Yeah, whatever, Dad.”
“Don’t be mad. I love you and want to keep you safe.”
“I know,” I muttered on a sigh.
He brushed a kiss on my forehead. “Take care of my farm,” he said to Collin.
“Got it,” Collin said calmly with a grin.
I flicked my eyes over to Liz, and she quickly looked away when she saw me watching her.
Like last time, I stayed outside, leaning against the doorframe until I couldn’t see the trucks anymore.
I went back inside and locked the door behind me. Determined to give Collin a piece of my mind, I practically flew to the kitchen, where he’d already made himself at home.
“You made me sound like a liar to Liz!”
“What now?”
“Forget it,” I snapped, spinning on my heels to head to my room.
I should’ve stayed downstairs, but a nagging headache flared in my head, the oncoming vision driving me out of my mind.
My visions were becoming more frequent and I was left with more questions.
When the vision passed, I returned downstairs and found Collin in the living room, lounging on the couch and watching television.
He glanced at me as I sat down next to him, then returned his attention back to the television.
“I have questions,” I said, my eyes glued to the television.
“Shoot.” He sounded so relaxed, at ease with any potential question I might ask him. I hated that he didn’t ask me what I’d meant earlier, but perhaps he knew exactly what I had been talking about.
“Why am I seeing wolves in my visions?”
From the corner of my eye, I saw him smile. I turned my head toward him, brow furrowed.
“You’re not gonna like the answer to that question, Ru.”
“Try me.”
“You are not going to like that answer,” he enunciated every word carefully.
I pursed, my lips, bouncing my foot on the floor, waiting.
Collin rubbed the back of his neck, pushing his head back into the couch cushion. “You’re seeing wolves, and the hunts, and the war, because you are connected to the wolves.”
I gulped audibly. “What?”
“Ru…”
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” I closed my eyes. “Are you telling me I’m supposed to be a damn wolf?”
Collin blew out a breath. “Wolves can’t change anyone at random. Only certain people.”
My eyes flew open as I whirled my head toward him.
“What do you mean?”
Collin leaned forward, repositioning his leg. “Your mother, how did she die?”
“A wolf killed her.”
“Are you sure the wolf wanted to kill her?”
A chill rushed up my spine. “What are you saying?”
“Sometimes wolves don’t know their own strength. There are times when they’ve wanted to change someone but ended up killing them by accident.”
“No. No. No! There’s no way my mother was wolf material.”
“How do you know?”
“She was married to a freaking hunter, Collin!”
He shrugged. “Did she have the same gift you have?
“No. My dad would’ve told me. Only my grandmother had this.”
“Your bloodline can be changed. Well, it seems only you and your brother can be changed, not the rest of your family.”
“Theo can be changed?”
“The men all bear the mark. That mark on your brother isn’t a normal birthmark, Ru. It’s the mark of the wolves. Theo needs to be careful. If they see it,
wolves will attack him and try to change him.”
“I don’t have the mark.”
“No, but you have the sight. All women have the sight, and they each see different things. If the wolves ever find out about you, they will come for you, Ru, and someone important will turn you, whether you want to be changed or not. Seeing the Great War as vividly as you do is extremely rare.”
“But I see other things as well.”
“It’s normal for you to see a range of things while you’re young. It’ll stabilize eventually. You’ll get the hang of the visions, and will be able to function normally, but it won’t last.”
“What do you mean?” My heart raced in anticipation of his next words, worry coursing through every vein.
“My mother once told me that human bodies can’t handle the ability. Why do you think they change these women into werewolves?”
I pulled at my hair. “But my grandmother?”
“She is a mystery. My wolf mother told me that no human body can handle it.”
“What are you saying?”
“Your will become sick, Ru. This ability will kill you in a few years.”
“I have to become a monster if I don’t want to die?” My mouth was suddenly dry.
“Not all of them are monsters, Ru. I grew up with a pack that didn’t kill.”
“How is that even possible?”
“They had cages during the full moon. Strong, silver cages that contained them. Werewolves weren’t made to kill humans. We fear them because they are the unknown, but they have a bigger purpose in this life. They were created to kill vampires, but something went wrong during the blood moon and they became deranged. They started killing innocent humans, then they turned on each other. The vampires were not a threat to them anymore. Many died that day, Ru. Many.”
“Collin, why do you want to find the Alpha? Tell me the truth this time.”
“Greg told you the truth. We want to find the Alpha so we can put all the wolves out of their misery.”
“You know what I’ve seen in my visions, so that clearly isn’t going to happen.”
“I know. I told Greg, and he believes that visions aren’t set in stone.”
“He hasn’t lived mine yet.”
“But you manage to change it all the time, Ru. Your family is still alive because you’re always saving their asses, changing the future. So, it’s important that you tell me everything you see.”
“I am,” I lied.
He smiled. “Okay.”
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands. “Theo and I should be wolves?” I mumbled.
“I didn’t say you should be. You wouldn’t die if a wolf bit you, you would become wolves.”
I groaned. “My dad is going to love that.”
“Ru, you can’t tell anyone about this.”
I lifted my head to look at him. “Why not?”
“I mean it. You can’t tell anyone. Trust me.” He turned his attention back to the television, effectively dismissing the conversation.
As if I would even contemplate telling anyone. My sister wasn’t speaking to me, and my father basically kept me on house arrest. If I told them about this, my father would probably have Theo sit hunts out as well, and then he’d hate me too.
I looked back at him. This new knowledge weighed heavily on my heart.
I huffed.
“What is it?” Collin asked.
“You say not all of them are killers. How do you kill them, Collin?”
Collin looked down at his lap, as silence grew between us. “I don’t. I’m only present during the interrogation, and then I walk away,” he finally said.
I was starting to feel sorry for the wolves. “Have you ever felt like you’re betraying your family?”
“Every day,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
He smiled as his eyes glazed over. “My mother told me that there would come a time when the wolves would all regain their memory during the full moon. They wouldn’t kill humans anymore, and they’d finally do what they had been created to do. She believed that someone would come, born human, and that person alone would keep them sane during the full moon.”
“One person?” I asked skeptically. It sounded insane.
He nodded. “When that person comes along, the wolves wouldn’t need to be caged anymore. They’d be free to hunt the one thing they were meant to hunt—vampires.”
“What about us?”
He smiled. “It’s probably a myth. Greg laughed when I told him.”
“Your mother believed this?”
“They all did. When Greg mentioned how he found me, he was lying. They were in the vicinity, but they didn’t do the killing. My mother said that my cries woke her up, brought her out of her deranged thoughts. She broke out of her cage, and she came to my rescue. She killed the loner that attacked my family and didn’t harm me in the slightest. But it wasn’t the same during the next full moon. She had to go back into her cage. And once again, I was alone during full moons.”
“Those doesn’t sound like happy memories.”
He laughed. “It was only during full moons, and they hated it.”
“So, you believe this Alpha can change everyone back?”
He shook his head. “Not the Alpha, someone else. As the story goes, the Alpha was irate. Werewolves were created to protect humans, but they’ve become part of the destruction instead. That was when the prophecy was made. A human with a different type of mark would be born and he would make them all sane. The Alpha said he would only wake once that happened.”
“Hang on… then he won’t be the Alpha anymore?”
“He’ll still be the Alpha, Ru, but he’d have his beta at his side. Why is this getting under your skin?”
“It isn’t. But… it puts the werewolves in a different light for me.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
In fact, this was all making me feel like the monster. I loved the kill. If the wolves weren’t supposed to be vile and evil…
Conflict raged through me. I had no idea how to feel anymore. I had the potential to become one, and that thought frightened me.
I had never known that only certain people would be able to survive the change.
My family had been hunting wolves all these years, and we knew so little about them—Collin had made me realize that.
He turned back to the TV show.
A part of me could understand why Liz morphed into such a pathetic person because of him. Collin was interesting and had an inexplicable magnetic pull about him. Not to mention he was insanely hot.
But he had more than looks going for him. There was something about his personality, the quietness that teetered on the brink of sadness, that beckoned to me. He seemed to have a gentle soul.
He didn’t push, and he didn’t annoy me as much as I thought he did.
Oh crap, I was falling for him.
My sister was going to kill me.
I cleared my throat. “I’m going to take a bath. There are leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry.” My voice was both gruff and meek, not at all like how I usually sounded.
He simply nodded at me, and I walked upstairs.
I took a shower instead of a bath, and as the hot water ran over my body, I willed it to make me normal, to wash away this gift that would eventually kill me. If only the water had the ability to do that.
Collin knew so much about the wolves, and I sympathized with him for being forced to kill them now.
After my shower, I returned to the living room where Collin had a deck of cards laid out in solitaire in the coffee table.
“You love all the lonely games.”
He chuckled and then I noticed what he was wearing: a T-shirt and a pair of boxers that showed off his sculpted legs.
“Something like that. You want to play gin or poker?”
“Dad doesn’t like poker. He says it’s one of the biggest sins out there. But I’m ready to learn
if you teach me.”
“A rebel, I like that” he said with a hint of what could be flirtation, but I decided not to read into it.
“It’s fairly easy. I’ll break it down for you.”
I sat down next to him as he outlined the rules. It sounded easy, and once he was certain I had the hang of it, he dealt the first hand.
Thirteen
Sick of the house, we went into town the next day. We played games at the old arcade and walked through the street fair. Collin even managed to get onto most of the rides with his cast.
As we walked side by side, my heart fluttered. My palms were sweaty. Butterflies fought a war in my stomach, and they flipped every time he smiled or made a joke. The way he smelled…
I was falling for him. I told myself he was off-limits, but I was completely head over heels.
Collin won a humongous teddy bear at a shooting game, and held it out to me.
I shook my head. “I can win my own stuff. Hold onto that bear,” I teased.
Collin gave me a lopsided grin as I picked up the game gun, cocked it, and aimed, pulling the trigger in quick succession. Every duck went down before they’d even been fully raised on the platform.
Some onlookers applauded, and I gave a mock bow.
“I did exactly that and no one applauded me,” Collin grumbled.
“I guess it’s more interesting when a woman does it. We can do everything you can, but you can’t do everything we can.” I joked.
He looked unimpressed, but I saw the smile in his eyes.
“I’m kidding.” I bumped him with my hip, then quickly grabbed his hand so he didn’t topple over his cast.
We burst into a fit of giggles.
“Do you want me to break my other leg as well?”
“That’s the plan. Then I won’t have to sit alone at home once you’re all healed up and ready to hunt.”
“Ru, you know your father is right. You can rejoin when you get you gift under control.”
“After what you told me last night, I don’t know if I can kill wolves again, Collin.”
“It’s not easy. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m glad you did. I already suspected they weren’t all deranged like that pack we took out a month ago. The visions showed me that much.”
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