Circle of Lies (Red Ridge Pack) (3 page)

Better? No fucking way. Instinctively I tried to sit up, but I failed miserably and excruciating pain shot through my body. I saw nothing but stars. Then darkness.

*****

I opened my eyes to find the room empty except for Marcus, who now sat in the chair next to my bed. I glanced his way, and he gave me a half-smile then looked down at his hands.

Shit. I’d hoped it was just a bad dream, learning that Dad wasn’t my real father, or maybe a delusion brought on by the drugs still dripping into my arm. But after a short pause Marcus shifted his gaze toward the door and said, “Well, that didn’t go exactly how I imagined.”

How he’d imagined? How the hell had he expected me to react? And why did he care?

“How about
you
just tell me what’s up,” I muttered. “Since you’re in charge here. Someone needs to.” I was unable to keep the frustration out of my voice. From what I could see, this pack was full of lies and secrets. I thought I’d moved to New Mexico to be part of a werewolf pack, not a group of liars and hypocrites. If I couldn’t even trust my own family, how could I trust this almost-stranger sitting by my hospital bedside?

Marcus leaned in and seemed to be debating whether or not to take my hand. I made up his mind by pulling away. I couldn’t stop him from talking, though. I couldn’t stop him from saying whatever would come next.

“Aiden, I’m just going to giving it to you straight. I’m your real father. There. Now you know.”

So, that was the moment I realized my entire life had actually been a lie. Complete and utter bullshit. It was crazy. Anger, hurt, and confusion swallowed me whole, and I closed my eyes and turned away. The man who raised me, who taught me to catch a ball, to ride a bike, to do all of those important things that are milestones in a boy’s life was not my father. Not really. Worse than that? Marcus, this werewolf, this pack alpha, my mom’s ex, was.

I couldn’t look at him. Not when I didn’t even know who I was anymore.

4.

Peter

The road was a dark and lonely place. Peter had nothing to keep him company except for his favorite talk-radio show,
Coast to Coast with George Noory
, and his thoughts. His thoughts were deep. On nights such as this, the memory of his Uncle Raymond came flooding back. The memory of Raymond’s death.

He’d been just a boy when it happened, eleven years old when his favorite relative and the only father figure he’d ever known invited Peter on his first hunting trip. A short time later, he’d stood hidden in the protection of the woods and watched in horror as his uncle was torn to pieces. For as long as he lived, he would never erase that scene from his memory. He couldn’t.

His uncle had been convinced there were werewolves living among them, humans that looked just like ordinary people but who could shift into wolf form. Raymond had spent months trying to convince him and finally decided that it was time for Peter to see for myself. The trip took them into the wilds. It wasn’t long before they spotted a wolf, either—and his uncle didn’t waste any time. Peter watched from a safe distance as his uncle raised his gun…but before he could pull the trigger, another wolf blasted out of the thick brush and mauled him to death.

It was stranger than that, though. The second wolf was too large and powerful to be any normal animal, and it attacked from behind. Cleverly, tactically. Then, while the life drained from Raymond’s body, the wolf stared directly at Peter. Seconds later it ran into forest, and it was at that moment Peter was finally convinced: The beast was a werewolf. It
had
to be. Given his uncle’s obsession, he’d spent hours on the Internet researching them, and there was no other explanation. Not for the precision with which his uncle was killed, for the human eyes of his killer or the fierce determination behind them.

He’d raced back to the hunting lodge and told the authorities what happened. He was frantic, desperate, but no one believed him. Worse, upon inspection his uncle’s death was ruled an accident. But Peter still knew the truth. He knew that his uncle had done nothing to provoke the attack, and he remembered the malevolent intelligence in the beast’s eyes.

He’d tried to convince his mother that what killed his uncle was no ordinary wolf but something more sinister, and then he’d tried to convince counselors and doctors. The more and more he tried the worse it got for him. First came a long line of therapists, then medication after medication, each with its own unpleasant side effects. Finally, the institution. Peter had spent six and a half years of his life locked inside a psychiatric hospital. His mom visited often at first, but as the years slowly passed her visits became fewer and farther between. By the time Peter was fifteen, the visits stopped altogether.

The horrors he’d witnessed inside the institution still haunted his dreams: the isolation, the padded rooms, the drugs, the needles, the sedatives. The beatings at night when the guards were bored. Peter clinched his eyes shut, trying to block out what else they’d done to him when he was alone at night. No one would believe him about that either.

But now, twenty-one years of age and off all medication, he was free. He’d told the people at the asylum he no longer believed in werewolves, and they’d finally believed him. But his life had purpose. He knew what he had to do. It was up to him and him alone to expose the world’s werewolves. He would make the world see, and then he would make every last one of those wolves pay, every last cold-blooded killer. They would pay for the death of his uncle.

Suddenly, Peter felt a presence in the car next to him. “Hello, Uncle Raymond,” he said, glancing at the passenger seat.

“Hello, Peter,” a voice said back. “I hope you’re ready this time. We’re close to finding them. I can feel it.”

“I’m ready, Uncle. I will not let you down.”

“I hope not,” the voice whispered. “I hope not.”

5.

Aiden

Alli walked into my room without bothering to knock. “Mom told me that you’re planning on going to school Monday. Do you really think you should? You almost died, you know, Ad.”

“Yeah, I know, but Thanksgiving break will be over and…I don’t know. I just have to,” I told her. “I can’t stay in this house for one more day. It’s driving me insane. And I’m fine. It won’t be long before I’m completely healed. One of the perks of being half wolf, I guess.”

I didn’t look up. I’d been trying to read the same book for the past few hours, but with my wandering mind and a helicopter mom, I hadn’t made it very far. Actually, it wasn’t even just her who was helicoptering. I’d come home from the infirmary two days ago and now all three of my parents were hovering. That sounded so weird. All
three
parents? Well, four if you counted Noel. Did she count?

What was I thinking? Marcus didn’t even really count. Technically he was just the sperm donor. And it was bad enough having my mom and dad constantly checking on me. Having Marcus come by several times had made all of this way more uncomfortable than it needed to be.

“What are you going to tell the throngs of females waiting in line to kiss your boo-boos?” Alli asked. “Obviously, you can’t say that you were randomly attacked by a wolf.”

I knew she was messing with me, but she did bring up a good point. What was I going to tell people? Obviously, the full truth was out of the question. People outside of our enclave didn’t know what we were. And the full truth was totally humiliating, even if humans did know of our existence. I mean, I’d gotten my ass handed to me. I’d gotten beaten up by a guy because he could shift and I still couldn’t.

She was right, though. My pride aside, there would be plenty of questions asked, especially looking the way I did. “I haven’t thought about it. Why? What do you think I should I tell them?”

Alli sat down beside me. “It has to be something believable. And, we need to tell everyone the same thing so that our stories match. There will be questions, you know. Marcus said we had to sync our stories.”

“Why not a car accident?” I offered, thinking that would be the easiest excuse, and it was kind of true, even though I wasn’t actually in the car that crashed.

“Whose car? There isn’t a single scratch on ours or mom and dad’s, so that won’t work. Wait… What about a snowboarding accident? We can say that a bunch of us went snowboarding during break and you were…I don’t know, trying some stupid trick or another. That would work. It kind of fits your injuries. It would explain why your arm is in a sling and the cuts on your face,” she added.

“Yeah, that would work, I guess,” I admitted. “But let’s leave out the part about me attempting to be an X-treme snowboarder.”

“What, Ad? Do you have a better idea? Something a little more glamorous to keep your fans all hot and bothered?”

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was just hoping for something that didn’t make me look like a complete klutz.

We were both silent. After a few moments, Allison moved a bit closer, put her hand on my good shoulder and asked, “So, how are you taking the whole Marcus thing?
Really.
I meant to ask you before but…well, you know.”

What the hell was I supposed to say? Mom had been lying to me my entire life. How could she have been pregnant with another man’s baby when she hooked up with Dad, and how could Dad just accept it? It kind of made Mom look like a tramp. I didn’t think she was, though. Everything seemed one big confusing mess.

“I’m okay, I guess,” I said.

Alli didn’t buy it. “You are
so
not okay, Aiden. You don’t think I can tell? How can you just pretend like everything is fine?”

Instinctively I jerked away, which hurt my damn shoulder, but I didn’t need her trying to be all sisterly right now. She had no idea what I was going through. How could she? Before I could stop the words from coming out of my mouth I blurted, “Why do you care, anyway? This is my problem, not yours, and I’ll handle it in my own way, on my own time. Just back off, okay? I don’t need you suffocating me too.”

My sister stood up, furious. “You’re an ass,” she said. Then she stormed out of my room without turning back, practically shaking the house by slamming the door.

I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. Everything was so screwed up.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew Mom was waking me up for dinner and to take my crappy pain meds. I swear, the only proof I’d ever had that I might actually one day become a werewolf was that the damn pain medication didn’t work. It was like taking freaking baby aspirin for a massive migraine. What was the point?

I guess I was healing faster than a normal human would, too.

Mom handed me a pill and cup of water. I tried, I honestly tried to smile and thank her, but I couldn’t. The only thing I saw when I looked at her was betrayal. It was hard to smile at someone who’d been lying to you for your entire life.

“Why don’t you come downstairs and visit with us for a while?” Mom asked.

“Nah, I’m good here.”

“Aiden, we miss you. You haven’t come out of this room since we got back. Not really. It will do you some good to get out of this bed,” she pleaded.

“Mom, I know you’re trying to make this all okay, but I need you to back off. I need some time. Everyone just needs to leave me alone for a while.”

She put the cup of water on my nightstand and backed toward my door. Just before she left she looked down and said, “When you’re ready to talk… Aiden, I really thought I was protecting you from everything I ran away from. I didn’t know it would all turn out like this.”

Then she turned and headed outside and down the hallway. I didn’t have time to respond. Not that I would have known what to say.

6.

Teagan

“Hey, Teagan, wait up!”

It was Alli Wright. She was yelling from across the school parking lot, headed my way with Cade Walker. Close behind were a few other choice members of The Beautiful People: Cami Moore, Becca Sumner, Shari Jones, Luke Stanton, Sammy Cook. All people I could definitely live without. They could usually do without me, too.

Against my better judgment I stopped and waited. I mean, I love Alli, I really do. Even though we only met a month or so ago, she’s been a great friend, always nice, never intrusive, but the crowd that she hangs with now is, well…they’re hateful-ass douche bags, and that’s putting it nicely. I especially didn’t want the day ruined by Cade, a.k.a. the Evil One’s boy toy. What was Alli doing walking with him anyway? At least Kendall was nowhere to be seen. Last year, Kendall Stuart and her crew had made my first week at Red Ridge High a nightmare, and all I’d done was introduce myself to her in class. I had to endure a week of horror simply because I said, “Hi, my name is Teagan.”

Yes, I would have expected Kendall on Cade’s arm, ruling the school as Queen Bitch of Red Ridge’s cultish group of beautiful people, but instead it was Alli hurrying my way with Kendall’s man. Weird.

While Alli and Cade stopped to chat, the rest of their crew thankfully continued into the school. “Hey, Alli. How was your Thanksgiving?” I asked, giving her an awkward hug.

She glanced at Cade before answering. “Interesting, to say the least. What about yours?”

“It was okay.” I didn’t want to discuss the home situation, and there wasn’t much else to say. Also, I might not have known Alli for long, but I could read her face and knew that I was going to hear a really juicy story in first period. There was no point in competing.

Cade slipped his hand into Alli’s. Then, before my brain could register what my eyes were seeing, Alli said it, the absolute last thing I expected to hear, not to mention the absolute last thing I
wanted
to hear.

“Teagan, this is my boyfriend Cade.”

This couldn’t be happening. The douche bags had taken over the only nice person in their strange, exclusive little clique?

I took a short breath before I said anything I’d regret, planted a friendly smile on my face and said, “Hi, Cade. I think we might have met before.”

He held out his hand to shake mine. “Well, it’s nice to meet you again, Teagan.” Then he turned to Alli, gave her a sweet peck on the cheek and politely left us to catch up. Either that, or he could only stand to be around someone like me for short bursts of time. As if my boring normalness might rub off on him.