Clarity (8 page)

“Who were you expecting?” he asked.

I shook my head, swallowing my surprise. Jeremy looked nothing like the rest of the family. He was fair-skinned, blue-eyed, a little scruffy, and... different. On second thought, he resembled
Jakob
, or at least, the new version of
Jakob
.

“Jeremy’s staying with us for a while.” Conspicuous hostility tainted Nathan’s voice.

“Why the hell are you so edgy?” Jeremy asked, sounding more amused than annoyed.

A wave of pink swam up Nathan’s neck and cheeks. “Byron warned me... to be careful, that you might get weird around
Perdita
because of the curse. But don’t get it twisted. She doesn’t belong to you.”

My own cheeks flushed with heat, mortified heat, curl up in a ball and let the ground swallow me up kind of heat.

Jeremy laughed as if Nathan’s warning was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “No offence, but I’m not into them that young.” He shook my limp hand, still laughing. “Maybe this needs a do-over. I’m Jeremy. I take it you’re the infamous soul mate. I apologise for looking at you without Nathan’s permission, but I didn’t expect the scary werewolf killer to look like a… well, a little girl.”

Amelia giggled, smothering her laughter when I whipped my head in her direction.

“Why are you back?” Nathan asked.

“Grandpa Dearest pretty much demanded it. I came for the memorial, but he says I have to stay until we deal with business.” Jeremy shook his head. “Bossier than I remembered. He’s not doing so well; is he?”

“Not really,” Nathan said. “What’s he been up to?”

“Hunting them down,” Jeremy replied. “He’s hell-bent on finding the ones who came here, but even more determined to find the one who sent them. He reckons me and you need to hunt together. He thinks Dad isn’t up for the job.”

“Byron’s up for it,” Nathan said. “He needs to think things through. That’s all.”

“Well, whatever. No harm in having an extra wolf around in case there’s a fight. Any signs?”

“If there were, there would have been a fight already.”

“That’s more like it.” Jeremy slapped Nathan’s shoulder. “Where have you lot been hunting lately?”

The conversation turned a little too
wolfy
and warlike, and I was more than happy when Amelia dragged me into the kitchen to let her brother and cousin bond.

“Too weird,” she hissed once we got out of werewolf earshot.

“What is?”

“He’s our cousin and all, but I don’t even know him. He left when I was a little kid. Hasn’t been back since. He makes me uncomfortable or something. He kind of reminds me of... those others, you know?”

She blushed, but I got what she was saying. Her family was pretty tame, relatively speaking, but whenever Jeremy looked in my direction, I instinctively wanted to take a step backward. Aside from his natural aggression, he had that air of
just hunted
about him. I was beginning to recognise the lightness and freeness in all of the werewolves right after the hunt. I tried not to think of what the hunt entailed, because I might never want to kiss Nathan again if I imagined a visual.

“What’s going on anyway?”

She shrugged, and when she spoke, her voice was laden with bitterness. “As if they’d tell the non-wolf.” I pitied her then, how she felt left out from her own family because she was relatively normal. I found it strange when Nathan felt left out for not embracing how similar he was to them.

Byron stormed out of his office, seemingly intent on leaving the house in a strop, but a pretty, dark-haired woman stopped him, resting her hand on his shoulder as she spoke to him. He stepped back, forcing her to drop her hand. Her face fell with it.

“Who’s that?” I asked Amelia.

“Who? Oh… the caterer, I think. She might have organised the whole thing, actually. Why?”

“Never mind.” I watched until he turned on his heel and walked away, leaving the woman staring regretfully after him. She was obviously interested in him, but he was typically cold to her. I knew his mate was gone, but surely he could have other relationships. Did the curse really doom men to be alone in the end?

Gran waved, and we reluctantly joined her. Her gaggle of old ladies had already left, and she was probably feeling a little lonely since she decided to
not
engage in a conversation with
Erin
.

“How are you doing, little one?” she said to Amelia, who pretty much lapped up the attention.

“Who’s that with Nathan?” Dad asked.

“Cousin. Home for a while.”

“He looks quite happy, considering why we’re here.”

“Stop being so
judgy
. Sorry,” I amended when I saw the look on his face. “But please, try to be nice to Nathan’s family.”

“I wasn’t planning on being anything but nice.” He sounded offended, but I knew him. “I thought Joey might have been here.”

“Tammie probably wouldn’t let him come. She doesn’t like Nathan and Amelia.”

“Why?”

“Oh, she hates all of those tattoos. And the drug-taking. Plus Amelia’s part-time job as a pole dancer bothers her.” I rolled my eyes. “Come off it, Dad. It’s Tammie. She doesn’t need an excuse. She’s horrible for reasons known only to her, and at this stage, I seriously doubt she even knows herself.”

“I said one word,
Perdy
.
Erin
, did I imply anything at all?”

Erin
grinned. “Not in so many words. Luckily,
Perdy
knows you better than that.”

“Stop ganging up on me,” he said. He gave a little
ick
-worthy grin. “Still, if Tammie doesn’t like them, it probably means they’re decent.”

“Um, she loves Joey,” I reminded him.

He snorted. “Love. Teenagers don’t love.” He wandered off to chat to someone else.

“So,”
Erin
said. “Feeling okay?”

“Yep.”

I stared at Nathan, forgetting all about
Erin
. His conversation was full of animation, and I was relieved he was getting on with his cousin, even if I was a little peeved that he had made some pretty big assumptions because of his cousin’s appearance. And his behaviour in general would still require a conversation or three.

I wished Tammie and Joey were around. They would have been company while Nathan and Jeremy caught up, and Amelia floated around like a miniature social butterfly.

My heart practically fell to my feet when I saw
Jakob
, closely followed by Byron, approach my father.

“You should all stay for a few drinks when everyone is gone,”
Jakob
said. “It’s probably about time our families got to know one another, now that our children are such good friends.” He gave me a distinctly
wolfy
smile, and I had to wonder what his game was. Byron looked horrified, and I wasn’t surprised. It was a big enough deal to have people in his home without keeping some of them around for even longer.

As if seeing my alarm, although she couldn’t have known the real reason for it,
Erin
winked at me and linked Dad’s arm to lead him outside.

“What are you doing?” I asked
Jakob
.

“Getting to know our neighbours,”
Jakob
said.

“I don’t want my family in the middle of anything.” I wondered why the dogs out back had suddenly started barking.
Cú
was among them, his time with my family over. I had been more than a little sad to see him leave.

Jakob
cocked his head almost imperceptibly, quickly glancing at the window, but I noticed because I was busy glaring at him.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of blond curls pass by the window. I whipped my head around, but she was gone. I ran to the window and spotted a familiar figure that removed her jacket before disappearing into a crowd of people. My stomach dropped.

“What is it?” Byron asked.

“I thought I saw her. No, I did see her.
Her
, her.”

“Here? Unlikely.”

“I’m telling you, it was her. She’s going to hurt someone,” I said, already in a panic.

“Not possible,”
Jakob
scoffed, but he grabbed my arm.

I wriggled in his grasp, desperate to get free. “Let go of me!”

“Dad, what are you doing?” Byron glanced around the room nervously, while trying to quietly wrench my arm free from his father’s grip.

Once loose, I moved out of the way before
Jakob
could grab me again. “It was her!” I shouted, grabbing the attention of most of the room. I didn’t care; I was already hurrying out the door. I had to know for sure.

The screams came before I made it outside. I ran faster, but in my heart, I knew I was already too late.

A couple of people ran toward me, their faces pale with shock as they tried to escape whatever had happened. I ignored them, heading straight for the figure on the ground. A woman made an awful sound.
Erin
. Deep down, I had already known, but I had to see for myself.

Prone on the ground, blood gushing from a wound to his neck, my father stared upward, his breathing shallow.
Erin
pushed me out of the way so she could put pressure on the wound. Blood dribbled from a gash on her forehead, but she ignored it to help Dad.

I heard people whispering.

“Wild dog.”

“… attack…”

“… not looking good.”

I couldn’t see her, but it had definitely been her, the werewolf. And not one of Nathan’s family had done a thing to stop her.

I knelt by my dad, listening to people call for an ambulance, and touched his clammy skin. “Daddy. Daddy, please.” His eyes rolled in his head, his skin deathly white. I glanced behind me and met the eyes of
Jakob
Evans, who had the tiniest smile on his lips.

“I told you she was here!” I screamed, running straight at him, fists flying.

He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even try to stop me, and somehow that felt like an admission of guilt.

“This is all your fault,” I hissed as Jeremy lifted me away from his grandfather. “You did this!”

Jakob’s
face remained completely blank, as though I didn’t even exist. I caught a glimpse of Byron holding on to Nathan, Amelia sobbing behind them. Then, I was ushered into the ambulance, words and noises buzzing around me meaninglessly.

Nathan

One minute, I was chatting to Jeremy about the best way to sniff out a cold trail, the next,
Perdita’s
cry froze my blood. The sound kicked me in the gut, and I was outside before Jeremy, stopping short when I saw her dad on the ground, bleeding. Confusion and fear flooded the air along with the scent of blood, but not half as much as her pain and rage. Her eyes were wild with emotion as she screamed at my grandfather.

I tried to go to her, but Byron grabbed my shoulders. “Not now,” he whispered. “She won’t hear you right now.”

“But what happened?”

“Werewolf attack. Keep calm. Don’t breathe through your nose too much.”

I choked down my response as the familiar smell of enemy werewolf invaded my nostrils. I should have ripped out her throat when I had the chance.

Amelia was crying. Tears were rolling down
Perdita’s
face; she looked as though her heart were breaking. Jeremy’s hands were on her, and I wanted to break those fingers, but Byron held tight, and something inside me froze.

Erin
led
Perdita
into the ambulance, and before the doors closed,
Perdita
caught my eye, her stare filled with betrayal and pain, but most of all, anger. I knew Byron was right. She hated us. She blamed us. Her father had been attacked right under our noses, and not one of us had done a thing to stop it.

It took at least an hour to get everyone off our property and probably longer for the situation to really sink in. They all talked about the attack in excited voices—how big the dog had been, how dangerous and wolf-like, how they were all so lucky that they hadn’t been hurt, too. Indignant vows were made to call the dog warden and even the newspapers first thing on Monday morning. Proclamations were declared against backyard breeders who were obviously creating those fashionable wolf hybrids. They talked of how it was a disgrace that wild dogs could wander around attacking people without being caught.

Blood had been drawn. There were reliable witnesses, and that meant the whole wild dog situation would finally be taken seriously. Life was going to get awkward.

But all I could think about was the werewolf attack and how it could possibly have happened at our home, of all places, and in front of everyone. That had to have been intentional. Could we have even reacted had we seen a werewolf? What would we have done, shifted in front of our neighbours? That was what I should have done. I should have paid attention to the warning barks of the dogs. I should have caught the scent of strange werewolf. I should have been there to stop her. The mess of people had confused my instincts, muddled my senses. If only I had been there…