Marked (The Pack) (29 page)

With one leap, I landed between Jared and the girls who would attack him. I dropped my head low with a menacing growl. My muscles twitched and I felt a power surge within me. Behind me, Jared must have stepped forward because I felt his hand on my hip, holding tightly to my thick black coat. Channing advanced a step, teeth bared, and I met her nose to nose. Then the blonde wolf leapt trying to go over me and get to the boy. I caught her forefoot and tossed her to the ground with such force the earth seemed to shake beneath me. Shakily, Channing got her four feet under her and the three stood together facing me.

From the house behind me, there was a howl and then a yelping growl as two wolves leapt off the porch. They tore across the yard sending chunks of grass flying as they came. The slightly smaller one grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt and dragged him toward the house. The much larger one stood beside me growling. Channing and her two friends held their ground for a few seconds then slowly began to back away, their teeth still showing, dripping saliva. When they disappeared into the woods I could hear them begin to run. A low growl rumbled from the wolf next to me. Before I knew what was happening, I was on my back with teeth closing over my throat. Words like “stupid girl” and “never come back with your killer friends” flashed through my brain. Then the weight lifted and the male wolf loped toward the house.

I entered the woods uncertain what would happen when I caught Channing and the others, not sure if I should even try and catch them. They were crossing the yard of the huge lake house when I came out of the woods. Channing had already morphed to her human form and was entering the boat house. Celina, still in wolf form, turned and raced toward me, hitting me at full speed. We tumbled on the ground, then I realized that Celina was changing, losing her wolf form. She raised her hand to strike me and I knew I should dodge the blow, but I couldn’t. The hand smacked me across the nose. I was frozen there, the double symbols of the plain virus and the mutated one flashing before my eyes. Channing wasn’t carrying the mutated virus. It was Celina.

I had little time to dwell on the fact as Celina launched another barrage of blows against my head. I spun away and concentrated on changing back to human form. I stumbled, fell to the ground, convulsed, and lay there as Celina advanced on me. Neither one of us was clothed, but at the moment I couldn’t worry about that. I rolled across the grass to escape a well-aimed kick, managing to knock Celina to the ground. Leaping to my feet, I braced for the attack Celina had crouched to make. Channing suddenly appeared between us. Clothes hit me in the face.

“You two get dressed. You look ridiculous rolling around out here. My parents have company. What if someone comes out and sees you?”

I managed to get my clothes on before I had to face the three girls.

“What was that all about?” Celina advanced a step toward me.

“That’s what I’d like to know. What were you going to do, kill that little boy like you did the guy in the cemetery?”

“What if we did?” Jana looked at me and appeared truly confused. “We’re werewolves and so are you. Didn’t you want to kill him, to taste the blood? Just what kind of werewolf are you?”

Deep in my chest anger burned and it rumbled through my throat. “Not that kind.”

I walked toward the ATV I’d ridden over, wishing Louise had let me come in the car.

“Where are you going?” Channing shouted. “We’re not finished here.”

Facing them again, I planted my feet firmly. “Oh, yes, we are.”

I turned and straddled the four-wheeler, started the engine and roared away while they stood watching.

***

The hinges on the black, iron gate squealed as I pushed it open. Dew dripped from the fleur de lis designs at the top. A piece of chipped paint stuck to my hands and I wiped it on the butt of my cutoff blue jean shorts. I could see Myles seated on the bench under the huge live oak tree.

“Why did we have to meet here?” I asked with a shiver, even though the night was sticky and hot.

“We couldn’t meet at either one of our houses in case one of our parents woke up and overheard us.”

“Louise isn’t my parent.” I said, dropping to the bench beside him.

“Don’t be dense, Alexis, you know what I mean.”

“So, why isn’t Brynna here?”

“She’s coming. It’s harder for her to get away without Bailey knowing.”

The gate squealed and Brynna walked across to join us. Myles got up and sat on the ground offering Brynna his seat on the bench. She frowned as though she’d really rather not sit next to me, but must have decided it was better than the damp ground and took his place.

“Were you able to find out anything?” she asked.

“It’s not Channing.”

“What?” Myles leaned forward. “I was so sure.”

“I saw the symbol plainly. She has the virus, but not the mutated one. It’s Celina who has the symbol for the mutated virus.”

“You’re kidding.” Myles shook his head. “I would have thought Channing had it because she was such a leader of them. I guess I just assumed she was stronger.”

“What do you mean?”

“What he means is that the mutated virus werewolf is stronger, faster, and often more aggressive than the other virally infected weres. They’re not as strong as the genetic werewolves but definitely stronger than the others with the regular virus.”

“We’ll still be able to go ahead with our plan to collect the blood won’t we? I mean, is she too strong for that?”

“No, we can do it,” Myles said.

Brynna didn’t answer as quickly as Myles. “You don’t think we should let our parents know about this, Myles?”

“It will be so much easier for us to approach her. Besides, what else do we do all this training for?”

“If we’re going to do this,” Brynna said, crossing her arms in front of her, “she has to stay in human form. I’m not practiced at finding a vein and drawing blood from someone in wolf form.”

I tilted my head. “You can draw blood from someone, with a needle, like in the doctor’s office?”

“Yeah.” Brynna shrugged.

“How did you learn that?”

“In the lab of my anatomy class.”

I stared at her. “Huh, we never learned anything like that in my science classes.”

“That’s why we have our own school. We have to learn special skills.” Brynna turned to Myles. “So can you keep her in human form?”

He frowned. “I’m not sure, probably, if she’s not too strong.”

“Do you mean there’s a way you can hold her that won’t allow her to change?”

Brynna snorted. “Not physically, dummy. He has to hold on to her mind.”

I turned to Myles. “You can do that?”

“Some, I’m training.”

The whole werewolf world seemed to continually have its little secrets. I wondered how much more there was to know.

Brynna repositioned herself on the hard bench. “Okay, so how do we make this happen?”

Myles didn’t answer and Brynna eyed the two of us. “Do you mean you’ve made me sneak out here in the middle of the night and neither of you even remotely has a plan?”

I frowned and stared at the glowing stars in the sky. “I could meet with her. When I left them earlier they were mad at me, especially Celina.”

“Really, why?”

I glanced at Brynna. “It doesn’t matter.”

I had no desire to relive what had happened that night. I wanted to forget about it, forget this whole werewolf mess and go home to Chicago to my old life. “I’ll tell her to meet me at the pier of the day camp tomorrow. Any special time?”

“I’ve got to go with my Dad to New Orleans tomorrow, but we’ll be back by five o’clock. Let’s say seven. That will give me time to get home and get away again.”

I nodded. “Seven then, I’ll call Celina tomorrow. If I can’t get her to meet, I’ll let you guys know. Do you think she’ll come alone or bring the other two?”

Myles and Brynna looked at each other. Finally, Brynna spoke. “If she doesn’t come alone, I don’t know if we can do this.”

“We can do it.” Myles got to his feet. “I’ve got to get home. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” He disappeared into the night toward another gate in the cemetery.

I got up and Brynna followed me. “You don’t have to do this, you know.”

I looked at Brynna as we went through the gate. “I guess I know that. I told Myles the other night I’d help see if Channing had the symbol and that was it. But, I don’t know, it seems like the right thing to do.”

“It could be dangerous for you. I think Myles is wrong to ask you to be a part of it.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Brynna nodded, then she was gone.

I followed the path that led to the lake then eventually to Louise’s house. I thought I should be afraid about tomorrow, part of my brain told me I should. But I wasn’t, not really.

***

“What happened last night?”

I stopped, the forkful of mashed potatoes half way to my mouth, as I stared across the table at Louise. I’d missed breakfast because I’d overslept, then gotten up to find my aunt had gone to the grocery store. I’d cleaned my room and washed my clothes then finally made the call to Celina. I’d convinced her I wanted to talk about our disagreement, that I didn’t want any hard feelings. Celina had agreed. Louise hadn’t questioned me about last night while we had prepared lunch together. Now, suddenly, she seemed to have something on her mind.

I put the fork on my plate and grabbed hold of my iced tea. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I had a not-so-nice phone call this morning from one of our neighbors about you and your friends.”

I felt a sickness in the bottom of my stomach and I took a sip of my drink. “Really?”

“Yes, really.

“Are you sure it was me?”

“Is that all you have to say? I’m asking right now if it was you. I’d like to know why you and those so-called friends you run around with tried to attack a child. Do you realize he could have been killed?”

Staring at my plate, I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

“I’m waiting for some sort of explanation.”

“I didn’t know they were going to do that. I was following them through the woods and wondering where they were going. Then, there we were, in the yard. But I got between them. I wouldn’t let them hurt the boy, Aunt Louise. You know I wouldn’t do that.”

“Do I?”

I jerked my head. “You have to know I wouldn’t hurt anyone, especially a little kid.”

“All I know is that when you’re with a pack, no matter whether it’s large or small, you’re part of them. Eventually, you might not be able to control yourself and even if you can, you might not be able to stop them. The boy’s father told me what you did to protect him, but he wasn’t happy that it happened at all. This is the very reason we try to stop the Fenryrians from spreading their virus. They have too much blood lust, too much desire for the kill. It’s not what we believe. It’s wrong. I hope you don’t choose to be part of it.”

“I’m not choosing that.” I shook my head, pushing my plate away.

“Aren’t you?”

“I’m not choosing anything.” I shoved my chair back and hurried to the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“You will have to choose, eventually.” I thought I heard Louise’s words, but I wasn’t sure if it was her or my own mind telling me. 

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Downstairs someone rang the doorbell and I sat up, dropping the book I’d been reading onto the bed. I’d decided to sequester myself in my room. Louise had shouted once that she had to run back to the grocery and asked if I want to go, but I’d declined. Louise had gone and returned not long ago. From below I heard a familiar voice floating up the stair,

“Alexis.”

I was already on my way down when Louise called. At the bottom of the stairs I paused. Eric stood in the foyer shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“You have company. You two can go in the living room. I’m working in the kitchen.”

Louise passed me on the way to the kitchen and arched an eyebrow.

Eric caught my hand as I led him to the living room. I dropped onto the sofa and he eased down beside me. I glanced at his neatly pressed khaki shorts and pullover shirt, then at my own ragged, cutoff denim shorts and faded, baggy t-shirt. Somewhere along the way this summer I’d given up worrying about wearing certain clothes or looking a certain way. When I got home to Chicago, I didn’t know if I wanted to try and do that again. Of course, it would mean finding new people to hang around with, but I figured I’d being doing that anyway.

“What are you thinking about?”

I smiled. “About how different things will be when I get home.”

He squeezed my hand. “I’m not looking forward to that. Will you leave soon?”

“In a week or two, my mom and stepdad have extended their vacation a bit.”

“Did that make you mad?”

For a moment I remembered how desperate I was to go home when I first got here. It seemed a lifetime ago.