SHIFT (Mackenzie Grey #1) (5 page)

“Oh, Mackenzie, I’m sorry!” she said and I put a hand out to steady her.

“No worries…are those my clothes?” I said nonchalantly, trying to calm my mood. I realized I was now all alone and if I could find the exit, I would be able to leave this hell hole.

“Oh, yes. If you’d like I can bring them to your room?” I shook my head. No way. I wanted to change because I looked like a homeless person. I didn’t even match!

“No, that’s not necessary, I’ll take them now. I was actually wondering…where is this warehouse located? No one’s told me anything.”

She seemed uneasy as she looked around to make sure no one was listening. “I don’t know if I should be telling you. Not that I’m worried they’ll do anything because I’ll kick their asses, but…” she chuckled and I was starting to like this chick. She was a rule follower but she also had a smidge of a rebellious streak. If she wasn’t so neck deep with the Pack, she might be someone I’d hang out with. “Well, let me just ask what I’m thinking. Are you planning on escaping?”

I stared at her for a moment and I might have underestimated her. She wasn’t stupid but I saw a spark of intrigue in her eyes and I wondered if she too wanted to jump ship.

“Possibly,” I said and eyed her cautiously. I have to make sure I word this correctly. “Would you be willing to help me?”

She gasped but it wasn’t too much of a shock because she glanced around again. Hook, line and sinker. Before she responded, I knew she was on Team Kenzie.

“Are you sure this is something you want to do? The Pack could protect and help you. You wouldn’t be alone,” she said and I think she actually cared if something happened to me. Not like V; I think V thought I was some sort of competition. Which I’m not…Sebastian could care less about me…in
that
way.

“Protect me from what? A mugger? I’ve been living in New York all my life, I’ll be fine,” I said and brushed it off with a laugh. It was the wrong thing to say because she scoffed like I’d just bitch slapped her or something.

“A mugger? Mackenzie, they’re worse things out there than a human with a gun. Don’t you know?”

“Yeah, yeah I know, like cancer, terrorists, and wearing white after Labor Day. I don’t care right now, I just need to go home. I can’t stay locked up here, I’m going crazy and I have a life out there. I can’t just throw that away,” I said and she looked like she understood. Well at least to some extent.

She scrunched her mouth to the side and thought about it for a moment. “If—and this is a huge if—I help you, will you at least think about joining the Pack?” I watched her for a moment; did she really think I’d come back to this? “They’ll find you, Mackenzie. Don’t think if you escape today that you can disappear. When Jonah found you on the third night of the last full moon, they went on a hunt for you…and obviously they found you. Now almost the whole pack knows your scent, you’ll be even easier to find the second time around.”

My scent? This was all too weird…I wondered what I smelled like. Okay, stay on track, Kenz. “I don’t care, Blu, I just need to get out of here, even if it’s for a little while,” I said because there was no way I would let myself get caught again. Wednesday was the beginning of Winter Break and I was leaving this damn city. Hopefully two weeks would be enough time for their muzzles to forget about me.

“Fine,” she said and handed me my clothing. “We’re in Brooklyn—”

“Brooklyn!” I exclaimed. Oh no they didn’t.

“Oh, don’t worry, we’re in Dumbo, the city is right across the East River.” Like if that made it any better. They took me out of my comfort zone! How the hell am I going to get home?

I grimaced. “Where is the nearest train station?” I said and she went on telling me how to get home.

I quickly stripped and put my clothes on but didn’t bother to change out of the slippers. Blu went into one of the other rooms in the hallway and got my purse.

“How’d you get my bag?” I asked, startled.

“I think one of the guys went back to your job and snatched it.”
If I even still had a job.

I shoved my boots in my stolen purse, grateful for my infatuation with big sling on bags, especially when they finally fit. She walked me outside, but not before I promised to give her my phone number. Scrambling for a pen in my now overflowing purse, I found one and wrote my cell number in the palm of her hand.

Before I left, I paused for a moment. “Out of curiosity, why are you helping me?” I asked. Not that I wasn’t grateful for all that she was doing for me, but she was also going against her Pack. A group of people she was very adamant about wanting me to join not too long ago.

Her eyes narrowed and she scrunched her mouth to the side. “Let’s just say this isn’t my first rodeo. If you make it out of this unscathed and we get a chance, I’ll tell you all about it.”

I nodded and she pulled me into a very tight and unexpected hug, like we were already best friends. “Be careful, Mackenzie. I’ll call you in an hour to make sure you’re okay,” she said and let me go.

“Call me Kenz and I will. Thanks Blu,” I said with a small smile and started my trek toward the A train.

I had to thank my lucky stars once I crossed over the Brooklyn Bridge because I would have gone crazy if I couldn’t get home as soon as possible. After taking the A train, switching to the 6, and getting off on Astor Place, I hailed a cab that could take me straight home. I was tired and cranky, and I wanted a bowl of Chunky Monkey ice cream to drown my supernatural woes in. How had my life turned upside down in one day? First with James and now with this werewolf business?
This blows.

I dug in my bag for my keys and hurried inside where a spazzed out Amy was pacing in the apartment living room. I shut the new door with a loud thud and she jerk around; the relief on her face was instantaneous. She ran over to me and her little arms squeezed me like I was going to disappear soon. “Oh my God, I’ve missed you! What did they do to you? Are you okay? Did they feed you? I’ll go over there and kick their asses if they didn’t. Have you showered? Do you need—”

“Amy, stop, please. Catch your breath,” I said as I patted her on her back. She was cutting my air flow and I wanted to jump in bed and sleep for the rest of the year.

She pulled away and adjusted my shirt. “Sorry…they called about a half hour ago and told me you’d be coming home.”

“Who called?” I froze mid-step towards my room.

“This guy named Joe? Jonah? I don’t know, but he said you left without saying anything and were most likely headed this way. He wanted me to call him when you arrived,” she said as she reached for her cell phone. I grabbed her arm before she could even press the center button of her iPhone.

“Ow! Let go, Kenz!” Amy jerked her arm away and rubbed it.

“You can’t call them! I ran the hell away. They’re a freakin’ cult!” I yelled and her eyes widened.

“He said they were helping you with the whole werewolf thing, I thought…” she trailed off and I knew she felt guilty. They probably painted her a rosy story about helping me to make her think everything was okay. I had a hard time believing she fell for it, the more I thought about it. Amy wasn’t gullible, she thought everyone had a hidden agenda and she questioned everything. She was the queen of conspiracy theories.

“Amy,” I started, “Look at me.” She turned around and her eyes dilated rapidly—it didn’t look normal. What the hell…

Just then, my phone rang and I pulled it out of my bag. A 347 area code showed on the screen and I hesitated for a minute. It could either be Blu checking that I made it home, or it was Jonah and Sebastian, probably tracking my number for my location or something crazy like that. I let it go to voicemail and waited to see if they’d leave a message. When the chime came through, I listened and it was Blu.

“Hey Mackenzie, I mean Kenz, I was just calling to make sure you’re okay. They know you’re gone so be careful, I think they’re sending out a team to look for you. Call me back within the next five minutes if you can. Bye.”

I re-dialed her number and she picked up before the first ring ended. “Kenz!” she exclaimed through the phone.

“Yeah, hey,” I said and watched Amy. She was acting funny, like she was on a bad trip or something.

Blu exhaled. “I was so worried. Maybe like twenty minutes after you left, Sebastian came out from his office looking for you and when no one could find you, this place went crazy. Jonah and Sebastian are fighting with each other and they sent out three teams to go looking for you. They just left for Alphabet City, so if you can go somewhere else, I suggest you go,” she whispered into the phone.

I tensed and looked around as if they’d pop out from behind the curtains. “Thanks for the heads up but I need your help with something else. Something’s wrong with my roommate. Her eyes are dilating like crazy and she’s acting really funny. She thinks I was in werewolf rehab, which she never would.”

“They probably used compulsion on her so she wouldn’t call the police. Just splash some water on her and put her somewhere where there’s loud noises. She’ll eventually snap out of it. But seriously Mackenzie, you need to leave your apartment, they’ll be there soon.”

“Okay, thanks Blu, I’ll call you later.”

We said our goodbyes and I hung up. I grabbed Amy’s phone as well as mine and ran into my bedroom. I changed into a pair of jeans, a sweater and boots; what I really needed was a goddamn shower but that’d have to wait. I pulled a bag from my closet and started stuffing it with some clothes and then went to Amy’s room and did the same. When I went back to the living room, Amy had started pacing again and she was making me nervous.
What the hell did they do to her?
I gripped her heavily pierced face to look up and tried to make eye contact but she was too jittery that it was hard to keep her eyes still and focused on me. It might seem silly but I’ve watched enough TV to handle this, compulsion should be easy…right?

“Calm down,” I said sternly. She started to shake.
Damn it.
I cleared my throat and held her firmly still. “Calm down,” I repeated. She blinked a few times before she settled and nodded. “Good, now let’s go.” After we bundled up in our winter coats, we grabbed our bags and left the apartment. Instead of leaving through the front entrance, we took the service exit in the back and went around the block and back around to the bodega across the street. I went inside and Mr. Gomez’s wife was working the convenient store.

“Hola, mija,” she said and smiled at me.

“Hey, Mrs. Gomez, can I use your phone?”

“Sure,” she said in a thick Spanish accent and I went to the back where they had a small office and dialed the last person I ever wanted to ask for help.

“Hello?” James said through the phone and I let out a deep breath.
Suck it up, Kenzie
.

“James? Hey…”

There was a pause. “Kenzie? Are you okay?”

I sighed, I thought he was going to hang up on me. It was late and he was probably all tucked away in bed with prostitute Barbie. “No, I’m not. I need your help,” I said and I should have never doubted him. I told him where I was and he was already in his car and on his way to pick us up before I hung up the phone.

Twenty minutes later, James was in front of the bodega and we were squeezing in to his silver Toyota Prius. Yeah, he’s one of those hipsters who want to save the environment and crap. Total tree hugger.

“Thanks for coming to get us, if you can just drop us off at the Marriott by campus, we’ll be good,” I said while he drove. Not even five minutes into the drive, Amy had knocked out and we could hear her small snores coming from the backseat.

“You don’t have to stay at a hotel, Kenzie, you know you can stay with me,” he said, his eyes never leaving the road. “What’s going on, anyways?”

Oh boy, I didn’t think that far ahead, what did I tell him?
Well James, I’m a werewolf and now a whole Pack is on the lookout for me because they can’t have a stray running around the city
. Yeah, that’s something you hear every day.

“No, it’s okay, I don’t want to inconvenience you and Barb—I mean you and Diana. We’ll be fine at a hotel,” I said and I hoped he didn’t hear my slip-up.

“Diana? She won’t care, she hates coming out to the apartment anyway so you’ll never see her,” he said.

“You guys aren’t living together?” I asked with a little too much interest.

He scoffed. “Heck no, what made you think that?” he turned to look at me once he slowed to a red light and I diverted my gaze out the window. That slut! I hated that I had believed her. She just wanted to one-up me. Dang it, she’s smart.

“Oh, I don’t know, I just thought…” I trailed off and let the conversation hang. I didn’t want to whine about how his girlfriend was an evil mastermind or anything—especially since I had bigger problems.

We got to James’ apartment and he had to drive around the block a couple times before finding parking. When he helped me get Amy from the back seat, he asked, “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

I sighed. “Well, I’m a werewolf and there’s a wolf pack out looking for me so I have to lay low.” There was a long beat before James hunched over, laughing.

After he caught his breath, “I swear, Kenz, that imagination of yours. If you don’t want to tell me that’s fine, but I hope you’ll learn to trust me again,” he said.

Sometimes the best thing to do was tell the truth. The truth was always—to some extent—ridiculous and slightly unbelievable. No one ever wants to know it, they just want to live in their bubble of lies. Which is alright with me, because when this all hits the fan, I can calmly say,
I told you so.