The Better to Bite (26 page)

The bell rang, and I slammed my locker shut. I turned around—and almost slammed into Cassidy’s cousin, James.

He stared at me with his dark eyes. “Thank you.”

I hadn’t been able to see Cassidy. Doctor’s orders. Her doctor. But my dad was working hard, pulling every string he had, and so far, no charges had been filed against her.

It turned out that Valerie had been the one to give Cass the gun. After we’d all left Granny Helen’s shop that day, Valerie had told Cass stories about the wolves, about how vicious they were, how they wouldn’t ever stop, not unless someone stopped them.

Valerie had given Cass the weapon and even dropped her off at the theater. While Cass went in, mad with her grief and rage, Valerie had used that time to slip into the station and find the journal.

Then she’d torched the place for added fun. While the building burned, she’d snuck away with the journal and learned all of Haven’s secrets.

Had Valerie ever thought that Cass might get shot when she rushed into that theater? Probably. I figured she hadn’t cared, either way.

“Tell Cass that it’s over,” I told James.

He nodded, but hesitated. “You sure?”

I forced a smile. “It was just one rogue. Everything that happened, it was Valerie.”

That was my dad’s story.

My dad didn’t keep secrets from me.

I rubbed my neck and walked away. The rash was gone, but so was my necklace.

Jenny headed toward me. Her face was tense, the usual perk definitely missing from her step. She leaned in close to me. “Are you okay?”

The smile was still on my face. Good. I didn’t have to force it twice. “I’m getting there.” If my nightmares would just stop.

They would, though, sooner or later.

“You’re the hero, you know.” Her steps matched mine as we headed to homeroom. “Not that many folks know what you did, but I—I do. Brent told me everything.” She swallowed and her hand brushed my arm. “
OhmyGod,
I had her in my house. She could have killed me, but you—”

“Shh…” I glanced around us. My dad had spread some BS story about Valerie getting caught with a knife as she tried to attack me, Brent, and Rafe. Sure, it was partially true. Valerie’s knife had been at the scene, but she hadn’t been slicing folks apart with that weapon.

When she’d attacked Sissy, the hikers, and even Granny Helen, she’d used her claws.

But now the friendly folks of Haven thought their would-be homecoming queen had been a psycho, one with a fondness for knives, and one who’d been killed before she could take out her ex-boyfriend in a jealous rage.

Some folks would believe anything.

“You saved lives,” Jenny whispered, nodding her head vigorously. “They don’t know it.” She jerked her thumb to the folks walking by in the hall. Laughing. Talking. “But I do.”

You’re no savior.
Valerie’s voice wouldn’t leave me.
You’re just as much of a monster as I am.

I glanced down at my nails. Nails, not claws. I was sure I’d imagined the change that night. I wasn’t a wolf.

Neither was my mom.

No matter what some crazy psycho wolf had said.

***

Brent was waiting for me at lunch. Tall, blond, the perfect All-American guy, with a very wild side.

To make room for me at the table, he scooted over, shoving Troy. I felt all the eyes on me as I sat down and grabbed for my drink.

“You missed the service,” Troy said.

I was pretty sure I saw Brent elbow him in the ribs.

“Um, but it’s okay because…” Troy floundered. Jenny sat across the table, glaring at him. Definitely trouble in paradise. Troy cleared his throat. “It’s okay because…you’re probably glad you missed it,” he finished in a rush.

“No.” I put my drink down. On this, I was sure. “I would have liked to say good-bye.”

Troy looked at me like I was the crazy one.

Maybe I was.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would Valerie have been like, if she hadn’t been a wolf? If she’d been someone else?

Someone like me.

Troy’s shoulders hunched as he eyed me. “I heard my dad talking to Mr. Knoxley at the service. The principal said that Valerie’s mom and your mom were cousins. Some kind of distant family or something, and to think that your own family tried to kill you—”

My appetite died. “What?”

Troy blinked.

“Man, you need to drop this conversation,” came from another of the jocks at the far end of the table. A more sensitive guy, obviously.

But I wasn’t about to let anything drop. “How does Mr. Knoxley know anything about my mom?”

Troy’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “Lots of folks knew your mom. She was a cheerleader, even homecoming queen, back in the day. Just like—”

Valerie.

Oh, no.
No.
I jumped up.

“Anna!” Brent’s tight voice.

I hurried past the crowd and pushed my way inside the main building. My sneakers slapped against the linoleum floor. I turned a fast right, then a left—then I was in front of the wide trophy case in the school’s foyer. The trophy case that I’d passed every day I came to school. Only I hadn’t bothered to actually
look
at the thing because I didn’t care about cheerleading and football.

I should have looked.

I scanned the photos now. Dozens of them. So many, but going back, back in time. The years slid past me.

Then my mom’s face stared back at me. Younger. Smoother. Smiling as she lifted her pom-poms high in the air.

Footsteps tapped behind me. My eyes lifted, and I saw his reflection in the glass.

Sometimes, you just couldn’t get away from the wolves.

“Mr. Knoxley.” I drew his name out on a sigh. “Is there something you want to tell me?” Because I’d seen his picture, too. A football player, number sixteen, standing close in the picture of my mom. His team, my dad’s old team, had been state champs that year. The golden trophy still gleamed as it sat next to that picture. Someone must polish the trophy regularly.

“You remind me of her.” His voice was soft with memories.

I glanced over my shoulder. “No.” I was absolute on this.  He was wrong. Valerie was wrong. They were all
wrong.

“I keep wondering how much you’re like her, and how much you’re like your father.”

This wasn’t happening. I licked my lips. “My mom—she went to see Granny Helen, she had power, she wasn’t—”

“She wanted to stop being a monster.” He turned away from me and began to shuffle down the hallway. “Sometimes, we all want to stop, but we just can’t. You can’t fight your nature.”

I shook my head and glanced up. Brent stood in the doorway. Watching me.

And Rafe, he was there, too. Rounding the corner, hurrying to find me.

Brent to the left.

Rafe to the right.

Monsters.

Just like…

Me?

But…my father had said he was a hunter. My family—they were the ones who hunted the rogue wolves. They
weren’t
the rogue wolves.

“Time will tell us just how much like your mother you truly are.”

Maybe my father
had
been a hunter.

And my mother was the one he hunted.

***

The woods waited before me. So dark and deep. The waxing moon hung in the sky, a sliver of gold in the blackness of night.

The bushes rustled, and he came to me.

Rafe stood there, hair tousled, wearing a black t-shirt and worn jeans. His gaze held mine.

“I’ve missed you, Anna.”

A wolf, in the skin of a man.

“You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

But I did. My instincts were screaming at me. There was more to fear in Haven.

There was
more.
I’d just scratched the surface of this town. Death, blood, werewolves. More danger waited in this sleepy town, I knew it. The danger would be coming for me soon as I discovered the path that I would have to take.

Hunter.

Or hunted.

He offered me his hand and a smile. A smile that made my stomach twist and my heart race. “Come into the woods with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

So tempting. So very tempting.

I didn’t know what was real anymore. After what I’d learned about my mom, I was lost. For the first time, I was—

Lost.

And the power kicked in for me. My focus shifted, and I saw an image of myself. Standing with—

Rafe.

I took his hand, and, for a moment, my worries eased. I could never be lost. No matter what else happened to me, I would
not
be lost.

I knew where I needed to be, and who I needed to be with.

Perhaps I should have known better than to go into the woods with the wolf.

Perhaps I should have, but in that moment, I trusted my beast.

We ran into the dark. He led me unerringly, his gaze far stronger than a human’s.

The better to see
.

His step was agile as he led me over fallen trees.

The better to run
.

Then he turned to me, and I saw the shine of his glowing gaze. The glow of the wolf.

But I wasn’t afraid. Not of him. Not then.

He pulled me close. His arms were strong around me.

The better to hold me.

His head bent and his lips brushed over mine.

The better to taste.

My tongue slipped into his mouth and brushed over the sharpened edge of his canines.

The better to—

His head lifted. “I’ll always keep you safe,” he told me, voice rumbling.

I hoped he’d be able to keep his promise. Because I knew my wolf wasn’t the only monster that waited in the dark.

Haven.

My home. My curse. And, I was coming to realize—

My life.

###

COMING IN 2013…Look for THE BETTER TO HOWL, the second installment in the HOWL trilogy.

Cynthia Eden is a national best-selling author of paranormal romance and romantic suspense novels. Her books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, and her novel, DEADLY FEAR, was named a RITA® finalist for best romantic suspense.

Cynthia is a southern girl who loves horror movies, chocolate, and happy endings. More information about Cynthia and her books may be found at:
www.cynthiaeden.com
or on her Facebook page at:
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. Cynthia is also on Twitter at
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.