Hot Blooded (Wolf Springs Chronicles #2) (3 page)

“I have homework,” she said rebelliously.

He smiled grimly. “You’re going to have to do better than that if you want to stay alive. Make up some excuse to your grandfather. Say you have a project with Cordelia for school.”

It had only been a matter of hours, but it was still hard to believe that Cordelia was gone. Nobody outside the pack knew yet, but sooner or later someone would surely have to say something, especially when she didn’t show up for school. Wolf Springs was a small place. Once word got out it would spread like wildfire and as soon as her grandfather heard, Katelyn would no longer be able to use Cordelia as an excuse for going to the Fenner house. She felt a rush of hope. Maybe Justin figured Cordelia’s banishment was only temporary.

“You should head on over around ten in the morning or so,” he said. “We have a big Sunday dinner around noon.”

She wondered if they chose to eat different foods when they were alone — but she didn’t want to give him any more reminders that she didn’t know anything about the way werewolves lived. Instead, she gave Justin a curt nod and brushed past him. After taking a few steps, she turned and watched him melt into the darkness. Then she could feel eyes upon her. Werewolf spies?

She felt a rush of wind and an invisible hand plucked at her sweatshirt. Something exploded against the tree just behind her and she jumped and let out a yelp. She clamped her hand over her mouth, ran toward the back of the cabin and then darted inside as quickly as she could.

She leaned against the kitchen door for a moment, then crossed resolutely to the window, meaning to shut the faded gingham curtains.

Then she glanced down. There was a hole in the side of her baggy sweatshirt. She picked it up and felt the warmth radiating from the area. A perfect little circle. She stuck her finger in and then realized there was a hole in the back of the sweatshirt as well. Something had gone clean through.

She clutched her sweatshirt.

Someone shot at me
.

She began to shake.

Someone just tried to kill me
.

2

Katelyn pushed away from the door. She hadn’t heard a shot. What did that mean — some kind of silencer? Maybe it wasn’t a bullet hole after all.

She knew who would know. Her grandfather — Dr. Mordecai McBride. Katelyn had called him Ed when she had first arrived, after her childhood nickname for him of “Extra Daddy.” When she didn’t call him “Grandpa”, of course — the name she knew he loved her to use.

But she stopped herself with a hand on the banister. She couldn’t tell him anything. Mr. Fenner had told her he would kill her —
and
her grandfather — if she said a word about her new life.

Maybe the shot was just meant to scare her, remind her that she was being watched and the stakes were the highest if she made a mistake.

Had Justin known someone had been waiting out there in the darkness?

Her knees wobbled and she plopped down in the chair in front of the computer station she, Trick, and her grandfather had set up a few hours earlier. She could feel her heart pounding and she struggled to calm herself down. They’d only shot once. A warning, surely.

Listening to each creak and groan of the trees outside, she sat in the darkness, stiff and fearful.

Katelyn.

Katelyn.

You can’t hide.

I know who you are.

I shall do thee mischief in the woods.

Soon.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Claws on the hardwood floor.

Click.

Katelyn.

She jerked awake, lifting her neck painfully. She had fallen asleep at the computer. Had someone called her name?

She guessed it was early morning from the way the light was streaming in the windows. Stretching her neck left and right, she pushed back, and for an instant she thought she detected something else in the room, a clicking like toenails on the hardwood floor. She froze, listening. But she couldn’t hear anything.

“Ed? Grandpa?” she called softly. “Is that you? Are you up?”

No answer. But the sense that she was not alone grew stronger.

Her hair stood on end as she rose and took a deep breath to steady herself. She looked at the rifle on the wall and walked over to it. Put her hand on it and listened.

When she’d first arrived in Wolf Springs, she would have flown upstairs to her room and hidden under the covers if she’d felt freaky-scared like she did right then. But now she had people to protect — her grandfather and Trick. And maybe, just maybe, Cordelia was in the house, seeking shelter.

The werewolves of the Fenner pack had been ordered not to help Cordelia in any way, on pain of death. Katelyn had been there when Lee Fenner had issued the command, and he had singled Katelyn out. In front of everyone, he had forced Katelyn to swear to be loyal to him as the alpha and to obey him no matter what. She knew she had to prove herself to Mr. Fenner, and to the pack, to survive.

It was crazy, especially since the reason Cordelia had been banished was because she had been protecting Katelyn. Cordelia had known there'd been a chance Katelyn was going to turn into a werewolf, but she had wanted to know for sure before going to her father with the shocking news. Swearing not to help Cordelia when Cordelia had sacrificed everything in helping her was just wrong.

But he had
forced
her to swear. Technically, though, she wasn’t a Fenner werewolf. Mr. Fenner hadn’t given permission for her to be changed, and there was no proof that a Fenner werewolf had done it. Ergo, she owed him no loyalty.

And he’s not here
. At least, that was what she told herself as she took the rifle down and made her way into the kitchen. And if Cordelia had come to her, Katelyn would do all she could for her. Cordelia was the one Katelyn was loyal to.

The back door flew open and she jumped back. Her grandfather stared at her, clearly startled as he stepped into the house. She sagged against the counter. “You startled me,” she said.

“Seems like,” he answered, eyebrows raised. He looked at the rifle.

“What — what were you doing outside?” she asked, then winced as she realized how paranoid and suspicious that sounded. And after all, Wolf Springs was a place of possible danger. Two girls had died this year, one of them killed in the forest just before her arrival and the other soon after. No one knew what had killed them, but it had people plenty shaken up.

Mordecai lifted one hand and she noticed that he was carrying a log. “Fire needed it,” he said with a grunt. “Log’s already dead,” he added.

Katelyn felt like an idiot. He took the rifle and walked out of the room. She busied herself making coffee to hide how jittery she was feeling. She was exhausted and was beginning to think about having to go over to the Fenners. She didn’t know how she’d stay awake to drive out, let alone make it back.

Which could be moot if they want to kill me
.

The phone rang, and she grabbed at it.

“Don’t come here today,” Justin said. “Stay away.”

Her grandfather walked back in the room and headed to the sink to wash his hands.

“Um, but, what about our project?” she said into the phone.

Justin hung up. She replaced the handset and stared at it for a moment. She was getting what she wanted, but why? Had Mr. Fenner decided to get rid of her? She wished she’d been able to tell Justin about the night before and being shot at. If she’d had his number she could have texted him.

“She still mad at you?” Mordecai asked as he dried his hands.

Katelyn jerked, startled. “What?”

“Trick told me you and Cordelia had a fight.”

“When did you talk to him?” she asked, her voice shrill, and she knew she had to calm down. “Yeah, it’s . . . bad,” she amended.

“She seems like a handful. Hard to be friends with.”

“Her whole family’s kind of weird.” She winced. She probably shouldn’t have said that. And she felt a prick of disloyalty for it. She poured a cup of coffee for each of them, adding the cream and sugar.

He took a sip of his coffee and nodded. “I figured we’d go into town in a bit. We’ll check to see if your new tire is in, and you can go to that store you like and get something for the Cirque show.”

Relief flooded her. She would much rather be in town with him than waiting here at the cabin wondering who was spying on her, and whether whoever had shot at her was going to try again.

~

After breakfast Katelyn hurried upstairs to shower and get dressed. When she came back down she was at least feeling a little better, a little more awake.

“I’m ready,” she said as she hit the bottom of the stairs.

He was holding the sweatshirt she’d been wearing the night before. She felt shaky. How could she have been so stupid to leave it out?

“Oh, sorry for being a slob,” she said, practically grabbing it out of his hand. She took it, ran back upstairs and tossed it on her bed. She had to get a grip. If she acted like nothing was wrong, he would assume that nothing was wrong.

Heading back downstairs, she forced a smile onto her face. “Let’s go,” she said.

They drove toward town in silence. Fortunately, she was getting used to silence around her grandfather. Today, especially, it was a blessing; she had too much going on in her head to chat.

They went through the dark tree tunnel; then, on the crest of a hill, she saw that the town of Wolf Springs had replaced the Halloween decorations with baskets of holly and ivy hanging from the lampposts. Many of the doors of the Victorian buildings sported cheery winter wreaths. Thanksgiving was almost here; and after that came the Christmas vacation. A sign had gone up in a vacant lot announcing that Christmas trees would go on sale that weekend. To Katelyn there was an air of rebelliousness to all the festive cheeriness, as if Wolf Springs was fighting back against whomever — or whatever — had mauled those two girls to death.

“If we bought a Christmas tree in L.A. this weekend, it would be a brittle mess by December,” she said.

Her grandfather surprised her with a laugh. “I know. Used to be day after Thanksgiving that we got a tree. But once the snow hits everyone becomes more isolated, so we get started a lot earlier around here. Better to have some festivity while everyone can enjoy it.”

Isolated. A few days before, she wouldn’t have believed it would be possible to be more isolated than she was. But with the loss of Cordelia, and the fact that she had to protect her grandfather and Trick from her secret, she felt more isolated than ever. If they were snowed in on a full moon night . . . she looked out the window and clenched the arm rest.

“What happens when the snow hits? I mean, with school and everything?” she asked.

He shrugged. “On the bad days? No school. Rest of the time, snow plows keep the roads cleared. Of course, it’s easier for the folks who live in town. Everybody just takes it one day at a time.”

One day at a time. She couldn’t think like that. She had to make plans, contingencies. She would have to talk to Justin about it. Surely he and the others knew what to do.

But why would they? In their world, the pack was made up of families. They didn’t have werewolves living with non-werewolves. It was one more thing that made her different, one more way in which she was a liability.

One more reason for them to kill her.

The storefront blurred past, and then they pulled up outside Babette’s. The store’s windows still held memorial signs for Haley and Becky — the two girls who had died. Would there soon be a missing person poster going up with Cordelia’s face on it?

“I’ve got some errands to do, and I figure you don’t need me hanging around pressuring you to buy something with a longer skirt or a higher neckline,” he said with a half-grin. “So, why don’t we divide and conquer?”

“Okay. Meet at Cowffeine after we’re done?” she asked.

“Sounds okay.”

She slid out of the car and then stood on the sidewalk as he pulled away, before turning and walking inside the shop. Her grandfather was in control of her money, meager as it was, until she turned eighteen, and she had only a few dollars to spend.

Babette’s was a funky consignment clothing store with fashions and disasters from several decades crammed in together. Cordelia had told her it was the place to go shopping and had taken her there a couple of times.

Babette, an attractive middle-aged woman, looked up from a crossword and then hopped off her stool and came around to Katelyn.

“Kat! How are you?”

“Good,” Katelyn said, tamping down her rush of anxiety. It hurt to come into the store without Cordelia. And not to be able to tell a single soul that Cordelia’s own family had driven her out.

“What can I help you with?”

“I’m just looking for a dress for a night at the theater.”

Babette’s eyebrows shot up. “A play, around here? I haven’t heard of anything.”

Katelyn shook her head as she surveyed the racks, mostly to cover her discomfort. “No, actually, it’s in Little Rock. My grandpa is taking me to see the Cirque du Soleil. The tickets were a birthday present.”

“Well, a belated happy birthday, dear!” She beamed at Katelyn. “I’m sure we can find you something special.”

Katelyn tried to politely wave her off. “I can look on my own.”

“Nonsense. Birthday girls get the royal treatment.”

They moved among the racks and Katelyn felt awkward as Babette kept up a steady stream of chatter, pulling first one, then another dress out for her inspection.

“I’m surprised Cordelia isn’t with you today,” Babette said.

Katelyn inspected the price tag on a blouse she had no interest in buying. “She’s . . . not feeling well.” She didn’t know what else to say. She wondered just how the Fenners planned on explaining her absence to people.

Babette pulled a sad face. “Oh, that’s too bad.”

“I think I’ll try on this one,” Katelyn said, reaching for a little black dress.