I glared. “Let’s get out of here.”
Shaun was smiling, seeming far more content with the world than he had a right to be. “It’s good to have you back, Kitty. Back and all grown up.”
I thought about what I must have looked like through his eyes: I’d been weak. I’d felt small, vulnerable, at everyone’s mercy. Then I disappeared for months and came back waging war. And this made him happy? He must have seen something I’d missed.
“Thanks,” I said and held my hand to him. He clasped it, securing a bond of pack, of friendship. I was ready to pull both of them into a group hug, no matter how much Ben grumbled about it.
But Ben was looking out, across the hill, through the trees. “Someone’s coming.”
Shit. Too late. We’d waited too long.
“Who?” I whispered. The three of us had straightened, lifting our faces to the air, smelling—three wolves in human form, alert and wary, all senses firing.
Shaun said, “She’s coming from upwind. She wants us to know she’s here.”
She. Meg, I thought in a panic. I took a deep breath, catching the smell that Shaun had found. Human and wild—lycanthrope, yes. And female. But it wasn’t Meg. I’d recognize Meg. Her scent lived in my nightmares.
Meg wouldn’t give us any warning. She’d pounce, and she wouldn’t be alone. This was one person, and Shaun was right; she was giving us a good long approach. We waited, still and quiet, until she emerged from the trees. She was average height and build, with an edge: sharp features, wiry limbs. Her auburn hair was short, brushing around her ears. She wore a tank top and shorts, and she might have been anyone out for a morning stroll, but for the look in her eyes: hooded, anxious. Her jaw was set, and her shoulders tense, a bit like rising hackles.
“Becky,” I said.
She was another one of Carl’s, a couple years older than me both in chronological age and in time as a lycanthrope. She was tough, maintaining a spot in the middle to upper end of the pack hierarchy. She was one of the ones who thrived in this life. My first thought: I had underestimated him. Carl had expected something like this and sent a patrol. He was ready for us, and we’d been caught. We’d lost. Sitting here in the great outdoors, naked, along with the two men, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d been caught at something illicit. That made me blush, and the blushing made me angry.
But then, she’d been the one who tried to help Jenny. What was she doing here now?
“What are you going to tell Carl?” I said. “You going to run back and tell him we’re right here, easy pickings? Is that what he sent you out here to find?”
She shook her head, and her voice was low. “He didn’t send me. I came out here for a walk. T
o think. I do that sometimes. Then I smelled you and followed you here.”
I was taken aback. “Carl doesn’t know we’re here?”
“Oh, he will. You guys were busy last night.” A smile flickered, and she looked away. To the wolves, that was a gesture of peace, of submission. It heartened me.
“You’re going to tell him.”
“No,” she said. She licked her lips. Gaze downcast, she said, “I want to join you. Take me with you.”
chapter 11
We’d goaded our rivals, with this bright idea of luring them into the open. They’d be angry, unprepared, and—I hoped—they’d get stupid. It looked nice on paper. At least it would have if I had written any of it down.
In the meantime, the four of us grabbed breakfast. I now had a pack of four. How had that happened?
Over coffee, Shaun told me what had been happening with the pack. “You remember Gabe?”
“The bike courier from Boulder, right? Thirty something. Ran marathons.”
“Right. He was the first one. After T. J., Carl flipped. Kept thinking others would try it. That we were all questioning his authority. He had to slap everyone down to prove his point. Most of us rolled over and took it. You know how it is. But Gabe . . . Gabe thought he could talk to Carl. Reason with him. Appeal to the human side. But Carl . . . ” Shaun shrugged, looked away, to collect himself. “Carl went too far. Gabe listened to your show, you know. Didn’t tell you. Didn’t dare tell Carl. But he really liked what you had to say. About being human. I think . . . I guess he thought he had to try.”
Great. Now I could lay him on my conscience, too. Made me question all over again if I was ready for this.
“And it’s kept happening. Carl makes examples, keeps throwing his dominance at us. And we keep questioning him. I’d like to have my own place someday. Start my own restaurant or bar or something. But Carl’s made threats. Says he’ll make sure the place sinks. He doesn’t want anyone but him in charge of anything. I can’t make a move with him in the picture. I don’t want him trying to shut me down like he tried to do with you.” He nodded at me. “Then he starts dragging us into Arturo’s turf war, not even thinking twice about getting us all killed. I’m not sure he even sees people anymore when he looks at us.”
Rick had said it had gotten bad for the werewolves here. This was the first chance I’d had to really talk to them.
“Jenny wasn’t strong,” I said. “She wasn’t confronting him. Did he just lose it or what?”