“Yeah, you know? Drive? To the city?” She pointed at the driveway. “Isn’t that where you’re going?”
“Yes. ”
“Then you wouldn’t mind me tagging along, would you?” She obviously didn’t expect any other answer than yes, because she was already buckling her seat belt. I stared at her for a moment longer, until she looked back at me with a bright smile and her altogether-too-familiar eyes. I shifted the car into gear and started to drive.
As we passed the main gate and the car eased onto the main highway, I broke the silence.
“Isn’t there some sort of pack meeting in progress?”
“Sure. There always is this close to the full moon. ”
“Is it okay for you to leave?”
“Why wouldn’t it be? You’ll be in more trouble for leaving than me, considering you’re pack protector. And, you know, future queen. ”
“Mmm,” I grumbled, then remembered what Lucas had told me about Kellen months ago. “Wait, you’re not a werewolf, are you?”
Kellen grinned and tapped her temple. “Bingo. No, I was never ‘Awakened’. ” She made condescending little air quotes around the word. “I feel plenty awake though. ”
Awakening was the werewolf coming-of-age process, in which a young man or woman who carried the gene that would activate lycanthropy in them allowed themselves to be bitten by a full-fledged werewolf, thus becoming a werewolf themselves. It was an important rite of passage for werewolf families, but the choice was always up to the youth in question. Lucas opted to follow the family line, and Kellen chose to stay human.
In royal werewolf families, like the Rains, it was expected for the next generation to follow suit so the family would remain in power. Kellen had probably caused quite a stir in her family when she declined to be Awakened. It didn’t seem to bother Lucas at all.
The car headlights cut a vibrant white swath across the black highway, and yellow lines flicked by us at an alarming speed. I was going too fast, but that was the vampire in me. Overhead, a strip of stars twinkled in the purple-black sky. Stars were a rare treat when you lived in New York City, but I’d gotten used to seeing them again while living in the country. Tall trees encroached on the highway, creating an ominous coniferous hallway of nothing but blackness.
The light from the headlights also made it difficult for me to discern if anything was lurking in the dark, one of many reasons I usually walked or ran instead of driving.
“Can I ask you something, Secret?”
It took a moment for me to shake out of my distraction. On top of the varied lighting, the scents sailing by me were overwhelming. Driving with the top down was a sensory overload.
“Sure. ”
“Do you love my brother?”
The car briefly swerved into the wrong lane before I caught myself, steadied the wheel and corrected the direction. “Wow. ”
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to know. ”
“I don’t know, Kellen. ” I gripped the wheel a little too hard. “I haven’t known him all that long. ”
“But he’s courting you, you know?” The word courting sounded strange coming from the lips of a nineteen-year-old club kid. I knew what she meant, but it was still difficult to put the concept together with the person speaking it.
“I know. ”
“And you’re soul-bonded. ”
“Yes. ”
“So, don’t you, like, love each other by default?”
I stared at the highway. An updraft caught my hair and blew it across my face, then back up and over my head. It tickled the back of my neck. The air smelled like rain, but it wasn’t close enough to cause immediate worry.
“I care about him. ”
“And what about Desmond?”
“We’re not discussing this. ” I froze up, all my defenses locking into place. “We’re not discussing my relationship with Desmond. ”