Continuing to give away my last Calling ARCs* to give away. Here’s Daniel!

To enter the contest, a tougher question. The answer was in The Gathering, but is only hinted at on his yearbook page. What does Daniel want to be when he grows up?

Email your answer to contest@kelleyarmstrong.com before midnight Eastern Wednesday Feb 29. I’ll choose one correct answer tomorrow.

Yesterday’s winner has been notified.

 

* an ARC is an Advance Reader Copy, a paperback version made before proof-reading is complete.

Continuing to give away my last Calling ARCs* to give away. Here’s Rafe. I’m using his “chibi” version because I hate the photo I have for him (you can see it on the website if you must, but the guy looks about 25)

To enter the contest, tell me what’s on Rafe’s tattoo. Email your answer to contest@kelleyarmstrong.com before midnight Eastern Tuesday Feb 28. I’ll choose one correct answer tomorrow.

Yesterday’s winner has been notified.

* an ARC is an Advance Reader Copy, a paperback version made before proof-reading is complete.

Note: the winner was Tish from British Columbia (appropriately ) She’s been notified and has responded. Congrats, Tish!

I’ve got a few more Calling ARCs* to give away. I’m going to do that this week, posting a contest a day until they’re gone.

There was an enhanced ebook version of The Gathering that had a whole bunch of extras. Now that it’s been out almost a year, I have the publisher’s permission to share some of them with you. For these contests, I’ll be posting a page from the yearbook and asking a question about it. Then, just before The Calling comes out, I’ll post the two short stories that I wrote for the extras.

We’ll start with Maya! Her yearbook page is below. To enter the contest, tell me what her mom does for a living. Email your answer to contest@kelleyarmstrong.com before midnight Eastern Monday Feb 27. I’ll choose one correct answer tomorrow.

UPDATE: Guys, please read the instructions on how to enter! I just deleted eight pending comments with the answer. Not only are you giving it away, but you’re not actually entering the contest.

* an ARC is an Advance Reader Copy, a paperback version made before proof-reading is complete.

I know, I am SOOO late with this. We had a lot of great entries, and we’d narrowed it down to a few, then I kept going “I can’t decide!” and putting it off. But I finally bit the bullet. We really did have some amazing entries this year. Choosing winners was not easy.  I also “cheated” a bit and added a runner-up. I was then tempted to add a third place and a fourth and a few more honorable mentions… But I would have run out of prizes

Thanks to everyone who entered. If you didn’t win, you should know that the level of entries was higher than any other video contest I’ve run. So blame the competition

Note: if it says by “TBA” I’m waiting to see what name the winners would like used.

Starting with the Grand Prize Winner…

The Summoning by LeeNor Dikel, Fiona Schneider & Sabrina Engstrom

Now the Runner-Up…

The Summoning from EK Studios

And the Honourable Mentions…

Darkest Powers trailer by Cassidy and Bailey

Summoning Prologue by Emilie

The Gathering trailer by Kailey

Gathering Cast Picks by Yailin Rose

 

 

Sorry for the delay. When I said it would end on the 1st and we’d choose a title, I had no idea there would be thousands to go through. That took three of us to work through and come up with a short list, then a winner.

As it turned out, our winning entry was one of the first We chose Belonging, which was first suggested by Alela. I’ll be emailing her with her prize now. Thanks to all who made suggestions!

My God, you guys have a lot of title suggestions. I need you around when I’m trying to come up with book titles

As promised, the Darkest Powers Bonus Pack is in eBook (finally!)

You’ll find details here: http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/darkest-powers-bonus-pack/

It’s 99 cents until December 15. In putting these into an ebook, my goal is to make them more widely available…while covering the costs of doing that. But initially, I want to charge as little as possible for those who follow my blog/Twitter/FB etc. After December 15, it goes up to $2.99

The online story is done (well, until I edit it and maybe fix the ending a bit–my endings always need fixing). But now it needs a title Once again, I’ll run a contest for that.

Have an idea for a title? Post it below! The winner will receive his/her choice of a signed hardcover of The Gathering or a signed ARC of The Calling. I’ll choose a winner on Dec 1.

And, as a reminder, the story isn’t going to stay here forever. If you want a copy, you’re free to cut-and-paste but PLEASE don’t post it anywhere online. What I’ve discovered with these free stories is that very few readers ever find them. In order to get them to a wider audience, I need to make them available as ebooks (at a low cost to pay for cover art, editing, distribution etc) But readers get annoyed if they buy something, only to discover it’s free online So you guys are welcome to it. Just don’t share it with the world!

As a side note: as some of you have noticed, it’s taking a LOT longer than expected to get Dangerous, Divided and Disenchanted up as an ebook collection. It’s my first experience doing this, and I vastly underestimated how quickly it can be processed and make available. I’m told it should be any day now. Really. By Dec 1 at the latest and until Dec 15, it’ll be 99 cents for all 3. I’ll post here when it’s finally available.

I eased forward, gaze fixed on Carter’s.

“Uh-uh,” he said, tightening his grip on Chloe. “You do know how easy it would be to snap her neck, don’t you? Just because I’m not Changing yet, doesn’t mean I don’t have my full strength.”

He was right. I hadn’t had my first Change until months after I’d thrown that kid against the wall. I took a deep breath and tried to slow my pounding heart. I tried to catch Chloe’s eye to reassure her, but she seemed a lot calmer than I was, just glancing from side to side. Looking for Liz.

Where the hell was Liz? Why hadn’t she spotted Carter before he grabbed Chloe?

Because she’d been focused on Theo and Nate. I should have been watching for Carter. I should have been watching for all of them.

Was Liz off finding a weapon? Probably. But I couldn’t rely on her to fix this.

“Let Chloe go,” I said. “I’ll stay.”

“Stay?” Carter laughed. “Why the hell would I want you to stay?”

I blinked and replayed his words. Even then, I couldn’t seem to process what my he was saying. All I could process was the sight of him with his arm around Chloe’s neck.

“You want Derek gone,” Chloe said. “This is your pack. He’s an interloper, even if he is family.”

So she’d figured that we were related? Of course she had. If she’d gotten even a glimpse of Theo or Nate, she wouldn’t be wondering why Carter called me “cousin.”

“Yeah, I want him gone.” Carter met my gaze. “Gone for good.”

“You want me dead,” I said.

He sputtered a laugh. “Dead? You’ve been hearing too many big bad wolf stories, cous. I mean I want you out of here. Away from us. You don’t belong. You know that. I know that. It’s Theo who just can’t seem to figure it out.”

Chloe tugged his arm down a little. “And it’s Theo who’s going to return any second to make sure Derek does stay. So if you want him gone, let us leave.”

“Mmm, soon. It’ll take them a while to search the forest. Before you go, though, I want to make sure your boyfriend doesn’t have any crazy ideas about keeping in touch.”

“What?” I said.

“You might not want to live with us, but I’m thinking you might decide to make contact. You know. A phone call on Christmas. A card on our birthdays.”

“I don’t know your birthdays.”

Carter’s gaze hardened. “But you know what I mean. We’re werewolves; you’re a werewolf. We’d be a good resource. Someone to call when you have questions. And maybe, in a few years, you’ll start thinking you want to visit, too. Get to know us better. After all, we are family.”

“And you don’t want that. You want me out of your life for good.”

“I do. So this . . .” He pulled Chloe back, arm tightening. When I rocked forward, though, he released his grip. “This is just a little warning. You come after us; I’ll come after her. Or your so-called brother and father.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” He held my gaze. “Do you really?”

I bristled under that stare. I wanted to tell him to go to hell, that I’d never had any intention of making contact. But that would be a lie. I wouldn’t be in any hurry to find them again, but maybe someday, when I was older and Theo couldn’t just expect to scoop me up and take me, I’d want to get in touch.

Carter was right. I would have questions, about my family and about being a werewolf. While I was sure I’d never be spending Thanksgiving with them, I might want contact at some point. But from Carter’s glare, I knew that wouldn’t be an option. Not until I was prepared to deal with him.

“Fine,” I said.

He tightened his grip on Chloe. “Are you sure? Because—”

Chloe elbowed him in the stomach, hard enough to make him gasp. He loosened his grip. She ducked out from his arm. I lunged and slammed him back into the wall, just as a plate hit him over the head. He staggered and stared down at the plate.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

“Apparently, someone had trouble finding a proper weapon,” Chloe muttered.

She was behind me now. I blocked her, tensed for action, but Carter wasn’t making a move to do anything, just rubbing his head and trying to figure out where the plate came from. If he turned around, he’d see a big shard of it hovering in the air. Liz, also poised for action, with an actual weapon now. But when he didn’t move, we didn’t either.

I could turn this into a fight. Teach Carter that I wasn’t someone to mess with. And if I did that, Theo and Nate could hear the commotion and come running.

Was I sure I could “teach him” anyway? He was a werewolf, too. I might be a lot bigger, but he was a werewolf—I couldn’t trounce him the way I could a human. I might only piss him off more and make him more determined to go after Chloe if I ever initiated contact. So I’d win nothing.

“We’re leaving now,” I said. “I’ll go away and I’ll stay away.”

“Good. I’ll give you a five minute head start. Then I’ll tell them I saw you driving in the opposite direction.”

I could thank him for that. Maybe I should. But he wasn’t doing it for me. He was just eliminating a threat to his position in his pack, and with his grandfather.

So I just nodded and grunted something, then ushered Chloe out to the waiting van.

 

 

 

We met my dad a mile down the road. Chloe spotted our van coming, and jumped out as I pulled over. Dad almost drove by. But he saw her—or heard me shouting—and put it in reverse. We climbed in, left the other van by the roadside and took off . . . after Dad pulled out a few wires under the hood and disabled their ride.

“So, can we move now?” I said as he pulled away.

He looked at me through the rear view mirror. “I’m sorry, Derek. I’m really—”

“We’re moving, right?”

“Yes, we’re moving.”

 

 

I explained everything on the way back. Dad apologized some more. I let him. It wasn’t completely his fault. I did have a tendency to get a little paranoid. Plus Lauren hadn’t helped. But if I let him off the hook now, he might not be so quick to act the next time. So I kept my mouth shut. And when we got home, we started to pack.

 

 

“I know we’ve moved,” Chloe said two weeks later, as we walked behind our new house. “But it doesn’t really seem like it.” She gestured around us. “Old farmhouse in the country, a mile from the nearest neighbor, borders on a nice sized patch of forest . . .”

“Seem to be a lot of them for rent.”

She laughed. “Luckily for us. And this one comes with an added bonus. A convenient escape route. Not a lot of those on the market, I bet.”

There weren’t, obviously. Dad got lucky, though I suppose that luck had come with a lot of work, finding a place we could easily get out of if the Cains returned. This one wasn’t exactly advertised as coming with an escape route, but it had a passage connecting the separate garage to the house—back from the days when the “garage” had been a barn, and they’d had a dumbwaiter for lowering supplies into the cold cellar hallway below.

The fact that my dad found this place showed how stressed out he was over the Cains. I’d forgiven him last week for not moving when I asked, but it was still playing heavily on his mind. He wasn’t just worried about them finding us—he was worried about how I was dealing with finding them. Discovering my family, then losing them, all in a few hours.

How did I feel about it? Confused, I guess. There was no part of me that wanted to go live with the Cains. I wasn’t even sure I’d ever want to make contact. I kept thinking about what Nate said, about hunting humans. I didn’t care if they only went after guys who should be locked up in a prison cell—I didn’t ever want to do that.

But Dad said I was looking at it the wrong way. Not that I should be okay with my family killing humans, but that I had to see if from a werewolf perspective, where restricting themselves to rare hunts of criminals actually meant they had developed a system for dealing with their impulses. It wasn’t the system I’d choose, but at least they weren’t man-eaters. Kind of depressing to realize that was the standard for judging my own kind—did they eat people or not? Maybe that’s what bothered me the most. In the last few months, I’d come to realize—through the Edison Group and Lauren—just how low a regard supernaturals had for werewolves. Dad could tell me it was just prejudice, but now I saw a little of where it came from, and what I’d have to deal with for the rest of my life.

“Do you want to talk?” Chloe said, looking up at me as we walked.

“Already done enough of that.” I had, too, until I’m sure she was sick of hearing about it.

“It’s never enough if it’s still bothering you,” she said.

It was going to bother me for a while. And no amount of talking would cure that. Just time. I wasn’t telling her that, though. She’d just feel bad that she couldn’t help. So I said, “Later,” and tugged her over to a tree where I’d left a bag earlier.

“Got something for you,” I said.

“Oh?”

“It’s our three month anniversary.”

Her eyes widened in panic. “Today? I thought . . . I was counting three months from—”

“Doesn’t matter.” I paused. “Or I guess it does or we’ll keep getting confused. Can we use today—three months back, I mean?”

She smiled. “We can . . . if you don’t mind getting your gift late.”

“I don’t care if I get one at all. Just as long as I keep getting anniversaries.”

She blushed and lifted on her tiptoes to kiss me. “You will. For as long as you want them.”

Which was pretty much the best present she could give me, and I stood there, forgetting what I was doing until her gaze traveled down to the bag behind me.

“Oh, right,” I said. “The gift.”

I opened the bag and pulled out a small box of chocolates. “Happy anniversary.”

“Oh. Thanks.” She flashed me a huge smile that would have looked totally real . . . if I didn’t know her better.

“Simon said that’s what I should get you. That or flowers. So you like it?”

“Sure.”

“Liar.”

Her face went bright red now as she stammered, “N-no, really. It’s great. It’s—”

“Completely and totally impersonal. Like something you’d buy in bulk for all your teachers.”

“No, I like this kind. You know I do and—”

She stopped as I held out the bag.

“Your real gift,” I said.

She looked in and let out a choking laugh. Then, still grinning, she reached in and pulled out a penlight, a Swiss army knife and a purse-sized can of mace.

She sputtered another laugh. “This is . . .”

“Practical?” I said.

“In my life, it is definitely practical. But I was going to say thoughtful.” She smiled up at me. “The most thoughtful gift I’ve ever gotten.”

“And the most completely unromantic? Simon almost had a heart attack when I showed him. He made me get the chocolates, as a backup.”

“I’m sure he did. Which I suppose explains why I ended up with you instead.” She rose on tiptoes again and put her arms around my neck. “Because buying me gifts to keep me safe? That’s my idea of romantic.”

I bent and kissed her, lifting her up, then lowering her to the grass behind the tree.

“Chloe!” Tori shouted from near the house. “Chloe!”

I glanced over. “Think it’s urgent?”

“Only if saving Tori from boredom is a life-or-death situation. She was trying to get me to go shopping with her before we ducked out. I say we make a break for the forest.” She pointed to the bag. “We have survival gear. And chocolate. We can stay out there for a while.”

I grinned, scooped up the bag, and we raced off to explore our new forest. Or something like that.

I took my time washing my hands.

Where was Chloe? What did she have in mind? Liz telling me Chloe was planning to rescue me wasn’t really useful—now I could make some move, like stalling, hoping to help and screw up her plans.

Damn it, Liz.

“You scrubbing in for surgery?” Nate said.

“Sorry, I—”

Something hit the floor with a crack. Nate turned and looked down to see his cell phone on the floor. He patted his back pockets, as if to be sure it was his, then swore and reached down. The phone slid across the floor.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

It slid faster now, scraping and bumping along.

“Carter!” Nate growled. “This is not the time for pranks.”

As he took off after the phone, I looked out the bathroom door to see it rise a foot off the ground, then fall with a crack.

Nate swore and picked up speed, loping down the hall, muttering. “If you break it,  Carter, I swear you’re buying me a new one.”

The phone jumped again, and shot into the room where they’d held me. The door slammed shut. There was an outside lock and I started running for it. Then I heard a click as Liz turned the lock. I raced the other way, praying it was the right way.

Behind me, Nate pounded on the door. The hinges squealed. They wouldn’t hold long, not against a full-grown werewolf. I ran faster.

The hall ended in what looked like a TV room, though just a few pieces of furniture remained, as if someone had started clearing it out. On the other side were the stairs heading up. I started for them. As I did, I heard voices at the top. Theo and Carter. Coming down.

I looked around. There were a few windows at the top of the walls. Typical small basement windows, which meant there was no way in hell I was squeezing out one. I ran for the couch—the only piece of furniture big enough for me to hide behind.

Even as I dove, I knew it wasn’t going to work. The sofa was clear across the room from the stairs. Too far to run once they passed. And they’d know it was the only place I could—

As I dropped behind the sofa, something caught my ankle. I looked down to see Chloe hiding behind a table—as best anyone, even her size, could hide behind a table. When she tried to tug me down, I shook my head. Then I realized the spot she was squeezed in was too small even for her. Her legs were inside some kind of hole.

There was a cubby in the wall. A crawlspace for extra storage. Seeing it, I remembered the last crawlspace we’d been in, complete with buried bodies that she’d accidentally resurrected. I hesitated, but her fingers gripped my pant-leg as she backed into the hole. I nodded, dropped down and followed, backing in.

Once I got past the opening, the storage space was bigger than I expected. Not huge—but large enough for me to crouch in.

I’d barely gotten the hatch shut when I heard heavy footfalls on the steps and a crash from the back hall.

Nate came running into the TV room. “Did you catch him?”

“What?” It was Theo.

Nate explained what happened. Unfortunately, he stayed in the TV room while explaining it, leaving us no chance to escape.

I twisted to look at Chloe. “You shouldn’t have—”

“Too late.”

I glowered at her. She glowered back. I could have laughed at that. Or kissed her. Which was completely the wrong reaction, but I couldn’t help it. I looked at her, crouched in that storage space, her face lit by a penlight, dirt smudged on her cheek, doing her best to glower at me, and I wanted to reach over and kiss her. Really kiss her. Feel the heat of her lips and pull her against me and drink in her smell and—

“Derek?”

I blinked.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

I nodded. “But you shouldn’t have—”

She leaned over and pressed her lips to mine and I forgot what I was going to say. It didn’t last more than a second, though, before she pulled back and whispered in my ear, “Are they still there? I can’t hear them?”

I turned to listen, then whispered. “Nate’s looking for me. Theo’s staying right there. By the stairs. I don’t hear Carter.”

I realized the names would mean nothing to her. But there was no time to explain and she didn’t ask, just nodded.

“You should have called my dad,” I whispered in her ear.

“I did.”

“What?” I was too loud and she clapped her hand to my mouth.

“I’m not stupid,” she whispered back. “I called collect from a pay-phone. But Liz couldn’t find the address of this place. It’s just a house in the country. It’s for sale, though, so I gave him all the information from the sign.”

“Oh.”

“Did you really think—?” She sighed and shook her head. “He’s coming, but we didn’t have time to wait. When I got back, they were already getting a van packed.” She looked at the door again. “What are they doing now?”

I strained to listen. Their voices had moved away and it took a moment for me to realize they were heading upstairs. Nate had checked the basement and reported it was empty. They figured I’d slipped past and made a run for it. If it was me, I would have followed my trail and seen where I went. I guess they’d do that after, when they couldn’t find me, but it wasn’t the first thing they thought of, however obvious it might be to me.

When I turned to tell Chloe they were gone, she was looking off to the side, nodding.

“Liz says they’re going outside to look for you,” she whispered.

I didn’t say I’d already heard that—I just nodded. We waited. A screen door squeaked shut upstairs. Then Liz came back to say they were all outside. I eased open the hatch door. We crawled out.

I made my way to the stairs, straining to listen for any sound above. None came. I whispered for Chloe to hang a few steps behind me as we went up. She agreed.

There was a side door at the top of the stairs. The interior door was open; the storm door was closed. I listened carefully as I slid toward it.

“Liz says it’s clear,” Chloe whispered, so low I almost didn’t hear her.

I stopped on the landing and peered out the door. As I reached for the handle, Chloe caught up and touched my arm.

“Wait,” she whispered. “Let Liz check again.”

It seemed to take forever for Liz to come back and I rocked there, on the balls of my feet, staring out at the forest less than a hundred feet away. We just had to cross that stretch. I didn’t hear anyone. We should just—

“The keys are in the van,” Chloe whispered.

I turned to her.

“Liz says they’re close by, but the van is open and the keys are in the ignition. That’s our best bet.”

I hesitated and looked out again at the forest.

“I know you’d prefer the woods,” she whispered. “But I bet they would, too.”

She was right. My instinct said to run for the forest, but I had no advantage over them there. In fact, if one of them could Change fast enough, I’d be at a disadvantage. Plus I had Chloe to think about.

“I’ll drive,” I said.

She managed a smile. “That’s what I was hoping, ‘cause I can’t.” She pushed open the door. “Something tells me it would be a good skill to have, though.”

“I’ll teach you.” I motioned her back and leaned out the door.

“Liz says it’s fine,” she whispered. “She can see both—”

Chloe let out a yelp and wheeled. As she did, I caught Carter’s scent. I turned to see him swinging out of a doorway right behind Chloe. I lunged for her and she lunged for me, but it was too late—he had her by the back of the shirt. One yank and she flew off her feet. Before I could move, he had her pulled back against him, arm around her throat.

He looked at me and smiled, showing his teeth. “Going somewhere, little cousin?”

 

 

 

When the food arrived, I ate. It seemed the right response, one that might convince Theo I was prepared to deal with this maturely and reasonably. Nate joined us for the meal. He seemed okay. Bigger and, yeah, uglier than Carter. Not as bright as Theo. In other words, when it came to being a Cain, he didn’t get a pass on any of the three criteria. But he was nice to me, which was more than I could say for Carter.

While the rest of the family could only change into wolves, Carter got a bonus shape-shifting ability. He was also an ass. As Theo tried to regale me with the wonderful life I’d have as a Cain, Carter kept finding ways to make jabs. About my looks. About my skin. About my size. Even about my intelligence—if I asked a question about werewolf life, it only proved that I wasn’t as smart as I thought I was. And if I was dating Chloe, it was only because she was scared of the Edison Group and wanted protection, because really, what other reason would she have for dating me? An ass, like I said. Finally, Theo snarled and sent him away, and that only pissed Carter off more, as he mouthed behind Theo’s back that we’d settle this later.

Settle what? I hadn’t done anything to him. Yet somehow, I had. I just didn’t know what.

After Theo finished his spiel, I began mine. Earlier, I’d been reluctant to tell him how attached I was to my family. Now, I realized was exactly what I needed to do. Whatever misguided ideas he had about me, he clearly understood the value of family. So the goal, then, was to explain the situation in a way he’d understand.

I said that I totally understood his position. I appreciated that he’d come looking for me. But I already had a family. I had a father and a brother, and I had a girlfriend, and I wanted to stay with them. I’d like to keep in touch with him. I just didn’t need—or want—a new family.

It was a rational, respectful response. Dad would have been proud of me. Theo didn’t care. He wasn’t angry or insulted—he just let me talk, then ignored everything I said. I was a kid; I wasn’t old enough to make decisions like this. So he’d make them for me.

So I argued. I got mad. I got sarcastic. I didn’t mean to, but it was like beating my head against a brick wall, trying to make him understand. Still Theo didn’t get angry with me. He just put me on a time-out, like a misbehaving puppy.

He left and Nate left, and I sat there. As I did, I tried to figure out how I’d escape. The answer seemed obvious—let them take me back to wherever they came from, then run away at the first opportunity. They couldn’t watch me forever. But where would I go when I ran? When Dad realized I’d been kidnapped, he’d come looking for me, but he wasn’t a werewolf—he couldn’t track me. After a couple of days, he’d pack up the others and move. He had to; he couldn’t risk having whoever took me go after Simon or Chloe or Tori. He had to protect them.

When I came back, then, how would I find him? I wasn’t even sure I could come back—Theo was bright enough to know I’d return to where he found me. And if I got back before Dad moved the others? Theo and Nate and Carter would be right on my heels, and they’d probably have called in others to help. I’d be putting my family at risk. I’d never do that.

But I’d never go with them either. I couldn’t. Even the thought of it made my heart thump so hard I couldn’t breathe.

Maybe I could—

Something click-clicked to my left. I looked over to see a pencil rolling under the door.  I stared at it for a minute, like I was expecting it to explode. Of course it didn’t. I slid off the bed and padded over to pick it up.

Just an ordinary pencil. How did—?

A faint noise sounded outside the door. Then a piece of paper sailed underneath and across the floor.

“What the—?”

The pencil was plucked from my fingers so fast I didn’t even notice until I saw it levitating and looked down at my empty hand. I walked over to the paper and bent as the pencil began scribbling across it.

You look OK. Are you OK?

“Liz?” A stupid question. Liz was the only poltergeist I knew. But if she was here, that meant. “Chloe?” My heart started thudding again. “Where’s Chloe. Did they—?”

She’s outside.

I took a deep breath. “Good. Okay. My dad’s there, too?”

I watched the paper. Nothing happened.

“Liz? My dad is with her, right? She called him, didn’t she?”

Couldn’t.

“What do you mean she couldn’t. She has her cell—” No, she didn’t. We hadn’t taken them into the forest. If Chloe had managed to follow me straight from there . . .

I swore. “Tell her to get to a pay phone. Call collect. Get my dad and—”

No time. They’re packing the van.

“Then you ride with me. You can find out where we go, and return and Chloe—”

We’re getting you out.

“What? No. Absolutely not. Tell Chloe—”

Girls rule

I scowled, imagining her laugh. “That’s not funny, Liz. You tell Chloe that this is too dangerous. I absolutely forbid—” I swallowed the demand and tried again. “I’m asking her not to do this.”

The paper and pencil rose and moved toward the bed. Liz folded the paper and threw it under the bed.

“Hey!” I said. “We’re not done here. You have to—”

The door opened and I stopped short as Theo walked in. He looked around.

“I thought I heard you talking,” he said.

I cleared my throat. “I was, uh, calling for someone. I need to use the bathroom.”

He smiled. “Good timing. I was just going to suggest that. We have a long drive ahead of us and we’re almost ready to go.” He turned and called for Nate to take me.

 

 

We were in a house. It had some furniture, but not much. Maybe a rental? I couldn’t tell. I only know that I had been, apparently, in a basement bedroom, one in the middle of the house, which is why I hadn’t gotten a window. Same went for the bathroom. Window-free. Even that wasn’t good enough for Nate, who left the door open and stood with his back to me. I didn’t really have to go, so I just stood there.

“Shy bladder?” Nate said with a laugh.

“Kinda. Could I get a minute? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Sorry. Orders are orders. I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight. At least I’m turning my back.”

Great. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if he did leave me alone, but I would have liked the chance.

“You’ll get used to it,” Nate went on. “Not a lot of privacy in a werewolf pack. That’s what we are—the Cains. Our own pack. You’ll like it.”

“Uh-huh.”

A chuckle. “You don’t sound so sure. Can’t blame you. This must all be real confusing. But you will like it. Most of us are spread all over the place, but that’s kind of nice, traveling all the time, meeting up with cousins and uncles and nephews, hanging out, hunting. You like to hunt?”

“Never tried it.”

“Well, you will. Soon. I’ll tell Theo to set one up for you. It’s like a family reunion. Everyone gets together, parties, goes for a hunt.”

“Deer?”

“Usually. We went elk hunting last year. Moose a few years ago. ’Course the best hunts are the other ones.”

“Other ones?”

“You know . . .”

I stopped and looked over my shoulder. “You mean?”

He grinned. “Two-legged deer.”

My gorge rose. “You— You hunt—?”

“Oh, not like that. We don’t just pick some random person. If you do that, the Pack comes after you. We need to be careful. Find someone that no one will miss. A junkie or whatever.”

I stared at him, certain I was hearing wrong.

He walked over and clapped me on the back. “Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it. And you won’t try it for a while. Theo won’t allow it until you’re older. Now, zip up and come on. Theo’s waiting upstairs.”