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

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!

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

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.

“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.

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?”

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.”

“There’s soda there,” said a voice I didn’t recognize. “Coke and 7-UP. I wasn’t sure which one you liked.”

I followed the voice to a man. He was older than Dad, with some gray in a mane of dark hair that fell to his shoulders. I’d seen his face before and I blinked again, trying to clear my fuzzy brain, but the answer wouldn’t come.

I turned my gaze to the pop bottles. I imagined taking a gulp and made a face. The sweet, syrupy drink wasn’t going to clear my throat or my head.

“I sent Nate out for burgers,” the man said. “Do you like burgers?”

I looked around. I was in a bedroom with no windows. The only exit was a door—past the man. I sized him up. He looked even bigger than me and something about his smell told my foggy brain I shouldn’t even try getting past him.

Damn it, I knew this man. I knew why I was here. Think, think . . .

“You like chicken instead? Or tacos?” he said. “I can call Nate, tell him to grab some fried chicken or some tacos.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Sure you are.”

The man laughed, but it was a weird laugh, kind of nervous. I pulled the covers back. As I sat up, I stared down at myself. I was wearing sweat pants and a T-shirt, but they weren’t mine. They didn’t smell like mine. They smelled like . . . What did they smell like?

The man pushed the pop bottles at me. “Go on. Have some. They haven’t been opened.”

Why would he say that?

I looked around the windowless room again. Because I’m a prisoner here. I’ve been captured, and he’s telling me the pop is safe. I opened my mouth. My lips stuck together, gummy, and my mouth tasted like I’d eaten cotton.

“Do you have water?” I asked.

He looked confused.

“Never mind. I’m not thirs . . .”

I didn’t finish the word, just left it hanging there as the gears of my brain finally started to turn. I looked at the man and I remembered who he was and what he was and exactly what I was doing here.

I leaped from the bed, landing on him and knocking his chair over backward. I ran to the door and yanked it open to see Carter standing there. I pulled back my fist, but his grandfather was already on his feet and had the back of my shirt. He yanked, and I flew back. His arm went around my neck in a headlock and when I tried to fight, I couldn’t breathe.

“Just stop fighting, Derek. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Chloe,” I rasped. “Where’s Chloe? The girl I was with. What did you—?”

“We didn’t touch your girlfriend. She’s fine. Gone home.”

I heaved for breath. The man’s arm loosened around my neck.

“You better lay back down,” he said. “Have a soda. Food is coming. You’ll feel better once you’ve eaten.”

No, I’ll feel better once you let me out of here.

I didn’t say that, just nodded. He released his grip. I backed onto the bed.

“Might help if we gave him another shot,” Carter said from the doorway.

“No,” his grandfather said. “Seems like he got too much the first time.” A look toward Carter. “More than I measured out.” He turned to me before Carter could answer. “Do you know who I am, Derek?”

“You’re supposed to be his—” I nodded at Carter. “—grandfather. Or that’s what you were pretending to be at the mall.”

“I am.”

“Okay.”

Silence. He kept studying me, like he was waiting for more.

“You know what I am, though, don’t you?”

“A werewolf. Like him.” Another nod at Carter.

“Anything else?”

I shook my head. He looked disappointed.

“My name is Theodore. Theo.”

“Okay.”

“Theo Cain.”

I stiffened. I didn’t mean to, but when he said that name, I heard the other werewolves—Liam and Ramon—this spring in the park, talking about me.

He’s a Cain.

“You know that name, don’t you, Derek,” the old man’s rough voice softened. “Cain?”

“Someone told me . . .”

I swallowed and took another look at Theo. When I’d first seen him, I’d thought he looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember ever seeing him before. Then I thought Carter’s scent was familiar, but I figured it was just the werewolf smell. It wasn’t. I looked at Theo Cain—his dark hair, his square face, his big build—and I knew why I’d recognized him. Because he looked like someone I saw in the mirror everyday.

“I heard . . .” I began. “I met two werewolves. Liam and Ramon. They said I’m a Cain and I’m guessing they told you. They thought I was related to you because I kind of look like you. But I’m not.”

“Did those scientists say your daddy was someone else?”

“No. I . . . they never mentioned my parents.”

“Then how do you know my boy, Zach, wasn’t your daddy?”

Because I don’t want him to be. Because I look at you and I look at Carter over there and I don’t want you to be my family. I don’t want anyone to be my family except my family. Except Dad and Simon.

“It wasn’t those two who told me,” Theo said. “I know who Liam and Ramon are, but I haven’t run into them in years. Someone else told me. Someone who knows those scientists and what they did to you and to my boy. They tricked Zack. Had some girl trick him. She got pregnant and he never knew it, because if he did, he wouldn’t have left you there. He would have come for you. We all would have come for you.”

I knew those words were supposed to mean something. I was supposed to feel something. A fantasy come true, maybe. The little boy, locked up in a lab, dreaming of his family coming to his rescue and giving him a normal life.

But I hadn’t known enough about normal life to even understand the concept of family. Or that I should or could be rescued from that life. Then I had been rescued. By my dad. Even if we didn’t share a strand of DNA, Kit Bae was my father. He’d saved me and he’d given me a family and the closest thing to a normal life he could.

If these Cains were my biological family, then maybe I should feel something, but I didn’t. A few months ago, I would have been happy for the chance to speak to another werewolf, but Dad had already found someone I could talk to—a guy who knew a lot about them. So now all I thought was that they could supply me with a family medical history, which could be useful. And probably not the response they hoped for.

“Okay,” I said after a moment.

Theo watched me, then said, “Okay what?”

I shrugged. “If you say I’m Zachary Cain’s son, then I guess I am.”

“I’m your grandpa, Derek.”

“Okay.”

I felt bad then, seeing his disappointment. There wasn’t anything more I could say, though. I couldn’t pretend I was thrilled to have a real family. The best I could do was nod at Carter and say, “And he’s my . . .”

“Cousin. First cousin. So is Nate. You’ll meet him soon.”

“He was the other wolf that attacked me.”

Theo winced. “We didn’t mean—”

“Whatever. And Zachary. Your son. The one you think is my father. He’s dead, right? Killed by the Pack?”

Grief flashed across the old man’s face. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying another casual “Okay.” I tried to look like I was sad about Zachary being dead, but the truth is that I didn’t feel much of anything, except maybe a little sorry for Theo’s loss. I hadn’t known my father. He hadn’t known me.

“So now what?” I said.

Theo looked confused. “Now what?”

“What happens now?” I looked around. “You kidnapped me and brought me here to tell me this. So now what?”

The confusion deepened. “You’ll come with us. You’re a Cain.”

“No,” I said slowly. “I mean, biologically, I am but . . .” I wanted to say I already had a family, but my gut warned me it might not be in my best interests to bring that up. I shrugged. “I don’t know you.”

“You will. You’ll come and live with us now. We’ll take care of you. You’ll stay with me.” He moved closer. “Don’t worry, Derek. We’re going to make this real easy. You can even go to school.”

“College?”

He gave the same confused look as when I’d asked for water. “No. High school. Cain boys are home-schooled, because we move around a lot. but we know an education is important to you, so I’ll make sure you go to a real school as often as we can. You don’t need to worry about college. You won’t need that. You’re already smart.” He smiled. “Don’t need a piece of paper to prove it.”

I wanted to say “Are you sure we’re related? Really sure?” but again, it didn’t seem wise. I remembered what else those werewolves said about the Cains.

Three things every Cain has in common. Big as a house. Ugly as a mud fence. Dumb as a brick.

I didn’t much appreciate the second part, but I knew I wouldn’t be trying out for a modeling job anytime soon. As for the last, I knew that was wrong. At least for me. But if “not too bright” was a trademark of a Cain, and these guys were Cains . . .

I evaluated the situation as I pretended to consider Theo’s words. I was trapped in a windowless bedroom. Guarded by one werewolf who could take me out and another who probably had a syringe of sedative in his back pocket. Then there was a third one—bigger than Carter and younger than Theo—who’d be back any moment.

I wasn’t getting out of here by brute force.

I reached for the Coke, twisted off the top and gulped it. Then I looked at Theo. “You said burgers?”

He smiled and relaxed. “Yep. Burgers, fries, even onion rings if Nate can find them. We’ll keep you well fed, son. You don’t need to worry about that.”

I finished the bottle, set it aside and stared at it, again feigning deep contemplation.

“It would be nice to be with my own kind,” I said finally.

“Course it would.”

“Mr. Bae is a nice guy and all but . . . he’s not a werewolf.”

“Course he isn’t.”

“He doesn’t really get me, you know?”

Theo smiled. “Course he doesn’t. He can’t. Not his fault. I’m sure he tried. But he’s not a werewolf.”

I nodded, then scratched my head and made a face. “You think I could go have a shower before those burgers show up?”

Theo chuckled. “Is that what you want, Derek? A shower? Or are you hoping there’s a window you can climb out?”

“Huh? No. I just wanted—”

He leaned forward. “You’re a smart boy. I’ve been warned about that. I might not have much of an education, but I know a few things about us. About werewolves. We need family. We need a pack. You’ve got that. You’ve got a daddy and a brother and now you’ve got yourself a real cute girlfriend, and you’re going to do your damnedest to get back to them. So if you want that shower, I’ll take you, but you’d barely get your head out of the window and there’s no one around to call for help.”

He pushed to his feet. “It’s gonna take a while for you to come around. I know that. And you’re not going to be too happy with me for a while. Soon you’ll see that I did the right thing and you’ll thank me for it. But for now, I’m keeping a real close eye on you, Derek. So—” He met my gaze. “Do you still want that shower?”

I looked at Carter, snickering behind Theo, and I slumped back into the bed.

While I worked this out, I loped through the forest, getting to Chloe as quickly and quietly as I could. Soon I was close enough to tease both scents from the air and realize they weren’t actually together. They were just coming from the same direction. Carter was a lot closer to me.

I slowed and crept through the undergrowth until I could see him. He was standing behind a bush, peering over. I could tell by Chloe’s smell that she was about a hundred feet away—in the direction he was looking.

He was watching her. Spying on her. Stalking her. I fought a surge of rage by telling myself that Chloe was safe. I could get to her before he could. Now I needed to relax and work out a plan. As I worked on one, something kept distracting me. His scent. I could still smell cologne, but now, when I was in wolf form, I picked up more of his natural smell. It seemed . . . familiar.

The other day I’d wondered if there was a reason Carter was wearing so much cologne. If he was covering his scent. I’d thought he might be a member of the Edison Group. Maybe someone I hadn’t seen that day we destroyed the lab, but that I might have smelled there. I had finally decided I was being paranoid. But now I knew I hadn’t been. I recognized his scent.

Except . . . I didn’t. It smelled familiar and yet it didn’t. How was that possible?

Didn’t matter. I could work all that out later. For now, I just needed to get this guy away from Chloe. While my gut still urged me to take him down—just jump him, pin him, let Chloe escape—my brain said that wasn’t necessary. I could sneak around and warn Chloe, and we could escape.

I could go back to the house and tell Dad and we could go after Carter together as I tracked his scent. Then I’d let Dad handle him. It was the smart thing to do. When Dad realized I’d walked away from a confrontation, he’d finally understand that I was still me in wolf form, capable of rational thought. More capable of rational thought than I’d been  when I’d attacked that guy in Buffalo.

I started circling around Carter. I made a wide circle, so he wouldn’t catch a glimpse of me. That shouldn’t be hard, considering I’m a black wolf and it was night-time. Still, I stayed close enough to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t go after Chloe.

I passed parallel to him, maybe fifty feet away. As I did, I heard him inhale sharply. I stopped and I turned to peer over at him. He was still behind the bush, but he wasn’t looking in Chloe’s direction anymore. He was looking in mine.

I eased behind a low bush. Carter wasn’t looking right at me, though. Just in my direction. Had he heard a twig crack? I didn’t think I’d made any noise. So what had—?

He tilted his head and his nostrils flared. Sniffing? No, that wasn’t poss—

It hit me then. What I’d smelled in his scent. What made it familiar. The underlying scent of a werewolf.

I’d smelled it once before, with two guys who’d come after me. I’d figured out fast what they were. With Carter, even after I detected his real scent, the cologne still tainted it. But now there was no doubt in my mind. Carter was a werewolf.

He sniffed again and his lips parted in a “Shit.” He peered into the darkness. Then he looked toward Chloe. Back toward me. More cursing.

I knew then what I had to do. Get him away from Chloe. Chase him away from her. And when she was safe, I had to take him down and hold him until she could bring my dad. Because if a werewolf had found us, we were in real trouble, and I couldn’t let him escape until we’d found out what the hell was going on.

I continued toward Chloe for another twenty feet. Then I cut on a diagonal, heading for Carter’s position, creeping along silently until I was about fifty feet away. I paused, hunkered down. then shot from the brush and barreled straight for him, making all the noise I could.

He stumbled from behind the bush and seemed ready to run for Chloe. But he was too far away. And I was between him and her. One last regretful look her way, before he turned and ran.

I let out a snarl. It was the loudest sound I could manage without stopping to howl. I heard Chloe scramble from her hiding place. I glanced back and caught a glimpse of her. I didn’t stop. She could see I was running the other way. Hopefully, she could see who I was chasing. She’d get to safety and bring help. I continued after Carter.

It wasn’t a fair race. He was fast, but in the forest, having four feet and running lower to the ground gave me the advantage. He kept having to duck low hanging branches. The gap between us closed with each stride.

When I heard the undergrowth crackle somewhere in front of me, I thought it was a deer. There were some in this patch of forest and they’d race off in a panic when they smelled me coming. So I ignored the sound . . . until a dark shape leapt between me and Carter.

It was a wolf. A grizzled black wolf. Huge—at least as big as me.

Carter’s grandfather.

I skidded to a stop. I’d faced adult werewolves before. Two of them. Neither had been anywhere near this one’s size, and I’d still been outclassed. Dad said that werewolves protect themselves by gaining a reputation that wards off others . They gain that reputation through fighting. That means even the smallest adult werewolf was more than a match for me. So when I saw Carter’s grandfather, I had the sense to turn in my tracks. But as soon as I veered to race back the other way, I found my path blocked by another werewolf, nearly as big as Carter’s grandfather.

I dove into the bushes. As I plowed through them, I could hear the two wolves flanking me, angling in to cut me off. I hunkered down, eyes slitted, ears back, protecting myself against the branches and brambles as I ran through them. I kept going, ignoring the crashing of the wolves on either side of me until one faded. Still running, I swiveled my ears to be sure. The wolf on my left—Carter’s grandfather—was gone. He must have fallen back, too old to keep up, leaving me to the younger one. If I could just find a clearer path . . .

Slightly to my left the undergrowth cleared up enough for me to get ahead. I just needed to steer that way—

A black shape shot from the trees just ahead of me. Carter’s grandfather. I tried to stop, but he was too close and as I skidded, he pounced. He hit me hard, knocking my legs from under me as I went down. I tried to scramble up, but his jaws clamped on the back of my neck. He pinned me as the other wolf ran over.

A moment later, I heard a voice.

“I thought they said you were smart.”

It was Carter. I tried to twist to see him, but his grandfather kept my head pinned to the ground. I felt a prick in the back of my neck. A rush of cold. I blinked. Blinked again, as the forest seemed to wobble. Then it went dark.

The worst part about trying to Change is knowing that if I succeed, I’m going to reach that point, mid-transformation, where I’ll feel like I’m going to die. That point where the pain is so incredible that I almost wouldn’t mind if I did. That will pass and once I’m done, I’ll say “it’s worth it.” But when it’s actually happening, I wonder why the hell I’d ever intentionally try to do this.

At least I wasn’t throwing up anymore. I remember the first time I started to Change, when Chloe was with me behind Lyle House, and I was puking in the bushes, helpless, racked by the pain of the Change. She’d stayed with me. She’d reassured me. She’d looked after me. And that, I think, is when things started to change for me, too. That’s when I saw more than a damsel-in-distress who I could use to get my brother out of Lyle House.

I’d seen signs of it before, but I’d ignored them, told myself I was wrong. That night, though, as she stayed with me, when she hadn’t known I was a werewolf—hadn’t even known werewolves existed—that’s when I looked at her and I saw real strength. And I saw the first person, other than Simon, that I could ever imagine as a friend.

Thinking back to that first night seemed to relax me and make me focus on the process. That did the trick. I Changed. I didn’t get to skip the “I’m going to die” moment. But it seemed to pass a little faster, and almost before I knew it, I was lying on the grass, in wolf form, panting.

That’s when Chloe turned around. She crawled over to sit beside me and gave my shoulder muscles a light massage while I rested. When I was ready, I pushed to my feet and nudged her.

“So what’s it tonight?” she asked. “Tag? Hide and seek? Fetch?”

I gave a soft growl at the last one and she laughed.

“Someday, I’m going to teach you to fetch,” she said. “I really am.”

Another growl and I bumped her legs. She laid her hand on my head, and I leaned against her, eyes closing as I rested there a moment. I’ve Changed forms with others around, but even with Simon, it’s never this comfortable.

I can sense that bit of tension Simon tries to hide when I Change. Dad, too. They know a werewolf can’t always be trusted in wolf form. Chloe was told that, too, but she never believed it, even the first time, when I’d told her to get out of the way if I finished the transformation. I know now that there’s no reason to worry—I feel like myself, no matter what form I’m in. She’s the only one who really gets that and treats me the same either way.

“Are you tired?” she said. “Or do you want to play?”

I stepped away from her.

“Play, I take it. Tag? Or hide and seek?”

I dipped my muzzle twice.

She laughed. “Hide and seek it is, then. So who goes first?”

I raced off in answer. She started counting.

I tore around a bit before finding a spot. I could say I was trying to confuse her by making lots of noise and racing in circles, but really, I was just enjoying myself. There’s a restlessness that builds up between Changes. Our usual games of chase help, but this is what I really need—just to run. Even after I heard Chloe coming after me, I kept running. Then, as she drew close, I dove behind a bush and hunkered down.

She found me easily, sighing, “You don’t even try to hide, do you?”

I growled and bumped her legs.

“Yes, yes, I’m going. Why do you insist on making this fair when all you want to do is the seeking part?”

I gave another growl and retreated behind the bush again to count. She was right. I really preferred the hunting part, not surprisingly. I gave her lots of time, too, so she could find the best spot and make it a real challenge.

As I waited, I stretched out in a patch of moonlight and closed my eyes. If I were in human form, I’d have been smiling. It felt so good, so damned good, lying in the grass, the night breeze ruffling my fur, Chloe’s scent still wafting around me, her laugh still echoing in my ears. Life wasn’t perfect, but Dad was back and Simon was safe and I was Changing and Chloe was with me and that was all good.

So I lay there, feeling pleased with myself, until I realized I’d given her more than enough time to hide. Last time I did that, I’d found her asleep in a thicket. Not wanting to wake her, I’d curled up with her, still in wolf form. Except, when I woke up, somehow I wasn’t in wolf form anymore, which meant I was naked . . . and it was morning, and Simon and Dad were out in the forest, yelling for us.

I’d had to streak back to my clothing, while Chloe headed them off and kept them distracted until I got back, dressed. We’d still caught serious shit for that one. Dad had insisted on taking Chloe’s place for my next two Change attempts, which was probably the biggest punishment he could have come up with, even if he didn’t mean it. Without Chloe there, I didn’t Change, which made me cranky and irritable and restless, until Chloe convinced Dad that his punishment was doing more harm than good. Dad had agreed, but said if we ever spent the night in the woods again, I was going to have to learn to Change without Chloe around.

So I didn’t goof around this time. I followed her trail as best I could, winding through the forest after it. She’d tried to trick me—climbing a tree and jumping down at the end of a branch—but that only stalled me for a minute or two, then I found where she’d carried on. I kept going, nose to the ground until . . .

Another scent drifted past. Cologne.

When I smelled it, I stopped, fur bristling, a growl bubbling up. Then I swallowed it and gave my head a sharp shake.

I was imagining things. I had to be. Or picking up an old scent.

I sniffed the air. No, I wasn’t imagining anything. Carter’s cologne was thick on the breeze. And it was coming from the same direction as Chloe’s trail.