Unleashed (37 page)

She couldn’t figure out why Cordelia had been as pissed as she was. Lucy wasn’t her sister or best friend. Tearing off her crown of gold leaves, she bit her lip to keep from crying as she doggedly retraced the route they had taken to get there. After about ten minutes, she realized that she wasn’t sure how to go from the Sokolovs’ property to her grandfather’s cabin without going to Cordelia’s house first. So maybe she was meant to go to Cordelia now and try to talk to her.

Except Justin will be there
.

Despite everything, just thinking of him enflamed her again. She kept going, trying to decide what to do when she got closer to Cordelia’s, crossing her fingers that Cordelia would have called her from the Fenners’ landline by then—or already had, and had left a message. She wouldn’t be able to tell until she had cell phone coverage.

As she drove, she began to recognize landmarks and little by little was able to calm down. Just when she was sure she knew where she was, a call came in on her phone. Trick. Sucking in her breath, she answered.

“Katelyn. Where are you?” he asked, worry threading his voice.

“I’m okay. I’m—I left,” she said, her voice cracking.

“Where are you?”

“In my car, driving,” she said. She wanted to tell him everything but couldn’t.

“I didn’t mean to come on so strong,” he said.

Her cheeks burned. She’d been the one who’d kicked it up.

“Your shoes are here,” he continued.

“Can you bring them to school?” It was all she could say before her voice gave out.

“So you’re not coming back?”

She let her silence be her answer.

“Is Cordelia with you?”

She hesitated. “She’s on a motorcycle ahead of me,” she said carefully.

There was a pause. “Her cousin’s motorcycle?”

“Trick, let’s talk later. Please.”

Another pause. “Are you going home alone in the dark?”

“We’ll talk later,” she repeated. “I’m driving. I have to go.”

“Not loving that,” he said. “But I …”

She sucked in her breath. Cordelia’s house was ahead, and it was all lit up.

“Gotta go,” she repeated, and hung up.

She drove up the crest of the hill in front of Cordelia’s house. But when she got to the top, she saw that the side of the road was lined with trucks and cars, which was strange. There hadn’t been anyone there when they’d left. Were the Fenners having a party?

She pulled over to the side of the road the first chance she got, squeezed both phones into her purse, and opened the door. She got out and hobbled toward the drive, where she noticed that Justin’s motorcycle was parked in the grass among other cars and trucks.

About halfway down, Katelyn spotted Cordelia’s truck and considered what to do. Maybe she could put the phone on the hood or, better yet, drop it beside Justin’s motorcycle so it would seem as if Cordelia had had it with her when she’d left Trick’s, and dropped it when she got home.

Or maybe she should just leave.

Uncertain, she took a few tentative steps toward Justin’s motorcycle. Then she spotted two guys at the top of the drive—one older, one younger, unaware of her, it seemed—unintentionally blocking the path of her retreat. One was wearing a suit, and the other had on a dark long-sleeved shirt and jeans. She ducked between cars, clenching her teeth at the pain that shot through her foot.

These people could be werewolves
. Her heart skipped beats.
Maybe one of them is the werewolf who attacked me
.

“He must be planning to announce the succession,” said the older man. He had honey wheat–colored hair and a white-flecked beard. “Why else would he call everyone so last minute?” He glared at the younger man. “You should have worn a suit.”

“Are you kidding, Dad? Cordelia would just laugh at me.”

Katelyn felt dizzy. These men seemed so normal. But they weren’t even human. She had to get out of there. Now—before she was discovered.

The older man exhaled in frustration. “It’s not Cordelia I’m thinking of, Steve. Lee’s given you cause to hope.” His teeth gleamed in the moonlight as he smiled. “That gal is our ticket to pack royalty.”

“Only if the alpha picks her to lead,” the younger man—Steve—replied. “And, like, no offense, but Cordelia isn’t my type.”

“Don’t be an idiot!” Steve’s father hit him on the side of the head. “You don’t have the luxury of
types.
”

Even from her vantage point, Katelyn heard the force of the blow and winced, hard. What would happen if they found her there?

“Dad,” Steve protested. “Being mated to the alpha would suck.”

“Are you
insane
? Our lives would be set.”

“Unless someone decided to challenge me for her,” Steve retorted.

“You young people are so pampered,” his father said, sighing. “In my day, we fought for every position in the hierarchy we achieved.”

“But don’t you think that’s kind of barbaric?” Steve asked.

His father hit him again, harder.

“Stop that,” his father said. “Stop it or next hunt I’ll take skin.”

Katelyn shivered; the implication was clear. She was afraid she was going to be sick to her stomach. She would give anything to be back in her car, or at the party. It had been insanity to follow them here.

Steve straightened. Without another word, the two began walking along the side of the drive opposite Justin’s motorcycle. Katelyn’s stomach flipped as she crouched as low as she could and hurried farther down the drive, holding on to a dark blue truck for balance at one point, praying she didn’t set off anyone’s car alarm. Then she noticed the stand of trees beside the house and considered just making a run for it. She was so frightened she wondered if she’d be able to move at all. She thought of Haley and Becky, mauled to death, and pursed her lips to hold her fear in.

“Daniel. Steve,” said a third voice. It was a woman’s. “What on earth is going on? Everyone’s here. I had to park practically a mile away.”

“Too bad it’s not a full moon,” the man—Daniel—replied. “We wouldn’t have needed cars.”

Her fear making her awkward, Katelyn continued to creep forward until she was only a couple of feet from a thickly limbed pine tree located about midway along the exterior wall of the house. She hazarded a glance in the direction of the newcomers. The woman had on a short ruffled dress and heels, and more people were coming down the walk. There was no way she could go back up the drive.

Taking a deep breath, she made for the shield of the pine, careful not to shake the branches as she maneuvered her way behind it.

“Well, Steve, what do you think?” the woman said conversationally. “Time to declare for Cordelia?”

“She’d be a fool not to leap at the chance,” Daniel said, his voice considerably lighter. “Look at him. He took down a deer all by himself last moon.” He cleared his throat. “You don’t have any theories about what’s going on, do you, Myrna?”

“Hi, people, hi,” interrupted a cheery voice Katelyn knew well. It was Jesse.

With trembling hands, Katelyn parted the branches so she could get a good look at him. He was dressed in a suit with his hair carefully combed, and he greeted the trio each with a kiss on the cheek, which they returned.

“Happy Halloween,” Jesse said.

“Same to you, Jesse,” the woman answered.

“Mr. Gaudin is here. You can’t call him Dominic. Don’t kiss him,” Jesse informed them.

Katelyn sucked in her breath. Dominic? As in
Dom
? Cordelia’s crush? The rival pack leader?

“
What
?” Daniel sounded as shocked as Katelyn was.

Steve looked as if he wanted to throw up. “He won’t challenge me over Cordelia, will he, Dad?”

“The Gaudins are savages. Invaders,” the woman—Myrna—said. Her voice had risen to a shrill pitch. “I’m leaving.”

Savages
? Katelyn was about to burst apart in a frenzy of panic. She felt like a caged bird with cats slinking around her, about to spring.

“Our alpha summoned us,” Daniel reminded her. “You need to be here. And Steve, calm down. Dominic Gaudin has as much chance of marrying Cordelia as Jesse.”

“I don’t want to marry Cordelia. I want to marry Lucy,” Jesse said very seriously.

“Jesse?” Katelyn heard Lucy before she saw her. Lucy, whose boyfriend she wanted. She was dressed in a frilly white blouse and a black velvet skirt. Her hair was pulled back in a complicated braid, and a black feather perched on the side of her head. “Oh, hello,” Lucy said nervously as she saw the rest of the group. “Dominic Gaudin’s here.”

Katelyn stared at Lucy, and an unreasoning hatred toward the other girl broke over her like a wave. She bit her lip, trying to control the anger that raged through her.
What’s wrong with me?
she wondered.
Justin is her boyfriend, not mine. If anybody should be angry, it should be her
. Katelyn wanted to take a deep breath but she was terrified of making even the tiniest sound.

“We just heard,” Steve said.

“
Why
is he here?” Myrna asked in a hushed voice. “What do they want?”

“To see every one of us dead,” Daniel muttered.

“He came under a white flag. So let’s be pleasant, shall we?” Lucy was smiling, but she looked worried. Then she turned and led the way around to the back of the house. Everyone followed her except for Jesse.

“Is someone hiding?” he asked excitedly. He started walking toward where Katelyn was crouched behind the tree. “Here I come, trick or treat!”

Chills rushed down Katelyn’s spine. Her scalp prickled and her face went numb. Moving as quietly as she could, she limped over to the next tree. It took her toward the back of the house—farther away from escape—but Jesse kept coming, and more waves of fear rippled through her. She crept along, trying not to make any noise, moving from tree to tree, terrified of discovery. Then she reached the side of the house, near the back door. She tucked herself close to the building, beneath one of the boxes with purple flowers. The smell of pine wafted over her and she sniffed the planter. It was the
flowers
that smelled like Christmas trees.

“Jesse!” Lucy called. “C’mon, baby!”

“Smell my feet!” Jesse bellowed. “Give me something good to eat!”

He was getting closer. Fighting to keep control, Katelyn continued along behind the trees, focusing only on staying hidden and being as quiet as she could manage. Her lungs were bursting. Other voices grew louder, and there were many of them. She had worked her way around to the back of the house, where everyone was congregating.

“Jesse James Fenner!” Lucy shouted. “You come here
now
!”

“Don’t yell, don’t yell,” Jesse said.

Abandoning his game, Jesse trotted away. And Katelyn exhaled, leaning against a tree trunk. Tears slid down her cheeks as her knees began to give way.

A howl pierced the chatter and she jerked hard. A second howl answered it. A third, fourth, fifth. Human voices raised in a mournful, fierce chorus, like Jack Bronson and his Inner Wolf executives. Trembling, Katelyn covered her ears and ordered herself not to scream. She was more afraid than she’d been in the forest, when the wolf had attacked her. Were these the howls she had heard night after night—the cries of a werewolf pack?

Then the howls abruptly stopped, almost as if someone had signaled for it.

Katelyn gingerly moved a branch, then another, so that she could peer through the pine needles to see. There were probably twenty people—
werewolves
—seated on haphazardly arranged folding chairs. Some were formally dressed in suits and sophisticated black dresses. Others wore jeans.

One of them is the one
. Coldness settled in the pit of her stomach, a fury that couldn’t be denied.
If it was a werewolf
, she reminded herself, trying to regain some semblance of control. She looked, working to memorize the faces so she’d know them if she saw them again.

On a small wooden platform, at a black metal patio table and some matching black chairs, Cordelia sat with her father, Justin, Lucy, Jesse, Arial, Al, Regan, and the man who had to be the only bitten member of the pack—Regan’s husband, Doug. Doug had dark hair and piercing brown eyes, very much like Regan herself. The five men, including Justin, wore suits. Moonlight gleamed down on Justin’s hair, frosting it with silvery highlights.

Arial wore a gold halter dress, and Regan was slinky in black satin. Beside Lucy, Cordelia was wearing the same black dress that she’d worn to Trick’s Halloween party, with the flower in her hair. It fit the occasion perfectly.

“I’d like to welcome y’all and thank y’all for coming out on such short notice,” Lee Fenner said, standing. “We’re here to welcome the Gaudin alpha, Dominic, to our mountains.”

Polite applause greeted him. Clearly the guests were waiting to see exactly what kind of occasion this was.

Katelyn shifted her line of sight to get a better look and saw that someone else was sitting at the head table. He was seated between Cordelia and her father, and he was muscular, young, and very, very hot. His reddish-gold hair tumbled to his broad shoulders like a setting sun. His forehead was high, his eyebrows brown, and although Katelyn couldn’t tell what color his eyes were, she could tell that they were light. He wore a white open-necked silk shirt and black trousers that together looked almost 1930s, and a brass cuff glinted on his right wrist.

“Greetings from the Gaudin pack,” he said, getting to his feet. There was a lilt to his voice, sounding almost French. “I lead the pack in the name of my late father, Jean-Marc Gaudin.”

“Your daddy was a fine alpha,” Lee Fenner said, but his voice was strained. “A legend.” There was more polite applause, and the two men sat down.

“The Son of Gévaudan has come to discuss pack business with me,” Mr. Fenner said to the group. “But first, we have our own pack business. Don’t we, girls?”

Arial and Regan looked at each other, both smiling like smug Siamese cats. They looked back at their father with gleaming eyes, and Katelyn shuddered at the sight.

It looked as if all the blood had left Cordelia’s cheeks. She squirmed in her chair, and Justin reached across the table and squeezed her hand. Without realizing what she was doing, Katelyn touched her lips, still bruised from Justin’s kisses. A hot flare of desire shot through her and she shivered, shocked at the effect he had on her.