Unleashed (42 page)

“Get out,” Mr. Fenner ordered Cordelia.

Wordlessly, she picked up her duffel bag and started in the direction of her truck.

“Oh, Cordelia?” Arial called out.

Cordelia stopped. “What?” she asked without turning.

“You can walk,” Regan answered.

“Better yet, run,” Mr. Fenner said. “As fast as you can.”

Cordelia turned and stared at her father and then at Katelyn.

“You did this to me,” Cordelia said. “You went home alone. You got out of your truck. And all I tried to do was help you.”

Katelyn opened her mouth to speak, to plead with her friend, but was cut off.

“You did it to yourself,” Regan said.

Cordelia held her hands out to her father. “I didn’t tell you because you’re losing your mi—”

“
Cordelia
!” Justin bellowed. “No!”

“Better go. Better run!” Mr. Fenner shouted at her.

“
You
,” Cordelia said to Katelyn.

And then she ran.

Katelyn wept as each person, male and female, kissed her cheek in greeting. They told her their names. Myrna, the woman from the driveway. Steve and Daniel Berglund, who told her he had graduated from Wolf Springs High the year before.

“Drive her to the house, Justin,” Mr. Fenner said at last. “Her grandfather’s not expecting her back until later today. There’s a lot we need to hash out.”

Justin looked at Lucy, who nodded, then took Jesse’s hand.

“Come on, darlin’,” Lucy said. “We’ll drive back together.”

“I want to go with Justin,” he said, pouting. “I want Cordelia.”

“It’s going to be okay, Jesse,” Lucy said, giving Katelyn a sharp look.

Katelyn followed Justin to Cordelia’s truck in a fog. She climbed in as he got behind the wheel, pushing back the seat to give his long legs room. He put the key in the ignition but he didn’t start the engine. Katelyn sat in the passenger seat, practically catatonic.

“It would have made things easier if you’d told me,” he said finally.

“How?” she managed to say.

His expression was a mixture of shame and amusement. He looked in the rearview mirror and all she saw reflected were his blue eyes. It seemed that everywhere she looked, the werewolves’ blue eyes looked back at her—that everyone could have been the one who’d attacked her.

“I couldn’t stop myself from kissing you,” he said. His voice was low and deep. “I kept thinking about you. Even when I’d think about Lucy, it was you who I’d come back to. And now that I know, it makes sense. You’re an unclaimed female.”

That might be true now, but it hadn’t been that first time, when he’d come to the cabin and they’d gone riding in the woods. She hadn’t been attacked yet.

He turned on the truck and slowly guided it out of the clearing. She bit her lower lip and studied the passing trees. So many, closing in on her. Where was Cordelia? Was she running? Would they go after her?

“Someone did this to me,” she said quietly. “Cordelia told me—”

“Rule number one. You can’t mention her name when you’re with the pack, ever,” he said. “She’s dead to you.”

Katelyn looked at him. This was all so crazy, so medieval. This was the real Banjo Land and she hated them.

“But she’s not,” Katelyn whispered. “You have to help me find her. Because she—”

“Of course I will,” he replied.

She stopped and stared at him. That had not been the response she’d expected.

“Kat. Here’s something you should know about me. I believe in pack harmony. I believe in honoring our customs and traditions. Lee Fenner is my alpha, and what he says goes. But it was a different world, a different time, when my pack first came to these hills. There weren’t cell phones and GPS and public schools and truant officers. For all we know, if Cordelia gets desperate enough, she’ll tell our secret.”

“She wouldn’t,” Katelyn insisted.

His face was somber. “She tried to oversee your transformation all by herself. What if something had gone wrong? Good thing her sisters found out and told their father.”

“But
how
did they find out?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Cordelia must have slipped up. Maybe they overheard a phone call. What I’m saying is that she could expose all of us, and we’ll have to run, too.”

Katelyn’s pulse quickened. There was so much she didn’t know.

“What about what happened to those two girls? What if Cordelia is attacked?” She tried to breathe. Couldn’t.

He pulled the truck over. Sunlight washed his face with gold. His body heat radiated toward her. Her heart pounded and she hitched a breath.

“I won’t let anything happen to Cordelia,” he said.

He leaned toward her and she breathed in. Her senses filled with him.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He lowered his voice. “Like I said, Lee is my alpha. But this is a bad call. Not only is it bad for Cordelia, it’s bad for the pack. And I think he’ll see that and regret his decision. The pack needs to stick together.” He said the last part ominously.

“She was afraid of the Hellhound,” she said, wanting to gauge Justin’s reaction. “Afraid it would come after us.”

He didn’t reply, but she saw his expression change.

“There’s a lot of scary things in this world,” he said, his face so close to hers their noses were practically touching. All she saw were his eyes. She wanted him to kiss her and tell her he would keep her safe. But he did neither. He just … looked.

“I can’t imagine anything scarier than what just happened to me.”

“Give yourself time. You’ll be able to think of plenty of things that are scarier.”

“Like the Hellhound?” she asked, pushing.

“I don’t believe in it,” he replied bluntly. “Now I’m going to drive you to our house, and Lee’s going to lay down the law. Agree to everything, no matter what. You’re on trial, and if he can cast out his own daughter …” He left the rest unsaid. “I need to do some damage control. And we need to find out who attacked you.”

“Yes. Yes, thank you,” she said in a rush. She hadn’t expected any of this from him. Had never thought the kind of guy who cheated on his girlfriend would turn out to be so generous. He was putting himself at risk by helping her.

They drove for a few minutes without speaking. She was exhausted but her body was on overdrive. Every fiber of her being urged her to get closer to Justin.

To tempt him.

Then she noticed a speck of blood on his cheek, and while part of her recoiled, another part wanted just as badly to kiss it away.

As they came to the rise above the Fenner house, Justin cleared his throat. His features went rock hard, and the tension in the cab went sky high. Bad tension. Like anger. No, not just anger.

Fury.

“Now here’s one more rule,” he said coldly, his eyes narrowing. “You need to keep the hell away from me.”

18

K
atelyn was stunned by what Justin had just said. Keep away from him? It was the last thing she thought he’d say to her.

Her face blazing with humiliation and shock, she ducked her head, looking at her hands, and nodded.

Justin got out of the truck and didn’t come around to open the door. He stomped toward the front door, completely ignoring her. She trailed after him, trying to catch up.

He slammed open the door and went inside, not holding that door for her, either.

Katelyn entered the Fenner house, feeling conspicuous and alone. Justin had stood up for her in the meadow, but here? He crossed the room without looking back at her.

Only the family was there, Mr. Fenner seated on a leather sofa and the others in chairs. They’d been waiting for her. The mood was somber and Katelyn wrapped her arms around herself. It was horrible being there without Cordelia. She didn’t like these people.

“Jesse, how about you, Albert, and I go for a walk, maybe play some football?” Doug suggested.

Jesse nodded, looking relieved to be leaving. “Justin, do you want to come?”

“No, but you have fun,” Justin told his brother.

The three men left the room—quickly, as if they were happy to be going. Arial and Regan sat up a little straighter, bending forward, as if eager to watch the unfolding drama.

Katelyn swallowed hard and tried to pull herself together. Justin took the chair Jesse had vacated and gazed at Katelyn with the cold, expressionless eyes of a stranger. She didn’t understand the complete change in his behavior toward her.

Mr. Fenner beckoned her forward.

“There is nothing to be gained now by lying,” Mr. Fenner said. His voice was kinder, but he was in command, and she responded to it. At that moment, he was her leader, with all his faculties intact. “Tell me who bit you. Was it her?”

Regan and Arial waited breathlessly. She could see how much they wanted it to be Cordelia, and realized that they didn’t know. It wasn’t them.

“No. I don’t know who it was,” she said. “Cordelia had so much trouble believing it could be one of yo—”

“Don’t mention that name in this house again,” Regan snapped.

“It had blue eyes,” Justin reminded Mr. Fenner. A bold gesture, since he did, too.

Mr. Fenner crossed his leg at the knee, head tilted forward, as if he were gazing down on her from a great height.

“Run it down for me,” he ordered her.

Katelyn recounted the whole story and the others listened intently. Fear and adrenaline rushed through her as she relived it, leaving her shaken at the end.

“There was no full moon that night,” Mr. Fenner said.

That caused a stir.

“I assume
she
told you only older, stronger wolves can shift at will without the aid of the full moon. Wolves like me.” Mr. Fenner raised his head in a gesture of pride.

“I can’t do it yet, and neither can Jesse,” Justin explained.

“And neither could
she
,” Mr. Fenner mused. He looked at Arial and Regan.

“Or me,” Arial chimed in, obviously eager to clear her name. “I’ve been trying for months, but nothing yet.”

“I’ve been able to shift at will for about a year,” Regan told Katelyn, “but I didn’t attack you.”

Mr. Fenner’s face hardened. “If this was a Fenner, I’ll find out who it was and punish him … or her … according to our laws.” He sighed and suddenly looked very old and tired as he leaned back against the sofa. Arial bent over and kissed his cheek.

“There’s only been one human we’ve taken in since I became alpha,” he said.

Katelyn said nothing, not wanting him to know Cordelia had told her that, too.

“Regan’s husband. We spent a year teaching him what he needed to know before we changed him. Now that the cart’s before the horse, we’ll have to do the best we can.”

“I’ll do my best, too,” she said. “I promise.”

Regan snickered. Arial rolled her eyes.

“We come from a proud bloodline,” Mr. Fenner went on. “Several families make up this pack. But our family, the Fenners, are the direct descendants of the Fenris wolf. We have always been the leaders, both in the Old Country and here. We have a history that goes back centuries.”

“And enemies we’ve had just as long,” Regan said.

Katelyn ducked her head, but she was listening carefully.

“There are a few rules we follow to maintain order and ensure our survival,” Mr. Fenner said. He looked expectantly at the other three werewolves in the room.

“First, we never harm humans,” Justin said.

“Second, we never hunt alone,” Regan added.

“Third, we always obey our alpha,” Arial said.

“Finally, we never reveal our existence to outsiders,” Mr. Fenner added. “
Ever
.”

And yet whoever had attacked her had broken at least two of those rules.

“What is it?” Justin asked, seeing the expression on her face. She tried to find concern in his voice, but it was unnervingly neutral.

“The night I was bitten wasn’t the first time I saw that werewolf. The first time, it didn’t hurt me because Tr—a friend chased him off. But that time I could have sworn I heard two wolves growling.”

“Did you ever see a second wolf?” Mr. Fenner asked.

“No, though I’m almost positive there were two.” She swallowed. “But that’s all that happened. That night.”

“What about the night you were bitten?” Mr. Fenner asked. “Tell me again.”

“I had a flat tire.” She stopped. Now her Subaru had a flat. There were an awful lot of flat tires in Wolf Springs. “It charged me and then it chased me. I hit it with a tire iron. On the shoulder.”

Mr. Fenner considered. “Have we seen any of our pack with injuries like that?”

Arial and Regan shook their heads.

“Where did it bite you?” Mr. Fenner asked.

“On my calf. I had stitches and everything. But now you can’t even tell I was bitten.” She touched her shoulder, remembering the claw marks there.

“That’s what turned you, for certain,” Mr. Fenner said. “Is that when you told
her
about it?”

“Yes. And she thought maybe it was something else, because she just couldn’t believe that anybody in your pack would attack a human.”

“Something else,” Regan said. “What else is there?”

Katelyn cleared her throat. “The Hellhound.”