Chapter One Hundred–Fifty–Seven
DELILAHI
I wake up in the cold of a foggy morning to the crazy sounds of my brother Cane and his dumbass friend Charlie packing up the pickup truck so we can head back to Oregon.
“If we get there now and tell them what we saw, they have to let us in Cane is saying as I drag my ass up off the couch.
“What the hell? I snap, noticing that the pair of them are covered in blond and scratches. That’s when I remember the wolf from last night and I have to wonder what it is they caught last night.
“D! We have to head home to TEF Headquarters. The cabin is paid for a week, so you’ll have to stay here until we get back,” Cane says, grabbing his keys off the table.
“What?” I screech. Fuck that! “Oh hello no! No! I’m not staying here! And what did you guys catch last night? When did you come back?”
Cane takes a deep stupefying breath and sits next to me, his face deadly serious. “What we caught last night, we can’t talk about to you. Not here. Not yet. We have to take our discovery to The Elite Few. They’re gonna wanna know about this shit.”
I snort. “You’re fucking loopy. They don’t give a fuck about you idiot! They hardly gave a fuck about dad! And what the hell do you mean, discovery? You two falling into a bramble is hardly breaking news. Let me guess, you thought you caught a wolf, but it turned into a fairy and snaked right out of your grasp.”
He shakes his head, his eyes lighting with excitement. “We caught a lion he hisses, and Charlie whoops into the air. “But it wasn’t a lion when we got to her. She turned into a woman.”
Where’s a can of soup when you need one?
“You better hope you’re lying, Cane. Because what it sounds like to me, is you set an illegal trap and caught a human, I grumble, leaping, up from my place on the couch.
“I swear to God, D! We saw her! She was a lion! And then we shot her and… she was a girl!” Charlie says and I simply hold my hand up in his face.
“Shut up!” I scream, closing my eyes. My mind is whirling with images of my brother being carted off to prison for murder and then me right afterward for killing his idiot best friend. “Where’s the body, Cane
“What?” Cane snaps. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you, D. She got away! After we shot the lion It…. I dunno… shifted into a naked girl! Then, when we released the trap, her eyes popped open and she ran away!”
“Cane,” I begin, manic laughter bubbling from my throat. “Just how much did you drink last night before you headed out?”
“Nothing!” he and Charlie snap at the same time. “We just had some coffee, that’s all.”
“Yeah right, coffee,” I say in disbelief. So there is nobody, then. No lion. No imaginary female. Good. Okay, okay.”
“What happened to o you, D?” Cane says suddenly, his eyes on the front of my shirt.
Looking down I notice for the first time that I’m covered in blood. Oh shit. The wolfpled all over me. “It’s nothing. I just… I spilled my soup.*
“Oh,” his dumb ass says, not thinking anymore about it. “Crazy. It looks The blood.”
“Doesn’t it?” I chirp, racing for the bathroom with a clean outfit from my bag. “Don’t you idiots dare leave without me! And we’re not
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Chapter One Hundred–Fifty–Seven
going to the Headquarters with your crary story. They’ll have you committed for sure!”
“You’re wrong,” Cane says to my back. “Dad and the Great Earl used to tell me stories about Shifters in these woods. Why did you think it was thuit 1 always wanted to hunt here? 1. knew they were here!”
I spin around and glare at him. “Dad and the Great Earl said lots of things to your child’s brain! You can’t believe everything they’ve ever said to you!”
My brother gasps, his eyes falling sad and I instantly feel like a complete bitch. “I know you think I’m stupid, D. But I’m not. I know what the fuck I saw and I’m coming back for it! That Shifter is my ticket into The Elder Few, like dad wanted.”
The Elder Few is made up of a bunch of rich psychopaths that have nothing better to do for fun than skin defenseless animals!” I shout. “You are my brother and I’ll be damned if you become one of them!”
He flinches, gazing away from me and out toward the window. “You just don’t understand. You weren’t part of it. You just don’t know.”
“Well I know this,” I hiss. “We’re heading home today and I’m going to go and see that lawyer about our trust. We have to see if we can find a way to get it released early, because we can’t live like this anymore. And mom’s not helping. She doesn’t give a fuck about us since her newest boyfriend came into the picture.”
“Yeah,” Cane says in agreement, “I know.”
“Good,” I say, relieved. “Now just let me shower and we’ll head out.”
“Okay”
I shower faster than I ever have, running a brush through my long red hair and then throwing on my faded denim jeans and my long sleeved green camo without even putting on my undergarments. I’m eager to get the fuck away from this place. I’ve got to keep my brother from going to that fanatical camp of Elder idiots and I’ve got to find a way for us to make ends meet.
As I’m sitting on the toilet and putting on my boots is when I notice it. The quiet.
It’s too damn get out there.
50 I step o
out of the bathroom and what I see (or rather who I don’t) has me racing to the front door in a rage.
“Cane!” I shout to the empty yard. “Goddamn it! Cane!” I yell again.
The truck is gone and so is my dumbass brother.
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