Page 54

CHAPTER 53

Chester and Lacey—

I’m sorry, but we have to go.

You tried your best, and so did we. But it didn’t work.

Thanks for everything.

We won’t forget you.

Kai

I’m done.

Done.

It’s not that life in Kokanee Creek feels dangerous—though it does, thanks to those Hardy dirtbags. And it’s not that I’m afraid.

I’m just tired .

When Holo and I came out of the woods, I thought everything would be better than this. I thought everything would be easier. I thought we could find a place for ourselves.

I know that wolves are territorial and that a wolf entering territory belonging to another pack is likely to be attacked. But I didn’t know that humans aren’t really much different.

There are too many people who want us gone and not enough who want us to stay. We’ve got the chief and Lacey and Waylon on our side. And on the other side: pretty much everyone else.

Holo walks behind me, picking his way quietly through the trees. Is he done, too? I don’t know. I can’t tell what he’s thinking, and I’m not going to ask him. He’ll follow me wherever I go, because I’m the leader of our pack.

The trees thin as the ground rises. The path gets rockier.

I know I’ll miss Waylon. More than I’d like to admit.

I scramble between boulders. The moonlight almost makes them glow. I can hear Holo breathing behind me.

Was this all one giant mistake?

I brush my hand along the rough rock as I pass. My body pulls me in the right direction.

It takes me another two miles of walking to decide: No, I don’t think it was a mistake. I tasted sundaes and sweet, fizzy Cokes; I went to high school and I drove a car; I danced with a boy and I saved a woman’s life.

Then again, I also spent time in jail, got in fights, and seriously considered cold-blooded murder.

So would I say that overall it was good or bad?

I don’t even know.

I just know that it’s all over.