Page 35

COLE

A s I rounded the corner, I came upon the scene that had freaked Farrah out and skidded to a stop.

My jaw dropped. There was blood everywhere.

A huge pool of it lay right behind her front door, enough to look like a full-grown rabbit or a large bird had been exsanguinated.

Spatters of crimson fanned across her door and were scattered along the steps leading down to the backyard.

“What the fuck,” I whispered to myself.

Walking slowly, I followed the trail of blood until I was about fifteen feet from the porch steps. I knelt, touching a blade of grass, smearing the blood that stained it. The liquid was tacky and had nearly dried, but not completely. If I had to guess, it had been here less than an hour.

I pulled my phone out and dialed Trent again.

“Where the hell are you?” I demanded.

“I’ll be at Farrah’s in five minutes. I’m hauling ass, I promise.”

I growled as I continued to scan the surrounding woods for movement or threats. “All right. Get your ass here.”

“Are Avery and Ashton still with you?” Trent asked. “Do you need me to pick them up or anything?”

Shit. Ashton. He was playing basketball with a bunch of kids.

He was probably safe. Most likely, we all were, and I didn’t want to cut his time with friends short now that he was making friends, but there was no way of knowing for sure.

Better to have everyone together so I would know for sure they were safe.

“Avery is here with me, but Ashton is with some friends. I’m gonna have him get over here, too. Just to be safe.”

“See you soon.”

I immediately dialed Ashton. I had to call twice before he picked up.

“Hey, what’s up?” he answered.

“Are you still with the guys playing basketball?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice calm. I could imagine Kyle or one of his goons on the way to the playground as we spoke.

“Yeah. We finished the last game a few minutes ago. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, but I need you to get Braylen to give you a ride. Have him bring you to my sister’s Farrah’s house. I’ll text you the address. Okay?”

“Uh, sure, I guess. Why there?”

“It’s where your mom and I are. Try to hurry.”

“Did she get a new car?” he asked excitedly.

It was all I could do to keep calm and not beg him to hurry. “We’ll talk about that when you get here.”

“Okay. See you soon.”

“Hey, Ash?” I added before he could end the call.

“Yeah?”

“If anything weird happens on the drive here, like anything, you give me a call right away. No matter what it is. If you hit a damn squirrel or something, I want you to call me.”

“Uh, okay. Weird. I’ll call, though.”

“Great. Be careful.”

I texted him the address as I heard Trent’s truck pulling into the driveway. I hurried around to meet him.

“What do we know?” Trent asked as he got out of his truck. He scanned the forest.

“Like I said earlier, we’ve got blood on the back porch. A lot of it. Whoever it came from, they aren’t doing well.”

“Human?” Trent asked.

“Nah. Doesn’t smell human. Some kind of animal. Could be a shifter, I suppose, but I don’t think so. Some kind of animal, if I had to guess.”

Trent cast a worried glance at the house. “Uh, Farrah doesn’t have a dog or a cat or anything, does she?”

“No, thank Christ,” I said. “That would have been my first assumption if she did. Farrah’s not the pet type.”

“Do you want to start tracking?”

I shook my head, gazing out at the main road that passed by Farrah’s. “Not until Ashton gets here. I want to make sure he’s safe inside with Avery.”

Ten minutes later, Braylen pulled in with Ashton in the passenger seat. I breathed a sigh of relief as he hopped out. It was all I could do not to run to him as he said goodbye to his new friend.

When Braylen backed out, Ashton finally turned his confused eyes on me. “What’s going on?”

“Go inside. Your mom will explain,” I said.

“You guys are being weird.”

“Yeah, it’s what adults do. Now go on inside,” I said, giving him my best smile.

He shook his head, but trudged up the steps and went inside.

“Ready?” Trent said.

“Let’s go.”

Trent tugged a pistol out of his waistband. “You track. You’re stronger in your wolf form than I am. I’ll be ready to put a bullet in anyone who decides they want to fuck with us.”

I shifted, my clothes vanishing as fur sprang out along my back and sides and my body morphed into that of a wolf.

Falling to four paws, I raced around the house.

Bending to the blood puddle, I took in the scent again, then turned and sprinted into the forest, Trent running behind me in his human form.

Once in the thick of the forest, I was forced to slow down, not wanting to lose the trail.

The coppery scent led me deep into the woods.

My paws moved soundlessly as I kept my nose down.

I didn’t bother checking the surrounding area, knowing Trent was there, ready to fire on anyone who might try to jump us.

Almost five hundred yards into the forest, the smell grew exponentially stronger, and I realized what it was. I let out a low growl and stepped around a tree, shifting back to my human form.

“Found it,” I snarled.

Trent appeared a moment later, gun pointed at the ground. He looked down at the poor creature at my feet.

“Holy shit,” he cursed.

It was a full-grown wolf. Wild, not a shifter. Its throat had been cut, and a heavy Bowie-style knife was protruding from its chest, the handle pointing straight toward the canopy of trees above.

“Fucking savages,” I hissed. “This was needlessly cruel. Why?”

Trent shook his head. “I don’t get it. Why kill it on the porch, bleed it out, then drag it all the way back here? If it’s a threat, I’d think it would sink in better if Farrah stumbled across the whole body rather than some blood.”

“Theatrics, I guess. It’s a wolf. It’s dead, and it’s in the woods. We’re shifters. Maybe this is Kyle’s way of saying: pay up, or your wolf ass will be dead in the forest where no one will find you,” I said with a shrug.

“Probably,” Trent said. “A bit heavy-handed, but I get the symbolism.”

Reaching forward, I pulled the blade free of the beast and used it to cut into the soft, mossy earth beside the creature.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Burying it,” I said as I dug. “Out of respect.”

“Fair enough.”

After slicing through the top layer of moss and thin plant roots, Trent and I shifted, taking turns to dig at the dirt with our paws, shredding the soft forest soil until we’d managed to scrape out a two-foot-deep grave for the wolf.

While I rolled the dead animal in and scooped soil onto it, Trent searched for rocks to make a sort of cairn on top of it.

Even though we worked quickly, it took nearly an hour.

Upon our return to the house, we did our best to clean up the mess of blood, but Farrah would need to paint the porch or call a professional to get it back to normal.

When we headed inside, everyone demanded answers.

“What did you find?” Avery asked.

“I heard there was blood. What was it from?” Ashton asked, looking on with the eagerness only a teenage boy could show toward gore.

“Everyone, hang on,” I said. “Ashton, go upstairs. I don’t want you to hear this.”

“I’m old enough to hear,” he argued. “Why can’t I stay?”

“Absolutely not,” Avery said. “Do what Cole said. I’d rather you not hear whatever this is about.”

“Ugh. This is bullshit.”

“I’ve got an office upstairs,” Farrah said. “It’s got a TV. You can watch something while we talk. Okay, buddy?”

“Sure,” he grumbled, and shuffled off toward the stairs.

Once Farrah’s office door closed, I told them about the wolf and what had been done to it.

“Fucking bastards,” Farrah snarled. “That’s heartless. Though, I guess they got the point across. If they were trying to scare the shit out of me, they succeeded. This isn’t mean; it’s pure fucking evil.”

“That is what is becoming increasingly clear,” I said. “I’m starting to get the feeling that Kyle isn’t just some small-town loan shark. This guy is unbalanced and willing to do shit that scares me.”

“And Dallas is with him,” Farrah said, a hint of desperation in her voice.

“Yeah. He may be part of Kyle’s crew or whatever, but he also has a connection to us. I doubt Kyle carries much stock in loyalty. If he thinks he can scare us by hurting Dallas, he will. We’ve got to do something to get him away from that guy.”

“Are we safe to go home?” Avery asked. “I don’t want to uproot Ashton again. We’re only just getting settled.”

“We’ll make sure you’re safe,” I said. “Actually, let’s grab him. I’ll take you guys home.”

Ashton, only somewhat sullen over his banishment to the office, came down and joined me and Avery in the truck.

His surly attitude perked up when I stopped on the way and bought them a sack full of tacos for a late lunch.

I didn’t want Avery to cook, nor did I want to get out of the car.

Not until we were safe at Avery’s house.

Once we were there, Ashton started tearing into the tacos and I took the opportunity to pull Avery aside.

“I don’t want you guys here tonight without someone watching. I’m going to camp out in the woods and watch over the place.”

She gave me an incredulous look. “Cole, seriously? In the woods?”

Grinning, I said, “Wouldn’t be the first time. I used to do it all the time back in the day. Waiting for you to come out and join me.”

She blushed, turning her head to the side. “Yeah, that was different. I didn’t want my grandmother to know I was sneaking out with you.”

“I remember another time.” I leaned in close and lowered my voice. “When you knew I was out there, and you made sure to walk by your window naked. Multiple times.”

She swatted my chest and looked down the hall. “Shhh!”

“He’s more worried about the tacos than anything we have to say,” I said. “Anyway, it’ll be fine. I’ve got some camping gear stashed in my truck. A sleeping bag, stuff like that. It’s no problem.”