I march forward, pointing my finger at his chest and staring him in his eyes. “No, that’s not how this is going. I escaped prison, and then your brother kidnapped me and locked me in his bedroom.”
He stares down at me, his nostrils flaring as if soaking in my scent.
My breath catches, and I fall a step backward.
“Okay, I see what’s going on here.”
“What?” I whip my head to Carmen, watching with a smile, and her arms crossed over her chest.
I step toward her with pleading hands. “Carmen, you need to help me. Your brother is crazy.”
She dodges me, throwing her hands up. “Nah, I’m staying out of this. I’ll just be on my way.”
“What? I thought you were my friend. You’re just going to let him do god-knows-what to me?”
She sticks her fingers in her ears. “Nope, I don’t want to hear about what you two plan to do. I’ll just be on my way. Bye, Doll. Love ya.” She blows me a kiss before walking out his front door and slamming it behind her.
I stand stupefied.
Cameron chuckles next to me. “I see you’re friends with my sister.
I glare at him. “So you’re just from a whole family of crazy.”
“Yep, I guess so.”
“Ugh!” I screech, seething, before returning to Cameron’s room and slamming the door. I don’t miss the sound of the lock clicking into place behind me.
No one is going to help me get out of here. It’s time I figure this out on my own.
27
An Animal
Maybe I didn’t care much about escaping before. Maybe Cameron’s wolfy voodoo numbed my brain and made me ignore the viable escape plan sitting right in front of me.
The window.
Of course, it’s locked, but I know how to open it. Even as a bullied teenager, I’d had my fair share of breaking out of my bedroom window. Okay, I did it once, but that’s enough to remember how to unscrew the latch to break free.
The memory from high school when Jack begged me to sneak out to join him at the countryconcert at the local pub floods my brain. Jack was my best friend. It was normal for him to ask me to hang out, but never at night. I’d been so excited to spend time with him that I didn’t even care if I got caught. Thankfully, I got out my window and to the concert without a hitch, but I probably should have just stayed home. It wasn’t the romantic night alone with Jack I had envisioned. I ended up in the back of his truck, squeezed between two other football players who were drunk and smelled like a urinal.
It’s not like Granny didn’t trust me and thought I’d sneak out. She was just paranoid and made sure the windows couldn’t be opened from the outside, which ultimately made them unable to open from the inside. I wonder what Granny truly worried about crawling through my window. I guess it doesn’t matter now because even with all of Granny’s protectiveness, I’m still captured by the beast she feared, but it won’t stay that way because I’m getting the hell out of here.
I’d hoped Cameron would have a drawer filled with bobby pins left over from past lovers. Okay, maybe I didn’t hope for that. For some reason, the thought of Cameron fucking somebody bubbles my stomach acid, but bobby pins would make my escape much easier. Luckily for me, I found a nail filer in his bedside drawer.
I wait until the dead of night. I’m still unsure if Cameron’s nocturnal, but I make my move when I don’thear him stirring for several hours. It’s like riding a bicycle—all those tutorial videos from years before overriding my brain.
The last screw falls to the window pane, and I take a deep breath before pulling the window open. It’s been shut for some time because an ear-piercing screech sounds as it slides to the top. My heart hammers in my chest, and I freeze, waiting to hear Cameron’s footsteps outside my door. Everything remains silent, and before I can chicken out, I catapult myself out of the room and into the night air. I stumble onto the ground but jump to my feet, running without any idea where I’m heading. I know it’s a stupid plan to run through woods filled with werewolves with no sense of direction, but it’s the only one I got, and I’m not just going to wait like a sitting duck before the werewolves decide to kill me or use me as bait to hurt Jack.
The cicadas sing around me like tiny alarms, heightening the urgency pumping through my veins. Trees whip past my line of vision, some smacking me in the face as I push through. My pulse mellows when I’ve created some distance between Cameron’s house, but then a howl sounds from somewhere behind me. I look back but don’t see anything. Somehow, this unnerves me even more.
I keep running, ignoring when my T-shirt snags on a branch, nearly ripping it off my body. The howl comes again, this time closer. Maybe it’s just a regular wolf.There must be regular wolves in this forest. But what if there are no such things as regular wolves, and all I’ve been seeing my whole life are transformed werewolves? I shake my head to rid the thought. It won’t help me now.
Footsteps—or should I say paw-steps—come from behind the trees next to me. Whatever it is—it’s gaining on me. A scream lodges its way in the back of my throat. I increase my speed and force myself to continue focusing on the jagged path before me, but it’s no use—something pounces, tackling me to the ground.
Who am I kidding? I knew it was Cameron even before I turned around from underneath him and met his glowing amber eyes. It’s like I can smell him. He should cut back on whatever cologne he’s wearing, or he will have a harder time sneaking up on people.
Even though it’s futile, I don’t give up my fight and pound against his chest. He growls at me and grabs my hands—pinning them to the ground above my head.
