Me-“I don’t think this is a good idea.”
Tracey-“I don’t think you’re that hungry.”
But it had been almost four days since I had been able to keep anything down. Pretending I was fine wasn’t cutting it. My mom knew something was up. I was her baby, after all. Telling them I was still recovering wasn’t going to cut it either.
After a few minutes and agonizing torture flooding my middle, I sent out a reply that I would be on my way. But how could I leave the house this late and not raise suspicion? I pressed my palms into my eyes. I needed to get an apartment or they needed to leave again but they wouldn’t leave again until I was in tip-top shape. So I either had to get this curse under control or I needed to move out. Either way, I was in a tough spot. I didn’t exactly have a job to move out, my parents had made sure I never wanted or needed for anything. If I told them I wanted to move out, there would be hell to pay and I wasn’t ready for the argument or really the responsibility that would come with it all. How was I supposed to survive in the real world without them?
I crept down the hallway and froze when the light turned on in the living room. Dad sat in the recliner with his iPad on his lap. His feet were covered with black socks and propped up in front of him.
“What’s up kiddo?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing.”
He grinned. “I haven’t been able to sleep lately.”
I frowned. “Anything I can do to help?”
He shook his head and took his wire-framed glasses from his face. “No, I don’t believe so. Just the wolves again.”
My body jerked. “Excuse me?”
“I have been having dreams about wolves lately so I figured I would stay up as late as I could to keep my brain from going into such a weird state in order to create the dreams. I’m trying to exhaust my subconscious.”
I almost exhaled in relief. “Right, okay.”
“Are you going somewhere?” His eyes zeroed in on my Vans in my hand and my purse in the other.
“I didn’t want to wake you or Mom,” I began. “But Tracey needed me.”
Dad shook his head and chuckled again. “I knew there was more than just studying going on.”
I bit my lip. “Maybe for her. I’ve been out of trouble for a few weeks now.” I tried to keep the grimace from my face at the memory of Rafe shoving the syringe into me. I didn’t need to be reminded of the buzzkill he was.
“Well, you’re a good friend for going to bail her out. I’ll let your mom know that you’ll be staying at her house tonight.”
A foreign feeling washed through me. They had always been so chill, I didn’t know what had worried me so much. Maybe it was partly the fact that I had never hidden anything from them before and here I was, hiding everything. I padded across the floor and leaned over to kiss my father on the cheek. He smiled against my lips and ruffled my hair.
“Be careful, make good choices,”
The drive to the Crimson Pack territory was short and it made me nervous. Would Rafe be there? Could I avoid him? Where the hell was I going to be sleeping because I knew Tracey didn’t have much room at her parents’ place. And her dorm was off-limits because there was no room for another person. I thought of my spacious backseat and nodded to myself. If it could hold two people hooking up, it could certainly hold me, alone, for one night. I’d borrow a blanket from Tracey or something.
The long winding driveway brought me a little peace and comfort. I still hadn’t been able to shift and it left me with growing anxiety in my chest. Not that the entire situation didn’t make me a raging lunatic to begin with, but that was another thing entirely. For the most part, I had accepted what was happening, like it was second puberty. The other parts of me just didn’t want to adult or care or do anything. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel with all of my strength or what I imagined all of my strength could be. Tracey still had a lot to teach me and go over. All of the homes had their lights out except the main house.
Crimson Manor.
The Crimson Keep.
Hell itself.
I could have gone on and on in my head with all the silly nicknames but then there was Tracey grinning at me from the other side of the car and I had to stop. She probably wouldn’t have liked all the disrespect for her pack to begin with.
I closed my fingers around the handle on my door and shoved it open. Tracey grinned. “Come on, we have food inside.”
Hesitation held me tightly. “It’s late, I’m sure everyone is sleeping. I thought we would swing by a fast-food place and get burgers or something.”
Tracey’s eyebrow hit her hairline as she regarded me. “I don’t think you mean that. You want a greasy, long-dead animal over something a bit fresher with blood and not fat?”
My mouth salivated. “I don’t want to wake anyone up.”
