CLAIRE’S FIRST INSTINCT was to hide. To go wait until Matthew left the lab and then find a way to free her mother. But if she could talk to him, reason with him, maybe he wouldn’t tell his father what she was. Just maybe he wouldn’t hate her.
Pain surged through her when she forced herself back into her human body. Claire winced when she yanked her shirt over her damaged ear. She kept one arm wrapped around her sore ribs and limped toward the lab door. It was locked.
“Matthew?” she called. “Please, let me in. I can explain!” Knocking on the metal door sent a stinging jolt down her arm. She’d been too focused to notice her injuries while she was fighting with Zahlia, but now they crowded around her, screaming for attention.
“Matthew?” she tried again. “Please, just let me in. Everything’ll be okay, I promise. I—I won’t hurt you. I wouldn’t hurt you. Please, just let me in.” Claire’s voice broke and tears ran down her cheeks.
Inside, she could hear furniture being dragged across the floor.
“Just go away!” Matthew’s voice sounded thin and panicky.
“Matthew, I’m not going anywhere until you listen to me. We can do it through the door if you want, but we have to talk.” She was bawling in earnest now, hiccupping between words. Her ear ached, and the blood that coated the side of her neck had gone sticky. “Please. I only did it to save you, Matthew. I didn’t know what else to do—she would have killed you!”
Claire heard him lean up against the door.
“How—how … all this time, you knew and you didn’t tell me?” Matthew’s voice sounded stronger, in spite of his stammering. “How could you?”
“Exactly,” Claire wept. “How could I have told you? Matthew, your dad kills werewolves for a living. What did you expect me to do?”
“Cures them,” Matthew muttered from inside the lab. “He … dammit.”
Claire let out a keening sob. He didn’t understand—she’d lost him. She’d only revealed herself to save him, and now she’d ruined everything. What if he told his father? Dr. Engle would kill her and her mother both.
She heard the sound of something heavy being moved on the other side of the door. The soft click of the lock being opened startled her and she jumped back. Slowly, Matthew opened the door the tiniest crack. “Oh my God, Claire, you’re bleeding!” He threw open the door the rest of the way.
“Yeah,” she said ruefully, “I know.”
He reached out to touch her, but his hand started to shake.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she whispered, “but I couldn’t just let her kill you.” Carefully, she took a step toward him and reached out her hand. “Let me—”
“No, wait!” Matthew interrupted, moving back into the lab. His foot tangled with the legs of a metal stool behind him and he fell.
“Matthew, I’m not going to hurt you!” Claire knelt down. “Let me help you up.”
“Don’t you touch me. You—you’re one of them.”
“If I wanted to hurt you, don’t you think I would have done it already? You were right. There are more werewolves around than you think, but most of us are totally peaceful. Zahlia’s crazy, Matthew, but I’m not like that. You have to believe me.”
He scrambled to his feet, shaking his head. “Why would I believe you now when you’ve been lying to me all along? The only reason you didn’t hurt me was so that you could find this place—see the other wolf.”
Claire felt her cheeks burn.
“I’m right, aren’t I?” The scents of fear and anger rolled off his skin in hot waves.
“Matthew, you don’t understand.” She looked up at him. He’d edged toward to the door. Claire could see his muscles bunched, tensed to run.
“What don’t I understand?”
“The wolf your dad captured—she’s my mother.”
Matthew stopped dead.
“Please, Matthew. I’m telling you the truth. Think about it. Things started between us way before my mother was caught. I needed—I need—your help, that’s true, but it’s because you’re the only one who sees how things really are. Didn’t you just bring me here to see how gentle this supposed ‘monster’ really was?” Claire pointed at the cage in the far corner.