“Go open the door,” she panted.
When the faint squeak from the metal door echoed between the buildings, Claire ran as fast as she could. She darted into the darkened lab and nearly collided with Matthew.
Clearly, he hadn’t expected her to be quite so fast. Inhumanly fast. The shocked expression on his face made Claire’s chest ache. Adjusting the blanket-wrapped body in her arms, Claire eased past the lab equipment and headed for the cage. Matthew followed behind her. Claire could hear his almost-silent footsteps. In order to get Zahlia in the cage, Claire had to go in, too. Being inside the bars made the skin on her back crawl. As quickly as she could, Claire dumped Zahlia onto the floor and backed out of the cage. The sight of Zahlia’s body lying on the concrete floor made Claire’s mouth go dry.
Don’t start freaking out now. It has to be this way. Mom would be able to do this calmly. We’re all a lot safer with Zahlia dead, and covering my mother’s tracks with her body doesn’t hurt her any.
“Do you think your dad will call the police?” she asked.
Matthew shook his head. “He thinks cops are idiots. And he’d be totally humiliated if Lycanthropy Researchers International ever found out that his security sucked bad enough that someone could just break into his real lab. Not to mention the government. … Even if he realizes that another werewolf killed her, there’s no way he can tell anyone without losing his credibility. I guess he might try to find the wolf that did it, but dad won’t call the police, and he’s not going to be able to find any of you by himself.”
Claire trusted him. She had to, especially considering how much faith he had in her.
“Okay.” It was more of a breath than a word.
Matthew looked away from the body and let out a long breath. “Let’s get out of here.”
Claire hurried over to the freezer and grabbed the key from its dish. She locked Zahlia’s body in the cage. After a silent moment, Claire wiped her fingerprints off the cage door and the key with the hem of the sweatshirt, put the key back into its dish in the freezer, and hurried out of the lab.
Matthew slid into the driver’s seat and leaned his head against the steering wheel. Claire looked at the back of his neck, the set of his shoulders. She could see what they had just done in the way he held himself. And it was all her fault.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, and cursed herself for crying again. “I wish I’d never—” With his head still resting against the steering wheel, Matthew turned to look at her.
“Don’t,” he said. “I’m not going to keep telling you that I don’t regret this. I’ll admit, when I first noticed you, first hoped you’d go out with me, this wasn’t exactly how I envisioned things going. But I still wouldn’t trade it.” He leaned over and kissed her.
Claire backed away, leaning into the door behind her. “Matthew, being with me almost got you killed. Listen, I’ve wanted to date you ever since I first saw you, too.” Admitting it made her blush. “But after all of the horrible things you’ve been dragged into because of me, because of what I am … I don’t want to ruin your life. And that’s exactly what I’m doing. So I think—I think maybe we shouldn’t be together.” The words burned like acid in her mouth.
Matthew pulled back and looked at her. “You are not ruining my life. I chose to be here tonight, didn’t I? I know you’re a werewolf, I know what it means, and I don’t care. After everything that’s happened, you can hardly say I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. So, give me one good reason we can’t be together.”
Claire hesitated.
“Unless you don’t want to?” He sounded surprised and a little hurt.
“It’s not that! It’s just—I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know how things will be now that I am … what I am. I have to hide, all the time, and lie, to everyone, and—”
“But not to me. You don’t have to hide from me and you don’t have to lie to me because I already know. And I love you anyway.” He took her chin in his hand and tipped her head up, holding her gaze with his. “I’m not asking you to marry me, Claire. Can’t we just work things out as we go along? See what happens? Be a couple?”
The idea stretched out in front of Claire like a stream, shining with possibility. He was right—he already knew everything. There was no reason not to try. And just like that, all the feelings she’d kept wrapped up so tight burst out of their seams and filled her chest.
“I love you, too,” she said. But what she really meant was yes.
The next morning, Claire crawled into her mother’s bed. “Mom?”
“Mmm?” Her mother cracked open one eye. “Is it done?”
“Yes.” Claire buried her face in the pillow, overwhelmed by the memory. She felt her mother sit up next to her.