He stopped the car near the abandoned little ranger's hut at the edge of the forest, where she'd planned to change. The road was empty—desolate. "Give you a little credit? Why? You're not giving me any." Claire's mouth fell open. She threw open the car door so hard that the hinges creaked in protest. "Are you kidding? I have told you everything. If you don't think that's 'credit' . . ." She shook her head, swinging her legs out of the car. Her gorgeous dress suddenly felt ridiculous. She got out and stood in the November wind, clutching the duffel bag in one hand. With her back to the car and her mouth so full of acid words that she could barely swallow, she stepped toward the woods. Her heels sank into the half-frozen mud, and she stumbled, cursing.
"Claire!" Matthew called after her.
Unable to stop herself, she turned and saw him leaning across the passenger seat. The moonlight glowed against the white of his tux shirt, reflecting up onto his frustrated, worried face.
"What?" she asked, her voice trembling. Damn it. I am not going to cry right now. Damn it!
"Just be careful, all right?" There was plenty of exhaustion in his voice, but not a lot of love.
"You too," she warned, and then turned and strode into the woods with as much dignity as she could—which wasn't much, with the cold making her shudder, the wind whipping her hair into her eyes, and her shoes sticking in the mud.
The ground beneath her blurred as the tears she struggled against filled her eyes, clinging to her mascara-blackened lashes. She sniffed, trying desperately to get ahold of herself. She couldn't show up to the naming like this. As soon as the trees behind her were thick enough that she couldn't see the road, couldn't smell the blacktop, she yanked off her clothes and shoved them into the bag. She'd meant to change into her sweats—take an easy jog through the woods. But she wanted out of her human skin every bit as badly as she wanted to ditch her heels.
The second she'd pulled the duffel's zipper shut, she transformed. Her wolf form wrapped around her like an embrace— her sure paws on the ground, her warm fur. Claire's unbelievably sharp senses laid the world bare in front of her. She lifted her head and took several deep breaths. The scent of the cold was thrilling and exotic—it smelled like the icy sparkle of the stars. Metallic. Hard. Pure. It calmed her.
Her human life wasn't critical right this second. She'd sort things out with Matthew later, but she had something important to do first. The naming would start soon, and she had no intention of ruining it by being distracted or upset.
Or late.
She looked up at the moon, realizing that she needed to start running if she was going to make it on time. She snatched up the bursting-full duffel bag, held it between her teeth, and headed for the clearing. When she could see the first glimpse of the clearing through the trees, she stopped and dropped the bag, licking her whis kers to try and get the artificial taste of the nylon webbing out of her mouth.
She'd rather have stayed wolf, but she had a fire to light and she needed to be smooth skinned while she did it. As quickly as she could, Claire changed back into her human form and hurried into her clothes. A sheen of sweat dampened her skin, and the cold air licked at it, chilling her instantly. Shivering hard, Claire burst into the clearing. Her mother, Katherine, and Judith were already there. Near the waiting firewood—but not too close—there was a little bedlike nest of leaves and dry grass.
"M-m-marie, I greet you," she chattered. It still felt weird to call her mother by her first name, but the pack laws required her to greet everyone that way.
"And I greet you, Claire. Thank you for being on time, in spite of your other . . . engagements."
Katherine perked up. "I greet you, Claire. What other engagements?"
"I greet you, too, Katherine. I was at the Autumn Ball. A dance."
"Oooh." Katherine sighed. "How fun! And you're probably missing the end of it for this. You must be so disappointed."
Across the clearing, Claire noticed Judith staring at her and Katherine with a contemptuous sneer on her face. Marie might have been uninterested in Claire's human life, but Judith seemed almost offended by it. Claire's fight with Mat thew swelled in her thoughts, and her anger flared back to life. What was with everyone only wanting part of her? She was never going to be all human or all wolf. That was the point. And the people who should have understood that the most were the ones who were making it the hardest.
"I greet you, Claire," Judith said, interrupting her thoughts.
Claire returned her greeting.
"You're lucky to have such an important role tonight. You are ready to light the fire, right?" There was an ugly sneer on Judith's face. A disbelieving sneer. Like she had a scalpel at the ready.
Claire's pulse quickened, her tongue suddenly sticking to the roof of her mouth. "Of course."
Before Judith could even open her mouth, Beatrice and Victoria appeared at the edge of the trees. Victoria held a bundle in her arms. There were violet blue shadows under her eyes, but she looked radiantly happy. Claire saw a flicker of nervousness in her expression, but for the most part, she was hiding it well.
Everyone rushed over to see the baby, who was nothing more than a tiny face in a mound of blankets. They greeted Beatrice and Victoria almost without looking at them, too busy cooing over the baby's tiny pink cheeks.