The forest is claiming him, a harsh voice whispered in my head.
I shook it off, not letting the demon wolf inside of me feed off my doubt. I didn’t have the patience for mind games tonight.
Daniel’s howling grew louder from the woods, and my heart ached for him. For us. I’d wondered if his howls were as loud to anyone else, or if my superhearing was just acting up again—that was until the cell phone on my nightstand buzzed with the text from Dad.
Huh. Dad. Texting. I’ll never get used to that.
I rubbed my eyes. My sight shifted from my superhuman night vision back to normal a couple of times before I was able to focus on the screen of my phone again. I pecked out a response to Dad’s text about my needing to do something.
Me: I know. Are you still at the parish? How loud is it there?
Dad had taken to staying at the parish most nights this past week. Besides doing research, he and Gabriel alternated watching over my brother Jude in his small cell-like den in the parish’s basement.
The question as to what to do with Jude had been our first item of business when we’d brought him back from the warehouse with us. I think everyone was surprised when I suggested that we lock him up in the storage cage in the parish basement for observation until we could figure out what exactly was going on inside his head. My brother had been on the run for the last ten months, and he’d eventually joined Caleb’s gang of paranormal teens—the same pack that had tried to kill Daniel and me. Jude had been the one who had led the Shadow Kings right to us.
In the end, he’d surrendered. Begged to come back with us. But relieved as I was to know finally that Jude was safe—I wasn’t ready to let him come home. Not until we were sure of his motivations. Not until I knew whether my brother was the one who had returned with us, and not just one of Caleb’s death dogs.
As surprised as the others had been when I suggested keeping Jude under lock and key for the time being, I was shocked that Dad and Gabriel actually agreed. Only April had protested, but her vote hadn’t counted for much.
She hadn’t seen the way Jude had stood by and let Caleb try to destroy me.…
A new text from Dad interrupted my thoughts: Yes, still at the parish. The howling is quite loud here.
That wasn’t the answer I was hoping for. The parish was several blocks away. If Daniel’s howling was still loud there, that meant the whole town could hear it, too.
Dad: He’s going to get himself killed.
I know, I typed, my fingers shaking a bit. Rose Crest had a history of “wild dog” attacks—and unearthly howling from the woods surrounding the town would be enough to get people talking. And what they’d talk about were all those rumors about the Markham Street Monster. Rumors that weren’t really rumors at all. And then talking would lead to action.…
Dad: You MUST do something to stop him.
Me: I’m on it.
Except, I didn’t know if there was anything I could do—not if Daniel wasn’t responding to me anymore—but I had to at least try. I couldn’t let something bad happen to him. Especially after all he’d sacrificed to save me.
I pulled on my jacket over my red flannel pajamas and tucked my phone into my pocket. My tender ankle throbbed as I sank my feet into my tall faux-fur-lined boots. I hoped they were sturdy enough to keep the newly healed fracture from shifting out of place. I slinked quietly down the stairs, even though I was the only one home. Dad had sent Charity and James to spend the week at Aunt Carol’s because Mom was … somewhere I didn’t want to think about now.