"How did Brax and Sondra feel about that?"
Caroline's face darkened at the mention of the woman who'd turned her. At the time, Sondra was being controlled by a demon, but that didn't change the fact that Caroline's entire existence had been upturned as a result. I'd guess that even though Brax had made Sondra Caroline's mentor, the relationship was off to a rocky start. I didn't blame Caroline. My own relationship with my sire could be categorized as nonexistent—not for lack of trying on his part.
"They don't know."
I blinked. Then I blinked again.
Caroline’s expression was set.
"Wait. What do you mean they don't know?" I set my glass of wine down hard, barely flinching at the sound of a crack.
Caroline drummed her fingers against the chipped counter and looked away. "I may not have had permission to leave."
My mouth dropped open. The sound that escaped was closer to sputtering then actual words. "Explain."
"I found a way off the farm and then stole a car."
"Please stop explaining."
Caroline watched me as I ran through all the awful scenarios that could result from what she'd just revealed. It didn't really surprise me she had stolen a car. We'd done that a time or two in our misspent youth, and Caroline had never been one to let pesky details like ownership get in the way when she needed something.
“What did you do with the car?” I asked. I hadn’t seen it when I came in.
“I ditched it on the other side of the city and then caught a ride here.”
Smart. This way she wasn’t leading them directly to my doorstep once they figured out she had stolen a car.
Brax and the wolves were not going to take this well. If there was one thing my experiences have taught me, it was that they took one of the newly turned bucking the system very personally.
"We need to call Brax and explain," I told her, heading for my phone.
"No, you said you'd help!"
"I am helping. He’s going to show up looking for you, angry and ready to blow my house down. It's best to take care of this now. Manage expectations and head it off before it gets blown out of proportion. We'll just tell him you don't want to stay on the farm and get him to work with us."
"That won't work," Caroline snapped.
"Did you already try?"
Her expression made it clear she had.
"Perhaps it'll go over better coming from me." Caroline wasn't good at arguing with people. She was too autocratic—and given Brax was an alpha, unused to doing as other people ordered, that probably hadn't gone over well.
She huffed. "I'm not as bad at communicating as you make it sound."
I arched an eyebrow. Did she not remember the time when we got detention in high school because she pissed off the chemistry teacher while trying to convince him to let us perform an advanced experiment? Caroline was a great liar. Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but when it came to persuasion or the truth, it was better she not be involved.
"I've somehow managed to stumble through the last few years without you," she said.
What lingered in the air was the thought that she would probably have continued to be just fine if I hadn't involved her in my problems.
"Caroline, I understand your frustration and the instinct to hide. Believe me, I went through many of the same things when I was first turned. Hiding just makes things worse. It's better to meet this head on. Eventually, he'll catch up to you, and you'll lose all leverage. It's best to be proactive, so you can control the agenda."
"I said no!" Caroline shouted, her voice deepening by several decibels and carrying distinct notes of a growl. Her eyes flashed amber and for just a minute I saw a weird overlay of a wolf's head through one of my eyes.
I went very still, my instincts telling me this was no longer my friend but a predator seconds from ripping out my throat.
"Okay, Caroline. If that's what you want," I soothed.
Jeweled wings fluttered in my periphery and one of my pixie roommates landed on the far end of the counter, watching Caroline with thoughtful eyes. Inara had wings of iridescent green and yellow that had a spidery network of veins made of every color green imaginable. When she fluttered her wings, it looked like a tree rustling in the wind.
Caroline's growls continued as she remained focused on me, not noticing the pixie.
"I need you to calm down, Caroline. This isn't helping matters." I took a step back and made myself look away from her eyes. Meeting a wolf's eyes in the wild meant you were challenging their dominance. Werewolves should have some of the same instincts. Right?
The growl grew in volume, and she took a small step forward. A burnt umber light, tangled with inky blackness, coalesced around her. It was only visible with my left eye, the one the sorcerer had taken from me so he could use it as an ingredient in a spell. Ever since it grew back, I could see weird things. At first, I thought I was crazy, before I realized what I was seeing was magic. Or something close to it.
She took another step forward. A blur of green and yellow darted toward her eyes.
"Bad dog." Inara fluttered around Caroline's head, evading the swats aimed her way.
The growling stopped, and the light faded bit by bit. The pixie's distraction worked.
Caroline looked shaken and upset. "Aileen."
"It's fine. I had more than one episode myself when I was first turned. I even almost chowed down on Jenna once."
"I'm so sorry. You've got to know I would never hurt you."
My smile was sad. "That's just it. You don't know what you're capable of anymore. It's like being a teenager—only about a thousand times worse. You've got all these hormones and new urges running roughshod through your body, only it won't just be shouting matches when you lose it. People will get hurt. Best case, you change them into what you are. Worst case, they die."
"How did you do this? Alone? Without help?"
I lifted one shoulder. "Very carefully. I had some help in the beginning, but every day is an exercise in self-restraint. You'll get there; it'll just take time."
She nodded even though she didn't look convinced. The loss of control seemed to have taken the wind out of her sails. "I know you're probably right, but please don't call him just yet."
I hesitated, knowing the best thing would be to take care of this while we had the chance. It would have taken her hours to drive from Kentucky; longer if she had to walk out of the farm. If they hadn't already, they would learn of her disappearing act very shortly, and it wouldn't take much of a leap to guess she'd head here.
She didn't say anything else, just looked at me as if her entire world was falling down around her. She was begging me for a respite, even if it was for just a few hours. I knew that feeling. I knew it intimately.
I sighed, the sound heavy and resigned. "How 'bout you go get a shower. You can have my bed for the night; I'll sleep out here on the couch."