Before my brain had even processed the fact that there was an actual wolf in Sinclair’s house, I saw a flash of gray and white fur leap from the steps. My arms flew over my face, and I braced myself for the impact of claws and teeth on the tender skin of my forearms. Can you die from a wolf attack if you aren’t a vampire? Based on Sinclair’s blood-stained kitchen floor, I thought yes.
A sharp yelp pierced the air, followed by the dull thump of a body.
“Kate! Are you okay?” Seth stood in the doorway, a stun gun pointed in the space above my head.
“There’s a wolf.” Clearly the shock of my near wolf attack had left me with a new superpower for stating obvious facts long after they were relevant. Awesome.
“We’ve been listening to police radio all night. I just knew something like this was going to happen. Glad I had my taser with me.”
I should have been hugging Seth or at the very least thanking him for saving my life, but the only thing I really took away from his little explanation was the term “we.” Because “we” could only really mean one thing. Or one person specifically.
“Jesus, what the hell is going on in here?” Liam pushed Seth aside and only hesitated a second before pulling me to my feet and away from the stairs in one swift movement. He stared at me a second too long, taking in my new hair with sad eyes. His mouth opened to say something, but then closed again as though he’d abruptly remembered that we weren’t on good enough terms for him to make a sly comment on my new look. A wave of sadness washed over me when I realized I wanted him to.
“There was a wolf. But I saved her. It’s cool.” Seth’s face was bright red and he was practically bursting with pride.
Liam looked from the lump of wolf on the ground to me, and I nodded slowly. “He saved my life.” And it was like hearing the words out loud suddenly made them sink in. “You saved my life. Oh my God, Seth.” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed so tight that I heard his spine crack.
He mumbled something that sounded like “I love you” but could have been “I saved you.” I chose to assume the latter.
“The police want to ask you some questions, Kate.” Bradley entered the foyer and must have caught sight of the unconscious wolf passed out at the bottom of the stairs. “Holy shit, is that the…”
“School mascot? Yeah, pretty sure it is. The markings all match up.” Seth held up a picture of Bondi on his phone that he’d pulled from Pemberly Brown’s website as though other random wolves roamed our town just waiting for the opportunity to attack unsuspecting ex-headmasters.
“What the hell? Why would Sinclair do this? I mean, I know he wasn’t exactly in a good place after everything that happened, but this is unreal.” Bradley shook his head.
“Right. Well, good luck figuring that out, but do you mind if we squeeze past you real quick? I’d like to get my girlfriend away from the passed-out predator if that’s cool.”
“I’m not…” I started.
“…Your girlfriend.” Bradley finished and held out his hand to me. I looked from Bradley’s outstretched hand to Liam’s face and stuffed my hands into my pockets. Bradley looked disappointed, and Liam looked triumphant. I did my best to ignore them both.
“Let’s just talk to the police. Tell them what’s going on…”
“No!” Bradley’s voice was sharp. “You know who’s in charge now, and believe me, they aren’t going to give a crap about some ex-Brotherhood members getting hurt.”
Unfortunately, Bradley had a point. Once the Brotherhood had gone under, they lost their foothold not only in our school, but in our entire town. I remembered the moment I’d shown a police detective all of the evidence I’d gathered about Grace’s death. I remembered begging him to reopen the case, to put a stop to the societies. But he’d done nothing except to make sure all of the proof I’d gathered was lost forever.
“Look, you guys do whatever you need to do, but I’m not leaving Kate’s side until she’s back home.” Liam looked at me, eyes cold. “I’ll call your parents if I have to.” His eyebrows flicked in challenge. He knew he had me with my parents. They would not be happy to hear that their daughter was in the middle of yet another crime scene.
“Whatever.” I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the smirk on Liam’s face. He’d won this round and he knew it.
“What the hell were you doing in there anyway?” Bradley hissed as we walked back to the family room where the police were waiting.
“Looking for information. And I found it too.” I pulled Bradley out the garage door and showed him the card.
“This is a blatant dare. Another freaking dare. What the hell?” Bradley narrowed his eyes at the new clue.
I shrugged my shoulders and took the card back. “Anni. 1964. Page 17. That’s got to refer to the PB Anni, right? The yearbook?”
“Yeah, whoever sent this must have something on Sinclair. That was the year he graduated.” Bradley shook his head.
The yearbook was a clue, and it was pretty much the only one we had at this point. “Listen, you have to take care of the police, okay?” I nodded back toward the house. “Give them a statement. Get them off our backs. Liam’s right. If my parents find out I’m here, I’ll be grounded until graduation.”
“But I already told them…” Bradley started.
“Well, untell them. You’re Bradley-freaking-Farrow.”
Bradley smiled a little at that.
“I’m going to go track down that yearbook.” I looked over my shoulder at Liam and Seth loitering in front of Sinclair’s open garage, doing their best to eavesdrop.
“But it will be archived. You won’t be able to get to it unless you know someone on staff.”
“Lucky for us, I’ve got connections.” I jerked my head toward Liam.
“Seriously?” Bradley’s mouth straightened into a thin line.
“Just manage things here. I’ll text you as soon as I find that yearbook page.” I squeezed Bradley’s hand and turned back toward Liam and Seth, my original knights in shining armor.
But Bradley didn’t let go. Instead, he spun me back around, pulling my body into his chest where I seemed to click into place. I lifted my chin in surprise, and before I could even consider how I’d landed in his arms, he kissed me. With Seth and Liam as two of the worst witnesses on the planet, Bradley Farrow’s warm lips were claiming my own. My hands were on his chest and I meant to push him away, really I did. But it took me a second too long. I guess maybe there was a part of me that still had a thing for him. The last remnants of first-year Kate who couldn’t quite let go of her fantasy boyfriend.
When I finally jerked away, I kept my eyes trained on the ground. It seemed like the only safe place to look at the moment.
“Well.” It was the best I could do.
“Some girlfriend,” Bradley whispered and walked back into the house.
I really didn’t want to turn around and face Liam and Seth, so instead I just barreled out of the garage toward Liam’s Jeep parked in the street.
“I need to see an archived edition of Anni,” I yelled back toward them while I walked. “It’s important, and you’re the only one I know on staff.” I pulled on the door handle on the passenger side. Locked. Shit.
I finally turned back toward Liam, and he was just a step behind me. A breath away.
He stared at me for what felt like forever. His eyes searched mine, assessing, looking for answers, and then finally he sighed and unlocked his car.
“Fine.”
Seth started to climb in the back of the car, but Liam stopped him.
“Kate will get in back.”
“But…” I always rode shotgun. Seth always rode in the back. Changing the seating arrangements in Liam’s car was like trying to change the law of gravity. Impossible.
“You’re not my girlfriend anymore. Remember?” He raised his eyebrow at me, and I wanted to sink into the seat and die right then and there.
“Right.” I tried to climb to the back of the car as gracefully as possible under these humiliating circumstances, so naturally the edge of my shirt got caught on the gear shift and I ended up flashing Liam and Seth my gray cotton bra. Icing on the cake.
I heard Seth coughing up front, and I knew he was covering up a laugh. Seth Allen was laughing at me. This was either a whole new low or the end of an era. Probably both.