16
“Archer’s not back, Lex,” Renee called after Lexie when she bolted out the back door and into the yard.
Lexie turned, defiant. “There’s only one pureblood. Only her.”
“She’s not back.”
“How do you know?”
“We’d know. Sharm would know. Maybe it was a stale scent,” Renee said. “Maybe that’s just her old hunting ground.”
“A stale scent scared off twelve full-bloods?”
Renee crossed her arms and stood in the back doorway. Mitch, Jenna, and Hazel clustered behind her. “What do you want to do?”
“Find Archer.”
Renee rolled her eyes. “Sharmalee nearly died, the whole pack is terrified, and you’re running off to stalk your ex-girlfriend.”
“She’s the only one who can help us. The full-bloods are bigger and stronger, and they apparently outnumber us two to one. None of us have anything on them.”
“What’s it matter? As long as we stay out of their way,” Renee said.
Lexie looked at Renee with an expression of horror and incredulity.
“We will always be in their way. This town is in their way,” Lexie said. “When that highway is done, their territory will be even smaller, and where do you think they’ll go?”
“For the easy targets. And I don’t mean any of us to be one.”
Lexie scoffed. “Weren’t you supposed to be the warrior?”
“Weren’t you supposed to be the scared one?”
“I am scared!” Lexie said. “I just don’t see how pretending nothing’s wrong will help anything.”
“But you think praying to Archer will help?”
Lexie sighed, feeling so unheard she might as well be invisible. “Yes.”
“So what would Archer do?”
Love me, hold me, take me away.
“I don’t know.”
Fight me, fuck me, tell me everything is going to be okay.
“But Christ, wouldn’t you go? If there was a chance?” Lexie asked. “Or better, wouldn’t you rather have me moping in the woods instead of in the Den?”
“No!” Renee said. “I want you here, safe, with the rest of us. Sulking in the woods looking for a disappeared girlfriend isn’t going to make any of us feel any safer.”
“I’m not trying to make you feel safe, I’m trying to actually get us safe, because you seem to have stopped caring about that. So, you can go back in there and tell everyone that you’ve stopped fighting and that they should just keep their heads down and obey curfew, but I’m going to investigate this. If Archer’s out there, I have to let her know we need her help.”
“I still care, Lexie,” Renee snipped. “I just think you pining after an ex isn’t going to help. Whatever is out there is an old scent. Archer isn’t back.”
Lexie glared at Renee. “I’m going out there, and I’m going to find Archer, and she’s going to save all of our lives.”
Renee raised her hands and backed into the house. The girls behind her stumbled back to avoid collision. “Fine. Your life. Just don’t get yourself killed, all right? Especially not waiting for your princess charming. That shit never ends up right.”