Jamie’s eyes glowed as he stepped farther into the open. A growl boiled up in his chest and the wolves growled in response. The fifth wolf was nowhere to be found.
“Jamie,” I whispered. If I died, no one would know he survived. Mom would never know. I’d promised Dad I’d find him, and I had. I’d found my brother.
Just in time to die as he stood over me.
The wolves slowly backed away. They retreated to the edge of the gravel and lingered, pacing back and forth as they watched me. I dragged myself upright and pushed to unsteady feet. Blood dripped down my arm where one of the wolves tore at my shoulder and wrist and made my fingers sticky as I tugged at my shirt.
“Jamie?” I sobbed his name. I wanted to charge over to him but didn’t trust my legs to carry me.
“Ada,” he murmured. He shook himself and his eerie golden eyes reflected the dying light back at me. They weren’t his eyes. Something strange – terrible – had happened to him. His ears stood out more, his jaw looked square and heavy.
I pushed away what observation told me.
“I missed you so much,” I said. The words blended together with ten years of desperate longing. “Jamie. Jamie, what happened? Where did you go?”
“It’s dangerous,” he said. Jamie retreated toward the trees. His voice sounded rough, unfamiliar, as if he hadn’t used it in years. “Too dangerous. You need to leave.”
“Leave?” My chest collapsed slowly. He couldn’t disappear again, and I sure as hell wasn’t leaving. I’d just found him. “Everyone said you were gone but I knew you weren’t. I knew it. I can’t let you go now.”
“You can,” he said. Jamie shook himself like a dog shook off water. My heartbeat echoed in my ears. “You have to go. You were supposed to leave Chilhowee. Do it. Get out of here.”
The rough tone hardened and gained an edge of cruelty. He glared at the wolves and they reluctantly faded into the undergrowth.
I couldn’t breathe and my whole head ached as tears streamed down my cheeks. My left leg weakened, started to give, as I held on to sanity with my fingernails. “Jamie, why? Wh-what are you?”
“Dangerous,” he repeated. “I can’t protect you anymore, Ada.”
“Protect me? What do you mean, you can’t protect me?”
Jamie’s eyes continuously scanned the lot and the surrounding trees. “You were supposed to leave so I didn’t have to do this. I look out for you when you’re in the mountains. I followed you to make sure you stayed safe for ten years, hoping you would leave. And now… I can’t protect you from — him.”
I sobbed for air. He’d watched over me? He’d wanted me to leave him behind? “How can you say that? J-jamie, I needed you. I needed you in my life, not creeping through the mountains. Why didn’t you come back? Why didn’t you tell me you were alive and okay?”
Mostly okay. Not entirely himself, but still alive. Still partially my brother.
“To protect you,” he snapped. He stepped back more. “I knew he wouldn’t stop until he trapped you, and now look. Ten years I wasted trying to give you a better life.”
His anger sent me stumbling back. So did the way his lip lifted and a growl brewed deep in his chest.
I moved toward him, needing to feel him to know that he actually stood there. That he wasn’t a figment of my imagination as a pack of wolves tore me apart. If I couldn’t touch him, I’d know he wasn’t real. I reached out.
My brother gestured sharply and something moved to the left. I looked over to see the wolves slowly flanking us, creeping closer with lowered heads and penetrating concentration, though they froze when they noticed my brother’s attention. Jamie’s eyes glowed. “I can’t save you from him.”
“I won’t let Archer hurt you. They’re looking for werewolves, but…”
“Not the humans,” Jamie said. His gaze flicked over my shoulder and his expression hardened into a terrifying mask I’d never seen on my brother’s face. “Him.”
I dared a look back and my stomach flipped. Dragomir. Dragomir appeared in the afternoon glow with his ill-fitting mask stretched obscenely around his features. His eyes never left Jamie.
Tension boiled in the air. The wolves retreated, circling closer to Dragomir than my brother. I sided with Jamie as every suspicion I’d stuffed down that morning resurfaced. “You knew he was alive. When you saved me, Dragomir, you knew he was alive. Did you know he was my brother?”
The vampire never looked at me. His attention remained on Jamie. “You know better than to challenge me.”
The wolves growled louder. Jamie didn’t blink. “We had an understanding. You were not supposed to bother her.”
“She asked for my help,” the vampire said. His pupils went vertical, more like a cat’s than a wolf’s, and he loomed larger than I remembered. “She would have died without my intervention. I assumed you did not want that.”
Jamie growled. His eyes flashed gold-red as he leaned forward, upper lip curling and shoulders bulging. “You engineered this. You sent the old man after her.”
My hands shook. I looked between them, back and forth, until the whole world spun and blurred. They spoke another language entirely and I only understood every third word. Deep undercurrents of meaning and memory swirled around me. They knew each other well enough to have a whole conversation filled with insults and accusations. They knew the same people: the old man, maybe the wild man.
Dragomir lifted his disturbing hands in smug denial. “You should have controlled him better, alpha dog. That is what you wanted, is it not? That is why you took them from me. If you control the pack, you own the consequences when they misbehave.”
Jamie bared his teeth.
I reached for his arm. I needed to know he was real. I needed to feel his heart beat. Even the awful truths uncovered by both of them couldn’t distract me from the miracle standing next to me. Jamie.
Jamie jerked away and retreated. “It’s too dangerous, Ada.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? You could have — I would have helped you.” My heart broke all over again. “We could have fixed things. Jamie, why didn’t you — why didn’t you come home?”
“I protected you by staying away.” Despite speaking to me, he didn’t look away from the vampire. “There are too many threats in the mountains, Ada. After I left, you were all supposed to leave. Go somewhere far away. I protected you when I could, from them and from me. Go inside. I will deal with this — demon.”
Dragomir smiled to show off his teeth through the creepy vent in the mask. “We have our own deal, Ada and I.”
“No, you do not,” Jamie snarled. His broad shoulders flexed and stood out as he lurched in the vampire’s direction. “Leave her alone or you will pay the price.”
“Perhaps I should put you back in your place, little mongrel. You are not prepared to face me again.”
“Try me,” Jamie said. He scowled at the wolves and the animals staggered away from Dragomir and returned to my brother’s side of the yard. Static crackled in the air. Pressure squeezed my head, diving in too deep, as everyone went silent. He gestured at me. “Go inside, Ada. Bolt the door.”
“Jamie, don’t —”
He fixed me with a golden glare. “Go.”
My heart broke as my chest caved in. I whispered, “Jamie. You can’t leave.”
Dragomir gestured and the wolves leapt at me and my brother at the same time. I ducked to pick up a stray piece of firewood and swung it into one of the wolves’ chests, buying time to scramble onto the porch. I screamed for my brother, trying to warn him, as the wolves turned their attention to him. One wolf paced across the dead grass to me, approaching with teeth bared. It got one paw on the porch and the front window shattered.
Hopper exploded into the open, chattering his teeth and launching into the enormous wolf. I grabbed for his tail to haul him back, but a demon possessed the waterhound and he pursued the wolf like it was nothing more than an escaped trout. The wolf broke and ran, circling around to join its pack so they could all watch Hopper. The waterhound made angry noises like a St. Bernard-sized otter, then bounded back onto the porch to sit between me and the danger. A knot tied up my throat and my vision blurred. I stroked his little ears and tried to breathe.
The wolves stalked Jamie instead of charging, while Dragomir stood back with a smug look on his ugly face. Jamie didn’t flinch. He didn’t budge.
His eyes glowed redder and he expanded, looming over the wolves. They paused, hesitated. Looked to Dragomir for direction. The vampire moved his hand and the wolves focused on Jamie once more.
Some unseen struggle pulled and pushed between Jamie and Dragomir until I wanted to scream at them both. More pressure built in the atmosphere and a migraine exploded behind my eyes. The wolves abruptly lowered themselves to their bellies, submissive as they faced my brother, and Dragomir muttered under his breath about ungrateful curs.
The vampire’s eyes narrowed as his attention drifted to me. “It would be a shame if anything happened to your sister.”
“Do not threaten her,” Jamie snapped. “Stay away from her or I will come for you. That was the deal.”
“We have our own agreement,” Dragomir said. “She agreed. I saved her life after one of your pack attacked her. Only my intercession saved her. I dealt with him, as well, when you did not. Now take your curs with you when you leave, wolf.”
Jamie stepped back into the trees as the wolves dispersed into the undergrowth. My heart jumped to my throat and choked me; I took a step in his direction, not ready to see him go away again. “Jamie, no. Please stay. Please.”
“I can’t,” he said. He deflated somewhat when he looked at me instead of Dragomir. “You will understand one day. Stay away from him, Ada. Please. I love you.”
I reached for him, I raced to touch him, to hold him. Jamie. He lurked in the trees like a wraith for a few seconds, standing in smoke, calling me but pushing me away at the same time. He disappeared and then I was alone all over again as Hopper chased after them.