Page 51 of Red

I’m so glad werewolves are raised to respect women. This just reminds me of going to the bars in the human city.

I hold my ground by the bottom of the stairs. “I think you want to take those words back.”

I can’t be pushed around here, though I don’t want to be sent packing before I get anything useful.

He steps forward within six inches of me. My magic screams through me, and I grip the railing for the cold.

“Pretty thing, you want to—”

“Fuck off,” I say.

Way to not cause problems.

The heat fades a small bit. I don’t need to be a werewolf to defend myself this second.

“Drew.” A man rounds the side of the building and walks toward us. “I’d do as the girl says.”

He stands upright and lifts his palms up. “Sorry, miss.”

“Now get back to work you two,” the man walks over.

“Course, boss,” Drew says. Boss?

“On it,” the other one says, before they both take off.

“Sorry about them,” the boss man says, then he skips up past me and ducks in through the door.

In seconds, Gretch comes out, and we head off toward her unit. Once we’re in her room, we take turns getting ready for bed and she gives me the top bunk.

“Thank you. I know you said you were happy to have your own,” I say.

“It’s good to have some company sometimes.” She gives a small smile. .

“I get that.” More than she knows. Stark’s family-style dinners come to mind, filled with everyone chatting and laughing away. Jocko’s and Hudry’s jokes. Stark’s commanding silence. I’ve come to enjoy the log cabin prison over the last few weeks.

“You’re lucky you had other clothes with you. Also, I have to know what you think of Hudson?”

I climb up the ladder to the bunk. “Yeah, I always keep a bag with a few options when hiking. Also, who is Hudson?”

“The guy we went to see. Sorry, I guess I didn’t tell you his name. He probably assumed you knew it. He’s the one in charge around here. It was all his idea, and he turned it into this.” She turns off the overhead light, and the sheets ruffle below me.

“Wow, he was . . .” I try to choose a word that will match what she thinks of him. “Inspiring.”

“Yeah, he is. Night, Aly.”

“Good night.”

I close my eyes and try to think of home, but a four-poster bed fills my vision, with dark-etched wolves on the headboard. I roll to the warmth beside me and blue eyes stare back at me.

I jolt and open my eyes, staring at the ceiling just overhead. The flames in my arm graze my cuts, but I shut them down.

I try again to picture home, the room where I grew up, but I fail, instead falling into a restless sleep of tossing from side to side.

Chapter 17

The next day is quiet. Gretch gets her ankle rewrapped in the afternoon. I avoid having my bandages redone. Despite not allowing them to heal, I know the cuts will be beyond what a human’s would be. We spend the rest of the day lounging on Gretch’s couch with her ankle propped up. She tells me about when she was found by Hudson, when she felt lost in life and he gave her a purpose.

After grabbing dinner at the kitchen, we slip into our layers. Gretch wants to go to some fire. “Come on. If we want to get seats close, we got to get moving.”