Page 63 of Red

“I think I’m going to stay at Gretch’s tonight. I need to be alone.”

“Of course. I can walk you there.”

When we get there, he wraps his arms around me again and kisses my forehead before I slip inside. Gretch’s gun isn’t at the door and the place is quiet.

Stark was here—mere hundreds of feet away—and I shot a bullet at him. I have no idea if I missed or not. I panicked and jumped too fast after. I needed him gone, far away from the guns, or I was going to risk ending a decade of secrets.

I climb up the ladder and collapse onto the narrow mattress of the bunk bed, then attempt to fall asleep. Maybe this is a nightmare.

The air is warm and smells like fresh roses. I clamp my dress’s skirt down with my hands as it catches in the breeze.

Music starts and the well-dressed crowd around me turns. I lean between a gap to see what they’re all looking at. A tall man dressed in a black tux strides down the aisle with a long-legged women hooked around his arm. They face each other in front of a man I’ve seen before.

“We all gather here today for the sacred ceremony of two mates.”

The man next to me cheers. I angle to the right to get a better look, and the heat in my legs becomes unbearable.

Stark’s blue eyes don’t look at me but toward his soon-to-be mate Nikki. Her curled hair blows off her white dress in the breeze. She looks mesmerizing.

My hands burn as I breathe in through my nose, and the heat grows. I start to pant, and the two tall, blurry-faced people next to me shift away, giving me odd looks.

“Before we start, Nikki and I would like to partake in an ancient tradition,” Stark announces to his guests.

Everyone begins to sit, yet I can’t seem to make myself do anything. I’m both frozen and on fire. The feeling is similar to that of a full moon, but up in the sky, the sun casts rays behind a group of clouds.

“A sacrifice of the Red one.”

Both Nikki and Stark give me menacing smiles before turning, her into a small blondish-colored wolf. Stark, dark as night, towers over her. They leap, and I hear a scream.

I wake in a sweat, as if everything around me is on fire.

“Aly. Aly.”

I look around and see Gretch’s face leaning over the edge of the railing.

“You, okay? Tripp came to tell me what you saw. It’ll get better.” She reaches out places her hand on my shoulder, my body trembling under her touch. She draws back and her face drops.

“Sorry, I’m going to go get some air.” I jump off the bunk, skipping the ladder, and head out the door. I sink down on the metal grates and lean against the cool metal railing.

The door behind me shuts and Gretch sits, wrapped in a blanket. “Any better?”

I exhale. “Yeah, I think so. Some crazy nightmares.”

She presses her hands between her blanketed knees. “It’s a lot to be here, but it’s less lonely than being in the city with no one.”

“I used to have someone.” Mourning fills my voice. Pratt’s brown fur is all I want right now, running next to me in the woods. I want him to tell me not to run so fast, to take fewer risks, to not burn out.

“What were they like?”

“Full of energy and joy and strict. My brother had so many rules. I used to hate all the rules, and it wasn’t until he was gone that I realized he sacrificed so much for me. My mom was the same way, except she got sick. Now, it’s only me.”

“I’m sorry you’re alone too. We’ve got each other now.” She bumps me with her knee. “Does it ever feel like no one knows the real you?” she asks.

“Every second,” I say.

We sit in silence under the door light. A few men walk past us without acknowledgment. Some move alone, heading out for shifts carrying large-scoped rifles.

I need to go home.