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“I thinkwe need to go back,” Margo said hesitantly the next morning.
Relief flooded through me. After a comfortable night next to her, away from the confusing panic and grief of the pack, I had woken her as a boy, filled with the need to go back home, to my pack, to Nathan and Perdita. Running away wouldn’t help find the murderer. Distance had given me the clarity to see that while the pack might have given up on me, I wasn’t ready to give up on them yet.
“Me, too,” I said, relieved. “And you’re okay with everything?”
“I’m trying to be. I was thinking about what you said.” She looked determined now. “I shouldn’t take any more of that medicine. It just confuses things. I think, if you stick by my side, we might be able to find the killer. If we just keep trying, eventually, he or she will slip up. Maybe you’ll catch their scent or something. You can do that, right?”
“I can, but when I found Alex, it was in a place that’s pretty high traffic. The scents were too confusing. Yours was the only one that stood out, but that’s because you weren’t supposed to be there. And there was some kind of chemical scent that almost hid the body—if it hadn’t been for you leaving me hints while you were sleepwalking, I don’t think I would have found her body. Maybe the killer’s been using that to their advantage.”
“What about Mara?” She winced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“No,” I said firmly. “I need to deal with it to find out what happened to her. I owe it to her not to fall apart until this is all over. I’m not going to fail her again.” I inhaled sharply. “Mara wasn’t buried. No chemical smell to hide her scent. Whoever did it wanted her to be found, maybe to cause more confusion or disruption. To really unsettle everyone.”
“So it has to be somebody in your pack,” she said. “Somebody who knows about werewolves and what would trigger them.”
“Right, but who? I’ve thought of Victor and half the crowd so far, but nobody’s been acting weird.”
“That just means they were always like this,” she said, sending a chill down my spine. “They haven’t changed; they’ve just been hiding their true selves all along. What if the spirit kept coming after me because it wanted me to see what was happening? What if it thought I could help tell you all about the killer?”
“Then who is the spirit?” I asked. “Why not communicate with Amelia instead of you?”
“Maybe it was confused.”
“If it really did attach itself to someone in the pack, maybe you could figure it out,” I said. “Maybe you would know just by being in their presence.”
“I like to think I’m a little brave, but I can’t imagine standing in the middle of the pack and pointing out whodunit.” She heaved out a sigh. “But we have to dosomethingbefore somebody else gets hurt. Are we safe if we go home?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I need to talk to Nathan.”
“So call him.” She squeezed my hand. “Or better still, call Ms. Rivers at the school. If she’s anything like my dad, she’ll be mad but happy you’re okay. I mean, she’s normal, right? She won’t let pack instincts interfere with her morals.”
That made sense. She wasn’t led by the darkness in every wolf. We were weakened by it when we thought it made us stronger. That had to end.
Perdita wasn’t at school, so I called her mobile phone. The relief in her voice when she heard mine was like a balm to my soul.
“Dorian, I’ve been so worried. We thought you were dead.” Her voice hitched. “I was so scared we’d lost you, too. Nathan’s been going out of his mind. I’ve been terrified he would lose control. Is Margo with you? Her parents have been looking for her. Is she okay?”
“Yeah, we’re both fine. I didn’t want to leave you, Perdita, I swear, but Dominic told me to run,” I said, my voice thickening with emotion. “He said the pack were going to rip me apart, to keep away from you in case you got hurt. So I took Margo, just in case they went after her.”
“Wait. Dominic said that?” Her voice had turned cold. “Nathan wouldneverlet that happen.”
“Nathan wasn’t there. And even if he was, what if he got hurt trying to protect me? You’d never forgive me. And if you got hurt, he’d never be able to look at me again.”
“Why are you talking like this? Dorian, we love you. We just want you home.”
“What if Nathan can’t stop them when they come after me?” I asked. “What if this is what rips the pack apart, and it’s all my fault? I can’t do that to everyone, but I want to help find the killer.”
She hesitated, and when she spoke, I thought she might be crying. “I have an idea. Come to my dad’s house. Meet me there. I’ll say I need space, that I’m scared, so I’m going to stay with my family. The pack won’t go near the place. They’re sticking to home; Byron’s making them.”
A lump formed in my throat at the thought of her being upset. “I thought Nathan and Byron were arrested.”
“That’snotwhat happened. I promise you, they’re both safe and well. I’ll talk to Nathan, but tell Margo to call her parents. Byron’s been out searching for her with them. They thought she’d been abducted until we realised you were missing, too. If they hear her voice, they can stop worrying, so tell her to call them.”
“I will,” I promised. “I want to come home. We both do, but we’re scared of what will happen.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” she said firmly. “There’s just been some kind of misunderstanding.”
“You didn’t see them,” I said. “Victor attacked Margo—I had to fight him off her—and then Dominic stopped him and the others from tearing me apart. They didn’t care anymore. They just needed to hurt somebody.”
