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“Just take a deep breath,” I said. “Think of something else. A happy thought, maybe? Come on, I know you can do it.”
“I can’t.” He closed his eyes, his body trembling as he attempted to swallow his rage. “I can’t think of any.”
“Think about Keith,” I encouraged him. “Think about the first time you met him, and the first time he smiled at you. Don’t you guys have moments like that?”
Cole opened his eyes, his tense nerves loosening under my grip. “I do.”
“Then think about those moments, go home, and wait for Keith to wake up. You can leave Rainer with me,” I said.
Cole hesitated, but he later took a deep breath and nodded his head. “Okay. I trust you.”
“I know. I won’t disappoint you,” I whispered, pulling him closer as I wrapped and tightened my arms around him. He had no idea how hard it was to hide the lies seething over my tongue as he trusted me with all his heart.
I didn’t want him to see through me. So, before letting go, I lowered my gaze to the ground and waited for him to leave. Watching him walk away as I carried a heavy load of lies may have been one of the most challenging moments I had to face in the past few years, but if it meant keeping him out of trouble, it was worth it.
By the time Cole was out of sight and far enough that he would no longer pick up on what was about to happen, I turned around to face Rainer.
“I really want to tear your limbs apart and scatter them across the forest for the vultures,” I said, clenching my fists so tightly my fingernails cut my palms.
Rainer smirked. “Why? Is my incompetent leader mad at me?”
I sighed, still fighting the impulse to scalp him with my claws. “What was that about, Rain? You keep on scheming behind my back, and now you want to use my cousin for what? Did you already find another pack?”
“Not exactly,” he muttered. “But if you don’t do something, then I will continue doing this my way, and we can play my game for as long as you want.” He paused as he rose from the ground. “You know I could just kill Roeske myself without involving Cole, right?” He raised his shoulders. “Really, it’s your choice. You either give the order to the pack or … I can tell you all about the game I already started playing.”
“What do you want?” I questioned, exasperated.
He laughed for at least five seconds.
No wonder Cole wanted to choke the hell out of him.
“What doIwant? Let’s see …” He tapped his chin, pretending to think. “At first, I just wanted to kill Keith. But then I thought about what you said the other day. How could a seventeen-year-old boy afford a silver bullet?” he deadpanned, his voice cold and chilling as he continued. “Did you know that serial killers always think of a ruse to dupe people? I’m sure that’s what Roeske’s doing right now with help from his hunter friends, acting so nice and innocent no one would even doubt him. It’s whatthey’reall doing to you. So here’s my answer to your question, Gray.War.” He stepped back, lifting his chin. “War is all I want now.”
Shifting Priorities for The Sake of Sanity
The wind whippedagainst my skin as the threat of a storm crept overhead. The ocean below looked bumpy, its currents merciless and gray as if warning me about an oncoming danger. Only, I wasn’t in my body.
With the familiar black plaid clothes, slender fingers, and protruding veins and muscles lacing the tops of my hands, I immediately recognized the body I was somehow possessing: Gray.
One minute, I—orhe—was at the very edge of the cliff, and the next, we were falling. Plummeting into the river bottom in front of a seventy-foot tall waterfall.
The water rushed over our body, invading every pore as it pulled us into the deep.
We couldn’t breathe.
I felt everything he felt.
Thrashing and swinging our limbs, we tried to claw back to the surface, choking as the water invaded our airway.
With eyes open, we could just make out the flicker of distant lightning in the sky above the surface of the water.
In the next moment, the current swept us again, tumbling us over and over until Gray’s head cracked against a rock, jolting me out of his body.
* * *
I let out a gasp,sitting up in terror as I scanned my surroundings, sweating and panting. I was no longer at the river bottom or in Gray’s body. I was in my room, hoping whatever I experienced was nothing but another nightmare. Or perhaps a vision.
Or a vision within a dream.
