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“Yeah.” I don’t want him to say any more.
She’s even more perfect than the girl we left behind.
But she’s different. Broken, too, just like us.
I rub my ass and glance around, finally noticing what caused Jackson to stop in his tracks. We’re standing in the middle of a clearing in the trees, with a view back across the valley. The gabled roof and majestic towers of the Bridgemont appear so much smaller. Dollhouse sized.
A circle of rotting wooden benches stretch around the perimeter of the clearing, with a rusted fire pit in the center. Behind them, tucked away in the trees, is a log cabin. It looks like this might have once been a cookout spot, where hikers came to roast marshmallows and tell stories while enjoying the view down the valley. But I’m guessing that as the hotel’s clientele changed, no one has been here for quite some time.
Jackson runs up onto the rotting porch and flings open the cabin door. “Check this place out, Orion.”
“Be careful. There might be bears. Or snakes. Or cannibals—”
“Just get in here.”
I scratch behind my neck as the wolf inside me claws against my skin. I follow Jackson’s path across the porch and duck inside the cabin.
The porch is in bad shape, but the cabin itself is actually decent. The walls are made from thick wooden logs, and there are metal bars in some of the larger windows to protect against avalanches in the dead of winter. There’s even artwork still on the walls.
Jackson raps the wall. “It’s pretty solid, and there’s plenty of other logs outside. If we boarded up the windows for extra security, then…”
“Then what?”
“Then you could stay here,” Jackson says.
He doesn’t have to explain what he means.
Icouldstay here.
We could make this cabin secure enough to hold me during my shift. Jackson’s right—there are only a couple of windows facing the valley, and they’ll be easy enough to board up with the wood outside. I’d probably destroy most of the furniture in the place, but it’s not exactly being used as is.
And I’d rather destroy furniture than someone's face.
This means I wouldn’t have to go away. We could all stay here, near Lily.
It’s a risk, but we could manage it. We could set up a camera, and if I did escape the building, it would alert Jackson, and he and Brooks could get Lily and the hotel guests to safety.
I sit down. “I’ve definitely stayed in worse places. I’m down for wolfing out with a view.”
“That’s the spirit.”
I itch my neck again. The old fear creeps in, as it does every full moon. That this is the month when things will go wrong. That I will somehow break free of the cage we set and hurt someone. That my brothers will be forced to put me down.
Only this time, I won’t just lose them, but I’ll lose Lily as well.
“Jackson?”
He’s busy inspecting the contents of the cupboards. “Hey, there are s'mores ingredients in here! And hot cocoa powder.”
He plonks down in the chair opposite, sending up a cloud of dust. He opens a bag of marshmallows and pops one into his mouth. He chews, winces, then chews some more. “It tastes like sugar and sadness. Do you want one?”
I shake my head. “Jackson, I’ve been thinking…about Levi.”
“What about him?”
“About how we can trap him.”
“That’s not going to be your concern, little brother. And just how do you trap a demon? I imagine it’s even more difficult than imprisoning a werewolf?”
