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“Are we playing tug-of-war with Carter now?” another voice said. I looked up to see Team Human crowding around Elizabeth, even as the shouts in the bar grew louder. Rico had his hands on his hips, and his head was cocked, eyes squinted. “Because I don’t know if that’s going to endear the general population of Green Creek now that they’ve seen half of the Bennetts—who they assumed were just rich weirdos that lived in the woods—suddenly turn into monsters right in front of them.” Something shattered inside the bar, and he winced. “Bambi’s probably not going to like that. Or the fact that I’ve been keeping this from her.”
“I can talk to her for you,” Jessie said, patting his arm. “Give it a woman’s touch.”
“You stay away from her,” Chris said, glaring at his sister. “You already think she has a nice rack. It’s not cool to try and steal Rico’s girlfriend.”
“Or is it?” Rico asked, eying Jessie up and down. “I mean, as long as I can watch, I wouldn’t mind—ow, vete a la verga, culero, my arm isn’t supposed to twist that way. Stop it!”
Jessie waited a beat to prove her point, but then let Rico’s arm go.
Chris and Tanner laughed.
Jessie glared at them.
They backed away from her slowly.
“Um, guys?” Robbie said, coming up behind them, looking frantic. “As fun as this is, I think we’ve got a problem.”
He pointed over his shoulder back in the bar.
Pressed against the windows were many, many faces, eyes wide, mouths open as they watched a wolf the size of a horse trying to steal Carter from his brother, both of whose eyes were glowing brightly.
Will, the drunken owner of the motel, spoke first. “I knew it!” he shouted, eyes rheumy and bloodshot. “Fucking animals. No one believed me, but they came and stayed in my motel! Mountain lion my ass. Look at the size of that fucker! Shape-shifters! We’re surrounded by shape-shifters!”
“Fuck,” Ox said succinctly.
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THEY WERE… loud. The people inside the bar. Some of them cringed away from the Bennetts, trying to get as far from them as possible while still remaining in the Lighthouse.
Will, the bastard that he was, tried to tell anyone who would listen that he knew something had been going on in this town, had been going on for years, and everyone had called him crazy. “Who’s crazy now?” he said, laughing wildly. “Who’s crazy now?”
“I could do it again,” I told Ox under my breath. “Alter their memories. Like I did with the people after Richard.”
Ox shook his head slowly. “You were off your feet for a few days after that. And there were only a handful. There’s almost fifty people in here. I need you strong.”
He had a point. Expending that much energy would make me next to useless for at least a week. And we didn’t have time for that now. “There’s always after.”
“Maybe.” He looked at the people standing before us. They were starting to get loud again. Jameson, the owner of a brand-new hole in his trailer wall, was staring at Mark as if he expected Mark to shift and eat him right then and there. It would have been funny if the situation weren’t so fucked. Especially since Mark seemed on the verge of doing exactly that. I stayed close, trying to get him to calm.
Others were still at the window, staring out at where Kelly and Robbie were keeping an eye on Carter. The timber wolf hadn’t been too pleased when Carter had tried to follow us inside, growling at him until Carter stopped trying to get away. I had a good idea what was going on there, and I thought Elizabeth did too, if the knowing look on her face meant anything. The others were… too young. Too inexperienced. Even Joe and Ox seemed perplexed. I didn’t know if it would matter in the long run. The wolf was an Omega. If it was like Pappas, I didn’t know if there was any turning back. It was best if Carter didn’t know. At least not until we could be sure.
He was in for a rude awakening, at any rate.
“What are we going to do?” Mark murmured. He was breathing in and out through his nose, and I knew he was doing it to keep his heart rate slow. I didn’t know if it was working. “We can’t—Ox. There’s a reason packs are kept hidden.”
Ox tilted his head. “Why, though? Because the Alpha of all says that’s the way it’s supposed to be? She betrayed us. Or is it because it could bring hunters down upon us? They’re already here. And we’re trapped inside with them because witches have surrounded Green Creek and taken our wards away from us. These people are in danger. Don’t they have a right to know why?”
Mark paled. His voice was rough when he spoke. “Do you even know what you’re saying? What you’re risking? It’s not just about us, Ox. If this gets out, if this spreads beyond our borders, then it puts other packs at risk. People are scared of what they don’t understand. And they won’t understand us.”
“I get that,” Ox said lightly. “I do. But we can’t live in fear. If we’re going to h
ave hope for a tomorrow, then we have to deal with it today.”
Mark shook his head. “You don’t—you weren’t there. You didn’t see what they did to us. What the humans did to our family. They came in and—there were children, Ox. They were just kids, and they—”
Ox wrapped a hand around his neck, bringing his forehead to Mark’s. “Breathe,” he whispered, eyes flashing red, and Mark’s nostrils flared. “I need you to breathe. I know it hurts. I know it does. We will stop it, okay? We’re going to find a way to stop it.”
Mark reared back, breaking out of Ox’s grasp. For a moment I thought he was going to lash out. “You don’t get it,” he growled, deeper than any human ever could. The people closest to him backed away slowly. “You’re fine. You don’t have this—this thing inside of you. You still have your tether, and it’s intact. I can feel it, Ox. Every fucking second, I can feel it. Just because you still get to keep everything you love doesn’t mean you get to spout your Alpha bullshit on me. That’s not fair. None of this is fair.”
