Authors: Naomi Clark
“
Didn’t we hate Eddie this
morning?” she asked. “I don’t want to deal with him anymore, Ayla,
not today.” She slid her phone from her pocket, then glanced down
the stairs. The hall was empty, but Tina wouldn’t be far away. I
could smell her distinctly over the lavender furniture polish and
fake-rose potpourri. She was lingering in the living room, waiting
for us to come back down. Shannon slipped her phone back.
“Outside,” she said.
I nodded. We’d promised Molly
confidentiality. Part of me thought Tina ought to know—like me she
was probably thinking abuse and rape - but it was surely better for
Molly to tell her mother herself, when she was ready to.
As we were leaving, Tina poked her head
round the living room door, face pinched and suspicious. “Is she
okay? What was all that about?”
“
She’ll be fine,” Shannon
said, stopping to brush Tina’s arm. “She just needs a bit of time
alone, that’s all.”
Tina’s eyes filled with tears. “But she
won’t talk to me. And her dad won’t help, he says it’s my
fault…”
“
It’s not,” I cut in
sharply. I grabbed Tina’s shoulders and shook her, harder than I
meant to. “Listen to me, Tina, it is not your fault and don’t you
let anyone tell you it is.”
“
But the Pack…”
“
Fuck the Pack,” I snapped,
surprised to find I meant it. “Pack’s done nothing for you for
years, so don’t let them tell you now that you’ve done
wrong.”
She sniffed and wiped her eyes on her
sleeve. “Will you tell me what she said?” she asked.
Shannon shook her head regretfully. “Molly
made us promise not to tell you—she wants to tell you herself,
okay?”
Tina nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thanks,
Shannon. Both of you—thanks.” She slumped her shoulders, some of
the tension leaving her. I hoped Molly really would tell her what
had happened. It would help both of them, I thought.
Outside, Shannon wasted no time in calling
Moira and reporting what Molly had told us. Standing behind
Shannon, I heard Moira’s sharp intake of breath. “Oh God,” she
said. “Have you contacted Eddie yet?”
“
No,” Shannon replied,
taking my hand and tugging me towards the car. “We’re… We had a bit
of a difference of opinion with Eddie on how to handle things. I’m
not sure where that leaves us.”
I bristled, thinking of Eddie’s veiled
threats earlier. In the light of Molly’s information, I felt torn
now. Did I believe Sly needed shutting down, immediately?
Absolutely. Did I want to part of his cold-blooded murder?
Absolutely not. The best thing we could do was tip off the police
and leave it for them to deal with.
That’s what the human part of me thought,
anyway. The wolf part had different ideas. Nastier, more violent
ideas.
I got into the car, waiting for Shannon to
finish her call. When she slid into the driver’s seat, she mimed
banging her head on the steering wheel. “Moira thinks Eddie’s being
overzealous.”
“
Really?” I couldn’t keep
the sarcasm from my voice. “Overzealous?”
“
She’s going to talk to him
about how we—they—proceed.”
“
Why can’t we just call the
police and tell them where Sly is?” I grumbled.
Shannon drummed her fingers on the wheel. “I
don’t want to antagonize Eddie,” she said. “After this morning, I
don’t think we want to risk upsetting him.”
“
But he’s not going to
change his mind,” I said. “In fact, Molly’s news will just make him
more determined to go and kill Sly.”
“
I know.” She started the
car and pulled away from the house. “I don’t know what we’re going
to do.”
I watched Molly’s bedroom window as we drove
away. Her curtains twitched and I caught a glimpse of her pale face
peeking out at us. I imagined her, high as a kite and desperate to
stay that way, forced to fight bigger, tougher werewolves for the
entertainment of slavering humans. I bit my lip until I tasted
blood. I didn’t know what we were going to do, but I knew what I
wanted to do.
SIXTEEN
There was nothing I wanted
less than
to go into work the next morning. I lay in bed listening to the
alarm clock ringing and contemplated calling in sick. My head felt
like a black hole and I couldn’t face Kaye, couldn’t force myself
to be chirpy and polite to the customers all day.
Shannon reached across me to switch the
alarm off before flopping back onto her pillow with a groan. “You
should go to work,” she said, as if reading my mind. She propped
herself up on her elbow to look at me, her eyes crusted with sleep
and shining with worry. “We need to try and stay normal, Ayla.”
I thought that was asking a bit much, but I
grunted my agreement and levered myself out of bed. I couldn’t
afford to lose another day’s pay and I hadn’t been at Inked long
enough to get sick pay. I showered and made Shannon a cup of tea,
bringing it to her in bed.
“
What’s your plan for the
day?” I asked her as I shrugged into the least-wrinkled clothes I
could find in the wardrobe.
She pressed her palms to her eyes and
sighed. “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I should get in touch
with Moira and see what’s happening.”
I bit my tongue to keep myself saying that
was the last thing she should be doing. What happened to staying
normal? Rage was still brewing in me after Molly’s revelation. The
thought of it turned my vision red. But as much as my wolf wanted
to rip Sly and his human helpers apart, my human side quavered and
balked at the idea. My human side just wanted to run away from the
whole miserable mess.
I ran my fingers through my wet hair and sat
down on the bed to stroke Shannon’s cheek. “We’ve done enough I
think.”
“
It’s not that simple,
Ayla. You know that. Drug dealing is one thing, but I can’t sit
around and do nothing when children are being murdered.” Shannon’s
eyes filled and I brushed the tears away, understanding and hating
her change of heart.
“
You know what Eddie
wants,” I said, rising to look for my sneakers. “You can’t be
agreeing with him.”
“
No, of course not. But I’m
hoping Moira will have talked him round, made him see we have to
involve the police now.”
I nodded. “Call me, yeah. Once you’ve spoken
to her?”
“
I will do. And…” she
hesitated, dropping her gaze and setting me on edge immediately. “I
was thinking of looking at houses. Up north.”
I opened my mouth but she hurriedly cut me
short. “I just think it’s the best solution,” she said. “I told
you, I don’t feel safe here and we were happy before, weren’t
we?”
“
We were happy here before
this whole Molly Brady thing,” I grumbled. “Once it’s all over,
everything will settle down again.” I sat back on the bed, rolling
her over so she looked up at me. “Shannon, I know things are
horrible right now, but I don’t want to just turn tail and run. I
don’t want to lose my parents and Vince again.”
She played with a stray thread from my
shirt, eyes still downcast. “I never really understood what being
part of the Pack meant until we moved here,” she said. “It just
takes over everything, doesn’t it? No wonder you ran away.”
“
I’m not saying it’s
perfect. It never has been. But we can make things work, Shannon.
Please.”
She sat up and kissed me. “You’d better go.
You’ll be late for work.”
Way to avoid the
subject
. I sighed and said my goodbyes. I
didn’t want to argue with her and that was the only way this
conversation could end right now. So I left her in bed and headed
to Inked. At least there I could argue with Kaye without feeling
bad about it.
But Tuesday was Kaye’s day off so I had nobody to vent my anger on
except Calvin, who didn’t deserve it, and Lawrence, who didn’t
notice it. Both were busy with clients all morning, leaving me
alone upstairs to man the till and check my mobile every five
minutes to see if Shannon had called.
When it got to midday and I still hadn’t
heard from her, I left Lawrence on the till chatting up a couple of
young goth girls and headed to the Tipsy Fox to see Vince. I needed
a drink and a friendly face.
I was halfway there before I remembered
Vince’s news yesterday. Oscar had smashed the place up; no way
would they be open already. I kicked my heels into the slush with a
muffled curse and glanced around. Town was quiet, cold weather
still keeping most people indoors. There were a couple of coffee
shops up the street and the smell of brewing coffee and warm
pastries was enticing enough to make my stomach growl. But both
places were jammed full when I investigated and I didn’t want to
waste my precious lunch hour queuing.
Restless and itchy, I flitted down the high
street from one shop to the next, flipping listlessly through DVDs,
clothes, books and chocolate bars whilst my mind circled endlessly
from Shannon to Eddie, Molly to Oscar, Sly to Shannon and round
again. My hour was almost up when I shook myself free of my daze
and headed back to Inked, still hungry, still waiting to hear from
Shannon.
I walked straight into my uncle before I saw
him. Chris is a big wolf, all shoulders and chest and I smacked
right into him, slipped on a patch of ice and would have ended up
slamming into the pavement if he hadn’t caught me. He grabbed my
arm and hauled me back onto my feet.
“
Sorry, Ayla, I thought you
saw me. I did call your name.”
“
I’m sorry, I was miles
away.” I dredged up a smile for him, but he just frowned in
return.
“
Is everything okay?” he
asked.
“
Not really,” I said, then
bit my lip, wishing I could take the words back. Chris was still
getting over Adam’s death; I didn’t need to dump any more grief on
him. It was too late though. Chris had his arm round my shoulder
and was guiding me towards one of the coffee shops I’d tried
earlier. It was quieter now and the bitter, rich scent of mochas
and cappuccinos was even more appealing. I made a token protest as
he bundled me inside, saying I was due back at work.
“
You look like you’re about
to fall apart, Ayla,” Chris said. “It won’t kill you to be a few
minutes late.”
Chris and I weren’t really that close
anymore. Before I’d run away we had been. I’d spent a lot of time
with Adam when he was a cub and Chris and my mum were always close.
But I hadn’t seen much of my aunt or uncle since I moved back home.
They’d cut themselves off from a lot of Pack activity—they hadn’t
been at Lupercali—and so it felt weird to be sitting in oversized
green leather chairs with Chris, stirring cinnamon into hot
chocolate and picking at a blueberry muffin like we did this all
the time.
“
So what’s up?” he asked
me. “I saw your parents the other day, they said you’d been having
some problems with your girlfriend?”
Typical
. I frowned and shook my head. “No, everything’s fine with
Shannon.”
Mostly
.
“It’s other stuff. It’s… hard to explain.”
He smiled sadly, looking weary and old.
There were a few grey hairs in his dark blonde locks, a few crow’s
feet around his eyes. It made me feel tired too.
“
It’s been a tough few
months for the family,” he said. “Vivian and I are thinking of
going away for a bit, just to get a break. It’s hard being around
the house…” He ran his hands through his hair. “Part of me keeps
thinking Adam will walk in the door.”
I stared at my hot chocolate and said
nothing. As long as Adam’s killers were free, Chris and Vivian
would probably never feel comfortable in their house again.
He shook himself. “Sorry, Ayla. I didn’t
drag you in here so I could moan. You are okay, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “I had a run in with Eddie
Hughes. He’s just…” I trailed off and shrugged again, words failing
me. I didn’t want to drag Chris into the middle of this mess.
“
Oh Eddie.” Chris laughed;
no humor in the sound. “That old vulture. He was round ours last
week, poking through Adam’s stuff.”
“
Really?” I looked up,
surprised. “Why?”
“
It’s this Silver Kiss
junk. Eddie got it into his head that Adam was smoking it.” Chris
scowled and tore a chunk out of his muffin. I wondered if he was
imagining it was Eddie. “He’s bloody obsessed with the whole
affair.”
“
Did he find anything?” I
asked, then regretted it when Chris shot me a fiery glare. “Sorry.”
I bit into my own muffin and glanced at the big chrome clock
hanging over the coffee bar. “I’m late. I’ve really got to go,
Uncle Chris.” I crammed the rest of my muffin into my mouth and
scrambled out of my seat. “Give my love to Aunty Vivian, yeah? I’ll
stop by some time.”
Chris nodded, patted my hand and let me go
without another word. I ran back to Inked, feeling guilty for
upsetting Chris, but curious about Eddie’s visit to him. I couldn’t
see Adam as a druggie, but then, what did I really know about the
kid? And if so many other kids in town were using Silver Kiss, who
was to say Adam wasn’t?
I got back to Inked twenty minutes late and
accepted my dressing down from Calvin without protest. My mind
wasn’t there at all. As soon as Calvin disappeared back into the
basement, I went back to checking my phone. And finally, just when
I was on the verge of caving in and phoning Shannon, a text came
through from her.
Eddie + Moira coming over tonight.
Think the shit is about to hit.
Great
.