Savage (17 page)

And she saw . . .

She saw . . .

As she stared into the eyes of the Hellhound, which was pushing rotten breath out through its nose, behemoth claws scraping the earth—

Her world shattered. It shattered and it would never come back together, ever again.

Its pale green eyes were so familiar, and so very, very sad.

And she knew that her grandfather, Mordecai McBride, was staring back at her.

12

KATELYN KNEW SHE
was screaming because that was the only explanation for the high-pitched shrieks that bounced off the cave walls and assaulted her ears.

The Hellhound stood, monstrous, its huge jaw clacking at her.

She leaped forward, flashing past the beast. She expected to feel its razor-sharp claws slashing into her back, grabbing her, ripping her from limb to limb.

But nothing touched her.

She sprinted through the darkness, past the hanging skeleton and into the claustrophobic tunnel, struggling to remember where she was going, her own gasps of terror the only thing she could hear.

Finally she made it out of the cave. The sun had set, and this time she could feel the cold winter air. It seemed to pierce her very heart, chilling her all the way to her soul.

She ran to her car, her eyes averted from the corpse of her history teacher. The Hellhound killed all who found its cave. It —
he
— had killed her father. Why not her, too?

She made it back to her car before she would have thought it possible. Somehow she got the door open and threw herself inside. She laid her gun on the seat. Her shaking hands fumbled with the car keys. She jammed the right key into the ignition; the engine roared to life and she slammed the gas pedal to the floor.

This time she forced the car through the walls of branches. They squealed as they scraped off the paint, cracked as they broke.

My grandfather is the Hellhound. My grandfather is the Hellhound.

The words kept echoing round and round.

She pounded the steering wheel as she pushed her foot on the gas pedal and the car lurched forward. The wheels spun in the muddy earth. She had to stop; she had to think clearly, figure out what to do, where to go.

Because if her grandfather was the Hellhound, she most certainly couldn’t go home.

She grabbed her phone and hit Trick’s name. She would tell him everything. He’d help her make sense of it. Or could he? Doubts and fears churned. Trick had been born in her grandfather’s cabin. He was Mordecai McBride’s godson. He
must
know — about the Hellhound and werewolves and all of it.

Did he know about her? Was that why he was always acting so weird?

The cell connected and it was as though time slowed down, every ring chiming hours apart. Trick would help. He had to.

Finally she heard his voice and her heart leaped — only to come crashing back down into her chest when she realized she was listening to his voice mail message. She licked her lips and forced herself to breathe before she spoke.

“Trick, call me, please. Something . . .”

She didn’t know what to say. She was afraid of sounding crazy or revealing too much.

“Just call,” she whispered and then hung up.

She took another deep breath, trying to steady herself. What if she was wrong? What if that hadn’t been her grandfather looking at her through the Hellhound’s eyes?

It was possible the stress of all the lying and sneaking around was getting to her, but she didn’t think so. It made too much sense. Her father’s death, the silver bullets, the picture that had been stolen from their house.

Quickly she rolled down the window and let the cool air blow on her face as she drove. She was shaking hard.

She didn’t want it to be him. She wanted him just to be her grandfather, nothing else.

She didn’t know what to do, where to go. She couldn’t just keep driving forever, either. She didn’t have any money on her and she only had half a tank of gas. She couldn’t get very far on that. Certainly not to California. Maybe not even to wherever the Fenner pack was holed up.

She called Cordelia.

“Kat! Are you okay?” Cordelia burst out as she picked up.

“No, I’m not okay,” Katelyn said, pushing down the urge to cry.

“What’s wrong? Did you . . . did you find it?” Cordelia whispered.

Katelyn shut her eyes. The Gaudin pack would likely murder her if she went to Cordelia. And with Regan and Arial vying for control of the Fenner pack, Katelyn was just as likely to be slaughtered by Fenners. And if either side found out that she knew where there were hundreds, if not thousands, of silver bullets . . .

“Kat?” Cordelia said.

She had to stay well away from both packs. Her best chance of survival lay with the Hounds of God.

“Cordelia, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“What’s happening?” When Katelyn didn’t answer, Cordelia pushed harder. “Tell me. Where are you? What are you doing?”

“I’m going to put an end to this.” Katelyn hung up. “One way or another,” she breathed.

She pulled out Daniel’s card and called him. He answered on the first ring.

“I’m ready,” she said.

“Do you need us to come get you?”

“No, I’ll come to you.”

“As you wish.”

He gave her coordinates and she punched them into her GPS.

“You’re doing the right thing for everyone,” he told her.

“I hope so.”

She hung up.

Katelyn had been driving for well over an hour and she was getting anxious. The Subaru was running on fumes and she’d never make it to the rendezvous point. She didn’t want to abandon her car. A vehicle gave her some small amount of autonomy, a chance to leave when she wanted. But only if it had gas in it.

She saw a light flash through the trees and put her foot on the brake. A moment later it appeared again and she realized it had to be coming from a building — most likely a cabin.

If the lights were on, that could mean someone was home — and there was likely to be a vehicle with gas. She hesitated for only an instant and then turned up a dirt path leading toward the light.

She didn’t want to attract attention to herself by begging for fuel that she couldn’t pay for, but she didn’t have anything to siphon it off with either, nor was she sure she knew how, anyway.

She set her jaw. Somehow, she was going to have to manage it if she wanted to go any further. She pulled over and parked, turning off the engine. Until she had scoped things out she didn’t want to alert anyone to her arrival.

She considered taking her gun, then thought better of it and slid it underneath the passenger seat. Regretfully, she thought of the weapons and bullets that she had left behind. If her gun was jamming, she didn’t need to wave it around. Better to try to fix it before she wasted precious ammunition.

She got out and walked up the dirt path. As she rounded a turn, a log cabin came into view. It was larger than her grandfather’s, but it was not as finished. It was more like a cabin at a sleepaway camp than a home.

There were no lights on, but a faint orange glow suggested a fireplace fire; she could smell the wood smoke drifting out of the chimney. She walked as silently as she could, holding her breath. Her vision was beginning to shift, the forest around her coming alive with infrared and platinum lights.

Not now
, she thought as she forced herself to keep moving forward.

There was a truck parked to the right of the rough-hewn cabin and she tiptoed toward it. She checked the bed of the truck when she reached it, hoping to see a gas can.

No such luck.

With a grimace, she turned her attention to the gas tank. Even if she could find a hose to suck the gas through, it would be moot without something to put the gas in.

She could wait until they went to bed and then she could rummage around in their garage. But people were nervous from all the murders. What if they shot at her?

“Kat!”

On high alert, she swung around. Jesse Fenner stood on the front porch waving at her. She stared at him, stunned. It finally hit her: this was the safe house, the cabin in the woods Justin had told Lucy to run to.

Lucy.

A twig cracked.

Katelyn whirled back around.

She stood face to face with Lucy, whose butter-soft features were contorted in a mixture of hatred and fear.

Katelyn tensed, waiting for Lucy to lash out at her, for that battle that must surely come, that could no longer be postponed. She thought about the malfunctioning gun loaded with silver bullets.

“What are you doing here?” Lucy asked.

Katelyn realized that there was far more apprehension in the other woman’s voice than anger, and she forced herself to relax.

“I’m here to check on you and Jesse,” she said. Lies. They came so easily these days. No surprise. Everyone in Wolf Springs lied.

Lucy looked fearfully into the forest. “Who’s with you?”

“No one, I swear,” Katelyn said even as an image of the Hellhound filled her mind — and Lucy’s promise to fight her to the death rang in her ears.

Lucy grabbed Katelyn’s arm and dragged her toward the cabin. Although Lucy held her too tightly, Katelyn allowed her to lead her. When they stepped onto the porch it finally registered that Lucy was carrying a rifle in her other hand.

“Jesse, honey, you greet Kat proper and then go to your room and watch a movie. She and I have some girl stuff we have to talk over,” Lucy said firmly.

Jesse made a face and whined deep in his throat, but he obediently kissed Katelyn’s cheek and shuffled into the cabin. Then Lucy led Katelyn inside.

Her impression of the cabin had been accurate. It was crude inside, with some furs covering the primitive plank floor. A massive fireplace was the only light source.

“I figure it’ll be best if Jesse is occupied while we talk,” Lucy said, her voice tight.

Katelyn nodded. Lucy’s civility was unnerving.

“No phone, and no cell signal out here,” Lucy continued. “We’ve been cut off since we got here.”

Lucy was isolated even more than she had been. Impulsively Katelyn reached out and grabbed the other girl’s hand.

“Let go of me,” Lucy snapped. She was shaking. Lucy had always been the level-headed one, the one in charge. Katelyn couldn’t help but think about the disastrous Thanksgiving dinner when Lee Fenner had accidentally started to shift into wolf form at the table. Lucy had taken over, ensuring that Katelyn’s grandfather hadn’t seen what was happening.

Katelyn had been so worried about his discovering that werewolves existed, afraid for her grandfather’s safety. All along she should have been terrified for the safety of Justin, Cordelia, Jesse, and, most of all, herself. She should have been worried about protecting them from her grandfather.

The irony made her want to laugh and sob at the same time.

“What’s happening?” Lucy whispered.

Katelyn assumed she was lowering her voice to keep Jesse from overhearing.

“What have you heard?” Katelyn asked.

“Not much.” Lucy shook her head. “Justin called, said it was going badly, that I should take Jesse and come here. Wait for someone to come get us.”

She looked at Katelyn hopefully, and despite everything her newly-revealed fragility softened Katelyn’s heart.

“Let’s sit down,” Katelyn suggested.

Lucy nodded and led her over to a couple of pine chairs with threadbare cushions. The place was such a marked contrast with the comfortable elegance of the Fenner home that Katelyn couldn’t help but notice. Lucy caught her at it.

“This place was built by Justin’s great-grandfather. The family hasn’t lived in it full time since before Lee took over the pack.”

Katelyn nodded, the mention of Lee’s name reminding her of all the unpleasant things she had to tell Lucy. She cleared her throat, but kept her voice low because of Jesse.

“Last I heard, Justin was okay,” she began.

Twin tears slid freely down Lucy’s cheeks and she wiped them away with hands that shook even more. “Thank God.”

“The battle . . . it was chaos. The Gaudins poisoned the bayou with silver.”

Lucy gaped at her and finally found her voice. “So Uncle Lee was right about them. They were the kind of snakes who’d do something so evil. Did anyone . . . did they die from that?”

Katelyn dipped her head. “The Gaudins set fire to the trees, too. People were running everywhere. We would get separated only to meet back up someplace completely different. The order was given to fall back and regroup.”

“But Justin is safe?” Lucy asked, clearly needing to hear it again.

“Yes, at least he
was
. I haven’t heard anything for hours and hours.”

Lucy knit her fingers together. She looked as if she would burst. “Okay,” she said. “All right.” She clenched her hands. “What about everyone else?”

The moment of truth. “Doug and Al,” she said. “And . . . Lee.”

Lucy stared at her. Katelyn was surprised by the lack of reaction.

“There were others, too, I just don’t know—”

A high-pitched wail rent the air. Katelyn and Lucy both jumped to their feet and spun around.