“Then be more fucking careful.”
He rocks back at my sharp words and rubs the back of his neck. His snort is wry. “You’ll be a good pack leader, I think. Probably better than me.”
I shrug. “We’re all a work-in-progress. We’re dealing with more shit than most packs will see in a lifetime, and we’re barely into our majority. We have a lot of growing up to do, Theo. Giveyourself some grace. And you could try talking to her, like a mate, instead of snarling at her like she’s your enemy. She’s not your enemy.”
His lips twist. “Go and help them find her. Please.”
Nodding, I glance back to the forest. There’s no sign of any of them, but if there’s one thing I can do, it’s run. “We’ll bring her back with us, if she’ll come.”
It’s past time we sat down and talked this out like a pack.
If we can actually find her.
I run into Max and Jake an hour later, the three of us reaching her clearing from different directions.
“She’s not here.” Max stares at the darkened windows. “Where the hell is she?”
The forest around here is endless. “We’ll keep looking. I’ll head back down to town and circle around.”
“I’m done,” Jake says sharply as I turn around. “I don’t want to fight this, Oscar. I don’t want to reject her. We need to work through it. I can’t watch her like this.”
“Agreed.” I almost smile at the surprised look on his face. “And Theo will agree too.”
If we can find her.
I forgot how long the walk to town is from her trailer. Worry etches lines in my forehead as I approach the high street.
She’s been alone for too long. Alone, and isolated.
No more. It ends today.
“Kennedy!” I shout her name again, for the hundredth time, not caring about the hour. “Kenny!”
Looping around, I start jogging back up to the forest entrance. The diner is coming up on my right as I pass Brett’s ridiculous fucking statue.
And I stop. “Kenny?”
She doesn’t turn around. She stays where she is, staring up at the carved golden face with her back to me. “Seventeen.”
I don’t move. Something isoffabout her voice. And her scent… I can taste it again. Sour cherries, something wrong, and twisted.
“He asked me seventeen times,” she whispers. It carries on the breeze, wrapping around me as I listen.
She doesn’t say anything else, and I take a cautious step. “Ken. Baby. Your feet.”
It slips out so naturally. Her sneakers have vanished, her feet pressing into the sharp rocks at the base of the statue. She doesn’t move. “I said no, but he didn’t like it.”
My stomach turns to ice. “What do you mean?”
She shuffles around to face me. Her eyes are bright, her face flushed. “I called for you. But you didn’t come. None of you came.”
It feels as though a fist grips my heart, ripping it out through my ribcage.
None of you came.“I’m here now. Let’s go home, okay?”
She looks through me as I reach her. Her skin scalds my hand. “Jesus. You’re burning up, Kenny.”
“Don’t touch me,” she murmurs, and I yank my hand back, curling it into a fist. “You can’t touch me. Did you come home from college?”
