But he didn’t force her onto her knees. My throat closes up at the thought of it. It runs through my head over and over again. The way she fought so hard against the bark, even then.
Like she fought against my brother. We grew up together. Shared everything together.
Maybe Brett and I were more alike than I ever realized.
When my face crumples, Oscar’s voice hardens. “You’re not falling apart on us. Not yet, Theo.”
He pushes the papers into my chest. “Come inside, and we’re going to work this shit out.”
For once, I don’t argue with him. I don’t push back. Instead, I silently follow them into the house.
Our house. The one that we worked on with Kenny in mind. I always imagined her here, with us.
Jake runs his hands over his face, his voice ragged. “How is she?”
“Broken,” I rasp. We watch in silence as Oscar spreads out the papers, flicking through them.
He hands them out, splitting them between us. “Start reading. Between us, we’ll put the pieces together.”
“Theo,” Max says quietly. “You have some of those pieces.”
And so does Oscar.
The sky turns to black as I walk them through our afternoon, forcing every horrific detail out through the tightness in my throat. When I finish, silence reigns. All of them look grim.
“Does that fit with what you found when you spoke to the hikers?” He’s frowning down at his untouched paperwork, glasses pushed up on his face.
“Not entirely,” he says finally, leaning back. His jaw works. “You said he… attacked her.”
“For hours.” While we sat here, clueless. Heading to my parents for dinner, beginning to wonder where they were when they didn’t show up.
Listening to the voicemail and feeling my steady world shift beneath my feet. The panic when they didn’t answer their phones. My father, on the phone to the police, gesturing andshouting as the four of us took to the forest to search and didn’t find a trace.
And then the days that followed, with no news.
And that day. When my father got the call that made him stagger, the blood draining from his skin.
When he doesn’t say anything, my brows furrow. “What?”
“The hikers told me she was covered in… marks.” He hesitates, throat working. “Bites. Savage ones.”
I’m shaking my head before he even finishes. “They… she….,”
She didn’t mention that. And I didn’t press her for details, figuring I’d done enough of that already. I let her talk, let her give me the pieces of information she was comfortable sharing. Enough for me to know, or so I thought.
Maybe I don’t actually know much at all. My mind drifts again to that sweater, the way she tucked it in against her jeans, no skin on show below her chin.
“Bites?” My voice wavers. “Like… a mating bond?”
Oscar’s eyes meet mine. Endless and dark. “They said they were… black. As if she’d been poisoned.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Max insists. He shakes his head. “They were mistaken. Even if he—,”
He stops. “Maybe we should go up there now.”
“She wanted to be alone.” Standing, I cross to the refrigerator and pour myself some water, but it does nothing to ease the dryness in my throat, as if the sides are sticking together. “But she agreed to tomorrow.”
Jake pulls papers toward him. “Then we spend tonight learning everything we can to help her.”
