“I might not seem busy, but I have a business to run. I can’t just get up and leave to take you to a sillycontest.”
Heat pricked my eyelids. “This isn’t a sillycontest.”
“Isn’t it?” She leaned over the check-in counter. “You’ve set your expectations on an unreasonable goal. Women don’t lead packs of men; it’semasculating.”
My scudding heart came to an abrupt halt. I blinked at my aunt, stunned tosilence.
“Did you expect me to pat you on the back?” She shook her head. “You should’ve contented yourself with being their equal. Or married one ofthem.”
I backed away because my fingers had closed into tight fists, and my nails were elongating. Before I started howling at my aunt or slashing at her tubby throat with my sharp claws, I pushed through the inn’s revolvingdoors.
I dragged in lungfuls of air to calm my flaring anger and contemplated running, but racing fifteen miles before running a marathon was nonsensical. Besides, there was no way I could cover fifteen miles in one hour, even in wolf form. I whipped out my phone so fast I almost dropped it, and then scrolled to the saved number of a taxi company. I was put on hold before a woman informed me that my ride would arrive at the inn in ten minutes. It was already 11:05. I would never makeit.
Never.
I wrote Everest a dozen hurtful text messages but deleted them all. Mom once told me communicating whilst angry was a terrible idea. Considering the things I’d written—things that could irreparably damage my relationship with Everest—she wasright.
Finally, a yellow cab drove up the winding path. I tapped my foot. Before he’d even stopped, I lunged into the backseat and gave him directions. We were halfway through the drive when I realized I hadn’t taken a bag, which meant I hadn’t taken a wallet. I decided not to mention it until wearrived.
As the yellow cab climbed the mountain roads at a cautious fifteen miles per hour, I stared at the red digits escalating on the meter. “Could you drive any faster? I’m a littlelate.”
The needle rose to eighteen miles per hour. How I wanted to jump in front and jam my foot on the gas pedal. I’d told Liam I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but at this moment, I knew—I wanted to get a driver’slicense.
I researched this, since watching the minutes and dollars tick by was wreaking havoc on my fraying nerves. At 11:58, the Boulder headquarters rose before us like an oasis in a desert. The squat gray stone structure surrounded by the rusted fence and sunburned grass hadn’t changed aniota.
“Word around town is that this place is crawling with wolves.” The cabby was gazing at the large wooden sign carved up with the words:PrivateProperty.
“I heard, but I also heard they aren’taggressive.”
He grunted—obviously not sharing my belief—then turned in his seat. “That’ll be forty-eightdollars.”
“About that…I forgot my wallet. Can I pay youtomorrow?”
“What?No.”
“But I don’t havecash.”
“Maybe your friends can payme.”
“Myfriends?”
He jerked his bearded chin toward Matt, who’d stepped into my line of sight. He glowered at the cab. Liam and Lucas came to flank him. Relief flooded through me when I noticed they were all still inskin.
“I’d rather not ask them, but Ipromise—”
“I got a family to feed, insurance to pay, not to mention taxes and schooling fees. If I accepted promises as payment, my family would starve and getevicted.”
Geez.“Do you takePayPal?”
“No, I don’t take PayPal, but even if I had an account, I wouldn’t accept electroniccash.”
“Fine.” Cheeks heating up, I kicked the door open, then trekked toward my welcomingcommittee.
“You’re late,” Lucas chirped, chewing on atoothpick.
“Why isn’t the cabbie leaving? Did you invite him to watch?” Mattasked.
Without taking my eyes off the overgrown grass that smelled like piss, I mumbled, “I forgot my wallet. Can anyone lend me afifty?”
