“Could be decades fromnow.”
“—I’ll come back.” I stuck my hands between my knees and squeezedthem.
“Ness. . . ”
“Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay? I’m reallytired.”
Sighing, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, dragged me into his body, and kissed my temple. I closed my eyes, enjoying the proximity of him, the smell of him. Enjoying it toomuch.
Another reason I needed toleave. . .
I had feelings that weren’t sisterly at all toward August, and that would just make things weird between us in the comingmonths.
I ducked out from underneath his arm. “Mind if I turn off thelights?”
“Go rightahead.”
I got up from the couch and walked over to his front door. I touched the little panel and then returned to the couch. Moonlight filtered in through the open window, but even without moonlight, I could see well in the dark. Probably not as sharply as a real wolf, but more sharply than a human. This was how I saw the great lump sprawled on thecouch.
“Take the bed,Ness.”
“But it’s yourbed.”
“Didn’t we just have thisconversation?”
“Fine.” I padded toward the ladder and climbed up to the mezzanine, then crawled over the giant bed and slipped underneath the thick comforter. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I heard the recordingagain.
Andagain.
If you make it look like a hunting accident, you can blame thehunter.
I kept my eyes open until the darkness turned a bitbrighter.
A bitgreener.
A bitbluer.
And I wasrunning.
Next to a big black wolf with smiling silver eyes.You think you can catch that squirrel, babygirl?
I darted after the fluffy rodent that spiraled up the trunk of a pine and snatched it right off the tree.Too easy,Dad.
Snap his neck quick. You don’t want it tosuffer.
A second later, the squirrel stopped moving. We feasted on the squirrel, blood and gore dripping from our noses. Well, mostly frommine.
My father was watching on, eyes shining with pride. Suddenly, he whipped his head to the side, ears pricked up, and whirled around, muscles coiled to leap.Ness,run!
We didn’t have time torun.
A bullet whizzed through the inert air and buried itself into his pelt with a pop. He faltered and tumbled, and blood sprayed out of him, covering my face, mixing with the squirrel’sblood.
I whimpered and whimpered, my lament disseminating through the woods like torn dandelionflorets.
Suddenly, a heavy weight pinned me to the supple ground, and I flailed, clawing my attacker, trying to get him off me,snarling.
“Ness, wake up! It’s justme.”
