Page 47

The forest looked different in wolf form. It looked wilder and more unruly, but I felt wilder and more unruly, too. I felt more connected to the woods and the sky and the river when I was encased in fur, when I was running on all fours. I felt alive in a way that I didn’t when I was in human form. And I also felt safer, as if I was certain everything would work out.

I ran far, all the way down the river, and when I was running back, another wolf joined me, and I immediately recognized it as Vincent. He wanted to race, and I didn’t mind, so we ran as fast as we could all the way back to my dad’s cabin. Then, I sat down on my haunches next to where I’d left my clothes, all folded up neatly on the patio outside the back door.

Vincent’s wolf lay down and rested his head on his paws, like he was waiting for a show.

I yipped at him. When he wouldn’t turn around or move, I picked up my shirt with my teeth and tossed it so that it covered his face and his eyes.

I shifted back, tugging on my underwear and my bra and when I turned around he’d shifted too. He was holding my shirt, bunched up in front of his crotch, and he was grinning at me.

“You’re just being a jerk right now,” I said to him.

“Sorry,” he said, laughing. “I’m going to shift and go back to my place, but I wanted to ask if you want to grab lunch down at the square.”

It was lunch time, wasn’t it?

“Sure,” I said. “I guess I’m not doing anything.” I didn’t know where to look. Vincent was totally naked, and the only thing that I could not see was his cock, but I was pretty sure I’d seen that before. I hadn’t grown up with this boy, all of us jumping in and out of the river, all of us shifting in and out of wolf form—well, I couldn’t shift without my dad making it happen, but Vincent had been an alpha as a teenager, he could shift, and he did—so I knew I’d seen him naked, but…

He looked like his brother. They were the same height. Their hair was the same color. Their features were even similar, but Vincent’s eyes were brown, not that haunting light green color of Damian’s. Vincent was broader in the chest. There was more hair on his chest and more hair on his legs and—

I was blushing.

I forced myself to look up at the sky.

“You’re really checking me out there,” he said, teasing me.

“Me?” I said to the sky. “You’re the one who acted like I was going to shift and show you everything and it would be your private strip tease.”

He just laughed again. “You probably want your shirt back.”

“No, not after you’ve been rubbing yourself into it.”

He made a strange sort of noise in the back of his throat, and then he was laughing. “Okay, I’m shifting,” he said, and I looked back, and I happened to notice that he had a hard-on before it was swallowed up in dark fur. Maybe I shouldn’t have said the thing about him rubbing himself into my shirt? Or was it just me in my bra and underwear that had done it?

My shirt fell to the ground, and I swiped it up.

He scampered off into the woods.

Things had never been like that between Vincent and me. I was a little stunned at the idea of him actually finding me attractive.

A few minutes later, I had a text from him. Let’s take separate cars just in case.

Good idea, I texted back.

We met at the parking lot outside of the square. I had brought the manuscript that Opal had written with me, and I took it along. I thought maybe I’d show parts of it to Vincent or something. Maybe he had some insight into her. There were a lot of times when it was the four of us growing up, and if Damian and I were off together, that left the two of them together. He’d been sleeping with her off and on, apparently, and he came to see her on her deathbed, and… maybe he got her in a way that I didn’t? Maybe he would at least be able to tell me how much of it was real or not.

He waved at me as I approached him. “Where do you want to eat?”

“Well, I’ve already been to Roma’s,” I said. “Sign of the Fang?”

“Oh, they don’t do sandwiches anymore,” he said. “And they’re not open until 4:00, anyway.”

“Just a bar these days,” I said.

“If you’re in the mood for sandwiches, maybe Hodie,” he said.

I repeated the syllables, because I did not know what he was talking about. Ho. Dee. Ay.

“You’ve seen it. The bagel place. Panem Hodie,” he said. “It’s Latin for ‘bread today’ or something.”