“Tioga,” he gasped. “He’s been in Tioga. Omegas came to him, and he told them to wait. That the time would come.”
I said, “Okay. Hey. Hey. Calm down. I need you to listen to me, okay?”
His eyes were bulging.
“Do you still hear him? Does he still call for you? In your head. Like an Alpha.”
“Yeah, yes, I can’t, it’s so loud, it’s like there’s something more, and he’s calling me to him, he’s calling for all of us to—”
“Good. Thank you. That’s what I needed to hear. Do you know there are mines underneath this town?”
His chest heaved. “Please, please, I won’t go to him no matter how hard he calls, no matter what he does, I won’t—”
“You’re an Omega. It won’t matter. Live long enough and you’ll lose your mind. You said it yourself.”
“No, no, nononono—”
I snapped my fingers in his face. “Focus. I asked you a question. Did you know there are mines under this town?”
His head snapped side to side. It looked painful.
“Just gravel and sand, mostly. But if you dig deep enough, if you go into the earth, you will find things that were missed.”
“What the hell are you—”
I pressed my hand flat against the ground. The raven’s wings twitched. Two wavy lines on my arm lit up. I breathed in. I breathed out. It was there. I just had to find it. It wasn’t the same as it was back home. It was harder here. Green Creek was different. I hadn’t realized how much.
“Witch,” the Omega hissed.
“Yes,” I agreed quietly. “And you just had an Alpha’s claws around your throat and lived to tell the tale. You went to my home and were shown mercy. But I am not a wolf. And I’m not exactly human. Veins underneath the earth. Sometimes so deep they will never be found. Until someone like me comes along. And I’m the one you should be scared of. Because I’m the worst of them all.”
His eyes turned violet.
He began to shift, face elongated, claws scraping along the brick of the alleyway.
But I’d found the silver in the earth, buried far beneath the surface.
I pulled it up and up and up until a little ball of silver struck my palm, molten and hot. The raven’s talons dug into the roses, and I slammed my hand against the side of the Omega’s head as he reached for me. The silver entered one side of his head and exited the other.
His shift pulled back.
The violet faded.
He slumped against the brick.
His eyes were wet and unseeing. A drop trickled down his cheek. I told myself it was the rain.
I stood, knees popping. I was getting too old for this shit.
I turned and left the Omega behind, rolling down the sleeve of my jacket.
I felt the beginnings of a headache coming on.
The others were waiting for me at the SUV. “What did he say?” Carter demanded. “Did he know—”
“Tioga. I saw it on the map earlier. It’s an hour away. Richard was there. Might still be.”
“What did you do with the Omega?” Kelly asked, sounding nervous. “He’s okay, right? He’s—”
“He’s fine,” I told them. I’d learned a long time ago how to lie to wolves. And the rain would have muffled the sound of his heartbeat. “He won’t be bothering us again. Probably across the border already.”
Joe stared at me.
I didn’t blink.
He said, “Kelly, it’s your turn to drive.”
And that was it.
IT WAS in Tioga that Joe lost control.
Because Richard had been there. His scent was all over a motel outside of town, and while it was faded, it was there, buried under all the Omega stink. We had been so close. So goddamn close.
Joe howled until his voice broke.
His claws tore into walls.
His teeth shredded the bed.
Kelly huddled at my side.
Carter’s face was in his hands as his shoulders shook.
Joe only pushed back the wolf when sirens sounded in the distance.
We left Tioga behind.
After that day, Joe spoke less and less.
TOWARD THE end of that second year, on a day when I thought I couldn’t take another step, I opened the secret pocket in my duffel bag.
Inside was a wooden raven.
I stared at it.
I stroked one of its wings. Just once.
The wolves slept, dreaming their dreams of moons and blood.
And when I finally closed my eyes, all I saw was blue.
abominations
SIX MONTHS after I turned thirteen, I kissed Mark Bennett for the first time.
Seven months after I turned thirteen, hunters came and killed everyone.
BUT BEFORE then:
“She’s pregnant,” Thomas whispered to me.
I stared at him in shock.
His smile was blinding.
“What?”
He nodded. “I wanted you to know before anyone else.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my witch, Gordo. And my friend.”
“But—Richard, and—”
“Oh, I’ll tell him. But it’s you, okay? It’ll be you and me forever. We are going to be our own pack. I will be your Alpha, and you will be my witch. You’re my family, and I hope my child will be yours too.”
Somehow, my heart was mending.
I WORRIED, briefly, when I breached the surface of my grief, what would happen to me. I was only twelve, and my mother was dead, my father was imprisoned in a place where he could never escape, and I was alone.
It’d been all over the news for weeks. This poor little town where a major gas leak had taken place, leveling an entire neighborhood. Sixteen people had lost their lives, forty-seven more injured. A freak accident, investigators said. It was a one-in-a-million thing. It never should have happened. We will rebuild, the governor said. We will not abandon you. We will mourn those lost, but we will come back from this.
My mother and father were counted among those deceased. My mother had been identified by her teeth. No trace of my father had ever been found, but the fire had burned so hotly that that was expected. We’re sorry, I was told. We wish we could tell you more.
I nodded but didn’t speak. Abel’s hand was a heavy weight on my shoulder.
And under the next full moon, I became the witch of the most powerful pack in North America.
There was pushback, of course. I was so young. I had just been through a significant trauma. I needed time to heal.
Elizabeth was the loudest of all of them.
Abel listened. He was the Alpha. It was his job to listen.
But he sided against those who would shield me.
“He has his pack,” Abel said. “We will help him heal. All of us. Isn’t that right, Gordo?”
I didn’t say a word.
IT DIDN’T hurt. I thought it would. I didn’t know why. Maybe it was because the tattoos had hurt, or maybe because all I knew was pain when I opened my eyes every morning, but I still expected more.
But underneath the moon, with a dozen wolves standing before me, eyes glowing, I became their witch.