I sighed and leaned my head against the headrest. “Is it just me, or did everyone at that party seem way younger than us?”
The question sounded weird to my own ears, considering most of the people at Justin’s had been in our senior class, and we’d partied with them many times. But something felt different tonight. I’d stood there drinking my beer and watching them celebrate the end of high school, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I didn’t belong. It was as if I’d suddenly aged five years, and I was looking at a bunch of kids getting drunk.
“It’s not them. We were just like that last year. We’ve changed ever since that stuff happened with Sara.”
“Yeah, we have.” Seeing one of your best friends get stabbed and fall off a cliff, and thinking she was dead for three weeks, that changes you. Not to mention everything else that happened last fall.
We approached the waterfront. It felt weird driving past Sara’s building these days and seeing all the darkened windows and the empty parking spot. Sara had been such a big part of my life, and I missed having her around. I was happy she and Nikolas found each other, though. He was a good guy, and he’d do anything for her.
“Hey, what’s that?” Pete slowed the car. “Is that a light in Sara’s apartment?”
“What?” I craned my neck and saw a faint glow coming from one of the second-story windows. “That’s Nate’s bedroom.”
Pete stopped the car, and we reached for our doors as a girl’s scream came from inside the building.
I jumped out of the car and raced up the steps. When I reached the front door, I remembered Pete had my keys, and I had to wait for him to join me. He handed them over, and I unlocked the door.
Except for the soft light spilling from the bedroom, the apartment was dark when we let ourselves in. Down the hallway, we heard a girl’s soft cries, and we moved toward the sound.
If I’d been in wolf form, my hackles would have been standing up straight. It was 1:00 a.m., and no one should be here. I’d seen enough awful things in my life for me to imagine what would make a girl scream in an empty building, even here in New Hastings.
I almost shifted, but I decided to see what we were dealing with first. Soundlessly, I approached the bedroom with Pete close behind me. I stepped into the room and stared at the sight before me.
“What the hell?”
In the bed, a girl lay, thrashing and crying out, the blankets twisted around her legs. A quick glance around the room told me she was alone and in no danger. She was asleep and appeared to be caught in a nightmare.
Pete crowded in behind me. “Who is that?”
The girl jerked awake with a small scream. She stared at us, wild-eyed, and scrambled back against the headboard. Her long dark hair covered half her face, but I could still see the stark terror in her brown eyes.
I held up my hands and took a step toward her. She made a small sound and jumped from the bed, grabbing the old brass lamp from the nightstand. She was probably half my size, but she brandished the heavy lamp like she was an Amazon.
“Get away! What do you want?” she yelled, her breath coming in harsh pants. The fear in her eyes told me what she believed we wanted, and the thought of it sickened me.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” I said calmly.
She could be a runaway who had seen the place was empty and decided to squat here for a few days. She definitely wasn’t local, and it seemed odd for a runaway from the city to come to a small place like New Hastings. Either way, I didn’t want to frighten her, even if she had broken in here.
“Get out!” She took a step, swinging the lamp.
I didn’t move. “Who are you? What are you doing in this apartment?”
“Who the hell are you?” she demanded, her voice rising. Her chest heaved, and I noticed she was wearing only a pair of shorts and a tank top. I also saw how pale she was and the damp tendrils of hair clinging to her face.
She inched toward the nightstand where a cell phone lay. “I’m calling the police if you don’t leave.”
I stared at her. She wouldn’t call the cops if she was here illegally. But Sara had never mentioned anyone staying at the apartment. Neither had Brendan or my mother, who were taking care of the building for Sara. It made no sense.
“I’m Roland. Why are you in Sara’s apartment?”
She froze, and her eyes widened. “Roland? Sara’s friend?”
“Yes.”
She lowered the lamp, holding it against her chest, almost like a shield. “I’m Sara’s cousin, Emma. She’s letting me stay here for a while.”
Cousin? Disbelief and suspicion filled me. “Sara doesn’t have any cousins.”
She swallowed and nodded. “Yes, she does. My name is Emma Grey, and I’m from Syracuse.”
She looked past me at Pete. “You must be Peter.”
“Yeah.”
“My wallet is on the kitchen counter. You can check my ID if you don’t believe me.”
Pete went to the kitchen. Emma and I stayed where we were, watching each other. I shifted from one foot to the other, and she reacted by taking a step back. Her reaction bothered me. Why was she so afraid of me? If she really knew Sara, she had to know we wouldn’t hurt her.
Pete came back and held a driver’s license out for me to see. “Emma Grey from Syracuse, like she said.”
I took the card from him and studied it for a moment. No one smiled for their DMV photos, but there was a sadness in the face on the card that tugged at me.
I looked at Emma again. “Sara’s never mentioned a cousin in all the years I’ve known her.”
She bit her lower lip. “You can check with her if you want. Or you can call Nate.”
“I believe you.” Her wary expression told me she was hiding something, but she was telling the truth about who she was. “I don’t know why Sara didn’t tell us you were coming here.”
Emma shook her head, her eyes troubled. “I…asked her not to tell anyone about me. I just want to be left alone.”
Emma
Werewolves. There were two werewolves standing less than ten feet away from me. The fact that they were in their human forms did little to dispel the terror clawing at my gut. They were hunters, and for two decades, the fear of them had been ingrained in me. Friendly or not, it was impossible not to feel threatened by their presence.
I should have recognized them. Sara had pictures of them in her apartment at Westhorne, and she talked about them all the time. But I’d been too shocked, waking up to find two strange men in my room.
The red-haired one named Peter smiled at me. They were both tall and well-built like most werewolf males, but he seemed less intimidating than his friend. Roland was another matter. The way Sara talked about her best friend, I’d imagined a sweet, smiling boy. He wore a smile, but the intensity in his blue eyes unsettled me. It was as if he could see through me, right into the darkness of my past.
“You can put down the lamp. We won’t hurt you,” Roland said, reminding me of the heavy weight in my hands.
With trembling hands, I set the lamp down on the nightstand and straightened to face Sara’s friends again. No one spoke for a moment, and I wasn’t sure what to say to them. I felt exposed without the lamp between us, as small as it was.