I had a sneaking suspicion they were discussing me and my insistence that I stay behind. But why would Rafe care? For that matter, why would Lucas? We hadn’t hooked up or anything.
When Lindsey finally returned to the tent and nudged me with a tired “Your turn,” I was more than ready to get out of the tent. I wanted to talk with Lucas, try to explain—
What exactly?
I wasn’t sure. I just knew that I didn’t want him to leave in the morning still upset with me. But he was the one who’d said he had more important things to worry over than me. Mason made me feel like I was the only important thing.
A girl needs that.
But when I stepped out of the tent, it wasn’t Lucas waiting for me. It was Connor.
“Where’s Lucas?” I asked.
“Asleep, I guess. I’ll take that side.” He started to walk away.
“Connor?”
He stopped and looked back at me. He wasn’t wearing his usual teasing grin. I wanted the reason to be that it was so late, but I knew he was upset with me as well.
“I don’t understand why my staying is a big deal.”
He sighed. “I know. And that’s the reason it’s a big deal.”
“So why doesn’t someone explain it to me?” I gave him a pointed glare.
“It’s not my place.”
What a lame excuse. “Whatever. It’s only ten days. Geez. You guys are acting like I’m betraying you or something.”
“We just didn’t expect you to be the one to stay. That’s all.”
Because I was the newbie? If Lucas was really concerned about it, he could have insisted I leave. Things were so confusing. I was grateful I’d have a few days to myself without Lucas bombarding my thoughts.
In typical guy fashion, Connor walked away as though all my questions had been answered. Only I had more questions. But he wasn’t going to answer them. I thought about waking Lucas up, but I didn’t want to bother him. Especially when he got so little sleep as it was.
And if he was able to sleep, how bothered could he really be about me staying here? Not much.
I walked the perimeter and when I got to the stream, I stood there and watched the moonlight dancing over the water.
It was only then that I realized I hadn’t heard the wolf howl that night. I wondered if we’d traveled out of his territory. If we’d left him behind. It made me sad to think so, almost made me consider heading back tomorrow, just to have him closer again.
But that was a silly thought. It was probably all coincidence anyway—his howling when I went to bed each night.
I was going to have fun here with Mason.
The sherpas left at dawn. As I stood at the edge of the camp and watched them leave, I saw that Lindsey was the only one who looked back. This sense of abandonment was ridiculous. It wasn’t like we’d never see each other again.
As for the atmosphere of betrayal, that was even sillier.
I wasn’t exactly sure why I’d thought it would be exciting to stay behind. Dr. Keane was a professor, and not to dis academics, but if he taught class with as much enthusiasm as he planned activities in the wild, I never wanted to take one of his classes. I figured everyone slept through it.
For two days, we stayed so close to the camp that I hesitated to call what we were doing hiking. We were near the mountains. There were virgin trails to explore, skills to be tested. But Dr. Keane was constantly checking the gear—a little late for that, since it wasn’t as though an REI store was nearby—making notations in his notebook, and looking off into the distance.
After lunch on the third day, I went up to Mason and said, “We need to make a break for it.”
He grinned. “Yeah, my dad is a little controlling—and he can be sort of unimaginative. What’d you have in mind?”
“Exploring the mountains.”
“Let’s do it.”
Even though it was early afternoon and we wouldn’t be going too far, I grabbed my backpack.
Hiking with Mason was way different from hiking with Lucas. I told myself it was because we didn’t have any particular goal to be reached, whereas Lucas always had a goal. But Mason didn’t lead. Instead we just walked side by side.
“So, do you know where you’re going to college?” he asked.
“Thought I’d start out at the community college. No SATs, ACTs, or any kind of Ts needed to get into the one at home.” I gave him a rueful smile. “I suck at tests.”
He grinned. “Me, too. Even when I study my butt off. Soon as they say to take out that number two pencil or that blue book—game over, man. Needless to say, it doesn’t endear me to dear old Dad.”
Today was the first time I’d heard him say anything even remotely derogatory about his father. “You and your dad seem to get along.” Well, except for the night that they’d talked about werewolves.
“Yeah, usually we do, but when you get right down to it, he’s still a parent. He doesn’t always remember what it’s like to be young.”
“I hear you.”
The shadows had begun lengthening. I was surprised by how much progress we’d made. We were away from everything and everyone, except the wilderness.
“We should probably turn back,” I suggested.
“Not yet.” He reached into one of his pants pockets and pulled out a thick white candle. “I promised you dinner by candlelight.”
“But if we have it here and now, we’ll risk losing the light and our way back to camp. It’s really not wise—”
“Wise, schmize. So we won’t do dinner. Let’s at least do a snack by candlelight.”
It sounded a lot more romantic than I thought it would probably be, but what the heck? It was more romance than Lucas had ever given me. Also, I was irritated that three days later, I was still thinking about him. Without all the equipment to haul and the inexperienced hikers to slow them down, he and the others were probably already back at the village preparing to take another group into the wilderness before returning for us.
Mason and I shrugged out of our backpacks. It felt great to get the weight off my shoulders. I did a couple of stretches. Mason balanced the candle on an empty tin can. He turned back to his backpack. “Go ahead and sit down. I just have a couple more things to set up.”
I sat cross-legged on the ground. “You know, I don’t know if lighting the candle is really a good idea. It’s not exactly steady, and I’d hate to make the national news as the romantic couple who accidentally burned five million acres of forest land.”
“You’re probably right,” he answered, clearly distracted.
I tried to lean around him. “What are you doing?”
He swung back around and sat down beside me. “Nothing.”
“I’m glad you asked me to hang around,” I told him.
“It really means a lot to me that you stayed.” He touched my cheek. “I’d never hurt you.”
“That’s kind of an odd thing to say.”
“I haven’t dated that much. All the academics, you know? Guess I’m a loser in that regard.”
“Don’t be silly. I mean, what does it say about me if you’re a loser?”
“Right, yeah. I really like you, Kayla.” Then he leaned in and kissed me.
But it wasn’t gentle or sweet. It was so un-Mason-like, rough, almost desperate, that I pushed him away.
He pushed back—hard. I hit the ground. He straddled me. “I’m sorry,” he whispered low. He started kissing me again. Rougher than before.
Panic surged through me. What was he doing? Why was he doing it? Until this moment he’d been so nice. I started slapping at him. He grabbed my wrists with one hand and held them above my head. He lowered his mouth near my ear.
“Just go along with it,” he said in a low voice.
“No! Get off!”
I shook my head from side to side, trying to break free, but he clamped his free hand on my jaw and tried to kiss me again. I fought to buck him.
My heart was pounding insanely. I’d neve
r been so terrified, never felt so helpless.
Then I heard it. The low, warning growl. Mason went completely still, his lips only an inch from mine. Strangely, I saw satisfaction ease over his face. I shifted my eyes to the side.
And there was my wolf. He bared his teeth in a menacing snarl.
Mason rolled off me. He scrambled back, and I scooted away.
Suddenly, there was a muffled pop. The wolf released a yelp and staggered.
I looked back. Mason was holding a pistol, aiming it at the wolf.
“No!” I screamed. I lunged—too late.
The wolf leaped. Mason fired again and the wolf went down.
ELEVEN
“Are you insane?” I yelled as I rushed over to the wolf. I couldn’t believe what had just happened—any of it.
The wolf wasn’t dead, but his beautiful silver eyes had a glazed look to them. He was panting. He made a futile effort to rise and slumped back down. I buried my fingers in his fur, searching for the wounds. I saw only a trickle of blood and realized Mason hadn’t been shooting bullets, but darts.
“Got him,” I heard him say.
I snapped my head back around. He was holding a walkie-talkie. He strolled over and crouched down beside me. “He’s not hurt, just drugged.”
I slammed my fist into his shoulder, then punched him in the chest. “You creep!”
“Hey!” he yelled and grabbed my hands. “Take it easy. I wasn’t really going to hurt you over there. I just needed him to think that.”
I jerked free and shoved him again. I wanted to rip his eyes out for terrifying me.
“Hey, will you stop?” he yelled, scrambling back. “God, I wasn’t going to do anything. I was just pretending. I needed him to think you were in danger.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I knew he’d show himself if you were being attacked.”
Was he insane? Did he think the wolf’s personal mission in life was to protect me? I mean, sure, maybe we’d bonded a little with the bear attack, but he was a wild animal, not a domesticated dog. That he was following me, that he’d come to my rescue again—no one could have predicted that. It was just a huge coincidence. While I was stunned by the wolf’s presence, I was furious with Mason’s actions and betrayals.
“So this whole romancing thing was a ploy to attract the wolf?” I didn’t bother to keep the anger out of my voice. His actions were unacceptable. To frighten me, to make me think he was going to hurt me…to use me as bait. It was dehumanizing.
“Don’t say it as though my feelings for you are insincere,” Mason said cajolingly. “I do like you, Kayla. A lot. But we had something larger to accomplish and we needed you to be part of it.”
I was so angry that I could barely see straight. I felt as though Mason had made a fool of me. But worse, he’d used me, used me to capture the wolf. My voice was seething when I asked, “Mason, what is going on?”
But he wasn’t looking at me. He was mesmerized by the wolf. “Look how big he is. Look at how human his eyes are. Everything else changes but the eyes remain human. It’s just like he told me it would be.”
“Who? What in the hell are you talking about?”
Before he could answer, I heard the crackle of brush being trampled. Coming from between the trees, Ethan and Tyler carried a cage with metal bars. It was a little smaller than the crate they’d been hauling. Was that what had been inside it?
Dr. Keane was behind them. He strode forward and slapped Mason on the back. “Good job, son.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
As they slipped a muzzle over his mouth, the wolf made another valiant effort to rise.
“I gave him two doses of tranquilizer. He should be knocked out cold with that much,” Mason said, clearly baffled. “Should I shoot him again?”
“No, he’s drugged enough that we can handle him. His resistance is strong. That’s good,” Dr. Keane murmured. “He’ll need all the strength he has.”
I got right in Dr. Keane’s face and stood on my toes so he could see how angry I was. “What are you going to do to him?”
Dr. Keane looked at me as though I were an irritating gnat. “Why, study him, of course.”
My heart was thundering as I trudged back to camp. I felt as though I’d betrayed the wolf. I thought about how protective Lucas was of the wilderness, the animals, and especially the wolves. I hoped he never found out about this. I could think of only one way to make this right. I had to figure out a way to set the wolf free.
Ethan and Tyler set the cage up at the far end of the campsite, near the woods. An insane excitement reverberated through the camp as everyone came around to stare at the wolf. I hated that he was on display like that. I wondered if animals felt humiliation. Even if he didn’t, I was embarrassed for him. He seemed like such a proud creature. He deserved better treatment than this. My heart ached for him.
After a while, everyone wandered off. Everyone except Mason and me. Mason was incredibly fascinated by the wolf. But how could he do this to so beautiful a creature? It wasn’t right. I’d thought I knew Mason, but I realized I didn’t know him at all. Why hadn’t I left with Lucas and the others? And what was I going to do now? They had put a simple key-lock on the cage door. But I didn’t think they’d leave the wolf unguarded.
“Isn’t it gorgeous?” Mason said, without taking his eyes off the wolf.
My therapist had hypnotized me once to try to get to the root of my fears. I had a feeling I’d looked a lot like Mason did now—like I’d been smoking something illegal.
I was furious with Mason and myself. Why hadn’t I seen this coming? There weren’t many wolves with this unique shading of fur. I knew it was the one that had saved me from the bear attack. I owed this animal. And because of me, he was locked in a cage.
The wolf stirred. I watched as he struggled to his feet. The cage was small. He couldn’t stand up fully. He couldn’t pace. He would be hard-pressed to turn around. They’d removed the muzzle once they’d gotten him into the cage. I looked into those silver eyes and I felt the same connection I’d felt right after the bear attack. What was there for Dr. Keane to study? He was probably a descendant of the wolves that had been reintroduced into the wild. I had a feeling the wolves’ tendency not to attack man was about to be turned around. Dr. Keane and his students were declaring war on a species. Why were they doing this?
Mason crouched, poked a stick through the bars, and jabbed the wolf in his side. He issued a low, warning growl and drew back his lips to show his teeth.
I grabbed the stick from Mason and tossed it aside. I was seething with anger. “Don’t do that.”
Mason stood up. “You’re right. If he’s angry, he won’t shift back.”
“Shift? What are you talking about? He’s a wolf and it’s illegal to capture them.”
He gave me a grin that seemed to say, What world do you live in?
“It’s not a wolf,” he said. “Well, obviously it’s a wolf right now, but before it shifted, it was human. With that fur coloring, I’m pretty sure it’s Lucas. Makes sense. The way he watched you, I knew he wouldn’t leave you behind.”
Okay, someone needs to go back on his meds. I laughed. “Are you freaking mental?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Lycanthropes exist, Kayla. Here, in this wilderness. There’s a whole village—”
“No, they don’t,” I interrupted. “And no, there’s not. If anything, it’s just legend, crazy stories people tell around the campfire.”
With a wicked grin, he leaned toward me. “I can prove it’s true.”
He crouched down, unzipped his backpack, and removed a gun. It wasn’t like the one he’d used before. This one looked like the Glock my dad carried.
“What the hell—”
Before I finished my sentence, he calmly aimed it at the wolf—
“No!” I screamed, lunging for Mason. Again, too late.
He pulled the trigger. The wolf yelped and fell to his side. Blood gushed from
his hip.
Students started rushing over.
“It’s okay. Just an accident. The gun misfired. No big deal,” Mason called out, waving them back.
No big deal? He’d purposely shot the wolf!
I shoved him hard and he staggered back. “What is wrong with you?” I demanded to know.
“I’m proving my point.”
“You are mental.” If I could get my hands on that gun, I’d shoot him. I grabbed the lock and rattled it. The wolf was panting. I could see the pain in his eyes. “Get this open so I can do something for him, before he bleeds to death.”
“Calm down. He’s not going to bleed to death.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. I’m not going to let you hurt him again. I need to see the wound.”
He gave me the calm smile that I was starting to hate. “Okay,” he said, crouching. “Look.”
I dropped to my knees and curled my hands around two of the bars.
“Look at his hind leg where I shot him,” Mason said.
Almost as quickly as the blood had gushed, it began to slow to a drizzle. Then it stopped altogether. Using another stick, Mason lifted the fur. The wound was closing, like a time-lapse video that I’d seen in biology class. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
“When they’re in wolf form, they heal faster than we do,” Mason said. “Imagine the medical ramifications. If we can isolate the gene, we can create a serum that would replicate the rapid cell rejuvenation. Someone is in a devastating car wreck, bleeding to death. We give him an injection and he’s healed before an ambulance gets him to the nearest hospital. Then, of course, there are the military uses. An army of shape-shifting soldiers, with their heightened sense of smell, hearing, and sight. It would be invincible.”
He made it sound as though he were doing all this for the good of mankind. Did it make me an awful human being because I thought it was wrong to exploit this species like that? Not that I believed for one minute that it was a werewolf—that it was Lucas. For some reason, this particular wolf had amazing healing properties—but it had to be a genetic mutation, a fluke. It wasn’t a special species of humans who changed into wolves, or wolves that changed into humans.