Hunter's Trail

We spent the next two hours driving from one part of the city to another. We swung by Jesse’s parents’ house to pick up a bag from Noah, and then went back to Huntington Park. Then we went north, up to Pasadena, where Hayne met me on the back of Dashiell’s property. “You sure you’re okay with this?” Jesse asked me, as he followed Hayne’s waving hand into a parking spot near a little detached garage.

I looked at Shadow, still curled in the back. It wasn’t her fault she’d been turned into a weapon. But she wasn’t mine. I couldn’t decide her fate any more than I could decide the fate of Jesse’s gun. “I have to be,” I said simply.

Hayne walked up to my window, and I pushed the button to roll it down. “Hey,” he said. “We’ve got a space all ready.”

“I can take care of this,” Jesse said to me, unbuckling his seat belt. But I shook my head.

“I’ll stay by the van, for Lizzy. But I want to say good-bye.”

We both got out, and Jesse got Shadow out of the back of the van. The bargest stepped out as gracefully as ever, still coated with drying blood. Hayne whistled, very unprofessionally. “That is one ugly dog,” he said admiringly.

Jesse walked Shadow over to me, and I awkwardly crouched down and cupped her face with my hands, ignoring the blood on her muzzle. I pressed my forehead against hers for a moment. “You are a good girl,” I said meaningfully. A couple of tears trickled from my eyes, but I just ignored them. I didn’t care anymore. I gave Shadow a little scratch on the neck again. “Good girl. Go on.”

When I looked up, Hayne’s face had softened. He handed me a handkerchief, and I wiped off the blood on my hands.

“Burn this, please,” I said as I handed it back.

He nodded. “No one’s gonna mistreat her,” Hayne said to me kindly. “We’ve got the biggest kennel on the planet set up for her, and Kirsten’s gonna come over in a few hours to brainstorm about how to put her down. I promise you it’ll be humane.”

I nodded. I understood: the bargest was too unpredictable and too dangerous to be sent back to France, and if she stayed in LA she’d hunt the werewolves. Not to mention the fact that she barely passed for a dog. “Thank you, Hayne,” I said, meaning it.

Jesse walked her all the way in to the garage, assuring me that it looked very nice in there and that Shadow had plenty of space before he got back behind the wheel. This felt like one of the longest nights of my life, but it wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. We had more to do.

I turned in my seat to check on Lizzy. She had drifted off with her back against the passenger seat. “She’s out,” I told Jesse. “Let’s go.”

Chapter 48

We pulled into Will’s driveway at nine thirty. I coaxed Lizzy out of the van, and the three of us made our way to the door. I tried the knob, but it was actually locked, for once. I rang the bell, in full view of the street.

The door was opened by twenty werewolves and one teenage girl, all of them wearing pajamas.

I stared, momentarily speechless. Will’s jammies had little wolf pups all over them. Esmé was wearing a modest pink silk set with a matching robe. Even Lydia was there, dressed in simple baggy pajama pants and another ribbed tank top. And they were all packed together, as tightly crowded as I’d ever seen a group of people be.

It was probably the funniest goddamned thing I’d ever seen.

I couldn’t help it; I broke into laughter. So did Jesse. Lizzy simply stared, but she’d been through a lot and maybe didn’t see the humor. A young woman in a Hello Kitty sleep shirt, matching boxer shorts, and an oversized cardigan pushed to the front of the crowd, her ponytail bobbing a head lower than everyone else.

“Hey, Scarlett!” Corry chirped. She looked down at her own clothes. “Yeah, I guess we look a little funny, huh?”

At her shoulder, Will added. “Glad to see you guys made it. Come on in.” He was obviously trying to sound laid-back and friendly, but there was too much tension and exhaustion in his voice for that.

“Backward march!” Corry called, and the werewolf pack began shuffling backward. It was clear they’d had some practice moving like this. “Where to, General?” she asked Will.

He shrugged. “Back to the den, I guess.” To me, he said, “We can talk there.”

Jesse and I followed the shuffling wolves through the house, with Lizzy in tow. The back living room in Will’s house has a huge picture window that looks out over the park. It also has a television attached to one wall and lots of simple, very durable furniture, complete with extra blankets and throw pillows. When we got in there, Corry went into the middle of the room and the wolves spread out slightly around her. I could feel some of them entering my radius too, which was okay. There was a movie playing on the TV, and I laughed again when I recognized it: Dog Soldiers, arguably the best werewolf movie ever made.

The real werewolves went back to watching the movie, alternately jeering and cheering at the characters. Will, Jesse, and I stood in the doorway with Lizzy, speaking quietly so we wouldn’t disturb them.

I started by making the introductions. “Will, this is Lizzy, the werewolf I was telling you about,” I said. Lizzy’s eyes widened at the word “werewolf,” and she shied away a little so she was standing half-behind my shoulder. Will must have anticipated that she wouldn’t want to shake hands, because he kept his in his pockets. “And Lizzy, this is Will,” I said very gently. “He’s the alpha in Los Angeles, and he’s a good man.”