be the ones he’d worn before he hopped into bed with that whore, Kimberly.
Fueled by reckless rage, that last thought gave me an excellent idea.
I rose, not bothering to look for a weapon to take with me as I exited the cabin. The fog could’ve hidden anything, from werewolves to Werebears, and I wouldn’t have taken notice. All my anger and energy were focused on reaching Kimberly’s cabin.
A big, rangy crow cackled at me from a nearby rooftop. I ignored it, but it followed me, fluttering from building to building as I wound my way along the muddy path.
Kimberly’s door wasn’t locked. I strolled right in and wasted no time in hunting down every last stitch of clothing and footwear I could find.
Once I had everything piled on the bed, I took an empty designer suitcase that had been tucked in the closet and tossed my findings inside. Intent on my mission, I lugged the full baggage outside. The crow had waited for me there, watching with bright, beady eyes, tilting its head this way and that as I struggled with the bag on the stairs.
The bird fluttered to the ground. Up close, it was much bigger than I’d thought; it was closer in size to an eagle than any other crow I’d ever seen. No wonder they called him “Hawk.”
He squawked at me, and I paused, setting the bag down at my feet.
Apparently satisfied that I wasn’t going anywhere, the oversized bird hopped in its gangly, awkward way behind a nearby bush. Familiar popping and stretching sounds, accompanied by a somewhat pained groan, were soon followed by Hawk’s distinctive features—sans glasses, leaving his pitch black eyes clearly visible, even in the dark—peering at me from around the thick cover of leaves.
“Hey, look, I wanted to apologize. It didn’t occur to me until later how upsetting that must’ve been for you.”
I stayed where I was, swaying slightly on my feet as the absurdity of the situation and his statement hit me. Upsetting. Right.
“The Nightstrikers are around if you need us. Look us up on Other-net sometime, okay?”
“How are you—”
“Human?” He smiled. “Doc, Spike, and I aren’t bound by the moon like the werewolves are. We’re keeping an eye on things in case Chaz decides to pay you a visit tonight. Get out of town as early as possible tomorrow, okay? We’ll stick around until we’re sure he’s not going to come back this way to take anything out on you.”
“Thank you,” I said, taking a few breaths to calm myself. “I don’t think he’ll be coming back until morning.”
“Maybe. We’ll be around for a couple of hours, then we’re heading back to the city. Until then, call for us if you need us.”
I nodded, pressing a hand to my forehead and closing my eyes. When I opened them again, he was gone.
Too shaken by everything that had happened, I stayed where I was for a few minutes, shivering. Despite the blood loss and the cold, I felt energized. Vibrating with the need to destroy things. If I wasn’t careful, I might end up doing more damage to myself in the rush of hate and fear-fueled adrenaline than Dillon had.
It took a while for me to get going again. Not because I didn’t want to move, but because I knew that if I allowed myself to give in to the seething fury, I’d start screaming and never stop. I might do something irreparable, like hunting down every last Sunstriker until they cut me down, or until they were all dead.
Panting, I came to a halt before my cabin, tilting my head up and closing my eyes as I breathed in the night mist, forcing calm on my unraveled nerves. It took several long minutes before I felt composed enough to do what I intended.
With deliberate care, I unzipped the suitcase and sorted through the clothes until I found the shirt, pants, and underclothes Chaz had left behind in Kimberly’s cabin. As I held up the pale blue silk boxers, the same color as his eyes, I dimly noted a few blood spots blooming on the slick cloth. I hadn’t felt the sting of my nails biting into my palm, cutting even through the fabric.
With a sense of finality, I tossed all of his things into the muddiest spot I could find, the mulch still damp from the sprinkle of rain on our first night here. With a bit of stomping and grinding of my toe, I soon managed to cover every