do something. I can’t just sit here.
Outside she heard a wolf howl. It was close. She clenched her jaw and wiped at her eyes. If it was coming for her, better that it did now while her grandfather was safely away. This way he couldn’t get hurt. This way, maybe he wouldn’t have to figure out she was a werewolf.
“I’m not afraid,” she said aloud, and then she picked up the handgun and molded her hand around it.
She was not helpless. She had power no one else did. She was immune to silver. If a werewolf came near her house, she could shoot it.
And kill it.
She heard the crunch of gravel outside and she moved to a window just in time to see Justin getting out of a truck.
She blinked rapidly. She couldn’t let him see the gun with the silver bullets. She ran into the kitchen and hid it in a drawer and then flew back to the front door, opening it just as he knocked.
“I came to check up on you. Make sure you were okay.”
She nodded swiftly. And then over his shoulder she caught a flash of something moving in the woods. She jerked. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing.
Justin spun on his heel and looked. “I don’t see anything.”
“There was something there a second ago.”
“Maybe you’re just jumpy.”
“No, I’m not,” she said.
Justin stepped off the porch and started walking toward the trees. When he got close something exploded in movement. With a yelp he began to give chase.
Katelyn bolted out the door, running toward him.
“It’s a wolf!” he shouted.
And the wolf was running away from them. Savage heat filled Katelyn and she leaped ahead, running past Justin. She crashed through the trees, following the creature. She swept her arm low and snatched up a rock. She flung it with all her strength and it hit the creature in the head. It turned on her, all snapping jaws and saliva. She tried to see the color of its eyes, but couldn’t tell in the gloom beneath the trees.
“Show yourself!” Justin commanded in a booming voice as he ran up next to Katelyn.
The wolf spun around and focused on him. Katelyn took a step to the side, but it didn’t look at her. She took another step, then another. Justin and the wolf were closing in on each other, fixated on each other. Neither of them was paying attention to her.
It could be the wolf that bit me.
I can’t let it hurt Justin.
Katelyn circled to the side and then grabbed hold of a thick tree branch and swung herself up into the tree. She moved carefully from limb to limb, maneuvering herself until she was over the wolf.
This is crazy. What am I doing?
And as the wolf snapped its jaws she realized exactly what she was doing. She was saving Justin.
Aimed like a missile, she dropped silently from the tree. Her boots struck the wolf hard just at the base of the neck. It collapsed onto its side.
“Did I kill it?” she asked.
“No, knocked it out,” Justin said, giving her an admiring glance. “Quick thinking.”
“Thanks.” She tried to slow down her breathing, her heartbeat.
The wolf began to transform into a human and Katelyn stared intently at the face. As the wolf snout turned back into a human nose and mouth, Katelyn gasped.
“Babette!”
“You know her?” Justin asked.
Katelyn nodded. “She owns the boutique clothing store downtown. I didn’t know she was part of the pack.”
“She’s not,” he said grimly. “I think we just found our Gaudin spy.”
An hour later they pulled into the Fenners’ driveway. Justin was at the wheel of his truck, Katelyn beside him, and Babette was wrapped in chains in the back. Justin had called ahead and it seemed the entire pack was waiting for them. Doug and Al hurried forward and picked Babette up, carrying her around to the other side of the house, with the rest of the pack trailing behind.
“You did good,” Justin said.
“Thanks.”
He looked around. “I just wish I could figure out why it smells like silver in here.”
She shrugged as she had half a dozen times on the drive. He didn’t know that she had a gun with silver bullets, or that she had taken it and stashed it under her seat while he was busy making sure Babette couldn’t escape. Maybe it had been foolhardy.
Maybe not.
Reluctantly Katelyn got out of the truck and followed Justin to the back yard. The pack was in an uproar, the air vibrating with jeers and growls.
“What