Hot Blooded (Wolf Springs Chronicles) - By Nancy Holder Page 0,106
called Moon Snatcher, and we were born of his blood. For that, the gods cursed all silver that we touch.”
“Don’t hurt Kat!” Jesse shouted, and there were a few ripples of nervous laughter. Katelyn couldn’t move her head, couldn’t see what was going on. Her heart was nearly leaping out of her chest.
“Alpha,” Justin said. “If it will save her life, then I—”
Katelyn felt a sharp cut across her right bicep. Jesse screamed, which covered her own cry. Then Mr. Fenner yanked her up to her feet and took a step away from her, pointing the sword at her heart. Tears stinging her eyes, she clasped her hand over the wound, but she quickly realized he hadn’t cut her very badly. Just enough to make her bleed.
Blood trickled through Katelyn’s fingers, and Jesse started sobbing. Katelyn looked around and saw horror on the faces of most of the pack, but a few cruel smiles of anticipation as well.
Though she was swaying, Katelyn stayed on her feet. Mr. Fenner pushed her hand away and inspected the wound. Then he looked down at the sword. After a beat, he raised it upward to the sky.
“It’s true!” he bellowed.
“Kat, Kat!” Jesse shouted, rushing over and throwing his arms around her. Then he planted a big wet kiss on her cheek. “Kat is so awesome!”
20
That seemed to be the signal for the rest of the pack to touch her, shake her hand, kiss her cheek. Everyone wanted to see her cut and marvel at the fact that she wasn’t dead. She was soon surrounded by Fenner werewolves throwing back their heads and howling for joy. Some approached her cautiously, reverently. She heard the words “miracle,” “game changer,” and “mutation.” At Mr. Fenner’s order, Justin cleaned the cut and put a bandage over it. He smiled at her but Katelyn could tell there were mixed emotions in that smile — fear, pride, and maybe a little anger — and he kissed her cheek just like everyone else.
“Well played,” he whispered softly, giving her hand a quick squeeze.
Arial, Regan, and their husbands approached. Arial was white-faced with shock; Regan looked like she wanted to grab the sword out of her father’s hand and run Katelyn through with it.
“You freak,” she whispered in Katelyn’s ear. “Don’t think this changes anything.”
Pack politics might confuse Katelyn, but she knew her immunity changed a lot. She wasn’t the least important member of the pack anymore, a fact Mr. Fenner confirmed as he came up to Katelyn and possessively put his arm around her shoulders. The well-wishers moved away, forming an impromptu circle in anticipation of more revelations.
“I believe a challenge was made,” he said, almost jovially. “Lucy, where do you stand on that, darlin’?”
Lucy blinked and looked at Justin. He was standing closer to Katelyn than he was to her, and he stayed there. Shock flashed over Lucy’s face, then anger, then hurt. But she cleared her throat and squared her shoulders, clearly making the best of a severely altered situation.
“I’m willing to put that on hold until we take the Gaudins down.” Her voice was shaky. The wind had been taken out of her sails, and Katelyn nearly howled with relief. She would lose to Lucy in a fight. She might be immune to silver, but Lucy was still stronger and faster than her.
“Good girl,” Mr. Fenner said. He walked over to Lucy and patted her cheek. She went scarlet and clenched her fists.
“Softly, softly,” Jesse said, also patting her cheek.
“So how did you find this out?” Mr. Fenner asked.
Justin looked stricken. She let her gaze pass over his face without any expression, but she’d thought this through and there was no way she was going to implicate him.
“I was cleaning my grandma’s silver, and I cut myself.” She surreptitiously waited to see if Mr. Fenner — or anyone else — reacted. She was still trying to figure out who had broken into the cabin. No one did, not even Justin.
“You could have died,” Mr. Fenner said.
“I thought I was going to.”
“But you didn’t say anything to your grandfather?”
She shook her head. “He wasn’t home. I didn’t say a word.”
“Good. Very good. A quick thinker,” Mr. Fenner said approvingly. “You are our secret weapon.”
Oh, yay, she thought bitterly, but that was exactly how she wanted him to regard her. Indispensable.
“War council in the house, now,” he said. “Justin, Arial, Regan, Doug, and Al. And Kat.” He beamed at her. “Lucy, you take care of Jesse.”