met with Benicio and the other CEOs to discuss possible fallout between the Cabals and the vampire community. Jaime had done her Halloween show in Memphis the night before, then zipped back to attend Dana’s morning memorial service before returning to Tennessee for her next show.
As the mourners drifted away from the grave site, I glanced back one last time. Lucas took my hand and squeezed it.
“She’ll be okay,” he said.
I managed a smile. “I know she will.”
“Mr. Cortez? Ms. Winterbourne?”
We turned to see Randy MacArthur behind us, looking uncomfortable in a too-tight black suit. His hand rested on the shoulder of an equally uncomfortable-looking young girl with Dana’s long blond hair.
“I—we wanted to thank you,” he said. “For stopping him. This—it should never—I don’t know how it happened. I had no idea how bad things were—”
“It’s okay, Dad,” the girl murmured, her red-rimmed eyes fixed on the ground. “It was Mom’s fault. Her and that guy. He didn’t want kids, and she let him chase Dana off.”
“This is Gillian,” Randy said. “Dana’s sister. I’m going to be looking after her now. Mr. Cortez is giving me a job in town here, so I can stay with her.”
“That’s great,” I said. I tried to catch Gillian’s eye and smiled. “You must be what, thirteen? Fourteen? Just starting your second-level spells, I bet.”
Gillian looked up at me and for a moment, her eyes were blank, then she realized what I meant. “Spells, no, we don’t do that. My mom, I mean. She never…well, not much.”
“That was, uh, one reason I wanted to speak to you before you left,” Randy said. “I know Miss Nast here is about Gillian’s age…”
It took a moment for me to realize he meant Savannah.
Randy continued. “I know that you’re teaching her, and that you used to be with the Coven and you did some teaching there, so I thought maybe you could help Gillian. Long-distance, of course. By phone or e-mail or whatever, maybe visit when you’re in town, or we could visit up there. I’ll pay you, of course. I hate to impose, but I don’t know any other witches. My ex-wife didn’t keep in contact with her sister, and I wouldn’t even know where to find her, but I really want Gillian to know more, to be able to cast spells, so she can protect herself”—a quick glance at his daughter’s grave—“against everything.”
“And so she should,” I said. “I would love to help her, in any way I can.”
“Are you sure?” Randy asked.
I met Gillian’s shy gaze with a wide smile. “I’m positive.”
About the Author
Kelley Armstrong lives in Ontario with her family.
Living in Toronto for a year, Elena is leading the normal life she has always dreamed of—a stable job as a journalist and a nice apartment shared with her boyfriend. As the lone female werewolf in existence, only her secret midnight prowls and her occasional inhuman cravings set her apart. Just one year before, life was very different. Adopted by the Pack when bitten, Elena had spent years struggling with her resentment at having her life stolen away. Torn between two worlds, and overwhelmed by the new passions coursing through her body, her only option for control was to deny her awakening needs and escape.
But now the Pack has called Elena home to help them fight an alliance of renegade werewolves who are bent on exposing and annihilating the Pack. And although Elena is obliged to rejoin her “family,” she vows not to be swept up in Pack life again. She has made her choice. Trouble is, she’s increasingly uncertain if it’s the right one.
Seal Books/ISBN: 0-7704-2909-2
Also by Kelley Armstrong
STOLEN
Even though she’s the world’s only female werewolf, Elena Michaels is just a regular girl at heart, so naturally, she doesn’t believe in witches. But when two small, ridiculously feminine women manage to hurl her against a wall, and then save her from the hunters on her tail, Elena realizes that maybe there are more things in heaven and earth than she’s dreamt of.
Vampires, demons, shamans, witches—in Stolen they all exist, and they’re all under attack. An obsessed tycoon with a sick curiosity is well on his way to amassing a private collection of supernaturals, and plans to harness their powers for himself—even if it means killing them. For Elena, kidnapped and imprisoned deep underground, separated from her Pack, unable to tell her friends from her enemies, choosing the right allies is a matter of life