Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,163

few buy it. There are always crazy people, and they're the ones who'll come to kill us to prove their point."

"Wait," I said, looking over to Lane. "If someone dies as a wolf, do they turn back to a human?"

He huffed out a laugh. "No, otherwise there'd be a pandemic of naked humans being killed on highways. Elena, cars are the biggest threat we have, especially to converts. That first shift? They run, and they don't know how to see or understand their new senses. They just run blindly, like they're in some drug-induced hallucination."

"Actually a pretty good description," Seth admitted. "It's like a bad acid trip. There are things that almost make sense. Trees are suddenly much bigger, and there's this big nose in front of our eyes, never mind the added senses that come with it. Like information overload. Knowing where we're running isn't possible. It's just a blind panic, and a rush to get away from the weirdness and toward something we understand."

"But we can see things," Gabby added. "Like walls or stuff we'd run into. I couldn't really understand the streets, though. They were like rivers, but not, and if a car had come? I never would've known. They sound so much different. I mean, when I'm a wolf, I can hear the road outside the community as if I'm standing beside it."

"Ok, so if someone kills a wolf, they just see a dead wolf. Kill a human and it's a dead person." I nodded, because that was the information I'd needed. "That means there aren't weird autopsies, or found bodies, or things like that to dredge up from old records. So, the only proof of werewolves are people who may have seen something - and eyewitness reports won't be believed - and that one video?"

"Pretty much," Ian agreed.

"So, we play it off like a deranged kid, and if that doesn't work, Roman will have to admit that he's a wolf. We'll need a plausible story for how it happened that won't terrify the public and Wolf's Run, as a community, will need to protect him from the backlash, but the pack won't be exposed."

"We'll say it's why we moved here," David offered. "Roman had something happen in Montana, and we were just trying to protect our son and make sure he's safe."

"And," Pax said, "we can have the neighbors say something like - 'they're good people, never had a problem, so while it's weird, we won't let them become a science experiment.'"

"Exactly." I looked at Ian. "There's your plan."

Gabby just groaned and pulled out her phone. "You know, it's a lot easier to go with the fact that it's bullshit."

"Language!" I snapped out of habit.

The look she gave me proved that she didn't care. "I think this situation calls for a bit more than 'poop', Mom."

"And you still need to watch your mouth," I reminded her. "But so long as that video is out there, we need a plan, and you know that once something is online, it's there forever."

Slowly, Gabby's head tilted. "Kinda," she admitted. "Unless it's exposed to be a hoax."

"Gabs," Roman hissed.

She just shook her head and stepped away. "No, there has to be a better way, Rome. You can't ruin your life because you saved us. What we need to do is make it clear that the video isn't real."

"But it is," he insisted.

"But werewolves aren't," she said again. "It's no different than the people who speak to God. Everyone says they believe in Him, but anyone who talks to him is crazy, right? Well, same thing. Werewolves don't exist, so a video of one can't be real."

"That's not the same," Roman pointed out.

She just groaned and took another step. "Close enough!"

I let my eyes close and took a deep breath. Yep, my daughter was definitely a teenaged menace now, but I also couldn't blame her. This entire situation was stressful, and we were actually talking about throwing her boyfriend under the bus to try and save the entire pack. If anything happened, it would be to him, and the kid would probably never be safe again.

"Kim..." I tried.

She just reached over to rub my shoulder. "It's not your fault, Elena. I hate the idea, but I think you have a point. They saw Roman. Nothing is going to change that. The only question is if people are going to come after Julia and David as well. Together, I think we can protect my son, and I trust that this pack