Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,177

with me hurried out to help. Together, they made him take off, so then my other friends and I tried to help the people that were hurt, but that's the thing. The two boys and the girl who was basically holding us all together? They're all friends from this one gated community called Wolf's Run. They're neighbors!"

"So why the video?" the reporter asked.

"Because they're wolves. I mean, that's what everyone calls the rich kids from that community. And I kinda read a lot of urban fantasy, so when I was thinking about how to show them how much their actions meant, it just kinda went together. Everyone calls them wolves, and it's always the monsters in my books that end up the heroes. You know, the vampires, demons, or werewolves. I just thought that when I showed it to my best friend - the girl who held us all together - that she'd realize how cool I thought she was for being so strong."

"What's her name?" the reporter asked. "This girl who helped you, why haven't you said her name yet?"

"Because I see what you're all doing," Samantha snapped. "We all just had a gun pointed at us, and we didn't know if we were going to live or die. Some of my friends were shot! Maybe our school was lucky that no one died, but do you really think that makes it any less terrifying? No, my friends don't need you standing outside their houses like you are mine. I just made a video for a friend. I didn't post it anywhere, I didn't try to say it was real. I just uploaded it to make sure it played smoothly, and then I saw this mess about people thinking it was real, and I wanted to set the record straight. I'm not trying to make a hoax. I'm not trying to capitalize on any of this. I just want to be left alone and make sure my friends are ok. I'm sorry I did it. I had no idea any of this would happen, but it's not real. I used a bunch of freeware special effects programs to create something cool to make my friends happier and all of you are ruining it!"

"That's enough," a Black woman said, guiding Samantha away from the microphone. "Go inside, sweetie." Then she turned to the camera. "That's her statement, and if you people keep harassing my daughter, I will have the police remove you. She's been through enough, and you should all be ashamed of yourselves."

The camera panned back to the reporter who'd been interviewing her, showing that there were a lot more people standing beside her on what appeared to be a typical suburban lawn, but Gabby lifted the remote and muted the screen. The girl was smiling.

"Pretty good, huh?" she asked, completely unconcerned about her friend's tears.

"Is she ok?" I asked.

Elena just stood there with her hand over her lips. "Gabby, have you talked to her?"

"Yep, before the interview," Gabby said. "She was freaking out that she might giggle in the middle, but she did amazing! I can't wait for her to watch that. I mean, she had to use some eye drops to make sure she could cry, but it looked really good, right?"

"This is not ok," Elena told her.

Gabby just tilted her head. "Mom, this is called taking care of the pack. Besides, those jerks at the news need to realize that their ratings don't matter as much as the kids who have to deal with this so often. I mean, that's what you've said before, right? Well, no one at our school died! I don't know how many times I have to say that. Yes, it was scary, but so was getting in a wreck with Dad that time. And what did you say back then? That we were lucky. Well, if we can't use that to make a point, then what good is being lucky, huh?"

"She's sorta right," I admitted.

Gabby just stood up and rubbed Elena's arm. "Mom, it's ok. None of this is what we want, and I know it's not the way I should handle this, but just like you have to worry about me, I have to worry about all of the wolves in Wolf's Run." Then she paused, glancing down at the phone in her other hand. "That's Sam. I need to make sure she's ok after all of that."

"Ok," Elena relented, but just before Gabby reached the stairs, she added, "I'm