Never Die Page 4

  “You have someone else?” I asked.

  Luke didn’t answer me. His gaze was now on my leg, where my veins were coming to the surface, dark blue and thick. “It’s happening,” he said.

  “What’s happening?” I asked, unable to tear my own gaze away from my leg. When he didn’t reply, I leaped to my feet, taking his shirt into my fists. “What’s happening, Luke?”

  He seemed almost apologetic when he looked down at me. His eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “You’re turning into a werewolf, Riley.”

  Chapter Five

  “Riley! Riley! You have to stay awake,” Luke shouted, shaking me by the shoulders.

  My eyes fluttered open, staring into his. He seemed worried and unsure of what to do, but I didn’t care. The pain was so excruciating that all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball. Only I also felt exhausted, like my body was unable to keep itself awake. It felt heavy and tingly all over.

  Luke lay down behind me, his arms wrapping around my body as he pulled me into him. My body instantly began to calm down, the pain slowly fading away, but still clinging on in the distance. When I sighed, a little happier now, Luke buried his face into my neck. “It’s not over yet, Riley.”

  I was about to ask him what else was supposed to happen, when my body started to jerk around. The pain shot up from my leg and tore through my entire body. I screamed, nails digging into Luke’s forearms. He grunted in pain, but held on tight to me. He was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear him over the roaring noise in my ears.

  Next thing I knew, he was squatting down in front of me at the side of the bed. I was still lying on my side, unable to move. His mouth kept moving as if he was saying something, but my gaze went to my hands, where they were snapping grotesquely and changing into what looked like wolf paws. My body didn’t feel like my own anymore. I wanted to move off the bed, maybe try to stop whatever was happening to me, but my physical self refused. I stayed laying where I was as the change continued to happen to me.

  Luke reached over, placing a hand on the side of my face, talking some more. I wished I could hear what he was saying, but the roaring was too loud. My body began to jerk again, and my bones felt like they were breaking all over. All I could do was lay where I was, as if someone else had control of my body. At least the pain was a dull feeling. Only, I thought that too soon, because the roaring increased and out of nowhere, the pain was burning white-hot through every part of me.

  Drool was flowing from my mouth, as I was unable to control any parts of my body. I could hear growling then, and realized it was coming from me. The entire time Luke kept a hand on me, trying to soothe me. His words were coming in clear now, telling me it would be over soon, and that I would be a wolf. That this would be my only painful change. But I didn’t see how that could be possible, if my body ripped itself apart every time I did this.

  Then the pain became less intense. I tried to get up, but Luke told me to stay lying down. He pushed me back down onto the bed, but I wanted to move, to relieve my aching muscles. I heard more growling, and realized I was doing it to him. He just shook his head, taking a defeated step back.

  Getting up, I looked down to my feet, finding white paws. I whimpered, unable to believe that this was actually happening to me. Luke ran a hand through his hair, unsure of what to do. He seemed to know that keeping his distance was probably for the best, since not even I knew what I would do next.

  “Lance is going to know what’s happened, Riley.” Luke frowned, looking very tired.

  I wondered what time it was. How long had he stayed with me? When I looked at the clock, I realized it’d only been two hours. It felt like an eternity to me. I didn’t feel any different as a wolf. My body once again felt like mine, but I could hear, smell, and see better. That didn’t make me feel any better about the situation, though.

  Luke came over to me, burying his fingers in my fur. “Welcome to the club, Riley. You can change back any time. It just takes a thought to return to human form. Same thing goes for becoming a wolf.”

  My first instinct was to blame him for what happened to me, but I knew better. It wasn’t his fault that I took the case and then chose to follow Lance into the woods. Was Luke a werewolf, too? Maybe he just knew about them because of Lance—but then again, it could be a family thing.

  Returning to my human self was a lot easier than what I just went through. I felt the magic course through me, a cool, tingly sensation that filled me from my fingers to my toes. It was almost exhilarating, but only temporarily, because the pain from the initial change still echoed within my nerves. It felt like a fire had just been put out, but the damage was already done. I hoped that feeling faded away fast.

  The last thing I expected when returning back to being human was also being naked. I hadn’t even thought about it, yet I was standing fully exposed to a man I just tried to take advantage of. My hands went from girly part to girly part, unsure which one felt more exposed than the other.

  Luke grinned, turning to head toward the bathroom. He quickly returned with a white robe, handing it to me as he looked away. I glared at him when I caught his sideways glance. “Eyes to yourself, sicko.”

  “Which one of us tried to seduce the other just a couple of hours ago?” he asked, chuckling.

  “I believe you were the more aggressive one,” I pointed out, tying the robe shut.

  Feeling better about being covered up, I went to the mini fridge, finding a couple of waters that I had placed inside it earlier. I handed him one, watching as he drank, his throat working the water down. Luke grinned when he saw that I hadn’t even opened mine up. “Aren’t you thirsty?” he asked.

  Looking like a dumbass, I twisted off the top of my water. “Guests first. You know, being polite.” Smooth, Riley. Smooth.

  “So, are you a werewolf?” I asked, trying to direct the spotlight off of me.

  Nodding, Luke sat down in one of the chairs in the corner of the room. He placed the cap back on the water, deciding how much he wanted to tell me. The silence went on a little bit longer than I would have liked, but he finally spoke. “Lance and I were both bitten around the same time. We had an uncle that came into town a couple years after you left. We thought he was a true badass because he was from New Jersey. Had the accent and everything. Believe me when I say he was a true gangster.” Shaking his head, he chuckled. “Being the dumbass kids we were, when he asked us if we wanted to join his gang, we agreed, thinking it would be the way out of Luna Hill.”

  “Only, it wasn’t the kind of gang you were thinking,” I supplied to keep him going with the story when he paused too long.

  He sucked in a breath before continuing. “We should have known better. Been more mature when it came to stuff like that. Who in their right mind would join a gang so willingly? We weren’t the town losers. As far as the life of crime went, we had it pretty good. Yet, we wanted to get out from under Dad’s thumb so bad, we were willing to make a deal with the devil. My uncle took us out to get drunk one night, and then we went out fishing. He called it ‘bonding time’ with his nephews. Then, an hour later, after showing up at the river, he said he had to piss.”

  My hand tightened around my water bottle and the plastic crackled. “He came back as a wolf, didn’t he?”

  Nodding, Luke gave me a grim smile. “He did, and that’s when he attacked. We were bitten pretty badly. Our uncle left us in the woods. Dad had to take care of us, no clue as to what to do. We nearly killed him a couple of times. His men had to keep us trapped in one of their garages for nearly a week until we could gain some sense.”

  “Wow, that’s a shitty uncle.” I probably could have come up with a better response, but I had nothing. I wasn’t the sympathetic type, but I could at least try for Luke, since he did stay by my side the entire time I went through my change.

  I sat down, placing my hands on my knees. “You guys had no one. I can’t even imagine that.”

  “Well, your situation isn’t any better.” Luke said,
rolling his water bottle between his hands.

  “Thanks to you, I had someone to go through it with. I had you.” It was hard getting those words out. They felt so awkward coming from my mouth. It must have sounded strange to him, too, because he started laughing at me.

  “You’re welcome, Riley.” Then he became serious. “Why are you really in town? I want the truth. No one as smart as you would go spying on Lance without a good reason.”

  Telling him my true intentions were out of the question. He was there for me during the change, but that didn’t mean he could be trusted. Lance and him were still brothers. Blood is thicker than water. Coming up with a story would be difficult though, considering I was sure that Luke was smarter than most people gave him credit for.

  Taking a seat on the bed, I looked down at a pile of my shredded clothes. I still couldn’t believe what I’ve become. How does someone get past that? There probably isn’t going to be a day that I will be okay with what happened tonight. It was my stupidity.

  “Riley?”

  My head snapped up when he said my name. “Oh, right. Why am I in town? Well, I came to see Annie,” I lied.

  Luke looked at me skeptically. “Annie? Your sister? What does she have to do with following Lance into the woods?”

  Before I could say anything, he seemed to come up with his own answer to the question. He stood up, grouchy expression back in place. “You like him.”

  I went to object, but closed my mouth instead. Maybe letting him think that would spare me from getting too close to a Thatcher. It would also give me a reason for following Lance. Only, my heart squeezed with regret. There was no choice when it came to saving Mary’s little girl. Trusting Luke would be a nice option, but there was too much at stake.

  “It doesn’t mean anything, Luke. I was just curious,” I said, trying to save what was left of our new-found friendship.

  Laughing, but not at all amused, Luke headed toward the door. “You girls always like the bad boys—even though you know they’re not good for you. Take some advice, Riley. Get the fuck out of town before he drags you into his mess like he did his little girl and wife.”

  Chapter Six

  I woke up from a nightmare. My wolf self was standing over someone, eating his insides. It was late at night and there were other wolves standing behind me, watching with their glowing eyes. For some reason, they wouldn’t come any closer, as if they were waiting for something. My wolf was feeling hostile, waiting for one of them to be daring enough to come closer to my kill. But they respected me, keeping their distance as they whined.

  The alarm didn’t go off like I’d wanted it to. By the time I woke up on my own, it was already ten o’clock. My plans were to eat at the restaurant, and then hunt down Annie once I figured out where she was. People would have to know where to find my sister. Actually meeting her wasn’t part of the plan, but I had to keep up appearances. She had to have known I existed, so why didn’t she contact me first?

  Stumbling out of the bed, I went to the bathroom, searching for the light switch. When I glanced up, I saw something glowing in the bathroom. Screaming in surprise, I fell back into the frame of the door, hitting my head. Regaining my balance, I found the switch, only to find that there was no one else in the bathroom with me.

  Flipping off the light, I saw the glowing again. I switched the light back on, finding only my face in the mirror. My hair was in tangles, like I’d just come out of the jungle with Tarzan. It dawned on me then. The other wolves’ eyes glowed when I saw them. Mine must have been glowing, too.

  Beginning to shake, I slid down to the floor, bringing my knees up to my chest. Tears began to run down my cheeks as I started to comprehend what happened to me last night. Were there any other side effects? Did I have to worry about eating people? What did we eat? I had no answers, and Luke was too angry to help me now. Going to Lance was out of the question. Maybe there was some sort of support group. Werewolves Anonymous. I laughed, almost hysterically. That was a joke. Maybe there was an online forum that gave you all the dirty details about surviving the werewolf life.

  Mentally slapping myself, I wiped away the tears with the back of my hand. I didn’t have time to dwell on what I could have done better when it came to following Lance. There was no taking back what happened. Was there a cure? Thinking about the possibility had hope blooming in my chest. Then I immediately shredded that idea when I realized that Luke probably would have cured himself long ago if there had been something to help.

  It was time to get my big girl panties on. I had to face whatever challenges lay before me. The first thing was to call Mary and ask her about the details Lance gave me. Only, when I called, it went straight to voicemail. I left a message for her, explaining that it was important that she call me back. It was always a pet peeve of mine when people didn’t pick up their phone. Most of the time, they were ignoring the call, anyway.

  Finally dressed and in my car, I went to the restaurant, planning on ordering a big breakfast. My stomach was growling like crazy, as if it would be clawing its way out for a meal if I didn’t feed it soon. The images of my nightmare came to mind at that thought, and I immediately pushed them away to prevent freaking myself out again.

  People turned to look at me when I went inside the restaurant. It had been updated since the last time I was there. The booths were my favorite spot to sit, so I went over to the wall, choosing one for myself. It was a second later when a seriously thin girl with dark hair came up with a pot of coffee. Her dark brown eyes met mine and widened slightly. Not sure what that was about, I turned over my cup, waiting for her to pour me some coffee. I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker unless it was one of those special flavors from a coffee shop, but I needed something strong. Something that would slap me awake mentally.

  The girl’s mouth opened to say something, but she seemed to decide against it, pulling out a pad of paper to take my order. I didn’t even have a menu, so I looked around the table for one, finding it behind the salt and pepper shakers. Taking a quick look through, I chose the pancakes, and told her so. Again, she hesitated.

  “Something wrong?” I asked, not sure what else to say to her. She was acting weird, and it threw up some red flags.

  “Are you Riley?” she asked.

  Sucking in a breath, I shook my sugar packets and then tore the top of them off. As I was pouring it into the coffee, I nodded slowly. “Yeah, why?”

  “She said you would come for her.”

  “Who?” I asked, confused about where the conversation was going.

  The girl leaned in, eyes darting to the side where people were staring. “Annie. She’s been hoping you would show up one day to save her from this place.”

  Trying not to bring too much attention to us, I forced a smile. “Do you know where she is?”

  Nodding, the girl took her pad and wrote down something before handing it to me. She slid it across the table, forcing her own smile. We were drawing too much attention, for some reason. Like this girl had a secret, and the locals didn’t want her to tell me about it. I was considered an outsider here, even though I was once one of them.

  “I’ll get those pancakes for you as soon as they’re ready!” she said cheerfully, before turning in the opposite direction.

  Everyone turned around, deciding that whatever happened between us wasn’t important enough for them to be concerned about. They were nosy, but that’s what you could expect from a small town. Everyone knew everything about you, even though you tried to hide it. Someone was always watching. That thought had me nervous, because maybe someone else knew I had been out in the woods spying on Lance.

  The paper she slid over to me was calling my name. I finally picked it up, realizing she wrote down an address for me. It wasn’t familiar, but seemed to be close to where my parents used to live. After breakfast, it would be my first stop.

  *

  Full from breakfast, I was on my way to the address the waitress gave me. It could be a trap, but there were no
other leads. I could have questioned some people, asking where Annie could be, but the address seemed to be my best bet. Or so I hoped.

  I was on a dirt road just off the main stretch that went through town. It was about two roads down from the one I took when following Lance. Unfortunately, it was also the one that I grew up on. It brought back a lot of memories once I started heading down it. Dust flew up behind my car as I drove. Everything appeared to be the same. Some of the houses had burned down from what I assumed was due to cooking methamphetamines. That was the case when I was younger, anyway. I doubted it’d changed much since then, especially with the Thatchers still in control. It also could have been them getting rid of the competition. They refused to let anyone else make product in their territory.

  The house I grew up in looked abandoned, covered in an overgrowth of plants. The windows were boarded up and junk cars littered the yard. If anyone lived in there now, it would certainly be a health hazard. Shaking my head in disgust, I continued down the road, passing a few more houses. Eventually, the address I was looking for appeared. The house looked almost as bad as my parents’. There were a few old cars in the driveway, parking in no particular order. The front door was wide open, where a man and a woman stood. It was a whorehouse. I knew that for certain when a woman and man came out from the back of the house straightening their clothes and then exchanging hands with money.

  My heart dropped with fear. Annie was living in a whorehouse? She was only fifteen. The urge to save her increased within me as I parked the car and walked toward the house. Some men stopped to look in my direction. One was even brave enough to whistle at me, as if I would respond to him. Instead, I gave him the finger and hurried up the dirt path to the front door.

  When I made it over the threshold, I was assaulted with the stench of cheap perfume and sex. There was a faint smell of body odor, and something else I couldn’t place. It almost had me gagging and wishing I had brought gloves with me. The place was disgusting.