: Chapter 2

My opinion of our new house hadn’t improved any by the time I opened my eyes on the second morning.

“Still looks like hell.”

I peeled back the covers and made my way downstairs. Expecting to see Mom in the kitchen, I frowned at the note waiting on the table and looked around for my plate instead. She always made me breakfast.

“Dammit, Mom. You can’t train me like Pavlov’s dog and then not deliver.”

With a scowl, I snatched up the note and started reading. After the first sentence, I sat down heavily and started again.

This is your home, now, but never again mine. You’re more special than you know. Learn what Girderon Academy can teach you. You’ll need it. There’s a checkbook in the kitchen drawer to the right of the sink. The account has enough to start you out with whatever life you choose. I’m sure you’ll catch on quickly how to make your own money before you run out.

I loved you, Megan. Never doubt that. Leaving was the best thing I could do for both of us. I already held on too long, and I’m sorry for that.

Take care, Mom She left me? That didn’t make any sense. If she was tired of dealing with me, why go through all the trouble of moving us here? Why not just take off from the last place? And why sign the note as Mom? She hadn’t acted like a real Mom for a long time.

Her words from the day we’d left echoed in my head. I’ve given you everything, and you throw the few rules I have back at me.

“What bullshit,” I said to the kitchen. “She’s still pissed because of the fight. You know what? I don’t care. I can make my own dumb breakfast.”

I tossed the note on the table and went to the cupboards. Mom hadn’t lied when she said she’d gone shopping. Food crammed each inch of storage space in the kitchen. There was enough food to last me weeks. I tried to ignore the tiny ball of dread building inside of me.

Box of cereal under one arm and a bowl and spoon in hand, I went back to the table and sat down. The note captured my attention again.

I could easily believe that Mom was still pissed at me for what had happened at school. Actually, for what had been happening with increasing frequency over the last few months if I were being honest with myself. My head was telling me that she was just taking off for a few days to teach me a lesson about respect or some other load of crap. But, my gut continued to tug my thoughts in a different direction. What if the note wasn’t a way to get back at me?

Instead of pouring milk, I looked around. This wasn’t Mom’s normal style of house. I’d thought that right away. Mom liked fashion, attention, and town-living. Nothing we’d packed from the prior place was here, only the boxes full of my things, which now sat in my room. Yesterday, I’d figured a moving company would show up. Now? I wasn’t as sure.

Looking around, I only saw more evidence that she’d moved me, not us. I didn’t know what to do or believe. I couldn’t call her to ask what was going on or when she’d be back. She never had a cell phone that I knew of. Men would always just stop by when they wanted her attention, or she would go to whomever she was seeing at the time to get his. I didn’t know more about the last boyfriend than his first name. She never let any of them hang around me too much.

Numb with the realization that I had no way to contact my mom, I poured my milk and clung to the belief that this was just a punishment. She’d show up again after a few days. This would be just like those weekender trips she’d been taking with Darren. She’d come home, exhausted and wanting to sleep for a day.

After I cleaned up breakfast, I went to the second bedroom upstairs and opened the window after removing the tattered curtain. Fresh air circulated the dust-clogged room. If I were Mom, I wouldn’t want to live here either if this were my room. I got to work dusting, cleaning, washing, and de-webbing the entire space. Since it wasn’t big, it didn’t take long.

Satisfied that when Mom came back she’d have a place to crash, I went to shower in the house’s single, first-floor bathroom tucked into the tiny space between the living room and the kitchen. Like the rest of the place, the bathroom needed updating. And more room. Every time I reached up to wash or rinse my hair, I hit my elbow on the wall or knocked something off the narrow ledge near my shoulders.

“Vacation home from hell,” I said under my breath. If I were lucky, Mom would be ready to move again in another month.

Just when I thought the place couldn’t get any worse, the faint, off-key melody of “My Darling Clementine” reached my ears.

“That’s seriously messed up.” I switched off the water and wrapped a towel around myself as I left the shower. The sound grew in volume when I opened the bathroom door. The source of the noise, a newish white box mounted just above the front entry, was hard to miss. I needed a chair and a hammer.

First, though, I needed to tell off the person still pressing the damn doorbell.

I yanked the door open and startled two uniformed men having a discussion on the front porch. Instant anger flared up inside of me, and I tried to slam the door shut.

The police officer moved too quickly and stopped my attempt with his foot.

“Is there a reason you’re trying to run?” he asked.

I quit trying to close the door and let him swing it wide again.

“Are you kidding? I’m standing here in a towel. Of course there’s a reason.”

His eyes narrowed at me slightly.

He’s a cop, Megan, I reminded myself. You don’t want to piss him off when you’re only seventeen and have no way to reach your mom.

“Were you expecting someone else?” he asked with a smirk.

The instant need to punch him in the face had me curling my fingers, around my towel and the doorknob, in a death grip.

“Obviously, I wasn’t expecting anyone or I would have been dressed already.”

My gaze shifted to the delivery man.

“Can I help you?”

The man’s eyes swept over my towel-clad torso and wet hair while a light blush crept into his cheeks. My temper cooled a little, and I gave him a small, encouraging smile.

“I have a scheduled delivery for Megan Smith,” he said. “A TV, and it looks like the cable company is here to hook you up as well.” He motioned over his shoulder to the three vehicles parked on the gravel shoulder in front of my house.

“Yeah, sure, bring in whatever.”

The man fled the porch, leaving me alone with the cop. I itched to do or say something to piss him off as much as he had me.

“You know the rules; all outside visits need to be approved before you can schedule anything.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know that. My mom and I just moved in yesterday. She set all this stuff up. Not me.”

“I know. That’s why I’ll let it slide this time. But, I’d like to talk to her.”

“Yeah, me too. She left this morning on a business trip and was a little vague on when she’d be back.”

“I bet.” There was that damn smirk again.

“You’ll need to get used to how things work around here real fast or you and I will have problems. Welcome to Uttira, Megan.” His voice seemed anything but welcoming as he handed me a pamphlet with the words “Welcome to Uttira,” printed in bold yellow on a blue background.

When I looked up, the officer was already walking off the porch, and the delivery guy was wheeling a large TV box through the tall grass.

Leaving the front door open, I jogged upstairs and pulled on some clean clothes. Dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I felt better equipped to deal with whatever new hell Mom had brought down on my head. Not the TV and cable install, which the guys wrapped up quickly, but the town in which she’d temporarily left me.

Barely an hour after the interruption to my day, I closed the front door on the installation guy and went to the kitchen. As soon as the sound of the delivery engine faded, I walked outside and took in a lungful of late summer air. The second week of a new school year never smelled so good. If Mom wanted to take off, so could I.

Grinning to myself, I started around the house and down the overgrown gravel driveway.

A vast field occupied the space directly across from the house. Beyond that, trees stretched as far as I could see. The twisty road to the right didn’t look much different from the road to the left. Nothing interesting either way except distant mailboxes marking the presence of a few scattered houses.

Listening to my gut, I turned to the right and started walking. However, it soon became apparent that we lived nowhere close to town. Trees began to hug both sides of the narrow, twisty street, and roads split off at frequent intervals, creating a web in which I quickly became lost.

When the bird noise around me quieted, my steps slowed.

The hair on the back of my neck lifted with the sensation of being watched a moment before something darted through the trees to my right. The flash of light color low to the ground disappeared too quickly for me to see it clearly.

A soft growl came from behind me, and I twisted to look that direction. Another flash of movement, there and gone. A logical part of my brain said I should have been terrified. The growl had belonged to an animal. With trees this thick, who knew what roamed. Yet, I didn’t feel fear, only impatience that whatever hid in the trees seemed to want to toy with me before attacking.

I waited.

A howl rose from within the trees, followed by another, and a third, until five voices blended into one mournful call.

“Just hurry up already,” I said. “I have to get to Grandma’s house.”

A choked laugh came from behind me. I turned and found myself looking into an incredible pair of brown eyes that belonged to a tall boy close to my age. His longish shag of light brown hair fell around his amused face.

Surprisingly, he didn’t annoy me at first glance. Not in the slightest.

“Wolves are howling, and the first thing you can think to say is that you need to get to Grandma’s house?” A teasing smile played around his lips.

“I slipped into the role,” I said with a shrug of my red hoodie-clad shoulder.

He laughed and held out his hand.

“I’m Fenris.”

I shook his hand with ease.

“Megan.”

“And behind you are my bitches,” he said with a glance over my shoulder.

I looked back and found four wolves standing on the other side of the road. Something about the lead dog poked my temper. Probably because it had its teeth pulled back in a silent snarl. I returned the favor. The wolf added volume and started crouching. It was strange. I usually didn’t mind animals, but something about that one made me want to kick her in the teeth.

“Aubrey,” Fenris said. “That’s enough.”

The wolf immediately quieted.

“Wow. She’s well trained. You probably should still have her on a leash, though.”

He burst out laughing.

“Yeah. That’d be quite the fight. Based on the direction you’re walking, you’re coming from town. You staying at the inn?”

“From town? No. I thought I was walking toward town. I just moved here yesterday.”

“And you’re already lost. Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

The lead dog behind us growled low. Fenris might like me, but his dog sure didn’t.

“If you just point me in the right direction, I’ll be fine.”

He continued to grin at me.

“The way you smell, I doubt you’d be fine. It won’t take long for every male within a mile to track you down. I’ll walk you. You girls can go home,” he said looking at his dogs. “We’re done running for the day.”

The first one snarled and barked then pivoted and raced off into the trees. The other three followed her lead. This guy was crazy to have pet wolves.

“I think someday they’re going to turn on you.”

“Nah, they love me. They’re just moody sometimes. Especially when a pretty girl distracts me.”

I rolled my eyes.

“So, which way is home?”

He tilted his head the direction from which I’d come, the obvious first step. I wasn’t sure we’d find our way back once we left the current road, though. I’d been walking for almost an hour, and I’d taken too many forks that led to other narrow roads within the trees.

“Tell me a little about yourself, Megan. Any heroic acts of bravery, life missions, or prophesized destinies hiding behind those pretty brown eyes?”

“Nope. Not really.”

“Then what brings you to Uttira?”

“My flighty mother, who changes boyfriends as frequently as she does her favorite brand of mascara.”

He made a sound between a laugh and consolation.

“What about you? How long have you lived here?”

“All my life. Born and raised in the overprotective circle of my smothering family. Unlike you, my parents have hammered my life’s mission into my head since birth.”

“Oh? And what’s your life’s mission?”

I glanced at him as he looked right then left at the T in the road. He inhaled deeply and looked at me.

“To help damsels in distress. We need to go right.”

I grinned and walked beside him as we veered the direction he’d indicated.

“That’s quite the life mission.”

The sound of an engine from ahead had us stepping off the road just as a cop cruiser came around the bend. It turned on its lights without sound and stopped beside us. The man from earlier today rolled down his window.

“Afternoon, Trammer,” Fenris said. “Something wrong?”

“Depends. Why are you two all the way out here?”

“The girls and I were out for a run. We found Megan headed the wrong direction, and I offered to walk her home.”

“Wrong direction? Right.”

The sarcasm in his voice made my skin tingle with the need to hurt him.

“They were out of hicksville roadmaps at the gas station,” I said.

He narrowed his eyes at me for the second time that day. But, his obvious dislike didn’t bother me like it probably should have.

“Get in. I’ll take you back to where you belong.”

“We’d love a ride. Thanks, Trammer,” Fenris said, opening the door and sliding in.

I hesitated. I did not want to get into the car, but without an idea of where I was and my guide already in the backseat, I didn’t have much of a choice. I got in and closed the door. The locks engaged, and I met Trammer’s eyes in the mirror before his gaze shifted to Fenris.

“What would your parents say about this?”

“Good job, son. We’re so proud you’re finally helping out the community.” Fenris shrugged. “There might be a few joyful tears with that, too. It’s hard to tell sometimes.”

Trammer’s face flushed, and he turned the car around. The drive back to the house only took a few minutes, which annoyed the hell out of me. I had to have been walking in circles.

When Trammer stopped the car in front of the house, we had to wait for him to let us out of the back. He frowned at me the entire time, making my efforts to control my temper a real struggle.

As soon as we stood in my overgrown front yard, he took off.

“What is his deal?” I asked.

“The usual. Underpaid. Underappreciated. Has a very small—,” he held his forefinger and thumb an inch apart near his waist, “—amount of self-esteem.”

I snorted a laugh, enjoying myself and surprised that I’d found someone who didn’t make me angry for a change.

“He’s not too bad when you take all that into consideration,” Fenris said with a shrug. He then looked over my house. “Huh. I don’t think I’ve ever known of anyone living here.”

“From the looks of it on the inside, I’m not sure anyone ever has.”

A car came whipping around the bend and screeched to a halt in front of my house. The three female passengers in the convertible and waved our direction. The driver, a blonde, didn’t release her tight grip on the wheel as she glared at me. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Fenris wave toward the car.

“The girls and I are going to the Roost for a party tonight. Want to come? It’s a good way to get to know everyone.”

I tore my gaze from the blonde to look up at Fenris.

“I’ll pass. Thanks for the invitation, though.”

“If you change your mind, just take a left out of your driveway. The road will take you right into town. You can’t miss the Roost.”

“I won’t change my mind.”

He grinned, leaned close like he was going to kiss me, but instead inhaled deeply by my face.

“Too bad.” He licked the tip of my nose, and while I stared at him in shock, he turned and walked toward the waiting car where he jumped into the backseat and slid down between the two girls already there.

“See you Monday,” he called as he waved.

Without a doubt, Fenris was a player. Not in a cocky way, though. A fun one.

Unable to help myself, I lifted my hand in return.

The blonde gave me another glare, pressed down on the gas, and cranked the wheel to send a spray of gravel my way.