The Better to Bite(46)

Been running lately?

I hadn’t wanted to think too much about what Rafe meant when he said those words to Brent, but I couldn’t forget how quickly Brent had healed from the accident and the way he’d played on the football field. Moving too fast. Being too strong.

Was he like Rafe?

I really, really hoped not.

“You’re gonna take me to the game tonight, right?” Jenny piped up. “They’re doing a memorial for Sissy, and I don’t want to miss it.”

She’d been one of the red-eyed girls this week, too.

I hadn’t planned on going to the game. Brent had asked me to come, but after last week’s craziness, and after the bruises that were only now healing, sitting in crowded bleachers wasn’t exactly appealing.

“Please,” Jenny wheedled. “I don’t want to go alone! And it’s—it’s for Sissy.”

Sissy. I nodded.

My gaze swept around the lot. Rafe had his guys around him. He didn’t look my way. Figured. Why was I looking his? My gaze darted to the left. Brent was holding court with the jocks. Brent caught my stare and waved.

If I can trust anyone, it’s him.

I needed to get over this bad boy attraction I had and focus on a guy who seemed to be one of the good ones.

“Sorry I’m late!” Cassidy jumped into the backseat and dropped her pack with a thunk. “I forgot my Cal book and had to run all the way back to my locker. Of course, I’m in the slam back of the school.”

I noticed Jenny’s mouth had dropped open. She stared at me with wider than usual eyes. “She’s going with us?” Jenny whispered.

Cassidy laughed. “Yes, she is.It’s my gran’s shop, of course I’m heading there.”

I offered Jenny a smile. “Did I forget to mention our little pit stop?”

She blinked at me.

I patted her hand. “No worries. You can look for some love potions while we’re there.”

Rafe’s motorcycle roared out of the lot.

***

Granny Helen took me to the back. We were alone this time. I heard Cassidy out front, trying to convince Jenny to spend thirty bucks on a Love-Me spell. I was pretty sure the brew was pure BS, but I had to admire Cassidy for knowing how to work her customer.

Granny Helen watched me with her coal black eyes. Maybe it was my imagination, but the lines on her face looked even deeper today. Her body sagged a bit.

I bit my lip. “Are you all right?”

Her brows lifted. “Sometimes, you can feel it when death wants to take you.”

Um, okay. Granny Helen sure had mastered the art of creepy.

She waved me forward. “Been seeing monsters in the dark, have you, child?”

I dropped into the chair in front of her. “You know what’s happening in Haven, don’t you?” Time to cut through the crap. I slapped my twenty on the table. “This money isn’t for a reading. It’s for answers.”

Her trembling hand covered the cash. “You sure you really want to hear the truth?”

“I don’t want to hear it.” I want to pretend that a boy can’t change into a wolf and that folks aren’t dying. “But something bad is happening here, and it has to stop.”

She nodded but asked, “You think you’re the one to stop it?”

Now that made me pause.

She smiled. The smile never reached her eyes. “Still unsure, are you?”

I realized she was doing it again. Walking me in circles with her questions. I shoved out a hard breath. “Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”

“Because you wouldn’t have believed me. Sometimes, we have to see things with our own eyes before we can believe in the impossible.”

A boy turning into a wolf should certainly count as impossible. My head began to throb. “How did you know my mother?”

“She came to me, same as you. Wanting answers. Help.”

“Did you help her?”

“Some can’t be helped.”

My eyes narrowed.

She made a faint tut-tut sound and said, “You don’t realize what Haven is yet, do you?”

Her question caught me off-guard. “Cassidy told me that it was founded by some folks who thought they were witches—”

“Didn’t think. They were.” Her stare bored into mine. “They were lost and looking for a safe place to lay their heads.”

Lost. I’d caught the faint emphasis she put on the word and suddenly I went on high alert.

“Have you ever been lost, Anna?”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t think so.” Satisfaction hummed in her words. “One of their own led them here. Straight through the wilderness, she led them right to this spot. She promised them it was safe.”