“Ha! I knew something was up.” Cerri smiled, her expression becoming sly. “I slipped him a forgetting potion. I mean, he seemed like he had something he needed to stop thinking about, but that should help him move on from the sighting this morning, too.”
I gaped at my friend. Without thinking, I threw my arms around her shoulders and held her tight. “You’re the best.”
“Cerri will always be the best of us,” Addie said before running back to the front counter to take someone’s order.
Cerri put a hand on my shoulder after I pulled away. She leaned in and whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll always have your back.”
Gratitude swelled inside me. They were the reason I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t bear to part with any of my friends. Not only were they all amazing people, but Cerri was pack. So long as she had to answer to Alvin, I would have to stay.
I doubted Alvin’s descent into paranoia would stop with me. If I left, he would look for traitors in everyone around him. Eventually, he would remember that Cerri was my friend, and his torment would fall upon her. I couldn’t let that happen.
While it sucked to have this weight on my shoulders, it was easier to bear when I knew what I was trying to protect. I wasn’t a wolf like my father or some of the others in my pack, but I still had that wolfish sense of family that made me fiercely protective of those I loved. And I loved my friends more than anything.
So, I slouched at the break table in the back room and picked at a sandwich that Addie brought back for me. After about forty minutes, Addie returned and gave me theallclear. Together, the three of us crowded behind the order counter and peered out the front window for any sign of Tall, Dark, and Stormy.
Cerri perked up and opened the register. While she dug around, she said, “He paid with a card. I should have a slip with his name on it here somewhere.”
Sure enough, Cerri held up a little piece of receipt paper with the nameRyder Callahan.
Ryder, huh? I leaned into the front window again and looked down the street. He’d vanished from sight. Wasn’t that what I’d wanted? Yet, I couldn’t help the disappointment that made me heavy as I pulled back.
“I wonder who he is,” Addie said, peering at the receipt in Cerri’s hand.
“Maybe someone in Lakesedge knows about a Callahan family?” Cerri offered. “I can ask around when I pick up more arcana supplies.”
As badly as I wanted to know more about Tall, Dark, and Stormy, I knew that too much prodding would land the both of us in trouble. Alvin wouldn’t like it if he found out we were interested in a shifter from another pack. It was one thing if that shifter went to Alvin to rat me out. There was a level of respect in that kind of behavior that Alvin would appreciate.
Considering my prophecy, if I showed interest in someone outside the pack, then that might raise suspicions. Alvin might assume that I was acting against him. While that sounded like a better idea with every passing day, I knew that acting upon it would only get me killed.
The thought turned me cold. I wrapped my arms around my middle.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Ryder is probably just passing through. So long as we don’t kick the hornet’s nest, then this will all blow over.”
Both Addie and Cerri looked as though they wanted to say something, but neither admitted it. They each gave their own approximation of a nod and went back to work. We spent the rest of the night pretending that nothing ever happened, which I appreciated.
Whoever Ryder Callahan was, I couldn’t get tangled up with him. If I rocked the boat, then Alvin would tip it altogether. He would watch me drown without a moment’s remorse.
I chucked the sanitizer towel back into its bucket and scowled. What had I done to deserve this? The answer was nothing. My dad had a wolf as his beast. Upon my thirteenth birthday, I thought I’d shift into a wolf, too. Dad blamed my mother’s latent fae blood for turning me into what I was. Those accusations had put a wedge between them, one that my soft mother was too timid to acknowledge.
It seemed that no matter what I did or where I went, I brought friction with me. I could do my best to behave, but that wouldn’t mean anything at the end of the day. My very aura crackled like a sudden summer storm.
Would it get better if I went where no one knew about me and the prophecy around me? Or would it stay the same?
The three of us stepped out into the evening air. Addie locked the café door and stepped aside, so Cerri could retrace the protection sigils hanging in the air around the storefront. They glimmered briefly, mesmerizing me in the dim twilight.
Somehow, we’d all drawn the short end of the stick. Me, with my prophecy. Addie with the arcana that scared her. Cerri and her missing beast. Violet and the demon blood in her veins. We didn’t have a whole lot in common with the rest of Lakesedge. While others had mastered their arcana or had strong beasts, we were fumbling around and trying to make the best of what we had.
Sometimes, I envied Cerri for her arcana. She’d found a way to make use of what she had while I was just a dog shrouded in storms. Those thoughts didn’t do anything for either of us, so I shook them off.
As Cerri stepped away from the door, I noticed a pickup truck drifting down the street behind her. The pickup came closer, and someone leaned out the driver’s window and raised their hand. They weren’t waving. I braced myself as the driver chucked something in our direction.
Ice and soda rained down over our heads. Harvey’s cackle tainted the once-peaceful silence of the evening. A pair of sorrowful eyes held mine as the truck passed. Connor, sitting in the truck bed, tried to apologize with a look. I flipped him the bird as cola dripped into my eyes.
Damn, that stung.
Addie sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, quickly.