Page 2 of Revenge of the Blood Pack

I find my sister in a yoga pose beside the punching bag, stretching her muscles the way I taught her to, and I don’t hesitate. Somehow, I feel like I’ve already wasted too much time. "We need to get out of here! Now!"

She straightens to her normal height with a frown, combing her white-blonde hair back from her face as she does so. "Get out of here? To where? What the hell are you talking about?"

"To the End," I say simply, not offering any more information. Not that she should need it.

My sister's eyes widen with fear. She and every other shifter understands what going to the End means."What's going on, Asha?"

Her voice trembles as she asks the question and I itch to run my hand through her long blonde hair, which is identical to mine and our mother’s, while I assure her that everything will be fine. But I know I can’t, not right now. Yet, if we hurry, there'll be plenty of time for that when we're all safe and out of danger.

"I’m getting Simon. Mom’s telling the lookouts. You need to run to the End. We’ll all meet you there.”

“Okay,” she whispers, and those big eyes of hers are filled with trust.

Trust I hope I deserve.

Her hand slips into mine, and her scent comes over me. It’s like the beach: the salty water, the sand, and even, almost, sunscreen. It’s comforting, a scent that always makes me smile. For half a second, it overwhelms me before I remember what I’m doing. Quickly, I give her hand a squeeze before dropping it, and then we’re both running. The stairs fly by. The rooms of the only house I’ve ever known flash by. It’s all a blur, suddenly a nightmare where once there was only sunshine and laughter.

I pause outside of my brother’s room for half a second, just in case mom was wrong, but, of course, he’s not there. He’s rarely here at night, not when there’s more freedom to be found out in the town.

So, I keep going, throwing open the door of our house, then pausing. Nervously, I look around half expecting to see monsters in every shadow, but I see nothing worrisome. It’s all… quiet. And yet, I would never doubt my mom’s visions. They’ve saved countless lives, and I hope tonight they’ll save ours.

“Are you sure?” my sister whispers at my side.

Nodding, I shove her toward the woods. “Just go.”

I don't wait for a reply. I’m already going the other way, heading to find my brother, only glancing back once to make sure my sister listened. And, seeing her gone, I speed up. I force my mom and sister's scents out of my head and out of my nose, because their scents are distracting, and I don’t have time to be distracted.

Running faster than I ever have in my life, I make it across our small town and to my brother’s girlfriend’s house, then head around to the back. My brother is asleep when I sneak into the room through the open window, his girlfriend curled up in his arms. I walk to his side and gently shake him awake, taking care not to wake her. He jerks up when he sees me and the movement rouses her.

"Simon, we have to go. We’re meeting Mom and Isabella at the End. Let's go."

He rubs his face. “What?”

I punch him in the shoulder. “The End. Now. Mom’s had a vision.”

His hand drops and his blue eyes widen, instantly alert. “A vision? We’re in trouble?”

“Yes.” I throw off the covers, glad to find them both clothed, and shove his legs so that his feet are hanging off the bed. “Faster. Let’s go. We’re almost out of time.”

He looks at Cassandra, who is now wide awake too. “My mom’s had a vision. We have to go to the End.”

“But my stuff. My parents,” she says groggily. I notice that her dark hair is almost as messy as my brother's short red hair.

“We leave now, or we die,” I tell them firmly. I see it in their faces—my warnings have finally clicked.

They both shove their feet into their shoes, and I move to the window, waiting until they come toward me. Then, I scramble out the window and start to run. They follow, his hand around his girlfriend’s. He's calmer than Isabella had been, but that’sone trait that characterizes Simon. His calmness. I've almost never seen him panic, no matter the situation. He is in all ways the thinker of our family, the patient one, and not at all a person of action.

Which is why I need to keep him focused now. He could analyze this thing until we’re all dead, if I let him.

I briefly consider going through the woods, the long way around, to reach the End, but then just decide the hell with it, since time matters right now, and cut straight through town. We're nearly to the center when I hear someone scream, a terrible screaming that makes the hairs on my arms stand on end, before the scream is abruptly cut off. An alarm begins to ring, which at least means that my mom got to the lookout tower in time, and then I hear a strange sound. Hesitating for only the briefest moment, I look to see the Smith's house on fire.

And… it's surreal. Just a random house crackling with flames as the town sleeps. Yet, I know it isn't random. People begin to come out of the other houses, looking confused, and I shout, “Go to the End! Hurry!” Some people respond, hurrying one way or another toward the forest, but others run toward the burning home instead.

Damn it.

“Should we help?” Simon asks hesitantly behind me.

“Not if we want to live,” I say, moving slowly forward.

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