Page 67 of She is the Darke

Stacia stood and began packing her things into her suitcase, and ten minutes later, she was following Alex out of the hotel.

“Don’t you have to work?” she asked as Alex shoved her bag into the back of Stacia’s car.

Alex scanned the street. “I’ve already texted someone to come take my shift. Get in.” The sense of urgency in Alex’s voice wasn’t lost on Stacia, and chills rippled up her arms.

Behind the wheel, Stacia waited for Alex to be buckled, and then pulled out of her parking spot on the street.

Stacia pulled through a light, and a man dragged her attention from the road. He was tall and had dark dreads cascading down his shoulders, and gold eyes that seemed to glow in the shadows of the brick building he leaned against. His eyes tracked the progress of the car.

Alex had seen him too. “Don’t worry, he’s one of ours.” She chewed on her nail and looked out the front window with a frown pulling down her dark eyebrows. “Go straight down this road, and turn in at the pumpkin patch. Callum lives at the back of the property.” Alex chewed her nail for a few more loaded seconds and then connected a call to Callum and put him on speaker phone.

“Are you almost here?” he answered. The deep worry in his timbre dredged up butterflies in Stacia’s stomach.

“Random question,” Alex said. “Did you send Daniel to watch over Stacia?”

“No. You’re the only one I’ve sent to watch over her. Daniel is supposed to be headed here with the rest of the pack. I called a meeting. I’m just waiting on a few more to show up.”

“Who is missing?” Alex asked, sitting up straighter as she watched something outside the window. They were outside of town now, surrounded by woods on either side. “Callum! Who?”

Callum’s snarl ripped through the phone, and his breathing was faster as he said, “Liam, Daniel, Tobias, Reether, Striker and Kristoff. Where are you?”

“Weatherby Woods. Five minutes out.”

Something ran across the road up ahead, and Stacia gripped the steering wheel tighter in terror. “Callum?” She hadn’t meant for her voice to come out sounding so scared, but she couldn’t help it. That was a…that was a…

When she looked into the woods, there was a gray wolf running fast enough through the trees to keep pace with her car. She was going fifty miles an hour.

“There are wolves in the woods,” Stacia whispered.

“I know,” Callum rumbled. “Alex, don’t let them get to her. I’m coming.”

The line clicked dead and Alex was ripping her costume bodice off. “Just drive as fast as you can. Don’t stop.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to do what Callum told me to.” She kicked out of her shoes and rolled the window down. “Don’t miss the turn. Don’t stop until you reach the house at the back. Okay?”

“Alex, I don’t understand what’s—Aaaaah!” she screamed as a black-furred wolf with gold eyes sprinted from the shadows of the woods, aiming right for the car.

Everything happened so fast. Alex shoved out of the seat and launched herself out of the open window, and in mid-air, she turned into…into…

There are wolves in the woods.

The gray Alex wolf flipped in the air and latched onto the scruff of the dark wolf’s neck and threw him. They both hit the ground, and then Stacia couldn’t see them anymore. The road was too dark.

They weren’t vampires at all. Not even close. These were werewolves, and they were coming after her and Alex. Why? What did they want?

A howl pierced the night air, and up ahead, in the arc of her headlights, a white wolf bolted from the woods.

“Oh my gosh,” she whispered in horror. She couldn’t outrun it! She was going to hit it!

She slammed her foot onto the brakes and held onto her steering wheel for dear life, and then flinched when something slammed into the side of her car and blasted her into a spin across the road. She screamed as she spun over and over. Something massive hit the back of her car and slammed her to a rocking stop.

The windows were broken. The headlights were flickering. Her knuckles were bleeding and the sound of her ragged breathing was deafening. Another howl pierced the night air, and this one was close. Too close.

Panicking, she unbuckled her seatbelt and shoved the door open, then fell out of the car. She didn’t feel anything. There was no pain, only panic. Her knuckles were bleeding, but she couldn’t feel the cuts from the glass.

Another howl sounded from farther away. Callum?

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