Page 42 of Raised By Wolves

“Huh?” the chief grunts.

“I don’t want to give them up.”

The chief goes, “What do you mean?” which is exactly what I’m thinking.

“I mean I want them to stay, Chester. I want them to be ours.”

Ours?

“Ours?” the chief asks, echoing my thought.

“Yes,” Lacey says. “Do you think we could adopt them?”

“Lacey,” the chief says calmly, “I’m still looking for their parents. Even if I don’t ever find them, there are a lot of steps between letting someone sleep in your house and making them an official part of your family.”

“I know that,” says Lacey. “I’m ready for all of them.”

A gasp escapes my lips.

“Did you hear something?” the chief says. He gets up from his chair. Calls, “Kai? Holo?”

I zip back to my bed and dive under the covers. My heart hammers. But no one comes upstairs.

She wants to keep us.

Lying there, it’s like I really see my room for the first time. There are alphabet watercolors on the pale-yellow walls:A is for aadvark, B is for bat. There’s a pile of stuffed animals in one corner and a rocking chair in another. The realization hits me like a headbutt to the stomach: This wasn’t supposed to be a guest room. This was supposed to be a nursery.

Poor Lacey.

She wanted a baby. But what she got was us.

And we can’t be trusted.

We can’t be kept.

CHAPTER 31

“HOLO, HOLO, WAKE up.”

“Huh?” My brother rolls over but keeps his eyes closed.

“We have to go.”

“Go where?” he mumbles sleepily.

I grab his jacket from the closet and throw it at him. Since he still hasn’t opened his eyes, it lands on his face.

Holo groans and pulls the jacket down. “I’m asleep.”

“No, you’re not. Get up.”

We have to get out of here before we wake anyone. I’m already layered up—long underwear, sweats, a jacket. Spring nights can be cold, and hypothermia is real. I’ve got a backpack stuffed full of food and water, too.

“Ugghhhhh,” my brother moans. “Ughhh.”

“Use your words.”

“I was having a good dream. Bim and Ben were there, and Beast, and Harriet…” His voice trails off.

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