Page 76 of Fighting Furry

Balling up the note, I tossed it at the wall, but it fell to the ground far short. I kicked the coffee table again and got to my feet. I could throw a tantrum like a big baby, or I could use the rage to fuel the ass-kicking of a century. Why take it out an innocent coffee table when I could take it out on every creature who laid a hand on Axel?

I dug through my duffel and put on sweats and a tank top. I didn't bother with underwear or a bra. I didn't take time for a shower. I let myself out of the guest house and I marched over to the main house. There was a man by the pool and another in the garden, but I didn't care. It no longer mattered if Darius found me. I wanted him to find me so I could rip his cold, dead heart from his body with my bare hands.

My wolf growled in approval. The sliding glass doors to the main house were open, so I marched inside. “Desiree!” I shouted. “Where the hell are you?”

“I'm right here, dear.” She stepped out of the formal dining room and walked over to stand in front of me. She studied me for a moment as I stood there, thrumming with panic. “He left.”

“How could you tell?”

She smiled, but it was a sad smile, an apologetic smile. “Clarissa called me. I woke him and let him use my phone to talk to her. He made me promise not to wake you.”

I curled my hands into fists and reminded myself she was an elderly woman who didn't need my anger. And getting angry at her would solve nothing. “I need to know how much time I have before they execute him. Do you have Max's number?”

She frowned. “Axel didn't explain the council to you, did he?”

I bit my lip not to scream at her. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“The council isn't just made up of werewolves, dear. It's eighty-five percent wolves, but there are also witches and vampires, even a fairy. As a witch, I know the punishment for revealing your supernatural nature and I know how it's carried out.”

“How long?” I wasn't looking at her, my eyes were on the door. I was calculating how quickly I could get to LA and the council, how fast I could stop them from hurting Axel.

“When they killed my husband, they gave him ten days.”

I looked at her. Really looked at her. I saw the pain in her eyes, the paleness of her skin. I should have been apologetic, understanding, but I needed answers. I needed to get to Axel. “How long does Axel have?”

“They'll want to move faster with Axel, to make the point and clean up the mess before it spirals out of control.”

“Faster than ten days could still give us a week,” I said, relief flooding me. “That's plenty of time. Can I take your car?”

She put her hands on my shoulders. “Julie, you need to put your fear aside and think. If you storm the council, they'll just add you to the pyre. What's your plan?”

I couldn't think. I couldn't even see straight. All I could see was that front door with the stained-glass windows through which I could just make out the pavement of the road beyond. I needed to get out of that house, I needed to—

Desiree gripped either side of my head, right next to my temples and squeezed. I stared at her. Was she trying to kill me? Because she definitely lacked the grip for that.

“You need to relax,” she said. It was insane, but at the word relax, a calm washed over me and my focus sharpened. “To help Axel, you'll need a fool-proof plan. You'll need to do something no one expects. Something no one is prepared for.”

Finally, her rational words sunk through my thick skull. “You're right. Are you sure I have time?”

She nodded. “I'll call Max. He'll keep us informed.”

I huffed. “Okay. Call Max while I think.”

She walked back into the kitchen and I paced in front of that enormous door. The urge to burst through it, to run to Axel and pulverize anything that got in my way was still there, but I knew I couldn't win this with my fists. I had to use my brain. I considered my options. I couldn't reason with the council, I couldn't fight the council…Maybe I could build an army and wage war against them. I thought of Axel's pacifist pack and I knew that would never work. We'd need time to train, to learn to work together. No, Desiree was right. I was going to have to outsmart them.

“Max is on it,” Desiree said, walking back in. “He said I need to watch you closely. He thinks you might be a spy.” She smiled when she said it, so I figured she wasn't really worried.

“Can I borrow your phone?” I asked. “I need to call someone.”

She handed it over without a question. I dialed the only number I knew by heart. “Julie,” Shelly said, her voice breathless. “Are you okay? It's all over the news.”

“I'm fine,” I said. “But the council, the ruling body of werewolves, wants to execute Axel for revealing our nature to the world.”

“Oh, my god,” she said. “What are you going to do?”

“He's decided to sacrifice himself to the council. I'm not going to let that happen, but I have no idea how to stop it.”

She sighed and I could picture her rubbing her temples, concentrating on the problem. “Tell you what,” she said. “If these council guys don't want the world to know about werewolves, I bet they're the ones saying you and Axel and the others were filming a home movie with amazingly realistic special effects.”

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