Page 90 of The Lone Wolf Café
Rowena and I both startled so badly that we nearly spilled our scalding hot drinks into our laps. The high-backed chairs faced away from the front door, so we couldn’t see who had entered. I shot Rowena a panicked glance, and noticed her eyes were as wide and white-rimmed as mine were.
The café was closed on Mondays. But I had been outside adjusting the Halloween decorations earlier, and I hadn’t bothered to lock the front door behind me when I was finished. At the time, I didn’t think I needed to. It was a small town — I certainly hadn’t expected for someone to nearly break the door down when the café was clearly closed.
Rowena and I slowly placed our half-empty cups on the end table and rose to our feet, turning to face the door.
It was Juniper. She was wide-eyed, frazzled, and had the most venomous expression I’d ever seen on her face.
“J-Juniper?” Rowena exclaimed. “Is everything okay?”
Juniper huffed, regaining composure as she crossed her arms over her chest. The fury in her eyes never dimmed.
“No. It is not. Where have you two idiots been all morning?”
My blood froze in my veins.Oh no.
“Um, we’ve been… here, in the café,” Rowena lied. “We came in about half an hour ago, just to have some coffee and tea. We’re not open.”
“I’m aware,” Juniper hissed. “Areyouaware of what’s been going on all morning?”
Dead silence. I thought I was going to faint.
“The werewolf pack,” Juniper continued. “They’ve gone mad. Charging into the barrier, over and over again. Big Red keeps breaking through, and the whole town is struggling to hold them off.”
The werewolf pack. My mind flashed back to the night before, when I’d fought Rowena’s father.
In my wolf form.
Oh no.I had revealed myself not only to Rowena, but also to the pack.
How could I have been so stupid?
“They’re looking for something, and whatever it is, it’s clearly within this village. I didn’t know what they wanted at first, until–” Her blonde eyebrows narrowed until they were nearly diagonal. “–Nina came back from her trip to Otter Creek, not long after the werewolves showed up. And she saw the most curious thing on her way home…”
I struggled to swallow. I noticed Rowena’s hands slowly clenching and unclenching into fists.
“Two wolves, near Acadia National Park. Clearly outside of pack territory. One black and one red.”
Gods, no…
We’d been spotted. I’d been so certain we’d be safe outside the village, far away from both witch and werewolf territory. But I hadn’t stopped to consider any witches traveling outside of Wisteria Grove.
Naive. Foolish. Stupid.
I could feel my pulse throbbing in my temples, and I begged my body to calm down. To breathe. But nothing helped. My stomach felt as if it had just taken a tumble off the side of Cadillac Mountain.
Juniper then turned her attention toward me.
“Is there something you haven’t been telling us, Nettie?”
My damp, clammy palms curled into fists. In addition to fear, I was feeling a bunch of other emotions. Frustration. Hopelessness.
Anger. But not at Juniper.
At myself.
I knew exactly what was going on. Since the Mount Desert Island werewolves had the closest pack to Hollenboro, my father had likely been in touch with them about my disappearance. Telling them to keep an eye out for a runaway female werewolf with bright red fur.
And Rowena’s father had seen me in my wolf form, in the middle of a witch village where I clearly didn’t belong. He would’ve known I was the Hollenboro Alpha’s missing daughter. My red fur was a dead giveaway.
