He let go of my hand as he turned and headed for the house.
“Seriously,” Carter said, standing to follow his brother, “fuck you guys. Fuck you very much.”
The timber wolf trailed after him, tail swishing back and forth.
Rico scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fuck. Ox, I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean—”
“Yes,” Ox said, “you did. You’re hurting. I get that. You’re angry. I get that too. But you aren’t the only one who feels that way. And I think it’s time you start remembering that. We’re pack, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let it be torn apart from the inside.”
Rico nodded jerkily. Bambi leaned over and whispered in his ear, but it wasn’t meant for me to hear, so I didn’t try to listen. Instead I turned toward the house, hearing Carter and Kelly’s muffled voices.
I thought about going after them, but before I could, a phone began to vibrate.
Gordo frowned as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He glanced down at the screen.
He closed his eyes and sighed. “Well, their timing certainly sucks.”
“What is it?” Ox asked.
“Aileen,” he said as he looked at me. I slumped lower in my seat. It didn’t help. “Patrice. They’re early.”
house in order/pack divided
We stood on the dirt road in front of the house, watching a plume of dust rise up behind an old sedan as it drove toward us.
Bambi and Dominique had left already, heading back into town. Bambi said it’d be easier if they weren’t there, that it needed to be pack.
I didn’t like the sound of that, especially when Jessie told me Aileen and Patrice were witches.
Kelly was pale as he stood next to his brother. Carter looked as if he would have punched anyone who spoke to them, so I didn’t try. I thought I was being honest, but I’d fucked up. I didn’t know how to make things right.
With any of them.
The car stopped in front of the house.
A woman climbed out of the passenger side, a lit cigarette dangling between her teeth. She was older and worn, her skin wrinkled. But through the smoke came the stench of magic unlike anything I’d ever smelled before. It was rough and wild and made me sneeze.
The driver was a man with bone-white skin. He wore a fedora and sunglasses that covered most of his face. Pale red hair stuck out from underneath his hat, and when he took off his sunglasses, I saw his face was covered with rusty freckles. His magic felt cleansing, like it was made of white light.
Aileen coughed around her cigarette, a wet hacking sound. “Well, shit,” she said. “This is more fucked-up than I expected. You feel it?”
Patrice nodded. “Deep. Dark. Heavy. Dis isn’t gonna be easy.”
She sighed. “Yeah. We’ve got our work cut out for us. Let’s see what we see.”
“It’s best before the full moon,” Aileen said, leading us into the woods. “I’m not a fan of how close it is now, but we should try to get it over with. Don’t need to have this one turn into some kind of rage monster if we can avoid it, eh, Robbie?”
She smiled at me.
It didn’t make me feel any better.
She was plucking leaves from the bushes around her, folding them into her hand and crushing them together. I grimaced when she opened her hand again and spit into the pile.
“It ain’t pretty,” she said when she saw me watching her. “A little bit of dirty magic. But it’ll have to do. No promises, boyo. It might be too far gone.”
“What might be too far gone?” I asked, not liking the sound of any of this.
She laughed until she saw I didn’t get the joke. She looked slowly over at Gordo. “You didn’t tell him?”