It made perfect sense.

So why did I still feel like crawling out of my own skin due to fear? Why did my gut swear this was going to happen, that I would see my best friend die?

“Or are you going to sit here and stare into space for the next thirty minutes?”

I jerked up at the sound of Scout’s voice to find her looming over me. Ms. Ryder and her red boots had disappeared, and the rest of the class was already shuffling toward the exit.

“What?”

Scout flashed a smile. “Daydream much?”

“Sorry. The red boots hypnotized me.”

“They were something, weren’t they?” Scout said, pulling me up out of the too-tiny theater seat with one hand. “Do you think I could pull those off?”

“I’m not sure anyone could pull those off. And I’m pretty sure they would clash with your wardrobe, which is made up entirely of jeans and t-shirts.”

Scout leaned back against the row of chairs and chewed on the inside of her lip. The theater was now empty, which meant that her public face - which consisted of narrowed eyes begging someone to try to mess with her and an unsmiling mouth - was gone, and my Scout made an appearance. “Cowboys wear jeans, t-shirts, and boots. If they can do it, why can’t I?”

“Maybe because you’re not a cowboy?”

She sighed before starting to stalk up the aisle. “You’re probably right.” She glanced at the schedule stuck in the front of her notebook. “You’ve got lunch now, right?”

“Yep.” Not that I was excited about it. All I had to eat was what my mother packed for me. Raw fruits and vegetables. Yum.

“Great. Me, too. We can swing by your locker first since it’s in this hall, and then we’ll go grab mine.”

Now it was my turn to chew on my lip. I didn’t want to lie to Scout or hurt her feelings, but there was something I needed to do.

“Can I just catch up with you in the cafeteria?” Why couldn’t I just sound normal instead of like a frightened chipmunk? “I need to make a call.”

Scout chose to ignore my weirdness with a shrug. “No problem. Our normal side?”

“Be there in five!” I said a little too enthusiastically.

I stopped by the theater door and waited until I saw Scout round the corner. Then, I pulled out my phone and dialed with shaking fingers. “Toby,” I said the moment he picked up the phone. “We need to talk.”

Charlie

I didn’t grow up in Lake County. Well, not technically since my parents live forty-five minutes away, but I’ve spent enough time there to know nothing but trouble comes out of Lake View Trailer Park.

“Pop quiz, assholes,” Toby said from the driver’s seat of his Escalade. “How did we discover this location?”

“We quoted bad Keanu Reeves movies so much the Matrix opened our eyes to the truth?” Jase was sprawled out behind me with his head in the seat and his feet propped up on the window. Like everything else Jase had done over the last few months, it was a dominance play. He purposefully broke the rules, daring Toby, our Pack Leader, to correct him. At first these idiotic gestures led to some rather phenomenal discussions - the kind involving fists and blood - but lately Toby was letting it slide. I think it was more from weariness than submission, but Jase didn’t realize that.

Toby glared into the rearview mirror. “Wrong,” he said, visibly wincing when Jase propped one dirty Nike on the leather headrest.

“Mrs. Matthews Saw where the other Shifters were hiding out,” I said, diffusing the situation as always. “We’re here to ask them nicely to leave within the next twenty-four hours. After that, we won’t be so cordial.”

Of course, none of that was true. Getting the address was a result of Jase and I distracting his father, the school’s superintendent, while Toby flashed his badge and smile to talk the board office secretary into handing over confidential student information. And no one was planning on asking anything nicely, today or any other day. Shifters were encroaching on our Territory. They would leave quickly and quietly, or there would be a Challenge, and no one wanted a Challenge. Even Jase, who loudly proclaimed to anyone who would listen how he wanted vengeance for his newly broken nose, didn’t want a Challenge.

The address we got was for one of the lots in the very back of the trailer park. From what I could see, the trailers became less nice the further away you got from the main road, and the ones on the main road all looked like they needed to be condemned. By the time Toby parked, we were looking at places I was sure no one could actually live in. Most of them tilted one way or another, they were all covered in rust, and one even had a chunk missing from the side like a tyrannosaurus-sized Rottweiler had taken a bite out of it. Only one of the places looked even half-way decent, and it was the one with a Shifter leaning against the front door as if he’d been expecting us.

“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath. From the way the guy’s eyebrows twitched I think he might have heard me, which was crazy. We were too close to the new moon for his ears to be that good.

Jase flipped himself around into a proper sitting position. “Told you so.”

So, this was the guy Jase encountered down at The Strip a few days ago when he was out with Scout. He’d texted Toby immediately, a rare show of maturity and submission on his part, and told him there was a rogue Shifter in our Territory. At the time, Toby hadn’t worried about it. He was sure it was someone passing through who just wanted to mess with the cocky, self-assured coyote who happened to have crossed his path. His theory changed the minute Jase found the second one, Alex, at school today.

“Jase…” Toby began.

“You’re the Pack Leader. I’m here as back-up. My mouth stays shut, and my fists stay at my sides until you tell me otherwise.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

He didn’t even bother reminding me of my role. He knew I would do what he said. I always did what Toby said, had ever since we were kids, and even when it meant I would get my ass worn out for it. Maybe it was because he was my big brother, or maybe it was because even before we Changed I understood pack dynamics. Either way, Toby led, and I followed. Some people might have called me a pansy for it, but only once. Just because my brother is more dominant doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own.

We made a triangle as we walked up to the shoddy porch. Toby took the lead with Jase and I flanking him a few steps behind. As Shifters, things like who walks where is important. By walking in front of his pack members instead of behind them he was saying, “I can take you on my own, but my boys are here if you try any funny stuff.”