“Weʼre going to camp out tonight.”

Camping out. Turning into coyotes and trying to kill my boyfriend. It was all the same thing, really.

Play it cool, Scout. You can do this.

“Camping? In March?”

“Weʼre manly men,” Charlie said with a wink, causing the corners of my lips to twitch against my will.

“Iʼve not seen much evidence to support that claim.”

The look on Charlieʼs face was positively wicked. “Do you want another piece of me, Scout?” He managed to deliver the common line of trash talk so that it sounded like a come-on.

And, despite everything, I did want a piece of him. All sorts of pieces. Lip pieces. Hand pieces. And his Adamʼs apple. Charlie had a very nice looking Adamʼs apple.

I was still stammering for a response when something fell onto my head, obscuring my vision. Once I pulled it off, I realized it was one of Momʼs cardigan sweaters. Jase must have reached into the mud room and grabbed the first thing he found.

“You looked cold,” he said in a flat voice.

The sweater was a bit small on me, the sleeves stopping a good two inches above my wrists, but it managed to cover me up and get my hormones in check.

“What are you doing home anyway?” I asked Charlie. “Arenʼt you supposed to be spending your Spring Break in Miami with December or whatever her name is?” Of course, I knew her name was January, but only because Jase had finally told me, and he only did that after I questioned him directly. Since Charlie never bothered mentioning that he had a girlfriend, I didnʼt feel compelled to call her the right name.

Charlie gave Jase a quick, annoyed look before telling me, a bit too enthusiastically, “Weʼre leaving Monday. I promised Jase a camping trip first.” Yeah, I couldnʼt imagine poor stupid-month-for-a-name would be very understanding when Charlie disappeared for an entire night during their romantic getaway. Also, it would be a bit difficult for him to attack my boyfriend from a different state.

Charlie peppered me with questions about school as I dug through the cabinets in search of a Pop-Tart. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. We were really supposed to sit around, eat a casual breakfast, and have prosaic conversation? They were planning an assault just five minutes ago! How could they change gears so quickly?

“Where are you going?” Charlie asked as I made my way out of the kitchen with my generic strawberry toaster pastry in one hand and a cup of acerbic liquid in the other.

“I was thinking about hitting a few sales on Sunset and then heading down to Chateau Marmont to spend the afternoon lounging by the pool while Jensen Ackles feeds me peeled grapes.”

“Sunset is overrated, and you hate grapes. Stay and play with me.” Was it horrible that part of me wanted to do just that? “Canʼt. Iʼve got a ton of errands to run.” I hurried out of the room before Charlie could respond, knowing that if I lingered he would convince me to stay.

Chapter 14

As far as Mom and Dad are concerned, Iʼm the good twin. Jase isnʼt necessarily bad, he just has a habit of attending out of control parties, staying out past curfew, and giving misinformation as to his whereabouts. On the other hand, I have our librarianʼs home number on speed dial. For that reason, my parents never considered that I wasnʼt telling the truth when I said I was spending the night with Talley.

I blamed Alex for my subterfuge. He hadnʼt answered any of my texts or voicemails, which left me with no other options. It wasnʼt exactly as if I could tell my parents that I was going to traipse through the woods looking for my boyfriend, a wolf, to warn him that my brother, a coyote, was planning some sort of attack. Iʼm not sure which part would come closer to giving Mom a coronary - that Jase was a Shifter, or that I had a boyfriend I failed to mention.

I studied the map one last time before getting out of the car at Pelican Landing. According to the good people at the Lake County Visitors Bureau, Chestnut-Oak was three miles due east. I decided the best option was to simply start walking in that direction and hope Alex picked up on my scent before he Changed. With any luck, I would come up with a contingency plan before the sun disappeared.

I hadnʼt been in the woods long when the clouds began to roll overhead, causing a premature loss of the sun as a directional guide. Since I had skipped the whole Girl Scout thing in favor of activities Jase and I could do together, my ability to navigate in the wilderness was fairly pathetic. As far as I could tell, moss grew on more than one side of a tree and the compass feature on my phone was less than helpful. I would have called Talley, whose mother insisted on an outdoor survival seminar two summers ago, but the trees blocked all reception.

The most logical thing would have been to follow the lakeʼs edge around to the Chestnut-Oak campground. Unfortunately, the lake wasnʼt where it was supposed to be. I was stomping around in circles, trying to figure out where someone could have hidden a freaking lake, when the first raindrop fell. It was quickly followed by a million others. The thunder and lightning werenʼt far behind.

My options for shelter were pretty limited. I eventually found a place where a large tree had fallen over onto a big rock near the base of a hill. It wasnʼt the Hilton, or even a nice dry cave, but it blocked some of the wind and rain and could possibly prevent anything from smashing in my head.

The rain was cold. Not just cold, but icy cold. In fact, I felt certain there was sleet mixed in at times. As the wind ripped through the flimsy protection offered by my hoodie, I began to realize the fairly hopeless situation I had gotten myself into and began to pray that either the storm would pass over or that some kind person would come to my rescue.

Apparently, Alex wasnʼt the only one avoiding my calls. Or maybe God just didnʼt feel the need to answer the prayers of complete morons.

The last time I checked my still serviceless phone, it was just before two. After that, I couldnʼt seem to get my fingers to work well enough to dig into the pocket of my soaking wet jeans. My last thought before closing my eyes was that this was an exceptionally stupid way to die.

***

When I first heard my name I thought I was delusional, or that an Angel of Death had come to call me from this world to the next. Either way, it didn't seem worth the effort to open my eyes.

I decided to go with the Angel of Death theory when I felt my body being lifted off the ground. Apparently, he decided if I wasnʼt going to get up and follow him to Heaven, he would just carry me through the Pearly Gates. Of course, that was assuming I was going to Heaven.