Unraveled

“Do not interfere,” Maxwell told him with a finger pointed at his chest.

Nathan snorted. “Like he’ll obey you. He always does what he wants. You know that.”

She nodded in agreement, and both brothers focused on her. Uh-oh. All that intensity…closing in on her, one in front and one behind. Why had she agreed to this, again?

“You ready, little girl?”

“You gonna sob like a baby if we get a little rough?”

Both were taunting her, and at first, her hackles rose. Then she remembered what Aden had told her. When fighting, emotions could ruin you. They made you dumb, kept you distracted. You had to remain distanced. You had to do whatever was needed to survive.

I feel nothing. Except nervous. Argh! She raised her chin, pretending, at least, to be calm. “I won’t cry if you don’t.”

Surprise flickered in both their eyes, and Maxwell even looked like he was fighting a grin.

“Spirit,” he said. “Let’s see how quickly we can crush it.”

In a snap, they were on her, tossing her to the ground like a doll, their now sharp, long teeth near her neck. She was too shocked—and terrified—to move or even block them. They’d swarmed her so quickly, her gaze had failed to track them.

Slowly, they backed away from her, standing over her and peering down. Something to note: they hadn’t chewed her face off.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Nathan grumbled, and offered her a hand to help her up.

Her knees almost gave out when she tried to balance her weight.

“Vamps and wolves are faster than any human you can imagine,” Maxwell told her. “Clearly, you’re much slower.”

“Yeah, uh, I just figured that out. Thanks.”

Both chuckled.

“Vamps want your blood, and while they don’t have to dive for your neck to get it, that’s what they prefer. It’s harder for humans to push them away that way. Plus, it weakens the victim faster.”

“So basically, we’re like cows to them,” she said dryly.

“Except, you kill cows. Vamps just drink and discard, their food still kicking when they’re done.” Nathan shrugged. “For the most part.”

For the most part. Such a pleasant add-on. Mary Ann pressed her lips together as she recalled an exception to that “for the most part.” She’d watched several vampires torture and kill a boy named Ozzie. They’d splayed him out on a table—Tucker, too—and used him as an appetizer at their party, until the life drained out of him.

Either the wolves read her mind or her pinched expression gave her away. “Yeah, we heard about that,” Maxwell said. “Like humans, there are good and bad vampires. Good and bad wolves, too.”

“Speaking of, wolves don’t feed on humans.” Nathan picked up the lesson, expanding it. “If a wolf is attacking you, that wolf just wants you dead. And a wolf’s claws can ruin you in seconds, so your main goal when fighting a shifter is to avoid being slashed.”

“I never would have figured that out,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “So exactly how am I supposed to do that?”

“We’ll show you. Just try and keep up.”

For every minute of Riley’s allotted two hours, the boys worked with her. They tossed her down; they even threw her into trees. She lost her breath, nearly broke her wrist and definitely twisted her ankle, yet still she persisted. Still she made them keep coming at her.

They taught her many things. Mainly, she couldn’t hide from them. Their sense of smell was twenty times greater than a human’s. Their hearing was forty times greater. Also, they liked it when she ran. She became a game, a prize, and their heart rate would quicken with the challenge, their need to conquer intensifying.

If wolves approached her while in a pack, she was to remember that they were territorial and very rigidly structured. There was always a leader. Always. That leader controlled the actions of the others. If she could defeat the leader, she could defeat the pack. Unless, of course, the leader told the pack to glom onto her.

Warning signs of an impending glomming: their hair would rise. They would bare their teeth and growl.

Every time Maxwell and Nathan demonstrated that, in human and wolf form, her fear ratcheted another notch. They scented that fear, and it upped their hunger level, increasing the odds against her. She would have to learn to control her physical reactions, to show no fear, as Aden had already told her.

How? It was possible to hide an expression. It wasn’t possible to stop her heart from racing.

In the meantime, she now knew their noses were sensitive, more so than a human’s, so if she could hit them on their noses, she could buy herself several precious seconds to find a weapon. A stick, a rock, anything would help.

If they managed to pounce and push her down while she did so, she had to try and snap their necks with a firm twist of her wrists before they tore out her throat. Also, it was better to shove her hand into their mouths to keep their teeth busy with her fingers and wrist than to let them bite into her neck. Because if that happened, she was dead, no question. She could live without a hand.

If she was near water, she was to jump in. Wolves had a hard time fighting in water. They could do it, but it wasn’t their preference. And if she was lucky, they would give up and move on at that point, eager for readier prey.

By the end, she was sweaty, dirty and yeah, bleeding, not to mention grateful for the darkened sky. The boys hadn’t scratched her, per Riley’s orders, but the rocks and bark had. A few times, from the corner of her eye, she’d seen Riley stalk toward her, but then he would catch himself and return to his post, watching.

Maxwell and Nathan, at least, were just as sweaty and dirty as she was.

“Good job, human.” Maxwell patted her on the shoulder, and she pitched forward. Laughing, Maxwell caught her and helped her straighten. “I expected you to beg for mercy after five minutes.”

With that, the two sauntered away, clothes flying behind them as they undressed, leaving her alone with Riley. Howls soon erupted.

“Meet us in town,” Riley called. “One hour.”

More howls.

Agreement?

“Come on,” Riley said to her now. “Time to leave the forest. Goblins are starting to emerge.”

Together, they raced to the car he had stashed at the edge of the forest and slipped inside. Soon her heart was pounding in tune to the car’s revving engine. From all the exercise, yes, but also from being so close to her now-ex. Don’t cry.

“Do your brothers know about me?” she asked, even though she knew the answer.

“No, and we won’t tell them.”

“Won’t they realize something’s different about me if I lead us straight to a witch? I mean—”

Riley was shaking his head. “Believe me, I’ll be taking credit for finding the witch. If we find one. So no worries. Right now we’re going to the vampire mansion.”

“I should go home, shower and change first,” she said, very conscious of how she must look. Hobo central.

“Why? You’ll just get dirty again.”

“At the mansion?”

“In town. That’s where we’re going after. To hunt, remember. If I don’t hunt with you, you’ll go alone. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten your ultimatum.”

She wouldn’t apologize for that. Her intentions were too pure.

“Anyway,” he said, not quite so grumpy, “you can’t go home.”

True. Her dad was there, and he’d ask questions she wasn’t prepared to answer and think things she didn’t want him to think. What have you been doing? Where have you been? Someone hurt you. Did they force you to do…things? Then he’d get the police involved. No, thanks.

“So why are we going to the mansion?” she asked.

“I want to take you to Victoria and get some of her blood inside you.”

What? “Oh, no. No, no, no. I’m not drinking anyone’s blood.” She shook her head for emphasis.

“It’ll strengthen you, heal your injuries.”

In her seat, she swayed back and forth with the bump, bump of the tires. “It’ll also force me to see the world through her eyes, and I have enough problems facing it through my own.”

“That’ll only last a few hours.”

“Don’t care. I’m not injured badly enough to justify it.”

His knuckles tightened on the wheel. Had she not been watching him so closely, she would have missed the telling reaction. “Yeah, but it just might slow down your new ability.”

Thanks for the reminder. “Are you sure about that? Because maybe it’ll speed the abilities up like the spell did. Not that you’re one hundred percent certain I’m a Drainer, remember?” she added in a rush.

He massaged the back of his neck. “Fine.” He maneuvered the car off the grass and onto a nearby dirt road, then turned around and headed in the opposite direction. “No blood.”

“Thank you.”

“Save your thanks. I know you want to break up with me, and that’s coloring your reaction to my helpful suggestions, but you have to—”

“Wait. Want? No. Not even close.” She wouldn’t have him believing he meant nothing to her. He meant everything. “I just don’t want to hurt you, Riley.”

“And I don’t want to hurt you.” He reached over and clasped her hand, their fingers intertwining. His skin was warm, callused. “So here’s the thing. We have two days. Two days before the death curse takes effect, and I don’t want to spend those days fighting with you.”

Oh, God. She’d never thought of things that way. Two days, yeah, she’d realized—and hated—that, but how she would spend those days? Enjoying them or lost to misery? No. Not even a blip.

“I don’t either,” she admitted.

He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss into her pulse, hot, soft, his tongue even flicking out for a quick taste. Goose bumps spread. “Good, because I want to be with you while we face this. After that, you can break up with me if that’s what you still want. Just don’t expect me to like it or walk away without a fight.”