“Yes,” Abby said in her toughest voice.
“I’m sorry if that’s the way it appeared,” Ryder said, softening. “I was just hoping to make some new friends while I was in town.”
“Well, we have enough friends,” Ivy said.
Now Ryder’s two friends were close behind him.
Champ continued to bark even louder.
“Well, perhaps you can squeeze in a few more,” Ryder said.
Champ began to growl.
Ryder stared at Champ, his gaze fixed with intensity. Champ stopped growling and sat down quietly.
I was shocked. Brandon was able to do this all the time, and Nash had done the same thing only a few days ago to a barking Apollo. It wasn’t normal. There could be only one reason Ryder had the power to do that.
I held on to Champ’s leash and moved back a few inches.
Ivy and Abby seemed puzzled.
“What are you, a dog whisperer?” Abby asked.
“Of sorts,” he said cryptically.
I didn’t let on that I knew who—or what—he was. I couldn’t say it in front of my friends.
“What were you doing in the woods?” Ivy said.
“Hunting,” the blond said with a laugh.
“You can’t hunt here!” Abby scolded.
“We don’t use guns,” the redhead chimed in.
I felt creeped out by their insinuations, and I knew what they were talking about.
“I don’t care what you use,” Abby said. “You need to go back where you came from.”
“We’re planning on being here for a bite longer…I mean bit,” the blond said. The gang laughed at his joke.
“You guys are juvies,” Ivy said. “We have better things to do than talk to you. C’mon, girls, let’s go.”
“Wait—” Ryder said. “We got off on the wrong foot.” He held out his hand.
“I’m Ryder and this is Leopold,” he said, referring to the scraggly blond. “And this is Hunter,” he said, gesturing toward the fiery redhead.
The two guys waved and smiled.
“Hunter?” Abby said with a laugh. “Seems appropriate.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ivy said, polite enough. “But we have to be going.” She pulled me and Abby away from the guys and toward the SUV.
But Ryder jogged after us.
“We wanted to know if you ladies would like to go out sometime,” Ryder said, catching up to us at the car.
Abby turned and gazed up at him. It wasn’t the first time guys had ever flirted with us, and she always seemed to get a rise out of it. “Our calendar is filled,” she said to him coyly.
“Well, maybe you can cancel a few things,” he insisted.
“Uh…I think not,” Ivy said. “We really have to go.”
Then Ryder stepped toward me. “What about you?” he asked, staring straight at me.
“She has a boyfriend,” Abby said for me. “And he’s really big and strong.”
“Can’t she speak for herself?” Ryder asked.
“Listen,” Ivy began. “You leave her alone. Leave us alone.”
“I don’t know what tricks you put on to her dog. You must have one of those whistles that only dogs hear,” Abby said.
Ryder just smiled.
“And wolves, too,” Leopold said.
I could tell that Abby liked the attention slightly and couldn’t help but flirt back with the guys. But I didn’t want to give them any passes to hang out with us now or in the future.
“I’m sure you can find three single girls in town who would love to hang out with you guys,” Ivy finally said.
“You think so?” Hunter said.
“Absolutely.”
“I’m not so sure,” Abby challenged with a mischievous smile. Everything was a game to her, and this was no exception.
“Yes, there will be some,” Ivy said. “We’ve got to go.”
“Are you so sure?” Hunter asked.
“Come on, Ivy,” I said. “It’s been lovely talking but we have to get home and study. We have school, you know.”
“We hope to see you again,” Ryder said.
“In your dreams,” Ivy muttered.
Ryder’s comment left a feeling of uneasiness inside me. They hung back as we got into the SUV.
When we were safely inside, we turned around. The guys were gone.
I petted Champ, who growled as he stared toward the woods.
“Those guys were creepy!” Ivy said as she drove off.
“I know. I wonder what they want,” I said. The idea that Ryder could possibly be a werewolf frightened me. The full moon was only a week away.
“Yes, total stalkers,” Ivy said. “Like they have nothing to do but hang out in malls—and now the woods—accosting girls?”
“I think that Ryder guy was hot. They all were,” said Abby. She leaned against her seat, dreaming. “If I wasn’t going out with Dylan, I might like Ryder. Or maybe Hunter. Or maybe Leopold. Which one would you like?” she said to Ivy.
“Gross, Abby! Besides, I love Jake.”
“Duh. I know that, but if not.”
“Ooh,” she said. “Not going there.”
“C’mon, Ivy!” Abby said. “You have to pick one.”
“Well, I guess I’d choose the redhead. I thought he was cute. I mean, no, I don’t!”
“You do!” Abby squealed.
“Now you, Celeste.”
“Yes, we’ve both done it,” Ivy said, looking in the rearview mirror.
“Who would you choose?” Abby pressed.
I couldn’t bear to think about anyone besides Brandon. “Brandon is the only guy for me,” I said.
Ivy pulled into Abby’s driveway and turned off the engine.
“But if he didn’t exist,” Abby said.
“I don’t know—”
“You have to say. We did,” Ivy insisted. “I’m not letting you out until you do.” She pressed the locks on the car.
Ryder was different. He was unlike any guy in town—or that I’d ever seen. He was edgy and had piercings and tattoos. I was intrigued by his style and brazen attitude, though put off by his rude behavior. Now that my friends put me on the spot, I couldn’t help but wonder what I’d think of him if I hadn’t met Brandon. I thought long and hard. The three guys were each hot in their own right. But there was one who looked a lot like the guy I was already in love with. “Ryder,” I said.
“I knew it!” Abby said. “There’s a connection there.”
“There is not.”
“I could feel it,” she went on. “He is so hot for you!”
“No he’s not. Don’t say that. I love Brandon.”
“Leave her alone,” Ivy told Abby.
“He doesn’t even know me,” I said.
“He doesn’t have to. It’s your beauty and aura,” Abby teased.
Ivy unlocked the doors and we all got out. We went into Abby’s house, and Pumpkin and Champ played around as we ate pizza. I continued to be distracted by our new situation. I think we had just come in contact with three more handsome, but freaky, werewolves.
When I got home, I had a hard time shaking Ryder from my thoughts. The way he stared at me was no longer creepy—it was intense. It was as if he knew me—or wanted to know me. The part that bothered me was that it was slightly thrilling. He was so intense and confident, it was attractive.
I’d also never been exposed to someone like him. Was he a hood or a thug or just a misunderstood teen? He was the opposite of anyone I’d ever been attracted to in my life. He lived on the edge, and though this usually turned me off, I found in this case I was battling myself because this time it didn’t.
I’d had a crush on Nash for a few years before we dated. He was handsome. Popular. A basketball star.
And I was so in love with Brandon, sometimes I couldn’t see straight. I loved everything about him: the way he was compassionate toward animals, the times he helped his grandmother with groceries, how he wasn’t afraid to put his life in
harm’s way. He really was the most courageous guy I’d ever known.
Ryder was also something out of the ordinary. I wasn’t sure why he was so interested in me. I might not give him a second thought, since I was already in love with someone else, but there was this magnetic pull I had toward him that I couldn’t shake. His edgy personality and intensity stuck with me; I was having a hard time getting him out of my mind.
I wondered what it would be like if I’d never met Brandon or Nash—that I’d met Ryder instead. Would I be the kind of girl who would be pulled to someone who was so unlike myself? And live on the wild side with a dangerous and daring guy with spiky hair, tattoos, and more earrings than I wore?
But I was in love with someone—and it wasn’t him. It was Brandon. A handsome, rugged gentleman in his own right, with integrity and a zest for life and nature that appealed to me way more than a reckless, back-talking, attractive punk. I reminisced about being held in Brandon’s powerful embrace and being lost when our lips touched and melted together. It wasn’t long before I forgot all about a guy named Ryder.
NINE
wicked werewolves
I wasn’t able to see Brandon until the following day at school, and I was so hungry to tell him the latest details.
“Remember those weird guys that I saw at the convenience store and the mall? They showed up near my house.” We sat on the school’s front steps as I told Brandon all about what had transpired.
“I wish I had known what was going on at the mall,” he said. “I would have jumped out of the doctor’s office and come right away.”
“You had a good reason to be somewhere else. Is your grandmother all right?” I asked.
“I should be asking if you are okay.”
“Yes, I’m okay.” I smiled sweetly. “What did the doctor say about her?”
“To beware of the full moon.”
I was stunned. But then he grinned, and we both laughed.
“It was just her annual checkup,” Brandon went on. “I can’t believe I wasn’t there for you,” he lamented.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up.”
“Who are these guys?” he wondered. “Why have they come to town? And why are they bothering you?”
“One of them said that they’ve come for the Legend’s Run Werewolf Fest.”
“But that’s a week away.”
“I know. But I might know why. I think they are werewolves.”
“You do?” he asked with concern. “Why?”
“The way one of them eyed Champ. Champ was barking and growling. Then Ryder stared at him, and Champ lay down as if he were ready for a nap. It’s the same skill you’ve had since you transformed. Nash did it to Apollo, too, remember?”
Brandon turned away from me as if he was really hit by this news. “There are more werewolves than just me and Nash?”
I nodded. “I think so.”
“This can’t have happened,” Brandon said. “How?”
“I don’t know. But I am convinced that they are werewolves.”
“This can’t be happening,” Brandon reiterated.
“I’m freaking out, too,” I conceded. “And what if they aren’t like you and Nash? You saw it—Nash isn’t the same kind of werewolf you are. He’s mean. These guys are rude by day—imagine what they’d be like if they turn at night?”
“We have enough to deal with already.” Brandon was clearly worried. “This isn’t fair. How can we handle everything at once?”
I was overwhelmed, too. “We’ll have to think of something. They said they were looking for new friends. I think I know what they mean.”
He turned to me. “You?”
I nodded again. “I’m afraid.”
“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“I know that. But what if they want all of us? You can’t be everywhere!”
“Nash will be taking the serum soon. Then at least he will hopefully be normal. But now you think there are more? I haven’t got a cure for all of us.”
“I don’t know if that is what they’re after. They seem like a gang. I think they might be searching for more members.”
“More werewolves?”
“I know…. They seemed so interested in me—and Ivy and Abby. I can’t have my friends in jeopardy.”
“What do we do?” he wondered, frustrated.
“Maybe we should ask Nash to wait to take the cure in case we need help with these new werewolves.”
“I can’t ask him that.”
“I know. I will,” I said.
“We can handle this alone. I can handle this alone.”
“I’m not sure we have that choice. Dr. Meadows warned me—so if it isn’t you or Nash…it might be—”
“One of them?” he asked.
I was truly frightened. My eyes filled with tears. My whole life was so far out of hand.
“We need to find them before the full moon,” Brandon said just as first bell rang. After class, I caught up to Nash at his locker.
“I need to talk to you,” I said hurriedly.
“Me first,” he said. “I want to tell you and Brandon thank you. I’ve been acting so strangely lately. I know it’s the full moon approaching. But the only thing that is saving me from going crazy is knowing that I’ll be able to take that serum.”
“That’s what I want to talk to you about.”
He paused. “He doesn’t have it?”
“No, he does.”
Nash was relieved. But then his bright expression darkened. “He’s not going to let me have it?”
“Can you just listen?”
“Fine. Go ahead,” he said impatiently. “But I do want to say this: When I am normal, things can be right again between us. He’ll still be a werewolf—with all the unpredictable events that go along with it. But you should be with someone you can count on. You deserve that, Celeste.”
“I appreciate your looking out for me,” I said as sweetly as I could. “But this isn’t about us. You understand I am with Brandon—whether he is a werewolf or not.”
He rolled his eyes. “A guy can try.”
“I need you to understand that.” I wanted Nash to know where we stood—for now and the future—and do it in a kind and sympathetic way.
“Yes. Yes,” he said. “I do.”
“But I need your help this time. For me.”
“Okay. Just tell me.”
“There is something that happened in the last few days.”
“What happened?”
“These guys that came to town—you might have heard about them from Ivy and Abby. They are here for the Werewolf Festival.”
“Are they the creepers?”
“Yes. That’s them.”
“Did they bother you?”
“Yes. And I’m afraid of them.”
He gazed at me earnestly. “Me, Jake, and Dylan can straighten them out,” he said. “I have no problem kicking their—”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I can,” Nash said, his chest puffed out.
“I know. But there is something else you can do.”
“What?”
“Don’t take the serum on the full moon,” I said, looking at him with my eyes wide and pleading.
“Are you insane? Why would I do that?”
“Nash, I think they might not be just regular guys.”
“Then what kind of guys are they?”
“I think they are werewolves.”
Nash was shocked. As if he couldn’t comprehend any more werewolves other than him and Brandon.
I stared at him intently. “And I think they are searching for others—girls—to join their pack.”
“How did you get that in your head?”
“This one guy—Ryder—stared down Champ like you did Apollo, like Brandon did in the wolf enclosure at the zoo. The only humans I’ve seen who can do that are also werewolves.”
“How can that be?” he asked. “More werewolves in town? I’ve nev
er even heard of this Ryder guy.”
“They are from Huntington. And I think they want to try to turn me.”
This time Nash was the calm one, being helpful to me. “You don’t know for sure that they really are werewolves.”
“I do, Nash. I’ve seen it with you and Brandon. I know what these guys are. And remember Dr. Meadows’s prediction? If you aren’t the one who is going to bite me, that means one of them is.”
“So we’ll have to do something,” he said. “No one is going to hurt you.”
I felt relieved by his protectiveness toward me and decided I could ask him the tough question. “Will you delay taking the serum until the following full moon? I need you to be as fast and strong as they are so Brandon will not be all alone. You have to be on Brandon’s side, as a werewolf, in case they try anything crazy.”
He scooted back and looked away. Then he leaned in again. “I can help—and I will help. But as a human.”
“What? You won’t wait?”
“I can’t wait. I have to be normal again.”
“But can’t you even at least think about it?” I asked.
He put his hand on mine. “I can do more as myself than I can as a werewolf, Celeste. I am a monster when I turn—uncontrollable. I still might be the one that would be biting you. I can’t take that chance.”
“Please do it for me,” I begged him.
“But I am—I’m taking it for us both.”
“Nash, when have I ever asked you to do anything? How can you say no to this? It’s only one more month!”
“You are asking me to not be normal anymore. And now that I remember everything—I know what’s in my heart. I can’t be the one who hurts you.”
“I am asking you to do something for me. For once in your life not to leave me just sitting on the sidelines, helping you.” I was so exasperated with his selfishness. “Uh, Brandon was right. He can do this on his own. I was stupid to think you cared about anything but yourself.”
I turned away from Nash and stormed off. I could sense his bewilderment as I left him sitting alone, students staring at him as they walked down the stairs.
TEN
the search
How are we going to find these guys?” I asked Brandon in the parking lot after school.