Page 63 of Forsaken

I shake my head slowly. “No, I just.... It seems like a very difficult thing to do. To lie to all of us, I mean.”

“Shifters from different packs rarely come together,” Kinsey explains. “The only ones who regularly do are at Greystone.”

She’s got a point there. The solstices are few and far between, and only the higher-ups usually travel from pack-to-pack. The shifters lower in the pack never usually leave their territory unless they haven’t found their mate yet.

“Forget I said anything,” Kinsey smiles. She picks up a billowy makeup brush and dips it in powder before spreading it over my face. “It’s just...if you’re worried about you and Nathan, I wouldn’t be. You guys will be fine.” She stares at me for a long time, as if she’s trying to relay something to me.

I nod. “I don’t know why fate didn’t pair us to begin with.”

“She must have been drunk the day you shifted because she really didn’t get you four right at all.”

I laugh. The idea of Fate, loopy from partaking in party beverages, randomly making decisions that last a lifetime cracks me up—and says so much about Kinsey’s personality. “Not at all. I wonder how Nathan is doing with Gayle?” I grit my teeth. To occupy myself, I pick up an eyeliner and twist it in my fingers. “Sean told me he was with her, but recently she’s changed her mind and wants Nathan back.” The eyeliner in my hands snaps in two.

Kinsey sets down the powder brush and reaches for the two halves. “Don’t go breaking more of this makeup. I barely have any to begin with. If you’re worried about Nathan, which I suspect you are because I would be feeling the same way, don’t be. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He doesn’t feel anything for Gayle anymore.”

“But they’re fated,” I muse aloud, voicing my fears. What if that’s all it takes? Just for her to give in, and Nathan will be right there again, by her side in an instant. He’s told me so many times that all it would take is one word from her. Sure, this was all before we happened, but I can’t get it out of my head.

“Mates are only a good thing when they’re with the right person,” Kinsey states. It feels like she’s holding back on me. Like she keeps skirting around a point that she doesn’t want to express fully. Or she’s too scared to. “Here, I’m shit at eye makeup.”

“Weren’t you the one who came to Greystone not liking any of this?”

She laughs. “That’s because I never had any. I swear when I got back to Lunar, I spent an hour at the cosmetics counter looking over everything. I don’t wear it when I’m out in the greenhouse or anything, but it’s nice to have. Especially during occasions like this.”

In another time, I would be ecstatic to go to a solstice party, but since tonight is my big escape, I’m dreading it. A hundred different scenarios flick through my mind of things that could go wrong. If any of them do, I’ll end up punished and cast out. And not with Nathan, I’m sure. Hell, it might even be worse for the two of us. Robbie was already caught running away. With two more deciding to jump ship—and during the Winter Solstice with shifters from other packs visiting—they could make an example out of us.

Kinsey plugs in a curling iron as I do my eye makeup. After about forty-five minutes, the both of us are ready for our big night at our first solstice ball.

She zips my dress, and the first thing I think is what a shame it will be if I have to shift on the fly. Goodbye beautiful dress. On the other hand, it’s not like I’ll need a fancy dress while running away from Daybreak. Or ever again, actually.

“When we get there, stay close by. Either Jonah or I will tell Nathan the plan. Do you have the directions I gave you?”

I can still feel the prick of paper in my shoe where she made me hide it. It gives the exact location of the car—GPS coordinates along with a hand-drawn map, just in case.

“If you get separated, leave anyway.”

“Leave without Nathan? You’re crazy.”

“I know,” Kinsey says. “Jonah made me say it.”

I laugh. It’s such a Jonah thing to make me promise. Come to think of it, I’m sure Nathan will say the same thing, but I’m not going anywhere without him.

Real fear slices through me. I thought I was nervous about escaping—about what I’ll find or won’t find close to Twilight territory—but the real fear that settles over my shoulders now is if I’ll have to do it without Nathan. Or if, somehow, I’ll lose him in the process.

Like I said, a hundred different things can go wrong. I squeeze my eyes closed. “Fuck.”

“Deep breaths,” Kinsey reminds me. “You have to go out there and act like nothing is wrong. We don’t want Sean getting suspicious.”

“When are Nathan and I leaving?” At this point, I’m thinking the sooner, the better. Or that could just be the restlessness in me talking.

“We’ll give you a signal. We’re going to create a diversion that will take at least Sean and Gayle’s attention off you both. I’m glad you told me she was having second thoughts about the rejection because that could complicate things.” She frets over her lip.

“Don’t tell me that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she scolds. “That’s a problem for Jonah and me. You do what we discussed, okay?”

I nod, my throat thick with trapped emotion, and take a deep, steadying breath. As soon as I see Nathan, I’ll feel better about this.

26

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