Page 22 of Wolf Cursed
“Does she know?” Kai asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“What about her?” Kai asked. “Her old man was one of us.”
“I don’t know. Something’s off. I can’t get a scent. It’s like she’s just human.”
I blinked, confused. Of course I was human. What the hell else did he expect? But then I thought of my dad. The weird beast he’d morphed into right before he’d died. Did Oscar and Kai know something about it? And did that have anything to do with Kai’s question the other day?
What are you?
It hadn’t made sense, and I’d nearly forgotten about it in favor of all of the other fantasies I’d been having since. But now, it seemed important.
Before I could decide what it all meant, I heard Oscar again.
“I know that look. What’s your instinct tell you, kid?”
I stilled. It was a weird way to phrase it, but I understood what it meant. Oscar wanted to know what Kai honestly thought about me. And even though it shouldn’t have mattered, I wanted to know what his answer would be.
“She’s different,” he said, and I huffed. The vagueness of his words only frustrated me more. He cleared his throat, clearly not willing to elaborate.
“She’s harmless,” Oscar said.
“Look, the fact is it’s just as dangerous for her as it is for us.”
“I’ll take responsibility,” Oscar said.
Kai snorted. “You sure that’s a job you want? Something tells me that girl finds trouble wherever she goes.”
“She’s family,” Oscar repeated and then after a pause, “If you won’t give your blessing, I’ll go to the council.”
Kai growled, a sound of frustration. “The council already knows, Oz. You had her working your phones today, apparently. Without a single heads up to the rest of them.”
“Shit,” Oscar muttered. “Now what?”
“Keep her out of the woods. Hell, keep her inside these walls if you can. And I’ll do my best to keep the others off your back. But you need to find a way to get rid of her.”
“I can handle the others,” Oscar said.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m afraid of.”
I barely registered footsteps signaling the conversation had ended before the door swung open and Kai stepped back inside the office. Our eyes met, and I had zero doubt he knew I’d been eavesdropping. Instead of calling me out for it, he sniffed then wrinkled his nose as if something had disgusted him.
“You really shouldn’t be here, Ashes,” he said then started for the exit.
Ashes?
“That’s what Drake said.”
He stopped and stared at me. “When did you talk to Drake?”
“He looked at my car. Then he told me I needed your permission to live in this town.”
“And what did you tell him?”
I couldn’t help the smirk that spread as I remembered my words. “Oh, he didn’t deliver my message?” I asked, fluttering my lashes innocently.
He shook his head.
