Page 24 of The Tracker's Rage
God, please let her be all right.
I pushed my baby sister to arm’s length. “How is she?”
Lucia was unable to answer and glanced at Dani, who seemed in better control of her emotions.
“She’ll be fine,” Dani said, her tone reassuring, professional, as if she were speaking about one of her own patients.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I know one of the doctors, and I talked to her before they took Mom to the operating room. She said Mom will be okay.”
The big pressure that had built and built in my chest on my way here released a little, and suddenly I could breathe much more easily.
Dani’s and Lucia’s gazes drifted over my shoulder, and without glancing back, I knew Jake was there. His scent and presence felt like a north to my adrift life. I resisted the urge to whirl around and tell him to leave. I needed to sever our bond once and for all, but how?
Doing my best to ignore him, I took a deep breath and asked my next question. “What happened?”
This time it was Dani’s turn to defer to Lucia.
“I was late for school,” my little sister said, “and Mom was going to drive me there. We were leaving the house when this huge black wolf came out of nowhere.”
My heart stopped as she spoke and related everything that had happened. Jake moved closer and stood next to me, his full attention on my sister.
“I saw the wolf in time,” Lucia continued, “and told Mom to run. I hurled my backpack at it and turned tail after Mom. It all happened so fast. She was slow, and the wolf was coming. I used my powers to hurl a couple of Mom’s potted plants backwards. You know the ones she keeps on the porch, but I did it without looking back. I was just so panicked, I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“It’s okay, Luce.” Dani rubbed our little sister’s back. “It’s okay. You did good.”
Lucia had strong telekinetic abilities. She had once made a tornado of toys in her room when she got mad at me for drawing a poop emoji on her coloring book. She could be scary.
She shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes. “No, I didn’t. She could have died because I wasn’t brave enough. I should have turned around and faced that bastard. But Mom tripped on the porch steps and fell, and he jumped on her and bit her.”
She wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach, horror rippling from her like a wave, hitting me with its powerful quality and making me feel as if I’d been there.
“Who was it? Do you know him?” Jake asked, his voice like the calm before the storm.
“No, but,” her tone turned bitter and angry, “I hope werewolves can’t grow back their eyeballs.”
My eyebrows went up. What had Lucia managed to do?
“She used her skill and sent a garden weeder straight into the wolf’s eye,” Dani said. “It gave her enough time to pull Mom into the house and shut the door. The protective spells kept the beast from coming in.”
Lucia was crying, big fat tears sliding down her cheeks.
“Luce,” I said, squeezing her hand. “Dani’s right, you did great. You saved Mom.”
But she pulled her hand from mine, unwilling to believe she’d done enough to help her. She sat back down and crossed her arms, closing herself off.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Dani said. “Who could have attacked her?” She searched my face, and I noticed a hint of accusation in her eyes—not that I could blame her. We’d just discovered I was a werewolf, and the next thing we knew, one was trying to kill our mother.
Worst of all... she was right. This was my fault.
I turned to Jake. “It was Blake.”
He nodded, fully in agreement.
“Who?” Dani asked.
“It’s a long story,” I said.
