Free Legend of Witchtrot Road by E.J. Stevens Page A

sleep in. She is such a sweetheart. You have a good friend there. Emma was worried about you, but had to leave early to work the morning shift at the animal shelter. She said that she would call you on her lunch break.
    Gordy also stopped by and left this little black cat for you. What a nice boy. He said he hoped it would cheer you up.
    Are you sure you’re okay, sweetie? You’ve been getting a lot of migraines lately. I blame your father’s mother. You never met Grandma Stennings, but she always suffered terrible headaches. Maybe your father can remember what remedies she used.
    Hope you are able to get some rest and enjoy this lovely sunny Saturday. Perhaps Calvin will come over to check on you?
    Love,
    Mom
    Gordy stopped by? I hope he didn’t run into Emma.
    That would have been majorly awkward. I fingered the origami cat and decided to make thank you cards for my friends while waiting for the laundry to wash and coffee to brew. Today was going to be a good day. I could feel it in my bones.

    *****
    I cal ed Cal around noon hoping that we could hang out and maybe do some reconnaissance of Witchtrot Road.
    Something fishy was going on surrounding Dylan’s death and I was sick of being blamed for it. Maybe we could uncover something before I had to return to school on Monday. A girl can hope, right?
    “Hel o?” Cal answered.
    He sounded flustered and his voice was muffled.
    “Cal?” I asked. “Is everything okay? I can barely hear you.”
    Something crashed and Cal let out a low growl.
    “Stop, now!” Cal ordered. “Nobody move. Simon, that means you too.” Cal let out a huge sigh. “Sorry, Yuki, I don’t mean you. I’ve been trying to keep these two from kil ing each other and it’s not working.”
    “Are they fighting?” I asked.
    “Always,” Cal said. “The crashing was actual y an attempt to get them to work together. I asked Simon and Gabriel to help me clean the cabin—which they are trying to accomplish by throwing furniture at each other. I don’t think the cabin wil survive much more of this.”
    “Anything I can do to help?” I asked.
    “Not after yesterday,” Cal said softly.
    Cal was stil worried about me. His soothing voice was like a warm embrace. I closed my eyes and pictured his strong arms wrapped around me. Yesterday was horrible, but I couldn’t live my life in fear.
    “I’m fine, real y,” I said. “If I just sit here, alone al day, I’l go crazy.
    “Wel …” Cal began.
    “Come on, spil ,” I said. “Anything I can do to help is better than hanging around an empty house.”
    “Okay, but you’re not going to like it,” Cal said, final y giving in.
    Cal was right. I didn’t like it. Not at all.

    *****
    It was a beautiful sunny Saturday and I was spending it sitting beside a sulking werewolf. I definitely drew the short straw. How did I end up babysitting The Brat?
    When I asked Cal if there was anything I could do to help keep Simon and Gabriel from kil ing each other, I hadn’t expected to be put on Gabe duty. No, I was thinking more like distracting them with pizza or ice cream.
    Unfortunately, things had escalated since yesterday and tempers had gone from fiery to nuclear.
    According to Cal, Gabriel had confronted him regarding Simon’s status as pack Lieutenant. Apparently he wasn’t too happy about Simon’s new role as Cal’s second in command. Gabriel wanted to chal enge Simon to some kind of werewolf deathmatch—a duel fought with tooth and claw, rather than guns and bul ets.
    Cal needed to spend the day going over pack law with Simon. They both wanted to come up with an alternative.
    Simon may not like Gabriel, but he wasn’t thril ed with the idea of fighting his dead girlfriend’s kid brother. Cal also wanted to avoid unnecessary death and injury.
    Cal cared about every member of his pack and wanted to change some of the old ways, but was wise enough to know that too much change too soon could cause more harm than good. Cal needed to find a