Free Purity by Claire Farrell

felt. I didn’t know if she had gone willingly or not, but whatever happened, I couldn’t be sure that Jeremy and Opa were safe. I threw the sandwich in the bin in disgust. “I need a run.”
    “You can’t,” Amelia said.
    “Try stopping me,” I snapped.
    Byron gripped my shoulder a little harder than necessary. “No, she means you can’t run here anymore. There’s been a regular police presence since you left. They’re watching for wolves, dangerous dogs, anything. They reckon we must run dog fights, and they don’t seem to have anything better to do, so we’ve been driving out to hunt. It’s a pain, but we don’t have much choice.”
    “You could move on,” Ryan said.
    I wondered whose side he was on, then wondered when there had become sides to take within my own family. “That’s what Opa wants.”
    Byron hesitated. “Now’s not the time.”
    “Any signs of the werewolves here?” I asked.
    “No,” Byron said. “But maybe it’s because of the garda cars. Maybe they’ve given up.”
    “Or maybe they’re waiting until we stop looking over our shoulders,” Ryan said. “We still need to discuss how we get my daughters back.”
    “And we will,” Byron said firmly. “But we need the rest of the pack back first. We can’t go off on any fool’s errand right now.”
    “You mean like Opa is,” I said under my breath.
    Byron glanced at me sharply. I realised he had made it sound as though Ryan were part of our pack, but that wasn’t possible.
    I bent down next to Cú, concerned by the listless way he lay on the floor, his breathing scarily shallow. “Maybe we should bring him to the vet again.”
    “That won’t help him,” Byron said. “He’s lost.”
    I scratched behind Cú’s ears. “That makes two of us. I need to get some rest,” I added, seeing the pity in Byron’s eyes. “I’m wiped. Wake me if there’s any news.”
    I ran upstairs with a heavy heart. Nothing felt right. Being home wasn’t the way I remembered it, and the desperation to escape rose again.
    I paused outside Amelia’s door, resting my fingers on the handle as I remembered the last kiss with Perdita—our desperate goodbye before she locked herself in the room, and everything changed. A shudder shook my body, and I moved to my room in a hurry. It didn’t do any good to dwell on what had been.
    I didn’t think I would be able to rest, but I fell into a deep sleep almost straight away. I hadn’t even undressed or gotten under the covers.

    ***

    I awoke in the middle of the night with a rumbling stomach and decided to search the kitchen again, but I wasn’t alone.
    Amelia sat at the table, watching me with calm eyes. “I waited up for you.”
    I groaned. “I’m not in the mood for talking.”
    “You need to talk. You need to listen, too.”
    “I’m tired, and I’m hungry. Talk all you want. I don’t care.” I pulled open the fridge, hearing her tut behind me.
    “There’s leftovers on the top shelf.”
    I pulled out a couple of tubs to check if they were interesting.
    “You need to talk to her.”
    An open tub slipped through my fingers and spilled all over the floor.
    “Sorry,” she said as I swore. “But it’s true. She needs—”
    “Amelia! I don’t want to hear this.” I bent to clean up the spill. Pasta sauce. Nice and messy.
    “At least let me explain what happened,” she pleaded. “I was trying to help everyone. I didn’t know what would happen. I couldn’t control anything. I tried, but I didn’t know how. I wasn’t ready for the wolf. Nobody had warned me. I thought everything would be better. The same, except better. I promise you I would never—”
    “I’m not interested,” I said coldly. “I don’t care what you thought or what you did. I’m not interested in any of it anymore.”
    “Nathan. Stop this. It’s stupid. Look at Cú, for heaven’s sake.”
    I stormed out of the room.
    “She was going to die ,” she called after me.
    I knew she was right. I knew