Free Walking Wolf Road (Wolf Road Chronicles Book 1) by Brandon M. Herbert Page B

numb, while Geri bounced from foot to foot. “Holy shit, you’re powerful,” she said, “but you’ve got a lot of gunk you need to work out of your system. And we all have a lot to learn…” She shot Fen a dark look, and then shrugged, “So, I’m afraid you’re stuck with us whether you like it or not.”
    “After everything I’ve done, you still want me?”
    “More than ever,” Fen replied, “You’re Pack. Your wolf waking up had little to do with that ticking bomb inside you. As bad as you think this was, it could have been so much worse. We’re fine, this’ll heal in no time.” He waved a hand past his bloody cheek and rolled his eyes. “You have the most healing to do, you didn’t realize how deeply infected the wound was.”
    “Um,” Geri started, as he pulled his sleeve back and looked at his watch. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my mom wanted me home by two.”
    “You’re not sleeping over? It’s his first time!” Loki whined while I asked, “But I thought we were spending the night?”
    “You are…” Fen said as he and Loki chuckled.
    “…But not at Geri’s.” I finished for him.
    “I’ll take you over, but I can’t stay, I’m already late,” Geri muttered and looked at his watch again. “Besides, I have a raid in the morning too…”
    “A raid?” I frowned.
    “World of WarCrack.” Loki volunteered, “Geri’s addicted to video games”
    “It looks like it’s time for us to leave anyway,” Fen muttered and pointed toward the parking lot, where red and blue lights flashed in the snow. Fen seemed to enjoy sneaking just a little too much, and none of the officers saw the four shadows that slipped past them and quietly drove away.
    We sat in silence, each lost in our own thoughts while Geri’s windshield wipers squeaked a gallant losing war against the snow.
    “Um, Loki? What did you do back there?”
    “Oh, I just used a little vampire trick I picked up.  You had too much energy, we had too little; I just sorta—” she made a slurping sound “Drained it outta you and shared it around. Kinda like how Fen woke up your wolf actually…”
    “It wasn’t me…” Fen muttered.
    “What do you mean?” Loki turned and looked at him over the back of her seat.
    “I wasn’t the one who bit him, it was Lupa. She—took over my body. I thought I was dreaming, I couldn’t remember exactly what happened.”
    Loki stared at him for a moment, “Has she ever done that before?”
    He shook his head, looking for a moment just as confused as the rest of us. “Never.”
    We fell silent; I didn’t even know where to begin to process everything that just happened. The thoughts that I was important, that I was wanted, that I was powerful; they were so foreign to me. I’d been nothing my whole life; I didn’t know how to be anything else.
    Geri dropped Loki off at the mouth of a driveway that disappeared into the snow, the soft glow of her house lights beyond the curtain of snow. Then he drove us few blocks through a twisting maze of streets and let Fen and I out. His taillights disappeared into the white dark, and I followed Fen toward another irrigation ditch. Fen walked off the edge as though it wasn’t even there.
    What the hell do you think this is, Underworld?
    He disappeared from sight until I reached the edge and looked down. Fen hadn’t slowed at all and already faded from sight into the snow. I hurried down after him, and slipped on a patch of leaves, which dumped me on my ass in the snow. I followed his footprints as I trotted to catch up with him.
    “Do you mind telling me where we’re going?”
    “It’s a surprise.” He smiled over his shoulder, and I blinked compulsively when snow landed on my eyelashes. I wiped my nose on the sleeve of my coat and watched clumps of snowflakes land in Fen’s blonde hair until his body heat melted them. I caught myself staring, so I looked down at his footprints instead.
    We came to a gap in the hedge along