"You're meeting your grandfather?" Della asked, studying Kylie with suspicion.
"No," Kylie said.
Della frowned. "You've been acting weird since you walked off with Fredericka."
"I need to go," Kylie said.
"I'll come with you."
"No," Kylie pleaded. She needed to do this alone.
Della's chest puffed out. "Then tell me where you're going."
"You're not my shadow anymore," Kylie countered.
Della's scowled. "No, I'm your friend."
The honest emotion in Della's voice pulled at Kylie's heart. "Look, I'm going to try to meet up with Lucas." It was the truth-or a form of it.
"I thought you hadn't heard from him," Della said.
"Fredericka told me where he was."
Della made a face. "You trust her wolf ass?"
"Not really," Kylie said. "But I'm going anyway, and as your friend, I'm asking you not to stand in my way."
"I don't like it," Della said.
Kylie paused in thought, trying to find a way to get Della to understand. "I don't like that you're doing work for the FRU, but I respect your wishes."
Della frowned. "But I'm not doing it alone."
Yeah, Della was going with Steve, not that she was thrilled with it, but that wasn't the point. Convincing Della to let Kylie go was what mattered. Right or wrong, finding out the truth about Lucas once and for all felt crucial. She had admitted to loving him; now she needed to know if she'd given her heart away foolishly.
It took some time, but Della backed down.
And ten minutes later, when Kylie jumped over the fence leaving Shadow Falls property, she knew Burnett might come running. It was another chance she took. However, since she suspected that several of the weres might be attending the ceremony-if there really was a ceremony-she hoped Burnett would assume she was one of them. Then again, she was one of them, she reminded herself.
As Kylie ran, she felt an odd kind of power flow through her. Different than the strength that came with being vampire. The way her limbs moved seemed less human. The power of a wolf, she supposed.
Her chest tightened, remembering Lucas telling her how he wanted to run with her as a wolf. Please, please let Fredericka be wrong.
Trying not to break all her promises to Burnett, Kylie avoided the woods whenever possible. But as she drew near the park, she wasn't going to have any other option. As she moved in a lithe run, her gaze kept shifting to the moon. She felt it calling her, like water to a person left in the sun too long.
When she entered the line of trees, the darkness grew blacker. The moon was no longer visible through thick foliage. The night air was warm, almost too warm. She felt a sense of danger sting her skin.
Ignoring it, she kept running. She didn't stop. Not even when she realized she wasn't alone.
Chapter Thirty-eight
The cold finally started to impair Kylie's speed and she glanced over to see who the spirit was keeping pace at her side.
The ghost, a woman, the one who appeared in the classroom right before the vision, moved with powerful strokes. Her white gown flowed around her, and her long brown hair danced in the wind.
With Kylie's attention on the spirit, her foot caught on a root and she tumbled down onto the earth-hard-landing facedown.
Pushing up with her arms, breathing in the scent of moist dirt below her, she stared at the spirit looming over her. "Who are you?"
"I'm not important. You are." She held out her hands and instantly a long, bloody sword appeared. "You must kill him."
Kylie got to her feet and stared at the spirit's bloody hands; red liquid flowed onto the sword, then dripped to the ground. One slow drop at a time.
For the first time, Kylie understood a symbol connected with the spirit world. This ghost had blood on her hands. And now she wanted Kylie to do her bidding.
Drawing herself to her full height, Kylie spoke in her mind, I don't know what you heard, but I don't ... I haven't killed anyone, and I'd kind of like to keep it that way.
She stared at Kylie with gray, dead eyes that held no emotion, no soul. Fear raced up Kylie's spine. Something about this spirit was different from the others. Something scary.
"Then you, too, will die," the ghost said as if it didn't really matter. Without warning, the spirit faded. But the spot where she'd stood was coated with ice. Dark, black ice.
"Couldn't you have told me that first?" Kylie muttered, and then inhaled. "No!" She fisted her hands. "I'm not going to think about this now."
Her heart pounded in her chest and she commenced running, running to Lucas, or rather, to the truth about Lucas.
She remembered the last time he'd kissed her, the way he'd held her, the way she'd felt so loved. Fredericka was lying. She had to be lying.
A few minutes later, Kylie sensed others around her.
Other wolves.
She wasn't sure how she knew, she just did. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she stopped running and started walking. Hoping to hide the windblown look, she pulled the band from around her wrist and put up her hair.
As she moved closer to the park, she heard voices. Happy voices. She thought she recognized Will's voice. She stopped beside a tree so as not to cross paths with him or any other of the Shadow Falls campers. The last thing she wanted was to be recognized.
Only when Kylie couldn't hear anyone moving around her did she continue on. When she left the line of trees, she saw the crowd, standing in rows. A hundred or more wolves gathered together. A few in the back line turned and looked at her. Thank goodness they weren't from Shadow Falls.
Fredericka's warning rang in her ears. Just make sure you keep your were pattern on or someone will rip your heart out before they ask questions.
She felt a few of the bystanders checking her pattern and she prayed it was still were. Her breath hitched in her lungs until they turned around as if content she was one of them.
But Kylie didn't feel as if she belonged. Her heart ached at knowing Fredericka hadn't been lying. She almost left, but stopped herself. Maybe this wasn't even about Lucas. Maybe Fredericka sent her here hoping she'd see the crowd and believe the lie.
Stiffening her spine, she moved in and stood in the last row. Obviously weres didn't need to sit down, because no seats were provided. Her view of the front was blocked, but that meant people up front couldn't see her, either.
A voice suddenly started speaking, welcoming everyone here. Kylie's chest ached when she recognized the deep tenor.
Not Lucas, but his dad.
Her chest started to burn with the idea of Lucas getting engaged to someone else.