"I think Marcus and Mr. Winkler are already pulling those strings, but we may not get complete information from them."
"Because it's Pack business." Ashe stared at his plate. Adele had cooked chicken for dinner.
"You have to understand that they're only trying to protect themselves."
"But it isn't only werewolves that are dying, Mom."
"I understand that, honey. That's why Radomir is here."
"Mom, did Dad and Radomir talk to Old Harold before he died?"
"They didn't. Radomir was holding off because he knew it would offend Old Harold if they questioned him. He wanted to gather as much information as he could before going to him. If Harold knew anything, we'll never know it."
"Do they know anything more than they did, Mom? Do they?"
"They have some information. They're not sharing all of it," Adele didn't sound as if she appreciated that. Ashe understood completely.
"I wish it would all go away," Ashe muttered glumly.
"So do I. And I have to stay in town late tomorrow to get the tax papers back from the accountant. April fifteenth is Thursday."
"Is it that late already?" Surprise showed on Ashe's face. The school year was nearly over—only a month was left. "Mom, will Marco bring Sali and me in again tomorrow afternoon?" Ashe worried about his mother staying late in Cordell, especially if she were going to be there alone.
"Denise will take you home with her. I'll manage, stop worrying."
"Mom, somebody is killing people. You don't have anybody in the store with you."
"Hon, I have customers all day long this time of year. I won't be alone." Adele ruffled Ashe's hair, her brown eyes smiling at him.
"Mom," Ashe moaned in despair. Why did adults have to be so difficult at times?
"Denise will feed you dinner and you can stay with Sali until I come home. I should be home around sunset. It shouldn't take much longer than that to get the taxes sorted out. The accountant wants to go over a few things but that's all."
"Please be careful," Ashe muttered as he rose to go do homework.
"Your dad says exactly the same."
* * *
"Whatcha gonna do, empty, when you're human?" Chad Daniels growled at Ashe as they stood in the hall outside Transformational Arts. Chad, like many werewolves, had dark hair and brown eyes. Chad's sneer, however, was almost a permanent fixture, he wore it so often. Ashe, closely followed by a growling Sali, brushed past the older boy and slipped inside the classroom. Chad always made sure Mrs. Rocklin wasn't anywhere near when he threw insults at Ashe.
"Pig," Wynn snapped at Chad before working her way around the seventeen-year-old werewolf.
"Look, ponytail is getting involved. That empty your boyfriend?" Chad taunted Wynn. Jeremy walked up and laughed at Chad's latest comment. Jeremy Booth had lighter hair and hazel eyes, reflecting the colors of his Wildcat, but he followed in Chad's shadow much of the time, allowing Chad to select their targets for bullying.
"Get to your classes," Mr. Harris walked over to warn the older boys. "Before I call Billings."
"Billings is on our side," Chad muttered softly as he walked away. Most of the class didn't hear Chad's last words, but Ashe did. Ashe fumed over it as he sat at his desk. More than anything, he wanted to turn in class, just to show everybody he could. But he'd decided to keep that secret. He couldn't explain why, even to himself.
"Dude," Sali swatted at Ashe, bringing him back to Earth with a jolt. Mrs. Rocklin was asking him to pick up Dori's clothing.
Chapter 11
"I'm about to go to the accountant's office," Adele told Ashe. He'd called her cell at five minutes past six. Ashe didn't know why he felt so shaky about his mother being alone in Cordell, but he did. His dad wouldn't wake until eight. Two hours. Ashe felt helpless, stuck as he was at the DeLucas' home. Sali was in the kitchen trying to wangle something to eat from his mother while Ashe borrowed the phone.
Cori and Dori had gone home with Wynn's mother, so it was just the two of them in the house with Denise DeLuca. Mr. Winkler was in Oklahoma City on business. Ashe hoped the Dallas Packmaster was getting information from the Medical Examiner's office and from the OSBI Forensics department. Ashe also wondered where Marco was—he hadn't driven home after school. Denise DeLuca seemed annoyed about it but she wasn't going to say anything in front of Ashe.
"Mom, just be careful, all right?" Ashe begged as his mother said good-bye.
"I will. You do the same," she said. Ashe hung up the phone with a sigh.
"How's your mom?" Mrs. DeLuca was putting pot roast together, setting carrots, onions and potatoes around the nearly cooked roast before slipping hand-shaped potholders on and returning the pan to the oven.
"Fine. She's on her way to the accountant's to pick up the taxes."
"I mailed ours off last Monday," Denise said, setting the potholders onto the counter.
"I wish ours were already mailed off," Ashe said. If they were, then his mother would be driving home instead of going to Rory Dalton's office. "I think I'll go work on my essay."
"Dude, you can't be serious," Sali said, coming away from the counter with four crackers spread with peanut butter. It was all his mother would allow him to have.
"You could do the same, since you want to win the contest," Denise reminded him.
"Crumbs," Sali muttered, stuffing a peanut butter-covered cracker into his mouth. "Did you have to mention that?" he said, chewing his food noisily.
"I heard that," his mother shook a wooden spoon in Sali's direction. "And don't talk with your mouth full."
Sali answered by grabbing Ashe's arm and hauling him away from the kitchen and down the hall leading to his bedroom. "What topic did you pick?" Sali asked, stuffing another cracker laden with peanut butter into his mouth.
"I haven't. I've got a lot of possibilities, but none of them look good," Ashe pulled the notebook from his book bag and opened it to the proper page. At least fifteen possible topics were listed, some of those crossed through. A few of them marked through violently.
"Dude, what's wrong with Living Among Humans? We all do it, just not all the time."
"It just seems trite," Ashe grumped. It was one of the topics he'd crossed out. "Take it if you want. A better topic might be what the humans would do if they found out we weren't human."
"I don't even want to think about that," Sali shivered. "How different do you think they are from us? Really?"