Hot Blooded (Wolf Springs Chronicles #2) (26 page)

And then, finally, Mr. Fenner entered the room, also wearing a suit. His shock of white hair and tanned, leathery face belied his age. No one would have been able to tell that he was roughly the same age as her grandfather.

Wolf Springs was a small place and everyone knew about everyone else, but Katelyn had learned weeks ago that that didn’t necessarily mean everyone had actually met everyone else, and she had discovered that her grandfather had never met Lee Fenner before.

“Mr. Fenner,” her grandfather said, holding out his hand.

Lee took it. “Dr. McBride.”

Justin casually sidled over to her. “It’s okay, Kat,” he whispered.

“It’s not, and you know it,” she whispered back.

“So, it’s a good day to give thanks,” Lee said.

“I don’t know of a bad day to give thanks,” Mordecai replied with a smile.

Mr. Fenner slapped her grandfather’s back with a roar of laughter. They seemed at ease and Katelyn watched as Justin carried the wine bottle out of the room, then returned without it.

But this is still such a bad idea
, she thought.

“Well, let’s eat,” Mr. Fenner finally said, leading the way out of the foyer to a formal dining room. The table and chairs matched the wood paneling of the simple but elegant space, punctuated by a fireplace and a large oil painting of an icy landscape.

Please let it be a normal Thanksgiving dinner with a cooked turkey
, Katelyn silently thought as they were directed to their chairs by Regan. Mr. Fenner was seated at the head of the table and her grandfather took the seat at the foot. She sat next to him.

Because I’m the lowest-ranking pack member
, she realized. It put her close to Lucy and Jesse. Arial and Regan flanked their father. Doug sat next to his wife, but Justin was placed next to Arial, with Albert on his other side, farther away from the alpha.

Interesting. The husband who had been chosen — Doug — ranked above the husband who’d been born a werewolf — Albert. She wondered what that was about. Maybe as Regan was older that gave her husband higher status. She didn’t actually know.

“You might know our family’s Scandinavian, originally,” Mr. Fenner said to Katelyn and her grandfather. “We say a traditional Norwegian table grace at Thanksgiving.”

Everyone bowed their heads, and all the Fenners, even Jesse and Lucy, murmured words in lilting language. Then Lucy, Arial, and Regan brought the food in from the kitchen. Soon the table was laden with white china serving platters of standard Thanksgiving fare. Katelyn had completely forgotten if the Fenners knew she was pretending to be a vegetarian, so she put a few small pieces of dark meat turkey on her plate and she could feel herself starting to salivate just like some kind of animal. Maybe she could pretend she was just being polite by eating it.

Conversation around the table was light-hearted, mostly gossip about people in town, but nothing vicious, just comings and goings. Her grandfather participated and didn’t once mention Cordelia’s name, for which Katelyn was thankful.

Maybe that was why Doug had been moved closer to Mr. Fenner — Cordelia’s spot at the table had had to be filled.

The adults were drinking wine, but she noticed no one drank very much of it. Her grandfather hadn’t even touched his and Katelyn wondered if they had opened his bottle of Wolf Creek.

She began to relax slightly, enjoying the banter and the gossip, and most especially the turkey. Then she glanced toward the head of the table where Mr. Fenner was presiding, sitting in his chair as if it were a throne. Without warning, the hair on the back of her neck raised. Something felt wrong.

Regan was now staring toward Lee with her eyes practically bulging. Katelyn swung her eyes to Mr. Fenner and gaped in disbelief — his chin whiskers seemed to be growing into a beard right before her eyes. She blinked and realized it wasn’t hair, but fur that was sprouting, and his jaw was beginning to elongate. He was shifting into werewolf form right there at the table for everyone to see.

She twisted to look at her grandfather, who was turning to say something, and did the first thing that came to mind — she swept out her hand, knocking his wine glass into his lap.

“Grandpa, I’m so sorry!” she cried.

He pushed back from the table as Katelyn half rose out of her seat to obscure his view of Mr. Fenner. Grabbing a napkin, she risked a glance over her shoulder and saw that Justin and Doug had both leaped to their feet. The werewolf form of Lee bared its teeth at them. Jesse began to bounce up and down in his chair and clap his hands in delight.

“Not at the dinner table!” Jesse shrieked.

“Oh, it’s everywhere,” Katelyn babbled, determinedly placing herself in her grandfather’s line of vision. “I — I spilled the whole glass!”

“No harm done,” her grandfather said, grunting as he took the napkin from her, bent down, and dabbed wine off his pants leg. And when Katelyn glanced up again, Lee Fenner was back in human form, rushing from the table, having burst the shoulder seams of his jacket.

“It’s really okay, honey,” her grandfather said, clearly assuming she was upset about the wine.

But it wasn’t okay. The entire table had gone silent. Lucy had a hand over Jesse’s mouth.

Her grandfather looked around, surprise on his face. “It’s fine, everyone. If you can just show me to a bathroom . . .”

“Of course.” Regan practically jumped out of her chair and headed in the opposite direction to that which her father had taken. “Just follow me, Dr. McBride.”

“Jesse, sugar, can you help me in the kitchen for a moment?” Lucy asked. “Arial, can you get some paper towels? Or maybe that’s where your daddy went?” she added pointedly.

Jesse got up and followed Lucy out. Regan left with Katelyn’s grandfather and Arial dashed from the room, obviously going to check on her father. That left Justin, Doug, Albert, and Katelyn.

“Lu, do you need me?” Justin called. He had gone white.

“That would be nice, sugar,” she called back. Justin pushed back from the table and left the room.

Coward
, Katelyn thought, realizing she had newfound respect for Lucy. The young woman had taken charge. It was Lucy who was dealing with Jesse, not Justin. Lucy, who had prompted Arial to deal with Mr. Fenner.

“Damn,” Doug grumbled. “
This
is going well.”

“Doug, be careful what you say,” Al murmured.

Katelyn could feel the thick, underlying tension. And anger. Fury, even.

“It happened because he’s stressed,” Al added. “Having company. A stranger.”

“Should we leave?” Katelyn asked. She was positive her grandfather hadn’t seen anything, but was that good enough for the pack? What was going to happen to them now?

“Not for us to say,” Al told her. “Maybe you should go check on your grandfather.”

She hesitated, not wanting to move out of earshot of the two Fenners. If she and her grandfather were in imminent danger, they needed to get the hell out of there.

“Then who
does
say? Who should I ask for permission to leave?” she persisted.

They both regarded her with carefully blank expressions.

“I mean, I know I should usually ask Mr. Fenner, of course, but if he’s not feeling well . . .” She trailed off, confounded by their neutral faces.

“He’s the only one who can give you permission to do anything,” Doug replied, and his voice was kind. “It’s not like you’re used to, Kat.”

Justin reappeared. His face was grim. “Go check in on your grandfather,” he ordered her.

She heard a lot of shushing. Then Jesse’s giggle. Lucy’s quiet voice. Craning her ears, she heard the word, “
Secret
.”

Just as she was about to head off to the restroom, her grandfather reappeared with Regan. He was dabbing at his suit jacket.

“All better,” Regan said. “Luckily he didn’t get any wine on his nice white shirt.” There was a glimmer of what almost looked like grudging respect for Katelyn in her eyes. “Nice aim.”

“It’s okay, honey,” her grandfather assured Katelyn. He began to sit down, but Arial finally appeared with a roll of paper towels.

“Wait, Dr. McBride. Let me make sure there’s no wine on your chair,” she said.

“I’ll help you,” Katelyn murmured.

She bent down beside Arial, who glared at Katelyn, tore off a couple of paper towels with exaggerated care, and handed them to her. Arial’s hatred came off her in waves, and Katelyn did her best to ignore it.

“All better,” Arial said. “Have a seat, Dr. McBride.”

No, Grandpa, no. We need to get out of here
, Katelyn tried to telegraph. But Arial gathered up the paper towels and walked out of the room again.

Mordecai sat down and Justin appeared with the uncorked bottle of Wolf Creek wine and a filled wine glass. Justin placed both before him with a flourish.

Katelyn opened her mouth to tell her grandfather that she wasn’t feeling well and needed to go. She’d just have to risk Mr. Fenner’s wrath by leaving without his say-so. But at just that moment, Mr. Fenner reappeared, his torn shirt replaced by a turtleneck sweater.

“Spilled,” he said briefly.

“Lots of that going around,” her grandfather joked.

“We have fresh rolls!” Jesse announced, bouncing on his heels as he carried in a wicker basket steaming with the fragrant odor of yeast and dough. “You eat them with butter! You can have honey!” He snickered. “We call people honey! But you don’t eat them!”

“Good joke, buddy,” Lucy said serenely. She smiled at Mr. Fenner as Jesse approached him with the basket. “Uncle Lee, fresh out of the oven?”

“Thank you, darlin’,” Mr. Fenner said, reaching in as Jesse beamed at him.

And just like that, the dinner in hell resumed.

15

They’d lived through dinner. Everything had gone well, considering, and as soon as the pecan pie had been served and eaten, Katelyn begged to leave. Her grandfather said, “Nice folks,” in the truck, and she managed a nod. Then he reached over and gave her hand a pat. “I’m thinking, though,” he said, “you might want to cross that one off your list. Seemed pretty taken.”

She nodded a second time. She never wanted to go to the Fenners again. Ever. But she knew that wouldn’t happen.

He paused and she steeled herself, dread filling her. There was a question coming, she could feel it. She could practically hear it.

“Have they ever told you yet where Cordelia has gone?”

She clenched her jaw, wishing that Justin or someone else had at least told her whatever lie they had told the principal at school. She shook her head slowly. “No one wants to talk about it. She told me a couple of times that she wanted to move out. She’s got an aunt or something in Colorado.” She felt ashamed at how easily the lies tripped off her tongue. “I know they had a big fight. Jesse told me.”

“I’m sure she’s okay, though?” he asked, his voice questioning.

“She hasn’t gotten in touch,” Katelyn said, struggling to figure out what to say, how to act, so as to shut down further questioning without herself seeming like she was behaving suspiciously. Finally she said, “I, um, thought she would . . .”

Mordecai nodded. “Kids don’t stick around here after they graduate. No future. Every once in a while someone can’t wait even that long. Just sad that you had to lose a friend that way. Maybe she’ll get back in touch after things calm down.”

“Yeah, I miss her,” she murmured.

“And maybe you’ll make some more friends at school,” he suggested.

She didn’t want to talk about it anymore, even though she was touched by his obvious concern. “There’s a girl in my art class who’s really nice. Paulette.”

“That’s good. Maybe you can have her over some time.”

Katelyn nodded. “Thanks.” And in the back of her mind she filed that away. Maybe someday when she needed an excuse for being out — like the next full moon — she could say she was staying over at Paulette’s. And now that her grandfather was convinced she should give up on Justin, he might not turn as blind an eye to her going over to the Fenners’ all the time.

When they got home they watched some television and then her grandfather finally headed to bed. Katelyn stayed up, reading more of
In the Shadow of the Wolf
and wishing again that it just had an index so she’d know she wasn’t missing anything. She finally put it down again and went to get herself some water. As she padded into the kitchen, goose bumps broke over her body.

This time when she saw Justin staring in the kitchen window, she managed not to act surprised. She went out the back door, slipping into her shoes, and headed with him into the trees. She rubbed her arms.

“You shouldn’t be cold,” he said with a frown.

“All that stuff comes and goes,” she said, unwilling to tell him that she hadn’t been feeling the cold, but had been remembering her brush with a bullet.

Finally he stopped walking and she leaned against a tree.

“What?” she asked when he didn’t speak.

“Kat,” he said, placing his fingers over her lips. “Thanksgiving dinner was a nightmare. He should never have invited your grandfather over. And then when he started to change at the table . . .”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “We watched that damn train wreck and we couldn’t do anything about it. But this behavior endangered the pack. And, frankly, it endangered you.” His voice softened and he cocked his head, studying her. “And that’s not something I want to go through again.”

She agreed with everything he was saying. It had been a terrible decision to invite them over.

“Does that mean you’re going to challenge him?” she asked him.

Ashen-faced, he didn’t answer.

She could almost hear questions buzzing around her head like wasps. Had he discussed challenging Lee Fenner with Lucy? How would he do it? Would they fight as wolves? What if Justin lost?

“Settle down, darlin’,” he murmured. “You’re not involved.”

“I’m not stupid, Justin,” she retorted. “Don’t treat me like I am.”

“Fair enough.” He reached out a hand, and pressed his fingertips against her cheek. Then he jerked back and stuffed his hand in his pocket. “You’ve got to stay well away from me,” he reminded her, cocking his head, staring at her hungrily. “
Well
away.”