Raised by Wolves

Chapter 50

CHAPTER 50

IT PIERCES THE ear like a scream. A flock of crows rise cawing into the air.

The trembling starts in my legs and travels up my body like a wildfire. My arm shakes. The gun wobbles. I can’t keep my aim.

My target smiles a slow, cruel smile. “You’re dead now,” Mac Hardy says. “Game over.”

I lower the gun. My shoulders slump. The weight of what I almost did crushes me.

What was I doing ? Was I really about to shoot Mac Hardy?

I look down at the gun in disgust. Its black metal has a dull, lethal gleam. With my thumb, I flick the safety back on. And then I fling the weapon away as far as I can. It lands with a faint thud somewhere deep in the woods.

“Hey!” Mac yelps. “That’s mine!”

“ Fetch ,” I snarl.

But Mac’s still frozen to the spot. I dig my nails into my palms as the cruiser comes to a screeching halt, spewing up gravel. The chief charges out, his own gun drawn. “Drop your weapons!” he shouts.

Holo flings his hands up. “We don’t have any,” he cries.

Not anymore we don’t.

The chief quickly takes in the scene—me and Holo facing off with the Hardys, Logan slowly stepping out from behind his brother, brushing dirt from his knees. There’s no gun in sight. And Holo, at least, looks totally innocent.

Not to mention terrified.

The chief lowers his weapon. “What’s going on here?” he demands. “We got a call about a girl with a gun.” He turns to me, his expression dark. “Kai? Did you have a gun ?”

But I’m too overwhelmed to speak. I was ready to kill Mac Hardy.

Logan points a finger at me. “She was going to shoot my brother!”

And probably you, too , I think. Any bullet I would’ve fired at Mac would’ve ripped right through him and slammed into you.

The chief steps closer to me. “Kai,” he says, low and fierce, “this is deadly serious. I need you to tell me what happened. I need you to explain yourself.”

I try to open my mouth, I really do. But suddenly there are more cars pulling up. People are getting out and they’re shouting. A lady with bleached, orangish hair runs right at Mac Hardy with her arms held wide, and then she’s crying and hugging him and wailing her head off.

“Mom,” he says, snarling, trying to shake her off, “I’m okay .”

“What did these animals do to you?” she says, grabbing at Logan now. Black lines of mascara run down her cheeks.

Animals—of course.

Like mother, like son.

“Lock ’em up!” someone yells, and another person cheers.

I close my eyes as the shouting gets louder. Pretty soon someone’s going to say something about calling the pound. Or the zoo. Or the wildlife exterminators. I know how this goes.

The chief is trying to talk to me, but I can’t hear what he’s saying.

I’m sorry, but this isn’t working, Chief.

We don’t belong.

I know it and you know it. The difference is that you can’t admit it to yourself.

Then a voice cuts through the noise. A voice I know. A voice that reassures me with its familiar warmth.

“If everyone can just shut the hell up for a second,” Waylon yells, “I can tell you exactly what happened.”

The shouting stops. I open my eyes and see Waylon standing halfway in the road, fists clenched like he’s ready to fight someone, too. His bangs are so long that his face is almost entirely in shadow. I can’t read his expression. Can’t meet his eyes.

He walks toward the chief, passing a foot from me without glancing my way at all. He shoves his fists into the pockets of his faded jeans and addresses the crowd. “I saw Mac and Logan Hardy start following Kai and Holo after school. Stalking them. I know you think those boys are fine, upstanding Kokanee Creek citizens”—Waylon gives a small, sarcastic cough—“but the Hardys have been harassing Kai and Holo since the day they came to town.”

“That’s bullshit,” Mac sneers.

“Be quiet,” the chief says to Mac. “Get to the point,” he says to Waylon.

Waylon nods. Still doesn’t look at me. “Yes, sir,” he says, deferentially. “So I followed Mac and Logan, who were following Kai and Holo. And then I saw Mac and Logan come up behind Holo and Kai and knock them to the ground. It was a totally unprovoked attack—Kai and Holo didn’t even know what hit them. And when they tried to defend themselves, Mac pulled a gun. He started threatening Holo with it.”

“I don’t believe it,” says orange-haired Mrs. Hardy.

“Well, you’re an idiot,” Waylon replies calmly. “So Kai took it away from Mac with the help of a giant stick. And then she…” He pauses. Shrugs. “Well, then she took possession of the weapon.”

The chief looks over at me. “Is this true?” he asks.

I can’t move or speak. Why is Waylon defending me but acting like I’m invisible?

“Of course it’s true,” Waylon says heatedly. “Do you think I’d risk getting my ass stomped every week for telling a lie?” He turns back to the crowd. “You act like Kai and Holo are dangerous! But it’s your own kids!” His voice is nearly shaking with rage. “The ones who beat them up—and the ones who stand around laughing while it happens!”

“This is slander,” Mrs. Hardy says.

“It’s the truth,” Waylon says. “Ask Kai and Holo.”

Holo comes over to me and grabs my hand. “It’s true,” he says. “Isn’t it, Kai?”

Finally I manage the tiniest millimeter of a nod.

The chief turns to Mrs. Hardy. “Why don’t you bring your boys down to the station right now, and we can have a little talk.”

She sputters. Looks around at everyone, like one of them might come to their defense. But everyone’s quiet now. Waylon’s words are sinking in.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Waylon saw the whole fight. He saw me with murder in my eyes. And he didn’t try to stop me.

I know why.

Because even though he said that we’re not dangerous, he doesn’t believe it. We have wildness in our blood, and now he’s seen what it looks like.