A Place to Call Home (Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 3) Read online

  "We're not," I grumbled.

  Sympathy flashed across Lynn's face. "Because of the murder and then the Reaven thing?" she asked. "Yeah, I heard some teachers saying they weren't comfortable with having you here. But I didn't think they would go far enough to kick you out. Are you going to fight it?"

  "No," I said with a shake of my head. "If we fight to stay, they'll just find a way to fail us out of our classes or something. We don't want to stay where we're not wanted."

  I glanced up at Kannon for confirmation. We hadn't spoken directly about our feelings, but I already knew he'd agree with me.

  "Lori, Kannon," a voice called from behind us.

  I groaned once I realized who it was. Could this day get any worse?

  "Pierce," I said as I turned around slowly. "I thought your teaching gig was over?"

  Pierce flashed me a smile filled with bright white teeth. "I was in the area and thought the two of you might need a ride back to the university."

  I glanced over at Lynn, who was slowly backing away from us. "I'll talk to you guys later," she said nervously. She didn't break into a run to get away from us, but she moved pretty quickly.

  I studied Pierce for his reaction to Lynn, but he didn't seem interested in her at all. His eyes had flicked towards her briefly when she made her excuse to leave, but his attention had stayed on Kannon and me. I relaxed a little. If the lamia knew about Lynn and her group, Pierce would have taken a moment to torment her. But if that was the case, who was Lynn meeting with today?

  "I see you got the news," Pierce said cheerfully as he motioned towards the paperwork I carried in my hand. "Dr. Green thought that you would do better at the university next semester with fewer distractions."

  I scowled down at the paperwork, then glanced up to see Pierce watching me.

  "Did you know he was going to do this?" I asked Pierce.

  He shrugged, but I thought I saw a flicker of pity in his eyes. For some reason, his sympathy made me angrier than I would have been with just his scorn.

  "Does it matter?" Pierce asked quietly.

  I crumpled up the paper angrily and shoved it in my bag. "I guess not," I said coldly. "I'm guessing that you're here to offer something in combination with this news?"

  Pierce sighed. "Not me, but I'm sure Dr. Green would be more than happy to speak with you about it."

  "I think we'd like to discuss this news with the rest of our pack first," Kannon interjected.

  Pierce shrugged. "Fine by me."

  We walked silently towards Pierce's car, and I took the opportunity to secretly communicate with Kannon. "I hope Lynn and the others don't do anything stupid."

  "I'm curious to know who the 'powerful people' are that she mentioned," Kannon answered.

  "We probably lost our chance to find out," I replied glumly.

  Chapter 24

  Lori

  Pierce drove us back to the university as I seethed. Kannon and I left Pierce behind as I stalked through the hallway back to our suite. My hands were shaking, and I paused for a second to calm myself before I walked in the door. It didn’t help, because Wyatt saw something was wrong the second I walked in.

  “What is it?” Wyatt asked.

  I held my crumpled letter out to him along with Kannon’s unopened one. “This.”

  Wyatt’s eyebrows rose as he read through the letter. “This is unexpected.”

  “Is that legal?”

  Wyatt looked hesitant to answer. “I have no idea, but they seem determined to get all traces of us removed from Hollow Crest.”

  “What’s going on?” Grayson asked as he stepped into the living room.

  “Kannon and I got kicked out of school,” I said bitterly. “Since we lost the firehouse, we no longer have a permanent address in Hollow Crest and are no longer eligible to be students there.”

  Grayson looked just as surprised as Wyatt had, but he read through the contents of the letter. “They’re asking for a forwarding address of where to send your school records.”

  “Yeah,” I snorted. “They also mention that we should do it quickly if we want ‘our transition’ to go smoothly. How do they expect us to find another school by the end of Christmas break?”

  Grayson sat down slowly and set the letters beside him. “Lori,” he said regretfully. “I’ll do my best, but…”

  “It’s going to have to be home-schooling,” Wyatt announced. “We’ve already seen that we don’t mix well with the humans, maybe this is for the best.”

  Grayson’s phone rang, and he glanced down. “It’s Corey.”

  “I knew we shouldn’t have sent him alone,” Wyatt grumbled.

  Grayson shot him a look and picked up the call. Before he could even utter a greeting, Corey was already speaking. “I got pulled over on the highway outside of town,” he said hurriedly. “One of them mumbled something about checking on a warrant before he walked back to his car.”

  Grayson and Wyatt exchanged a glance.

  “Shit,” Wyatt said.

  “A second and third cop car just pulled up,” Corey said in defeat. “I’m pretty sure they’re going to take me in.”

  Grayson cursed. “Don’t argue with them - be cooperative.”

  Corey hung up the phone, and Gray grabbed his jacket. “They’ll probably take him directly to the station for booking-”

  A knock at the door interrupted what he was about to say, and Wyatt walked over to answer it. I already suspected who it would be. Dr. Green had played his cards and played them well. I didn’t doubt that he was involved in getting Corey arrested and also having Kannon and I lose our spots at the high school.

  When Wyatt opened the door, Dr. Green hadn’t come alone. He had brought Blaine and two other lamia with him.

  I stood up to face him. I was tired of playing the helpless female, tired of always bowing down to their rules and playing nice. I was angry, and here was a target.

  “You snake,” I shouted.

  Two of the lamia stepped in my direction, and Wyatt pushed me behind him. Dr. Green just stood there watching with a satisfied smile on his face.

  “Lori,” he said condescendingly. “We could have avoided all of this if you would have just agreed to cooperate. I regret that I’ve had to take this path, but your obstinance made it necessary.”

  I growled, but Wyatt held his arm out to prevent me from going after him. “And if I still don’t agree?” I snarled. “What are you going to do to us next?”

  Dr. Green shook his head sadly. “Why don’t you ask what I can do for you to fix all of this?” He clasped his hands together. “It would be fairly easy for me to get you a high school degree. The charges against Corey would be more difficult, but I’m confident we would be able to come to an agreement.”

  My body vibrated with a growl, and Wyatt wrapped his body tightly around me, holding me in place. “Not now,” he murmured into my ear.

  I tried to slow my breathing and relax my body, but I couldn’t stand the sight of Dr. Green. He seemed to sense my thoughts because a corner of his mouth lifted in amusement. “I’ll leave you to discuss this with the rest of your pack, but I’m confident that you’ll make the right decision.”

  Dr. Green and the others filed out of our room, and Wyatt let me go as soon as the door clicked shut behind them. I whirled around to face my pack mates.

  Grayson held up a hand. “Lori, you don’t have to agree to anything you don’t want to do. We can figure this out.”

  I laughed, and it bordered on hysterical.

  “We probably have enough to bail Corey out until his trial,” Wyatt said darkly.

  “If they agree to let him out on bail,” Kannon pointed out. “They might deny his bail and keep him in jail.”

  Grayson rolled his shoulders back. “I doubt Dr. Green wants any of us out from underneath his thumb for long. We’ll post Corey’s bail, and Dr. Green will use his upcoming trial to put pressure on us.”

  “Lori, Kannon,” Grayson said to us as he made eye conta
ct with both of us. “Stay here while Wyatt and I sort out this mess with Corey.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked angrily. “Why do Kannon and I always get left behind like misbehaving pups? We’re members of this pack just like the rest of you.”

  Grayson smoothed my hair back and cupped my face. “You’re not getting left behind,” he murmured. “You and Kannon are going to stay here and work on finding us a new pack,” he said with our bond. “We’re getting out of here, but we need somewhere else to go.”

  “Fine,” I said with a pout. “But you have to keep us updated.”

  Grayson dropped a kiss on my forehead, and Wyatt gave me an affectionate squeeze on the way out. It wasn’t until they had closed the door behind them that I realized we hadn’t told them about Lynn.

  Grayson might be determined to keep us away from the drama with Corey, but I wasn’t willing to sit here and do nothing. If I couldn’t help Corey, I’d focus my attention on Lynn and her group of humans. I widened my eyes at Kannon. “Do you want to sneak back into town and see what we can do about Lynn?”

  Kannon hesitated. “Gray wants us to stay here.”

  I scowled. “He thinks we’re helpless. Plus, do you really want Lynn and the others to fend for themselves if they try to take on the lamia? We need to get there in time to stop them.”

  Kannon sighed. “We’re already late, they’ve definitely started without us.”

  “I’m not ready to give up before we even try,” I said stubbornly. I couldn’t just sit here helplessly while so much was going wrong around me.

  “Kannon,” I said aloud as I stood. “I think we should go for a run since we’re both so stressed out.”

  Kannon looked resigned. “Let’s get changed first.”

  My smile was grim. “Perfect. I’ll be ready in five.”

  That would give Grayson and Wyatt enough time leave the university and be on their way to the police station. They’d be out of our way while we ran the four miles to Lynn’s house.

  I had no idea what we were going to do when we got there. But hopefully, an opportunity would present itself when the time came. I refused to think about the three million or so things that were likely to go wrong.

  Chapter 25

  Lori

  I glanced around as Kannon and I jogged down the street near Lynn’s house. The sun had already gone down for the evening, but the streetlights were bright enough that we weren’t really hidden. I didn’t see anyone else outside, but that didn’t mean one of Lynn’s neighbors weren’t watching out of the window.

  “Sneaking around people’s houses in the dark is starting to become a bad habit,” Kannon teased me with the bond.

  I shot him a grin. “I wish I could tell you this was the last time, but we’re both still pretty young.”

  Kannon rolled his eyes at me. “The rest of my life with you will definitely not be boring.”

  A warm glow of happiness flooded through me at his assumption that we’d be spending the rest of our lives together. But that quickly faded once we saw all the cars in Lynn’s driveway.

  Kannon and I both slowed so that we could get a good look. Two of the vehicles were black SUVs, and I was surprised to see that they had government plates. One of the vehicles had a human man leaning against the back bumper. His head was tilted down to his phone, but I could see his eyes were watching everything around us.

  His gaze searched us, and I got nervous he would realize we were spying on them, but he dismissed us as a threat after only a couple seconds. I felt a flicker of amusement when I realized that looking young and immature had worked out in our favor this time. Kannon and I kept running past Lynn’s house but slowed to a walk once we rounded the corner.

  “Well?” Kannon asked silently. “What do you think?”

  I chewed on my lip as I thought. “It’s going to be difficult to eavesdrop with that guy standing outside.”

  “He’s obviously keeping watch for people like us,” Kannon pointed out.

  “Yeah,” I said distractedly. “That’s annoying.” We were far enough away now that he wouldn’t be able to hear our conversation.

  Kannon tried to hide his smile. “Maybe we just knock on the door? We were invited.”

  I shrugged. “The guy standing outside might get suspicious since we already ran past there.”

  “True,” Kannon admitted with a shrug. “Let’s keep running and circle around the block in a few minutes.”

  Kannon and I ran in silence as I frantically tried to think of a plan. The man standing outside had been obviously human, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t an agent of the lamia. He could leave Lynn’s house and report right back to them.

  “Maybe we should make a distraction?” I suggested to Kannon. “Get everyone to leave the house?”

  Kannon looked at me doubtfully. “Lori, I think maybe-”

  His words cut off as one of the SUVs we had seen in Lynn’s driveway turned the corner and drove past us. A moment later, the second SUV followed.

  Kannon and I looked at each other. “We’re too late,” I said glumly. “Whatever happened, it’s already done.”

  “We can talk to Lynn,” Kannon suggested reluctantly. “Warn her if we have to.”

  I shrugged uncomfortably. I knew as well as he did that warning a human would extend the death sentence over our heads as well as Lynn’s.

  “I guess it won’t hurt to ask her how the meeting went,” I suggested.

  Kannon hummed in agreement, and we turned back in the direction of Lynn’s house. When we reached it several minutes later, almost all the cars were gone. I slowed to a walk, and Kannon followed me up the driveway to Lynn’s front door.

  I held my breath subconsciously as I rang the doorbell. The worst-case scenario was that they were already dead.

  Relief flooded me when the door cracked open to reveal Lynn. “Hey!” she said excitedly. “I didn’t think you’d be able to get away from Pierce.” She visibly shuddered when she spoke his name, but she stepped aside so we could come in the house.

  “Yeah,” I said casually. “We didn’t want to miss this meeting, but it turns out we’re too late.”

  Lynn shook her head, and her eyes were aglow with hope. “Not at all.” She leaned in close to me. “It turns out that the government was already aware of the true nature of the university,” she whispered.

  My eyebrows lifted. “Really?” I asked in disbelief.

  Lynn nodded enthusiastically. “They have something planned; they just need us to get them inside. You can help with that.”

  Kannon and I exchanged a loaded look. “Um, yeah,” I agreed. “When is this going to happen?”

  “Soon,” she said confidently.

  “Um, Lynn,” I asked hesitantly. “How do you know these were the good guys? I mean, the vampires could have sent someone in here to figure out how much you knew.”

  Lynn looked amused. “One of the vampires already questioned me, but I’m immune. Plus, had taken some of the powder because I didn’t want to take any chances. He thought I was completely under his compulsion, but I learned more from him than he did from me.”

  “Huh,” I said in surprise. I had forgotten about that mysterious powder.

  “I overheard a phone call that interrupted him while he was questioning me, too,” Lynn said proudly. “He was instructed to influence the sheriff and Mr. Reaven after he finished with me, so we know neither of them can be trusted.”

  My eyes narrowed. I knew the lamia had something to do with the town turning against us. This was the smoking gun.

  “Can you text us about studying for the SATs?” Kannon asked.

  Lynn and I both looked at him in confusion.

  “When you have more information about the plan and our role in it,” he said patiently. “Since we were kicked out of school, there aren’t many reasons why you would want to meet with us.”

  Lynn blinked in surprise. “I thought that it wouldn’t be too weird for us to just hang out.”r />
  “It wouldn’t be weird to us,” Kannon explained. “But Pierce was at school enough to know that we weren’t exactly best friends.”

  He’d been around long enough to know that we didn’t have any friends. But now wasn’t the time to point that out.

  Lynn shrugged. “Okay, whatever.”

  “We need to get back before someone thinks our run is suspiciously long,” I told Lynn.

  She held up a finger. “One second.”

  Lynn disappeared into the kitchen, and Kannon and I looked at each other. “I’m not sure if this is better or worse than the scenarios I came up within my head,” I confessed. “If Lynn’s right, there’s a government group that wants to attack the lamia. I don’t see how this could possibly end well.”

  When Lynn came back, she held out a couple of packets and a bottle of water. “Just in case you get questioned when you return to the university,” she chirped.

  “Uh, thanks,” I murmured.

  I wasn’t sure what was in the powder, but Lynn was watching us both closely. I sighed when I realized this was probably another test. Lynn wanted to make sure we hadn’t been compromised.

  Kannon and I used water to wash down the terrible tasting herbs as Lynn stared. When neither of us fell to the floor in pain, she seemed satisfied. The lamia hadn’t tried to compel us – that I knew of – but maybe this would come to be useful in the future. The lamia were unpredictable.

  As Kannon and I jogged back to the university, my thoughts drifted to Corey. “We should text Gray when we get back,” I told Kannon. “They might have news.”

  Kannon frowned at me. “I think the booking process usually takes a lot longer than a couple of hours. They might hold him overnight if his bail hearing isn’t until tomorrow.”

  “Oh,” I said in disappointment. I guess it was too much to hope that Corey would be back to us tonight. If things were that easy, then the lamia wouldn’t be doing this to torment us.

  “If the lamia set Corey up, then we’re not going to be able to defend him,” I told Kannon with the bond. “The lamia can use their influence over humans to make sure he gets convicted.”