Logan was a little confused on the exact timeline. His parents had been together and then broken up, but because Mom was Pack, she’d stayed at Stonehaven some of the time, and … It was confusing. All he knew for sure was that Mom had kept her old bedroom, though she hadn’t used it for years.
Deciding to move Kate in there had been something of a family joke. The room was super girly. Mom said that when she joined the Pack as its only female werewolf, that was the kind of room Jeremy figured she needed. Kate was about as girly as Mom was—which was to say, not at all—and now Kate had the room, and, like Mom, she couldn’t complain too much for fear of hurting Jeremy’s feelings. Logan figured by now Jeremy knew that it wasn’t really their style, but it was like he was in on the joke, and everyone played along. Still, Kate was slowly but surely redecorating, piece by piece, poster by poster.
Logan’s room was at the back, across the hall from Jeremy’s. Kate’s was on the other side of Jeremy’s, across from Mom and Dad’s. This meant that, if Logan snuck out, he’d have to pass everyone on his way to the stairs. This was a problem. His parents slept soundly, but Kate was overly attuned to his sleeping patterns. He’d need to jump out the window instead.
Being a werewolf meant window-jumping wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it might be. Or it wasn’t these days, that is. The first time they’d tried it, they’d been three. Logan twisted his ankle, and Kate sprained her wrist, and Mom totally freaked out. They hadn’t hopped out any windows for years after that. But now, at their age, it was as simple—and safe—as jumping out a main-floor one.
Logan opened his window, took out the screen, and set it inside. Then he poked his head through to check below. He spotted a figure in the yard and jerked back fast. When he peered out, he saw …
Kate.
His sister was making her way across the backyard.
What the hell? He almost said that. Almost shouted it out the window. He started to jump out after her. Then he realized he was wearing his jacket and boots, which would take some explaining. He stashed them under his bed, pulled on a hoodie and slippers, and jumped out the window.
He hit the ground and tore off after Kate. The fresh-falling snow was too powdery to squeak under his slippers, and she had her hoodie pulled tight, so she didn’t hear a thing until she was flat on her face in the snow. She twisted, fists clenching. Then she stopped.
“Logan?”
“What the hell are you doing?” he snarled, and she didn’t tell him to watch his language. She heard that tone and her gaze dropped, and she pushed up from the snow carefully, her posture submissive, which meant she knew what she’d done was wrong, because there was no submissive or dominant wolf in their relationship. They were twins. Equals in everything.
Normally, he’d have let it go at that. The wolf in him said that if she submitted—acknowledging her error—he should take the high road. She might deserve a cuff on the ears and another snarl, but that was it. Tonight, though, with everything going on, he didn’t feel like dropping it quite so fast.
“No, really,” he said. “What the hell were you doing, Kate?”
“I … I was restless?” Her voice rose in a question, as if looking for the answer that might appease him.
“So, you took off in the night again? After what happened this summer?”
“I—”
“No, this is worse than last summer, because this time you were expressly told not to come out here at any time. To sneak off in the night—”
“I’m sorry.” She stepped toward him, her gaze down. “You’re totally right.”
He eased back then, grumbling, his temper fading.
She looked up at him. “Are you okay, Lo?”
“No, I’m not. My sister tried to sneak into the forest when there’s a mutt—”
“There isn’t a—” She swallowed the rest and dropped her gaze again. “Whether there is or isn’t, the point is that I disobeyed a direct order.”
“From your Alpha.”
She shifted. They both understood the difference, even if Mom might not. If she told them to brush after meals, that was their mom. If she told them to stay away from a potential mutt, that was their Alpha.
“Are you okay, Lo?” Kate asked again. Then she shook her head.
“No, stupid question. I know something’s bugging you. It’s what happened at school, isn’t it?”
It took him a moment to realize what she meant. More than a minute, because he’d honestly forgotten about it. His sister had problems at school with the other girls. Kate was smart and talented and—according to the other boys—pretty. But she hung around with Logan and a few of the other kids who didn’t quite fit in, and that drove the popular girls nuts, like she was thumbing her nose at them. They could be mean. The last day of school before the holidays, one of them had tripped Kate, and his sister had hauled off, whacked her, and sent her flying. The girl had been too scared to tattle, but Logan had had a talk with Kate after that.
“I know I need to rise above it,” she said. “Ignore them. Never hit them, because I can really hurt them. And because Mom will get a call, and she doesn’t need that.”
“Right.”
“It won’t happen again. But you’re still mad, aren’t you? I disappointed you.”
“What? No.” He gave her a rare hug. “I actually forgot all about it, Kate. If I’m a little off, it’s just that: I feel a little off. Like you did this summer. I’m running behind. Boys do mature slower than girls.”
She laughed at that and hugged him back. “I don’t think anyone would accuse you of maturing slowly. All right, then, as long as you aren’t mad at me.”
“About the school thing? No. About sneaking out tonight? Yes.”
“I know. It was dumb. I’m a kid. I’m allowed to do dumb things. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just get inside before Mom or Dad catches us, or we’ll both learn exactly how dumb it was.”
An hour after giving his sister proper hell for disobeying an order, Logan was doing exactly the same thing and painfully aware of the hypocrisy. But the puppy had to be fed.
He gave Kate time to fall asleep. Then he put on his coat and boots and climbed out the window. Snow was still falling, already obscuring their tracks from earlier. He had a way to go, and he really wanted to get this done quickly, so he circled out to the road, which was easier walking. Any other time he’d have enjoyed the crisp, clear night with lightly falling snow. The nip of the cold didn’t bother him at all, and he walked with his hood down, moving between a fast walk and a jog, depending on the depth of the snow.
He’d hit a good run at a plowed section, and he was ripping along, hearing nothing but the wind whistling past his ears. The snow started driving his way, and he narrowed his eyes against it. The cold wind numbed his ears and nose, and he was truly running “blind,” all senses deadened. Just keep moving. A little farther, and then he’d veer into the woods and—
There was a figure on the road.
It seemed to appear from nowhere, but the truth was, he just hadn’t been watching where he was going. Not watching. Not listening. Not smelling. He’d had his eyes on the road, and then he glanced up and there was a man standing ten feet away.
Logan stopped fast. Then he caught the man’s scent. His stomach did a double flip.
No, that wasn’t possible. It had been a misunderstanding. His parents had caught a whiff of the puppy and mistaken it for …