The Rising
Page 56

“That’s not what I want, Maya. I would never come between—”
“You just did!” I said. “I have been through hell this past week. I thought I saw you die. I watched my parents at my funeral. I found out my entire life is a lie and I might never get any kind of normal one back. And do you know who got me through? The one person I can count on—always count on. Maybe you’re jealous because that’s not you, but as crazy as I am about you, there’s someone who’s been there a hell of a lot longer and that’s who I needed. But you couldn’t handle that, so you took it away. When I need it most, you yanked it away.”
I took off his bracelet and set it on a tree stump. He stared at it, then at me, and I saw the panic in his face. I saw regret, too, and shock, and I wanted to seize on that. He’s sorry. He didn’t mean it. He made a mistake. But all I could think about was Daniel, and what this meant and how I felt about it and, oh God, how did I feel?
And that smell. That tendril of scent that I couldn’t catch, that made something in my gut throb and made my hands throb and—
Rafe reached for me. I stumbled back, wheeled, and took one step away and when I did, I took another, then another, starting to run, crashing through the forest, branches whipping me, running faster and faster, feeling my body shifting, screaming at me to stop, just stop, let it finish, but I kept going, Rafe behind me, yelling my name, spurring me on, until finally I tripped and blacked out before I even hit the ground.
THIRTY-EIGHT
WHEN I WOKE AS a cat, it was as if I hadn’t done more than stumbled and fallen. I sprang up and kept running, pushed by the distant sound of Rafe’s voice and pulled by that smell, that damned smell. Danger, that’s what my gut said. It smelled like danger and I had to focus on this. Find the source of the threat before it found us.
I tore through the woods, following that teasing scent. Running here was different. The forest was different. Not my rainforest, but thick deciduous woods, the ground heavy with vines and undergrowth. After I tripped a few times, I forced myself to slow down and find a path. Then I flew along it until the ground blurred beneath me.
“Maya!”
The voice came from in front of me and I skidded to a stop, panic rising.
“Maya?”
It came clearer now, accompanied by running footsteps and I recognized those steps, just as I recognized the scent. My heart gave a little thud. A good thud. A relieved thud. Until Daniel stepped onto the path and everything Rafe said flooded back.
“I thought I saw you. Yes, I know, I’m supposed to be resting, but Ash snores even louder than you.” He grinned. “I had to take a walk.”
I looked at that grin and I heard Rafe’s words. He’s in love with you. But I didn’t see love. Not the kind Rafe meant. I just saw Daniel with his open, infectious, happy-to-see-you grin. Nothing else. Not in his smile. Not in his face. Not in his eyes.
That was good. Corey was mistaken. Maybe there’d been a time when Daniel thought we could be more than friends, but then he got together with Serena and that changed. He might not have fallen in love with her, but he’d realized he didn’t feel that way about me, either.
Relief. That’s what I should feel, looking into Daniel’s face and seeing nothing more than friendship. So why didn’t I?
My stomach clenched. I turned to leap into the forest.
“Hey!” Daniel said, jogging toward me. “What’s up?” He paused, then scanned the woods. “You’re playing with Rafe? Is that it? I’m interfering.”
He tried for a smile, but there was something about—No. There wasn’t. It was just a smile.
He stopped about a meter away. “You guys out blowing off steam?”
I shook my head.
The grin returned. Brighter? God, stop analyzing.
But that’s how it was going to be now, wasn’t it? Analyzing. His feelings. My reactions.
“Maya?” He hunkered down. “Is everything okay?”
The scent wafted past again and I seized on that. I made a show of lifting my nose and sniffing.
“You smell something?” He pushed to his feet, shoulders tightening as he scanned the forest. “Someone’s out there. Okay, let’s deal with this. You lead . . .”
He said something more, but all I caught was that scent, wafting around me now, filling my head.
“Maya? What’s—”
I bolted.
As I raced through the forest, I told myself I was just following the scent. But the fact that it happened to lead me away from Daniel helped. Focus on this. This is real. This is important.
The scent grew stronger. Dog? Human? No, it wasn’t dog and it wasn’t human. It was something in between—
The answer hit me as the scent did, a full blast of it, as if my target was right in front. . . .
But all I saw was darkness. I’d plunged into a thick copse and I could make out the faint glow of a birch tree, but that was it. The rest was black—
Two eyes swung my way. Bright green eyes. Peering at me from the darkness. Then that darkness erupted. A massive form flew at me, black as midnight, green eyes glowing. And fangs. Huge white fangs, bearing down on me.
I turned to run, but the beast was too close. It hit me in the side and knocked me down. Before I could scramble up, before I could even see what it was, the beast sprang. Teeth clenched my throat and pinned me to the ground.
“Derek!”
A girl’s voice. The beast stiffened. Not a beast. A werewolf.
He kept me pinned. He didn’t clamp down harder, though—just held me there.
“What is that?” the girl asked.
Those green eyes shifted to her, his grip on my throat relaxing a fraction. I unsheathed my claws and swatted at his chest. It wasn’t a hard swipe. Just enough to scratch him and just enough to startle him. He let go. I flew to my feet and twisted, backing up, showing him a hissing mouthful of my own sharp teeth.
“T-that’s—” the girl stammered. “I guess they aren’t extinct around here after all.”
The clouds blew from the moon and light streamed down, and I finally saw what I was facing. It looked like a wolf . . . if wolves grew to two hundred pounds. A massive black wolf with green eyes fixed on me, assessing, considering.
“Okay,” the girl said. “It’s backing away. Everything’s o—”
I glanced over and she stopped short. She was a little younger than me. Tiny, with reddish-blond hair and blue eyes. I swore I could smell fear waft off her. The wolf smelled it, too, and bristled, growling at me.