The moment they were shown out into the garden to their luxury treehouse, Sue felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The treehouse itself was more like a cabin built up high with a wooden spiral staircase leading up to it. It looked like something out of a fairytale with its strings of fairy lights hanging along the wraparound porch.Although Sue’s mind was whirring and she was dying to ask Knight about his conversation with Jared, she was completely distracted by how charmed she was by the place. There were a few more treehouses on the land, but they were far enough away that they wouldn’t hear each other. Considering what Knight had promised her in the car on their way there, Sue was grateful for that.“Wow,” she said after she and Knight climbed the stairs and entered the cabin. There was a big bed with a dark wooden frame and an emerald-green throw over it. There was an area with a tabl
A few days after their stay at the hotel, Knight had given Sue the keys to his apartment and told her he would meet her there later. When Sue asked why, Knight had told her that he was going to the clinic to donate blood to his sister, like it was no big deal.Knight had been completely closed off to the topic of Angel and Carlos, either changing the subject quickly or completely shutting down altogether. Sue didn’t think it was a healthy way of dealing with things, but she knew that if she pushed him too hard the werewolf would just get angry at her.“Stupid, stubborn werewolves,” she muttered to herself as she let herself into Knight’s apartment. She put her overnight bag down in the hallway and shrugged off her jacket before throwing it on top of her bag. She had mostly finished writing up her article, but she had left some spaces for questions she had devised for Knight’s grandpa.As she walked into the kitchen, she had the vague notion that it might be nice of her to make dinner
Knight hadn’t been to visit Angel at the clinic, even though she had asked him to. Perhaps he was a bad person, but it wasn’t his job to look after her. He had paid for the clinic and he had donated blood, but that was where he drew the line. Even when he had gone in to donate, he hadn’t gone to see her. It was more than a lot of people would have done for a complete stranger.Sue had tried to talk him into seeing her once. It had led to their first real fight. Sue had gone out to sleep on the couch afterward, leaving Knight feeling like a real prick. After ten minutes of Sue’s absence, Knight had gone out to apologize, only for Sue to beat him to it.It had been a relief when Sue finally admitted that it should be Knight’s decision. He had to admit that a big part of not wanting Angel in his life was his mom. She had been through enough, thanks to Carlos. Knight wasn’t going to put her through any more.It was Saturday, the day before the pack barbeque, and Knight and Sue were stayin
Knight stood back on the porch and watched Sarah talk to Jared’s little girl. The grown woman looked uncomfortable as she kneeled down on the grass in her skirt and heels. Fortunately, the little girl seemed to be the kind of child who was happy to sit and talk as opposed to the kind who just liked to run around like a lunatic.The way Jared was beaming at them both was almost enough to make Knight care about any of it.“She’s cute, huh?” Leslie said as she came up behind him. “She’s already calling me Auntie Les.”Knight smirked at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “Grandma’s beside herself at having a child to fuss over again.”“Oh god, don’t.” Leslie sighed dramatically. “She’s already dropping hints about how she’d like some more.”Knight laughed and shook his head. “You know what grandmas are like, a werewolf grandma, so much worse.”“You don’t need to tell me that. She’s been trying to set me up with guys since I finished high school,” Leslie said. “Hmm...where’s Sue? Wa
“What are you talking about?” Knight’s mom asked him. She had always been kind of fragile, which was why Knight hadn’t wanted her to know about Angel. “You have a sister?”Knight ran his hand over his face and leaned back against the porch railing.“I’m gonna let you guys talk,” Leslie said as she made a beeline to the door, mouthing an “I’m sorry” at Knight as she went.Knight sighed. Of all the days to have this conversation, it had to be today. “A few weeks ago, a woman showed up. Her name’s Angel. She was hooked on wolfsbane and wanted my help.”His mom started walking up and down the porch, shaking her head as she went. She didn’t say anything, so Knight continued talking.“Carlos had her hooked on the stuff from a young age,” he told her. “Mom? I know this must be hard to hear.”Julia just shook her head again, her face the picture of shock. “No, it’s impossible. Whoever that girl is, she’s lying. She’s not your sister.”“Mom,” Knight began, keeping his tone calm and soothing. “I
As Knight drove back into the city, he began to feel himself calm down. He felt betrayed by the lie his mother had kept up for so long, but he knew that he would eventually forgive her. He had always been protective of her, ever since he had witnessed the way Carlos had treated her when he was just a kid. That wasn’t going to stop now.As he drove, his mind had been whirring, trying to make sense of it all. He had started out by giving Angel the benefit of the doubt, assuming that she didn’t know Carlos wasn’t really her father, just like Knight had, but as he got closer to the city, he started to wonder about that.He was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of his cell phone.“Shit,” he swore. He had meant to call Sue to let her know she was on his way back but had been so caught up in his own head that he had forgotten. He knew it would be Sue before he even glanced at the screen.He quickly swiped the screen to answer and put it on speakerphone.“Hey, how’s the article comin
Sue stood on the porch of Knight’s grandparents’ house and watched Sarah and Jared play a giant game of Chutes and Ladders with Jared’s daughter out on the lawn. There were around forty people there for the pack barbeque. Some of them were swimming in the pool and others were standing around talking. It was warm out and the smell of barbequed food wafted around her. She felt calm, peaceful even. Knight had been hovering since they got there the night before. It had been late by the time they reached the house, having given their statements to the police and gotten checked out at the hospital.It was Sue who had insisted they stick to the plan to go and stay with Knight’s grandparents for the weekend. It felt good to be away from it all and with all the werewolves around her, surprisingly she felt safe. They had spent an hour talking with Knight’s family, filling them in on what had happened before finally going to bed.Sue had fallen asleep quickly and hadn’t woken until morning. K
The low, setting sun cast strange shadows on the bedroom wall. Knight West lived on the top floor of his building, so there were no trees outside. Still, the dark and shadowy figures twisted like tree branches, dancing, clashing in a sinister way.“It looks like two wolves fighting,” Sue said to him in a whisper. He hadn’t heard Sue come in, which was unusual. He didn’t know why, but something didn’t feel quite right.He turned and looked at his girlfriend and gasped when he saw the human. There was a huge gash across her throat and blood was gushing out of it, pumping and spraying onto the shadowy figures on the wall.“Sue,” he shouted, his hands clutching at Sue’s throat in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.“It’s no use,” Carlos, the man Knight had believed to be his father, said to him from across the room. “She’s human. She’s weak.”Knight let out a ferocious snarl and lunged at Carlos, shifting into his wolf form as he flew through the air. He launched at the other werewolf