Wolf's Bane (Monstrous Hearts #2)

Chapter Sixteen

With a stiff nod, Alice rose with the blanket still wrapped around her. No one looked as they left the room. Outside, the sun looked blood-red from the haze of smoke, and the distant mutter of a helicopter could be heard—faint hints of what raged through acres of land while they walked over clipped lawns and past sedate oaks. The college had a small rose garden still lush and full despite the autumn weather, with wooden benches nestled among the established bushes for privacy. They sat on one, Gretchen still appearing uneasy. Alice didn't make any attempt to smooth things over, instead watching the sun wink through the leaves that surrounded them.

"The man who was with you at the party..." said Gretchen, finally.

"Colton." Alice felt her heart clench.

"He's not here with you."

Such an obvious comment, and yet it cut so deep, drawing tears into eyes that she thought had gone dry. As she fought to respond, fought to spit out even one word, it came to her that it wasn't that she felt nothing. It was that she overwhelmingly felt so much that she couldn't even grapple with it.

"He saved me," she said at last, voice strangled and small.

"But got caught in the fire." Something flashed across the other girl's face, something that cracked her flawless makeup and doll-like eyes.

Then she reached out and squeezed Alice's hand. The movement was a little stiff, but her voice sounded sincere as she added, "I'm sorry. You start to think they're invincible against anything because of what they can do. And then something happens and your heart feels like it'll bleed out."

The implication drew Alice's gaze to the other girl. Gretchen stared back, the set of her jaw going stubborn. Her silence dared Alice to claim that she didn't know what that meant.

Alice saw no reason to avoid the truth. "He told me nothing can kill him. That he..."

There was a brief silence as they both glanced around, furtive despite the privacy. The words sounded so alien in their own mouths, so ridiculous.

Then some of Gretchen's old boldness came back, because she blew out a breath and said, "Shane explained it as him dying as a man and coming back as a wolf."

Alice nodded and watched the wariness fade from the other girl's eyes. "Colton said it in a similar way. And that he's already died and can't die again. But he has a heartbeat. He bleeds."

"And he does get hurt," finished Gretchen. Then she looked right at Alice. "Do you believe he'll come back?"

It wasn't her true question. That one hung in the air between them, as sharp and snagging as barbed wire. Will you wait for him?

The truth of the situation—that she might not be able to wait, that she might end up in hell, herself—was too much. It gaped at her like the sky, reduced her to something small and hopeless in the face of the infinite.

"I—I..." Her heart squeezed until it felt impossible to breathe.

Her stammering drew a nod from Gretchen. Then the other girl pulled the bag between them, offering the handles to Alice. "Here, I brought this for you. Go on, look inside."

As Alice did, silent once more, the other girl added, "I figured the fire must have left you with nothing, so I brought some clothes and toiletries. A phone charger, too. After you get dressed, I'll drive you to the nearest car rental place."

"I'm sure that my parents..."

"Your parents must have already offered to scoop you up and take you away from your troubles. But you're sitting here, instead."