Freeks(79)
In the Winnebago, my mom’s album was still playing, but I couldn’t handle the sound so I flicked it off. I set my crossbow on the counter beside me, in case I needed it, and I poured myself a glass of water. I took a long drink with my back to Gabe, but I could feel his eyes on me, the way I always felt his eyes when they were on me.
I took a deep breath and turned back to face him. He stood before me, looking more scared than I’d ever seen him before.
“What are you?” I asked finally.
49. confession
“Well, um…” He lowered his eyes and cleared his throat. “People would call me a werewolf.”
My heart dropped from my chest, and I closed my eyes, letting his words sink in. Since I’d grown up around people with all kinds of different supernatural abilities, I wasn’t as shocked as perhaps the average person would’ve been.
I also knew that I was still keeping my secret from him—that I was a necromancer, and that most of my friends had extrasensory powers of their own—and I was probably keeping it for the same reason he had. The shame and lack of understanding that came from telling a “normal” person.
But considering my friends and family were being attacked by a creature that we didn’t understand, his confession carried a more terrifying weight with it.
“It’s not like the movies, though,” Gabe rushed to explain. “When I change into a wolf, I don’t just turn into an animal. I’m still in control of myself. I can even control when I change. It’s harder when there’s a full moon, but I’m still in control.”
“A full moon?” I opened my eyes. “There was a full moon the beginning of this week.”
“I know, like I said, I’m still in control,” Gabe insisted, and took a step toward me. “I’m always in control of myself.”
“How does it work, then?” I asked. “If the moon doesn’t make you change, why do you change?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “It’s just something I do from time to time. Like, my body craves it, and if I don’t run off some built-up wolf energy every now and then, it does get harder to handle. But I do it. I usually just run through the trees for a while, and then I come home.”
“How long have you been a werewolf?” I asked.
“Technically, all my life,” he explained. “But I didn’t start actually changing until I was twelve.”
“You were born a werewolf?” I cocked my head. “Does that mean your family are too?”
“You remember when I told you about the Brawley legacy?” Gabe asked with a crooked smile. “It’s not just the house and the money. We’re werewolves. My mom, my sister, my uncle Beau, my grandpa, we’re all wolves.”
I tilted my head back and stared up at the ceiling. “Oh, hell, there’s a whole pack of you.”
“It’s not like that.” Gabe reached out, trying to touch my arm. “We’re not bad.”
I looked back at him, into his beautiful golden eyes, and now I understood exactly what I felt when I met him. I’d sensed that I should be afraid of him, and I could never understand why.
And still, even though I knew exactly who and what he was now, I couldn’t make myself be afraid of him. In his eyes, I saw the same guy that I’d been falling for, the guy who made my heart race when he held my hand, the guy who cared for me without judgment and without conditions.
But I couldn’t just pretend like everything was fine. We couldn’t just go back to the way things were, not when I still didn’t know who or what was hunting us.
“So you’re saying that you have no idea who killed my friend Blossom?” I pointed toward the window, to where I’d seen her body before we came into the trailer. “That you didn’t have anything to do with it?”
“No!” Gabe insisted emphatically. “I’m sorry for your loss and everything, but I don’t even know who Blossom is, and I’ve never killed anybody.”
“What about your family? Could they have done that?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. And whatever that was that I fought in the woods, I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t like any other werewolf I’ve ever met. It was … darkness. I could feel it pulling me in, like it was sucking out my soul through my skin.”
He shivered visibly then, and I wanted to comfort him, but I didn’t know how. I wasn’t sure if I should touch him, or throw him out. Everything felt so off it was hard to know what to think.
“Why didn’t you come see me today?” I asked.
“After what happened to Luka last night, I was afraid that my family was somehow involved,” Gabe explained. “My mom and sister both insisted they didn’t have anything to do with it, but I came out tonight to see for sure. I had to make sure that I was safe for you before I came around again.”
“I was afraid you’d changed your mind about me.”
“No, Mara.” He stepped closer to me and put his hand on my face, cradling it. “I’ll never change my mind about you.”
I looked up into his eyes, and I wanted to kiss him so badly then, as badly as I’ve ever wanted to, but the moment felt wrong. Everything felt wrong tonight. I lowered my eyes, so he moved back from me.