The Better to Bite (Howl #1)(40)

Time to cut through the bull. “It’s in her locker, inside her chemistry book.”

That shut up everyone.

Brent frowned at me.

Mr. Knoxley glanced at Valerie. Suddenly, she was looking very, very nervous as she tucked loose hair behind her left ear. “Have you seen her necklace, Valerie?” He wanted to know.

Hesitantly, Valerie shook her head.

“Are you sure about that?” He pressed because Mr. Knoxley had been in this game a long time. I bet he could spot a lying student from ten paces away.

Valerie tucked more hair behind her ear and rocked back on her heels. “I really don’t know—”

“Just open your locker,” I said at the same time because I didn’t want to hear any crap from her. “Show us all that I’m wrong, and I’ll apologize to you in front of the whole school if you want.”

But that wouldn’t be happening. She’d made a mistake. The girl never should have taken what was mine.

Her chin lifted. “I don’t even use that locker.” Ah, now she was back to sounding more confident and haughty. Back to being Valerie. “I’ve been putting my stuff in Suzy’s locker because it’s closer to the stairs.”

“Then you don’t mind if we look inside?” I totally sounded my like my dad, but I didn’t care.

Everyone waited.

Her lips thinned, but Valerie marched forward and spun the lock. A soft snick, and the metal door eased open. A chemistry book rested inside. Mr. Knoxley pulled out the book, flipped it open…

And my necklace shined in the light.

I grabbed it, my fingers closing tightly around the chain. “Thank you,” I told him.

Valerie’s glare felt like fire on my skin.

“Valerie,” Mr. Knoxley’s voice boomed. “You and I need to talk, in my office, now.”

That loud now had the folks around us scattering. My fingers trembled as I hurriedly put the necklace back on. The moon was a cool touch on my neck.

Brent watched me, his eyes shadowed. “I’m sorry.” His voice was low. “She’s pissed at me and…” He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s trying to hurt me and you.”

Yeah, his ex-girlfriend had some claws. Luckily, so did I. She was learning that now. Valerie tossed me one final glare over her shoulder as the principal led her away.

Brent leaned in toward me and dropped his voice to a whisper. “How’d you know it was in her locker?”

I stared up at him.

“And in the chemistry book? How’d you know that?”

I didn’t speak.

Brent shook his head. “Is it the same way you were able to find my house without ever having walked through those woods?”

As my anger at Valerie faded, I realized I’d just made a serious mistake. I’d exposed too much of myself. I tried to recover ground, fast. “I heard Valerie talking. I-I realized what she’d done.”

His lips twisted. “Now you’re the one who’s lying.”

I had to get better at the business of lying.

“You found my place.” His head was close to mine. His arm lifted, and his hand pressed against the locker behind me, caging me between his body and the metal.

And why were we so alone in that hallway? So quickly? That crowd had vanished back outside in an awful fast hurry. Maybe they’d been afraid Knoxley would grab more folks for detention.

“You led us through the woods. You found Sissy’s body.” His breath whispered out. “A deputy told my mom all about it—he said he was there and that he saw you lead your dad straight to the body.”

No, no, this was not good. Dad would have to find that deputy and shut him up.

“You knew exactly where the necklace was.” His voice roughed. “How, Anna? How do you know all of these things?”

My lips trembled. I wanted to tell him.

“You can trust me,” he said, eyes intent, face serious. “I’m not the kind of guy who’d ever hurt you.”

No, he wasn’t.

“Trust me with your secrets,” he whispered, so very close to me now. “And I’ll trust you with mine.”

So very tempting.

But would his secrets be as painful as mine?





Chapter Ten


I wanted to tell Brent. Staring into his eyes, he looked so open and honest and I thought, maybe he’d be different. I’d tried to tell a boyfriend back in Chicago the truth about myself once. He’d flipped out. Called me a freak.

Then hadn’t called me ever again.

It would be nice to be able to trust someone. To open up. Brent…

Maybe he was finally the one I could count on.

“Get away from her, Brent.”

Rafe’s voice. Snarling. Low. Vibrating with fury.

I blinked.

Brent lifted his head. I realized it looked like we’d probably been about to kiss. Had we?

Yeah, probably. Maybe.

“Rafe?” Brent’s tone held only surprise. “Man, this really isn’t any of your—”

“I said…get away from her.”

I pushed Brent back. “Look, Rafe, this isn’t about you, okay? You need to leave us alone for a minute.”

Rafe’s eyes looked like chips of blue ice.