The Better to Bite (Howl #1)(42)

Um, okay. Granny Helen sure had mastered the art of creepy.

She waved me forward. “Been seeing monsters in the dark, have you, child?”

I dropped into the chair in front of her. “You know what’s happening in Haven, don’t you?” Time to cut through the crap. I slapped my twenty on the table. “This money isn’t for a reading. It’s for answers.”

Her trembling hand covered the cash. “You sure you really want to hear the truth?”

“I don’t want to hear it.” I want to pretend that a boy can’t change into a wolf and that folks aren’t dying. “But something bad is happening here, and it has to stop.”

She nodded but asked, “You think you’re the one to stop it?”

Now that made me pause.

She smiled. The smile never reached her eyes. “Still unsure, are you?”

I realized she was doing it again. Walking me in circles with her questions. I shoved out a hard breath. “Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”

“Because you wouldn’t have believed me. Sometimes, we have to see things with our own eyes before we can believe in the impossible.”

A boy turning into a wolf should certainly count as impossible. My head began to throb. “How did you know my mother?”

“She came to me, same as you. Wanting answers. Help.”

“Did you help her?”

“Some can’t be helped.”

My eyes narrowed.

She made a faint tut-tut sound and said, “You don’t realize what Haven is yet, do you?”

Her question caught me off-guard. “Cassidy told me that it was founded by some folks who thought they were witches—”

“Didn’t think. They were.” Her stare bored into mine. “They were lost and looking for a safe place to lay their heads.”

Lost. I’d caught the faint emphasis she put on the word and suddenly I went on high alert.

“Have you ever been lost, Anna?”

I shook my head.

“I didn’t think so.” Satisfaction hummed in her words. “One of their own led them here. Straight through the wilderness, she led them right to this spot. She promised them it was safe.”

“A haven,” I whispered.

“And for a time, they were safe. But those who knew their secrets, those they’d trusted so foolishly with a truth most can’t handle…they followed them here.”

You can’t trust either of us.

The temperature in the room seemed to dip about ten degrees. “I’m guessing this story doesn’t end happily.”

Her lashes lowered. “Most stories don’t.”

Happily ever afters were just for kids. I knew that. I’d learned that lesson when I saw my mother’s bloody body get zipped up into a black body bag.

“They were followed, hunted, when they should have been safe.” Granny Helen’s voice deepened. “Then the killings started.”

All I could see then was my mother’s body.

“So they cursed their enemies. Those who’d spilled the blood at their haven would be revealed as the monsters they truly were.”

I knew where this was going. My hands slapped onto the table. “You’re saying—”

“If they were going to slaughter like animals, then they would become animals.”

A week ago, I would have laughed at her dramatic announcement. A week ago, I would have jumped up and left.

Now, I could only sit there, with my heart slamming into my chest. “The beasts are still here.” Wolves.

“The curse passed through the bloodlines.” Granny Helen’s gnarled hands fluttered in the air. “Hard to see it at first. They all seem just like everyone else. But beneath the skin, they’re different.” She paused, then said, “Just as you’re different.”

“Who all knows about this?” I demanded, jumping to my feet. Werewolves. Freaking werewolves. And they had been living in Haven for centuries?

“The old families who’ve been here since the beginning. They know. Some fled, hoping to escape, but there’s no escaping. A witch’s curse is forever.”

Wait. There could be dozens of wolves running around? Perfect. Nightmare.

Hell.

“And they’re…evil?” I forced myself to ask this question even as I thought about Rafe and about him kissing me. Don’t be evil, please don’t be—

“No. Not all of them are dark inside.”

My shoulders sagged with relief.

“Many have adapted. It’s their way of life now. All they know. But others…there are always those who feel the call of the beast too strongly. The thirst for blood and death can consume them. Those…” Her gaze took on a far-away stare. “Those are the ones we must fear.”

I already feared them. “Those are the ones killing the hikers? Killing Sissy?” I began to pace around the small room, my body tight with nervous energy. “I have to tell my dad. I mean, he might not believe me, but I have to tell him what he’s up against—”

Don’t tell anyone. Rafe’s voice. In my head. I shoved that voice back even as Granny Helen’s soft laughter filled my ears.

“Oh, child…” The laughter faded and she just seemed sad. “You truly think Ben Lambert doesn’t know? His family has been in this town for centuries. He knows everything.”