Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls #5)(97)

Kylie frowned. "I do, but ... running away isn't the answer."

"Please," Derek muttered. "For someone who ran away a couple of weeks ago, I don't think you have a lot of room to judge."

"I didn't run away. I told everyone I was leaving. And I'm not judging." Frustrated and yet a bit amused at Derek's defense of Jenny, Kylie inhaled and looked from Jenny to Derek. "If a chameleon runs away before they're mature they are excommunicated from their family."

Derek cut his eyes to Jenny, up and then down. "She looks pretty mature to me."

Kylie rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking about her body. I'm talking about her being able to change her pattern." Moving her gaze to Jenny, Kylie realized something. "But you're able to go invisible. I thought that didn't happen until later?"

"It doesn't normally. I've been working really hard on my own for the last couple of years so I could leave early. But I still can't control my pattern." A sadness entered the girl's eyes.

"Are you really ready to completely walk away from your family?"

Jenny dropped on the bed and bunched a handful of Derek's loose-fitting pajamas in her hands. "It hurts like hell, but that family is trying to force me to marry someone I don't love. And he doesn't love me, either. I don't want to live like that."

Kylie's mind raced. She had told Holiday that what the chameleon elders were doing was almost as bad as the weres. Now she realized how right she was. The elders were doing to Jenny what Lucas's father was doing to Lucas.

Did that mean Lucas was right to stand up to his pack, and to his dad? Everything felt so mixed up.

Realizing Derek and Jenny stared at her, she decided now wasn't the time to think about Lucas. One problem at a time.

Problem one, her grandfather and the entire chameleon community were going to blame this on Kylie because she was the reason Hayden was here. How in the hell was she going to fix that? She looked at Jenny again. "Okay, so now explain to me why you haven't gotten with Hayden?"

"Because," Jenny said. "Every time I talked to him about me leaving, he'd tell me it was wrong. To stick it out until I matured. But everyone knew that the day I matured, I was out of there, so the elders were trying to find another way to stop me. They were going to force me to marry Brandon next week."

Her expression grew solemn. "Besides, I didn't come here because of Hayden. I came here because of you. I thought you'd understand. I guess I was wrong."

Guilt filled Kylie's chest. "You're not wrong, I just ... I don't know how to make this right." Kylie looked around. "How did you end up with Derek?"

"You always had people around you. I saw Derek and I figured if you trusted him, then I could, too."

Kylie sighed. "Are you really ready to lose the right to see your family?" Was Lucas?

Tears filled the girl's eyes and Kylie felt the same emotion stir inside her.

"No," Jenny said, "but I wasn't ready to marry Brandon, either."

"I know," Kylie said. "We just have to figure out how to deal with this." The same went with Lucas.

But God help her, she didn't have a clue how to do either.She glanced at Derek and remembered why she'd come here to begin with. "We have a lot of stuff to deal with," she muttered.

"What stuff?" Derek asked.

Kylie hadn't realized she'd spoken aloud. Then parts of the vision played in Kylie's head like a horror movie. "Do you remember when you told me about Roberto, Mario's grandson? You said he witnessed his mother's murder?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember how she was murdered?"

He ran a hand through his dark hair. "I think one article said she was stabbed."

Kylie frowned. "I was afraid of that."

"Why?" Derek asked.

"She's my ghost."

Derek looked concerned. "Roberto's mom is your ghost?"

"Please tell me she's not here right now." Jenny pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them.

"It's okay." Derek moved closer to the girl. He rested a palm on her shoulder to ease her fear.

"Stop it!" Jenny slapped his hand. "I don't like you touching me. You ... make me feel things I don't ...

feel."

Derek frowned. "I was trying to make you feel better."

"Maybe I don't want to feel better!" she snapped, and they stared at each other.

For some reason their bickering reminded Kylie of Burnett and Holiday, or better yet, Kylie and Derek in the beginning, and she knew why. Sexual tension. If Kylie was a vampire she'd bet she could smell the pheromones.

Derek looked at Kylie. "Do you see what I've put up with the last twenty-four hours?"

The only thing keeping Kylie from smiling were the remnants of the vision and the realization that she didn't have a clue how to deal with Jenny. If she went to Holiday, she wasn't sure the camp leader would or even could allow her to stay. But how long could they keep her hidden?

All of a sudden, Derek's window shot up and Della lunged inside. "Okay, here's the thing. I just got a call from Burnett. He was doing walk-bys of our cabins and realized we're gone. He's on his way here.