Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(35)

Miranda's gaze shot back to the blond shape-shifter, and for a flicker of a second, she looked guilty. It wasn't much, but it offered Kylie a bit of hope.

"Excuse me," Miranda said, and then stood up, phone in hand, and zipped out of the dining hall.

Perry watched Miranda go and then looked at Kylie. His eyes were now a bright green color and they were slightly pinched, giving off a hint of anger. And that contented glow on his cheeks from a few seconds ago was gone. Vanished.

"Should I ask who the hell Todd Freeman is, or do I friggin' not want to know?"

Kylie's mind raced as she tried to find the words to answer. "He's just..." Just when she thought she knew what to say, something that would soothe him and hopefully not make him angry, she spotted Derek and Ellie walking out of the dining hall. Derek's hand rested against Ellie's lower back. An innocent enough touch, but it didn't look so innocent to Kylie.

"He's just who?" Perry bit out.

Kylie looked back at Perry. Why, Kylie wondered, was she so involved in trying to fix everyone else's love life when she couldn't even fix her own?

"I don't know what to tell you, Perry. Life's hard. Love's harder."

* * *

Thirty minutes after breakfast, Kylie-with Perry still dogging her steps-stood in front of the dining hall again, looking for Helen. Kylie suspected Helen would be among the noisy crowd waiting for the names to be called for Meet Your Campmates hour.

She wasn't.

Lucas walked up, trailed by Fredericka. "Hey." He came close enough that his shoulder brushed against hers. His warmth reminded Kylie of the dream last night when he hadn't been warm. She so preferred him warm. She preferred him to be himself and not some psychotic killer vampire.

"Hey," she said, and tried not to look at Fredericka, who ambled slowly past.

"Everything okay?" Lucas asked, and then frowned at Perry, who stood on the other side of her, not that it affected Perry. He just nodded.

Fredericka kept slowing down, and unable to stop herself, Kylie glanced up. The she-wolf shot Kylie a sassy smile, no doubt wanting to rub it in that she'd been with Lucas.

Lucas dipped his head down a bit. "Sorry I missed breakfast. I had some pack business I had to take care of."

Pack business? Kylie couldn't help but wonder if the pack business wasn't all about them keeping her and Lucas apart. Frustration swelled in her chest. It was bad enough to have Fredericka plotting against her, but to think the whole pack was also against her was too much. She looked at Lucas. "I ... have to go."

"You okay?" He leaned in, concern filling his blue eyes. She wasn't sure if he'd picked up on her flicker of fear from last's night dream or if it was her jealousy for the little she-wolf who followed him around like a lost puppy.

"Yeah," she lied, and started walking.

"Where are we going?" Perry asked, his footsteps matching hers.

"To find Helen," Kylie answered, and stared straight ahead, even as she felt Lucas staring after her. She might not be able to solve her romantic issues, but perhaps Helen could shed some light on the whole healing process and the fact that Kylie had brought a dead bird back to life. With Holiday gone, she needed all the help she could get. A blue jay swooped past and hovered right in front of her for a millisecond before flying away. Could things get any crazier?

Kylie shook her head. Oh hell, what was she thinking? She was at Shadow Falls; things could always get crazier.

* * *

As Kylie drew closer to Helen's cabin, she turned to Perry and looked him right in the eyes. "I want to talk to Helen alone."

"No can do," Perry said.

She frowned. "Perry, I'm serious."

"So am I," he said without a touch of sarcasm or humor, and for Perry, that was a rarity. "Look, I know you don't want me hanging around, but Burnett told me what happened with the eagle and snake and then the deer. And on top of not wanting you to get hurt by an evil being of my own kind, I can't mess up again. I've already screwed up by losing that old couple, and I'm not screwing up again. So you'll just have to suck it up."

Kylie frowned, but she did understand. Who wanted to screw up? And as much as she didn't want to accept that she was in danger, she couldn't argue with the probability that Burnett was right. She didn't want to be hurt by an evil being of Perry's kind, either.

She looked Perry right in his yellow eyes and spotted a touch of insecurity. She felt bad.

"It's just that I need to ask Helen some questions and I'm not sure she'll feel comfortable answering with you here."

"How about I transform into something else and hang back?"

Kylie suddenly got an idea. She didn't know if it would work, because she didn't know how the whole transforming thing worked, but it was worth a shot. "How about you change into a male white cat with bright blue eyes."

"The last time I made myself a cat, you got pissed, bruised my ears, and threatened to neuter me."

"Well, don't start playing Peeping Tom in my cabin windows and you won't be in any danger. Just make sure you're white with blue eyes. Oh ... and you have to be male."

"Like I would ever become a female," he said.

"Then do it already," she said.

"Fine." He waved his hand up and the sparkles started appearing. In just a few seconds, Perry disappeared and a long-haired white cat with a cute piggish little face and beautiful blue eyes stood in his place, swishing its tail back and forth.