Whispers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls #4)(33)

He'd told Burnett he would be here tomorrow, but what were the chances of that happening now when he'd had his phone disconnected and dropped off the face of the earth? Kylie suspected it was because of Burnett's tie with the FRU. Then again, maybe he just didn't care about her. It wasn't as if he'd even known his own son, her father.

That thought stung until she realized it didn't make sense. If it were true, why would he and her aunt have come to the camp pretending to be her father's adoptive parents? The fact that they'd come disguised as humans reinforced that he didn't trust someone at Shadow Falls. And that someone had to be Burnett because of his connections to the FRU.

"Don't you just love Della?" Miranda asked. "She's a pain in the ass, but when it's about protecting us, she steps up to the plate, or on the plates." She giggled. "I'll bet she stomped on about six breakfast platters this morning."

"I know. She's great." Even if the plan backfired.

"I mean, really? A flatulent goose? Where does she get these ideas?"

"I wouldn't know," Kylie muttered. Frankly, she wasn't even completely sure what flatulent meant. Nevertheless, feeling overwhelmed, she decided to chalk it up to a learning experience. Not only did she have a word definition to look up, but she'd learned another important lesson-that being stared at wasn't any worse than when people refused to look at you. Nope, not one person chanced even giving her a quick peek after Della's warning. Flatulent must be really bad.

"This is still so cool. You are a witch like me!" Miranda rubbed her hands together with complete glee.

Kylie wished she shared Miranda's optimism. "I still don't believe it. I don't care that even Holiday half believes it," Kylie said, and then added, "You do know it could change, right? I was all human and now I'm not." And her dad told her she was a chameleon. She believed him.

"But this is the first time you've shown a real supernatural pattern, so it's probably real." The little witch did a butt-wiggling victory dance. "Aren't you over-the-moon excited?"

For Miranda's sake, Kylie plastered a smile on her face, but the over-the-moon comment repeated in her head, reminding her of a certain werewolf.

"I wonder why Lucas wasn't at breakfast," she said aloud. Not that she was all that eager to tell him the news.

"I don't know," Miranda said, still wearing her toothpaste ad smile. Then her smile faded. "Are you worried he'll be disappointed that you aren't were?"

"No," Kylie said, not sure if it was an out-and-out lie. She wasn't worried he'd be disappointed; she was worried he would be devastated. Her heartstrings gave her a few emotional pulls and a knot tightened in her throat.

"Is there any legendary bad blood between weres and witches?" Kylie asked.

"Nothing that I know of," Miranda said. "I mean, weres don't typically like any race but their own. But they don't dislike witches as badly as they do vampires."

Kylie supposed she should be grateful she hadn't morphed into a vamp.

Then again, she had a feeling nothing other than her turning into a were would make her acceptable to Lucas's family and pack. Could their relationship survive the prejudices?

"Do you want to go to the cabin and try out a few spells?"

"Oh, hell no! I don't want to goof anything up."

"You won't," Miranda said. "I'll be with you. I won't let you mess up."

Right, like you've never messed up. The words shot from Kylie's brain and landed on the tip of her tongue, but she managed to swallow them. Just because she was hurting didn't give her the right to hurt others.

"You're just nervous. You gotta trust me." Miranda's bright smile widened even more. "We witches have to stick together."

"Sorry," Kylie said. "I've already managed to zap Burnett in the balls with a paperweight. I'm taking the day off."

"Seriously? You did that?" Miranda snorted with laughter, causing frowns from the group of weres walking past.

Kylie spotted Will and called out. "Will?"

The dark-haired, brown-eyed teen turned around and appeared annoyed. Was it rude to call a were's name? Or was his expression due to more personal reasons? Were all of Lucas's pack members going to start giving her the cold shoulder?

"Yes?" His tone matched his expression.

Kylie moved a few feet away from Miranda. Standing in front of Will, she tried not to let his discontent intimidate her. "Lucas wasn't at breakfast. I was wondering if you know where he is."

Will glanced at the woods, as if stalling. While Kylie couldn't read minds, it was almost as if he were trying to come up with a lie. Why?

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

He motioned the other weres to go ahead. Then he waited for them to get out of hearing range before he spoke.

That had to mean something was wrong, didn't it?

"Lucas was summoned by the Council," Will finally said.

"Is that a bad thing? Is he in trouble?"

"I ... don't know. That's between him and the Council."

Concern pricked at Kylie's mind. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"No." He shuffled his feet against the rocky path, then glanced off at the woods again before facing her. "I'm sorry," he added, and something about the tone in which he offered the apology, even the sincerity in his eyes, told Kylie he meant it-but why? For what was he apologizing?