Page 51 of The Night Calling

It could only have been Shane. By the moon, was he okay? He had killed the demon, so I hoped he was, but what if he had been hurt?

He had mentioned his friends were around. If Shane was hurt, they would take care of him. Shane was okay. He had to be.

But what would happen to us now? If Conri knew someone was watching, if he increased security, how would we save our pack?

* * *

With more demonsnot only following us around, but also stationed along Main Street and around the square, it was hard to go on with our day. Minsi was jittery by the time we arrived at the library. I walked in with her, made sure there were no demons inside—and no Shane—and calmed her down before leaving. After making sure the demons wouldn’t go in and bother her, I went to the school where I met Rue in the kitchen. There were a lot more demons here too.

Where had Conri got so many demons?

While serving chicken pot pie to each plate, Rue finally asked, “What is going on? Why the extra demons?”

I glanced at Phell and the other five demons at the door. Who cared if I told Rue the truth? I didn’t think they would do anything about that.

“One of the demons was found dead outside the barrier last evening,” I told her. “Apparently, they think a wolf shifter did it.”

Rue’s hand froze and she stared at me with round eyes. “A wolf shifter? Outside the barrier?”

“I told Conri it was probably a regular wolf, but he doesn’t think so.” Wouldn’t it have been a lot easier if he had?

“But …” She glanced at the demons and lowered her voice. “Who could it be?”

I shrugged. It was better if she didn’t know about Shane yet. “I have no idea.” I wanted to say that I hoped it was someone from another pack trying to save us, but the demons were sure to tell Conri I said that, and if they did, Conri might increase security around me even more.

I was already feeling suffocated as it was.

Not to mention hopeless. How would I talk to Shane now?

“Do you think it’s someone who wants to help us?” she asked, her voice even lower.

I met her eyes. If I told Rue, she wouldn’t tell anyone else. In fact, she would even help us, but it was risky. Even if the demons didn’t have the same hearing as we did, they still could hear our conversation, and that would get us in a lot of trouble. If Conri found out Rue was involved, he would punish her.

I couldn’t do that to her. At least not yet, not until Shane's plan was ready to be executed.

“I don’t know,” I muttered, lowering my gaze.

We continued working in silence, but when we took the food to the other wolves, the silence was gone. The pack members were agitated and curious.

“What’s going on?”

“Why are there more demons watching us?”

“I saw more demons in the square too.”

“Will they kill us?”

“They will use us for sacrifices!”

Rue glanced at me as we started serving our people, but we didn’t say anything. The sentence “I don’t know” was my best friend right now.

But Lucille and Dom weren’t having it.

When I passed along the plates to their classroom, they leaned against the door.

“You know what’s going on,” Lucille whispered. It wasn’t a question. I looked at her, but neither confirmed nor denied it. “Can’t you tell us?”

“Not yet,” I whispered back.