Hot Blooded (Wolf Springs Chronicles #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

talk later,” she whispered, afraid that the other werewolves would hear but knowing that she had to say something to him. Then, before he had a chance to respond, she walked toward the truck.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    3
     
    “Boys can be idiots, sometimes,” her grandfather said after they had driven out of town and into the forest.
    “Yeah, well,” Katelyn muttered. She was still replaying what had happened in her mind, and how angry she had felt. Rather than stand by and watch the fight, she wished she could have joined in. It was as Justin had said – everything felt more extreme.
    But I controlled myself , she thought proudly. Better than Trick, that’s for sure .
    “Your new tires haven’t come in yet. The boy will have to drive you to school tomorrow morning.” He glanced over at her. “That going to be okay?”
    “Yes,” she said, because really, what was the alternative? Having her grandfather drive her? “I wonder why Trick can’t just get along better at school?” It was a poor shadow of her real question.
    “This is the last year. Then he’s free and clear.”
    Wrong , she thought. If he stays in Wolf Springs, he’s not clear by half . And then she reconsidered. Why should he stay in Wolf Springs? Maybe they could leave together.
    Just . . . go.

    On Monday morning, she was relieved to see Trick’s vintage green Mustang pull up outside the cabin to drive her to school. He was wearing his sheepherder’s jacket and his black cowboy hat against the chill, and except for an incredible bruise on his chin he looked good. As the sun rose, they shared coffee and toast with her grandfather, then left for Wolf Springs.
    As soon as they were in the car he turned to look at her. “I’m sorry.” He shrugged. “For whatever I did that got me big-time dissed.”
    “We’re good,” she said, but she had a struggle to know what to do or say after that. She couldn’t pull him close, but the thought of pushing him away was a cold, sharp blade just under her heart. Finally she gave up and kept herself busy on the drive by texting Kimi, her best friend back in Los Angeles. But it was five in the morning in L.A. so there was no reply. And there might not be. When Katelyn had moved to Wolf Springs, they had drifted apart, and she missed the contact.
    Niki and the Dove was on Trick’s iPod, filling the Mustang with quirky Swedish voices singing in English. Blasting through the forest as usual, he kept glancing at her as he drove. But whenever she looked back over at him, his attention was fixed on the narrow, winding road. He seemed to be on the verge of asking or saying something, but he was holding back; she fidgeted with her phone just for something to do.
    She and Trick sped into the foreboding tunnel of trees that completely blocked out the sun. The space left for vehicles was impossibly narrow, yet Trick shot through it as if they were being fired out of a cannon. He seemed incapable of driving slowly.
    Wolf Springs High consisted mainly of a large, two-story wooden building with a pitched roof encrusted with overhanging turrets and dormer windows. There were wrap-around porches on both floors. On top of the building an LED sign glowed scarlet through the early-morning gloom, the zipper of letters reading W-O-L-F-C-O-U-N-T-R-Y.
    Heads turned as they walked into school together and Kat supposed people were beginning to speculate that they were a couple. She wondered if Trick thought they were.
    When she’d arrived in Wolf Springs, she’d been the five hundredth student. Now, by her count, they were down to four hundred and ninety-six. Two dead, one moved, one kicked out of the house. But it felt to Katelyn as if the entire remaining student body was crammed into the narrow corridor: the din of voices and slamming lockers, the body heat — it was oppressive, smothering. Before her change last Friday, she hadn’t minded it all so much. But now every sound, every jostle from passing