“Your average person makes no distinction between werewolves and vampires,” Brody said flatly. “Not when we’re talking major events like this. We’re all something to be exterminated. Monsters. Other. We have to counter that messaging. And fast.”
“You’re talking about going public,” I said. “Outing us for real this time.”
“We’re going to be exposed,” Cal said on speaker. “It’s only a matter of time. This is our chance to control how the story breaks.”
“So how do you see that playing out exactly?” Dallas asked. “In stages? A tell-all interview on one of the networks?”
“Fuck, no.” River lowered his head.
“It would be safer to leak it slowly,” I said.
“How?”
“If we’re going to shift public perception, we have to give this a human face. Shifters with families. Everyday community members—cops, teachers, baristas.” I let my gaze travel around the table. Brody nodded. West looked resigned. Ethan, as usual, was impossible to read. “But before we take that step, we’re going to need allies who will flood social media, go to the news stations, raise absolute hell at the idea of us being annihilated.”
August tossed a bottlecap at the trash. “Not following. Sorry, Lace.”
Dallas shot me a WTF look. He knew where I was going with this. I felt the breath squeezed from my lungs, heart thundering in my chest.
“We allow Bittens from human families to tell their loved ones the truth. And we send the Tracers in to release their memories.”
Silence fell. Guillermo laced his elegant fingers. It wasn’t the first time he and I had engaged in this particular conversation, though admittedly, I’d never tried this angle. Challenging the most powerful werewolf in North America when he’d already told you no (twice)? Epic level crazy. But I was out of options. My mom’s attacks were spiraling out of control. I wouldn’t rest until I found a way to save her.
“Say we did this,” he said at last. “You do realize that once the government learned their identities, they would become the ultimate bargaining chips? Is that a price you’re willing to pay?”
Dallas met my eyes from across the table. He was keeping strangely silent.
“We keep things under wraps until enough families have been told. Half the shifter population in North America is made up of Bittens—”
“Yeah. Picture the epic freak out when they put that statistic on daytime TV,” River cut in.
“—and we all come from human families. There’s strength in numbers. We use that to protect them and us. The reality is that once we’re exposed, they won’t be safe anyway. Might as well have them on our side.”
Sofia said, “And you really believe someone in the human world won’t leak this the moment they know the truth? I’m sorry, but I think that’s a naïve take.”
My vision blurred as the wolf threatened to rip from my skin.
River spoke up. “The vamps aren’t the only ones with blood on their hands. Tracers have to deal with shit every day no one at this table wants to see. You’re all happy going about your safe, civilian lives. And that’s fine. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. But things in the real world are ugly and you’re hiding your heads in the sand if you think there aren’t going to be horror stories.”
“Fuck you, River,” Hayden spat.
He ignored her. “No matter how closely Alphas monitor their packs, no matter how many weeks I go without sleep, we all know that every full moon, the very worst of our kind skulks from the shadows to seek out victims. And all those people are going to want to talk to the media, too.”
“So let them talk,” Cal said. “The truth should come out. Even if that comes at a cost. Who are we as human beings if we condone the silencing of victims?”
“We aren’t human,” River countered.
“Yes. We are.”
Cal drove an hour every day to an inpatient facility where he worked as a psychiatrist, treating patients who’d suffered unspeakable traumas. Then he subcontracted for the pack and the Council treating shifters after hours and on the weekends. Had Cal been present the night Tracers came for my mother, I felt certain he would have stood in front of the door.
“Enough,” said Sofia. “Both of you.”
The table fell silent. Turning to River, Sofia said something quietly in Spanish that I couldn’t make out. His jaw hardened. After a beat, Sofia picked up the cell phone that was our link to Cal and excused herself.
River said, “Your mother’s case is complex for several reasons. She’s of above average intelligence, which makes her less likely to dismiss breakthrough memories and suspicions as coincidence. The event was highly personal, involving you rather than just an attack she happened to witness. Lastly, it was intensely traumatic—”
“I disappeared,” I whispered.
“Yes.” River’s gaze grew distant. “In ninety-seven percent of cases where an experienced Tracer performs the rewrite, there are few, if any lasting side effects.”
Hayden leaned across the table. “Really? Because I can tell you right now my sister’s been having nightmares.”
“I know.”
Her expression darkened. “You know how, exactly?”
“I kept my distance, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Hayden bared her teeth. “Stay out of my sister’s head. If you screw with her—”
Ethan slid an arm around her shoulders, fingers slipping into the collar of her jacket to caress her throat. “Watch it, River,” he growled.
“In Ellie’s case, the first two conditions are the same. But she was given the choice by Guillermo to be turned or have her memories of us erased. She made her own decision. That’s the difference. It’s only been a month. With time, the nightmares should fade.”
“Why do you even work for them?” Hayden bit out. “It’s like you get off on being a soulless monster.”
River gave away few tells. I’d once asked Dallas how he got the terrible scar that traced the length of his jaw. Apparently, no one knew. Now he stared back at Hayden, eyes cold. “The block on Ellie’s memories is holding. She believes a medication she was formerly taking caused her to hallucinate the events of the last several months. She retains the original memories to an extent, but they feel like vivid, terrible dreams.”
“Way to dodge the question for $100, Alex.”
River smirked.
Hayden rose, dragging Ethan with her. “Ellie could still remember?”
“She won’t. I’m very good at what I do.”
Hayden turned, nearly to the door. “There’s nothing good about what you do. And stay away from my sister.”
7
Dallas
AN HOUR AFTER SUNSET, my brothers and I put on black tactical gear and drove out to the north side of the ranch for our yearly post-Thanksgiving laser tag extravaganza. It was rematch time and the Caldwell cup was up for grabs, all of us gunning for the neon-orange water gun Dad had nailed to a sawed off two-by-four when River complained one year there was no trophy. Pretty sure it had been River’s water gun, too. That’s what you got in our house for asking questions.