Silver Kiss Read Online Free Page A

involvement of two crooked cops in the aftermath had
complicated things further. Anyway, it wasn’t my place to talk
about it. I hadn’t really known Adam—he’d been a child when I left
home—and I didn’t think his parents would want me gossiping about
his brutal murder with stoned teenagers.
    Vince sensed my discomfort and shooed the
kids away. “Come on, it’s Lupercali,” he said. “Haven’t you lot got
better things to do than hang around here?”
    They conceded that they did and disappeared
into the night, whooping and shrieking at each other. I stretched
and tilted my head back to the moon. Moths fluttered around me,
wings glancing across my bare skin, and I shivered, suddenly
longing for wolf shape again. The aroma of charred meat wafted back
to us from the barbeque and my stomach growled. I glanced at the
others. “Race you back?”
    Seconds later, we were sprinting through the
forest again, singing as we ran.
    The night was fading fast by the time Lupercali drew to a close.
People had been drifting away slowly as the night waned, replete
with alcohol and food. My little group had lingered late—or early,
maybe. My parents had found us once we got back to the clearing and
we’d lazed around with them eating charred hot dogs and discussing
mine and Shannon’s plans for the future.
    It was nice. Really . But God, I was
glad when Mum finally stood, stretched her arms and announced she
was heading home. I scrambled to my feet to hug her and Dad,
promised to call them soon, and followed Vince and Joel back the
car.
    The slinky red dress I’d started the night
in was in tatters, barely covering me, and the seatbelt cut into my
shoulders and stomach, leaving me wriggling around to get
comfortable. Joel grinned at me in the rearview mirror as I
struggled.
    “ So that’s it. You’re
officially home again.”
    “ I’ve been home for three
months,” I pointed out. “I’m officially Pack again.”
    “ It’s the same thing,” he
said. “Now all you need is a decent house.”
    I bit back my retort, too tired and content
to be bothered. My crappy little house might not match up to Joel’s
high standards, but that was his problem, not mine. I pictured
Shannon curled up in bed, blonde hair fanned out across the pillows
and a tingle of pleasure weaved through me.
    She wasn’t in bed when I crept into the
house at five am though. She was sitting at the kitchen table,
cradling a steaming mug of tea in one hand and finger-combing her
tangled hair with the other.
    “ Hey.” I slid into the seat
next to her. “Hope you haven’t been waiting up for me.”
    She smiled wearily and looked me over. “Good
night, by the looks of it?”
    I had dead leaves stuck to my feet and my
hair was disheveled and rimed with frost. The odor of barbeque and
cigarette smoke clung to me. My sliced palm stung but the shallow
wound was already healing. “Better than I expected,” I admitted. I
prodded her with my toes, brushing the soft flannel of her pajamas.
“So, why are you up so early?”
    “ Oh, I couldn’t sleep. I
thought I might as well get up and do something productive as lay
in bed staring at the ceiling.” She tapped the papers in front of
her. “I’m just looking at the notes for this meeting
again.”
    “ Is there a problem?” I
craned my neck to get a look at the notes. “Missing
person?”
    “ Yeah, not my usual field.
I’ll probably end up referring her somewhere else.” She yawned.
“But it’s a start.”
    “ Something to tide you over
until you get back into the thrilling world of tax evasion and
unpaid parking tickets?” I couldn’t quite keep the sarcasm from my
voice. I’d helped Shannon out on a few of her cases and had quickly
decided her job wasn’t for me; too much sitting around.
    She shuffled her papers together and leaned
over to kiss my nose. “When you’re handing out those parking
tickets and filing witness reports on those tax evaders, don’t come
crying to me.” She