Chapter 1 – Beastly Tenderness

May

Flames shot high, turning the night lurid with carnival light. Sparks took the place of stars. The century-old inn was a silhouette fronting hell, as everything Vivian knew was consumed in fire.

Two figures broke from the smashed front door and ran toward the woods where she stood, their nightclothes smeared with soot, their faces white with terror. The person who pushed them out disappeared once more inside. Another window exploded.

Three of the cottages were in flames, too, and the barn. Horses screamed in terror as they were chased from the stables by a handful of teenage boys.

In the West Virginia hills, miles from the nearest town, they didn’t expect a fire engine to arrive.

Somewhere behind her a woman wailed and wailed. “They did it on purpose. They burned us out.”

“Get her into one of the trucks,” a male voice yelled. “I’m bringing the other car around.”

“Watch out for snipers,” a female voice called back. “They might be waiting to pick us off as we leave.”

“Head for Maryland,” Vivian heard her mother say. “We’ll meet at Rudy’s.”

Vivian felt a tug on her arm. Her mother, Esmé, stood panting beside her. “I put Aunt Persia in my car. Where’s your father?” Now that she stood alone with her daughter, her voice rose high in panic.

“He went back in,” Vivian answered, her words roughened by smoke and tears. “With Gabriel and Bucky.”

“Ivan!” Esmé started toward the building and Vivian grabbed her and held on tight. “No! You can’t both be in there. I can’t stand it.”

Esmé fought to get away, but at fifteen, Vivian was her match. “You can’t stop him,” Vivian said. “He swore to protect the pack.”

“But I need to be beside him,” Esmé begged. “They’re my people, too.”

What have I done?

Vivian thought. If only she’d stopped the boys this might not have happened. If only she’d told her father they were out of control.

Figures came around the side of the house. Bucky led a slight young woman not much older than Vivian. Gabriel held a shrieking bundle in his arms.

The fire roared its victory; then, with a crack as if a giant’s spine had snapped, a central beam gave way, and the roof collapsed in a peacock tail of sparks and flame.

“Daddy!” Vivian screamed.

But it was too late.

May or June Next Year——

“Mom, you’ve been fighting again.”

Vivian glared at her mother.

Esmé Gandillon lolled in an easy chair, one long slim leg thrown over the arm. She refused to stop grinning. A gash in her cheek still bled slightly.

“You look awful,” Vivian said.

“Yeah, but you should see the other bitch,” Esmé answered. She scratched her scalp luxuriously with both hands, tousling her thick blond hair.

Vivian sighed and came over to dab at her mother’s cheek with a tissue grabbed from the box on the coffee table. She would ruin her beautiful face. “Can’t you and Astrid leave each other alone?” It had been like this ever since they’d moved here from West Virginia, over a year ago now. She hardly knew her mother anymore. “Can’t you?” she repeated.

“Rafe called for you,” Esmé said, ignoring the question.

Vivian rolled her eyes. That was all she needed. Couldn’t he take a hint?

Esmé sat up and looked directly at her daughter. “I thought that’s where you were, with Rafe and the others.”

“No, I wasn’t.” She bristled at the thought. The five young males who were her only age-mates were likely to get the rest of the pack killed if they kept on going the way they were.

“So where were you?”

Vivian turned to leave the room. Since when was her mother so worried about where she was? “Down by the river, at the rocks,” she said over her shoulder.

“What were you doing there?”

“Nothing.”

As she left, Vivian heard her mother growl softly in frustration.

Why did Esmé always have to bring up the Five? Couldn’t she get it through her head that Vivian didn’t want to be with them?

The familiar knot in her gut formed hard and tight. The fire last year had been the Five’s fault-and Axel’s. She slammed the door of her room. The inside face of the door was channeled with claw marks. She grew her nails and ripped another row.

Axel had to go and lose it and kill that girl.

Axel had been acting wilder and wilder last spring, and talking crazy stuff. She heard him and the Five boast about midnight visits to town where they stalked humans in the shadows and scared them silly. What they did sounded funny. Vivian made them take her, too. But rumors started going around school. People were getting nervous. When Vivian said maybe they should cool it, Axel and the Five only laughed at her.

Then Axel began to go off by himself, and something seemed wrong to her. He didn’t talk as much. It drove her crazy.

I was half in love with Axel, Vivian thought as she stripped off her leggings.

Rafe thought I was his girl but I would have dropped him in a second for Axel.

She sniffed in disgust.

Caring for Axel made me stupid.

She’d seen their behavior spinning out of control, and she hadn’t done a thing. She should have told her father what they’d been up to, even if that meant she’d be in trouble herself. But you didn’t squeal on your friends, did you?

Then the night of the Valentine’s dance Axel went to town alone and killed a girl in back of the school.

Vivian still felt the heat of anger when she thought of what he’d done. She couldn’t help thinking he killed for some petty reason, like the girl turned him down.

And he could have had me, she thought bitterly.

---