I froze in the hallway, my heart doing a strange little flip at the mention of Camron’s name. I quickly hurried to my room, locking the door behind me. I flopped onto my bed, staring at the ceiling, my thumb unconsciously tracing the spot where I had felt Camron’s scar.
Chapter 8
MACKIE: Sunday morning dawned bright and early, but I was already awake, pacing my room. I was absolutely buzzing with nervous energy. The encounter with Seth and his goon squad yesterday afternoon on my bike ride home had really pissed me off. Seth was a total jerk, and the fact that he was sniffing around asking about Keska while he was actively hooking up with her horrible sister Jessie made my blood boil.
I grabbed my phone and fired off a text to Keska.
*MACKIE: Wakey wakey. Meet me at the dojo in an hour. We need to hit the mats. I have tea to spill.*
It took ten minutes, but my phone finally buzzed back.
*KESKA: Give me forty-five minutes. Dodging the family breakfast. See you there.*
I grabbed my gym bag, strapped it to my back, and hopped on my bike. The pack dojo was a large, converted warehouse near the training grounds. It had massive skylights and floor-to-floor foam mats. We came here all the time to practice our Aikido. We were both working towards our green stripes, and neither of us liked to slack off.
I was stretching my hamstrings when Keska walked in. She looked exhausted, with dark circles under her hazel eyes.
“Rough night?” I asked, tossing her a roll of athletic tape for her wrists.
“Rough day,” she corrected, dropping her bag and starting to tape up. “You go first. What’s the tea?”
“Seth,” I grumbled, taking my stance on the mat. “He cornered me on my way back from Nana Lilly’s yesterday. Kept asking why you were ignoring his texts. His hockey buddies were giving him crap for talking to me.”
Keska sighed, stepping onto the mat and mirroring my stance. “Jessie was blowing up my phone on the ride to Moon Rise. She thought I stayed home and wanted me to tell Seth to leave her alone. I had Pete call his little brother Dave to keep Seth on the ice all day just so Jessie would shut up.”
“Wow,” I laughed, stepping forward and throwing a slow practice punch so she could drill her blocks. “You weaponized the hockey team? Nice.”
Keska deflected my arm, stepping into my guard and gently tossing me over her hip. I slapped the mat to break my fall and rolled back to my feet.
“Yeah, well, it worked,” she said. “But that wasn’t even the worst part of yesterday.”
We spent the next two hours drilling hard. Throws, joint locks, pins. The rhythmic slap of bodies hitting the mat was therapeutic. As we sweat, Keska poured out the whole story about the ceremony. She told me about Adrian and Kina, how beautiful the Luna ceremony was, and then, her voice breaking slightly, she told me about Mimi Sutter.
“She slapped me, Mackie,” Keska whispered, pinning my arm against the mat in a wrist lock. She wasn’t applying pressure, just holding the form. “Right in front of everyone. Said I wasn’t her grandchild and I had no right to call her Mimi.”
“That absolute bitch!” I yelled, throwing Keska off me and sitting up, furious. “I swear to the Goddess, Keska, if I ever see that old bat, I’m going to put her in a rear naked choke!”
Keska let out a wet laugh, wiping sweat and a stray tear from her cheek. “Adrian was ready to rip her throat out. He had to be calmed down by his mate. It was awful. The rejection…
it physically hurt, Mackie. It felt like something tore inside my chest.”
My heart broke for my best friend. “You don’t need them, Kes. You have me. You have Nana Lilly. You have Stephen.
And you have the warriors. Screw the Sutters.”
“I know,” she smiled, getting back to her feet. “Anyway, I’m not going to let it ruin my week. Only a month and a half until graduation. Then we can figure out what to do next.”
“Damn right,” I said, getting up. “Now, come at me again. This time, pretend I’m James.”
Keska grinned, a predatory gleam in her hazel eyes. “Oh, you’re going to end up in the walls.”
We trained until our muscles ached and our lungs burned. Keska seemed lighter afterward, the burden of yesterday’s trauma sweat out onto the mats. She didn’t mention anything else about the party, and I assumed the rest of the night was uneventful. It wasn’t until Tuesday that I found out exactly how eventful her afternoon had actually been.
Chapter 9
KESKA: Monday morning at school was a nightmare before the first bell even rang.
I had barely managed to get my locker open when Jessie marched down the hallway, her minions Marla and Dedi flanking her like poorly dressed bodyguards. Jessie’s blue eyes were narrowed into angry slits.
“You!” she pointed a perfectly manicured finger at my chest.
“Good morning to you too, Jessie,” I sighed, grabbing my history textbook. “What can I do for you?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Keska. What did you say to Seth?”
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