Page 54 of Bad Medicine

“Pepper?” Zach asked, lookingaround.

Joe hefted his bloody machete.“Pepper,” he said.

Zach laughed, and it was goodto hear. I couldn’t help but smile, and something eased inside me.

“What do you need me to do?”Eli asked Jared.

“Gather them up, Eli. Escortthem home. Leave some warriors with them, then return to Shadowfield.”

“You want me to take them backto Stonebridge?”

“For now,” Jared said.

There would be a lot of work inmerging the two packs, and I sagged with relief when I realized I wouldn’t haveto deal with any of that mess. I’d done the right thing by turning them over toJared. I wasn’t cut out to lead a pack.

I was feeling a hundred timesbetter. Maybe it was Zach’s talk, or maybe it was just listening to normalbanter while my brain worked in the background to process the night’s events.

I’d killed more than one manthat night, and I hoped that killing someone would never be something that cameeasy to me. I didn’t want to be that person.

Cars were waiting at the road,and when Jared and I left the woods, the driver started the first car and droveto meet us. He got out and stood at the back door, waiting quietly for us toreach him.

“Aaron,” I said, surprised. “Ithought you were the council’s driver.”

“Now I am your driver,” hesaid, smiling. “The council wished it.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “Okay,but you’re not likely to get a lot of work. I don’t often need someone to driveme.”

“For when you do,” he saidsoftly, “I will be there.”

There was something in hiseyes, something mysterious, and I peered into his face, frowning. “You’re notSaul,are you?” He’d been sent by the council, after all, and Saul was about asmysterious as they came.

But he laughed. “I am not, Ms.Silver. I am Aaron Clarke, and I am happy to be of service to the council’swolf.”

I hesitated, uneasinesstightening my belly. The council’s wolf. “I’m not anybody’s wolf,” I told him,softly but firmly.

“Of course,” he said. He openedthe back door, his hat shielding his eyes.

Bundles were waiting for us,just as they would have been in one of Jared’s cars—clothes, shoes, our cell phones—andwe got dressed in the back seat as Aaron drove us away from the woods.

“Would you like to stop forfood?” he asked.

Jared shook his head. “Thetables will be full at Shadowfield.”

“You’re welcome to join us,Aaron,” I told him, my stomach growling. I was happy to hear it, honestly. Myappetite hadn’t been the same since my attack. Maybe now that Adam was gone, Iwould return to normal. Maybe all my memories would return, as well.

“No, thank you, Ms. Silver,” hesaid, and drove the rest of the way in silence. It didn’t seem odd at all, butas I leaned back against Jared’s chest and he closed his arms around me, Iwondered what would happen if I stopped doing the council’s work. What wouldhappen if I declined to be who they wanted me to be? If I refused to be “theirwolf,” would they turn on me?

Time would tell, I believed,because eventually, they’d expect something of me I would refuse to deliver.

And then…

Then we’d see.

ChapterTwenty-Six

Jared hadn’t been wrong. Thetables in the Shadowfield community building were laden with food. The wolveswho’d been with us in the woods, tired but healed from the earlier fight,trickled in to eat. Hair still wet from their showers, some of them showingsigns of lingering wounds that would heal as they ate, they fell ravenouslyupon the food. They roared with laughter, were boisterous and loud, and once,one of them grabbed a female who hurried between the tables with a pitcher ofwater and pulled her onto his lap.

She punched him in the face,much to the amusement of the other wolves, then demanded an apology. He gave itto her, shamefaced, and wiped his bloody nose on his napkin.