Page 127 of Devoured

My father picks up on the fourth ring. His voice comes out disgruntled, rougher than I remember. “I told you, I’m not coming in today. Stop asking.”

“Dad?” I breathe. “It’s… me.”

The world narrows to his hard gasp. I imagine him on his recliner, sprawled out in front of the television, with cans of beer opened on the table beside him. “I hope you’re drinking water.”

“Vanessa.” What sounds like a sob wrenches from his throat. “Vanessa—how—”

Another scream behind me. Something slams into the office door. Evander—now a massive white wolf—crashes atop a flailing body before biting their neck. Biting too deep. Blood spurts on the door. The scream fades into nothing. Tears blur my vision, and my hand shakes.

“It doesn’t matter, Dad. Listen to me. I need you to leave town. If you were here, I’d compel you to do it, but… you need to stay away. Do not come back to the police department. Pack your bags and get the hell out. If you can manage to make it to Australia or Argentina, you’ll be safer. There are people there who won’t cede to Cora’s every demand.” The phone nearly snaps in my hand as another scream pierces the air, louder this time. Closer. When I glance behind me, the young man at reception has crawled to the office door, trailing blood in his wake. Though he claws at the wood, I force myself to turn back around just as Evander leaps on his spine. “It… it’s dangerous here. You have to leave. If anyone tries to stop you—don’t look them in the eye. Okay? Cover your ears and keep your head down.”

“Argentina? Australia?” The sharp creak of his recliner as he lurches to his feet. “I don’t understand—”

“I know. But trust me on this. You can only kill a wolf with silver or wolfsbane. They’re coming, Dad. The werewolves are tearing through the city. We have a new queen, and she’s relentless. She wants to enslave the world. She won’t stop, Dad, and if I defy her, she’ll kill you.” My voice breaks, and a tear spills over my cheek. “Please, please listen to me. You have to leave, and you have to arm yourself.”

“You’re in danger,” he says. A question. A statement.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I shouldn’t have left you there—”

“We had no other choice,” I snap. Rage tears loose from my chest, rattling my bones as the screams multiply behind me.

“What is that?” Something jingles—his keys. “What’s happening there?”

“Don’t,” I snarl. “Don’t you dare come here.”

“Vanessa—”

“Don’t,” I repeat. “You’re too late anyway.”

As if to punctuate the point, Evander bangs on the office door. Once more a man, dressed in a bloodied officer’s uniform, he smacks his hand against the glass. Let’s go, he mouths, his golden eyes glowing. Blood drips from his chin. My heart sinks.

It’s done.

“I—I love you, Dad. I’m sorry for what I said to you when I was in that car. I love you so much, and… I’m sorry.”

Dad exhales. “Sorry for what, kid?”

I can’t stop my tears now. They fall silently on the floor. “For who I’ve become. For the things I’ve had to do. I’m not the same anymore.”

“Hey.” He’s crying too, and the sound cuts through me like a knife. “You will always be my little girl. No matter what.”

“I have to go, Dad.”

And then, just before I can hang up, as if he doesn’t hate me at all, he says, “Today is a new day. Anything is possible.”

I slam the phone down on its receiver with a mangled sob and wipe my tears away before I exit. I don’t let Evander see me cry.

When I meet him by the front desk, Evander waits with five bodies scattered around him. He spins a pair of shiny silver keys round and round on his finger. “What do you say we steal a police car and transport these wolf pups to Castle Severi?”

“Sure,” I say through numb lips. “Whatever.”

I try not to glance at my feet. I try not to see Officer Warren’s tall body strewn with the others. Evander found him. Evander didn’t let him leave. I tear my gaze away to glare at the man in front of me, wishing I could rip that arrogant smirk off his bloodstained face. Officer Warren will be a werewolf now. He will never see his daughter again. My father will never see his home again.

I have taken everything from these people, and Cora will never stop. The mortal world will never be safe so long as she’s alive.

Ignoring the rush of venom in my chest, the self-loathing and despair and guilt, I lift my chin. I try to steady my pulse. Because he has to be okay. My father has to survive this.