Secrets and Shadows by Shannon Delany Read Free Book Online

I just be us? Together. In public. Crap.
    Why must Pietr be so amazing and so complicated—so frustrating?
    We stopped neatly beside the car and I jumped off him, throwing his jeans at him. “Ugh!” I cried as he changed and slipped into his pants. “You could have just carried me. As a human. But, no. You had to get naked and go al wolf— commando . Fil ing my head with…” I clamped my hands over my mouth.
    He had the good grace to look abashed. As if he’d never considered another possibility. “The wolf…”
    But he fel silent, head down as he dragged his knuckles across his forehead.
    “The wolf makes him stupid,” Cat finished for him, opening the door and pul ing me onto the seat beside her as headlights appeared down the road.
    My body buzzed. It was like the time I’d trained so hard with Rio and found out the competition was cancel ed. Like there was something stil to do. With a growl of my own, I clicked my seat belt together.
    Cat glared at Pietr as he tumbled into the front seat.
    From the driver’s seat Max peered back at me, eyes glowing just beneath his tousle of dark curls. He had a charmingly sheepish look whenever he wasn’t wolfishly eyeing the girls who threw themselves at him. Max was werewolf number three. A few inches tal er than Pietr and broader across the shoulders and chest, Maximilian Rusakova was a daunting figure whether slinking through the shadowy hal s of Junction High or driving the family’s cherry-red convertible. If Max had been interested in footbal he could have made Junction’s Jackrabbits unstoppable.
    But Max had just one interest.
    Girls.
    And the girls returned his interest. Eagerly (at least when he didn’t wear his special y devised necklace
    —which, regardless of how often Cat reminded me they were creatures of science, the necklace stil seemed like it required a better, more magical , explanation).
    Nuts . I was nervous. I was mental y babbling.
    Nearly eighteen years old, Max was one of the most wanted seniors at Junction High, but to me, he was too much of a good thing—a little overpowering in a lot of smal ways.
    He rol ed with laughter. “You’re both so messed up,” he choked out, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. “Just do it and get it over with!”
    “What?” I exclaimed, heat flooding my face. Do it? Okay, maybe Max was a lot overpowering in some ways.
    “Watching you two frustrate each other cracks me up,” he snorted, putting the car into gear. “ Don’t do it and I’m guaranteed lots of laughs! How crazy is it: a werewolf revving high and the human who wants him watches him date her friend!” The driver’s seat trembled beneath his quaking laugh.
    Pietr’s face was suddenly beside Max’s ear, his lips drawn back, teeth lengthening as he grated out,
    “Drrrive.”
    Crossing my arms, I scowled into the mirror at Max.

    Normal, normal, normal! Why couldn’t I have that? But as the car pul ed away I realized as angry as I was at Max, as frustrated with Pietr, stil there was no place I’d rather be than with the Rusakovas.
    Dammit.

    * * *
I pul ed myself together on the drive. “So, tel me why I’m needed. I mean, I’l help you guys—you know that. But why do you need me? ”
    Max snickered, more hyena than wolf. “Are you asking Cat or Pietr?”
    Cat smacked the back of Max’s seat. “Idiot!”
    My eyes narrowed, and I doubled the intensity of the glare I shot Max. “Cat.”
    She turned in the seat to face me. “You’l stay with the car while we scout. I do not want us to leave and come back to find it gone. There are no good places to hide it. Stay in the front passenger’s seat, and if anyone asks questions, say—”
    “The car stopped working and my stupid companion, who drove , ditched me to go find some help. We forgot our cel s.”
    Cat smiled at me proudly. “ Horashow .”
    “ Spahseebuh ,” I thanked her in kind.

    * * *
Max pul ed the car over on the edge of a road running alongside one of the