Excerpt – The Culling Trials: Book 3

Chapter 1

Being caught kissing a boy in a forest by Rory shouldn’t have bothered me. After all, I’d seen him kissing Missy—a bleach blonde I know for a fact stuffed her bra with her socks—behind the five and dime—twice. The first time, I’d run back the way I’d come, embarrassed and not sure why. The second time, he’d seen me before I could react. Rather than stop, he’d turned so his back was to me, then continued to kiss pretty, girly, hair always perfect, makeup always on straight, stuffed boobs Missy.

I pulled back from Colt, just enough so that I could turn and arch an eyebrow at Rory even though my face was about to combust if the heat rushing to my cheeks was any indication. Before I could form an answer with my tingling, kiss-stung lips, Colt did a very dumb, very male thing.

He stepped between me and Rory.

“Who the hell do you think—”

And that’s where the question ended.

I stepped to the side to avoid the sharp right hook I saw coming about three miles off, in time to see Rory’s fist connect with the side of Colt’s head. Colt’s eyes rolled back, and his body went limp like Rory had pulled every pin in every joint of a marionette.

“I told you to stay safe.” Rory stepped around the still falling Colt and clamped a hand on my wrist.

My jaw dropped, and heat snapped through me again, although this time it was purely anger. “I am safe, you idiot. You said to stay in groups. Two is a group. Or was, until you knocked him out. What’s wrong with you?”

I yanked my arm, but his strength topped mine and then some. His fingers didn’t budge and the dark glower in his eyes deepened until I wasn’t sure if I was looking at the boy I’d grown up with, or a man I didn’t know at all.

Excited anticipation fluttered in my stomach and electricity sizzled across my skin, but I didn’t have time to wonder at the strange reaction.

He leaned closer and lowered his voice, rough with a warning. “You’ve never been a stupid girl, Belle, don’t start now. He’s not the sort that’ll keep you safe from what’s hunting you. You know that.”

A memory of the other night flashed through my head. Uncomfortable heat wormed under my collar.

I shook it off. Sure, it would have been dangerous to be out here alone, or with Colt, in the middle of the night. But it was broad daylight, and Rory was just being an overprotective douche. The man needed to be reminded of boundaries.

I drove my forehead forward, intent on a headbutt. He jerked to the side, missing it. I twisted my arm and yanked at the weak part of his grip, the break between his fingers and thumb. My arm slipped, but he bore down, keeping hold of me. I used his distraction to quickly step to the side and upper cut with my other hand, connecting with his jaw, hard.

He grunted and his head snapped back. His weight followed, forcing him to stagger backward. His hand tightened on my arm for a moment, as if he planned to use me to brace himself. It surely would’ve worked, dragging me with him, but I was banking on the fact that he didn’t want to hurt me. Sure enough, he released his grip, putting him at the mercy of his momentum. First one heel caught on the grass, then the other. He couldn’t get his footing and went down hard, his butt slamming into the grass.

I didn’t hide my grin, standing over both downed guys. Rory’s eyes came up, slowly, and a sparkle of fire lit in their depths. The strange surge and sizzle from a moment ago blasted through me again.

Not surprisingly, given our history, a smile flitted across Rory’s full lips. “I see you haven’t changed one bit. Same old fire. Same hard head.”

I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Like you can talk.” I stalked past him, leaving Colt alone in the grass. He could take care of himself and he was already groaning, sitting up, as I took off. 

I hit the double door of the mansion hard enough that both sides flung open and banged against the back wall, startling several of the kids, making them leap back, raise their hands and wands lifted in defense. I ignored them, taking the stairs to my dorm.

Wally and Pete startled when I pushed inside, Pete sitting on his bed and Wally leaning against the wall. Her dark brown hair spilled over her shoulder as she tilted her head to the side. “Where are the others? Did you find out anything?”

I pushed past her, out of breath from the stairs, and headed into the bathroom.

“Well, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go,” Wally said. “You know, your chances of damaging your kidneys and colon go up by one-point-five percent every time you hold it in.”

“Gross,” Pete said.

Their voices droned on, blending together as I leaned over the sink and splashed water over my face. I felt bad about Colt. He’d had no chance against Rory’s fist— I didn’t know anyone who could stay standing after a full-on punch from Rory. But that strange surge of excitement I’d felt with Rory had my heart pounding. I felt ready to run full speed into trouble. Or sneak into danger and work out a way to get back out again.

Ready to pick up right where we’d left off.

But this wasn’t the farm. This game had life-and-death stakes. Which meant I needed to rein in this sensation, no matter how good it felt.

A few splashes of water on my face, and I headed out the door. “I’ll be back, you two. I’m going to grab some food,” I called over my shoulder, “then you can tell me what you learned.”

Wally gave me a salute, and Pete nodded as I strode out of the room. I loaded up two to-go containers of food in the mess hall, barely looking at what I was piling on, only knowing I was starving and needed fuel.

Back in the room, Wally and Pete filled me in on what they’d learned about the missing snake shifter.

“Lisa told her friends that someone higher up suggested she’d get to skip the rest of the trials because she was doing so well.” Wally said and shot Pete a look. I stuffed a chunk of potato slathered in cream cheese, bacon, and chives into my mouth.

“Lemme guess,” I swallowed my mouthful and jammed in a roast beef chaser. “She wasn’t, was she?”

Pete shook his head. “Her friends felt bad talking about her, but they said she was middle of the pack at best. Not even an alpha personality. They weren’t surprised that she’d accepted an offer like that. They figured it was the only guarantee she’d get.”

A moment later, Ethan and Orin stepped into the room, eyes shooting daggers at one another. Or maybe wands and fangs.

Ethan puffed out his chest. “We got some good info. The ones we talked to thought—”

“That he was going to be moved through the trial?” I offered as I stuck my fork into another potato chunk, this one covered in some sort of gravy and hunks of cheese. If nothing else, the food here was spectacular.

Ethan frowned, and we filled him and Orin in on our findings.

“Where is Colt?” Ethan looked around as if the other boy could be hiding under one of the beds.

“We went our separate ways,” I mumbled. I’d cleaned off both plates and a nice food lethargy was stealing over me. “Orin, you want to come with me to get that paper from the director’s desk tonight? We can do it at midnight.” I yawned and crawled into my bed. It was not quite noon, but I was exhausted and my body was shutting down. “Wake me up when it’s time to go.”

I’m not even sure that he answered me. My head hit the pillow and I was out like a light. But my sleep was far from restful.

My dreams were disjointed and laced with panic. Shadows chased me, and when I turned to fight them, they engulfed me—my arms and legs went numb, my body slid to the ground. Helpless. I was helpless, and I hated it.

Blink.

I stood at the edge of our old farmhouse, watching it burn. Animals lay dead all around me, their limbs twisted, and the smell of death filled my lungs, tightening them more than the smoke. These animals had been mine to care for, mine to protect. And I’d failed them. Waves of fire rushed straight toward me, faster than I could even turn away from. I threw my hands up—

Blink.

Sam screamed for me on the edge of a cliff, high above me, high above the river of rushing water beyond me. “Wild! Help me!” Her voice cut into me, drove me forward even though there was no way to get to her. I threw myself at the sheer rock face, my fingers digging into it, sliding. “I’m coming!” The rock pulled away in pieces like shale. Her screams filled the air around me, pitching higher and higher, charged with panic and pain, and I couldn’t get to her, I couldn’t save her—

Blink.

A figure cloaked in darkness stood across from me, less than ten feet away, and yet I couldn’t see his face. Everything around him was hidden in shadows. Something about him rang familiar to me. The way he moved, like liquid night, the gesture of one hand as he pointed to me. “I know you, Wild. And I will come for you.”

Blink.

I was against that tree in the woods, Rory’s arms and legs around me, his finger tapping the pulse point in my throat. Dangerous, he was dangerous. But he was home too. His arms tightened around me, and I relaxed, breathing in his scent. “You shouldn’t trust me,” he whispered as his arms tightened further, crushing me, snapping the bones in my chest until they pressed into my lungs, my body gasping for air—

“Wake up,” the voice growled in my ear. Not Rory, someone else.

I opened my eyes to see Orin’s face inches from mine. I slapped him away and rolled out of bed, that last piece of the dream sticking with me. I shook my head once and stood, still in my clothes.

We crept to the door to see Wally and Pete waiting on the other side and, shock of shocks, Ethan.

“Can’t let you have all the fun,” he said.

I glanced at Orin and Pete. The other two guys shrugged.

Whatever they’d done or said, he’d obviously agreed to join our expedition—or been forced into it, though I rather doubted the forced part. He’d agreed to this for some reason or another, no doubt because he thought it would work for him somehow. I made a motion with one hand for them to follow me, and they fell into a line, spaced out, behind me. We headed down the hall a ways before a warning tingle hit my spine. Orin shot forward and grabbed my arm.

Vampire, he mouthed.  

We peeled off, nearly to the stairwell. I motioned for everyone to hide, and we all ducked back, hiding in the shadows as best we could. Orin, of course, blended in completely, and the others…well, if you didn’t look too closely you could pass by them. Assuming you weren’t a vampire sniffing for scents and listening for heartbeats.

Voices drifted up to us from the stairwell, the footsteps silent.

“Watch them closely. It feels like the night is holding its breath.” That was…Sunshine’s voice. Crap!

Pete had tucked in beside me and he shivered, recognizing the Sandman too. I clamped a hand over his mouth. I could almost feel a squeak ready to sneak out past his traitorous lips.

“I was just about to check their room. Wild likes to wander. I’ll keep her put.”

My belly dropped to the floor. Rory? Rory was checking on me for the Sandman? That last dream with him came crashing back in a sickening flood. My stomach rolled, and I had to fight the nausea that crept up my throat.

“Good. Alert me if anything is amiss,” the Sandman growled, his words barely audible.

I held my breath, waiting for Rory to mount the stairs. Waiting for Sunshine to walk with him. They’d notice us for sure. Rory would, at any rate. I’d never been able to hide from him.

Except no one skulked past us. No one crested the stairs. How was Rory planning to check up on me?

Orin stiffened, sharpening my focus.

A familiar vampire materialized out of thin airas he worked his way down the stairs to the second floor. If he’d stepped foot on our landing, not far away, I hadn’t seen it. It almost seemed like he was following Rory and Sunshine, wherever they’d gone. Who was hunting whom?

I counted another thirty seconds. “Now,” I whispered.

Our group hurried to the director’s outer office. I reached for the door to her inner sanctum, but Ethan stopped me, putting an arm across the top of my chest.

He lifted his wand, twirled it once, and light blue sparks sprang from it, like the sparklers I’d made with the twins the year before on the Fourth of July.

Ethan waited for the sparks to absorb into the metal knob, then opened it, and the five of us slid through into the dark of the room. The click of the door shutting behind us was loud to my ears, even though I knew it was barely above a whisper.

“All clear,” Pete whispered, and he was clearly talking about the assistant. Even the most dedicated employees didn’t work around the clock.

“Hurry,” Orin said, gesturing toward the door. “If there are any wards, it won’t be long before someone shows up to check it out.”

Ethan led the way, hurrying to the director’s big desk. I raced in after him, knowing wards meant an alarm of some kind.

“Where were the papers?” Ethan asked.

“She had it right on top,” I said. “A piece of paper on top of a pale green folder. The paper was a list of the missing kids. There had to be more information than that on it too.” At least, that was what I was banking on.

Ethan held his wand up, the tip glowing with light.  “Well, unless she’s a complete fool, it won’t still be there.”

I did my best not to put my fingers on anything, using the edge of my sleeve to open the drawers and peek inside. Most were strangely empty, as if the desk were just a prop on a stage.

Wally had dived into the books on the shelves, trailing her fingers across the spines. Pete and Orin stood at the door, ears pressed to the wood.

On top of the desk was a single file folder, this one dark red, not the pale green I remembered. I leaned in, grabbing Ethan’s hand so as to direct the light from the wand. I read the words on that folder, and then read them again, thinking I’d made a mistake. “That’s my name,” I said at last. “My real name.”

Maribel “Wild” Johnson.

My heart pounded out a wicked drumbeat as I put a single finger to the edge of the folder and flipped it open. Stamped in red across my file was a single word.

Missing.

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