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horrified, and I wasn’t surprised. It was a big enough deal to have people in his home without keeping some of them around for even longer.
    As if seeing my alarm, although she couldn’t have known the real reason for it, Erin winked at me and linked Dad’s arm to lead him outside.
    “What are you doing?” I asked Jakob .
    “Getting to know our neighbours,” Jakob said.
    “I don’t want my family in the middle of anything.” I wondered why the dogs out back had suddenly started barking. Cú was among them, his time with my family over. I had been more than a little sad to see him leave.
    Jakob cocked his head almost imperceptibly, quickly glancing at the window, but I noticed because I was busy glaring at him.
    Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of blond curls pass by the window. I whipped my head around, but she was gone. I ran to the window and spotted a familiar figure that removed her jacket before disappearing into a crowd of people. My stomach dropped.
    “What is it?” Byron asked.
    “I thought I saw her. No, I did see her. Her , her.”
    “Here? Unlikely.”
    “I’m telling you, it was her. She’s going to hurt someone,” I said, already in a panic.
    “Not possible,” Jakob scoffed, but he grabbed my arm.
    I wriggled in his grasp, desperate to get free. “Let go of me!”
    “Dad, what are you doing?” Byron glanced around the room nervously, while trying to quietly wrench my arm free from his father’s grip.
    Once loose, I moved out of the way before Jakob could grab me again. “It was her!” I shouted, grabbing the attention of most of the room. I didn’t care; I was already hurrying out the door. I had to know for sure.
    The screams came before I made it outside. I ran faster, but in my heart, I knew I was already too late.
    A couple of people ran toward me, their faces pale with shock as they tried to escape whatever had happened. I ignored them, heading straight for the figure on the ground. A woman made an awful sound. Erin . Deep down, I had already known, but I had to see for myself.
    Prone on the ground, blood gushing from a wound to his neck, my father stared upward, his breathing shallow. Erin pushed me out of the way so she could put pressure on the wound. Blood dribbled from a gash on her forehead, but she ignored it to help Dad.
    I heard people whispering.
    “Wild dog.”
    “… attack…”
    “… not looking good.”
    I couldn’t see her, but it had definitely been her, the werewolf. And not one of Nathan’s family had done a thing to stop her.
    I knelt by my dad, listening to people call for an ambulance, and touched his clammy skin. “Daddy. Daddy, please.” His eyes rolled in his head, his skin deathly white. I glanced behind me and met the eyes of Jakob Evans, who had the tiniest smile on his lips.
    “I told you she was here!” I screamed, running straight at him, fists flying.
    He didn’t flinch. He didn’t even try to stop me, and somehow that felt like an admission of guilt.
    “This is all your fault,” I hissed as Jeremy lifted me away from his grandfather. “You did this!”
    Jakob’s face remained completely blank, as though I didn’t even exist. I caught a glimpse of Byron holding on to Nathan, Amelia sobbing behind them. Then, I was ushered into the ambulance, words and noises buzzing around me meaninglessly.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Nathan
     
    One minute, I was chatting to Jeremy about the best way to sniff out a cold trail, the next, Perdita’s cry froze my blood. The sound kicked me in the gut, and I was outside before Jeremy, stopping short when I saw her dad on the ground, bleeding. Confusion and fear flooded the air along with the scent of blood, but not half as much as her pain and rage. Her eyes were wild with emotion as she screamed at my grandfather.
    I tried to go to her, but Byron grabbed my shoulders. “Not now,” he whispered. “She won’t hear you right now.”
    “But what happened?”
    “Werewolf attack. Keep