Animals ✔

Chapter 14

"Get out of your head, Clara. You should be able to do this in your sleep by now."

I glare at the tea lights, silently urging them to spark, but I keep losing my focus. I'm worried about tonight. Nervous. In my periphery, I notice Nora lean across the table, frowning at me. "What is it?" She asks, concern coloring her voice.

Sighing, I take in the firm set of her mouth and the steely look in her hazel eyes. When you get past her sharp edges, Nora is actually pretty okay. She's also relentless.

I slouch back on the couch. "How much has Tiberius told you about me?"

"Enough."

She's staring at me sagely, and it strikes me that even if Tiberius hadn't spoken to her, she'd know. I don't waste time with preamble. "Sampson found out where some of the pack that has been... chasing... me have set up camp, and Tiberius wants to attack them now, while we've still got the element of surprise." I trail off.

Nora nods seriously, considering. "You don't agree."

"I think-I think it might be better to wait. We know where they are, so maybe we should try to figure out what's coming. Attacking them isn't going to do anything except aggravate things further." I pause. "Besides, it's not them I want."

My entire body tenses at the thought of him. Ira. None of this will stop until he's dead, and the thought of killing him fills me with a sick satisfaction. I take a deep breath and try to ignore my morbid thoughts.

"That's not the only thing bothering you," she frowns.

I blink at her, slightly surprised by her perceptiveness. I wonder if she knows about the pack delegates visiting tonight.

Tiberius only told me about it this morning. The two packs who were also impacted by the deaths of Mia and Abby are on their way to meet with us. Tonight. Tiberius wants to form an alliance. I would rather be just about anywhere else. I don't know what to say to them.

"Come with me," Nora stands abruptly, striding away from the table, past the wall of guns, and through the "EMPLOYEES ONLY" door. Even though we've been working together for over a week now, I've yet to see another person, staff or customer, at the gun range.

I follow her into the back room, taking in the innocuous staff room. A fridge is in the corner of the room, sandwiched between the wall and the counter. There's a table in the middle of the room, and a closet opposite from the counter. Maybe it shouldn't surprise me, but I'd been half expecting some sort of secret lair-or even just a dark room with more expensive looking furniture. Nora isn't exactly the most conventional person I've ever met.

She ignores me and walks over to the two doors on the far side of the room. The one is labelled "STOCK" and has a coded lock pad, while the other is unlabeled and unlocked. Nora opens the unlabeled door. I frown, maybe she does have a secret lair?

The door leads to a staircase and I follow her down, wondering if I'm about to get a more intimate peek into Nora's life. What if it's her apartment? What if her apartment is pink? I shake my head, it's impossible to picture.

My thoughts trail off as we reach the bottom of the stairs and I realize that it isn't an apartment at all-it's a gym.

The space is small and dingy. The walls and floor are cement and the only windows are several feet above the ground. A light bulb hangs from the ceiling, complementing the light from the windows. Small and narrow, they're barred and look out on grass and dirt.