the dark. I don’t know how long I had to listen to Hood asking Where did you go? Giselle, answer me!
He’d sounded a little desperate, there at the end. He knew I was praying, crying, and someplace dark. That’s all.
But there’s a whole lot of dark places at Lobos. Little cubbyholes, mini-dens, closets, cabinets, beds to climb under. He could turn the freaking place upside down and not find me for days. Unless he sniffed me out.
Okay, that made me panic. I got up, snuck out, carefully slipped into the water, then rolled in the dirt, covering myself with mud. Then, wading through the water, I found another of the unpopular dens. But I knew I couldn’t stay too long. Not now that I realized he’d sniff me out. You see? I still think like a girl. I’d bought myself some time, but I had to get a new plan.
Thank God I have a genius I.Q., and riddle solving is one of my specialties. I went through various scenarios, worked through exit possibilities, including everything from trash and laundry chutes to delivery doors and the roof and fire escapes. Those were too obvious. I knew he’d cover those.
And yes, I thought about how silly it was. How I ought to make him look a complete fool and just sneak back to his bed, and wait there for him to return. Damn, I wanted a shower. But something in me couldn’t do that. I don’t really know how much of me worried about his saving face. Pride, obviously, was important to him, and all the garou.
So, I wasted a little bit of my time in weighing that. How much pride would Hood lose if I showed up in his apartment versus if I disappeared altogether? Or if he hunted me down? Don’t think for a minute that I considered he was chasing my tail for anything other than guarding his pride and his secrets, because I didn’t.
I did some of the math on my chances of Hood killing me, too. Pictured him strangling me without a second thought. I considered what Jack would do. Go out fighting?
Somehow, I didn’t think so.
Find the humor in it? I grimaced, wishing he was there to point it out to me, because I sure as hell couldn’t see it.
I considered going through the animal testing labs. I hated it down there. Or enlisting my friend, the one who’d given me the S.D., but that would be really stupid. I mean, if I survived this, I might need more of that. I sure didn’t want my supplier cut down--and I’m sure Hood would do that if he found out what was developed without his knowledge.
But that had me thinking about the other unnaturals. Could I get help from any of them?
That could expose the whole organization they were pulling together. I worried my lip over that, and in the end, decided I couldn’t enlist their help. I couldn’t endanger anyone purposely. Certainly not the ones who could end up saving the world from the total insanity that threatened.
I heard voices outside my den. Talk about rolling up into a ball and holding your breath.
A bitch. “Hood’s on the warpath.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“That bitchin’ unnatural’s under his skin again.”
“Maybe he’ll come in here and work off a little more frustration.”
They snickered as they moved off.
When they were long gone, I snuck to the edge of my hole and sniffed the ground. Oh, yeah. I was gonna kill those two. Soon as the moon came around. No doubt about it.
But thinking about that just wasted time. Air-conditioning ducts? Heat ventilation? I was small enough to get through most of that, but you could be lost for days in those tunnels. Kitchen dumbwaiters? There was a possibility. All the living quarters and some of the labs were set up for quick delivery like that. Not the habitat, though. At least, I didn’t think so. It was self-contained, for the most part.
I was about to move out when I heard a howl I recognized. Hood was in
He’d sounded a little desperate, there at the end. He knew I was praying, crying, and someplace dark. That’s all.
But there’s a whole lot of dark places at Lobos. Little cubbyholes, mini-dens, closets, cabinets, beds to climb under. He could turn the freaking place upside down and not find me for days. Unless he sniffed me out.
Okay, that made me panic. I got up, snuck out, carefully slipped into the water, then rolled in the dirt, covering myself with mud. Then, wading through the water, I found another of the unpopular dens. But I knew I couldn’t stay too long. Not now that I realized he’d sniff me out. You see? I still think like a girl. I’d bought myself some time, but I had to get a new plan.
Thank God I have a genius I.Q., and riddle solving is one of my specialties. I went through various scenarios, worked through exit possibilities, including everything from trash and laundry chutes to delivery doors and the roof and fire escapes. Those were too obvious. I knew he’d cover those.
And yes, I thought about how silly it was. How I ought to make him look a complete fool and just sneak back to his bed, and wait there for him to return. Damn, I wanted a shower. But something in me couldn’t do that. I don’t really know how much of me worried about his saving face. Pride, obviously, was important to him, and all the garou.
So, I wasted a little bit of my time in weighing that. How much pride would Hood lose if I showed up in his apartment versus if I disappeared altogether? Or if he hunted me down? Don’t think for a minute that I considered he was chasing my tail for anything other than guarding his pride and his secrets, because I didn’t.
I did some of the math on my chances of Hood killing me, too. Pictured him strangling me without a second thought. I considered what Jack would do. Go out fighting?
Somehow, I didn’t think so.
Find the humor in it? I grimaced, wishing he was there to point it out to me, because I sure as hell couldn’t see it.
I considered going through the animal testing labs. I hated it down there. Or enlisting my friend, the one who’d given me the S.D., but that would be really stupid. I mean, if I survived this, I might need more of that. I sure didn’t want my supplier cut down--and I’m sure Hood would do that if he found out what was developed without his knowledge.
But that had me thinking about the other unnaturals. Could I get help from any of them?
That could expose the whole organization they were pulling together. I worried my lip over that, and in the end, decided I couldn’t enlist their help. I couldn’t endanger anyone purposely. Certainly not the ones who could end up saving the world from the total insanity that threatened.
I heard voices outside my den. Talk about rolling up into a ball and holding your breath.
A bitch. “Hood’s on the warpath.”
“Yeah, I heard.”
“That bitchin’ unnatural’s under his skin again.”
“Maybe he’ll come in here and work off a little more frustration.”
They snickered as they moved off.
When they were long gone, I snuck to the edge of my hole and sniffed the ground. Oh, yeah. I was gonna kill those two. Soon as the moon came around. No doubt about it.
But thinking about that just wasted time. Air-conditioning ducts? Heat ventilation? I was small enough to get through most of that, but you could be lost for days in those tunnels. Kitchen dumbwaiters? There was a possibility. All the living quarters and some of the labs were set up for quick delivery like that. Not the habitat, though. At least, I didn’t think so. It was self-contained, for the most part.
I was about to move out when I heard a howl I recognized. Hood was in
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