Revelations (Brighton Wolves #1) Read online

  Revelations (Brighton Wolves #1)

  Title Page

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Prologue

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Revelations

  Brighton Wolves #1

  By Samantha Hoffman

  Published by Samantha Hoffman at Smashwords

  © 2016 by Samantha Hoffman.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permissions of the author.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Other Books by Samantha Hoffman:

  The Arena Wars (Arena Wars #1)

  War of Hearts (Arena Wars #2)

  Consumed By War (Arena Wars #3)

  Zombie Island (Zombie Apocalypse #1)

  Zombie Country (Zombie Apocalypse #2)

  Zombie World (Zombie Apocalypse #3)

  Tales of Terror from Survivors (Zombie Apocalypse #3.5)

  The Awakening (Daray Hall #1)

  The Protector (Daray Hall #2)

  Dark Secrets (Dark Heritage #1)

  Dark Revenge (Dark Heritage #2)

  Dark Possession (Dark Heritage #3)

  Revelations (Brighton Wolves #1)

  Coming Soon: Resolutions (Brighton Wolves #2)

  Find me on facebook to keep up to date on what I’ll be working on next.

  Prologue

  Ginevra Grady walked down the darkened road, hurrying to make it home before she was missed for dinner. White, wispy fog rolled in through the trees, making it impossible to see the road beneath her feet. She knew it was there; she had walked this stretch of road a thousand times before and she knew the path by heart. But as the fog level continued to rise and the moon rose higher over the tree tops, Ginny had to stop and look around, wondering if this could possibly be the same wooded area outside her home that she had played in as a child.

  Ginny wasn’t sure what was so different about tonight, but all she knew was these woods didn’t feel safe. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, and as she rubbed her arms up and down in an attempt to fight off the bumps, she wished she had worn more sensible shoes so she could run the remaining quarter of a mile home. She looked down at the strapped wedges on her feet and sighed. Wearing whatever was in at the moment normally left her feeling confident and untouchable, but tonight she only felt vulnerable.

  Somewhere off to her side, a branch snapped, and Ginny whipped around. She narrowed her eyes, searching the darkness for whatever had moved out there in the woods. She hoped it was an animal just passing through but there was some part of her that was worried it was more than an owl or a deer. Ginny held perfectly still, not even daring to breathe, and she surveyed the darkness for another minute. When nothing jumped out at her, she turned on her heel and continued walking. The end of her driveway was only a decent sprint away, but in her shoes, she would have to walk the rest of the distance.

  Ginny only made it a few steps before she realized she wasn’t alone. She could hear a soft panting from somewhere behind her, and she spun around again, a scream building in the back of her throat.

  A large brown wolf stood in the center of the deserted road. It was far larger than any wolf she had ever seen before, barrel-chested and probably standing up to her father’s hip. It stared at her with slanted brown-colored eyes while baring its fangs at her with a loud snarl. Ginny stood rooted to the spot, unsure of what to do. She could turn and try to run, but with her damn shoes, she knew she wouldn’t make it very far. She thought her best option might be to remain where she was and try to stare the animal down, so she narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders, hoping to appear larger than she actually was.

  The wolf snarled again, and Ginny felt her courage begin to waver. What was she doing trying to face down a wild animal? It’s not a wild animal, though, she thought to herself grimly. He’s out here hunting tonight, and I’m the one he’s hunting!

  Two smaller wolves—one brown and the other gray—darted out of the woods. They circled around her until they stood at her back, cutting off her path home. As she stared at the wolves, an intense feeling of fear rushed through her, cutting off all rational thought or reasoning. All Ginny knew was that she had to escape, and she had to do it now, before the unthinkable happened. She wasn’t going to wait around for them to decide what to do with her.

  Ginny turned on her heels and ran, slipping in-between two thin trees and into the forest that she knew like the back of her hand. Her heels made it harder to run, but her fear pushed her to go as fast as she could. When she heard the crashing sounds of the wolves chasing after her, Ginny put on a burst of speed, trying to keep from stepping wrong and twisting her ankle.

  I should have taken them off first, Ginny thought to herself as she took an abrupt turn, hoping to make her way back to the road now that the wolves weren’t blocking it.

  Her wedged sole gave out beneath her and she fell to the ground with a cry of pain as her ankle twisted. She gritted her teeth against the pain and struggled to get to her feet. Before she could stand, something furry slammed into her side, knocking her to the ground and forcing the air from her lungs. She coughed and sputtered, trying to regain her breath.

  When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into the dark brown-colored eyes of the large brown wolf. The end of its muzzle was inches from her face. It was so close that she could feel the warmth of its breath on her face, and for a split second, Ginny wondered if she was going to die here in the woods, so close to her home. She wondered if anybody would ever find her body or if they would assume she had just run away from home.

  The brown wolf lunged, sinking its fangs directly into her left shoulder and breaking her out of her thoughts. Ginny screamed as the wolf’s teeth tore through the flesh and her blood spilled over the edges of the wound, drenching the sleeve of her thin pink sweater cardigan. As quickly as it happened, the wolf pulled away. It just stood there and watched Ginny as her shoulder bled profusely and her mind went completely blank as her body started going into shock.

  Ginny could feel her strength fading fast, and she knew that if she had any hope of surviving, she had to do something and she had to do it soon. She spotted a rock out of the corner of her eye, and her hand slowly inched toward it. She locked eyes with the brown wolf, refusing to look away from him no matter what. Maybe if he could see how brave she was despite the immense pain she was feeling, he m
ight leave her alone.

  It was a foolish thought, given what she knew about him, but it was her only real hope. And she was going to cling to it as long as she could.

  Her fingers closed around the softball sized rock and before she knew what she was doing, she swung her arm up and around. The rock connected solidly with the wolf’s head, and with a startled yelp, it backed away, shaking its head and pawing at its muzzle. Ginny didn’t waste the precious seconds her brave move had earned her, and she got to her feet and bolted, struggling to keep from collapsing to the forest floor once more.

  She didn’t make it far before she realized the wolves were on her trail once more. Ginny could hear a truck engine nearby and knew that the road had to be close. If she could just get there, she could flag the truck down and she could make it safely home. With a sense of renewed hope, she ran as fast as she could, knowing that truck was her only chance.

  Ginny stumbled through the darkness, tripping over tree roots, rocks, and her wedged sandals, but she made it to the side of the road just in time to see the beat up red pickup truck race by. Without stopping, she ran out into the middle of the road, screaming as loud as she could to get the driver’s attention. “Help me!” She waved her hands over her head trying to catch the driver’s eye, but the red truck didn’t stop for her.

  The brown wolf and the smaller gray one stepped out into the road in front of her, and Ginny felt her heart plummet into her stomach as her only chance of escape disappeared down the road. God, please don’t let this be it…

  Ginny felt teeth dig into her ankle and she was yanked onto her side. Her head slammed into the ground hard enough to blur her vision, and before she could even brace herself or suck in a lungful of air to scream, the brown wolf dragged her into the trees. Her nails dug into the dirt and she kicked and thrashed, but it was no use. She was in pain, she was exhausted, and she had no more strength left to fight.

  Not that it matters anyways…

  Ginny gave up as the road disappeared behind her and the darkness of the forest swallowed her, the fog cloaking the wolves as they disappeared into the trees.

  Chapter One

  Gwendolyn Grady was sitting at her computer desk in her bedroom when her mother’s voice called to her from the kitchen. With a sigh, she closed her book and pushed it to the side before getting to her feet. She wasn’t sure what her mother wanted, but at ten thirty at night, it definitely couldn’t be good. As she closed her bedroom door behind her and headed down the stairs to the kitchen, she wondered what might be wrong.

  When Gwen rounded the corner and stopped at the kitchen entryway, the first thing she noticed were the tears in her mother’s eyes. The last time Gwen had seen her mother cry was eight years ago on the day of her grandma’s funeral. But after that day, the tears had stopped, and her mother had held her emotions in check, hoping to spare her children from thinking she was too weak to take care of them.

  “Mom? What’s wrong?” Gwen asked, sliding into the chair opposite her mother. Her mother took a deep breath and tried to give Gwen a smile, which only made the knot in her stomach get worse. If her mother was going to act brave and strong right now, something terrible must have happened.

  Gabriel—Gwen’s older brother—plopped down in the chair beside Gwen, looking as equally bewildered as her. “What’s up? Who was that on the phone?”

  The phone? Gwen looked at the phone that was gripped tightly between her mother’s hands and she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something terrible really had happened. And judging by the look on her mother’s face, it had happened to someone Gwen knew and cared about.

  Mrs. Grady took another deep breath before speaking. “I’m afraid I got some bad news, and I wanted you to hear it from me. Your cousin Ginny is missing. She was walking back from a friend’s house and she never made it home.”

  “When?”

  “Last night. The police are searching for her as we speak, but so far there’s been no sign of her. Your aunt and uncle are very worried about her, and so am I. They’ve got the whole town out looking for her, but your aunt and uncle are holding out hope that she might have run away. It doesn’t seem likely, but I guess it’s better than thinking about the alternative.”

  “But Ginny isn’t the type of girl to run away from home,” Gwen said quietly. “She loves her parents, she loves her friends, and she loves her school. There’s nothing for her to run away from.”

  “I know,” her mother said just as quietly. Her lips were pursed and an unhealthy looking shade of white. “I’m positive Ginny wouldn’t run away, which makes this whole situation much more frightening. If she didn’t run away what happened to her? Where is she right now? There are a lot of unanswered questions right now.”

  “Mom, I want to help look for Ginny,” Gwen said, getting to her feet. “She’s family. We should be out there looking for her, too!” Gwen looked at Gabe, who sat quietly in his chair, as if he were still trying to decipher what their mother had told them. “Gabe? Are you coming with us?”

  He nodded. “Absolutely. If Ginny is in trouble, we should all be there to help her.”

  “I thought you might want to come with me,” their mother said with a tiny, proud smile. “I’m leaving for Brighton first thing tomorrow morning, and if you and Gabe want to come with me, you’ll have to be ready to go by five thirty. We should get to Brighton just in time to join the search tomorrow morning.”

  Their mother got to her feet and placed the phone on the charger before heading up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with their father. “I wonder what dad has to say about all of this,” Gabe said quietly, surprising her.

  Gwen hadn’t even considered how her father might feel about this. He didn’t get along with his older brother, and the two had apparently had a huge falling out several years ago. The fight had been bad enough for her father to move his entire family away from Brighton when Gwen was very young. Their father hadn’t set foot in Brighton since then, so it had fallen to their mother to drive them to Brighton for their yearly summer visit, which only lasted for two incredibly short weeks.

  “I wonder if dad is going with us,” Gwen said sadly. “He and Uncle Geoffrey might not get along anymore, but that isn’t Ginny’s fault. I would think he’d wanna be there to help find her.”

  Gabe shrugged his broad shoulders. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” he said, looking down at her.

  Gwen stared at her older brother, amazed not for the first time that she only had to look up a scant few inches. According to her brother, he was five foot nine and proud of it, but Gwen was sure that he was shorter than that, maybe only five foot eight or even less. Either way, he wasn’t much taller than her, and she knew that he hated it. He worked out a little obsessively to compensate.

  Gabe had just turned twenty a few months ago, but he and Gwen had been mistaken for twins in the past, despite the fact that he was a whole three years older than her! With their shared curly black hair, thin build, and sterling gray eyes, they were the spitting image of their father. The only difference was their olive skin being a shade lighter than their father’s, thanks to their mother’s pale complexion.

  “What are you staring at?” Gabe asked with more than a touch of annoyance.

  “Nothing, baby-face,” Gwen said with a playful smirk.

  He narrowed his eyes at her, but his lips tilted up in the hint of a smile. Gwen and her brother often messed around with one another, and neither of them had a problem with it as long as it was all done for fun. Gwen usually chose to tease her brother for his babyish appearance, and Gabe chose to highlight the fact that she was dyslexic. He knew that she didn’t really mind her brother’s light teasing about her poor penmanship and difficulty reading and focusing because she had accepted it years ago as a part of who she was.

  Gabe reached over and ruffled her hair, much to her dismay. Her dark hair flowed well past her shoulders in tight curls, always managing to tangle itself into a rat’s nest. When
Gabe ruffled her hair—which he did often—her hair became impossibly snarled and it took forever for her to brush it out.

  Gwen smacked his hand away. “Dammit Gabe!”

  “I heard that!” Their mother’s voice drifted down from the upstairs, and they both froze. “Don’t let me hear you using that kind of language again.”

  Gwen looked at her brother and almost smiled, until she remembered the severity of their situation. When she thought of Ginny being away from home and only God knew where, she felt awful for messing around so playfully with her brother. Gabe put a hand on her shoulder, completely understanding her sudden mood shift. “Let’s go get packed. You know mom; she’ll leave us behind if we’re not ready in the morning.”

  Gwen followed her brother upstairs, going in the opposite direction as they reached the landing. She went straight to her closet and grabbed her pink and gray duffel bags from the bottom corner. She began stuffing clothes into the bag, folding them so they would take up as little space as possible. She managed to cram four changes of clothes in each while still managing to buckle the bulging bags shut.

  Gwen took her laptop off the desk and slid it into her computer bag, along with her charger cord and bright green headphones. After she had finished packing, she sat at her computer desk and stared out the window. It had been raining for the last hour or so, and the ground outside was quickly turning to mud. Gwen hoped it wasn’t raining at her aunt and uncle’s house, or the search effort would be severely hampered.

  After a few minutes of watching the rain, Gwen turned away from the window, switched off her bedside lamp, and crawled under the covers. As she began to drift off, she had only one thought, and she repeated it until her eyes finally closed. Please let Ginny be okay…