A Bloody Good Secret: Secret McQueen, Book 2 by Sierra Dean Page A

good.”
    “Well we both know that’s not true.” He smiled and let me get into the car, then closed the door behind me.
     
    Outside the garage, I paused to put the top down. The car’s engine purred while it idled, and I let myself enjoy the view of the stars. I’d wondered about the logic of giving a convertible to a half-vampire with an allergy to the sun. My concerns were resolved by the open air and the view of the night sky.
    I was about to continue my course down the long driveway when a body vaulted itself over the passenger door and into the seat next to me.
    “Hey.” Kellen Rain was beaming like a lunatic. Her blue eyes were like her brother’s, only they weren’t tainted by the worry of leadership.
    “Uh.”
    “Good thing you’re taking the car. I was super close to convincing Luke to give it to me.”
    “Luke.” I’d never heard anyone else call him by the abbreviated form of his name, and Kellen used it so easily.
    “Oh man, Secret, I swear to God, I’ve never seen anything as funny in my life as you knocking him in the pool tonight. I thought I was going to pee.” She looked away from me and to the driveway. “Are we gonna go or what?”
    “Go?”
    “Yeah, you know? Drive? To the city?” She pointed at the driveway. “Isn’t that where you’re going?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you wouldn’t mind me tagging along, would you?” She obviously didn’t expect any other answer than yes, because she was already buckling her seat belt. I stared at her for a moment longer, until she looked back at me with a bright smile and her altogether-too-familiar eyes. I shifted the car into gear and started to drive.
    As we passed the main gate and the car eased onto the main highway, I broke the silence.
    “Isn’t there some sort of pack meeting in progress?”
    “Sure. There always is this close to the full moon.”
    “Is it okay for you to leave?”
    “Why wouldn’t it be? You’ll be in more trouble for leaving than me, considering you’re pack protector. And, you know, future queen.”
    “Mmm,” I grumbled, then remembered what Lucas had told me about Kellen months ago. “Wait, you’re not a werewolf, are you?”
    Kellen grinned and tapped her temple. “Bingo. No, I was never ‘Awakened’.” She made condescending little air quotes around the word. “I feel plenty awake though.”
    Awakening was the werewolf coming-of-age process, in which a young man or woman who carried the gene that would activate lycanthropy in them allowed themselves to be bitten by a full-fledged werewolf, thus becoming a werewolf themselves. It was an important rite of passage for werewolf families, but the choice was always up to the youth in question. Lucas opted to follow the family line, and Kellen chose to stay human.
    In royal werewolf families, like the Rains, it was expected for the next generation to follow suit so the family would remain in power. Kellen had probably caused quite a stir in her family when she declined to be Awakened. It didn’t seem to bother Lucas at all.
    The car headlights cut a vibrant white swath across the black highway, and yellow lines flicked by us at an alarming speed. I was going too fast, but that was the vampire in me. Overhead, a strip of stars twinkled in the purple-black sky. Stars were a rare treat when you lived in New York City, but I’d gotten used to seeing them again while living in the country. Tall trees encroached on the highway, creating an ominous coniferous hallway of nothing but blackness.
    The light from the headlights also made it difficult for me to discern if anything was lurking in the dark, one of many reasons I usually walked or ran instead of driving.
    “Can I ask you something, Secret?”
    It took a moment for me to shake out of my distraction. On top of the varied lighting, the scents sailing by me were overwhelming. Driving with the top down was a sensory overload.
    “Sure.”
    “Do you love my brother?”
    The car briefly swerved into the