The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

wanted the safety of numbers waiting back in the log cabin, and I figured that was exactly how our creator felt, too. Why she’d made so many of us in the first place. There were some things out there scarier than I’d imagined.

Diego hesitated, still listening, and a second later his patience was rewarded.

“Well,” she whispered inside the house, “now they know.”

Was she talking about the cloaks or the mysterious clan?

Which one was the enemy she’d mentioned before the drama?

“That doesn’t matter. We outnumber—” “Any warning matters!” she growled, cutting him off. “There is so much to do. Only five days!” She groaned. “No more messing around. You start tonight.”

“I won’t fail you!” Riley promised.

Crap. Diego and I moved at the same time, leaping from our perch into the next tree over, flying back the way we’d come.

Riley was in a hurry now, and if he found Diego’s trail after all that had just passed with the cloaks, and no Diego there at the end of it…

“I’ve got to get back and be waiting,” Diego whispered to me as we raced. “Lucky it’s not in view of the house! Don’t want him to know I heard.”

“We should talk to him together.”

“Too late for that. He’d notice that your scent wasn’t on the trail. Looks suspicious.”

“Diego…” He’d trapped me into sitting this one out.

We were back to the spot where he’d joined me. He spoke in a rushed whisper.