Wicked Game

Chapter 23

I examine the scrap paper for myself. Sure enough, it was Kasey's handwriting. All that she wrote was a set of coordinates, and last night's date with the time, 11 PM.

Derek was suddenly at my shoulder, gazing at the paper in my hand. Stiles threw a mess around in the back of the jeep, searching for a map he had stashed away somewhere.

"Oh, Kasey, what did you do," I mutter to myself.

"I got it, I got it!" Stiles bursts from the jeep once again, laying out a map across the hood.

I hand the paper over, folding my arms over my chest.

"She must have tried to take care of the hunter on her own. Had to be," I comment to Derek, trying to jump to the same page.

"She shouldn't have, she's still too new to this to take a hunter on her own," he shakes his head, clenching his jaw.

"Hey, I know where this is," Stiles clears his throat, instantly alerting Derek. "Come on, let's go. Derek, follow me, I know where to go."

Derek took a glance at the map himself before hustling to his car as Stiles folded the map back up. His engine roared, and the sleek car took off without even waiting for us to get in the jeep.

I huff, exchanging glances with Stiles and shrugging.

"Or not," Stiles comments on Derek. He climbs into the driver's side and Isaac and I pile in.

Isaac remained sullen and silent in the backseat as Stiles attempted to catch up with Derek. I held onto my seat when he turned a corner and hit the gas pedal harder. My eyes remained on Isaac though, his reflection in the rear view mirror. He slouched in the seat, gazing out the window.

Isaac sees me staring at him, and I hear a faint rapid heartbeat. He keeps his face cool, raising his eyebrows in question. He remains unphased, as if there was nothing really going on. His lack of concern irritated me. If it was the full moon talking, I didn't care.

"Aren't you worried?" I drop my hands in my lap and hold my lips in a tight line.

"Yeah. Of course I'm worried," he snaps back, like a moody teenager with their nosy mother.

"Really? You seem so concerned about Kasey," I say in a sarcastic, as-a-matter-of-fact tone. The tension instantly flared between us.

Isaac smiles, but not the happy kind. The dangerous kind, fueled by bottled anger and not really the welcoming type of smile at all. He rubs a hand over his face. Isaac looks me dead in the eye.

"Maybe a little bit more concern after the game would have helped," he blurts, pursing his lips.

"What are you talking about?" That was the night she went missing, but why is he saying this?

"Well, if you would have followed her, out of concern," he pauses, making sure I heard it clearly, "you would have found out that Kasey never planned on going home."

"Wait, you followed her?" Stiles interrupts the conversation, caught off guard.

"She made me promise not to say anything," he mumbled, knowing there was no going back on what he said.

All of the sudden, my frustration with Isaac drained. I turn in my seat so that I could look him in the face, "Isaac, listen to me. She's never fought anyone besides us. She may feel guilty about having to have someone constantly look after her. But she's apart of our pack. We protect our pack. Please, Isaac, you have to tell us what happened."

His eyes went to his fidgeting thumbs, a grim expression growing on his face.

"Kasey lied to us so that she could go face the hunter on her own," he confesses. "I followed her as far as the welcome sign on the edge of town. That's where I stopped her and said something. I didn't know what she was doing."