Starlight (Legends #3)

Prologue

SEVEN YEARS EARLIER

His cousins were late picking him up from practice. They were often late, and they never gave a shit. They told him they had better things to do than babysit their sixteen-year-old cousin. Those better things usually involved drinking, girls, and hunting, even on a weeknight.

“Next time I’m going to catch a lift.” Cole Denny dropped his bag on the back seat and slid in, slamming the door as Chuck accelerated.

If he got a lift with a friend, his aunt and uncle would be pissed at his cousins, and then his cousins would be pissed with him and would make his life more difficult.

They resented the amount of time he spent playing football, not understanding it was his only way out of town. His whole future hinged on getting a scholarship to play football. Even if he was never drafted, he’d at least get a degree, which would give him a chance.

He’d seen how hard his father and uncle worked in the construction business, and over the summer vacation, he’d gotten to experience it firsthand. Honestly, he’d rather be tackled by the biggest guy on the opposition than put in a ten-hour day onsite in the sun.

Patrick turned around from the passenger seat and pointed at him. “Don’t you fucking dare. Dad will skin us.”

His breath was laced with beer. He was six years older and had been working in construction since he finished school. Both of his cousins seemed quite happy to graduate with a guaranteed job.

“You think you’re so much better than us. You got your Mom wasting all that money on football. Do you know how many people make it?”

“I know the stats.” And Cole knew he needed to keep his grades up. That was the other reason they hated him—because he got out of weekend work. Between homework and games, he barely had any free time.

The thing that really got to them, though, was that their dad fully supported him. He figured that if a Denny got famous, it would be good for business. Cole didn’t care about the business, even with as much as he wanted his parents to be able to stop working. Or at least stop working so hard.

He’d buy a big house with a pool, and they could look after it for him while he was all over the place playing football, and he’d buy them both fancy cars that didn’t break down.

A smile curved his lips as he stared out the window and imagined a life where he didn’t have to deal with his cousins, and there were no arguments about work and dishes, and he didn’t need to think about assignments for school.

There were assignments at college, of course, but he figured that would be different as he wouldn’t be living at home.

It was a little under two years until he graduated. He could bite his tongue and keep his head down a little longer. He hadn’t pushed this far to fail at the last yard.

“You don’t even care why we’re late?” Chuck asked.

Cole dragged his attention back to his cousins.

This was a trick question. If he said yes, they’d demand he go with them next time so he didn’t miss out, and if he said no, they would launch into a rant about how he was actually a piece of shit for using family resources to play football and was no better than them and that he didn’t deserve to know.

They had both played, but neither of them had been good enough to play for a better school team. Which was why he needed to be picked up after practice—his school was over an hour away. It was the one thing that was asked of them.

“I don’t know. Do you want to tell me or not?”

Patrick turned and sneered. “Do you want to tell me or not?”

“We went hunting,” Chuck said with a smirk.

It had been raining today, so his uncle had probably told him there was no work.

They never wasted a day off by helping around the house.

Their mother had been battling cancer for as long as Cole could remember.

It was why they’d moved in. His parents had taken the granny flat out the back, and he’d got a room near his cousins.

Mom helped out a lot, both with his aunt and with his cousins when they were small.

She usually worked nights, so she was home during the day.

“Yeah…did you catch anything this time?” Cole didn’t care what they killed.

“I thought I shot a wolf, but I couldn’t find it. Then we found something better.”

Cole kept his gaze out the window, hoping that the wolf had survived and was out there licking its wounds, calling its friends, and vowing revenge.

That wasn’t a charitable thought, but it did make him smile.

How would his cousins feel if they were suddenly the hunted?

Because he was expected to ask and he needed to play the game, he did. “What’s better than a wolf?”

Were there bears in West Virginia?

“We found an old mine,” Chuck said.

That did sound cool, but he remembered his father’s warnings about how dangerous they were. “Did you go in?”

“Yeah, of course we did. It was like the wolf was protecting it, so we thought her cubs might be in there or something.”

Oh my God, they were hoping to kill the wolf’s cubs? They were actual monsters. He swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. How the fuck was he related to these people? Maybe he’d been switched at birth or something?

“But it was better than cubs…we found a stash of gold and gemstones.”

Cole tore his gaze off the window and stared at his cousins. “What?”

“Someone has been using the old mine, mining it and making things with the gold.” Patrick rummaged around in the bag at his feet and pulled out a bracelet, handing it back to him.

Cole turned it over in his hand. It looked like gold wire threaded with beads made of wood and precious stone. It was kind of weird-looking, not something he could imagine any of the girls at school wearing. “Did you take all their stuff?”

“Not all, and they’ll never know it was us. Besides, they shouldn’t have been there either. No one is supposed to be in the abandoned mines.”

Cole frowned as a cold, slippery feeling settled in his stomach. “That doesn’t make it right.” He handed the bracelet back to Patrick, not wanting to touch it any longer.

He wasn’t sure he believed all the stories about something being out in the woods, but when there were so many stories about so many different monsters…

What if they had stolen from a wolf shifter? That meant it wasn’t a wolf they’d shot. Maybe the wolf had seen them steal?

“I knew he’d be a prissy bitch about it,” Chuck laughed. “We’re going back there on the weekend to get the rest. If you come with us, we’ll give you a share.”

His cousin dangled the offer like it was irresistible. He’d been fucked over before by their promises, but he pretended to be interested. “What are you going to spend it on?”

“Dunno yet. Depends on what it’s worth. It might be a couple of grand. Then we can get a new car, and you can have this piece of shit. But only if you come with.” Chuck glanced at him in the rear-view mirror.

Cole didn’t even have his license yet. When he did, he wouldn’t need Patrick and Chuck to pick him up; he’d drive himself. “Can’t. I’ve got an away game.”

And a math assignment, and something for English. He couldn’t get behind on the reading. He’d learned the hard way last year that if he got behind, he’d be chasing his tail for the rest of the year. This year, he wasn’t going to let that happen.

“Come on, tell them you’re sick or something. You might even get enough to buy your own first car.”

“You’d split it three ways?” They wouldn’t. He knew how they worked.

“No, we found it.”

“You already took some.”

“Yeah, ’cause we found it.”

“You could have ten percent of the second lot,” Patrick said as if he were being generous.

“Not worth a missed game.” Not when he could make millions if he got drafted. If. He couldn’t think that far ahead.

Finish school and get the scholarship to college. That was as far as he let himself plan.

In the dark sky, something moved. A bird? He peered into the darkness. The clouds were blocking out all the starlight. Maybe it had just been a cloud. The unease turned in his gut. What if all that stolen stuff was cursed?

If he said that, they’d call him a baby.

He wound down the window, so the dirty glass wasn’t blocking his view.

“What the fuck are you doing? It’s raining.”

“It’s not raining much.” He’d trained and played in worse. “Besides, I thought I saw something.”

Chuck laughed. “You worried the wolf is going to hunt us down?”

Okay, that did sound unreasonable. “Wolves don’t fly.” He was about to wind up the window when he saw it again. “There, do you see it, Patrick?”

“Yeah…I saw something.” Patrick wound down his window and joined him in staring out into the night.

“What do you mean you saw something?” Chuck was no longer laughing.

“I don’t know. I saw something,” Patrick snapped.

“Like a bird?” Chuck asked.

It wasn’t a bird. It was too big, and it kept disappearing into the shadows and clouds.

“What if it’s the Mothman?” Cole whispered, as if saying his name would summon the monster.

His cousins broke out into laughter. “You’re scared of an urban legend?”

The thing with urban legends was that there had to be a fragment of truth; the trouble was figuring out what that truth was. There were plenty of theories about Bigfoot, the Beast of Bladenboro, and Mothman, but no one had ever come forward with concrete evidence.

Chuck swore. “What is that?” He swerved as he pointed out the windscreen.

Cole didn’t see anything, except dark asphalt and taillights in the distance. The hairs on his arms were standing on end, and his heart was pounding like Coach was putting them through suicides.

They were still half an hour from home.

He should’ve got that lift, then caught a bus the rest of the way. He’d be home already and not trapped in the car. He wound up the window, not wanting to know what was outside anymore. All he wanted was to get home.

Both his cousins stared out the windscreen. Were they worried the wolf had found them? Why would the wolf want gold and jewelry? It didn’t make sense.

“There,” Patrick said, pointing.

Cole tried to peer between the seats but didn’t see anything. “What is it?”

“Fuck.” Chuck slammed on the brakes. The car spun and rolled.

Cole’s head hit the window, and he couldn’t breathe because of the seatbelt. His arms and legs flailed with each roll of the car. When it stopped, he wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead. He must be alive because everything hurt, and he was upside down.

He needed to get out of the car. He couldn’t get his right hand to work, it was just kind of dangling, but he managed to use his left. He tucked his head as he dropped onto the roof of the car. It took a moment for him to realize the screaming was him.

What was he doing?

Get out of the car.

The window was gone, so he dragged himself out of the hole. He managed to get halfway out, then he needed a rest. He couldn’t see because of the pain. Had he broken his back? He wriggled his toes and felt them move against his socks.

That was a good sign.

Glass crunched. There was someone walking around the car. “Patrick? Chuck?”

Where were his cousins?

The noise stopped, and for a moment, Cole thought he was alone, then he was being dragged out of the car. He cried out again as he was rolled onto his back.

Red eyes stared down at him, and the creature snarled. “You weren’t there.”

That was not one of his cousins.

His mouth opened, but no sound came out. He hadn’t been seeing things. “They picked me up from school.”

“Hmm.” The creature reached into the front of the car and pulled out a bag. He opened it up and nodded to himself.

“Where are my cousins?”

“They were thrown from the car. I threw them out of the car.”

Cole closed his eyes. Sure, he was in pain, but he was definitely dead. How else was he having a conversation with something covered in gray fur, with bright red eyes…and wings?

Wings.

The Mothman.

If he wasn’t dead, he was going to die. People who saw him died.

“Where is your phone?” The monster started patting him down. Cole didn’t manage to answer before Mothman pulled his phone out of the pocket in his track pants. “You weren’t there. I didn’t know you were in the car.”

What did that have to do with anything?

Mothman crouched next to him. “Tell them you’ve been in an accident. If you mention me, you’ll die before they arrive.” He dialed emergency services and held out the phone as if expecting him to talk.

Cole’s eyes widened. The monster was helping him? The operator asked again if he needed assistance. “Yes. The car I was in rolled. I need help.”

She asked where he was, and he couldn’t remember what the road was called. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember the important details, but all he could see was those red eyes staring at him.

The next time he opened his eyes, it was red and blue lights that filled his vision, and he was being loaded onto a stretcher. Everyone was talking, and he couldn’t focus on any of their words. Mothman’s threat echoed it his head: If you mention me, you’ll die.

Why had it let him live?