(Okay, this is where some of my playlist comes into play. The last part would be Starlight. Enjoy.)
Chapter Eight
My dream started out that way it had for months. I was in the woods, pacing anxiously—as a wolf—between two trees. That connection I wasn’t making with Ayden invaded my sleep and nagged at my brain. I was impatiently wearing a path through the grass as I searched my mind for an answer.
My first thought though was, where is Kerza? But that question was soon answered when a familiar pain filled howl broke through the silence in the air.
I raced towards it and found Kerza standing tall and, not transparent for the first time in a month, howling her grief moonward. She let out a more human-like howl that burst like a bubble in my brain.
It brought back a memory from when I was awake, watching silently as Ayden hissed in her sleep.
“Where are you? No…it’s almost time…no.”
Kerza looked at me desperately, her gorgeous white face scrunched in a grimace. Her eyes though…I couldn’t seem to focus on them.
Help has finally arrived, and so have you. You weren’t here before. It was awful. I kept asking for you, but you weren’t there. It made me sick, because you already know, but you don’t understand.
I whimpered. What didn’t I get? This was so frustrating! Because I felt that I knew, like she said, but there was that connection I just wasn’t making.
What?! I don’t get it! You’ve been telling me this for a month, and I’m still no closer to understanding than I was before.
Kerza shook her head sadly. You are so much closer, Kara. But, perhaps I haven’t been clear enough.
I smothered the urge to snarl, Ya think?! and cocked my head at her.
You see, I am merely a projection. A future that is soon to become. Who I am awake, does not know who I am asleep, if that makes sense. And I can see you aren’t putting this together so, As Kerza spoke, the voice left my head and floated outside of it like a whisper, and her gorgeous white form shimmered.
“So, maybe now you’ll see.”
I took a deep breath to calm my racing heart and felt my mind do a somersault. Because when I looked up, I looked up into the glowing blue eyes of Ayden.
“Crap!” I screeched, jolting awake and tumbling off the couch and onto the hardwood floor with a loud thump.
How in the world had I not connected the two?! Sooooo stupid! Kerza was Ayden’s wolf name. Kerza was Ayden. She had been telling me what she was through sleep ever since I met her. I shot a look at Mareck and realized Kerza had been telling me he was coming also.
“What? Sheesh. You all right, Kara?” Finn asked, helping me back on the couch.
Marshall, Luna, Isaac, and Mareck were seated randomly around the living room, all staring at me in surprise.
“Oh…so stupid! Ugh, I am an idiot.” I fumed, then gasped at Mareck. “Kerza. That’s Ayden’s wolf name. I can’t…” I trailed off under their stares and took a few deep breaths.
Isaac cocked his head at me in a way I tried not to think of as cute, but failed. “Kerza? The wolf you dream about? Hmmm…it actually…” His eyes were swirling as he thought it through. “It makes sense. That you’d subconsciously connect the two. But…” Isaac’s eyes left my face and went to Mareck. “You said you don’t think Ayden remembers what she dreams about. So wouldn’t that mean…she doesn’t know really any of this?”
Kerza’s words came back to me. Who I am awake, doesn’t know who I am asleep, if that makes sense. It hadn’t made sense until right then.
“Yes, that’s exactly it.” I whispered, I cleared my throat and raised my voice to normal. “Kerza is…like her inner wolf. Well, duh, but what I mean is that Kerza is kind of in her subconscious. Which would make sense that her subconscious picked up on what I am, because pure-breds know what we are, subconsciously. But she’s not a pure-bred, so her subconscious compelled her to be friends with me. I am her escape. It’s why I feel connected to her also. The wolf in us, so to speak, latched on to each other. You get it?” I said, searching the faces staring at me with varying levels of understanding. I sighed.
“I get it.” Mareck said, nodding. “I do. But how…” He trailed off.
Isaac spoke up. “What was your dream?”
“Well…it started like usual. I was a wolf, walking in the woods, and Kerza howled.” I took another deep breath. Isaac was the only one here I’d ever told my dreams to. “And I ran to her. For those of you who don’t know, Kerza is a pure white wolf. She was whole—meaning she wasn’t transparent as she had become recently—and she let out this, like, humanish howl that made me remember…” I thought for a second, trying to recall the dream. “Oh, yeah. It reminded me of what Mareck and I had heard Ayden—” I looked at Mareck. “Did you tell them what we did?”
He nodded.
I sighed. “It reminded me of what Ayden had been saying in her sleep last night. She said…‘Where are you?’, ummm, oh! ‘No…it’s almost time…no’. Which is like, extremely vague. But, it made me realize Ayden was apart of this somehow. Although I still didn’t get it. At all.” I shook my head in frustration. “Anyway, Kerza started saying something about how help had arrived,” I looked at Mareck and smiled weakly. “She’s been telling me you were coming for a month and I still didn’t get what she was talking about until after you got here.”
Mareck snorted and grinned wide.
“And then when I still didn’t get what she was saying, she pretty much gave up. She said something…she said ‘Who I am awake, doesn’t know who I am asleep, if that makes any sense’. And it didn’t. Not until a few minutes ago. And then her voice stopped being in my head and I looked up at her as she finished talking and looked at Ayden.” I said, and something…I’d been so distracted by Ayden’s eyes glowing blue that I hadn’t paid attention to her face. But now, awake, I could see a look I’d only seen on her face once before, when I had just met her and Mr. Landsin had asked us to write about our feelings. I remembered looking over at her next to me and seeing an inwardly frightened look. It made sense now.
“So…huh.” Marshall muttered, frowning.
Then something else occurred to me. I looked over at Mareck. “Hey, when you were a wolf, your eyes were…brown. But they’re green now. Why is that?”
“I’m not sure. Half-breds eyes turn a different color than violet when we’re wolves, unlike full-breds who’s eyes do turn violet. Why?” He asked.
I bit my lip then said, “Kerza’s eyes are this awesome, like, glowing light blue color. I’ve seen Ayden’s eyes reflect that every once in awhile, but didn’t—again—connect the two. Jeez, wake up call, Kara.” I muttered the last part to myself.
“Well, that’s not really a good thing. You know that when you turn, your eyes turn purple, but her eyes are turning blue, and she can’t turn…” Mareck trailed off and waited for me to get it.
I nodded. “It has to be soon. Like, now.”
“Of course. Do you think I’d show up here not expecting to help her?” Mareck snapped. “I’ve watched what you saw last night over forty times. I know how much pain she’s in, because I’ve been there.”
I stared at him. I’d known him for—a quick glance outside revealed it was sunset—almost a day and I didn’t see him as the angry type. But he sounded like he really cared about Ayden. Hmmmm.
“All right then,” I said gruffly, ignoring Isaac who looked like he wanted to throttle Mareck for yelling at me. “What is your plan?”
“They told me she’s coming to spend the night over here tomorrow night, so you can get all the information from her that she’ll admit. Maybe something about her dad? Because her mom isn’t a werewolf. And maybe she’ll talk about the Attacks.” Mareck said, scratching his chin. “It would be so much easier to teach her on a full moon.”
“The full moon is Tuesday. If you want, we can do it then.” I said, standing up and stretching.
“Yes, but I’ll need your help.” Mareck said.
“Great, we have three days.”
Mareck relaxed. “Finally. I love helping someone who needs it so badly.”
Finn snorted, and I realized he was sitting next to Mareck like they’d known each other for years, not hours. “Yeah, no ulterior motive there.”
Mareck shoved him. “Shhhh,”
“Well, I suppose the rest of the pack needs to know. Ready Marshall?” Isaac asked, standing in front of me, only a few feet away.
“Yeah,” Marshall said. My dad started to head out back but Isaac stopped him.
“Marshall…why don’t you go out front and wait for me.”
Marshall looked at him confused, but shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
As Marshall started for the front door Isaac looked at me. “Kara? Come with me to the back yard, please.”
Marshall paused, looked at Isaac with a sort of…‘What the hell you gonna do to my daughter look?’ which only made me agree to follow Isaac into my back yard.
We stopped somewhere in the middle as the porch light flickered on. I heard two people walk into the kitchen, but I didn’t know who.
Isaac stared at me with a familiar gleam in his eyes. “Kara, you are a brave wolf. You defeated the only one in your way, and I know you will not fight me. I see it in your eyes. I let you off the hook, which looked extremely bad on me as the alpha. Why won’t you just say yes?” He asked, his breath hot on my face.
I felt my face freeze up and my eyes go distant as he talked, because I didn’t want him to see anything in my eyes.
“I…don’t make me answer that again, Isaac. I need time. I swear I’ll give you an answer. Just wait.” I begged.
He smiled softly. “Wait is all I’ll ever do. But, patience is not a virtue I embody. Remember that.” He brushed blazing hot fingers along the back of my neck and kissed me as light as a feather on the lips, then sauntered off towards the front of my house.
“Oh? And Kara?” He called right before he rounded the corner. “You can freeze up, but no matter how hard you try to hide it, I can see your falling for me.” And then he was gone. That man, I gotta tell you, is one for dramatic exits.
I stood there a moment, then stomped back into my house.
Finn and Mareck were both grinning at me as I entered the kitchen.
“You two enjoy the show?” I snapped, folding my arms across my chest.
Mareck just kept beaming at me, looking like a male model about to burst from holding in laughter, while Finn actually blurted a few chuckles.
“I don’t know why he keeps trying. Why would anyone wanna mate you? I mean with that attitude…” Finn covered his mouth as his throaty laughter echoed through the room.
“Yeah,” Mareck gasped, not able to contain his laughter anymore. “What’s with that? From what I know, you aren’t s’posed to turn down the alpha. ’Course what do I know? But, I’m a quick learner.”
Frustration and anger seared through my veins. How dare they? They had no idea how I was feeling.
“What do you know Mareck?” I growled, my windpipe threatening to tear into my other form. “You’re an ignorant half-bred who barely manages to keep up enough submission to spare your life.” My eyes sparked with enough fury that they both straightened up and cut their laughter off.
“Kara, we’re only joking. Lighten up, hon.” Finn said, smiling softly.
Normally, I would have calmed at that smile. But I wasn’t accepting it now. I was still furious.
“Lighten up? You’ve got not one clue about what I’m going through.” I choked. Tears threatened as a lump formed in my throat, but I continued. “All this anger building and building until I can’t take it anymore! And how do I deal with it? I make Marshall regret having a daughter, scare you, almost kill Antony, and Isaac…” I was really crying now, and both guys looked at a loss. Finn usually knew what to do, but this was a whole new kind of outburst.
“The worst part is,” I mumbled, not at all sure about what I was about to say. “I think…” That’s when it hit me. And I couldn’t not say it. “I really do love Isaac. It makes my stomach hurt, because he’s so much older, but I really do.” As I said it, I tried to grab it and put it back in my head, but I just kept talking. “I do…”
I started falling towards the floor slowly, my head swirling as I contemplated what I’d just said, but Finn reached out and caught me before I smacked against the linoleum.
“Kara, Kara, shhh.” He murmured, carrying me to the living room with Mareck trailing behind.
All of my emotions poured into my tears and I cried until it was all out. Finn rubbed my back and muttered reassurances as Mareck sat watching helplessly.
When I was done, I had locked up any of those ‘love’ emotions I had for Isaac and promised not to let them out again until I was ready. Because obviously I wasn’t.
“Well, thanks for dealing with that.” I sighed. My throat hurt and my eyes stung, but my heart felt relieved.
“My, oh my, Kara. If that’s how you feel, why don’t you just say yes to Isaac then?” Finn asked, a look of curiosity on his warm face.
“Because I’m not ready, duh.” I replied, staring at Mareck’s patiently amused face.
“Love is funny, eh?” He asked, his eyes crinkling in a majorly cute way.
“Yes! Oh—he’s so much older.” I groaned.
Finn snorted, “Yeah, I don’t even want to think about you and him—ugh.” Finn made a face.
I blushed. “Shut-up. Do you think I want to?”
“With the way you looked when he kissed you, I’d bet on it.” Mareck said, raising his hands to protect his face.
“I—no way. I was mad.” I defended myself.
“Nuh-uh! You looked happy.” Finn disagreed.
“Yeah, kinda like you were trying hard not to kiss him back.” Mareck added.
Had I? I remembered having a split second moment where I thought it was sweet, but me mostly being mad.
“Well, maybe I was a little happy.” I allowed, trying not to smile and failing miserably.
“Oh! Who’s in love?” Finn joked, poking me in the ribs.
“You say one word, either of you, and I’ll treat you with less respect than I did Antony.” I growled, suddenly fierce. I didn’t let it go until both of them agreed to keep their mouths shut.
I decided my face needed a good washing, so I headed upstairs to my bathroom, and gratefully splashed warm water on my face.
My mind roamed the events of the day and froze on me exploding at Antony. In that second, I could see my reflection in his eyes, and I saw cold determination on my face. I shivered and shook off the memory.
I ignored my reflection in the mirror and tip toed to the edge of the stairs, where I could hear Mareck and Finn talking quietly in the living room.
“Kara…she’s unusually kind. Most of the wolves I run into in packs are cruel to half-breds.” Mareck was saying.
“Kind? How so? Besides what you just said ’cause I know she wasn’t kind about you being a half-bred at first.” Finn asked.
“Well…” Mareck hesitated.
I commanded every muscle in my body to freeze, including my lungs. My breathing faltered and became tiny, short puffs of air. I closed my eyes to enhance my hearing and focused. From where I stood, as still as a statue, they wouldn’t be able to hear me. I hoped.
“When she showed up at my greeting, I thought she was Queen. She’s so big and her vibe just demands respect and obedience. I’ve never been near an alpha in wolf form so I just went on complete instinct on what I should do. I could tell what I was doing wasn’t completely right. You should have seen the authority in her eyes! I was sure I was dead on the spot, but, she held reverence and let me speak. Those eyes…her eyes are so…scary. Violent, but soft. Odd.” Mareck’s tone was soft.
I felt…happy. Like I’d just gotten a compliment, which I guess, in a way I had.
“You tryin’ to get a squeeze from my sister?” Finn hissed, laughter cutting half way through his question.
“No, not at all. I’m only saying.” Mareck snorted laughter of his own. “I’m not so naïve that I’d go after a claimed female. Especially one claimed by the alpha. Though still, I only like your sister as a…friend.”
With a tiny smile, I relaxed my muscles and headed into the living room, glancing mildly at Mareck.
Finn and Mareck both quieted their chortling. Finn sighed.
“You know, I like you too, Mareck.” I said, falling on to the couch beside Finn.
Both of them blinked, then Finn snickered. “Ah, shoulda known you were listening.”
“Well, thank you?” Mareck said, raising one eyebrow over his endlessly amused forest green eyes.
“Yup,” I said, kicking my foot against his arm.
We sat in silence, and like a black cloud, the thought of Antony crept into my mind.
“Oh, Ayden is coming over tomorrow. I have to get rid of Antony. Poor kid…” I shook off the pity and clenched my fists. I couldn’t let guilt bring me down every time I performed an act of authority. I wouldn’t get anywhere that way. Marshall had taught me that.
“You’ll have to chase him off.” Finn said. “Good ridden.”
“I guess it’ll be tomorrow morning. Ayden’s supposed to be here at one.” After sleeping most of the day away, I was still worn out.
“Can I meet her tomorrow? Please?” Mareck asked, a strange plea in his voice.
“Duh. You are staying here. Can’t avoid the random Brit in the room. It’s worse than an elephant.” I rolled my eyes.
The back door banged open and the sound of nine separate footsteps and low talking drifted in.
“Finn? Kara?” Luna called.
“In here!” Finn replied.
What was left of our pack—minus Marion and Antony—filed in, randomly settling in around the living room. I got so squished on the couch that I ended up tumbling off and onto Mareck’s lap. Mareck cracked up and pushed me off while Isaac smothered a scowl and ended up laughing.
I pulled myself up and wrapped my arms around my knees.
“Well, well. You need to find yourself another girl to wrestle with, boy.” Isaac rumbled, humor in his eyes.
“Ah—” Mareck snapped his mouth shut and smiled. What was he supposed to say?
“Don’t make things awkward.” I said quietly, glowering at Isaac, hating I had admitted to loving him. I didn’t know what I was talking about.
“Awkward? Why would I do that?” Isaac eyed me innocently and leaned closer to the ground.
“Oh, I don’t know!” I snapped, my anger flaring—again. “Maybe,”—growl—“because you’re an expert at that?” My eyes closed to slits as my glare created tension in the room. He just loved baiting me.
Isaac looked over my expression calmly then jumped up. “I have an idea. Kara, c’mon. Anyone else who wants to? Feel free.”
He darted into the kitchen where we all followed him to the dark backyard. Once there, he led us down the hiking trail to my meadow, which was still pretty at night.
“Kara,” Isaac began. “I can tell your angry at me—”
“Is it obvious?” I snipped, folding my arms across my chest.
“—so I propose a fight. Not one to the death, just a regular fight. Just enough until you feel better.” He continued as if I hadn’t spoken, then raised both eyebrows when he was done.
A fight? With Isaac? My fingers flexed in expectation. Isaac met my gaze and was man enough not to look away. I nodded in respect.
“You sure?” Serena asked uncertainly.
“Absolutely,” Isaac said.
I was still stupidly upset with him and frustrated all the same at how he baited me constantly, so I decided some tempting on my part wouldn’t hurt.
The pack, including Mareck, was hiding among the trees, most actually in the trees, so I smiled and turned where no one was hiding.
With one slow, taunting movement I pulled my t-shirt off and tossed a smirk at Isaac before melting into the shadows.
Finn snickered.
I pulled the rest of my clothes off and laid them on the ground as the liquid fire flew through my veins and I stretched into a wolf.
Isaac’s ginormous black wolf-self already waited for me. We both paused, then charged at each other. I won’t go into supreme detail about all the fighting, but I will say that I went easy on Isaac, so therefore lost. Three times. Everyone took turns fighting after awhile, even Mareck. Although only Finn, Isaac, and I fought him. I did win that fight. We fought until the early morning, when the first rays of sun were piercing the dark sky.
By the time everyone returned home, I was ditzy with sleep deprivation again. I told Mareck and Finn to wake me up by eleven so I could go deal with Antony, then crashed on my bed.
Kerza was not in my dreams, which in a way worried me, but all I could think was sleep. I awoke more than twenty times, always groaning for more sleep and getting that ten minutes later.
So restful sleep, it was not. I had just fallen back into that space between wakefulness and dreamland, when Finn’s voice reached me softly, slowly growing in volume as I drifted up.
“Kara! Kara! Hey—don’t be mad—but it’s twelve-ten! Kara! Did you hear me? Twelve—”
“Ten. Ugh. Yeah, I got it.” I mumbled almost incomprehensibly.
I snarled a yawn, rubbed my eyes against the sunlight spilling through my window, and stumbled onto the icy hardwood floor. My head cleared as Finn twitched beside me. Then it hit.
“Twelve-ten? What? Ayden’ll be here so soon! Antony! Oh, crap!” I whirled around and punched Finn’s arm. “I told you to get me up!”
“I just did. Chill. I’m sorry, ’kay?”
“Ugh!”
I slammed into my closet, pulled out clothes, and jumped into the shower. I only took five minutes and then hurried out to get dressed, only to rip my holey jean cut offs even more as I yanked them on. My stomach snarled as I dragged a brush through my hair half heartedly, then I leaped down the stairs.
“I’m going to get rid of Antony, is he out there?” I asked, stumbling into the kitchen breathlessly.
“Been waiting for you since ten this morning. When’s Ayden coming?” Isaac asked beside my dad.
“One! Bye!” I yelled, darting into my backyard.
Mareck and Finn were wrestling human a few yards off, but I ignored them and dashed into the trees. I pulled my clothes off and trembled into a wolf.
I dipped my snout to the ground and swept the area for Antony’s scent. After that, I looked up. From my judgment on the position of the sun, it was after twelve-thirty. I had to hurry.
I scanned the expansion of our territory until I found him, pacing anxiously. He looked at me, then nodded, taking off at his highest speed. I let him stay ten feet ahead as we got closer to the western border.
The western border.
I faltered slightly as I realized his intentions.
He was leading me to Ayden’s.
No! Antony!
We were so close to the city I could hear music blaring from inside peoples cars.
And right as we reached the border, he skidded out of the way, and I came to a halt right as Ayden walked out her front door, a bag in her hand. I struggled not to make a sound, but still, Ayden’s piercing grass colored green eyes met mine. Her human eyes, to my wolf eyes. For a second, her eyes flared blue, then the bag fell out of her hand and I leaped back into the cover of the trees.
Your so stupid!!! I hate you Antony!!!
I heard Antony chuckle a few feet away, but I paused and evaluated the situation.
Ayden saw me. A wolf. A wolf in Texas. But…she’d only seen me for about three seconds. That wasn’t enough time to put ‘wolf’ to my body form. If it had been longer, duh, but she might just be thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a freaking big dog’ right now. I could live with that.
I turned to resume the chase and fled after Antony. A snarl ripped it’s way from my lungs and I just knew Ayden had heard.
I sprinted after him, still letting him be in front, and heaved a sigh of relief when he tumbled across the southwest border. He made eye contact, flashed a toothy grin, then darted off, never to return.
I’d miss that guy. Just a little bit.
I immediately took off towards home at full speed. Ayden had left awhile ago, so she might already be there. And I didn’t like the thought of that.
I kept my head blank except for running. It was, dodge that tree, leap over that rock, move away from the poison ivy. I just kept running.
When I was about two minutes away, I passed Serena and Farrah fighting. Their snarls and snapping teeth filled the air. Why would they do that so close? Ugh.
I huffed and slowed down a little bit. I reached my clothes and hurriedly flipped that invisible switch from human to wolf. I yanked my clothes on, zipping up my shorts as I tripped into my backyard.
I could hear voices in the house, including Ayden’s.
Mareck and Finn were waiting for me in the kitchen, and Finn’s eyes widened at the sight of me.
“Kara,” He hissed. “your face.”
“Wha—” I tried to speak, but my jaw was wrong. My hands flew to my face and felt the deformity. My palms were still rough, like the pads on a dogs feet, and my nails were still claws, long and thick.
Crap!
“So, uh, where’s Kara?” Ayden asked from the living room.
“Umm, Finn?” Marshall called.
“Ooh, I see ’er. She’s comin’.” Finn said, looking at me frantically. We were great liars, but this was major.
Mareck just rolled his eyes and glanced behind him anxiously. I guess he hadn’t met Ayden yet.
My palms softened and my nails shortened as I struggled to fix my jaw as I walked towards the living room slowly.
“Hey,” I coughed roughly, my jaw swiveled then cracked into place as I entered the room.
Isaac was pacing anxiously in a corner by the TV, Marshall and Luna were sitting on the couch with barely concealed worry on their faces, and Ayden was standing awkwardly by the front door, the same bag from earlier slung over one shoulder.
All four faces looked relieved when I walked in.
“Where were you?” Ayden asked, glancing warily at Marshall and Luna.
“Walking,” I said casually. Or, tried to say casually, but my voice cracked and my mind kept pulling out the memory of Ayden’s face when I appeared as a wolf.
Could she tell? Did she know? There was no sign of that on her face now.
“Ah, see? Just a walk. Was it…nice?” Isaac asked, pausing his pacing to look at me, his eyes impassive.
“Yup, just peachy.” I said sarcastically, and weaved my arm through Ayden’s and headed to the stairs.
Isaac sighed.
“We’ll be in my room. Call if you need me Marshall.” I said and pulled her after me.
“Marshall?” She asked, confusion overpowering her voice and face.
I paused outside my bedroom door. “Marshall, dad. Luna, mom. It’s all the same to me.”
I pushed the door open and gestured in.
Ayden dropped her bag by my door as she stepped in and appraised the room.
“Nice,”
“Yeah, it’s not mu—” I stopped when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A second later Finn braced himself against my half closed door, Mareck behind him.
I’d forgotten to introduce Mareck.
“Hey, Kara.” He said pointedly, following Finn in.
Ayden froze and turned to look at Mareck. Her face was blank but her eyes flashed blue. We all noticed.
“Uh, yeah. Ayden, you remember my brother Finn.” I said, gesturing to him. “And this is his friend, Mareck.”
“H-hi, um, yeah.” Ayden blushed and looked down as Mareck beamed at her.
“I like your necklace.” He said, pointing to the wolf hanging on a chain around her neck.
Her hand flew to the necklace and she cleared her throat. “Thanks,”
Mareck smiled wider, his teeth blindingly white. Ayden’s blush grew more red. I wanted to slap him and tell him to tone down his male modelness or he was going to give Ayden a complex.
“Well,” I said, clapping my hands together after a few seconds of silence. “that’s great guys. I think—”
I was cut off by Ayden who was practically falling out my window, her whole torso outside. And if she fell, she wouldn’t survive like us werewolves would. I looked at Mareck. Or would she…?
“Whoa, Kara! You live in front of the entire forest? We have to go walking.” Ayden said, slipping back inside to safety.
“Sure, sure. We can go right now.” I looked at the guys. “Alone,”
○ ○ ○ ○ ○
“Soo…your parents didn’t know where you were and you didn’t get in trouble?” Ayden asked as we strolled through the woods. I was keeping my ears so alert for the sound of pack members that they throbbed.
“Uh, no. They knew I was walking. I just…misjudged the time.” I shrugged.
“Pssh, whatever. Still lucky. Mom woulda chewed my butt out. Who was that big blond guy? He’s kinda cute.”
I tried not to cringe. “Uh, Isaac. He’s a…family friend.”
She nodded as a breeze picked up, prickling my skin. I kept looking at her, trying to see a difference. If she looked more…wolf-like. And as I watched, looking when she thought I wasn’t, I began to see subtle signs I hadn’t picked up on before. Her eyes were underscored with purple, her cheek bones were sharp against the skin, and her vibe seemed dark. They were all things she hid well.
“Um, so what’s new? You seem down.” I said, smiling at her.
She sighed, “It’s just my mom. And I haven’t been sleeping.”
I could see her whimpering in pain in my mind, and nodded. I knew all too well that she hadn’t gotten sleep.
“And…before I left my apartment…or as I was leaving, I saw this…dog? Well, it was so big, but coyotes are way smaller than that ’cept maybe the ears.” Ayden said. “It looked…” She trailed off and shrugged.
I tried not to freeze in terror and managed my breathing. Calm, Kara. She doesn’t know yet. Calm, I thought. But what would I normally say?
“Wow, weird.” I said unevenly, my voice level rising and falling.
Ayden eyed me strangely.
“Yeah, it was. I wish you could have seen it. It was about…” She bit her lip as she raised her hand to show me how tall it—I—was. “Up to about my ribs and had a black back, redish face and stomach, and white on it’s legs and paws. Pretty,” She beamed at me. I wanted to tell her so bad. Right then. But it wasn’t time. Not yet.
I nodded along, dying to scream that I knew how tall I was and what I looked like. Why did we have to wait? Because of the full moon? That was dumb, I wanted her to know.
There was the sound of light treading a few feet from us off to the right of me, and I felt the tips of my ears elongate to pick up the sound more clearly. I pulled my hair around my face and slowed a little. As the breeze picked up I sureppticously lifted my nose to the air and caught Isaac’s scent.
I bit back a snarl of outrage. What was he doing? Following us? Why?
“Whoa—I swear I just saw like, the biggest black thing ever run over there.” Ayden said pointing in front of me. “What is with these woods? Sheesh—if I didn’t know better, I’d say we had like, a wolf pack on our hands.” She laughed a little embarrassed.
I tried to laugh too, I really did. But I just couldn’t make it work. I mean, this was idiotic! Ayden was one of us! I wanted to yell at Isaac to come out, but restrained myself.
“Oh…well. Do you think it’s safe?” Ayden asked when I didn’t say anything.
Duh, your safer with us around than you were before. We don’t hunt humans, no matter how preylike they appear. I thought, wanting to scream it.
“Yes, I do. I always walk through here. So, um, why has your mom been yelling at you?” I asked to change the subject.
Isaac huffed about teen feet away from us. Go away, I pleaded silently. I am more nervous that you’re here. But he couldn’t hear me think it towards him while I was human.
Ayden sighed. “It’s so stupid! She’s all ‘Ayden, you remind me too much of your dad’ like that’s a bad thing. Or, ‘I wish you’d leave me too, just like your father’. Like it’s my fault I act like him. I’m like, excuse me? I’ve never even met the guy. Just seen pictures. I always keep one with me.”
“Why?” I wondered.
She blushed. “Well…’cause…incase I run into him. I’d have proof.”
Again, this invisible man angered me. How could he have just left her? It was so unfair! It was obvious Ayden was struggling. That in a way, she wished she knew her dad.
We turned around and walked back towards my house in silence. I smelled the grill going around the side of the house, but ignored it and led Ayden back up to my room. Once we got there, she took out a picture and handed it to me.
“His name is—was, maybe—Zak Varg.”
My breath caught. Varg meant ‘wolf’ in Old Norse. I took the picture and examined it.
Any doubt I’d had vanished. Ayden was an exact replica of this man—Zak. It was a picture of Zak standing alone in a doorway, smiling like he’d just been given the gift of life. He had short hair the same color as Ayden’s and the same eyes she had—as Kerza. His eyes were those light glowing blue eyes I’d come to know so well—but…it looked like…it looked like they were ringed with violet. The cameras flash reflected off of it like that of a cats eye. He was smiling, and it took the same shape as Ayden’s. I was positive now that he was a werewolf. No doubt.
I handed the picture back to Ayden and smiled. “You look just like him. Do you know why he left?”
Ayden’s face clouded and her eyes flashed blue. She sat down on my bed and took a deep breath, preparing for the story.
“Mom told me that it was very strange and out of the blue. She said she thinks it was because of these friends he had. Three guys and four girls. ‘They were always around.’ Mom said, ‘They didn’t understand privacy, Zak always told me they were tight, like family’.”
Knowing his secret, I understood that they must’ve been his pack. But…it only confused me and angered me more. If he wasn’t a stray, why’d he go for a pure-bred?
“Anyway, mom said it was a month before I was born when he left. One day she woke up, and he wasn’t there, all his stuff was gone, and he left a note saying to tell me ‘Sorry’ and that he really loved us both. All his…friends were gone too.” Ayden coughed and smiled at me weakly.
“So,” She continued. “that’s how it went. I guess he couldn’t handle me or something. Mom says that’s not it, but why else? She said that one of the guys in his group was really bossy, but Zak always obeyed. ‘Like a dog to his master.’ Mom says. She thinks they made him leave.”
How sad. They wouldn’t let him stay to take care of his family. I knew from how reluctant my pack had been to accept Ayden that acceptance didn’t come easy.
Her face was so pained and sad. I had no idea what to do but envelop her in a hug. She shook in surprise, then slumped in my arms and held me back.
“I’m so sorry,” My voice held all the weight of her pain and my sympathy.
“S’ not your fault. I’m ruining the fun. Okay,” She cleared her throat and jumped up. “I brought more music. Why? Because you are still sadly out of touch, and…” Ayden grinned. “I have stupid thrillers!”
I laughed and pointed to my stereo. She snagged her bag and popped in some CD that started with a cool drum beat. So for a while, we listened to the stuff she had. I liked it and was surprised when she told me the singer was British. He didn’t sound like it at all. I was happy with the way she kept up commentary. My mind was distracted enough that I didn’t have to pretend to be having fun.
But around six, Finn came up knocking, telling us that it was time for dinner.
Ayden and I tripped down the stairs laughing as she did an impression of one of her favorite bands.
I had smelled them cooking, so when we got down into the kitchen, I wasn’t surprised to see Marshall holding a plate of steaks. Usually the pack would have descended at the chance at this delicious meal, but since Ayden was here, only my family, Isaac, and Mareck were gathered around the kitchen.
“What’s for—oh.” Ayden’s nose scrunched in displeasure as her eyes went to the steaks.
“You like steak, right Ayden?” Luna asked as a joke, flashing a smile. I mean, all wolves at meat.
“Uh, no. I’m not much of a meat eater. Only some of it’s okay.” Ayden bit her lip and smiled.
Every single werewolf—which was everyone pretty much—in the kitchen turned to stare at her in open shock. Well, except Isaac. He just smirked at me.
Luna recovered first. “Well…well that’s just fine, dear. Kara can make you a salad if that’s all right.”
“Of course,” Ayden blushed and hung back while I gathered a bowl and lettuce to make her a salad.
Dinner was a wreck. We stumbled through awkward conversation that no one seemed to want to keep up. But Ayden tried.
“So, uh…Kara told me your guys are from Oregon.” She mumbled, glancing at me sideways.
“Yep. We lived there awhile.” Marshall said, swallowing a huge chunk of meat.
Isaac cleared his throat and leaned forward, pushing his empty plate out of his way before he spoke. “Have you lived here your whole life?”
Ayden looked up, but instinctively avoided eye contact. “Yes, I hate it. Too hot, not enough trees.”
Or wolves, But I wasn’t gonna say it out loud.
“You should visit my old home in the mountains,” Mareck chimed in. “Plenty of trees, much to my liking.”
Ayden coughed a little and swallowed her food with a tight smile and a squeak.
I was starting to notice the way she kind of spazzed any time Mareck was around or talked. Hmmm. I examined her blush as he beamed at her and realized she might like him. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
“Oh…watch a movie. Talk, do whatever.” I muttered.
Since Isaac was finished with his dinner, he turned to his new favorite pass time. Staring at me till I was ready to a) claw his eyes out, or b) climb up a wall. Either option was favorable.
After five quiet minutes of that, Ayden noticed.
Almost everyone was finished at this point, so Ayden sat back and kept up wary glances at us.
My skin was hot with the heat of the change and I struggled to maintain a smile. I settled on snarling insults in my head.
Thank God everyone finally finished, so we cleaned up. Ayden and I on table cleaning duty.
After that, we hustled up to my room and put on some old cheesy thriller movie. We kept making up scenarios and making fun of the characters that we didn’t really know what was going on in the movie.
“Oh yeah,” I hissed. “You are totally gonna find out your wife’s a murderer by looking at your old wedding photo.”
Ayden snorted laughter. “ ‘Oh no! How have I never seen this side of her before?’ Uh, dude? It’s ’cause she’s hiding it.”
We burst out laughing.
Of course, through all our fun I didn’t once forget her pain. She was a good actress, but it was there in her eyes.
After the movie, Ayden and I started flipping channels. The sound of heavy footsteps trotted up the stairs and paused outside my door.
I spun angrily, flaring my nostrils.
“Hey,” Isaac said casually, like I had thirty-three year old men in my room all the time. “Your movie over?”
I scowled. “Obviously,”
Ayden looked up at him cautiously.
Isaac ignored my expression. “Huh. I—”
“What do you want?” I snapped, not looking at Ayden. No doubt she thought this odd.
“I was just checking on you.” He mumbled, looking hurt, staring me right in the eye.
I studied his expression and jumped up. Ayden gave a small sound of warning that I couldn’t interpret. When I turned to her she looked confused, but she wasn’t looking at me.
“I’ll be right back, all right? I need to talk to Isaac.” I said tightly.
Ayden’s face cleared and she raised an eyebrow at me, but nodded.
Finn and Mareck were in the living room playing cards, listening to music, and Luna and Marshall were over at Farrah’s, so we entered my dark backyard without calling attention.
I led Isaac to the fringe of trees and glared up at him. He shrugged his shirt off and rolled his shoulders, already seeing where this was headed.
“Why would you do that to me in front of her?” I demanded harshly, scratching my arms.
He stared at me for a minute with an unfathomable expression, then he glared at me. “Why not? I’m fed up of your attitude. She may not know now, but she will.”
I was beyond furious. My legs popped and my stomach clenched as the liquid began to spread. This was not the right time, with Ayden upstairs, but I couldn’t help it. He was fed up with my attitude. I would show him fed up.
“Then why don’t you force me Mr. Alpha? Would it make you happy to have me forced into whimpering submission? Huh?” I snarled loudly. But I didn’t care. The beautiful hot liquid seared my veins and rippled down my spine, crunching the bone into a tail. My jaw elongated and I stepped into the shadows to shed my clothes—and human skin. We both emerged in my backyard as wolves.
I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing as I curled my toes in the grass. That I was being stupid. That this might be the Fang Challenge and Ayden was right upstairs. I looked into his violet eyes and saw a deep regret in his eyes that made me pause my crouch. Why did he look so sad?
I pulled back my muzzle, but held on to the snarl. That was when we heard a strangled whimper. And it was all human.
We both turned to see Ayden standing in the back doorway, with her hands bracing herself against the frame and her eyes and mouth wide with shock as she stared at both of us. She stepped forward as if to run, and I tried to call her name, but I was a wolf.
Words wouldn’t form.
