Brother Blood

Chapter 3: weeds

We came home with a truck full of groceries. We bought flour and rice by the sack now, as well as an odd assortment of other items. Ralph and Mel had come up with an allowance for the pack members like they had done with Susie Lynn. Brian told me they had worked at the neighbors' farm for extra money in the summer. He and Aidan were saving up to buy a computer.

The whole pack came clambering out of the house, helping us unload nearly before he exited the vehicle. Grant's only request was more books; Casey and I had picked up another stack at the library. These I handed him before getting out of the way of my other pack members unloading the bed of the truck.

"How was your morning?" I asked Katie.

"Busy," she replied. "Brian and I were weeding until you got home; I swear he just throws the weeds in my path because it feels like we never get any weeds out of the garden."

"I am not," Brian called with a grin. He carried the cases of toilet paper past us into the house.

Chores went much smoother with so many people. I remembered when it would take Susie Lynn and I all day to get the weeds out of the garden. Keith and Ralph worked on the pickups while Aidan and Grant cleaned the house. I worked out in the garden with Katie and Brian. I could tell that something had happened between then, but I couldn't tell if it meant they were close friends or a couple. I was still new at human relationships and didn't know what to look for.

Mel started up the grill, the smell of chicken wafting across the farm. My stomach was growling by the time she called us in for dinner. Brian and Katie gathered the weeds and threw them in bin before heading back up to the house. Katie rubbed her dirty hands on Brian's shirt with a giggle and sprinted past us. Brian scoffed, wiping his shirt off as best as he could.

"Girls," he said. "It's a good thing she's adorable."

"She still hasn't grown her hair out, I notice."

"No, and she keeps threatening to cut my hair," he sighed. "I like my hair."

Katie grinned at us before disappearing inside the house. Daria and Susie Lynn brought out chicken and potatoes, Mel following behind with pitchers of tea as we all found our seats. Each of my pack mates was tan from working on the farm, making Grant's pale skin glow in comparison. He sat next to me, still not quite trusting my pack.

We divided the meal with precision, no one speaking until we had eaten. Grant didn't eat any more, but he drank water and sat with us anyway.

"Ralph?" Grant said. "I'd like to send a message to my parents."

"I thought you said it wasn't safe," Ralph remarked.

"I've thought about it, and I think I could do it safely," Grant replied. "I could send a email. I can make it safe. I won't tell them where I am or what I'm doing. I just want to them to stop looking for me. My father will only do that if I was dead. Or fully turned."

He grimaced without meaning it. It was different for him than us; we could live mostly normal lives. His entire existence had been changed forever. While we could eat and avoid silver, Grant was still drinking my blood to be able to go outside even for a little bit.

"Your father is the one who locked up Conor in the first place," Keith scoffed. "I don't think you can tell him anything; won't he kill all of us?"

"It's an email; not a beacon," Grant insisted. "Otherwise he'll keep hunting. He will not stop hunting me and Conor if he thinks he there's a chance to save me." He sighed. "I've been thinking about this for a week now. I can show you how I am going to do it and I can show that it's going to be safe. I worry that many more people will die if my father starts tearing through the country looking for me."

His hands were clenched under the table and I put a hand on his shoulder. He flashed me a grin, as if trying to assure me that he was stable.

"We'll talk about it," Ralph decided finally. "If it's safe, from what the news has been saying, I would think your father is too busy to hunt you down properly."

"I don't get it," Casey remarked. "Why would werewolves risk exposure? Sure we're faster, but humans don't have debilitating weaknesses like silver."

"I would say mortality is a pretty big weakness," Katie pointed out. "But most alphas aren't Ralph or Keith. Most of them are violent and fought their way to the top. They'll be damned before someone takes that from them. Pass the chicken?"

I handed her the platter, reaching for the potatoes for myself. It was good that we had a garden; otherwise we'd run out of food. Grant took another sip of his water. Aidan was stealing potato slices from Daria's plate with a surprising amount of stealth. Katie was watching the theft with me and gave me a wink when I noticed her.

"What's next for today?" Keith inquired.

"Sun will be going down soon; anything else can wait until tomorrow," Mel said. "We need to think about a cover crop for the garden, and start winterizing the chicken coop. They're going to molt soon. Canning is going well; did we get more salt in town?"

"And sugar," Ralph said. "So if you take pity on me and decided to make apple butter, you have the sugar to do so."

He gave his wife a beaming smile and she rolled her eyes from the other side of the table.

"I don't have to watch my cholesterol anymore," he pointed out.

"That's no excuse. You have no self-control around apple butter. If I made a batch, then no one would have any apples all for the rest of winter. I wouldn't do that to the pack."

"I'd guard it," Grant offered with a smile. "It's not like I'm going to eat any."

"What would it taste like?" Susie Lynn inquired.

Grant thought about it for a while and then frowned.

"It's hard to explain," he admitted. "It's like food doesn't have a taste. Or it does, but my ability to taste it is turned way down. So it all tastes a little like eating wet cardboard."

"That is gross," she laughed. "No wonder you're not interested."

"Exactly," he replied.

"Then why do you sit with us?" Daria inquired. "Doesn't lunch smell like wet cardboard?"

Grant shook his head. "I can smell it just fine. Smells nice, but doesn't make me hungry. I love the smell of cookies."

"Everyone likes cookies," Susie Lynn laughed.

___

Poor Grant dear. But at least he can smell cookies. That's always a perk. Thanks for reading!