She Came From the Forest (James and Tera: book 1)

12

The Reserve didn't have a very bright parking lot. There were street lights but they were too dim to make out anything. The most you could see are the shapes of things in the distance. The dimness of light made standing out here with Charles even more terrifying.

After exiting the building, he kept walking. I stopped a few steps out the door before he stopped and turned. "Follow me to my truck." He told me, and turned back to continue walking. I'm pretty sure that meant he wasn't asking me to follow.

We got to a black Ford F-150, the same one pulling the U-Haul trailer when I first saw them moving in. The tires looked new, but had a lot of mud around them. He went over to one side of his bed and leaned over it. He gestured for me to go to the other side.

"This is my way of having a serious conversation." He said. "Kind of a weird way to talk when leaning over two sides of a truck, but it's pretty helpful to me."

I did as he told and walked over to the other side of the truck. "A little distance kind of helps me, too." I cracked nervously.

He surprisingly laughed. "Kid, relax. If I wanted you dead, they'd find you mauled to death in the woods and say it was an animal attack." He saw that comment didn't help and exhaled. "I'm not gonna hurt you. It would hurt Tera too much."

I slightly lowered my guard and leaned over the truck finally. "It would?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. She's been talking about you since she first went to that school." He shook his head in frustration. "Girl was so confused on how she felt. She wanted to be with you but didn't want to take the chance in you finding out about us." He looked up at me and chuckled. "That was until the night you guys got together was the night you found out."

I looked at him with the most attention I'd ever given anyone. I needed to know more. "So she really was trying to protect me." I said more to myself than to him. "She said that if any other werewolves found out I knew about your existence, that they would have me killed."

He stopped me with a finger. "Within reason. As long as you don't go crying wolf, or if you have a role within our population without being a werewolf, then you're fine."

A pit in my stomach was gone. A weight was lifted off of my shoulders and I gave a deep exhale in relief. Then curiosity struck. "Do you guys have laws on your species?"

He raised an eyebrow. "That's an interesting question for your situation." He stood straight up from leaning and bent his back in a stretch. "Yes, we do. There are certain werewolf authorities that are kept secretive from humans that know about us, so I couldn't tell you if I wanted to."

"What are some of the laws?" I asked.

He picked up his leg and bent it. "Man, I'm getting old." He put it down and stomped it. "Don't do anything to go against your own kind, don't commit any kind of treason, and most certainly don't go against the word of the authorities." He did the same to his other leg. "That's all I can inform you of."

"Hmm."

He looked up at me. His eyes were serious this time. "My daughter really does care for you. If she cares for you, you're worth something. You mean as much to me if you mean as much to her. You have my word that if anything were to happen involving you, we'll be there."

Protection from werewolves? That sounds interesting. "So are werewolves like normal wolves? Are there packs and alphas and stuff?"

A familiar truck pulled up. It was Dad's pickup truck. Charles looked at it and back at me. "We'll have a longer chat about our people some other time." The driver side door opened, and Dad stepped out. "Jacob!" Charles yelled, filling the silence of the parking lot. "Drinks are all on me! Get your ass in here."