(3) Painstaker

Twenty-Nine: Search

A towel was wrapped up in my hair as I rummaged through Zeke's closet for something comfy to wear. Mid-morning sunlight poured into the room, displaying my stark naked body. With a pair of sweat pants thrown over my shoulder, I glanced over at Zeke, who stood at the doorway.

His hair was still damp from his shower and his clothes smelt of laundry detergent. He wasn't looking at my face. Instead, he was glaring at my stomach. Oh goddess, does he think I'm fat now? Should I hide it? Jump out the window?

As thoughts buzzed through my head, Zeke stalked across the room and planted his hands on my hips. Kneeling, he got a better look at my stomach. It wasn't until one of his hands traced the ugly scar on my side that I realized what had caught his attention. He sneered when he saw a similar wound on my leg, and also my shoulder. The cuts and bruises had healed, though the worst wounds would always stay. Zeke peered up at me with a feral look in his eyes.

"Who the hell hurt you?"

I shrugged my shoulder. "You don't think they look ugly, do you? I think it makes me look tough." I smiled at that thought. "You should have seen me a month ago."

Zeke stood, leaning over me. "Who the hell hurt you?" He muttered the words twice as slow that time.

My smile fell. Sheepishly, I lifted my shoulders in another shrug. "Ghouls," I said, trying to play it off as nothing. "No, wait a second. The Ghouls are the reason I can't hear. It was Dead Wolves who almost tore me apart. Fun times."

He gripped my shoulders. "I'm going to kill her."

"Who?" I rolled my eyes when I got it. "Ah. Mel. She does seem to be a little obsessed with those things. Does she control them, or something?"

Zeke gritted his teeth. "Or something." For a moment, he simply stared at me, as though he were trying to figure something out. Finally, he pulled away. "We should leave soon." I watched his back retreat from me.

*

It took me three seconds upon arriving in Lykos city via a car that something was incredibly wrong. Some call it spidey senses. I called it Alpha senses, and they were tingling like nothing I had ever felt before. My eyes were glued to the passenger window as we passed house after house.

"Something isn't right," I finally mumbled out loud.

Zeke placed his hand on my shoulder to gain my attention. I whipped my head to look over at him. "Why do you say that?"

"I just have this feeling," I muttered. "Something's wrong. We should go straight to Carter's."

He nodded. The rest of the drive stirred up a restlessness that I could hardly control. I was tapping my fingers against my thigh, on the verge of crawling on Zeke and pressing harder on the gas peddle. When we pulled into the Davenport mansion's ridiculously long driveway, I knew I wasn't making up those feelings.

There were members of my pack outside, some running around, others just standing there. Blood was smeared against the front steps and door of the mansion. Some of them were in their wolf forms, noses to the ground as though they were trying to track someone.

When the car had slowed enough, I launched myself out of the car and sprinted toward the small crowd gathered in front of the mansion. "What's going on?" I shouted, catching all of their attentions.

I didn't know where to look; too many of them were talking at once. Shaking my head, I stepped forward and grabbed Tyler's sleeve. He stumbled against me, which was strange. Usually, Tyler's reactions were quick. He looked distraught. His cobalt eyes flickered over to meet mine. That was when I noticed he was nearly covered head to toe in blood. It took a quick scan of his body to realize it wasn't his.