Accepting the Alpha

Chapter 15

I knew for sure that wasn't the case, but I didn't word my thoughts out loud. "How's everything going?"

"It's going.  I've seen better days, but hey, I'm not complaining."

"That's good, I guess.  How's, uh," I didn't know whether to ask or not, but decided how could it hurt. "Uh, how's Nora doing?"

His face turned hard and I instantly regretted asking.  "Um, I haven't spoken to her in a while.  I, uh, I'm not sure."

My heart broke at the grieve in his voice.  Trying desperate to change the topic, I came up short.  What can I say to take his mind off of this?  I gave up and just said, "well, come on in.  Dad's probably in the living room, I was just leaving actually."

"Oh, okay.  Well be safe then."

"Will do Uncle, I'll see you later."  I smiled at him and left.  I couldn't shake off the guilt as I walked to my car.  Ever since that night two years ago, Nora and Uncle Liam haven't talked.  I knew that, but I just thought that maybe, just maybe, things were back to normal.

Once I got into town, I decided to just shop for some new clothes.  I haven't bought anything in what felt like forever; it would be nice to give myself a little treat.  

I walked into the mall.  Jesus man, this town needs to redefine mall.  This had to be the smallest mall ever! It was just a couple of one floor, one room, houses connecting to each other from three sides of a square.  The stores were so tiny.  The best part was the big fountain in the middle of the almost complete square.

After rummaging through all the stores, I ended up buying a baby blue wool scarf. Meh, not bad.

I bought a chocolate shake on my way out.

"Scarlett." I heard my name being called.  I turned to look for the source, my eyes landed on her almost immediately.

I forced a smile, "Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

What does it look like I'm doing, riding a unicycle and holding a monkey on my shoulder? "What everyone else does in a mall."

She laughed, "No, I mean, aren't you supposed to be at work?  Kyle told me that you had shifts all week."

"Well, isn't he the barrier of good news?"

"I'm sure you didn't mind spending all that time with him."  She had a glint in her eye that told me she knew exactly what happened. That was confirmed when her eyes landed on my neck. My hand automatically reached up only to feel hair covering the bite mark. How could she possibly see it?

"Lara?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you feel confused at first too? Or, or is that just me? Is something wrong with me, you know, because I'm human?"

She narrowed her eyes, "Scarlett, you're not the first human to mate with a werewolf, definitely not the first one in your family either.  It's okay to feel confused, its--"  It clicked.  What she just said didn't make sense at first.

"Wait, what do you mean not the first one in my family?"

"You don't know anything, do you?"

"Know what? What are you talking about?"

"When I first found out about your parents, I thought they were using you as bait, but you're just as clueless as a normal human."

My mind was spinning, what was she talking about.  My parents?  What about them?  My dad's discrete warning, Lara's vague comments, they were starting to connect, but to what?  I didn't know. "Lara, I'm gonna say this again because I feel like you didn't understand me the first time.  What.  The. Hell. Are. You. Talking. About?"