The Wolves of Cain

Only For Family

Adrian growls but doesn't shove Monique back. They're both silent most of the way home.

But Monique finds herself questioning one of Adrian's decisions and can't help but ask him about it.

"Adrian. Why have you been lying to everyone?" Monique asks.

"About what?" Adrian plays innocent, even though he knows exactly what this is about.

"You know what." Monique gives Adrian a hard look. "This has been going on since we got here. I'm not sure I like going along with it."

"Then why have you?" Adrian demands to know, stopping on the sidewalk so Monique will face him while they talk.

"If you hate lying to them so much then why did you do it in the first place?" Adrian retorts.

"Because you always have a reason for what you do!" Monique raises her voice, but quickly lowers it again when she remembers this conversation shouldn't be heard by anyone besides her and Adrian.

"I just want to know why. Okay?" Monique adds softly, staring up at Adrian defiantly.

Adrian puts his hand on his forehead in frustration. Adrian drops his hand with a sigh. "I hadn't planned on it. Lucas and Mason suggested it so I went along. I've never actually lied to them."

"And neither have I. But they'll all find out eventually. So why can't you tell them now?" Monique argues her view of the situation.

"I'll lose whatever trust I've managed to gain with them. All of them. Lucas, Mason, Jerica, Lena, and Ivie. They'll all be even more suspicious if they know the truth. I'll tell them eventually." Adrian explains vaguely.

"I've only gone along for this long because you're my family. But that doesn't mean I'm going to keep it up. If it comes up again, I won't be lying for you. Even if I'm not technically lying." Monique warns.

"Ivie's my friend now and I can't do that to her." Monique adds seriously.

"Fine. That's fair enough." Adrian comments grudgingly.

~*~

That night Ivie tries to stay up by drinking coffee and listening to loud music with headphones on. The overwhelming sound of music somehow lulls Ivie to sleep. Ivie falls onto her bed and the headphones fall off as darkness consumes her.

~*~

Adrian shows up at Lucas and Mason's house around 9 pm that night with Monique.

For this hunt Monique is wearing black jeans with a pink top the exact color of the tips of her hair and her black leather jacket.

Monique has short, dark pink boots on that would look ridiculous on anyone else. But when Mason opens the door to let them in, he thinks she couldn't look more beautiful.

"Hey Monique." Mason says fondly. "Adrian." He adds a bit warily. Mason doesn't exactly not trust Adrian. Mason doesn't see anything wrong with Adrian, but he can tell that everyone else is suspicious of the Alpha.

This reminds Mason that the full moon is coming up soon and he's supposed to turn into a wolf, just like Adrian does.

Before Mason thinks about it he blurts out a question. "Does it hurt when you shift into a werewolf?"

Adrian sees this as popping out of nowhere since he didn't hear what Mason was thinking. It's not like werewolves can read minds.

"Um... Why do you ask?" Adrian says, wondering what made Mason ask that.

"I just remembered the full moon is coming up and I'm supposed to shift." Mason says quickly while shifting his gaze around. He's looking at everything but Adrian, kind of embarrassed for asking.

"I'm going to leave you guys alone. I have to go talk to Jerica." Monique says with an apologetic smile.

Mason moves to allow Monique to pass and head inside.

"Well, for first time shifters it will probably feel weird. Maybe even hurt a little." Adrian says with a shrug like it's not a big deal.

Mason understands that for Adrian it isn't a big deal since he's been shifting for years. But that answer still annoys Mason.

"So does it hurt when you shift now?" Mason asks, staring intently at Adrian.

"No. It doesn't hurt. It's natural for me." Adrian answers, returning Mason's stare.

Adrian can tell that Mason is annoyed and has been for days. He keeps getting left out of everything. Like last night he had to stay behind to watch after Jerica and Lena while everyone else went hunting.

Mason failed in that since Jerica and Lena snuck off, but still. Mason explained when everyone got back that he had searched for Jerica and Lena in the woods and found them when they were coming back.

"How many times do you have to shift for it to be natural?" Mason continues.

"I don't know. It's not like I catalogued or journaled my life!" Adrian says, obviously frustrated.

"Fine." Mason says, clenching his jaw to keep himself from saying something he might regret. "Let's go inside."

Adrian ignores the anger radiating from Mason and goes on in. Adrian doesn't have time for Mason's stupid questions or his anger issues.

Adrian leans against a wall in the living room to wait for everyone to arrive. But when Adrian hears voices in the kitchen he decides to listen in on them.

"Hey Lena? I was wondering... It's random but, are you still having that dream you told me about? The same one that Jerica was having?"

"Oh, no. That stopped a couple of days after it started. I haven't had that dream since then." Adrian hears Lena reply.

Adrian thinks to himself, "What dream is she talking about?"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Does anyone remember the dream? It was only mentioned once.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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