No Matter What You Do, Stick With The Pack

Chapter 10

A/N~ Okay, real quick. Thank you, whoever you are, for reading No Matter What You Do, Stick with the Pack. You are a huge help in my effort to to get published someday. After this goes through some Beta readers and editing, I am going to offer it as a free ebook on Smashwords, so if it's not to much trouble please give me your honest feedback, tell me what you want in this story. After you're done, visit http://beccalathorn.weebly.com/thank-you-with-your-help-with-stick-with-the-pack.html to get a treat from yours truly! Again, thank you for your help! 

~Becca.

            Oddy stayed for the rest of the week, and I endured the presence of my ever-loathing family for that time. It was going to be the last time we’d ever be equals, all of us “human”, and good or bad I want to enjoy it. They only hated me right now, God knows how they’d feel after I told them. Not much happened when we all spent time together, the unsaid mistrust hung in the air and incapacitated us from doing anything fun. Most of the time we’d just attempt to make small talk.

            Nights Oddy and I spent in my room, soaking up the moments before I made my final move. She repeatedly asked me why I wouldn’t tell them while she was there supporting me, but I never gave her a straight answer, only that it was for the best. And it was. I didn’t want her to be caught up in whatever would happen, or the panic it would create. I didn’t need them lashing out at her for knowing but not telling. And she didn’t need to be a part of the hustle out the door. She had her own problems. But honestly, those nights had to be one of the most painful experiences of my life. We both knew there was a good chance that this would go terribly wrong, that I’d wind up dead or gone forever. And Oddy, I couldn’t imagine living without Oddy. I couldn’t imagine living without my family. They were like breathing to me, their presence so natural. To separate myself from that, I think I’d rather tear my arm off. And I hoped, I imagined, I prayed for this too all turn out okay in the end. That my family would still accept me, that things would settle into a new normal, that someday I’d be able to come back to Oddy and Nathan and Scuff, even that Hector would forgive me for not giving him a chance to become a pack member.

            Hector, that was a whole other thing entirely.

            I was not going to be Hector’s Mate. If Maxie’s recent behavior had been any indication, she would kill him. She’d already revealed too much to him, and when it all came down to it he was the brother of a hunter. I had a chance to save his life, but I couldn’t. That’s why I had planned to go to him with the decision first. The kid wasn’t on my nice list, but still, I took life seriously. I was yet again going to give him a way out.

            When Oddy left, we both did our best to keep a straight face for everyone. Me and her exchanged few words, having already said our goodbyes the night before. It simmered my nerves, having such a normal goodbye. Helped me not to think about the bag I had packed upstairs, how I took down all my posters and cleaned up my room, how my duffle and Baby were waiting for me at the door. But as Oddy packed her things, when she made a round of last hugs and made her way to me, we couldn’t help but hold each other for an extra second, and a tear still managed its way out of her eye. All we could do is hope that no one noticed.

            The first week of summer vacation sucked.

            After Oddy was gone for about an hour, I asked Derek if he could give me a lift to Hector’s house. I didn’t need him to drive me, I could’ve made it there myself easily. But I needed to talk to him, to warn him. It was all going down tonight.

            As we hit the road, I worked up the nerve to say what I had been practicing in my head forever. Don’t think about it. You’re reading these words from your memory. It’s just one word after another.