“You… what? Why? I’m not even like you,” I said, slightly shocked. I shook my head, and looked down. “I don’t understand.”
“What don’t you understand?” Damien asked. “We want you to be in the pack. We want you to be safe and secure, and the best way to do that would be to swear you into the pack.”
“How do I know you aren’t just playing me so that you can use me for the Cure?”
“Because why would I need you to be a part of the pack if I just wanted to use you as the Cure? I’d just be wasting time, Akina,” Damien told me, and took a deep breath as he lay on his back and removed the bar from the rack above the bench. “I honestly wish you to be safe, is all.”
I was silent for a moment. “What would it entail? What would it change about me?”
“You’d be able to speak to us, through mind-speak. We would be able to hear your thoughts and that would lead to you being safer, now that those who are chasing your blood are drawing nearer,” Damien said, and paused to let out a grunt as he pressed the bar down and back up. “You would be surrounded by people who know you and care about you and honestly want you to be safe. They all believe you and know the truth of your past. You wouldn’t have to hide anymore.”
Calix moved behind Damien, placing his hand under the bar and acting as a spotter. “We want you to feel safe,” he told me.
“But I don’t feel like I’m in danger,” I argued, dropping my eyes to my feet. “I feel fine.”
“Akina, would you mind telling me why you are so against joining the pack?” Calix looked over at me, and I instantly flushed.
“I’m not against it,” I defended quickly. “I’m hesitant, is all.”
“Why?”
“Because,” I sighed impatiently. “It makes my being in danger that much more real.”
“Oh, please,” Calix laughed. “You are not afraid.”
“I am too,” I cried.
“Tell me the truth.”
I groaned, and leaned against the handlebars of the bike. “Fine. Because everyone already thinks I’m a freak, and what makes your people any different? What makes it so that they won’t disapprove of me?”
“Akina,” Damien laughed, bench pressing again, still without shaking arms or even a bead of sweat. “We are men and women and children that- literally- are as much animal as we are human. No one could think of you as a freak without being hypocritical.”
“I’m not even what you are, Damien. I’m half of what you are and even you are only half of one thing and half of another. Do I even qualify as werewolf? I don’t think I do.”
“All that matters to us is that you were part wolf, part human. We don’t care how much of each part of whichever you are. As long as you’ll be faithful to us and act as you should, every single member of the pack should be happy to have you.”
“And if not,” Calix added. “I will be sure to kick their ass.”
I laughed, and felt my mood lighten slightly. “Okay… I guess I’d like to be a part of your weird little club.”
“Our weird little club?” Calix chuckled.
“Hush and be happy that she decided to join us,” Damien said, placing the bar back on the rack and propping himself up on his elbows to smile at me. “We’re thrilled, honestly.”
“I believe you, Damien. Calix is simply a piece of work.”
“Alright, alright, stop the ragging on Calix and let’s get out of here,” Calix chuckled, and pushed on Damien’s chest. “I’m starving and I doubt there’s any good food here.”
I stood and followed Calix out as Damien moved to the treadmill, nodding his goodbye at us as we closed the door.
“So,” I said, taking a big step so I was walking right beside Calix. “When are you going to do it?”
“Do what?” Calix asked, looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “At this moment, I’m heading to my room to grab my wallet so that we can go out to dinner.”
“I mean, when are you going to ask me on a date?”
Calix slowed, a confused look crossing his face. “What?”
“Well, I like you. And I’m almost one hundred percent sure you like me too,” I said blatantly, continuing to walk down the hall to his room. “And I was wondering when you were finally going to ask me on a date.”
Calix jogged to catch up to me, looking down at me with a sideways grin. “I was not sure you would want to go on a date with the weirdest guy at school.”
“I’m the weirdest girl at school, so why would that matter to me?”
Calix chuckled, and reached around me to open his door. “Then all in due time, Kina. It will come.”
I sighed, and leaned against the doorway until he came back out with a wallet and rain coat in his hand. “For now, how does Chinese sound?”
“Sounds good,” I said, smiling and following him out to the garage.
After we ordered at the counter at Pick-Up-Sticks, I went to sit at a table. “I will be right back,” Calix said, and headed for the restroom.
I nodded and took a seat at the window, looking down at my phone as a text from Elijah came through.
Mom will be home at seven. She’d like for you to join us at a movie tonight at eight, just the three of us.
I sighed, but agreed, not without reluctance. She was giving an effort, and that was important.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw motion outside the window. My heart began to beat, deep and quick, in my chest, and I looked out into the parking lot. The breath in my lungs caught as my gaze landed on a man standing in the parking lot, his head tilted down, a blue ball cap on his head even in the darkness of the evening.
It felt as though he was staring straight at me, his shoulders hunched, his hands in his pockets. I swore his eyes were looking straight at me, latched onto my figure behind the glass window.
“Akina,” Calix said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
I looked up at him quickly, shaking out of my daze. “Oh, sorry,” I said, and looked down at the tray of food in front of us.
Calix looked out the window, confused, and then looked back at me. “What were you staring at?”
I looked back out, but the man was gone. The parking lot was void of anyone except an older lady climbing into her car, a Walmart shopping bag in her hand.
“Um, nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “I was just… thinking.”
I could tell Calix didn’t believe me, but he didn’t press any further, aside from saying “Your heart was beating quickly when I walked up.”
I smiled slightly. “Your presence does that.”
He chuckled, shaking his hand and shoveling a pile of orange chicken onto his plate. “Sadly, anyone with werewolf blood in them would have that effect on you.”
I grinned, and popped a piece of chicken into my mouth. “You know, that could’ve been a complement, and you just denied it.”
Calix shrugged. “I don’t need complements to feel good about myself.”
I laughed, and shook my head. “You are a piece of work, Calix.”
He offered me a wide smile, and picked up his fork.
I looked back out the window, and I could’ve sworn that the figure of a wolf was darting across the back of the lot, where the streetlight’s glow didn’t quite reach.
I told myself it was just my imagination, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me.
It wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling.
—————————————
“Calix?” I whispered into the phone, my heart slamming in my chest.
“Akina?” He asked, his voice groggy. “What is it? It’s almost one a.m., shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“I couldn’t sleep. Something’s wrong. Someone’s outside my house.”
“Isn’t it one of the boys from the pack?” Calix reminded me. “There is almost always one of them there if I am not.”
“No, it isn’t,” I said, pressing my back against the wall and squeezing my eyes shut. “I watched as they heard something and ran off, leaving one here. But I can’t see him. I looked away for a second, and there was this yowl, and now there’s a man in the yard.”
“What do you mean a man in the yard?” Calix asked, and I could hear him slide out of bed.
“I mean a werewolf. I can feel it. But he isn’t from the pack, I can tell.”
“I am on my way,” Calix said, his footsteps heard over the phone. “What does he look like?”
I bit my lip, and took a deep breath. “He’s wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans, and… and a navy blue ball cap.”
“You don’t recognize him?”
“Well…” I sighed, and fumbled with my fingers in my lap. “He was in the parking lot at the restaurant…”
“You mean tonight?”
“Yeah,” I breathed. “That’s what I was looking at when you came back to the table. But when I looked back he was gone, so I thought it was nothing.”
“You should have told me,” Calix said sharply. A car door slammed, and I heard his engine rev. “You aren’t safe, you know that. Is he still there?”
“I don’t know…” I admitted, and crawled into the bathroom. “I’ll check.”
“No, just stay-”
I ignored Calix, setting the phone on the floor and standing in front of the bathtub. I leaned over, and separated the shutters, peeking out at the yard. The man was still there, his back to me now, looking out at the woods again.
I picked the phone back up. “Yeah, he’s still there.”
“You are so stupid!” Calix hissed. “Don’t go into his line of vision! Are all your windows closed? And locked? Lock your bedroom door. I’m five minutes out.”
“The windows are closed,” I agreed, and glanced up at them from my spot laying in the bathtub. “And locked. I always lock my bedroom door before I go to bed.”
“Good. Stay on the phone with me. Just be quiet.”
I nodded, and once I realized Calix couldn’t see me, I whispered an “okay”.
There was silence for a minute, and then I heard a chuckle. “What?” I asked, under my breath.
“I just don’t know what to do in this situation. I cannot exactly talk to you, because I do not want you to reply, but then being silent is kind of… pointless, no?”
I smiled, and despite the fear and worry biting at me, I settled comfortably into the empty tub, curling up on my side and holding the cell against my ear. “I don’t think so,” I admitted. “I think that there’s no need to speak as long as you know that there’s someone there that would listen.”
Silence.
“That’s a very valid point,” he said. I heard the engine shut off. “I’ve parked down the street. I’m going to… um, Change, and see if I can sneak up on whoever is there. I have to hang up now.”
“How will I know what’s happening?” I whispered.
“I will find a way to tell you,” Calix said, and with that, he hung up.
Now that he was out of my contact, I felt the fear flood my body again, like it had before. I curled up tighter in the tub, looking up at the ceiling, where the moonlight casted a dim shadow, the branches of the trees outside the window tapping against the glass eerily. I would have to ask Mom to get them trimmed down.
There was a growl outside, and I tensed. It was loud.
Silence.
I looked down at my phone, as it buzzed against the tub, Lindsay’s name flashing across the screen. I silenced it, biting my lip, and waited. And waited, and waited.
And then, after five minutes of brain- numbing quiet, the phone lit up again, Calix’s number on the screen.
“Hello?” I said cautiously.
“Hello,” his voice echoed, slightly out of breath. “The man is gone now, but I can pick up a trail. Damien is already on his way with two other members to try to track him, and I’ll be staying here, out back, to make sure that nothing else happens. You’re safe, Akina.”
I sighed, and sat up, climbing out of the tub. “Do you know who it was?” I asked. “Do you recognize the scent?”
He paused, and then said something under his breath.
“Calix?”
“Yes, I know the scent,” he said reluctantly. “It is quite familiar to me.”
“Well?” I asked, expectantly.
He sighed again. “It is of the same pack that made you what you are today. They’ve found you, and I think they’re attempting to take you back.”
A/N: I'm baaaaaaaack :)
It's been three weeks! I am so sorry! I'm a horrible person :(
BUT! Good news is coming your way right about now...
GAME CHEER SEASON IS OVER! You know what that means? More time to write!
However... This week is my competition team's last week to practice before a HUGE 3-DAY NATIONAL COMPETITION... so I will be pretty busy this week. As of now, I practice Monday from 6:30-8:30, Tuesday from 6:30- 8:30, Wednesday from 5:30-7:30, Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30, perform in Anaheim, California on Friday, practice from 2:30-5:00 on Saturday, and perform on Sunday for FINALS (if we qualify- we have to be top 6 out of 13 teams...).
So yeah, the update probably won't be until I go on Spring Break after the Sunday I compete. Sorry! I'll try to find time :)
But that's it! After that, competition season is over, and I don't know what I'm going to do with myself :( Both teams will be done for the year (until tryouts in like March or something)
ANYWAY...
Do you think Calix and Damien are telling the truth for the reasons they want Akina to join the pack? Do you think they have ulterior motives? Who do you think the man in Akina's backyard is specifically? Do you think she's really safe? What do you think the pack (Calix especially) is going to do to ensure her safety?
And woohoo! Akina and Calix (kinda) shared their emotions about each other, with each other!
Thank y'all so much for reading! If you get to 900 reads, I will drop everything and update as SOON as I possibly can.
Much <3, Libbi Lace