~Hope you like this chapter! I'll be going on a trip this week and I have no clue when I'll be able to find the time to write another chapter BUT I wrote this on Tuesday last week and I've just been waiting to post it! Lol xD. Enjoy!~
Chapter Eleven
The table just went silent. Death was always a hard word to hear. Even if it didn’t involve you or your family, it was just a word that gave you a chill. I felt my wolf shift inside of me. Could she have remembered Jacob’s wolf? I tried to think back to a time that I was close to someone named Jacob. My wolf let out a longing howl. I was becoming frustrated. My wolf had to remember something that I didn’t.
Even though you can’t shift into a wolf until you’re older, that doesn’t mean that your wolf isn’t there. Your wolf is already starting to develop a conscience and create memories with friends with the wolves around it. That’s why a lot of children were close with each other. Their wolves knew who to trust and who not to trust. After hearing that the little Jacob boy died, I shivered. What if that had of happened to anyone of my old friends back in Ohio?
“He died?” I voiced.
Mom closed the book and placed it on the table. “No one is exactly sure if he died. He certainly did disappear.”
“I feel like there is a story behind this.” Derek spoke up. He glanced over at me and placed his hand on my arm. I gave a small smile. Maybe his wolf sensed my discomfort with discussing death.
My Dad decided to speak then. “There is. His name was Jacob Wallace. He was a very smart and curious boy. Quiet, but smart. He use to come around Whisper some whenever I would take her to the park. Everywhere you saw children he was somewhere close just watching them or the people they were around. I believe he told his mom and dad that whenever he got older he wanted to be a scientist. This should explain why he would always watch people and his surroundings. He was just curious about things. Always asking questions.”
Derek nodded his head for Dad to continue. “Go on.” I pressed. I wanted to hear the rest of this story.
“A couple of months after Whisper’s birthday party his parents reported him missing. He hadn’t come home after school that day. His parents weren’t too worried at first because they figured he had just veered off track and gone to the park which was a couple of minutes away from home.
Usually when they drove by there, he was there. This time he wasn’t. His Dad drove around all day and there was no sign of him. His Mom, panicking, talked to Jared’s Dad and asked him to have the pack check everywhere that they could before it grew dark.”
I felt Derek stiffen beside me at the mention of Jared’s name. I brought my arm to his shoulder. I patted it to give him reassurance. I knew that he still felt iffy about me and Jared’s relationship now.
“The pack searched day and night and no trace of the little boy ever showed up until, a Monday night. An elderly couple was walking through the forest just enjoying a stroll when they noticed a pair of broken glasses along the path. They didn’t think anything about it, so they just kept on walking. A couple of steps later they started noticing strips of a shredded shirt laying around on the ground.
The couple continued walking until they came to a pool of dried up blood. The couple then turned around and reported the news back to the Alpha. The Alpha sent out a team to collect a sample of the blood and it turned out to be some of the little boy’s blood. After that everyone just automatically assumed that the little boy had gotten killed by a rogue or a pack of rogues.”
“That’s so horrible.” I said shaking my head.
Everyone nodded in agreement. No one said anything for a while so I was surprised whenever I heard Derek clear his throat. I looked over at him wondering what he had on his mind. Maybe he wanted to clear some of the awkwardness in the room.
“Mr. Rayne?”
My Dad just looked at him. What in the world was Derek up too?
“Yes, son?” Derek smiled widely when he heard the word son. He was probably thinking of future references. I chuckled to myself. My Dad looked over at me questioningly, but I waved him off.
“Would you mind if I took your daughter out to a carnival a few towns over tomorrow night?”
I jumped back in my seat, shocked. I didn’t expect the big bad Alpha to ask permission from a girl’s father to take her out on a date. I figured that it would happen just like in the movies. I would have to lie and say that I was going over a friend’s house for the night and everything eventually fell into place. The only thing about that was that Maddie lived with Derek so that would be equally as hard trying to convince my Dad to let me spend the night with her with him there.
“How far is the town over?” My Dad asked. He had set down his newspaper. His attention was focused solely on Derek and nothing else.
“It’s about forty five minutes over. Whisper mentioned to me that she wanted to go and I thought I’d ask for your permission to take her.”
My Dad sat back in his chair. Most likely he was in deep thought. Probably wondering what he should say or what the right decision would be in letting me go. My Dad looked over at me.
“Whisper, is this true?”
I bobbed my head up and down eagerly, “Yes Dad, I really want to go. It’s been a while since I’ve been to one.”
My Dad laughed, “Whisper, I took you to one just before we left to move down here to California. Since you’re so desperate and excited to go, I guess I’ll let you go.” He then turned to Derek. “Have her home by 11’o clock.”
“Yes Sir. I promise to have her back before 11’o clock.”
“Good,” My Dad said, “Because if you don’t have her back by 11’o clock I will come and hunt you down. I’ll find you first, and then ask questions later.”
Dads. Always over protective. We all sat around and continued chatting a little bit more and finally Derek got up to go home. His parents had called him to ask where he was. When he told them he was at my house they just told him to thank us for dinner and to return home as soon as possible. After he did what his parents told him to do, he got up.
He nodded his head towards the door. I guess he wanted me to walk him out. He opened the door for me and soon followed. I turned around to see what he wanted and he pulled me against him, his hands sliding down to my lower back.
“I had a lot of fun hanging out with you today Sweetheart.”
“I had fun hanging out with you too.” Surprisingly, l actually did. When I first saw him I thought he was just there to annoy the heck out of me. Turns out I was wrong.
He leaned down to give me a quick kiss on the lips. My lips tingled after the brief touch.
“I’m so ready for our date tomorrow. You surprised me today.”
“I surprised you?”
He nodded his head. “You sure did. I wasn’t expecting you to say yes to me. Especially with how I’ve been acting lately. I don’t know what’s gotten into me or my wolf. It’s just like when I’m around you I just can’t control myself. Even at this very moment my wolf is screaming at me to mark you.”
I took a quick step back and he chuckled. “I can’t afford to have a mark on me just yet.”
He pulled me close to him once again. “Calm down. I’m keeping him in check for now. Just know that when you are ready to be marked, I’ll be there.”
I gave him one last hug, “I believe you.”
“Goodnight Whisper.” He was walking down the drive way and he turned back around to face me. “Don’t forget that I’m picking you up at 6 o’clock. Since you’ve already been to so many carnivals I’m sure you already know what to wear.”
I laughed, “Yes, I know what to wear. Now shoo. Goodnight.” I used my hands to signal that he needed to go.
He gave me one last smirk and wave and continued walking down the path. I walked back inside the house and found my Dad sitting in the living room watching a basketball game on the television. He glanced up for a moment to look at me and then his attention was back on the game.
“So, you and Derek are getting along just fine, eh?” He questioned.
“We are. He’s actually a cool guy. A little cocky at times, but I can manage.”
He laughed, “You like him though right?”
I nodded my head. “I like him.”
I made sure to say it with as little emotion as I possibly could. I couldn’t let on how much I really was starting to like him. He would start to get suspicious. As far as I knew he still didn’t know that Derek and I were mates. I’m pretty sure that my Mom had already told my Grandma. Maybe they were both waiting on me to tell my Dad myself. For that, I was grateful. My Dad gave a nod and I continued walking upstairs to my room.
I went upstairs into my room. It was getting pretty late and I still needed to take a shower. I grabbed my pajamas out of my closet and took my shower. When I was finished I opened up my window for a bit of fresh air. Soon, the wind started to blow things around. I ran to close the window, but not before something flew in. I closed the window and walked over to where the object had flown in. I bent down and imagine my surprise when I found a piece of shredded fabric. How ironic. I laid the piece of fabric into my drawer and thought about how it had gotten into my room until I fell asleep.