C H A P T E R F I F T E E N
Saying Mamaw was angry was a real understatement. The hallways of the pack house had been destroyed; paintings and photographs on the walls were now scattered across the scratched floorboards. Ornaments that were nestled safely on shelves had broken into small, sharp pieces and joined the paintings on the floor. Mamaw was one comment away from shifting, Mamaw's usually soft, calming blue eyes were now a stormy grey. Justin ran back into the hospital room after hearing about the chaos.
“How bad is it?” Lila asked from the bed, she knew something was wrong. Mamaw's shouting was one clue and the other was that Justin had sprinted into the room and was trying to take her leg out of the sling which was holding it in mid-air.
“Very bad. Why isn't this working?” Justin mumbled the last question to himself, he was getting stuck with getting Lila's leg out of the sling. After a few minutes of struggling he gave up and just cut the sling in half and lowering Lila's leg down very carefully. He looked around for some sort of blanket to cover her legs.
“They'll heal in two weeks. Apparently Doctor Reeves injected some sort of drug that would make my wounds heal faster.” Lila commented. If only they had two weeks, it seemed they had two minutes at the maximum before Mamaw would come storming in.
“Yeah. That would have been great, but no. Who even told Mamaw?”
“Probably one of the wolves who didn't know how mad Mamaw would get. Didn't you tell everyone not to get a hold of Mamaw?”
“Yeah. I did. Maybe someone misheard?”
Lila sighed and lay her head back. There was no point in covering her arm. Mamaw would soon realise that her arm was broken. It was inevitable. Justin rearranged the blankets so it looked like an extra thick blanket, it didn't look as if she had a cast covering her leg. Justin sat down and was ready to discuss a 'story' to tell Mamaw but, speak of the Devil, she came storming in.
“Lila!” She cried and made her way over, ignoring the fact that she was shaking from anger. “Neither of you start lying to me. What happened?” Mamaw demanded. She could have been an Alpha, Mamaw had that much respect from people she knew and even from strangers! It was the power that radiated off her when she was in one of her moods... like now.
“I... We...” Lila and Justin simultaneously started to stutter. How were they going to explain what happened? If they told the truth, Mamaw would tear the place down. If they told a lie and Mamaw found out, she'd tear the place down. Either way, it would end up badly.
“We were playing tag and-” Justin started before Lila cut him off.
“And one of the players said that I couldn't climb and jump off a tree in wolf form. I, er, had a nasty fall and fell oddly on my arm and then this happened.” Lila pointed to her cast on her arm. Hopefully Mamaw would buy her story. It was kind of close to the truth, sure she didn't exactly jump of the tree but she did have a nasty fall when those... baboons dropped her.
“Hm. Really?” Mamaw raised her eyebrows. “I heard that there were rogues in the area.”
“Y-Yeah. I heard Justin warn me a-and I fell. It took me by surprise.” Lila said, her lie beginning to unravel. She knew it was foolish of her to even attempt to lie to Mamaw but it was better than seeing her ruin the beautiful pack house.
“I see.” Mamaw replied sharply. Her eyes were starting to tone down back into a chilled blue instead of a raging grey. Lila could see that Mamaw didn't believe her, but if she didn't question her then all was fine. “How long will it take you to heal?”
“Doctor Reeves said two weeks. He said I should be kept in bed so that I didn't strain the injury and cause it to make it heal longer.” That was a fib, to be bedridden, however Lila needed some way to hide her leg. Although Doctor Reeves did mention that a lot of rest on her leg and arm would maybe make the drug work faster. If it worked, Lila's leg and arm would heal within a week. Less time to hide from Mamaw's wrath.
“Guys. I've got something to confess.” Lila spoke, breaking the silence that had been created.
“What else do you need to confess?” Justin asked, annoyed. He couldn't exactly blame Lila though, his reaction was exactly how Lila had predicted... minus the fighting.
“I, er, well. This is going to sound mental...” Lila scratched her head. Just because Darren believed her didn't mean that her family were going to.
“Just spit it out!” Justin told her. He wanted to know what she was going to confess and Lila knew it. She was just figuring out a way to explain it... and not sound insane.
“I... My wolf is not mine?” Lila started, questioning herself at the same time.
“Eh?” Justin looked confused and Lila noticed that Mamaw didn't seem surprised... almost like she knew.
“My wolf isn't actually my animalistic side.. her name's Evangeline and she's a guardian. Or was, should I say. Apparently I have to protect this... type of stone.” Lila told them both, she'd summed it up pretty well.
“Not apparently. You have to.” Evangeline sternly told Lila.
Why? Why do I have to? It's just a stone.
“It's not 'just a stone'. When you read the book, I'll tell you why.”
I'm not reading the book. Not until I tell Logan!
“Then tell him!” Lila resisted rolling her eyes and ignored the protests of her wolf. Evangeline started to sulk and tell her 'she had to do it all'. She tuned back into the real word and saw that Justin was staring at her intensely.
“What?” She snapped.
“How... Are you lying?” Justin asked, bewildered. Lila didn't notice the door swinging open as she stared at Justin in disbelief.
“Justin, we just had a conversation about lying. Why would I lie about Evangeline not being me? Give me one reason!” Lila shouted at Justin who burst into laughter.
“A-And you really believe that you're supposed to protect some stone because this 'Evangeline' tells you your supposed to? Oh my God, that is the funniest thing I've heard you say this year!” Justin roared with laughter. “And you're going to tell Logan this?”
“Of course.” Lila frowned, not seeing where he was going. “Alpha Darren knows about this.”
“Does Alpha Darren know about the murders?” Justin asked, raising his eyebrows. He already knew the answer but a certain someone did not.
“What murders?” Logan asked confused and three heads shot his way.
“For the love of all that is good...” Lila muttered and cursed to the Heavens. Her day was getting worse and worse. Now she had to explain everything to Logan and hope he wouldn't run crying to the hills.
After Lila had explained everything (and she meant everything including the rogues, and Mamaw was definitely not happy that she'd lied) and what she was going to do. Read the goddamned book that Evangeline kept pestering about.
“I know you probably want time to yourself, and I don't mind but if Evangeline is right then we should really read this book. Soon.” Lila told Logan.
“I'm being a part of this too.” Justin informed them all.
“Justin...” Lila started to protest.
“No! Lila, we're a team. We're 'The Twins'. We do pretty much everything together! Well, not boarding school but apart from that!” Justin tried to persuade Lila. She thought for a few moments before sighing. He did have a point after all.
“Fine. But you have to actually listen.” She told Justin sternly. “So are you in, Logan?”
“Suppose so.” Logan grunted and Lila felt slightly sad. She knew he'd be mad, but he hadn't said a word to her yet.
“Mamaw? Is that okay?” Lila asked, she couldn't exactly go about this without telling Mamaw. If she walked off and something had happened to her or Justin, it'd break Mamaw's heart!
“Of course. You have to do it.” A twinkle in Mamaw's eyes made Lila suspicious. It seemed that Mamaw already knew, but how? She couldn't have followed her to the house, Justin had told her Mamaw was there! So was Evangeline right when she told her Mamaw was a... psychic?
“Prophet, dummy. She's a prophet!” Evangeline shouted in Lila's head.
What?
“Jesus. She's a prophet! P-R-O-P-H-E-T! She basically sees all the major events in your life and how they affect you! She knew when you'd meet Logan, she knew about you running to the house... but she didn't know what I told you until now, she knew about the rogues! That's how come she isn't so bothered! Once she's done her job, the Fates will take the power away from her. I'm not sure when though...” Lila thanked her wolf for the explanation and shouting. It made more sense but she still couldn't get her head round it.
“Oh, and don't tell anyone you know. It's pretty dangerous to even know if someone's a prophet... The Fates will kill you.” Evangeline added.
How did you know then?
“I just do!” Evangeline told Lila, without any explanation.
All four of them sat in the room, thinking of what to do. Lila couldn't exactly move and she didn't want to tell any of them where the book was, just in case they opened it without her permission. Even if she did get the book she wasn't exactly in perfect condition to go all 'Mission Impossible' on this guardian stuff.
“I think we should wait until Lila's healed before we do anything.” Logan told them all, breaking another silence.
“Yeah. I agree.” Justin said, reluctantly and Lila smiled slightly at him. It was an improvement, he wasn't disagreeing with everything Logan said.
“Cool, so I don't get a say in this?” Lila asked playfully. She was still in slight pain from the attack.
“No.” Logan told her, bluntly. Lila nodded and looked down.
“I... I think I'm going to go to sleep. I'm really tired.” Lila lay down and closed her eyes, waiting for the darkness to overtake her so that she could avoid the awkward tension filling the room.
~ * ~
Justin glanced at his sister's sleeping figure before turning to Logan. Yes, he had the right to be pissed but he didn't need to take it out on Lila. She'd gone through Hell and back with the guilt. When she'd finally told Justin, he'd ignored her for a few days and then after Mamaw had told him what she'd gone through (he had no idea how Mamaw had knew what she'd been feeling and what she'd done) he'd gotten his act together and helped his sister. Lila was his best friend, and the one person who knew everything about him.
Justin knew he hated Logan. Well, he despised Logan but for Lila's sake he was trying to ignore the fact that he hated Logan's attitude. His 'I-don't-care' attitude and how he used to get into fights with everyone. Daniel had told Justin stories about Logan disrespecting his father – who was an Alpha! Everyone should have respect for their Alpha, whether or not they were family.
Acting like this, however, was a big no-no for Justin. No-one, and he meant no-one treated his sister like that. Lila was the kindest person ever and she accidentally let her wolf take control and all because some bitch had disrespected Papi and thrown his death in her face. Justin wasn't going to let Logan treat Lila like that. No, he was going to do something about it because he knew Lila wouldn't. She hadn't confrontations.
“Daniel, mind if I teach your brother a lesson or two about manners?” Justin asked Daniel through the mind link. He was going to try and not resort to fighting, he'd get his ear bitten off by Lila. She was forever telling him that fighting was no good and resulted in nothing but guilt.
“Go ahead. Someone should.” Daniel replied back after a few moments. Justin noted to himself to teach Lila how to talk to the whole pack via mind link. She'd never really learnt, which was why she'd always phone them instead of using the mind link.
“Logan. Mind if I have a word with you?” Justin asked Logan bitterly. He tried to be nice, he really did.
“Why?” Logan replied gruffly, not taking his eyes away from Lila. Justin sighed, he could see that Logan was torn between hating and... well, not hating Lila. He knew how Logan and Daniel's mother had died. Killed by rogues. It was no wonder that Logan was taking the news hard but Lila had explained why, she'd accidentally let her wolf take control and every werewolf knew that it was almost impossible for the wolf to take over. Your emotions had to be out of control and your wolf would have to want to take control. It was rare. Sometimes it would happen if a mate was in danger, but most of the time the person would just fuel themselves on.
“I just do.” Justin replied sharply. He wasn't going to let Logan get away with this.
“Fine.”
“Outside.” Justin ordered Logan, who forced himself to turn away from Lila. Maybe Justin wouldn't have to shout at Logan so much? Both boys stood up and walked out of the hospital room, leaving Mamaw to tend to the sleeping Lila.
Once Justin had got Logan outside, he started to shout and thanked Daniel that no-one would interrupt him.
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Okay, so I do have some internet... thanks to my Auntie! I've got a dongle until Monday :D
Um yeah, you do get to see Mamaw's wrath full on later in the book :P and I think next chapter you'll see more of Logan's reaction to Lila's news...
Hope you enjoyed a view in the eyes of Justin! :D x