Caught off guard, Liam and I both quickly turn away from each other. I try to hide the growing redness of my face as Liam quickly jumps up and walks to the kitchen once more.
"I thought you said you would be a couple of hours?" I use this accusation to cover up my growing embarrassment.
"Yea, I lied."
"What the hell, Ravyn! Not cool." I turn my face towards her and scowl.
"Hey," She puts her hands up in mock surrender, "It's not my fault that my mom happens to be extremely organized, and-," Her mouth begins to stretch into a smirk as she finally looks at my face. "OMG. You didn't? You did?" I try once more to cover my face back up, but she peels my hands away and giggles uncontrollably. "He kissed you?!"
"Actually, she kissed me."
"Ohmygosh! Are you serious?" She gasps, and loudly at that.
"You're not helping, Liam," I smack her hands away, "Why don't you go coddle him?"
"That's your job now." She wriggles her eyebrows suggestively.
"Jeez, you can be such a perv sometimes."
"Maybe. But at least I know when a good match is made." I watch as she twirls her finger in the air and pretends to throw a lasso towards the kitchen.
"Hey! Let go of me!"
I watch as Ravyn effortlessly drags a squirming Liam back onto the couch. As soon as he sits down, she snaps her fingers and he's released from her invisible grasp. Thinking he's free, he tries to stand but fails.
"Hey! What gives? Why can't I stand?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you stay put this time."
He looks to me for help, but I just shrug.
"Sorry, can't help you there." I chuckle at his current predicament. He smiles at me and sends a wave of butterflies through me.
"Barf. Gross. Ok, let's get back to business-"
"Wait, weren't you the one trying to get us together and now it's gross?" I look at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I don't wanna see it."
"But-"
"Ok, shut up. No more talk. Time to read."
"Read?" Liam asks.
Ravyn hands each of us a book, "Each book mentions 'Black Wolf' at some point. It's our job to look into it. Now get reading. If you find any real information, share it..." she looks at me, "out loud."
"Wait. I'm still stuck on the 'read' part of this whole thing. Why exactly are we doing this?"
Ravyn and I look at each other and she gives me a look, surprised that I didn't tell him. I try to give her a look back that asks if she would in my predicament. Liam clears his throat, still oblivious to our odd way of communicating.
I guess I better tell him. I said I trust him, now it's my turn to prove it.
"Remember when I told you I had saved your life?" He nods. "Well, I sorta have this crazy ability that allows me to grant the power of life and death at my will." I spit the last part out as if it tasted like chunky milk. Quickly and mumbled.
"Wait. What?" He squints his eyes as if that will help him understand what I just said.
I take a deep breath and try once more, this time much more clear, "I have the power to give and take life. I used that ability to save you from the silver poisoning."
Silence fills the room. Not even the crickets chirp.
"Umm... Well, I guess I should thank you." He flashes a large, toothy grin.
"It was nothing." I smile back. "Anyways, we are looking through these books to see if there might be any more information about black wolves that aren't generally known."
Liam nods, finally, semi-understanding what's going on. I move the book Ravyn handed me and grab the two leather-bound books I showed Ravyn earlier. I open the first one and see it's a journal written during The Dark War. Curious, Ravyn peeks over at what I'm reading.
"Why are you looking at blank paper?"
I jumped, caught off guard. "What are you talking about? The writing's right there." I point at the words 'Journal Entry 1 4.23.1910'.
She shrugs and squints, "I can't see it. Show Liam."
I turn the book towards Liam, but confusion etches his face as well.
"You guys seriously can't read it?" They shake their heads. "I can't seriously be the only person who can see the writing."
We go silent once more until Ravyn's gasp reels us back in, "That's it!" she pauses (dramatic as always), "That's definitely one of my mom's enchantments. Your parents must've had her place a spell so that only you can read it. To protect the information inside..."
"Which means, it has to have some truth behind it if they didn't want anyone else to find out about it." Excitement fills me to the brim. The urge to devour all of the information contained within these books becomes almost unbearable. "Ok. I'll look at these. We'll come together in, let's say an hour?"
They nod in agreement and we all begin to read until we're hit with another surprise. We all look up as a small fire begins forming in the air. I quickly jump off the couch, while Liam struggles to get up, and as a result, begins having a minor panic attack. We quickly calm him down, informing him that it's only a fire message. Harmless.
"Harmless my ass. The only thing harmless would be Ravyn releasing me from this damn spell."
We chuckle at his predicament. I watch as Ravyn turns to read the message and her face slowly begins to fall.
"My parents... Derick... Hunter."
"Oh crap. I'm so sorry Ravyn. We will get them back. I promise."
I look towards Liam for support.
"I promise you Ravyn, my pack and I will help as much as we can. Hunter has proven himself a threat to us all."
"We have to go now. Who knows what he'll do to them!"
I try to calm her down and knock some sense into her, "We can't just go. It's the middle of the night, there's only three of us, and we don't even know where they're being held."
"That doesn't mean we just leave them to die!"
"Ravyn. Stop and listen to yourself. They aren't going to die. He obviously needs them alive. If anything, he is trying to bait you there and take you too. You need to be smart. This is an obvious trap." Liam takes the words right out of my mouth.
Strange. For someone who was fearful of her not even a full day ago, he sure seems ballsy to me. Only people that know Ravyn well would talk to her like that.
"You know he's right Rav. I think we should all call it a night. We will leave at dawn to Liam's packhouse. Then we will figure out a plan. Ok?"
Shocked by it all, Ravyn nods in agreement. I tell her to take one of the upstairs rooms to get some rest, but she refuses. Instead, she goes back to her coven to inform the witches and says she'll meet us at Liam's packhouse. I ask her to take the books with her and hide them, including the 2 journals I found. As soon as Ravyn disappears, Liam jumps off the couch.
"I'm finally free!"
I laugh at his enthusiasm. I watch him walk back towards the kitchen once more.
"I can't believe you kissed him!"
"Shut up. That happened ages ago. No need to bring it up, Midnight."
"Mmhmm, say it."
"Say what?"
"Say I was right. Do it. I deserve to hear it."
I roll my eyes at her demand. But, I can't help but give in, "Alright, fine. You were right."
"Hah!"
"Hey, I know I probably should've mentioned this earlier, but... umm... do you have any food?"
My attention focuses on Liam.
"You know, I haven't lived here for 3 years. So no, I don't have any food. If you wanna eat, we will have to hunt."
"Hunt? It's been decades since werewolves hunted-" His ramblings cut short as he looks straight into my death glare, "Umm, what I mean is... I'm sure you're a great hunter and you know what, I'm actually not that hungry anyway."
"I'm sorry." I turn my eyes towards the ground, ashamed at myself, "I was being inconsiderate."
"No, I was. I'm sorry too."
"I can go catch a rabbit real fast. But you would have to eat it raw."
"I'm fine, Kiara."
Saying my name sends shivers up my spine. I quickly compose myself. "No, Liam. You need to eat something. I promise it's not that bad. Kinda tastes like chicken." I watch as his eyes gloss over for a split second. So... I have the same effect on him.
He ponders his option for a minute. His sigh of defeat and reluctant agreement are enough to get me out the door. I shift and sniff. First, smelling for danger, then for food. As I begin to trot, I notice a white blur behind me.
"You know if you're going to follow me, at least do it stealthily."
"I'm just here for company."
I shake my head teasingly before I get back to tracking. I catch a scent.
"Wait. Don't move."
I wait a few seconds, control my breathing so it becomes almost inaudible. I lift one paw off the ground and place it silently in front of me. In an instant, I pounce and grab the rabbit between my canines. I quickly end it's life, so it doesn't suffer. Sadness washes over me. I take the rabbit back to Liam and drop it in front of him.
"Here. Now come on. It's not safe out here."
I don't check to make sure he's behind me. I just keep walking back to my old packhouse. As soon as we arrive, I warn Liam not to shift back. "It'll taste better if you let your wolf take over."
After several minutes, a human Liam pats my head.
"Come on, let's go inside."
I simply shake my head and make my way to the porch. I curl into myself and let out a deep breath. I begin to close my eyes when I see Liam, now a wolf once again, lie down on the other side of the porch. I lift my head and look at him.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like?"
I growl at his remark. "I'm not in the mood for games, Liam. Just go inside and sleep on one of the beds like a normal person." I shift my body, so my tail is facing him. I let out a huff.
"What if I'm not normal? What if I just really enjoy the outdoors?"
"Yea, ok."
"Hey!" I can feel his warmth as he comes closer to me. "Even if I was lying, which I wasn't, that doesn't mean I'm going to just let you sleep out here alone. So... So deal with it."
He plops himself down right next to me making sure our tails brush. Sneaky.
He braces himself, thinking I'm going to argue back. But, I'm tired, "Ok."
He lets out a breath and finally relaxes. Oh no, you don't. No. I'm going to make you suffer. I lift my head and lightly poke him with my snout. I rub my head against his and give him a quick lick under his eye.
"Now go to sleep." I tell him, "And if you try that with me, I'll bite you." I laugh in my head as I get comfortable. I close my eyes once more and smile to myself as he whispers back.
"I'll get you back, Kiara. Just you wait."