Chapter 5

“Uh… what is it you want me to do?” I asked, feeling like I was going to regret this. 

The vampire put his hand to his pants pocket, the flash of fang gone. “Simple. I want you to use you to discover who I can trust and who I can’t in my coterie.”

“Right…” I said, dragging out the word. Was he serious? How exactly was I going to do that? “Uhm, despite this might put my chances of surviving this encounter to an all-time low, I can’t do that.”

“You can’t?” The vampire almost sounded surprised. 

“No, that’s not how werewolves work, especially me. I told you I’m an omega. I barely above a human level.”

The vampire stared at me, his face a blank slate. “I see,” he said and clicked his tongue. 

“Yeah…” I said slowly, preparing myself to run. I didn’t think I could outrun a vampire, but maybe if I was able to get back into the alpha’s territory, he wouldn’t dare trespass. 

“You don’t know what you are, do you?”

My brow furrowed as I stared at him. “Uhm,” I started. It was stupid to argue with him, but I couldn’t help myself. “Actually, I do.”

The stoniness of his face changed, and he made a soft, quick chuckle. “If I say you can weed out the snakes in my people, you can, little wolf.”

I took a breath to argue when he stopped me again.

“You may not know what you can do, but I do, and you will do it for me. I will even be so generous as to pay you for your time.”

“Are you insane?” Again, not productive to my wanting to get out of this alive, but a girl had to ask. 

“In some circles, I suppose some call me that,” he replied coolly. “However, I am not. Now enough dithering. Accept my offer or become my next meal. I don’t like the taste of your kind’s blood, but it’s been a long time since I last fed.”

With a scoff, I tried to find the words to express my frustration. “I can’t… I mean, I wish I could… but I can’t.” 

Once more, a single dark eyebrow lifted. “Yes or no, little wolf. That I have given you this much time is a testament to how willing to repay my debts, but my patience is running thin.”

Again, I stared at him with a furrowed brow. Repay debts? What was he talking about? “I don’t understand.” 

Now there was a hint of exasperation in his expression. “Clearly, but that is not my problem. Accept my offer or don’t. No more questions.” There was a hint of threat in his voice.

Swallowing, I glanced behind him towards the alpha territory, then back to him. This seemed very much like a deal with the devil, but I didn’t have a choice. My stomach twisted, and I gave him a shaky nod. “Okay, I’ll do it.” A sliver of doubt filled me and I quickly added, “But I won’t do anything to hurt my pack or put them in danger.” 

The eyebrow lifted yet again. “Curious. So much concern for others who, as you’ve stated, deem you as unimportant.” 

“It’s not about them. It’s about me. I won’t do that to them,” I argued. 

“And here we are again,” the vampire said with a little shake of his head. “Fine, I won’t ask to do anything against your pack.” 

“Then,” I said, but paused for a breath or two. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was going to be a bad idea. But when did I ever let something being a bad idea stop me? That’s how I got into this mess in the first place. “I accept.”

“Then let’s get introductions out of the way,” the vampire said, his expression softening somewhat. “I’m Alexander Dietrich, but you may call me Alec.” His tone and mannerisms were almost normal as he introduced himself that for a brief nano-second I forgot he was a vampire. The thought sent a chill down my spin. Vampires really were the apex predator. 

“Robin Douglas,” I replied and a flash of emotion crossed his face, but it was too quick for me to even guess at what it was or what it meant.

“Well, Robin, met me on the edge of the forest after school tomorrow and we’ll begin.” Before I have time to say anything, he turned and vanished into the woods. 

I stood there, open mouth. Did that just happen? I looked around me, suddenly realizing there were four bodies to the left of me. Right. It happened and I’m standing here like an idiot. I realized that if someone showed up, I’d be suspect number one, so I grabbed my back pack and ran. 

I didn’t stop running until I stepped into the small residential street and I only stopped because I didn’t want to appear psychotic or anything that might bring attention to myself. Forcing myself to walk at a normal walking pace, I tried to wrap my mind around everything that had just happened. It seemed so unreal and yet all too real at the same time.

I didn’t see him until he grabbed me by the shoulders, his face in front of mine as he called me name. I blinked a few times with another ‘was this be real?’ moment. “Shaun,” I said, more in a question that a statement. 

A wave of relief washed over his face. “Robin, what happened to you? Are you okay?”

“What?” I said, still confused as to why he was standing there in front of me.

“You look like you crawled out of a zombie movie,” he said, giving me a once over. 

I did the same and realized the state I was in. My clothes had huge holes in with a mixture of mud and dirt all over them. “Oh, right, I am in pretty bad shape.”

“What happened?” He asked again, sounding worried about me. 

Shaun Hunter, alpha’s son, was worried about me? My heart and stomach did a little tango that left me light headed. “It’s nothing,” I said before I realized how stupid of a thing that was to say. I was a mess. This wasn’t nothing. As if reading my mind, Shaun said just as much. 

“Right. Yeah. Of course,” I said, feeling like a real idiot now. “What I meant is I’m not hurt or anything.” 

“That good,” Shaun said, relaxing even more. His hands dropped from my shoulders, but there was still a hint of worry in his eyes. “So what happened?” 

A spike of panic sliced through me. What was I going to say? I couldn’t tell him the truth. I swore to the vampire - Alec that I wouldn’t tell anyone. “What happened?” I repeated, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Uhm,” I said, drawing it out. Perhaps if I told a half-truth, that would be enough. “I fell… in a hole while walking in the woods.” 

Shaun gave me an incredulous look, and I realized it did sound kind of dumb. “Yeah, a hole. Sounds crazy, right?” I said with a laugh. “I guess with all the rain we were getting, it must have caused a sink hole or something.” Now that was much more plausible. It wasn’t uncommon around here for a sink hole open up in the more swampy areas. Usually they weren’t all that big, but there were a few lakes formed that way. 

The incredulity on Shaun’s face lessened but didn’t go away. “And your okay?”

“Yeah, totally. I got a cut when I fell in, as you can see,” I said, waving a hand over the spots of blood on my clothes. “But I shifted and healed that up and I’m as good as new.” As much as I wanted to stay there talking to Shaun, I was exhausted and needed of a shower. “So… I should get home. I don’t want my aunt to worry.” I nearly choked on that last part. Like Aunt Lauren would ever worry about me. The fact she hung up on me still hurt and pissed me off. 

“Oh right,” Shaun said, moving to my side. “I’ll walk with you.”

I stared at him, shocked beyond words. He hadn’t spoken to me in years and now all the sudden he wants me to walk me home? Was that hole a portal to an alternate universe? Was I known in some kind of multiverse craziness or something? “Uhm, you’re going to walk with me? But don’t you have like important alpha-y stuff to do?”

His expression soured for a fraction of a second, then it changed to a laid back one with a small, closed-mouth smile. “Not right now and I want to make sure you get home alright.”

Again, my heart and stomach fluttered and my breath caught in my throat. I nodded, trying to grin like an idiot. “Alright, sure.” 

“Great, let’s go,” he said with a bright grin and I lost the fight not to smile.