EVIE.Seeing us walk to the woods scared me so much, I felt like I threw up in my mouth. I had never been in an atmosphere so tense because I always liked being in control. Claire was ahead of me, carrying my gear. It was a whole lot and seemed too heavy for her. The gear contained a bow and series of arrows, boomerangs, a shotgun, a butcher's knife and a taser with a very high voltage. All of these were to make sure the animals were subdued. I didn't know why my father required I carried all of those when I could barely use any. I had just a little or no training in using a bow, talkless of the rest.I felt cringed at the sound of that. It was weird saying all of those like I was now an official hunter, well not yet anyway, just some moments away. "Why can't she carry her gear? Is she that weak? If she can't do that to warm herself up, how can she kill an animal?" I heard them whisper, bothered if I could hear them or not. I felt ashamed that mother made me go through this, she woul
CLAIRE.My fingers had become sore as a result of the weight of Evie's gear, but I couldn't complain since that was my reason for being there. The other hunters made fun of me as I carried the gear and I was sure it was out of how they witnessed Evie try to take the bag from me and father's reaction, showing that it was my job. Evie had screwed up my day and image once again and I was helpless.There was an ocean of anger boiling inside of me towards the hunters. I wished I could possess one of Alex's powers and go rogue on them, tearing their brains into tiny bits. I was the first child and all these responsibilities falling on Evie were supposed to fall on me! But the reverse had been the case, actually worse; I wasn't just made the younger sister but had also become the slaved younger sister, how ironic!The path we walked on had pebbles of stones, so smooth that it looked like the pathway to a stream. It was dusty but it seemed like a place you would want to spread a mat on and en
ALEXAKIS.I stopped what I was doing when the same urge came to me again. I had been having this pressing feeling to transform, to shift back into my old form and it grew more intense as the hours went by today. I was currently doing squats in a ring. It was still very early in the morning and the guys were yet to come in. I had woken up earlier than normal, when the sky was still very dark, hours before the sun had risen and couldn't go back to sleep. Like all the guys, Angelo had given me the passcode to the den - a trust that I wouldn't take lightly, and I had decided to come in early. I had done a little warm up, eaten a club sandwich and then jogged down to the den, the coolness of the street doing little to calm the surge in my bloodstream. Angelo was in the den when I came in, in his office and although he hadn't come down to see who entered into the den, I knew he knew that I was in here with him. I went down to the underground training ground, needing to be in my space alone
CLAIRE.Evie jumped up excited as she had just killed her fears and made father proud. Father couldn't contain his joy any more than Evie. He held her in a warm embrace as she was now officially a hunter. I was happy for her anyway but I just wanted to get out of there."See? It wasn't all that hard, Evie. You're now officially a hunter and I'm proud of you!" Father said, enclosing her in another warm hug."Come give me a big hug!" Becky said excitedly as Evie ran to her and hugged her. Becky swamped her face with kisses, and Evie was embarrassed."Stop it, mother." She said as she blushed.The sight of it all felt heartwarming but the only warmth I could feel was those of anger. My birthright had just been taken away from me in my face and there was nothing I could do."I'm sorry we doubted you." One of the hunters who had been mocking Evie earlier said and turned to me to give me a face. I rolled my eyes at him and looked away."It's fine, I forgive you." She replied. I felt so jeal
CLAIRE.I was shaking, my body vibrating with nervous energy and fear, worried for Alex and then my father dousing me in cold. I watched the scene play out, the wolves howling loud as they took in the limp bodies of the wolf and then Alex. In the midst of all the whirlwind of emotions that clouded my mind, I wondered if these were Alex's family and I deeply hoped that whoever the wolf was would be okay. I watched, my hands over my mouth as the wolves all seemed to make a sort of barricade in front of their limo bodies, shielding the hunters from any other attack. My eyes went to my father and Malkholm, wanting to see what they would do next. But they watched the scene with detached eyes, looking like they would definitely attack if the wolves made any move. I turned to Evie and noted that she was whispering furiously to Scott who smiled widely, his gaze on the wolves with something akin to delight. I knew that look and I knew that he was planning something else. Just as I noticed Evi
CLAIRE.Father called me in to ask why I had wanted to save the wolf. I stood awkwardly inside his study, trying to come up with a reason why I had wanted to save Alex. I was sure that Father didn't remember who Alex was since that first time he had met him and if he realized that it was the same wolf I was trying to save once again, he would be furious. My mind whirled with reasons to give him and I finally settled on one, telling him that the blood greatly disturbed me and that I didn't see the need for more violence when Evie had already killed the beast. It hurt me to refer to Alex as such, but I guessed that it was the only way father would remotely believe me and let me go. He stared at me for a while after I said that and I had the feeling that he didn't believe me. I expected him to call me out on my lie but he didn't. He stared intensely at me as he picked up his glass of what I knew was Scotch -as that was the only drink father took. I watched as he slowly took a sip, his e
CLAIRE."God." I wiped at my tears once again, angry that even the liquid from my body was betraying me. I didn't want to feel sad that Father had disowned me, he didn't deserve my tears or any sad feeling I was somehow having. I kicked at a stone in my frustration and ended up tripping, my knee hitting the paved road hard. My tears finally burst open and released in a torrent of all my pent up anger and hurt for my father, and I hugged my knees to my chest, the tears falling on my bruised knee and causing it to hurt more. That made me cry harder, and it felt like I could place my ragged feelings on the fact that my knees hurt like crazy. After a while of hugging myself out in the open, the chill in the night started to disturb me and I rubbed at my arms furiously, my hurt feelings suddenly transforming into one of anger. Couldn't he have sent me out in the morning? Why did Becky have to raise a confrontation so late at night? It was almost like they knew that father had gotten to h
Alex had been half awake throughout the entire fight that occurred between the wolves and the humans. At first, he thought that the wolves were the former wolves he had moved around with before he realized that he could still shift to a human, but then they weren't. These ones had been fighting to protect him, and not just because they enjoyed the violence of killing humans. Alex had watched through half lidded eyes as they had viciously fought against the humans, one of them going as far as jumping in front of an arrow one of the hunters aimed at him. Alex didn't know what exactly caused him more grief, the fact that someone else had gotten hurt by an arrow meant for him, or the fact that it felt like he truly knew who the wolf was. He slipped into unconsciousness at that thought and came to again to see trees over him.It felt like he was being dragged carefully on the forest floor. He turned to the side and locked eyes with a grey furred wolf, who looked sad. He went back into a d