When I was ten years old, a drunk driver crashed into my father’s car. They said it was so bad you would have a hard time telling where the drunk’s car ended and my father’s began. Dad died instantly. Thank God, but it devastated Mom. For a long time, I thought I might lose her too.
Slowly, Mom got better, well, sort of. She stopped starving herself or spending hours in her room crying and started acting like a somewhat normal person. Only she wouldn’t laugh or smile.
Mom didn’t do that until she met Harry Ford. They met in Minnesota while Mom did extra training for her job and they began dating. Mom had started going back to the way she was before.
There was only one minor hitch about this whole boyfriend thing, though. Harry wasn’t exactly human.
When they got serious, Harry revealed his secret to Mom. Somehow, he didn’t pick up on the fact Mom sucks eggs at keeping secrets. Not even five minutes passed before she told me. Luckily for Harry, I can keep secrets. You see, Harry’s a werewolf. I know what you’re thinking — run, this guy is totally crazy! That’s exactly what I told Mom, so she convinced Harry to do the change into a wolf thing in front of me.
As cool as the shift thing was, I found it also disturbing. I mean, what is not disturbing about your mom’s boyfriend stripping down to his boxers in front of you? Oh, the icing on the cake? Apparently, he and Mom were destined to be. Mates, Harry said, and wanted us to come live with him in Minnesota.
Now, Harry made Mom happy without a doubt, so I figured I would overlook his canine inclination and agreed to move to another state. Besides, I had nothing keeping me in Chatham. After Dad died, I lost all my friends. The worst seemed to be over, and in all truth, what did I have to lose, right? As it turns out, I still had things to lose, and the worst was far from over.
This is the story of how my one simple plan to get out alive was torn to shreds and stomped into the ground.
One more year. Just one more year, I told myself as I dressed. It wasn’t even that long; school was only ten months. My stomach tightened at the thought. Ten months was still a hell of a lot of time. With a slow, deep breath, I tried to calm my nerves. The bruises were gone and nothing hurt, but that would change after today. One more year, I repeated. One more year and I would finish high school and leave for California, never to deal with werewolves again.
“No?” Mike repeated. His eyes flashed into a golden hue. For the second time that morning, I found myself doubled over, trying to gasp in a breath. Mike grabbed my neck and kneeled next to me. “Don’t you ever tell me no again,” he hissed into my ear. “Do you hear me? Never again!” With a sniff, Mike let me go and stood. “Now, show Dean what a good girl you are and apologize.”
I didn’t wait for Dean to say anything or swing the first punch. Grabbing my backpack, I ran as fast as I could, and I didn’t stop until I was at my front door. Bending over with my hands on my knees, I gulped in air.The adrenaline was leaving my system and the shakes, with a small dose of panic, took
I couldn’t believe I was actually staring at the clock, excited for class. Well, I couldn’t care less about the class. It was the fact I would see my mate again. I rubbed my cheek where she’d slapped me. For a human, she hit pretty hard, but it was no less than what I deserved. In fact, I deserved quite a few more for not stepping in yesterday. That I was trying to bring my uncle to justice was a tiny consolidation.
RyderMy mate’s mother laughed with a shake of her head. “Typical. Always on the go, this one,” she said, nodding at Brook with her chin. “Mike tells me all the time how she never seems to stay still.”
RyderI stopped my walk around Brook’s room to examine one of the pictures. Unable to help myself, I picked it up. A younger version of Brook sat with what had to be her dad in front of an enormous cake with several candles. They both had big grins on their faces. Her dad looked like someone mine would’
I looked at the school with a scowl. Even though I was running late, I couldn’t bring myself to go inside. I didn’t want to deal with Dean the Superman-wannabe on top of everything I got from Mike. He could not interfere with my status quo. It would ruin everything. My scowl deepened. I wish Mom would’ve let me stay home. She was callous and downright neglectful when I told her I was sick this morning. Not only did she send me to school, despite that I practically begged to stay home, she even claimed if I felt too bad I could go to the nurse.
Did Mike seriously ask me if I was interested in Dean? Well, he didn’t exactly use the word interested. I swear his vocabulary only consisted of insults and vulgarities. I would have to answer him in the right way or I’d be in a lot more pain that I already was. Thankfully, I could usually figure out what Mike expected of me. “No! Of course not,” I told him. “I know my place, Mike.”