by Lou Grimes
“Nothing like this has ever happened before. I gave it everything I had, too. When foretelling the Gifts, I don’t even have to try. I’m sorry, kids,” he said through his covered face. His tone of voice was completely spent that told Louvette he wasn’t lying about giving it his all. It made Louvette feel terrible that they had asked this of the man and it had gone this horrendously.
“It’s okay. We’ve disturbed you enough for one day, I have to take her home anyways,” Arsen said. Louvette’s confused eyes met Arsen’s. They stood up to leave.
Arsen grabbed her arm and the two of them left with more questions than before they arrived.
In the car, they sat there for a minute. Too many questions were up in the air; however, she realized the need to ask one more. She was too worn out mentally to resist that need.
“Now what do we do?” Louvette asked, unsure where to go from here.
“I don’t know, honestly. We might just have to wait until it manifests itself,” Arsen said, looking off in the distance.
Chapter 12
Louvette woke up, eyes burning from lack of sleep as if she had dared to challenge the power of the sun and lost. Onain’s words kept repeating over and over again through her head like a broken record. She’d stayed up all night, more restless than a college student with finals the next morning.
She could have auditioned for a role as a zombie when she caught a glimpse of her deep darkened rings below her eyes. Debating for only a second, Louvette threw up her curly hair into a ponytail. She wasn’t even going to try that day. The only makeup she quickly used was eyeliner and she was even reluctant to do that. However, the thought of Emily Bonesteel, who was always waiting in the wings, fresh like a daisy, kept her from wearing the sweatpants that she truly wanted to wear.
Louvette groaned at her frustrations when Arsen pulled up to pick her up. He was punctual. She had to give him that. However, she wondered if there was such a thing as too prompt. He was the reason that she hadn’t slept in a few minutes longer.
Arsen took in the dark circles under her eyes with a sigh. He couldn’t say much though because Louvette knew he had probably slept as well as she had.
“I’m not going to be able to take you home after school. I’m not going today, but I knew I could swing the time to drop you off so I could tell you in person. The Southwest pack are arriving to revamp the peace treaty tonight at Latitude 48. I have to help my father get everything prepared,” he said to Louvette.
“Are you like the heir apparent? “she joshed, then kind of laughed a little. The look he gave her spoke volumes. It temporarily halted her laughter out of amazement and then it only made her laugh more.
“I can’t believe I thought my last name was bad. I’m going to start calling you my prince. Come on, it’s funny.” She giggled, earning her a dark glance. He clearly didn’t think it was.
“Not much fun. Duties include ensuring every minute detail goes as planned, like picking these people up on time, choosing the right menu, and making sure we have the correct seating,” Arsen complained.
“You sound like you’re in charge of a cotillion for upper class ladies looking for their future husbands. Do they announce their names as they enter?” Louvette teased mercilessly. She could go all night, punning the prince, and given the time, she most certainly would. Sadly, Arsen would not face that torture tonight, Louvette thought.
“Pretty much. Just please catch a ride from Cara. Whatever you do, don’t go out in the forest alone. Avoid your wolf form,” he warned, ignoring her pokes to his pride. This was really why he had gone out of his way to talk to her before his princely duties, she grasped.
“Why?” Louvette asked. Her anxiety blossomed. She chewed on her lip nervously, not sure she could keep the promise. After the show at Onain’s house, she was on edge, to say the least.
“There’s always a chance that their intentions aren’t good,” he revealed.
“Do you think they will start a war?” she asked.
“No. It’s just a precaution to be on the safe side. I consider everyone a possible threat to you until they are proven not,” Arsen said. Her heart ached from his sweetness. It was almost too much for her to bear, like biting into a candy apple.
“What all is their territory?” Louvette inquired curiously.
“Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico are pretty much their grounds. Though they are constantly trying to get their paws on Mexico, but it’s too wild to control. Everyone wants Mexico, but no one can handle it long enough to clean it out. Middle aged men who have embezzled, committed tax fraud, and evaded paying child support aren’t the only things that flee to Mexico. There are tons of lone wolves, rogues, and Lupine criminals down there.” Arsen disclosed this little gem of information to her.
“Okay, I clearly won’t be going to Tijuana any time soon to rock my bikini body. But why would you make a treaty with them if they are so far south? Do y’all ever really come across them?” Louvette asked.
“No, it’s more for votes between the packs. When we vote for something, they vote in support of us. They may not gain anything, but they have our backs. The same goes if they want something passed at any meetings. We’d do the same,” Arsen said her.
“That sounds like too much politics for anything to work. What if it isn’t something they want passed and you do?” Louvette asked, already feeling a headache coming on.
“We actually have had fewer wars since we started doing the outside treaties. That is what the treaty meeting is for. We all know what is coming up for a vote, so we point out what we won’t pass for whatever reason and what we will. It’s basically compromising on some stuff we desire and on stuff they desire,” Arsen explained further.
“Whatever you say, my prince.” She poked fun at him. He rolled his eyes and drove her to school. For the first time, he didn’t open the door. She guessed this was to avoid the staff seeing him taking her to school and then leaving. She doubted that even if they did see him, they’d ever say anything. However, he did give her a firework kiss that left her breathless before he left.
It completely made up for the lack of opening her door. Louvette had gotten spoiled from his old school gentleman nature. It was showing from the awkwardness of opening the heavy metal door to slide through the small opening.
“Arsen out today, too? So, you must suffer like me as well,” Cara said as Louvette neared her. Garrett must have had to take the day off as well.
“Yeah, he is. Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Louvette mocked their suffering. Judging from Cara’s pouting face, she had no doubts that her friend’s words were completely true.
“I doubt I could get any fonder of Garrett Hollows and his cute butt than I already am,” Cara said back boldly.
“You never know. Hey, can you take me home tonight? Arsen is tied up with family matters today,” Louvette responded, switching the topic off tushes that would no doubt drag on into tomorrow if Cara had any say.
Cara’s excitement knew no bounds when Louvette asked for a ride. Like she had a dozen options for rides. “You’re saving me from being alone at the house full of my aunts and cousins. My dad and his brothers are going out to dinner to get a deal with some big business. So the rest of them are hanging out at our house like a plague of Rivers,” she said. Her voice had a tone of jollity to her confession.
“You can stay over as long as you like,” Louvette offered, realizing that the words “family matter” and “big business deal” were the same. Truly, Louvette hoped she would stay the entire night. Louvette needed a distraction from her own mind.
“I would, but I do unfortunately have a report I have to write tonight. The one you wrote like two weeks ago when you said you didn’t want to go to the bowling alley.” Cara turned to her out of shame. At the same time, she displayed her true procrastinating colors.
“Cara! That was due yesterday. How did you not get in trouble for that?” Louvette asked. Deep down, she was crestfallen, but she’d had no c
hoice in the matter. Louvette couldn’t believe that she had once relished her alone time when her mother was working late at whatever restaurant she worked at the time. Now, she didn’t like it so much anymore. She’d rather spend the time around Cara and Arsen.
“I’ve got a big name, so sue me. You should use yours more often,” Cara encouraged her as she nudged Louvette’s side in an attempt to get her over to the dark side.
“I don’t think so,” Louvette said, perfectly content to live her best life as a norm would. She was going to trademark the term norm because she had to use it in reference to the humans around her on several occasions when talking to Arsen about Lupine matters on school grounds.
“Let’s get to class before I have to use your name to get us out of being late. I’ve used mine too much this week to be truly effective,” Cara teased, grabbing Louvette’s arm and pulling her down the halls like a ship’s anchor sinking deeper into the abyss. The abyss being this school, Louvette viewed dryly while her eyes took in the hall they were traveling down.
Their classes passed slowly from lack of having no one to moon after for either of them. Louvette just tried to focus on the work, but her mind kept wandering off to what was happening. The rest of her day was appearing bleaker and bleaker because she had no idea what she was going to do tonight since all her homework was completed, and she wouldn’t have Arsen, Cara, or her mom to keep her mind off things.
Her angst continued to build throughout the day to the point that Louvette was blatantly ignoring the teachers.
“Louvette. Louvette Blackwood.” A teacher called her name, snapping her out of whatever dimension she was in. It was certainly not this one. The shady looks from the teacher signified that she knew that she was being ignored.
“What?” she said once she realized the question was for her. She sat up straighter in an effort to give the teacher what she desired, which was attention.
“Never mind,” the teacher retorted angrily and turned to find her next victim. Louvette was miffed that she hadn’t asked her whatever she had planned. She got the impression that she only called on her because she noticed her head was in the clouds. Up until this day, Louvette had tried to be a stellar student, so the fact that she got in trouble for having an off moment was upsetting, to say the least.
Louvette let it go. She had to, due to more pressing matters in her life, like finding out what her Gift was, figuring out who killed her grandfather, and finding out if her dad was dead or had run away from his life. Except for the one fiasco, she somehow made it through all of her classes unscathed from her teachers’ attentions.
Cara drove Louvette home in her silver Audi. The music was set to a low tone to let the conversation flow easier. Cara loved conversation and at this moment Louvette was reveling in it as well because she’d have none once Cara was gone.
“Thank gosh, I’m graduating next year. My parents don’t ever spend time with me. They are always working. I should get emancipated. I mean I pretty much am already,” Cara vented to Louvette since they were finally alone.
“I’m sorry, but wouldn’t that cut you off,” Louvette pointed out. She wasn’t very sure that Cara could live without the Audi and the clothes.
“Yeah, but I could make it,” Cara said dubiously as if she didn’t believe that she could.
“Being broke and homeless is no joke. When I say homeless, I mean that you have no true place to call your own. Not like you literally have nowhere to sleep. I spent seventeen years not having a home,” Louvette commented.
“You’re right. I didn’t think of it from that perspective,” Cara admitted as she peeked over at Louvette out of chagrin.
“Plus, you love your last name too much. You wouldn’t have the weight of it out there,” Louvette mocked, remembering her previous statements throughout the day.
“That is true. College is my out,” Cara said.
“Where do you want to go to college?” Louvette asked, enjoying their conversation. She wished to know more about her friend.
“I’m thinking of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to major in fashion design. How about you?” Cara responded.
“I honestly would like to major in drawing there. I’m not sure I have the grades for it, though. I didn’t even think I’d graduate at the rate I was going,” Louvette answered honestly.
“I have a great idea. Just put your application in when it comes time. You’d be surprised. Then, we can go to college together,” Cara said to her. She had to admit that Cara was right. Since money was no longer a problem, she could go anywhere she wanted.
“Maybe,” Louvette said, half smiling. Cara squealed.
“Louvette’s going to college with me,” she chanted in a sing song voice while throwing up her free fist spastically.
“I don’t say yes yet,” Louvette said while laughing and leaning away from Cara’s wild hand.
“But you’re going to,” she stated in the same sing song voice. Louvette rolled her eyes.
The car ride was too short for Louvette’s liking. She had no desire to be left to her own devices at all.
As Louvette exited the car, Cara rolled the window down.
“Thanks for being there for me, Louvette, and being the sound of reason. I owe you one,” Cara thanked suddenly, getting warm and fuzzy on Louvette.
“I’ll just hold you to it. One day, I’ll go crazy and I’ll need someone reasonable around.” Louvette paused and grinned. “On second thought, you don’t owe me. If you’re my voice of reason, then I’m doomed,” she teased. They shared a laugh and Cara left.
Louvette rotated toward the empty house and sighed. It was only four o’clock. Her mom wouldn’t get off until two am. She couldn’t text Arsen. Cara was going to too busy working on a paper to respond. She could only sit around and wait. Louvette went inside as time barely passed. The ticking was so awful that Louvette felt like she was about to have a panic attack. She rushed outside for some fresh air.
Pacing the front porch, Louvette decided to go for a run at the local park. She knew it had a decently long trail that was only halfway in the forest. Surly, if the Lupine were all gathered elsewhere, she’d be fine stretching her legs for the time being.
Before going, she texted Arsen, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to respond.
Louvette: I’m going for a jog on Whitefish Trail. I’ll text you in an hour to let you know I’m heading home.
She put her phone on rest mode and drove to the park.
The park had a small forest trail that ran a mile into the trees. Louvette warmed up in the open, then started running. She was apprehensive as she neared the line of trees.
The gross feeling came from lack of running for almost a week. She always experienced sluggishness after not consistently running.
Despite her nervousness, the run through the forest ended up being uneventful. When she neared the end of her beautiful scenic run, someone else was in the parking lot. Of all the places they had to park, they chose to park right next to Louvette.
Her run halted to a walk. Searching the park, she looked for the person she thought was an intruder. The wind wasn’t blowing very strongly that day, but when it shifted, she knew someone was there.
“Ever have that nagging feeling like you have met someone before, but you really haven’t?” pondered a voice from behind. Louvette’s skin crawled, recognizing the person attached to that voice was Blaise Campbell himself.
“Can’t say I have. Why are you here?” Louvette asked quickly, turning so that he was in full sight. She didn’t trust him to not stab her in the back, literally.
“I’ve been waiting for the scion of the North Line pack to leave your side so I could ask you some questions,” Campbell said, getting straight to the point. Subtlety wasn’t one of Campbell’s strong points.
“That’s a little shady, but who am I to judge?” Louvette remarked, eyebrow cocked.
“Who are you protecting?” he asked.
Louvette blinked at
the question. “What?” She was completely taken back.
“I thought a lot on our little meeting at Latitude 48. In my line of work, the faces begin to blend for the most part but, one face stood out recently. Yours. Does the word Lupine mean anything to you?” he demanded.
“Yes,” she shot back, realizing lying would do her no good. He investigated and killed people for a living.
“How about rogue? Ring any bells? I can see in your eyes that you have heard that word,” Campbell pointed out as he asked leading questions like the trained detective he was.
“So what? Plenty of girls have been told,” Louvette said, sensing that it was more common knowledge than not in Whitefish. At least, that was the case for everyone she was around except Cara.
“A rogue killed a rogue not too long ago. I’m wondering which one of your family members did it. It’s not your grandfather, that’s for sure. That leaves the absent father. Did he come back for you?” Campbell investigated.
“No. Of course not. Wait, how do you know for sure it wasn’t my grandfather? Why does my face seem familiar?” she asked, zeroing in on that statement.
He sneered. “Well, I was hired a couple weeks ago to go after some rogue from the North Line pack that was terrorizing the people in the Pacific Ocean pack. When I tracked him down, he was raving about traitors and the Pacific Ocean pack. The best part of my day was finally shutting him up after unloading a few shots of wolfsbane into his chest,” he recounted as Louvette’s dream came back to her.
“Thought I’d offer you some closure by telling you what happened to him.” Horror struck Louvette as she realized this man had killed her grandfather.
“You’re a monster,” Louvette hissed, feeling herself come apart. Her wolf woke up instantly. It was raging for blood. There was no better defender of family in nature than a vengeful wolf.
Her world exploded as her bones snapped in a fraction of a second and then she was tearing into him. Louvette had shifted on the fly. Arsen had warned her that she might be quicker at changing when she was under pressure.