by Holly Hook
"Yes. I don't know what got into him," Tyler says. "I still have to tell the others I banished him. Crap. That will not go over well." He face-palms as if talking about missing an assignment.
Alan. I knew something was wrong with him.
"Are any of the others after me?" I ask.
Tyler stares me in the eye. "I don't think so. And I don't know what Alan's motivation was. Say, I think we'd better get inside. And I owe you a lot of answers."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
One thing at a time. I have to process the idea that curses and werewolves are real before I move on to the other stuff. It's not easy. In fact, it's almost as bad as trying to figure out why Dad sent me way out here.
We go inside. Shockingly, entering the house calms me down more. Tyler closes the door behind us and eyes the inside of the house. "I forgot how nice it is in here when the shades are up."
"You leave them down? If you're so cursed, no one will come out here."
Tyler lifts an eyebrow at me. "You did."
I blush. And so did my parents? I watch as Tyler paces around, looking out all the windows.
"Are you sure Alan won't come back?" I ask, trying to break the awkward silence.
He paces around the house and eyes his homework. "I think he's gone this time. Last time, I just gave him a warning. But this time, I banished him." Tyler punctuates his sentence with a heaving sigh.
"I can tell it's hard for you. So you're the leader of the pack. What do they call it? The alpha? I think I saw something about that on a nature show once."
He smiles at me. "Yes. It's 'alpha.' And we call ourselves the Rose Pack."
I'm glad to see him cheer up. But his smile fades as he eyes the pictures of his younger self on the mantelpiece. Tyler likes—or liked—hockey. The kid in the pictures smiles without any strain.
I shake my head. "I like that better than the Rose Gang. Because you're not really a gang, you know?"
"No. We're not a gang, even with the way Alan looks. I brought him in back in the fifth grade, a few months after I got the hang of my new powers. He was the first to join me." Tyler goes into the dining room, pulls a chair out, and sits.
Banishing Alan was not easy on him.
Then I stop pacing, a shudder going down my spine. Tyler made Alan into a werewolf? "So is it like in the movies? You get bit by a werewolf, and then you become one? But I thought you were cursed. Or do you curse people, too?" Then I pause. Wow, those were some pretty rude questions. "I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have asked."
But Tyler laughs, also without joy. But he's not angry at me, either. "Don't be. You have a right to know what you were dealing with. You know, you're the first person I can talk to outside of the pack."
What do I say to that? "I hope I'm not bad company?"
Tyler walks to the kitchen cabinets and opens a drawer full of snacks. Potato chips. Cookies. The whole nine yards. "Hungry?"
I gulp, wishing he'd just answered my question. "You eat regular snacks?" What had I been expecting? Rows upon rows of raw meat?
"We're still like humans, some of the time," Tyler says. He grabs an unopened pack of cookies. "Here." He tosses it to me. "I don't know if you feel like eating, but if you do, there's no sense in letting you starve."
Maybe they're trying to fatten me up, but it doesn't feel like that. Why don't I feel threatened? Any sane person should. "Thanks?"
"If you want to sit somewhere, feel free. I'll explain your scent to the others later," he says. So I sit on the edge of the used, but clean fireplace. "And yes, we eat regular snacks. I still get a thousand dollars a month from my dad so long as I stay out here. He lets me have access to one of his accounts so I can wash my clothes in town, buy food, and function like a human being."
I ball my fists. Tyler's father pays him to stay away? "Your dad just sent you out here and holds money over your head like that?"
Tyler nods as he takes a seat on the bottom of the wooden spiral staircase. "Yep. But it's better than nothing. At least I'm not being shuttled to sports game after sports game and then spelling bee after spelling bee anymore. I almost don't miss those days."
So Tyler had been a trophy kid before he got cursed. I can't decide what's worse. My dad's hard on me, but I've never been paraded around in dance recitals or heaven forbid, pageants. Ugh. "What about your curse? Are there like, conditions?" That's a lot less rude, I decide.
"Yeah. There are conditions," he says from his spot across the room. I almost wish he'd step closer, but it seems he's trying not to intimidate me. Tyler's being careful now that I know his secret, a lot more careful, and it's disappointing. Does he fear I'll take his secrets and tell the world if I get scared enough?
Or just that I'll leave?
Tyler grips the handrail. "Yes, I can bite people and turn them into werewolves. It is a lot like the movies, and the bitten person transforms for the first time during the full moon. But I was cursed. No bite for me."
We look right at each other. He's shaking and his eyes are wide. This isn't easy for him to say.
I toss him a cookie. "You're brave, telling a near total stranger this."
He catches it with a lightning fast motion. Then he shoots me a real smile. "I'm brave?"
"So, you bit Alan, the other guy, and those two girls?" I keep my tone curious and not accusing. I haven't been around Tyler long enough to know how easily he gets angry. Or if he'll go into beast mode without warning.
"Alan was being beaten and abused by his father, the sheriff," Tyler says. "That's why I turned him. So he wouldn't have to live at home anymore."
I rise off the fireplace. "What? The sheriff of Tower was beating his kid?"
Then Tyler stands too. "I was a kid. Alan was scared. I needed to get him out, so I decided to try...well, it worked. Alan transformed. Turned on his father and chased him out of town. Then Alan was able to join me out here."
I turn my thoughts to Alan, covered in his badass tattoos and leather, and tried to imagine him as a scared eleven year old. "Well, that's why Alan is so angry."
"Only he wasn't until you came here," Tyler says, pacing around and confused. "I still don't understand. He's been a great guy, acing most of his classes and even getting ready to consider college. And it's not like Tower to ever let anyone out. He shouldn't have gone after you like that."
Alan. Acing his classes. He was obviously Tyler's good friend and then I ruined it. "It must have been hard for you to banish him." And this is because of me? The Rose Pack was all peaceful and great until I came along. I swallow.
"I didn't mean to put it that way. We're not an evil pack, Beckah," Tyler says, raising his hands. "We scare people enough just by being around. I can't have a pack member intimidating anyone in this town. And we don't bring people into the pack unless they truly need it. Beckah, you're safe." He pauses, silently asking for my permission to approach. "We won't bite you."
"Alan was sure snapping at me," I say.
Tyler's eyes widen and his mouth falls open. "He didn't bite or scratch you, did he?" Then he rushes me, leans down, and grips my arms. Tyler's strong, and I know I have no chance at breaking free of him no matter how hard I try. But he's also gentle. Concerned.
But he's shaking.
"No. I don't think so."
"Are you absolutely sure?" Panic dances in his words like a laughing demon.
"I'm sure. No bites. No scratches. But my poor backpack..." With my eyes I motion to the torn purple mess that I only now realize I set by the door. Way to go, Beckah. Walk in here with a werewolf and drop your stuff, and then leave yourself no good exit strategy.
Tyler sighs and takes a breath, trying to quell his panic. "I hope so. I don't want to see this curse jump to you. Alan could have been trying to infect you. At least, that's my fear. And we have a rule against infecting others unless they truly need it."
"Is he in severe need of a girlfriend or something?" I blurt. What's the structure of the Rose Pack? Are any of the members dating each other
? Is Tyler dating Valerie or Cammie?
But I don't make Tyler laugh. "Well, Valerie and her sister aren't interested in him and every other girl in Tower is way too terrified to even talk to Alan." He slowly turns to me. "Beckah, I can't be one hundred percent sure he'll give up on his mission."
Now my own jaw drops. Pieces click into place at last.
"I still don't know why my father sent me here. And Alan knows I'm from the city. Has he been talking about that in front of you?"
"Yes, of course," Tyler says. "Everyone has been talking about you. Tower High School has never had a new student before."
He's still holding my arms. I look down at his hands, and he loosens them in response. The pressure of his touch remains, sending tingles under my skin.
I slowly pull out of his grasp, blushing. I rise, turn away, and grip the edge of the dining room table. There's Statistics homework lying on the table, graded with an A minus. Alan DeGroat.
Alan DeGroat.
A monster.
Has Alan met my parents?
My father?
Dad was on edge ever since coming home. Paranoid. Always looking outside. And the garbage...an animal got into it...no. It can't be.
Alan just might have wanted a mail-order girlfriend. He even planned to meet me and infect me right there on Gia's driveway before I even had the chance to settle in.
He knew I was going to arrive in Tower.
"Shit," I grit out.
"Beckah?" Tyler asks.
"Alan must have met my father," I say. "He might have even told my father to send me here. Then my mom and dad started fighting when they got home from their hike. Alan must have scared my father. Mom was trying to stop it. Dad even complained about an animal getting into our apartment and slashing open our garbage. Alan might have followed us to New York and threatened my parents. Shit!" I pound the table.
I'm shaking. My ears ring.
And Tyler goes completely silent.
"I'm sorry your father caved like that if that's what happened. But we don't know what he was thinking. Please, try to breathe." He's behind me, hesitating.
The muscles around my lungs tighten and hurt. I want to collapse to the floor and let the tears come, but the last thing I want to do in front of Tyler is go hysterical. I take a breath and face the opposite wall, eyeing a box of cheese crackers. Then I take another breath made of razor blades. Steady. Breathe out. Don't lose it. Keep your head together for once.
"I'm breathing," I mutter at last.
"Good," Tyler says, slowly drawing closer behind me. I wait for him to wrap his arm around me, but it doesn't come. He's still being careful. "This is hard and I'm sorry. I hate that it's this way. But I'll make sure that Alan doesn't come near you again. You won't end up cursed." Tyler's breath caresses the back of my neck.
"My dad sent me here. And he was vague with me."
"Maybe he didn't know what Alan had planned?"
I snort, unable to hold my emotions back. Yes. My father met a tattooed biker werewolf who promised he would treat me gently and with respect. Does that make sense? "He could have known that he was literally throwing me to the wolves. Shit, shit, shit." I whirl, mind trying to reconstruct my reality. Maybe Dad didn't know about the curse, or he really did just want to send me away due to marriage problems. Alan could have tricked my dad into thinking Mom was trying to cheat or something. Maybe getting that B Plus in Chemistry earned me this exile. Yes, that makes sense. Not Dad throwing me to a literal, savage werewolf and pretending that nothing bad would come out of it. He wouldn't want me to end up cursed. That would interfere with my studies and my grades. And of course, the family image.
And then Tyler's wrapping his arms around me. Though I sense his amazing, supernatural strength, he's gentle. Protective. And right then, I feel as if there's zero possibility of Alan never coming near me again.
"I'll do everything I can to make Tower safe for you. But you have to work with me, Beckah. Can you do that?"
I turn and bury my face in his shoulder. I've got to trust Tyler. He's my best bet for making it through this.
"Yes. Yes, I will."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The conversation is over. Slowly, as if he's scared I'm going to run, Tyler releases me.
And then he offers to walk me home.
"You shouldn't have to walk through the woods alone," he says.
"Thanks," I say, knowing full well that after what happened twice now, I don't want to walk back through the wilderness by myself. No way. Alan came after me twice and if he's that determined to seize his once in a lifetime chance to force someone to be his girlfriend, he might go for Round Three.
And that's the best-case scenario.
Maybe he thinks I'm an intruder and that the Rose Pack is better off without me in town for some reason. But I can't think of any reasons for that.
"But before you go home," Tyler says, pacing back to the steps, "we should make sure that your cousin is there." He peeks out a window again, probably in the direction of town.
I swallow. "I agree."
"I see her working in that market all the time," Tyler says. It's a question.
I remain near the dining room table. It feels safe here. "She'll probably be there for a few more hours. What about the rest of the Rose Pack? How long will they be gone?"
"Probably a bit longer than that," he says. "I'll take care of everything once they're here. And if you want to do your homework, I'll make sure no one bothers you."
"My...homework," I say. Yes. Homework. Eyeing my ripped backpack and the Statistics book now poking out reminds me of my responsibilities. But how can I deal with that in the light of everything else? I could be dead by the end of the week or cursed. "You're reminding me to do my homework. Thanks, Dad."
But he laughs. It's a very normal, very human sound, and yet Tyler does it with perfection.
"Why is that funny?"
"Because I get it?" He rises and motions to my backpack. "I can fix that."
I think of Rose Ranch and the parents Tyler must have. "Fair enough."
He waits for my permission to dig through my backpack. I nod, unsure how to feel about it. Do I seriously trust Tyler? Well, he's sort of earned it. No, not sort of. He's more than earned it.
I want to ask about how Tyler got cursed, but he's spinning my Statistics book by the end of the spine on his finger. I've never seen anything like it and until now, I never thought that would be possible. "How are you able to do that?"
"The curse does have some perks. Now, I know Alan was on the fifth chapter of this book, which means you must be too."
"Why aren't you in Statistics?" If there's one thing I've learned about Tyler's human side, it's that he's intelligent. Prized. I wonder how graceful he was before he got cursed.
"Math was never my strong suit. Yeah, I know. There's that whole stereotype about guys and girls having different abilities in academia. The thing is, I'm better with words."
"No kidding." I blush as he puts my book down on the kitchen table next to all the snacks. Does he want us to do our homework together? Maybe this is for my benefit too and Tyler wants to have something normal going on. Or he knows what it's like to fear dads.
His kicked him out of the house, too.
But why did my dad—
I swallow and open my book. No. Dad wouldn't endanger my life. Maybe Alan had a hand in it but Dad would have no use for me cursed or dead. Alan might have lied to Dad or did something to make my parents fight.
Tyler paces around the house, peeking out the windows every once in a while as I try to put my full focus into my Statistics homework. I peek at Alan's paper every so often, not because I'm trying to cheat, but because in my state of mind, I need to find any reminder on how to do these problems and graphs correctly. I need to focus. At last, I finish and eye the time on my phone. No one's tried to call me, which I don't like, but Gia should be done with her shift in half an hour. It'll take me almost that long to walk home.
We haven't spoken the whole time. Tyler, it turns out, has walked into another room and my backpack's missing. Then the door opens in the attached kitchen and he strolls out, holding my backpack which now looks perfectly stitched together.
"How did you do that?" I ask.
"Duct tape solves everything? Don't worry. It's on the inside."
"Thanks," I breathe, rising. Tyler's done an amazing job. "Once I go back home, Dad probably won't even notice. Maybe Gia can help me sew it later. Not that you've done a bad job, of course."
He grins. "It's getting dark. We should get out before the rest of the pack gets here. I really think it should just be me explaining why Alan's gone."
Tyler has a point. "That would be great. At least you don't have a truck with deer antlers on the front. I'm not a snob, but Gavin is just..."
"I'm not around him much, but I've heard," Tyler says with an exaggerated frown.
The light's fading and the thought of walking home now makes me shudder. After putting away my book, I slip on my backpack, impressed at how well it's holding together. Tyler is proving to be awesome. We slip out of the former vacation home and once we're out, Tyler scans the surrounding woods for what feels like forever. Then he motions me towards the overgrown road. "This leads right back into town, so if we walk fast, you can get home in about twenty minutes."
"Thanks."
We both keep a quick pace, and I find I can keep up with Tyler pretty well. Sure, he's probably slowing down for me, but I'm not in bad shape.
Ask about the curse.
But I can't. The question seems too personal.
And there's a quickness in Tyler's pace, almost like he wants to escape from something. Maybe that something is my prying. As we walk, he doesn't make eye contact with me, but turns his gaze to the towering pines and hills on either side of us. His shoulders remain raised. I can't be distracting him. Any moment, he could have to transform and fight off Alan.
How fast do werewolves heal?
There's so much I don't know about them.