One Of The Enemy (Hidden Descendant Series, Book 1)

by C. M. Chidgey

  “Because I don’t have any damn money! That’s why!”

  All of their eyes widened for a moment and Andrew was the first one to ask. “I thought you had your parents’ money.”

  “Yeah, so did I until my damn Uncle stole nearly everything! So right now I have less than $100 so I needed a job, so I got one.”

  “What hours do you work?” Matt asked.

  I sighed. “6-2 every night except Sunday.”

  “Is this why you have been ordering the cheapest thing off of the menu at school?” Andrew asked.

  I nodded and admitted. “It tastes like shit.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us? We could have given you money Cayla!” Dom said.

  “That’s exactly why I didn’t tell you! You guys already bought me this apartment, I can’t just keep accepting things from you.”

  “And you can’t keep going on like this Cayla, you look like your about to pass out.” He growled.

  I groaned and took my hoody off as the heat increased before throwing it on the sofa.

  Dom was looking at my work top and I wondered why for a moment until I noticed that he was staring at my waist.

  “Have you been eating?” He asked me.

  I sighed. “No Dom, I haven’t! Did you not just hear the part where I can’t afford it and the meals at school taste horrible! No one is hungry enough to eat much of those.”

  His eyes yellowed and he growled. “Right, that’s it.”

  I frowned. “What is?” I barely got the words out before he had picked me up over his shoulder and started walking towards the door. “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed at him punching his back. “Put me down!”

  Matt and Andrew were laughing as he carried me out of the door not at all worried about the fact that I was trying to escape from his hold.

  “This is kidnapping!” I yelled in the elevator.

  “I’m calling security when we get downstairs!”

  Dom chuckled. “They know us here Cayla, they’ll ignore you.”

  Despite Dom saying that, the moment we reached the lobby I screamed my head off as I kicked and punched at him. “Put me down Dominic!”

  To my horror Dom had been right and the security guards just smiled and waved as he carried me out of the building against my will followed by two amused looking men. He had walked about one hundred yards away from the building by the time I groaned and slumped against him. All of the movement wasn’t doing a lot to cool me down and it was just increasing my tiredness along with my hunger. Since he wasn’t planning on putting me down I decided to give up.

  “You guys are so mean.” I mumbled trying to ignore the fact that I still enjoyed being close to Dom despite the fact he was dragging me somewhere against my protests.

  “No Cayla, we just care about you.” Andrew said.

  I groaned and mumbled. “It’s so hot.”

  “Yeah, you say that a lot lately considering the weather has been cold.” Matt stated.

  I grunted since I couldn’t shrug in my position.

  “Happy Birthday Andrew.” I said suddenly remembering that it was. In fact if they hadn’t turned up tonight I probably wouldn’t have remembered to wish him one, I would have been busy spending the day sleeping.

  He smiled. “Thanks.”

  “I wish I had bought you a present before my Uncle stole my money.” I mumbled.

  “Don’t worry about it.” He assured me.

  “But I’m still sorry.”

  “Don’t be Cayla.”

  I yawned and sighed. “I would argue, but I’m too tired. I was planning to sleep until some guys kidnapped me.”

  Matt chuckled.

  “I can walk you know.” I said to Dom.

  “After seeing what you call walking when you went home tonight I don’t think you can.”

  I groaned. “How long were you waiting outside my apartment for?”

  “Hmm, somewhere around five hours.” Andrew said.

  “Why did you wait outside, what if I had stayed at someone’s house?”

  “And whose house would you stay at?” Dom asked.

  “Hmm, I don’t know, I might have met a guy.”

  Matt and Andrew snorted and I heard a low growl coming from Dom.

  “Stop growling at me.”

  “Stop talking about meeting guys then.” He insisted.

  “Why? You don’t own me.”

  He swung me off of his shoulder and stood me up in front of him before opening his mouth to say something, but Matt said his name in a warning tone that made him close his mouth before shaking his head and muttering.

  “You’re right I don’t. Do what you want.”

  I know I was the one that said he didn’t own me, but I was hoping he would say he did or he wanted to or something and those words really hurt. Maybe that is what Matt’s warning tone had meant, not to say anything like it because he could never really be with me. My heart broke a little more than it already had and I forced my feet to start walking on their own before he could pick me up again.

  Moments later I heard Andrew start hissing things at him, I couldn’t make out what the hell they were talking about and at that moment I didn’t really care so I just kept walking towards Dom’s house. After a while I as lagging behind as my feet tried to refuse to walk, but I wouldn’t let them win. The guys took it in turns glancing back at me. I wasn’t sure if they were making sure I hadn’t fallen on the floor or keeping an eye on me in case I changed my mind and ran back to the apartment.

  “Do you want me to carry you?” Matt asked.

  I shook my head. “No thanks. I’ll be fine.”

  Finally we reached Dom’s house and I almost cried with relief. The guys went straight into the kitchen and I trailed in behind them before sitting at the small table in there.

  “What do you want to eat?” Dom asked when I lay my head on the table.

  “Nothing.” I mumbled. “I just want to sleep.”

  “Just let her sleep.” Andrew said. “She can barely keep her eyes open, we’ll feed her tomorrow.”

  I meant to thank him, but before I could my eyes shut and refused to open again blocking off my sight followed by my other senses until I was asleep.

  Chapter 11

  When I came to I heard voices around me and before I opened my eyes I heard something that made me pretend to still be asleep.

  “I don’t know son, all the hot flushes and mood swings she gets are exactly like you three were between your eighteenth birthday and the full moon and if Andrew changes he should be the same up until his first change.” Mark said.

  “So, you’re saying she’s a shifter?” Andrew asked sounding excited about the idea.

  “I thought she might be, but I’ve traced her lines back and from what I can see she isn’t related to any known shifters at all.”

  “So what’s going on with her then?” Dom asked.

  “Maybe she just has the flu or something?” Owen suggested.

  “Or maybe she has schizophrenia.” Matt suggested with a chuckle.

  I had to stop myself from laughing because I had been starting to wonder if I did have that, but then from what I had heard people didn’t remembered what the other side of them did and I remembered everything.

  “This isn’t funny Matthew!” Dom growled at him.

  “So why do people get hot flushes and mood swings up until the full moon?” Andrew asked.

  “The hot flushes are because a shifters body temperature is naturally hotter than a human so it goes up and down in between. The mood swings are just the wild animal trying to break through and it does it in the form of anger.” Mark explained as if he had read it out of a text book, but then for all I knew there could be text books on these things.

  “Well, I can’t say I’m not glad that I’ll only have a few days of it until full moon if I am one.” Andrew said.

  “Oh and you’ll have to be careful because your eyes will start changing to yellow on occasion. Have Cayla’s eyes
changed colour at all?” Mark asked.

  “Not that we’ve seen.” Dom said.

  “I don’t see how she can be a shifter. There are a few things similar, but there are also things different. Plus she definitely isn’t a panther and I’ve never heard of a shifter having a lifemate of a different species.” Mark seemed to be thinking out loud.

  Lifemate, what the hell was that?

  “Maybe Dom has it wrong?” Matt suggested.

  “I’m not wrong!” Dom growled. “She is my lifemate!”

  What the hell….?

  “Shifters don’t make mistakes in these things Matthew, it’s just something they can feel.” Mark explained calmly. “You’ll understand when you meet yours.”

  Not sure if I wanted to hear anything else I decided to wake up, well at least let them know I was awake so I groaned and rolled over only realising then that I was on the sofa in the lounge. I rubbed my eyes and sat up before looking around at all of them who were now looking at me.

  I frowned. “Stop staring at me guys.”

  They all suddenly became very interested in looking at other parts of the room.

  “What’s the time?” I asked.

  “Almost 6.” Mark answered.

  I yawned. “Huh, I thought I would sleep until school.”

  “Hmm, let me rephrase. Almost 6 on Monday.”

  I frowned for a minute until what he had said caught up with me. “Oh crap, I have to be at work!” I practically launched myself off the sofa ignoring the first hot flush of the day.

  Matt chuckled and Dom said. “Calm down, we called you in sick.”

  “You did what?” I yelled at him my temper coming to the surface again after my long sleep. “You can’t call me in sick it’s my second week!”

  “I already did and your boss agreed you looked bad on Saturday so he understood.” Dom said.

  “I am fine, you shouldn’t have called me in sick! I’m going to work!”

  “You shouldn’t even be working.” He objected. “You can’t work for those hours and go to school, you’re going to make yourself ill, especially if you aren’t eating. You’re going to end up in the damn hospital!” His eyes flashed yellow.

  “Stop with the yellow eyes panther boy, they don’t scare me!”

  Mark chuckled and Dom rolled his eyes.

  “I’m not trying to scare you.”

  “Good, because it doesn’t work and I have to work because I need the money, it doesn’t really grow on trees despite what people like to think!”

  “I can feed you, you don’t have to go trying to get yourself killed. You should have just stayed here.”

  “I would have been fine if my Uncle wasn’t such a dickhead!” I growled clenching my fists. “Dammit, it’s not like he even needed the money. He just did it to piss me off!”

  Matt smirked. “To piss you off huh? Did it work?”

  “What the hell do you think?” I hissed at him stumbling as my vision suddenly blurred.

  “Hey, are you ok?” Dom asked grabbing my arms to hold me up.

  “I’m fine.” I muttered the heat on my skin intensifying. “It’s just so damn hot. Why is it so hot all the time? I hate it!”

  Mark suddenly had the back of his hand against my forehead only to pull it away quickly. “Well, that can’t be normal.” He stated.

  I glared at him. “Thank you doctor, but even I figured that out last week.” I shrugged out of Dom’s hold. “I’ll just go and have a cold shower.”

  “You need to eat.” Dom insisted.

  “After a shower, or I’m going to explode.” I answered walking away from him.

  After turning the shower as cold as it would go I climbed in. It felt so good that I slumped against the shower wall and just let it wash over me. My skin had goosebumps all over it by the time I climbed out. After wrapping a towel around me I looked around realising I had nothing clean to put on. With a sigh I picked up my sweaty clothes, pulled on the underwear and the top, but before I could pull the skirt on my vision tilted so much I had to hold onto the bathroom wall to keep myself upright. I wasn’t as hot as I had been though so it couldn’t be the heat, maybe I really did have something wrong with me. There was still no sign of my, until now regular period, could it have something to do with that? My vision blurred and I groaned shaking my head at myself. I was just jumping to conclusions, it was probably the fact that I had barely eaten for a week. That couldn’t really do a lot for me especially combined with lack of sleep and increase in work.

  “Cayla?” Dom called knocking on the bathroom door.

  I groaned, no way would I collapse here it would just make him happy he had been right.

  “Yeah?” I answered closing my eyes as everything seemed to go upside down. I felt like I was playing the main part in Alice In Wonderland when she is in the topsy turvy place.

  “Are you ok?” He asked suddenly and I realised that my voice had shook when I answered.

  I swallowed and pressed my hand harder against the wall to help hold myself up, but I didn’t think I was going to last much longer. The dizziness didn’t seem to be getting better it just seemed to be getting worse.

  “Yeah.” I gasped. “I’m fi-.”

  I didn’t even finish the word before my legs gave way and despite my reluctance to let my body fall to the floor it went against my wishes and did it anyway. Groaning as I collided with the hard floor I wondered if I could get away without Dom noticing. That idea went out the window when I heard the sound of him breaking down the door, I still couldn’t really see and I heard the wood splinter before I could just about make out his figure coming towards me. Damn, I was still half naked, why hadn’t my legs just held out a little longer?

  The warmth of his hands and arms surrounded me, which was a welcome comfort now that I was cooler. I felt him lift me up before I slumped against him and he started yelling for his Dad as he carried me.

  When we reached the bottom of the stairs I made out the outlines of the others. I shook my head still trying to clear my vision as Mark asked.

  “Cayla, are you with us?”

  “She looks kind of out of it.” Matt stated.

  “Of course she’s out of it, she just collapsed.” Dom growled.

  “I’m fine.” I mumbled still trying to regain my focus.

  “Of course you are.” Andrew muttered. “You’d say you were fine if you were dieing.”

  “God, no way am I dieing in this outfit.” I murmured.

  There were several snorts and Mark asked. “How do you feel?”

  “Fine.” I insisted. “You can put me down Dom, I can walk.” I added, knowing I couldn’t be close to him if I really wanted to carry on keeping my distance.

  “Are you sure?” He asked.

  I groaned and admitted. “No, I’ll fall over again. Just let me sit down somewhere.”

  He sighed and minutes later I felt the hard wooden chair beneath me as he sat me down on it. That meant we were in the kitchen since the dining room chairs were comfy and these were far from it.

  I pressed the palms of my hands against my eyes hard and rubbed trying to clear my vision. To my surprise when I pulled them away my sight was a little clearer, maybe it was wearing off now.

  “So doc, why did she pass out?” Andrew asked.

  “Most likely low blood sugar or any other number of things caused from lack of food. Basically her body doesn’t have enough food to keep up with the energy she’s been using.”

  “Hmm, seems it’s time to feed you.” Matt said.

  I groaned leaning on the table before mumbling. “Please do.”

  I had been resting on the table for a while, barely listening to their conversations. By this time my sight was back to normal and then suddenly I remembered something and shouted.

  “Oh no, I slept through Andrew’s birthday!”

  Andrew frowned and despite the cool air I was feeling on my skin I could make out the sheen of sweat across his forehead. Instead of assuring me it wa
s ok like he usually would he just shrugged and grunted.

  I frowned and muttered. “Huh, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

  Matt snorted. “I can’t believe you actually just said that after your attitude the past week.”

  I shrugged. “Sorry.”

  “You’re apologising?” Matt asked raising an eyebrow.

  I shrugged. “I’ll say anything if you feed me quicker.”

  He chuckled shaking his head. “Maybe Dom should be cooking for you.”

  I frowned. “Why?”

  “Is there something wrong with me cooking?” Dom asked.

  “I don’t care who cooks please just feed me!” I whined.

  Matt shrugged. “Well since this omelette is ready you can have this.”

  I almost bounced out of my seat as I waited for him to put it on a plate and put it on the table in front of me. At that moment I probably acting very unladylike as I cut big pieces off and shoved it into my mouth, barely chewing it before I swallowed.

  “Thank you, it’s very good!” I murmured between mouthfuls and it was. It tasted like the best thing I had ever eaten after over a week of being hungry.

  “So, why were you scaring all of the teachers last week?” Mark asked suddenly.

  “I don’t know.” I mumbled after the last bite of omelette. “I just felt really angry you know?”

  “Any particular reason?” He asked.

  I frowned and tried to really think of a reason that they made me angry so I just shrugged. “Maybe it’s a woman thing.”

  “Don’t think so.” Matt smirked. “Andrew was getting pretty angry with them today.”

  I looked at Andrew in shock trying to play the part and act like I hadn’t heard their earlier conversation in the lounge. “But you never get angry.”

  He shrugged and muttered. “Well, I did today.”

  I glared at him, his tone was really starting to piss me off. Usually I would understand, but being fed bought back the energy I needed to argue and I was just itching for an argument. Taking a deep breath held my anger back, but now my skin was beginning to heat up again, which would only make it worse.