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

by C. M. Chidgey

  “Dammit!” I growled slamming my hand on the table.

  Everyone raised their eyebrows and Andrew lowered his into an angry frown.

  “It’s getting hot again.” I muttered in explanation.

  “It hasn’t stopped being hot.” Andrew hissed wiping a hand across his forehead.

  “Whatever.”

  The others were watching our conversation like a tennis ball in a rally and it got faster the angrier we seemed to get for no particular reason. Well Andrew had a reason, but I still didn’t.

  Andrew started pacing mumbling under his breath and it was getting me so frustrated that I wanted to break something. We kept glaring at each other as if to dare the other to say something just to have a reason to start an argument. If he was feeling anywhere close to how I was feeling he was hoping I would start the argument. I ran my hands through my hair trying so hard to hold back, but in the end I knew I would snap if I didn’t get out of here so I stood up from the table grateful for the absence of the dizziness.

  “What are you doing?” Dom asked warily.

  I thought he was expecting me to start a fight and to be honest I would have loved a fight at that point.

  “Going for a walk.” I muttered. “I need to get out of here.”

  Dom looked like he was about to object, but I saw Mark catch his eye and shake his head very slowly. I snorted, had he really thought I hadn’t seen him do that?

  “Ok, I’ll come with you then.” Dom said quickly as I headed for the kitchen door.

  “Whatever.” I muttered and paused realising that I only had on my work top and underwear.

  Seeming to realise my problem Dom disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing with a pair of my jeans.

  “You left them here.” He explained as I pulled them on and headed out the front door.

  It was beginning to get dark so having a panther bodyguard certainly wasn’t doing me any harm. Admittedly I kind of thought I might be able to take on wolves alone at the moment, but that was just the angry part of me thinking it was invincible.

  The cool air felt good on my warming skin and Dom was so silent that I wouldn’t have even known he was with me if not for the fact that when I glanced behind me he was there. It seemed Dom was very smart because he didn’t question me once and never suggested we go back even when the last slither of light disappeared from between the trees. He must have realised we were going to the lake because he didn’t look surprised when we walked into the clearing, but then again he had probably been walking in these woods since he was young so he knew the way here as well as I did if not better.

  Without giving him a chance to even object I began climbing my tree testing each branch before I climbed on, not wanting another repeat of tumbling to the ground. Despite there being a breeze I grew warmer and eventually I stopped on the branch below the one I had climbed to the first time I had come here with the guys. I panted and wiped the sweat from my forehead before settling down on the branch and leaning against the trunk.

  After squinting through the darkness I still couldn’t make out any sign of Dominic below me. I began to think I should climb back down and make sure he was ok when suddenly a six foot black panther jumped up onto the branch beside me landing softly. My first reaction was to jump and scream, but I just managed to catch myself when I realised it was Dom. My heart was still beating fast though and I clutched my chest gasping.

  “Woah, you scared me Dom.”

  His yellow eyes just stared at me for a minute before he lay on the branch and rested his head on my lap. It was a little odd to be sitting there with a panther’s head in my lap when my brain was telling me to run away from it in case it ate me. Hesitantly I lifted my hand behind his ears and scratched the way I had with his cat form. He let out what sounded like a content sound as his ears twitched. I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped my throat as I continued to scratch. His fur felt even softer than it had when he was a cat and I just wanted to bury my head in it and go to sleep. To my surprise as I stayed with him like that my anger slowly disappeared even though my skin was still way too hot.

  How are you feeling?

  I heard the voice and almost fell backwards off the tree, but managed to stop myself in time when I heard it again.

  Relax Cayla, I can speak telepathically in animal form.

  I let out a deep slow breath before nodding and relaxing against the tree again before continuing to caress Dom’s fur.

  “Well, I’m not bad. I just don’t know why I keep getting all hot and angry.” I admitted.

  There was a pause before Dom answered.

  My Dad thought that maybe you were a shifter, but didn’t know about it. He doesn’t think you are though, he couldn’t find any trace of shifters in your family and you don’t have all the symptoms.

  I nodded not confessing that I already knew that since I had been awake during the conversation.

  “I probably just need anger management or something.” I muttered.

  And the hot flushes?

  I shrugged. “I don’t know Dom, maybe it’s just connected to my lack of period.” I muttered not even meaning to speak out loud, but apparently his panther hearing was acute enough to pick it up.

  Aren’t women’s periods sometimes late and stuff anyway? He asked sounding embarrassed.

  “Sometimes, but mine are always on time to the day, well until now.” I told him before adding. “You don’t need to talk about this Dom, I know guys hate this stuff. I was just saying it might be connected to that, but I don’t know.”

  Neither do I, but I’ll just take your word for it.

  I chuckled. “Ok then.” We were silent for a few minutes before I asked. “Do you think Andrew is going to be a shifter then?”

  He laughed telepathically and the sound echoed around my head making me wince slightly.

  Judging from today I’d say no doubt about it.

  I smiled knowing Andrew would be happy about that, but it also meant that I was losing my friend in a way that I could never do anything about. Would any of them even want to be my friend when they could spend their time running around the forest as panthers? I didn’t think they would to be honest. It made me realise that I would never fit in with them no matter what I did I would just be the outcast.

  “I guess we should get back.” I said.

  He lifted his panther head and nodded, which would have made me laugh a few minutes ago before I knew I would lose everyone.

  Without any trouble at all he gracefully made his way down the tree until he reached the ground. I followed him much more slowly and clumsily. My hand caught on the edge of a sharp branch before blood ran down my palm. Wincing I wiped my bloody palm on my jeans before inspecting my hand for the cut. It seemed that the same thing that had happened at my apartment had happened again though because there was absolutely no sign of any kind of laceration on my hand. What the hell was going on with me?

  Dom couldn’t have noticed my pause because he didn’t say anything when I reached the ground. It took us longer to get back than it had taken to get here thanks to my now depleted anger there was nothing to drive me forwards.

  Luckily we didn’t come across any wolves at all on the way back, but I was glad to walk through the front door. Dom had tried to take my hand once or twice, but I had swiftly found something to do with my own hands to avoid it no matter how much I wanted to hold his back.

  The next few days were uneventful apart from the fact Andrew and I kept breaking out in pointless arguments in the middle of school. We were sent to the principal at least ten times between Tuesday and Thursday. Dom and Matt tried to do everything they could to calm us, but eventually gave up and let us just yell it out. My anger and hot flushes were still a mystery to everyone, but I think Andrew was glad he didn’t look like he was the only one losing it. Dom and his parents insisted that I stay at their house for now, at least until I got my first months payment so that I could eat. Dom paid for my lunch no matter how many ti
mes I tried to object, if I walked away from him before he could he would simply buy more for himself and insist I eat the rest so that it wouldn’t go to waste.

  It was hard to find the time to do school work and my job, but I managed to juggle both things somehow. My body still wasn’t used to the few hours of sleep it was getting every night, but the fact that I was now eating seemed to help a lot.

  Dom and I had, had a couple arguments over if I really needed to work and luckily for me he had given up and just let me do it.

  It wasn’t until Thursday night when I was at work and Dom, Matt and Andrew walked in that I discovered that James was in fact Matt’s brother. I walked over to their table and raised an eyebrow.

  “Firstly, how did you know where I worked?” I asked all of them before turning to Matt and asking. “James is your brother?”

  “Your logo on your top kind of gave you away.” Dom said.

  I looked down at my top unnecessarily before turning my attention back to Matt.

  “What makes you think he’s my brother?”

  “You just walked in and said “Hey bro” and now that I think about it you do kind of look alike. Is he your brother?”

  Matt smirked. “Yep.”

  “I never knew you had a brother.” I stated.

  He shrugged. “You never asked.”

  “Cayla, can you give me a hand please?” Lucy called from across the room where food was ready to be delivered to their tables.

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” I told them before helping Lucy out with the orders.

  I had taken two more tables orders and handed them into the kitchen before I had time to return to their table including to my disgust Maddy and her sidekicks.

  “Burger and fries please.” Matt said when I reached their table.

  I chuckled and wrote it down on my notepad before raising my eyebrows at the others.

  “Waitress, waitress!” Maddy began yelling.

  I ground my teeth together and tried to control myself when she kept yelling, Lucy was busy serving another large family table.

  “Waitress!” She almost screamed.

  “I am taking someone else’s order Maddy, wait your turn!” I growled at her.

  “I’m going to file a complaint, the service here is terrible.” Maddy said loud enough for everyone to hear.

  I was so close to the edge of my patience, I was having another hot flush and on the verge of losing it.

  “Shut the hell up!” Andrew hissed at her revealing just how close he was to losing it too.

  “Just go see what she wants.” Matt said. “I’m sure we can wait.”

  Not wanting a fight to break out in the diner I plastered a smile on my face and walked over to see what she was making a fuss about. The moment I reached her she looked at me.

  “About time. Now, I just ordered this veggie burger and fries, but it has ketchup on.”

  “Ok.” I said grabbing her plate, returning it to the kitchen and requesting one without ketchup.

  It wasn’t like I wasn’t used to the complaints, but the fact that it was her just trying to cause trouble automatically pushed me to my limit.

  “You ok?” Dom asked when I returned to their table.

  I nodded, he must have seen the barely controlled temper from the expression on my face.

  All three of them ordered burger and fries, I gave them a smile and took the order to the kitchen, Maddy’s was ready so I took it to her table and left it there without even pausing.

  “Hey, you ok? You’re looking kind of annoyed.” James said looking at me when I reached the bar.

  I nodded forcing a smile. “Yeah, just annoying customers tonight.” I said glancing in Maddy’s direction.

  James followed my glance and chuckled. “I’ve heard about that one, Matt was always complaining about her.”

  “I never knew he was your brother until tonight.” I said.

  He laughed. “Maybe I should be offended.”

  I didn’t even have time to answer before Maddy called me over again. Groaning I headed towards her table and looked at her questioningly.

  “My fries are overdone.” She said.

  I looked at her fries, which looked perfectly fine to me.

  “Your fries are done fine, you should have told me if you wanted frozen ones.” I said with a false smile on my face the whole time.

  “I do not want frozen ones, but I don’t want overcooked ones either.”

  “There is nothing wrong with those fries!” I growled at her.

  She crossed her arms. “Did you never hear that the customer is always right?”

  “Yeah, well those people obviously didn’t have you as a customer!” I hissed.

  “Cayla, just give her new fries.” James sighed.

  I bit my tongue before returning her plate to the kitchen yet again requesting a veggie burger with no ketchup and fries that weren’t overdone.

  The guys meals were ready by that time so I picked them up and put them on their table trying to give them a smile although it was difficult by this stage. I didn’t even have time to talk to them before Maddy yelled.

  “Is my dinner ready yet waitress?”

  I closed my eyes to attempt to regain control of myself, she was just calling me waitress to piss me off, she knew exactly what my name was. Without bothering to respond to her I returned to the kitchen area and waited for her meal to be done.

  When it arrived I ground my teeth together knowing that I couldn’t take anymore complaints from the girl. I took the newly prepared meal and put it down on her table barely stopping myself from slamming it.

  “Is there anything else I can get you?” I forced out.

  “Yeah, actually could you get me some ketchup?”

  I stared at her. “You said that you didn’t want ketchup.”

  She shrugged. “I’ve changed my mind.”

  I glared at her. “Ok, you want ketchup, I’ll get you ketchup.”

  I almost stomped over to the bar knowing she had pushed me too far now grabbed a bottle of ketchup, returned to her and opened the bottle of ketchup before pouring it all over her perfect hair and lap.

  She gasped in shock shaking her hands as if the worst thing ever had happened to her.

  I closed the bottle and slammed it on the table before giving a big smile and saying.

  “I do hope you enjoy your meal.”

  She looked like she was about to scream, but before she could I turned my back on her. I heard her yell of anger and turned just in time to see her launch herself towards me with a look of rage on her face.

  Before she could even touch me Dom had grabbed her arms and halted her mid jump, but she seemed to have gone completely crazy and was struggling enough to make it difficult for Dom to stop her from slipping away. Matt arrived then and grabbed her other arm to keep her in place.

  “Let me go!” She screamed. “I’m going to kill her!”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t allow violence in here. Please remove her from the premises guys.” James said walking up behind me.

  “Am I fired now?” I murmured to him as she was dragged out of the building screaming followed by her sidekicks who looked a little uncomfortable from all the stares.

  He chuckled. “No, she got what was coming to her. I’m not going to miss her as a customer.”

  “Nice work, I’ve been wanting to do that for so long.” Lucy said walking over to us.

  “Oh, by the way you two, we are closed tomorrow night, so you can have the night off.” James said.

  Lucy grinned and walked off to tend to other customers.

  “Why you closed?” I asked.

  “Full moon.” He said with a wink.

  I raised my eyebrows. “Are you……?” I trailed off, I didn’t have to finish.

  He smirked and nodded. “Brother, remember?”

  I returned his smile. “I remember.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Andrew asked walking over to us. He had almost a c
onstant frown of anger on his face now, but according to the others he would be back to normal after his first change tomorrow night.

  “Tomorrow.” James and I replied in sync.

  He huffed. “Oh, that.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, that.”

  He glared at me. “Well, it’s alright for you, you aren’t going to turn into a cat.”

  “And you aren’t going to be the only one in our group of friends who doesn’t fit in!” I hissed not even meaning for it to come out.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Andrew returned his eyes actually beginning to soften for the first time in a few days.

  I shook my head. “Nothing, I have to get back to work.” Without another word I began tending to my tables again.

  Dom and Matt returned to their table with Andrew and I barely noticed them there throughout the evening and night as I worked hoping Andrew would forget what I had said and that James hadn’t been paying attention.

  The rest of my shift passed without incident, but I was exhausted and looking forward to curling up in bed and going to sleep. Matt went home with James and Andrew drove home while Dom walked me to his house. He attempted to start a conversation a couple of times, but must have realised how tired I was by my lack of response and almost continuous yawns.

  His parents were in bed when we arrived and I thanked Dom for walking back with me before finding the guest bedroom and falling into the comfort of the duvet not bothering to crawl under it since there was no reason to keep warm when I seemed to have such a high body temperature at the moment.

  Chapter 12

  The next day at school seemed to go really slowly because I wanted it to end quickly and I was kind of looking forward to Andrew getting back to normal so we didn’t argue constantly. Despite the angry side of me just wanting to argue with everyone, the rational side of me was really tired of all the arguments.

  Every single time Maddy saw me during school she glared at me as if she was about to really kill me. Whoever was with me had taken a step closer and glared right back at her until she had turned away.