"I didn't agree to that." I told him, while looking at him through narrowed eyes.
Cassiel sighed heavily and I caught the look of exhaustion that flashed over his features. "Look, we both know that Gabriel is weird." He paused; looking at me for confirmation. Once I nodded he continued, "He just freaked out when you didn't come back right away…" He trailed off and chewed over what he'd say next. I waited, somewhat impatiently. "You know that Gabriel's not mad at you, right?" He finally blurted out.
I let out a bark of laughter. I couldn't help it. That was hilarious, "Right, and the pack is a democracy." I took a bite of another brownie. It practically melted in my mouth, it was so good.
Cassiel gave me a look before pushing my shoulder playfully.
I chuckled lightly, but didn't say anything else.
It was abnormal for Cassiel to be defending his brother to me. I wasn't sure how to take it. "I'm trying to be serious here, El."
"Yeah, I know, but that hat doesn't fit. It's weird that you chose his side over mine."
"I didn't choose his side." Cassiel surprised me by growling, "I'm not choosing anyone's side, because you two fighting right now is stupid."
"Why don't you tell that to him?" I yelled without meaning to. I couldn't help it. This wasn't what I expected to happen when I climbed down here. It certainly wasn't a pleasant surprise.
"He did."
I tensed up instantly and slowly turned to the man walking out of the shadows. Gabriel had been standing beside the porch, half hidden under the tree, the entire time. I hadn't even noticed him!
I couldn't wait till I turned 17, then I'd be on equal footing with him.
I moved to stand up, but Cassiel stopped me, "You guys need to stop acting like a bunch of five year olds. Make up already." Cassiel stood, fixing us both with a glare, "There's enough fighting going on, and we don't need it inside the pack too."
Then my friend left me…alone…with his brother.
I watched Gabriel slowly make his way over to me. When he stopped we had at least five feet between us. I was thankful. When it came to Gabriel, especially when he was in one of his moods, I liked plenty of space between us.
He let out a long sigh, "You've got to be the most stubborn person I've ever met."
"I don't know." I frowned in thought, "I always thought Nathaniel had me beat in the category."
A light smirk lifted at his mouth, "You're right."
Slowly, almost menacingly, Gabriel came over and sat beside me. There was still space between us, so I wasn't completely uncomfortable.
"Why do you always make everyone out to be my fault?" I grumbled.
Gabriel turned on me, "Why do you put yourself in situations that will get you in trouble?"
I glared at him, "I hate you."
"You don't mean that." Gabriel growled out angrily.
"How can I not, Gabriel? You're always putting me down or blaming me for everything! Even when I haven't done anything you're always in my face about something! It's not fair!" I didn't care that I was screaming at an already pissed off werewolf.
I could see Gabriel shaking in attempt to keep himself under control.
I knew that I should have stopped. I knew that Gabriel had a short temper, and that I was tap dancing on the line between 'pushing his buttons' and 'getting myself killed'.
"So what if I ran off earlier? It's not like I did it primarily to hurt you." I talked through my teeth to keep myself from lashing out any more, "I just needed to get away from here. I needed to be somewhere where I wasn't the baby of the pack! Don't you understand where I'm coming from, at all?"
Gabriel took one stride forward, but stopped himself short. It was like his was literally fighting with himself.
"Of course I understand, Elaine! How do you think I feel? I'm stuck here while the rest of the pack is fighting for a cause that affects us all! I'm here playing babysitter when I could be out there helping the pack!"
We both shut up. I rubbed the back of my neck and took a few hundred deep breaths. I knew I needed to calm down. I closed the brownies up; I had lost my appetite, and glared down at my hands.
Smoke was practically coming out of our ears, and it definitely wasn't helping either one of us.
I don't know how long we were out there, but the silence was starting to dig at my insides. I needed to get out of there.
"I'll see you tomorrow." I jumped up and started towards the door. I couldn't take just sitting there anymore.
"El,"
His tone made my stop. Gabriel didn't sound sorry, he never did no matter what he did, but there was something about his voice that stopped me from going into the house.
"Let's take a walk." He obviously hated staying in one place for too long, too.
I wordlessly followed him.
We walked around the pack neighborhood and went into the woods. The air had cooled from the rain and I took pleasure in the light drizzles that fell from the trees above us.
We took the main path. It would eventually take us in a long circle and lead us right back to where we started… not that I was worried about getting lost. I knew the woods like the back of my hand, and so did Gabriel.
"You were partly right earlier." Gabriel said after a while. I knew better than to think he would apologize. Doing something like that wasn't in his mindset. He was a warrior. Most of the time, he was a blank slate. The only time I could tell what he was thinking or how he was feeling was when he was mad.
I bit down on my lip to keep myself from saying anything I'd later regret.
"But I'm still in charge right now, baby girl." Gabriel narrowed his eyes at me, but not in a threatening way. He was practically teasing me. "Whether you like it or not, you have to listen to me."
I looked away from him in thought as I remembered what Michael made me promise before he left. I stuffed my hands into my sweatshirt pouch and dragged my feet as I walked beside him.
"But you didn't tell me that I couldn't leave." I spoke to my shoes.
"It was an unspoken order." Gabriel snapped, "I thought it would be common sense to not go out while a war was being fought."
I glared at him moodily, "It wasn't like I was going to the battle. I just went into town."
"That doesn't matter, Elaine." He told me seriously, "Quentin told you to stay home and you disobeyed him." I opened my mouth, but stopped when I heard a light growl in Gabriel's throat. "It doesn't matter if he isn't here. You shouldn't have gone against his orders."
I groaned, "The only order he gave me was to not go to the clearing. I didn't, so I'm not in the wrong."
"Elaine!" Gabriel's patience ran out faster than popcorn at the movies. I winced, but didn't lower my gaze from his even when his growl grew more dangerous. "Why do you have to be so impossible?" He groaned loudly and I watched his shoulders relax a tiny bit.
He ran his hand over his face and through his hair.
"This wasn't how I wanted this conversation to go." He confided in me.
"What? You really didn't plan to drag me out here to yell at me some more?" Sarcasm was laced bitterly in my tone, and I regretted it as soon as Gabriel looked my way.
He looked ready to hit something.
"Do you always have a response to everything?" I could hear the strain in his voice. I gave him a mental pat on the back for trying not to lash out at me again.
I grinned tightly, "I try."
He shot me a look and I bit down on my lip, hard, to silence my chuckles.
"I hate being stuck here." He breathed heavily.
"Then why didn't you go with the others?" I asked.
"I'm the babysitter, remember?" His tone was mocking, but I heard the resentment he tried to conceal.
I scoffed, "That's not true and you know it."
"Isn't it?" Gabriel was growling openly now and it put me on edge. "Alex ordered me to stay behind. I know that it has something to do with you."
Those few words made my blood boil. "Why do you assume it had something to do with me?"
/>
Gabriel opened his mouth to snap out the answer. I waited impatiently. I wanted to know the answer!
Then he clamped it shut.
"Tell me!" I demanded stubbornly.
Gabriel let out an aggravated sigh. "We can never get through a conversation without fighting."
"That's because you're always leaving me in the dark." I felt a growl of my own vibrate in my chest. "Why can't you just tell me?"
Suddenly Gabriel stopped. Before I even registered what was going on he had me flat against the trunk of a tree. "There are some things that you're not ready to hear."
His breath turned to fog as he panted in anger while his eyes turned to magma. I could feel hot tears of frustration sting the back of my eyes, but I blinked them away.
"Why does everyone hide things from me?" It came out more of a whisper than a demanding question.
Gabriel's grip on my arms loosened, but he didn't release me.
"It's the pack's job to protect you." His tone lost most of its anger, but I saw the rage burning in his eyes when I met his gaze again. "You have to come to terms with that eventually, baby girl."
I pressed my forehead against Gabriel's arm and sighed, "I don't want to be protected."
I felt Gabriel's muscles move beneath my touch and then he went completely tense.
"Be quiet." He pulled me back so I was standing partially behind him and we waited.
I was confused, but knew that he must have heard something. So, I closed my eyes and listened to the intense silence around us.
Then two howls broke out across the forest… and they weren't from us.
Chapter Four
I grabbed hold of Gabriel's arm, nails and all, as the howls slowly silenced. The moon above us reminded me of how close the moon was to being full. I wasn't exactly scared, just a little very alert.
As I grew tenser I felt Gabriel's muscles relax completely.
He let out a long groan, "Those two idiots." Then, without another word, he stalked down the path.
"Who are they?" For the millionth time that day I wished I was already 17. I wanted the super senses.
My question was answered by two hunched figures stumbling through the brush. I squinted at them. At first I didn't recognize them. Their words were slurred and I smelled a weird scent coming off them. Seeing as I didn't have super smell, that was saying a lot.
"Gabriel!" Odolf held out his arms as a greeting to the man standing beside me. When he took a step towards us, Gabriel pushed me behind him once more. I hadn't even realized I had stepped around him to get a better look.
I stared at them for a few seconds, "What are you still doing out here?" I could have sworn I heard them come in a few hours ago.
Odolf, who was barely two inches taller than me, burst into a fit of giggles.
"Are you drunk?" I eyed them cautiously. I had never seen anyone in the pack, let alone these guys, act like that. They could barely stay on their feet.
Martin let out another howl and I winced at the volume as it cut through my ears. It was like he'd gone tone death. "We're just high from the run, baby girl." His eyes roamed over my body in a not so brotherly way.
I could have slapped him. I would have too, if Gabriel hadn't grabbed my arm.
"Why are you so late? I know that Alex left the clearing before dark." Assumptions and threats were clearly heard in Gabriel's tone. I was glad that the heat was off me, for once.
"Odolf and I ran around town a few times." Martin was practically swaying. His eyes were glued to the moon. The look of pure lust in his eyes made me sick. He was definitely high on something. "We had to wind down after the run Alex put on."
My stomach felt heavy. I yearned to run with the pack.
Gabriel didn't seem that interested, "Just tell me, is there any reason the police might come looking for you."
Martin laughed, "You have no faith in us, buddy." When he walked past us he patted Gabriel's shoulder.
I bit my lip to keep from snorting with laughter. The moonlight shone bright enough that I saw Gabriel's face. His jaw was turning white from the stress he was putting on it. He obviously hadn't thought it was funny.
"Get out of here." Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
Odolf laughed, "Why do you always have to be such a downer?" He was swaying as he walked, as if he could hear music that I couldn't.
Gabriel's eyes snapped open. I felt his muscles bunch together under my hand, which was still over his arm, and I quickly jumped in front of him before he could lunge.
"Odolf," I grabbed his attention, "Why don't you and Martin go to my house. I'll be right there and I'll make you some pancakes to soak up whatever you guys are running on." I spoke slowly, as if speaking to a three year old.
He nodded enthusiastically, "Danke." He walked past me with a bounce in his step.
"Your welcome, just don't take any pit stops. Go straight to my house. The door's unlocked." I called after him. I watched him meet up with Martin and they ran out of my sight.
I took a few seconds to send a silent prayer up to the moon, before turning to Gabriel. He was staring at me.
His expression was unreadable, "You're going to make them pancakes?"
I nodded, heading back in the direction we came. "Yes I am." I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he was following me.
I stopped when I didn't see him.
I jumped when I felt an arm fall over my shoulders. I swung around. Gabriel was staring down intently at me, "Race you."
Then, he took off.
"Hey!" I cried out, "Just because Martin and Odolf showed up, doesn't mean that our conversation is over!" I took off after him.
The only sound I heard was footsteps against the soggy ground. After a few minutes I saw the back porch light through the trees. I slowed to a light jog as I exited the woods. The curtains were open and though the glass door I saw Odolf and Martin sitting at the table waiting for me.
I let out a sigh and jogged the whole way back to my house. The two guys in the kitchen were singing Bad Moon Rising with their heads back and necks arched to the ceiling. I sighed and went to work making up the pancake batter.
CL
"Cassie…" I sat on the edge of the pull out couch. My hands collapsed in my lap as I folded my left leg beneath me. I frowned at my best friend's sleeping form. It was going on 11 and he was still out like a light.
He didn't even move.
I gently shook his shoulder, "Come on Cassie get up." I grinned, amused, when he grumbled something into his pillow, but showed no signs of actually waking up.
"You're not going to get him up that way." Pavel was behind me.
I nodded.
Cassiel let out a growl when I shook him again, and I laughed, "Don't blame me later when you get up and no one is here." I whispered while standing up.
"I put a note on the fridge. He should find it." Pavel stepped into his sneakers and quickly retied the laces. I leaned against the wall beside him and waited. Pavel had on a pair of sweatpants, that he had cut half the pants legs off, and a worn, thin gray tank top. The wrist band he had over his wrist hid the tattoo of the Luperco.
He normally wore gloves or the black band whenever he knew he'd be going out in public. Pavel wasn't one to flaunt his tattoos. He had three others: one on his left shoulder blade, one across his lower back, and another on the back of his left leg.
"How many miles do you want to do?" I asked him; glancing back at Cassiel's sleeping form before following Pavel outside.
Pavel shrugged, "Five to start, I guess."
The sun glared down at us and burned my skin once it made contact. I took my baseball cap out of my back pocket and pulled it on.
I nodded, wordlessly accepting the number, and we took off. We kept our pace even at slow to start. The sun had dried the mud and we were now running on solid ground instead of water, like I had been yesterday.
Once we got past the river Pavel's speed enhanced.
I saw it
as a challenge and pushed myself to run faster. After a few seconds he was eating my dust.
"I didn't think we were racing today!" I heard the laugh in his voice and heard his feet pound harder into the ground behind me.
Then I felt his muscular arms wrap around my from behind.
"That's cheating!" I yelled as he picked me up and spun me around so he was in the lead. I grunted, unhappily, and bolted after him as he turned down another path.
I watched him run and followed each of his steps, but it wasn't enough.
When we reached the end of our five miles he had won. The only thing I could hear, other than the usual noises of the forest, was our desperate pants. I bent down and rested my hands on my knees. My lungs felt like they were going to explode.
"Since I won, does that mean I get pancakes for a late dinner tonight?" I glared up at him. He had obviously heard about my late hours with the two howling hyenas. Then again, I didn't think there was anyone in the pack who hadn't heard them. It took Martin and Odolf a while to settle down.
And dad thought I wasn't mature enough to go to the clearing…
"You can make your own." I jabbed him in the side, which only made him laugh harder.
"That hurts, El." He was mocking me now. "You're making me feel unappreciated. It's like you like them better."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, "It's more like, I wanted to get some sleep and they wouldn't shut up."
Pavel laughed, "That's how the runs are, though. They elevate you so much that you think you're flying. It's like our drug." He finished with a joke.
"I wouldn't know." I hadn't meant to sound as mean as I had.
He nudged my side firmly, "Hey, your time will come. Don't stress about it so much."
I glanced over at him just in time to see him lift of his shirt over his head.
The first place I looked was his shoulder blade. Black ink spelled Russian across the left side of his back. It read ya begraoo s luna. Translated in English it meant I run with the moon. The characters were thick and drew attention to his lean back.
"Does your dad know about the newest edition to your collection of body art?"
He made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat and snuck a glance my way while slinging his shirt around his neck, "I haven't seen him in a while."
Howl (Howl Book 1) Page 5