by W. H. Vega
The sky was a brilliant blue, and the air was finally becoming warm. Well, warm by Oregon standards. Gabby stomped over to her beat up Dodge Ram and slammed the door as she got in. The truck had belonged to her father and she wondered how her life would be different if he were still alive.
For starters, Gabby wouldn’t be bailing Lucy’s ass out at school. And her mother would never have become a drunk. Andrea couldn’t handle the death of their father, and soon after she began drinking heavily. Gabby had all but raised Lucy. In fact, Gabby had to force herself to move out of her mother’s house two years ago, because she knew it was too unhealthy for her to live there. Lucy had become so rebellious, and yet so dependent on Gabby—it was a bad combination. She had no idea what Lucy had done this time, but she was ready to rip her a new one.
Gabby sighed as she turned down the familiar road to the high school. When Gabby graduated six years ago, she had been more than happy to leave the place behind her. Yet, here she was. Again.
Slamming the door, Gabby jumped out of the ancient truck and hurried up the steps to the small school. The secretary, Mrs. Jones, recognized her immediately and waved her into the office.
“She’s in there with Mrs. Monroe.”
Gabby knocked on the door and a tired Mrs. Monroe answered.
“Hello, Gabrielle. Come on in.”
Gabby walked in and closed the door behind her.
There was Lucy, sitting in the corner chair, her thin arms crossed and folded on her chest and a snarl on her face.
So not only was Lucy in trouble, but she was also sulking in the counselor’s office.
Fan-freaking-tastic.
At least Lucy was wise enough not to make eye contact with Gabby.
“So, can you tell me what it was that called me away from work today?” Gabby asked, not bothering to hide the annoyance in her voice. She didn’t care who answered as long as someone told her what the hell was going on.
She glanced back over at Lucy and noticed that she was wearing a tight black t-shirt and tight black jeans, along with dark black boots. Where Lucy was thin and angular, Gabby was soft and curvy. Sometimes it was hard to believe that the two girls were sisters. And when the hell did Lucy start wearing all black?
“Would you like to tell your sister what happened?” Mrs. Monroe asked Lucy. Lucy stared at the wall, pretending she didn’t hear. Mrs. Monroe sighed. “Fine,” she took a seat across from Gabby. “Your sister thought it would be funny to hijack the school intercom system today to announce that this school was a piece of s-h-i-t hellhole and that there were only fourteen school days left until everyone could get the f-u-c-k out of here.”
Gabby didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The sad thing was that she understood where Lucy was coming from. Nothing in this town felt more stifling than the smaller-than-small high school.
Gabby decided she needed to act like the adult here. “Luce, is that true?”
Lucy nodded, still not meeting her eyes.
“Normally she would be suspended for three days for something like this,” Mrs. Monroe continued, narrowing her eyes, “but luckily for your sister, Principal Evans is out today.”
Gabby bit her lip. Lucy was smart as hell. Gabby would bet her life on the fact that Lucy knew Principal Evans was out today and took full advantage of the fact.
“So since he’s not here, and graduation is only fourteen days away, as your sister so kindly reminded us today, I’m going to cut her some slack and just send her home for the day.”
She got up and walked around to Lucy, bending over so her face was inches from Lucy’s face. “You pull another stunt like that before the end of the school year and I won’t hesitate to suspend you and keep you from graduating.”
Lucy rolled her eyes.
“Lucy!” Gabby exclaimed. What the hell was she thinking? The counselor just cut her a break and Lucy was disrespecting her.
“Sorry,” Lucy muttered.
Gabby quickly stood up. She wanted to get the hell out of here before Mrs. Monroe could reconsider her decision.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Monroe. I promise you that there will be no more stunts from my sister,” she practically growled.
“I hope not.” Mrs. Monroe, who was actually only a few years older than Gabby, making her feel ridiculous for having to address her as Missus, gave Gabby a patronizing smile. “We did, of course, try to reach your mother first, but had no luck. I’m sorry that you had to leave work to come get Lucy.”
Gabby didn’t miss the jab at her mother, but she took the high road and ignored it. “Well, I’m very sorry you couldn’t reach her, but I don’t think any of us are surprised.” She turned and looked at Lucy. “Get your stuff,” she ordered, and Lucy stood up and grabbed her book bag. “Thanks again,” Gabby added, even though she wasn’t feeling very thankful.
She walked out of the office and Lucy skulked behind her.
Gabby didn’t say anything until they were almost to the car.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” she exploded, turning towards Lucy.
Lucy shrank back, her blue eyes wide. “I’m sorry.”
“Bull shit!” Gabby knew that her own blue eyes, the ones that were identical to Lucy’s, were flashing with anger.
They got in the car and Gabby began driving toward her mother’s house.
“Three weeks, Lucy. Three fucking weeks! Can you not keep your shit together for three weeks?”
“I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“Do you know what would have happened if that counselor didn’t feel like being so generous this afternoon? Do you not want to graduate? You’re so excited to get the hell out of that school, yet you’re jeopardizing graduation!”
“Alright, alright. I get it.”
“Do you?” Gabby demanded. “For the love of God, please keep your shit together for the last three weeks. They are going to be watching you like a hawk. Evans would just love a reason to kick your ass out of school.”
There was no denying that Principal Evans had it out for Lucy.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” Lucy bit her lip and looked over at her sister. “But it was pretty funny, wasn’t it?” she asked slyly.
Gabby just shook her head and stared straight ahead. But she couldn’t stop a small smile from escaping. “Okay, yes, it was funny. But that’s not the point. You’re going to get into serious trouble, Lucy. Please. I just need you to keep it together a little while longer.”
Lucy ran a hand through her long, straight, dark hair.
“And when the hell did you start wearing all black?” Gabby demanded. “It’s so damn depressing.”
Lucy shrugged, staring out the window.
Within a few minutes, Gabby pulled into the driveway of the rundown house Lucy shared with her mother. Gabby shook her head in dismay at the overflowing garbage cans sitting out on the curb.
“When was trash day?” Gabby asked tightly.
“Two days ago.”
“Damn her,” Gabby muttered.
They got out of the truck, and Lucy hurried up the crumbling front steps, pulling out her keys. She opened the door and Gabby followed. Sure enough, Andrea was sprawled across the living room couch, fast asleep, still wearing her pajamas. There was an empty vodka bottle on the end table.
“Wake up,” Gabby barked.
“Huh?” Andrea stirred, rubbing at her eyes.
“Get up,” Gabby said, kicking the couch.
“Hey,” she protested.
“Are you not paying the bills again? The trash is festering out on the street.”
“They forgot to come.”
“Really? Then how come you’re the only house with garbage cans left out front?”
Andrea shrugged, and closed her eyes. Then she opened them and looked at Lucy. “Why are you home?”
“Oh, finally noticed?” Gabby scoffed, unable to hide her disgust. It had been hard to move out of her mother’s house two years ago, but she was so glad that she did it.
Lucy rolled her eyes. “I got in trouble again.” She stalked into the kitchen.
Andrea pushed herself up to a sitting position. “What happened?” she slurred.
“Get yourself together. Go take a shower or something. Then you can find out about Lucy.” Gabby didn’t look back at her mom and went into the kitchen with Lucy.
Lucy was rummaging through the cabinets and looking into the empty refrigerator. “There’s never any food here,” she complained. Gabby sighed. More often than not, she had to go to the grocery store and stock the house with groceries.
“Why can’t I come live with you?” Lucy whined, finding an unopened box of granola bars and helping herself.
Gabby had wrestled with that a lot, but her mother’s house was much closer to the school, and Gabby’s apartment was only one bedroom and not technically in the same school district.
“You only have three weeks left of school. Make the best of it. And you know I don’t have the room for you.”
“I can sleep on the couch.”
“Forever? Then what, Luce? Have you thought any more about what you want to do after school?”
Lucy let out a bitter laugh, sounding much older than her seventeen years. “I’m just going to do what everyone else does. Stay in Russet Falls until I die.”
“Stop. You know that you can do more than that.” Gabby hated when her sister acted defeated; she was capable of so much more.
“Please. Don’t try to give me advice, Gabby. Look at you! You stayed here! You graduated six years ago! Why aren’t you out doing anything important?”
Lucy struck a nerve, and Gabby knew that Lucy had done it on purpose. Gabby took a deep breath, trying to control herself instead of exploding at her sister, which is what she wanted to do.
“No answer?” Lucy sniped.
That was it.
“I did it for you!” Gabby spat. “What was I going to do? Run off to California or Arizona and leave you here with mom? You were twelve, Lucy! A freaking kid! So, excuse me for sticking around so I could help you.”
Lucy looked contrite. Obviously, she hadn’t thought too much about it.
“And look how you’ve paid me back!” Gabby remarked. “You’re about to blow your chances at graduating!”
And before she could say something that she would regret, she stormed into the bathroom.
Gabby locked the door behind her and braced herself against the sink, taking deep breaths. She looked up at her reflection and studied herself. She was pretty, no question, but sometimes she wasn’t sure if she really saw herself clearly. She had big blue eyes, and her long honey-streaked chestnut hair hung down her back in natural waves. She was a curvy girl, and even though she tried to cover her up her breasts for work, it was hard to do so. She was wearing a plain, button-down black shirt, and her breasts were straining against the material.
She heard the shower turn on in the upstairs bathroom, and she realized that her mother was actually taking her advice and showering. Why did Gabby have to be the one to take care of everyone? She knew that if her father was still here, she wouldn’t have to be in charge.
She remembered the State Troopers bringing his body back to the house. Her mother had screamed and tried to push Gabby away so that she couldn’t see, but it was too late. Gabby had seen the blood around her father’s mouth and the missing fingernails.
As if he had tried to fight a bear.
What the hell could he possibly have been thinking?
Gabby shook her head, trying not to think about that night. The night that had changed her whole world when she was only six years old.
Gabby went back out into the kitchen and Lucy was quiet, sitting in one of the kitchen chairs. She looked up at Gabby with her big blue eyes and she suddenly looked so young; she reminded Gabby of what she had been like as a child.
“So are you going to leave, now that I’m graduating? Are you going to move away?”
Sighing, Gabby sat down next to her. “No. I’m not going to leave. Not now, when I have a good job.”
“But you could get a good job anywhere,” Lucy pointed out.
“True.”
“But you still feel like you need to look after me?” Lucy asked.
Gabby nodded. She couldn’t imagine Lucy on her own. At least not yet. And it was true, she did have a good job at the hotel, and Paul was paying her more than she deserved.
“You still could take some classes at the community college in Salem,” Gabby pointed out. “It’s only a thirty minute drive.”
Lucy nodded. “I know. Maybe I will. I’m sure I could keep working at the diner while I took classes.”
“Absolutely. You could probably work more hours at the diner because your class load wouldn’t be the same as being in school all day. Ask,” Gabby urged. Lucy worked at one of the two diners in town, and even though she was a troublemaker at school, she was actually a hard worker. Gabby knew the owners, Trish and Jimmy, would love to have Lucy put in more hours.
“Okay. Maybe I’ll ask at work tomorrow. And then I can look into registering for Fall classes.”
“Don’t wait too long,” Gabby warned. “Those classes will fill up.”
They didn’t get a chance to speak anymore because Andrea wandered into the kitchen, freshly showered and looking like she didn’t know how she got there. That was often the look of a drunk. Once they sobered up, they couldn’t quite remember how they got to that point.
“What’s this about you getting into trouble?” Andrea asked, grabbing a Diet Coke from the fridge and reaching for a granola bar.
“Nothing. I just had a little fun with the intercom system,” Lucy smiled.
Gabby didn’t want to stick around to watch her mother try to act like a mother to Lucy, so she stood up.
“I’m going to head out and you can fill Mom in.”
“Stay,” Lucy pleaded, her eyes begging Gabby.
She felt horrible, but Gabby shook her head. “I can’t, Luce. I’m sorry.”
“We could order pizza,” Andrea suggested. “I don’t really have any food here anyway.”
Gabby pulled out her wallet and placed a twenty down on the table. “Here. Order pizza. I’ll bring some groceries by tomorrow.”
“We’re not a charity house,” Andrea snapped. “I don’t need your damn money or your groceries. I was offering for you to stay for dinner.”
“Well maybe I wouldn’t have to put groceries in this house if you didn’t waste all of your money on booze!” Gabby shot back. “Enjoy the pizza.” She looked back at Lucy. “Sorry, Luce.”
She hurried from the house, hating herself for how she acted toward her mother, while hating her mother at the same time.
Why the hell couldn’t her mother take care of things? Her mother had received a good pension since her father died; it was more than enough to care for her and Lucy. And if her mother could quit drinking the damn booze, she would even be able to work.
Disgusted, Gabby got in her car and drove away. She was too keyed up to drive; she knew what she really needed was to exercise. She had workout clothes in the back of the car, and, on a whim, hopped onto the highway and made her way towards Santiam State Forest. A nice, hard hike could do wonders for her and she needed to clear her head.
Chapter Two
“Fuck!” Zane muttered, noticing the time. He was supposed to have been at work ten minutes ago, and he hadn’t even left his house. He climbed into his new Hummer and flew down the driveway.
People had been questioning why he had bought such an expensive car, but he didn’t give a shit. He worked hard, and he deserved a nice car if that’s what he wanted. And it was Heaven to drive.
He hurried towards the park office, knowing full well that Michael would already be there and want to know why he was late. He certainly couldn’t explain that he had been whacking off in the shower. He would have to come up with some other bullshit excuse.
It was just hard to get excited to go into work most days
. He had to put on a stupid brown park ranger uniform and then act like he was protecting the park, when really he was just waiting for one of the dumb fuckers from another clan to cross over onto Virtus land.
He flashed his badge at the park entrance and drove up toward the park office. It was called an office, but it looked more like a southern plantation, which seemed even more out of place in the middle of a forest in Oregon. But since the Virtus clan owned this land, and basically owned the state park, they were able to use the entire building for their own needs, with no questions asked.
Zane parked the car and hopped out, hurrying into the office.
“Why are you late?” Michael growled from his office.
Zane wanted to say something flippant, but he felt the power of Michael’s alpha question, and he couldn’t help himself but be kowtowed.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly. “It won’t happen again.”
Fucking alpha power.
“It better not. We have business to take care of, and I don’t have all fucking day to wait around for when you decide to show up to work.”
Zane walked into Michael’s office and found him standing, staring out the back window into the woods.
“Have there been any more reports?” Zane asked.
Michael only shook his head. “But I have a feeling that one of the clans is up to something. We can’t risk losing any more cubs.”
There were three clans that shared the state park, their borders all coming to a head at one location. Zane liked to consider their clan, the Virtus tribe, the most honorable of the three because they at least had ideals and tried to do some good. The Cruentus clan was bloodthirsty, always out for a nasty fight. The Atrocitas clan was a cruel one, seeking power with no consideration for others.
Of course, Virtus had its moments too.
“I just have a feeling,” Michael repeated, “I know that sounds ridiculous, but I can feel something in my blood.”
Zane nodded even though he had no idea what Michael meant. Michael, being the alpha of the clan, had more powers than the other shifters. He was also able to sense things that the others couldn’t. The only extra-power experience Zane had ever known was one that he tried to forget. He had been a young, foolish boy and had made an awful mistake that had almost cost him his position in the clan. Michael’s father, the alpha at the time, had been kind to forgive him.