“Grant?” Thea slurred, much drunker than the other two. She seemed to try to wake up and join the conversation with the girls, especially now that it was involving some gossip between Britta and Grant. “Oh, I love Grant. And I love Britta and Grant together.”
And with that final, slurred declaration, Thea fell back into her drunken sleep, making both Britta and Annie laugh at their human friend.
“I second that, Thea!” Annie yelled at her best friend, though this time Thea didn’t jolt awake like before. “I love Britta and Grant together as well.”
“You two are crazy,” Britta chuckled, blushing and feeling like her whole body was red from head to toe from embarrassment.
“Have you ever thought about giving the poor kid a chance?” Annie asked her with a lopsided grin. “You have to know that he’s crazy about you. And you have to know that you’re crazy about him. It’s evident to, quite literally, every single person other than you two.”
“You’re crazy,” Britta stated, at a loss for words yet again. She knew that she and Grant had a connection, but Annie was making it sound like the two were soul mates or something, Britta didn’t know how she felt about that.
“Britta,” Annie laughed, almost like she was in disbelief. “Everyone knows that there’s something between you two. Can you honestly tell me that you feel nothing for Grant?”
“It doesn’t matter what I feel, Annie! He’s rude.” And with a shake of her head and a desperate need for some more alcohol, Britta jumped into the story of everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She made sure to quote Grant exactly, and as she told Annie the story, she found that the words he said to her still stung.
And she hated that. She wished that she could just brush him off and move on to someone like Finn. She wished that she didn’t even like Grant in the first place. But all she wanted was to go over to his place and talk to him–and talk things out. She wanted to see him. She needed to see him.
She hated that he made her feel like that. Although, she had to admit that maybe the constant drinking of tequila and whiskey combined didn’t make her emotions any clearer.
“Listen, Grant’s a dick, and what he said can’t be just forgiven,” Annie told her, turning over so that she was now laying on the kitchen floor on her side. Her eyes met Britta’s blue ones, forcing Britta to listen to the words that she knew Annie was going to say. The words Britta wanted Annie to say. “But that’s Grant. He says things before he thinks, and I think all of us know that he lashes out over the smallest things when he really doesn’t mean to. He’s not as bad as he used to be, but you have to know how he feels about you. And things probably aren’t easy for him, what with all the different shifters coming in and wanting to learn from us while also helping us. I bet he doesn’t trust them–and I bet any of them talking with you makes him crazy.”
“We’re not even dating, and his jealousy is ridiculous,” Britta exclaimed.
“Maybe you should just talk to him and give him a chance!” Annie exclaimed back.
Britta shook her head, dropping the conversation as sleepiness entered her whole entire body. She just desperately wanted to curl up beside Thea and fall asleep.
She knew that she would dream of Grant. And she didn’t quite mind at that moment. She hoped she would dream of him.
Chapter 10
Gabriel was upset. More than upset.
Gabriel was furious. And he was tired of waiting for things to happen. Maybe it was time that he finally acted, after all these months of waiting and hiding so that Michael didn’t catch on to his plan. Maybe it was time to act.
Gabriel was currently with the other Elders that had followed him to a castle in France. The castle was in ruins, and Gabriel hated living in squalor like this. He couldn’t wait for the day when he would waltz back in and see all the other Elders. On that day, he would win. And all of those Elders would realize that they chose the losing side when they turned on him and joined Michael’s side.
Gabriel would win. He would bring destruction to the shifters and people that ignored him and called him crazy. He would avenge his name, and he would have no mercy. And he couldn’t wait to bring hell onto this earth.
“There’s a man from Michigan here,” an Elder told him as he walked to where Gabriel stood alone in the courtyard. Gabriel’s hood and robe were off, and he reveled in the sunshine that met his pale, scarred skin. He hated the robes that were forced on the Elders, as to hide their ghastly appearance.
The only good thing that came from being in hiding was Gabriel was able to disrobe and let his skin breathe when they found a place to stay.
“Let him come out and meet me,” Gabriel told the Elder, smiling even though his back was to him. He closed his eyes and lifted his palms up to the sky, the sun making him feel alive. He hadn’t had this much energy in a long time. He missed the strength.
“Hello, sir,” a shifter’s voice carried to him as the man joined him in the courtyard.
Gabriel quickly turned around, laughing to himself as the shifter jumped slightly at the appearance of the Elder in front of him. Gabriel would bet that this shifter had never seen an Elder so revealed before, as the custom wasn’t a common sight. Gabriel also knew that his white eyes tended to frighten people. Maybe that was why he enjoyed his hood and robe off.
He craved the fear emitting off of shifters and humans alike. He liked the strength and power it gave him.
This shifter was someone Gabriel had been patiently waiting for. He was a rogue from the States, and possibly one of the more levelheaded of the rogue shifters around. While he was more levelheaded, he had very strong opinions about humans and halfies–and he was just the type of old-fashioned creature that Gabriel was looking for. No more crazy shifters like Kaiser. Gabriel had to be smart now.
“I want you to start recruiting rogues and shifters alike for our mission,” Gabriel told the rogue shifter, smiling as he almost seemed to dance around the nervous man. Gabriel wanted to play with him and make him run from the courtyard frightened, but he knew that he couldn’t. He had to be on his best behavior. “We need to ramp up our recruitment process. And we can’t have another situation like what we had earlier.”
Gabriel was mentioning the uprising that failed, resulting in the rogues turning on each other and killing each other before they could even accomplish the smallest thing. From the way the rogue in front of him flinched in fear, Gabriel knew that he knew exactly what he was referencing. That was good–Gabriel hated being around stupid shifters. Such a waste of the species.
“Yes, sir,” the shifter told him, bending his head so that he was now looking at the ground and no longer meeting Gabriel’s eerie, white eyes. Gabriel smirked. He thrived on people’s unease. It was almost as good as their fear. Almost.
“Start in Michigan,” Gabriel finally said as he realized that the shifter wouldn’t look him in the eyes again. “I’ll join you soon. And when I get there, there’d better be some organization. Because right now, I’m not happy with your work. And I would very much enjoy being happy.”
“Yes, sir,” the shifter repeated before Gabriel dismissed him with a wave of his hand. The rogue shifter scurried off as if he couldn’t wait to get out of the damp and dark France and fly to Michigan.
Gabriel couldn’t wait to get to Michigan, either. Because Michigan was closer to Maine than Scotland was, and he couldn’t wait to see Michael and his friends in Maine again.
He couldn’t wait to make the Moonlight Pack pay.
And he would make them pay.
Chapter 11
Britta woke up uncomfortably on Annie’s kitchen floor and with a pounding headache. As she rolled over, she almost crashed into Thea who was still snoring. It looked like Thea hadn’t moved an inch since she crashed early last night, and she was still curled in a little ball near the cabinets that littered the side of the kitchen. Britta slightly groaned as she attempted to sit up, her head pounding. Thea snored on.
As
Britta rubbed her head softly with her hand, she heard a slight chuckle from up above. Looking up slowly, as if she was waking from a painful, century long nap, Britta saw Annie squinting with a slight smirk on her face as she attempted to make coffee. But with each noise she accidentally made, Britta saw Annie grimace in pain. At least Britta wasn’t the only one finding themselves having a hard time this morning.
She couldn’t wait to see the pain that Thea was going to be in when she woke up.
“I don’t want to talk about anything,” Annie muttered as Britta slowly got up from the floor, her back in pain from sleeping on such a hard surface and in an uncomfortable position. Britta seemed to have to cling onto the kitchen counter as she realized that her body had a hard time moving.
Even though the girls were shifters that normally healed well, alcohol still seemed to leave them in a hungover state. Whenever a shifter was in their normal human form, it took much longer to heal than when they are sick or injured in their wolf form. And things like alcohol still tended to leave them incapacitated, even though it still took a lot to actually affect them. For this reason alone, shifters tended to fight in their wolf form so that they wouldn’t be critically wounded without the ability to heal fast. This was one of the reasons why some shifters were training in their human forms at the gym. The thought of some rogue surprising them and critically wounding them while they were in their human form was something that no one wanted.
“Trust me, I don’t, either,” Britta muttered as she finally stood up straight, though she was still leaning heavily on the counter. “I don’t want to do anything, either.”
And then, almost as if saying the words helped activate her brain into realizing that she actually did have something to do–and a lot planned for the day–Britta let out a groan. Britta couldn’t lay around her house all day in pain from the amount of alcohol she’d inhaled last night. Because today, in ten minutes to be exact, she had a mini class that she was supposed to lead, full of four people that were relying on her to teach them how to defend themselves.
Britta groaned again, to which Annie shushed her, as she quickly tried to make her way to the door.
Well, this was going to be interesting.
The class actually turned out to not be a disaster, something that Britta prayed for. She showed up hungover beyond belief, of course, but she managed to shift and run from Annie and Thea’s house to the gym, helping her mind heal somewhat while she was in her wolf form. That didn’t get rid of her pounding headache or her sluggish movements, though.
The mini class that she had were composed of shifters that didn’t care that she was hungover as long as she taught them–which she did. Finn, Ethan, and two Moonlight Pack shifters, Hazel and Lea, were her students for the day, and Britta was glad she had them as her foray into the teaching world. Even though she was hungover, she managed to give them good instructions and technique advice as she had them partner up and go through various different situations, each of them playing both the attacker and the shifter on defense.
“When are you going to do another session, Britta?” Hazel, a shifter that grew up with Britta, asked her after class. The five of them were all laying down on the huge mat that encompassed the whole room that they were in. The room was originally a huge weight room that was separate from the rest of the gym, but Hann and Kato had made it a room to teach in last week. This way they could actually hear each other and not be constantly interrupted by passing shifters.
Britta actually didn’t know the answer to her question, though she wished she could say. This first session was mainly just to see if she liked teaching, and Britta, though she was very hungover, found that she did. She liked being able to tell others what they were doing right and wrong, and she felt better knowing that shifters would be able to protect and defend themselves better. It was better than the alternative, and in this day and age, the alternative was much more common with rogues running around killing innocent shifters just for the fun of it and to cause disruption.
“You have to do another class, Britta,” Ethan called from where he was laying on the mat. Finn was beside him, and Britta saw him nod in agreement. “You kicked our ass today. I don’t know about you guys, but I haven’t worked that hard in a while. I’m kinda ashamed to say that.”
The group laughed and yelled out words of encouragement, making Ethan smile and feel more comfortable. Britta smiled with him. She was happy that he was feeling more at home among the Moonlight Pack, and she was glad that Hazel and Lea seemed to be trying to make Ethan and Finn feel comfortable among them.
“Don’t be ashamed, man,” Finn told him. “I can hardly move, and I’m not even close to being as hungover as Britta is.”
Britta scoffed, which led to another round of badgering from the group, something they had been doing in a friendly manner since she walked through the door at the beginning of class and declared that she was a little under the weather.
“I don’t know, guys,” Britta finally admitted after the four had settled down. “I’ll talk to Hann. I think that maybe this could be good, and fun.”
The group left after talking a bit more and encouraging Britta some more to make the teaching a daily session. Britta let herself lay on the mats for a few minutes longer, feeling exhausted and like she could fall asleep right then and there. It was only when she sensed someone walk into the room that she snapped up, immediately regretting the sudden movement as her head spun.
She saw Grant smile slightly as he walked over to where she lay, and Britta hated the way her heartbeat sped up as he grew closer to her.
“Hey,” she called to him first, attempting to send the signal that she wanted to forget about everything that had happened yesterday. They didn’t go run together last night, and she found herself missing him terribly. She didn’t want to admit that to him, of course, but it didn’t hurt to just try to act like it didn’t happen. She wanted to talk to him and find out how he was truly doing with all of these new shifters all over the place.
And, she just wanted to talk to him about stupid stuff like they used to do. She just wanted him around, without both of them getting into stupid fights and storming off.
She just wanted to be around him, plain and simple.
“Hey,” Grant said as he sat down next to Britta on the mats. She sat up with him, smiling slightly. She didn’t know why she was nervous all of a sudden. She wondered if it had to do with everything that she and Annie talked about last night regarding Grant.
Her heart quickened in her chest, and she hoped that he couldn’t hear how strong and fast her heartbeat was.
“Before you start making fun of me: yes, I am hungover,” Britta began their conversation with a tentative smile. She hoped that they would just steer clear of any arguing for the time being. She didn’t know if she had enough fight in her, what with her massive hangover and everything. Plus, she just really didn’t want to fight with Grant. Hell, she never wanted to fight with Grant.
“You’re hungover?” Grant laughed as he settled in on the mat, leaning back on his elbows as he looked at Britta with a smile on his face. Britta instantly relaxed. “What, did you go out with Finn or something?”
Britta’s smile immediately vanished from her face. All she could do was stare at Grant in bewilderment.
Was he kidding? He had to be kidding. Anger coursed through Britta’s veins as she scoffed at him and got up from the mat, quickly pacing to the door that would get her away from Grant. It was funny how she longed to be near him, but just as quickly, from his attitude and words alone, she desperately longed to be away from him.
“You’re such a dick,” Britta told him as she started walking towards the door. That seemed to be her go-to insult for Grant, but she didn’t care. She was too upset to think of anything witty or clever to put him in his place. She just wanted to get away.
“Wait, Britta,” Grant followed her, immediately getting up from the mat and running to get himself in front of her. He seemed t
o be blocking the door from her sight, and she sighed. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. She didn’t want him to see the pain that she knew would show there. “I was joking. It was a bad joke, and I just thought it would help break the ice. I don’t know why I said it. I’m sorry.”
“Oh, you’re sorry?!” Britta yelled, beyond angry at this point. He was the reason she was this hungover, and before she could stop her hungover mind, she decided that this was a perfect time to tell him how she felt last night. “I got myself crazy drunk last night–with Annie and Thea, mind you–because of everything you said to me yesterday! You don’t get to just consistently insult me, then say sorry, and expect everything to just be peachy, Grant. That’s not how this works.”
Britta regretted it the minute she said it. Now, Grant knew how much his words affected her, and Britta felt like he could hold that over her head. Because there was no way drunk Annie was right. Grant couldn’t possibly like her like she liked him.
Britta pushed past Grant, refusing to look at his face. She didn’t want to see the emotions he held there. She didn’t want to see his face at all.
“Britta,” Grant tried again, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to him.
“Stop,” Britta glared at him, turning around and finally meeting his eyes. She was surprised by what she saw there. He was pleading with her, and he seemed to be . . . hurt. She glanced away, deciding to go for a quieter tone. It was now or never, and Britta decided to just go for it. It wasn’t like she would be ruining their friendship now. It seemed like they didn’t even have a friendship anymore. “If you would just pay attention and realize that I care about you, maybe it would stick in your head that I’m not interested in Finn or Ethan or anybody. I’m interested in you. But you’re a complete dick, and your jealousy and anger refuses to let you see what’s right in front of your face. And I’m not gonna stick around for you to finally pull yourself together.”
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