“Yeah, I guess some monsters get their conscience back after years roaming this earth.”
“Do you think they really are immortal?”
He smiled. “My dad, or the man that raised me, was part of the Alpha’s pack. He’s one of the ancients.”
“How old is he?”
“More or less a three thousand years old.”
I gasped. “What?”
“He doesn’t look that old, though.”
“And Greg made a truce with them?”
He nodded. “They had to leave; it was my condition. Nobody followed them. I made sure of it.”
“It’s hard to trust hunters.”
“Very.”
“I’m sorry. It can’t be easy to lose your family.”
“That’s part of life. They weren’t really my family, and I did the one thing that I knew would keep them safe. I left.”
“It still can’t be easy.”
“It’s not. Can we change the subject, please?” he begged.
“Fine.” I laughed.
We decided to head home, our two ridiculous teddy bears in tow.
The drive back was quiet, and I squirmed in the silence. I wanted to ask him why he was flirting with Liz again, but I couldn’t build up the courage.
I didn’t like that I was feeling like this. I didn’t want to descend into the pathetic person Liz had been.
I needed to push these feelings aside because they would hurt me in the end.
When we returned, I said goodnight and started walking upstairs.
“Tonight was fun,” Collin said.
“Yeah, very. Sleep tight.”
“And don’t let the bed bugs bite?” he asked.
“I can’t speak for them. I’m pretty sure Theo has those.”
He laughed after me. “You’re mean, Ru.”
I smiled as I walked into my room.
I moaned animatedly as I flopped face down on my bed. My first real crush, and it had to be on him?
I couldn’t help it. Liz only wanted the best and Collin fell into that category.
But why was he talking to her again?
I’d just drifted off to sleep when I jolted awake. The clock on my nightstand read two a.m. I rubbed at my eyes, looking for the source of the commotion that had awoken me.
Headlights shone into my window And I stumbled downstairs in a rush and flew past the kitchen, where Collin was making coffee. I wrenched open the door as they stepped out of the trucks, and my breath caught in my lungs.
My father seemed completely out of it, and Greg was trying to hold him together. Tears filled my eyes.
Someone must have died.
I stepped backward to the kitchen, my hand tangling in my hair, eyes wide.
“Oh fuck.” Collin grabbed his crutches and hobbled out the door.
Liz flashed through my mind as I tightened the grip on my hair.
Please, please don’t let it be my sister.
One by one everyone walked in, their faces distraught.
Emily approached me and I shook my head as tears streamed down my cheeks.
“I’m so sorry.”
“No,” I muttered, my lower lip quivering.
I pushed Emily aside as Liz walked in and I grabbed her around her neck, squeezing her hard. I didn’t care if she hated me. She was alive and that was all that mattered.
Her body shook through her sobs. If it wasn’t her, then who? Will? Uncle Fernus?
She broke the hug and walked straight to Collin, and he wrapped his arms around her, stroking her back to soothe her.
“What is going on? Who is it?” I asked impatiently. If someone could tell me what the fuck was going on, I’d know what to do.
Greg brought my father in, and my uncle walked in behind him. Will followed.
Theo was missing.
A cold shiver ran up my spine.
“Where’s Theo?” My voice broke. My father looked up, his eyes filled with tears.
“Dad, no.” I didn’t even feel the tears that streamed over my face as a sob wracked my body.
My father walked over to me and crushed me to him, our bodies shaking.
“I’m so sorry Ru,” he whispered brokenly.
My dad squeezed me tighter as I screamed into his chest.
“No, no, no.” It felt as if my strength had been pushed out of me.
My father caught as my body slackened, my legs giving way as the reality dawned on me.
My brother was dead.
Everyone stayed with us until the sun came up. Emily took the role of comforter, cooking for us and giving us endless cups of coffee or tea. Greg and the few members that had joined him tended to us, silent in our grief.
Collin helped Liz to bed. Through my devastated haze, I noticed he was gone a long time.
My sister wouldn’t use Theo’s death to her advantage—that was pure evil. I mentally slapped myself, because I shouldn’t be feeling like this right now.
Collin finally came down and everyone prepared to leave. I couldn’t look at the door. My brother would never walk through that door again. A sob tore through me and I covered my face with my hands
“Ru.” Collin pulled my hands away from my face and used his thumb to lift my chin. “I’m so sorry.” He had and intense look in his eyes.
What was he trying to tell me?
He got up and hobbled out of the house on his crutches.
Numbness washed over me.
“What happened?” I asked my father, my eyes flicking over to Emily who was still hovering over us.
Liz shuffled into the kitchen. “You didn’t see anything?” my sister asked in an accusatory tone.
“Of course, I didn’t see anything. I would’ve called you,” I snapped.
“Girls,” my father yelled.
“We all lost him. And frankly, you were not there,” Liz hissed at me.
“I don’t see the hunts anymore because I’m not hunting anymore! I’m not there!” I yelled. “I can’t do this anymore, Liz.”
“What?” she spat out disdainfully.
“This. I don’t know who you are anymore. What do you want from me?”
She sneered at me.
“Enough!” my father yelled. “I’m with Ru, honey. You’ve changed and you can’t say anything nice to your sister.”
“It’s not fair, Dad!” Liz yelled.
“What isn’t fair?”
“She should’ve been there. She could’ve seen it and stopped it but you keep her locked up like some princess. She is no use to us—”
“Not another word, Liz. You are talking about your sister. She is not some tool to be used.” The veins in my father’s neck protruded with his anger. “Does this have anything to do with that boy?”
Liz looked down on the floor.
“Do you want her to be alone on this farm, Liz? You want your sister to be unprotected? Do you want to come back and find that she’s not here, or dead? What will you do then?”
“Collin’s on crutches, Dad. It’s not like he’d be able to help. They’d kill him.”
“You are fucking unbelievable,” I growled and pushed past her out of the room.
“Who are you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never felt like this over anyone, Dad,” Liz’s whiny voice floated upstairs to me
“Honey, you have to let him go.”
“I don’t know how. It’s not in me to give up.”
“That doesn’t excuse how you’ve been treating Ru. You treat her like she is a disease. You basically told her you don’t care if she died.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Of course I don’t want that, Dad.”
I leaned against my bedroom door.
This was all because of Collin. And I was falling for him.
“You got to work through this, honey. I can’t lose another child.” My father’s voice broke.
“Daddy,” Liz sobbed, and I quietly went into my room.
I curled into a ball and let my tears flow
freely.
My brother was dead.
I cried myself to sleep and dreamed of Theo. He was happy in my dream. Collin was there and they were friends, and I was there too. We were all a big happy family, but something was off with Theo. He looked different.
His ears were enlarged.
“Why such big ears, brother?”
“To hear you better.”
I smiled. Then I noticed his nose.
“What a big nose you have.” I was saying the stupidest things.
“To smell you better.”
I laughed as if it was a joke. Then I saw his teeth, larger and nearly protruding from his mouth.
“Why such big teeth, Theo?”
“To eat your better.”
I jolted awake. It was a stupid nightmare. Probably because of what Collin said earlier.
It felt so real, and so far from reality.
My brother was dead.
Theo’s memorial was the following week.
The hunters planned it by the book even though there was no body to burn.
Will told me that a wolf bit him and dragged him away, like my first vision.
They found clothes, bloody clothes. Bits and pieces everywhere.
At the reception, Collin spoke to Liz on the tire swing.
Before Collin left, he walked over to me Again, he told me he was sorry with that same, puzzling look in his eyes.
I wanted to ask him what the hell was going on but I was too angry that he was with Liz again.
He clearly had no idea how jealous she was about him having spent time with me.
He left with Greg and the others.
I passed my father as I entered the house. He was sitting on the porch, staring off into the distance, silent tears coursing down his face. He barely noticed when I squeezed his shoulder.
I trudged my way through the house to Theo’s room. His room was always a mess, yet he always looked neat and put together. I picked a shirt up off the floor and lifted it to my nose.
A bleak emptiness settled in my gut as I sobbed into the shirt.
He was gone. He was really gone. Even though it made no sense, I couldn’t shake my dream.
Over the next week, Liz went back to chatting to Collin on her phone.
I wish he knew what he wanted.
I kept my distance from her. I didn’t need her cold glares.
My phone beeped and I frowned as I pulled it out of my pocket. Nobody other than family had my number.
“You okay?”
I replied with a question mark.
“It’s me, wolfboy.”
“How did you get my number?”
“I asked your father.”
“And he gave it to you?”
“Damn. Busted. I took it from his phone.”
“Ooh, a rebel,” I joked but it didn’t reach my face. I wasn’t sure I’d ever smile again. All the joy had been seeped from the world.
“Don’t be sad, Ru, remember what I told you.”
“About what?”
“The wolves, your family.”
The dream popped into my head again and I gasped. “Do you think they changed him?”
“There was no body, Ru. They must have seen his mark.”
“You think my brother is out there, living as a wolf?”
“Yes, we all do. He’s alive.”
“As a wolf, Collin.”
“Not all of them are bad.”
“He’ll kill himself.”
“Don’t say that.”
My fingers flew furiously over my screen. “It’s the truth. He kills them. He’d rather die than become a wolf.”
“Greg wants to see if he can track them. Make sure they have Theo.”
“My father will kill them.”
“You can’t tell your father about this. And don’t go looking for him either. The moment the wolves realize you have the sight, they WILL turn you. Steer clear, Ru. Please.”
“Got it,” I said.
He replied with a smiley face emoji.
So now he was texting me too.
No way this ends well.
Another hunt was planned in the coming weeks.
Liz seemed to be walking on air, and I resented her for it. It was like Theo’s death—because she still believed he was dead—hadn’t affected her at all. All she cared about was Collin.
I hated them both.
I was angry at Collin for texting me about my brother, and the whereabouts of the pack. I knew this inkling of hope would be ripped away from me.
But I didn’t see my brother at all in any of my visions, only in my dreams, and they were just that—dreams.
Why couldn’t I see him?
My father fell into a dark hole. He drowned himself in whiskey. He didn’t eat, didn’t sleep. He got drunk and stayed that way. The only time my sister seemed to be affected by Theo’s death was when she was around Dad.
Uncle Fernus was distressed by my father’s behavior, but there was nothing any of us could do to ease my father’s pain.
Greg didn’t think my family should hunt with them, but Dad wouldn’t want it any other way.
My father was the first to leave for the hunt, the rest following after Collin was dropped off.
I had so many questions to ask Collin.
“Your dad’s not doing well, is he?” Collin asked.
“Not at all,” I murmured.
I waited until the trucks were out of sight before I walked into the house, leaving Collin to stand on the porch.
The door creaked and banged shut. His crutches squeaked with every step. “The cast finally comes off next week.”
Yay, I thought sarcastically. I would be alone for two nights.
“Theo’s still alive, Ru.”
I whirled toward him so fast I almost lost my balance. “What?”
“Greg tracked the pack down. He is with them, he is going through the changing process.”
“No!” To my surprise, Collin pulled me into his chest, guiding me to sit down. He awkwardly moved a chair closer with one hand, still holding me as he sat down.
I broke down, sobbing and sniffling over his chest. Theo was a wolf.
“You can’t tell your father, Ru. He can’t know. I’m sorry.”
“I want to see him.”
“The pack left when they found out we were on their tracks.”
“How does it work? You said he’s going through the process?”
“It takes sixty days. He won’t shift during the first full moon, but he will get the bloodlust to hunt vampires. But because they’re deranged, they kill the first thing they set their sights on.”
“He’ll kill a human.”
“Let’ s hope not.”
“Dammit!” I screamed.
“We’re trying to track the pack down again.”
“And then what? Greg will kill him.”
“Ru,” he said.
“I can’t. Please.”
“Your brother will be put out of his misery.”
I pounded my fists on Collin’s chest. “He’s my brother.”
Collin grabbed my hands and looked straight in my eyes. “What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to help him. Bring him to your old pack. Please.”
“If I go back, I’ll be putting their lives in jeopardy.”
“He is my brother, Collin.”
“Ru.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “You said Theo wouldn’t want this.”
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine him not being in this world anymore.”
Collin remained silent. I could see the wheels turning in his head.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you. Thank you.”
“You can’t tell your dad, Ru. You can’t tell anyone.”
I nodded.
“And you have to stop crying.”
Laughter bubbled out of me for the first time since Theo disappeared. Through my snot and tears and
wiped at my eyes.
“That’s better.”
“Can I come with you?”
He shook his head. “Hell no. You need to stay far away from the wolves.”
“But you said that my body won’t last long.”
“I know.” He sounded so defeated. “I think that the wolf tried to change you that night. He saw what you were going through.”
“They knew?”
“Yes. But they are all dead, Ru.”
I chewed on my thumb “My father was right. I can never hunt again.”
“I’m sorry, Ru.”
“My life is over,” I said, shaking my head.
“It’s not over. You can get out of the hunting game. Start fresh.”
“Knowing that anyone around me could be a werewolf and I wouldn’t know it.” I slumped backward in my chair. “Please do whatever you can to help Theo. I’ll keep my mouth shut. I promise.”
“I know you will.”
Collin told me more about his family while we cooked dinner. He was sure they would take Theo in and help him adjust to his new life. It would be hard for him not to come back to us, but I could see him. Even if it was only in my dreams.
I still didn’t understand the dream, but everyone was happy in it.
I felt better the next morning, but worry about the hunt started creeping in.
Collin tried to distract met with a Game of Thrones binge. At first, he tried to answer all my questions, but eventually told me to shut up and watch the show.
The show was addictive, but hard to follow. I’d have to read the books to understand it.
I could understand why Collin wanted a direwolf. They were huge and primal.
When the sky started darkening, we went into town to get pizza.
I laughed as he sang along to the radio.
He was uptight, yet also carefree.
He belted out a note to mimic Adam Levine’s voice. “Don’t laugh.”
I giggled even harder.
We ate the pizza there instead of taking it back to the farm. I needed the break.
As I bit into a slice of the pizza, I noticed every girl in the place was looking at Collin like he was a piece of meat.
I chuckled to myself.
“What?”
“You don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?” Confused, he looked around, and all the longing stares darted back down to their plates.
“No wonder Liz is so smitten.”
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