by Lou Grimes
“Hmm, maybe. I might have better things to do than hang out with you,” Louvette teased. Arsen grinned at her display of bravado. A look of utter horror passed over Cara’s face at her statement.
“I don’t have anything better than to be around him and his hot friends who I’ve been crushing on since like kindergarten,” Cara bluntly said. Louvette rolled her eyes to the skies at her friend’s out-of-control hormones.
“What did you do before me? Why didn’t you ever talk to them? This isn’t a large school,” Louvette asked curiously.
“Loved from a distance, Vette.” Cara sighed dramatically
“Vette? I don’t know how I feel about that one. Does that mean you’re fast?” Arsen chimed in. Louvette punched him in the arm playfully.
“Shut up before I decided to inflict pain on you,” she instructed. He rubbed his arm, acting hurt, and mouthed, “Ow.”
“You don’t get to decide my nickname for her,” Cara interjected.
“Oh! I see how it is. I’ll think of my own,” Arsen promised in a tone that said Louvette was going to hate it.
“I absolutely can’t wait to hear what you come up with. Me and Cara are going to ride together so we can hang out a bit,” Louvette teased.
“All right, sounds good. See you tonight.” Arsen gave her a quick peck before he left.
***
Later that day after several hours of girl talk, the girls were striding to MacKenzie’s. They were both all glammed up thanks to Cara’s infinite wardrobe. Louvette had no idea how Cara managed to find anything in it. Her clothes were thrown about everywhere. Louvette was sure that one could get lost in it.
They paused for a second at the entrance of the restaurant. Rowdy laughter drew them to the boys’ location. They headed toward the rest of their dinner members, and Louvette gained a twinge of satisfaction as they snagged the boys’ attention. Upon seeing Louvette, Arsen slid out from his seat.
“Guys, this is Louvette Blackwood. She’s the one I told you all about. You’ve all met Cara Rivers, her friend,” he announced.
There were whoops and whistles. Cara bowed while Louvette maximized her blushing capabilities.
“So, you’re the girl that stole his heart? I’m Matt Bonesteel. Nice to meet you,” the red headed one said, shaking Louvette’s hand. Freckles that were scattered across his face like the Milky Way Galaxy enhanced his cheeky grin. He wore a baby blue thermal shirt, jeans, and a hoodie. Louvette wondered if the fact that he was Lupine was why he could withstand the wintery weather in just a hoodie. She made a mental note to ask Arsen about it later.
“I’m Quinn Redbears. Glad he finally let you meet us,” the jet black haired one commented, throwing a mocking face toward Arsen.
“Wait, finally?” she asked, keeping her face from revealing too much from that comment. According to Arsen, he had been keeping her at a distance to keep them from finding out the truth. It either hadn’t worked or he had lied. Louvette speculated how much they knew.
“I’m Ian Valleys. Yeah, we knew something was up since like a week or two ago. We just figured he’d tell us on his own terms,” the blonde one said.
Arsen was shaking his head at his friend’s admission.
“Can’t keep anything a secret around you all, can I?” Arsen demanded, looking straight into Louvette’s eyes. The foreshadowing of that statement was thick in the air as she contemplated what it meant to her. She knew why he had done it. That didn’t mean she had to like it.
A chorus of noes sounded. He smiled, but a hint of regret shadowing his eyes.
Remorse poured into Louvette’s heart instantly when she caught that gleam in Arsen’s eyes. She hadn’t thought how hard it must have been for Arsen to hide her from his best friends. Louvette was never able to make friends like that due to moving, so she didn’t understand exactly what he was going through for her.
“I don’t even know why you try anymore. Hi, I’m Garrett Hollows,” the boy with brunette locks teased his friend as he crossed his ripped arms across his chest. The long sleeves strained against the movement as the stripes on his shirt grew in size. It was easy to see why Arsen had dubbed him “the muscle.”
“Let’s eat. What do you all want?” Arsen asked, switching to a more pressing topic that didn’t contain hidden bombs.
The conversation become too chaotic for Louvette to follow, but she truthfully didn’t care one bit on what they decided on. She was there as Arsen’s date. They ended up ordering five large pizzas that each had various toppings on them.
The boys were distracted, so Louvette leaned into Cara’s ear in an effort to conspire.
“Which one do you like?” she whispered though she could almost bet that she knew which one before the words even left Cara’s mouth.
“I’m thinking Muscles,” Cara picked. Her eyes flicked to Garrett. Louvette didn’t have to wonder for long if he had heard her. He caught her looking and sent them a wink that made them giggle.
“I’ll bring Arsen over to the dark side for some help to try to set up a double date,” Louvette added, flashing her friend her own wink.
“Thank you. You’re the bestest friend I’ve ever had,” Cara declared, putting her hand over her heart dramatically to feel the phantom sensations.
“Same here,” Louvette agreed. The two of them focused back on the other members of their party.
“Dude, it’s going to be so sick. I can’t believe you’re going to miss the Halloween cook out. It’s the best one of the year,” Garrett said. The disappointment was evident in his tone.
“I’m not missing anything. I’ve been every year for like the past ten years,” Arsen objected as he regarded Louvette with a loaded grin that she gladly returned, remembering their shift plans. She had completely spaced on Halloween, though. Halloween was her favorite holiday, but her need to learn to shift and control her wolf was more important than her need to dress up.
The party hung out at the restaurant for a couple of hours. They talked, joked, and teased each other until Louvette lost track of time. A notification on her phone made her notice its digital clock.
“I need to be going. Cara, will you take me home?” she asked.
“I’ll take you home,” Arsen offered.
“Thank you. Cara, I’ll see you at school on Monday. Bye, you all. It was nice meeting you,” Louvette said.
They returned her goodbyes. She was going home to her grandfather’s house and the thought stuck her as odd. She’d never once referred to it as her house even though it was. Louvette believed she needed some closure.
Once in the car, she looked over at Arsen.
“That was fun. Thank you for letting me meet your friends.”
“No problem. They all liked you. I could tell, otherwise they wouldn’t cut up with you. They’d just ignore you,” he revealed.
“Not to be the mood killer, I have a question.” she said.
“What’s your question?”
“Do you have any idea who killed my grandfather?” Louvette asked. He frowned.
“That came out of nowhere. What made think about that?” he probed. Curiosity was written across his face.
“I just feel like the things he left me aren’t mine. That I don’t have a home. He does. I think I might need closure or something. I need an end,” she said.
Arsen sighed. “I didn’t want to have to be the one to tell you this, but he was in the Pacific Ocean Pack’s territory when he passed away. None one knows what he was doing there, but what he did got the private investigators called in. The next day he was dead. An investigator collected the bounty for killing a rogue. His body was burned, and you were notified as his next of kin since your father is gone,” he informed her.
“What! But he wasn’t a rogue, was he?” she asked as the weight of being robbed of her family settled on her shoulders. A family she never knew.
“They say he was. There’s no way to tell in this situation, but the bodies of the rogues are never incinerated. They a
re sent back to their loved ones,” Arsen revealed with suspicion.
“Who did it?” she demanded.
“The call-ins are confidential. It’s a safeguard against relatives seeking revenge. I’ve never heard of a private investigator being held accountable for misjudgment, since they were hired through someone else. In most people’s eyes, the more dead rogues the better, even if they aren’t true rogues,” Arsen answered.
“Do you think he was looking for my dad?” Louvette wondered aloud.
“Yes,” Arsen said.
He parked in her driveway and turned to look her directly in the eyes.
“I’m sorry I had to tell you that. If you want to talk, feel free to call me. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he consoled, patting her on the back as he gave her a hard hug. That hug brought tears to her eyes.
“Thank you, Arsen. Good night,” she said
“Good night,” he responded, giving her an appropriate kiss on the forehead and then leaving.
Going up the stairs was painful. The unknown was what killed her. If he died because he was a rogue, it was okay because society couldn’t handle a monster. But, if he died for someone else’s sport, she needed to do something.
Louvette crawled into bed and cried herself to sleep before her mother ever got home.
***
The next day, the doorbell rang while Louvette was cleaning her room after school.
She went downstairs and opened the door to find a red-faced Mr. Hollows decked out in a black suit and a silky teal dress shirt peeking out of his blazer. She cocked her head at the sight of flowers and the sweat beginning to form on his face.
“Is your mother home?” he asked, sending her a martyred look.
“No. She’s at work,” Louvette replied with a smile that could go up against the Cheshire cat any day. “But her dinner break is at seven,” she added after seeing his crestfallen face.
“Thank you, Louvette. I’ll see you later,” he said, perking up. He paused in mid step as he started for his car and turned back to her. His brow was furrowed in response to the trouble he was experiencing.
“Would this bother you?” he asked as Louvette blinked at his question. She was surprised to say the least. He wasn’t anything like her mother’s past boyfriends.
“Definitely not. I want her to be happy. But, thank you for caring if it did,” she answered, her heart warming. That earned a relieved smile from the flustered man who looked like an awkward schoolboy asking his crush out for the first time as he clutched the flowers to his chest.
“Thank you,” Mr. Hollows said.
“Have the police found anything new on my grandfather? Did they find his phone yet?” she asked.
“Still nothing. No phone either. They are actually talking about closing the case,” Mr. Hollows told her.
“Already?” she questioned, offended.
“They only have suspicions about the vagrants that live in the woods, but that’s it,” Mr. Hollows pointed out. Louvette was skeptical that vagrants were the true culprit. Mr. Hollows was most likely relaying some human report to give her closure. They were more likely it if they were Lupine.
“My mom finally talked to me about my father and about the day he disappeared. She said you were the last one to see him,” Louvette said.
“I told you she would when she was ready. I was right,” he replied without further elaborating his statement.
“How was he acting? Did he seem like a man that wanted to run away?” Louvette asked.
“This was seventeen years ago, kid. I told the police everything that I could remember,” Mr. Hollows answered.
“How close were you and Declan?” Louvette grilled him.
“We were best friends,” Mr. Hollows told her. Her dream of her father in his wolf form and another wolf came back to her.
“If that is true, then you should have been able to tell if anything seemed off about Declan that day. How did he seem the last time you saw him?” Louvette asked.
“He seemed overwhelmed, to be honest. Between your arrival, the pack, and work, Declan had a lot going on when he left,” Mr. Hollows said.
“What did y’all do that day?” Louvette asked.
“Normally, Declan and I would have lunch together. But that day, he came out of the office all stressed out. I told him he needed a break and to just enjoy the rest of his day. That I could finish up the work we started. He agreed, and then left in his car because he had the doctor’s appointment with Sarah. The odd thing was that he hugged me before he left like, it was the last time he’d ever get to,” Mr. Hollows recounted. His story had not given her any answers, but she still appreciated it.
“Thanks for telling me that, but is there anything more that I should know?” Louvette said.
“No,” Mr. Hollows answered.
He waved goodbye as he left to meet her mother.
Later that night, her mother came home, softly grinning with flowers in tow. Louvette was upstairs in her room studying the guides from Arsen. She set the papers down, going to the rail.
“You have fun on your mini dinner date?” she called out from the top of the stairs.
“Thank you, sweetheart. A nice surprise,” her mother said.
“No problem. I love you. Good night,” Louvette told her.
“Love you, too. Good night,” Sarah responded.
Chapter 10
The two of them fell into a pattern up until the day of her change. Arsen would pick Louvette up and drop her off every day. He told her everything he could about changing into a Lupine. He prepared her the best he could for the first full shift, reciting everything that had been drilled into him since birth. She only had a week to get ready, he’d had all of his life.
He was giving her a crash course on shifting through a book and a study buddy. Not that she didn’t trust Arsen. She knew he’d tell someone else if she was truly in any danger.
Two days before Friday, she approached her mother about staying the night away. Arsen had already told her that once Louvette shifted for the first time, she’d go into a recovery mode for a while. She needed a cover story to tell Sarah because Louvette wasn’t allowed to stay at Arsen’s.
“Mom, can I stay the night at Cara’s since you’re going out with Mr. Hollows? I don’t want to stay home alone,” she asked sweetly. Louvette laid it on pretty thick, but she figured her mother wouldn’t notice since she was already contemplating outfit ideas for her date on Friday.
“Yes, of course,” Sarah said. She snagged up a couple of hangers and brandished them at Louvette like a crazy woman giving away free cats. Louvette couldn’t hold back her smirk at that notion.
“What do you think of this?” Sarah asked. The three choices were something horribly crocheted, a bulky turtleneck sweater, and a black dress number that the posh Spice Girl herself would have picked.
“Pick the black dress. It looks the best on you. The rest look like old lady outfits and you’re not an old lady,” Louvette pointed out, picking her champion.
“Thanks, honey. I hope you have fun at Cara’s this weekend,” Sarah said.
“Forget my weekend at Cara’s. You and tall, dark Thomas have fun on your date,” Louvette gushed.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Sarah called as Louvette left the room. Louvette did feel bad about having to lie, but she wasn’t ready to tell her mother yet. Not only was she a delinquent, but she was also a freak that would soon turn into a full-size wolf when she desired to. A mother’s love could only go so far, at least in Louvette’s opinion.
***
The morning of her first change, Louvette’s stomach was in knots and her knots were in knots. She didn’t want it to hurt or not go well. She didn’t want to get stuck. She couldn’t get stuck. She had no idea what Arsen would say to her mother if something did happen to her. She reluctantly said goodbye to her mother and drove off, overnight backpack in tow. The necessities consisted of a clean change of clothes, face wipes, and some bottles of water. Arsen had t
old her he had everything covered other than her clothes, but she doubted that as a guy he was including any skin care products, so she prepared as if he hadn’t.
They would be staying at a cabin his family owned outside of town. The location was in the exact opposite direction of the Lupine get together that was happening this weekend to ensure that the possibility of the two parties clashing would be extremely minimal. The pack would cook out, drink, and go for a long run in a remote part deep in the mountains at another pack member’s lodge. The closest humans were miles away from both parties. Arsen told her they switched pack meeting locations every time just as a safety precaution. Arsen had promised her that the pack had never traveled more than a hundred miles from their original location, although they could go farther if there was reason to, like if another pack was encroaching upon what was rightfully theirs.
While that was all going on, Arsen would teach her how to change away from prying eyes. When she was ready, they’d go for a run together to let her get used to her new form. Louvette could hardly believe that she had once thought a new school was going to be the most change she would experience this year.
She was in comfortable thermal running pants and a big jacket as she followed the G.P.S. to Arsen’s cabin. Louvette turned the Ford into the drive to discover his pickup parked at the small cabin. Walking into the cabin with her bag, Louvette was grateful for the heater as shivers wracked her body. The winter in Whitefish was a bit more than she had ever experienced. Though it was a nice change from the hot areas that she had lived in. Arsen was putting groceries in the fridge.
“This is sort of my getaway. It’s too small for any events,” he admitted as she looked around at the spartan accommodations. It had everything someone needed to survive and be warm. There were no decorations save for a few mounted deer heads. It could easily be described as a bachelor’s pad. Louvette had expected nothing more of Arsen and nothing less.
“How did you get out of going to the pack run?” Louvette asked.
“I told my father I had to study, otherwise I’d fail,” Arsen said.
