by Sara Dailey
After an excruciatingly long birthday dinner at Benihana’s, Dad pulled into the driveway, and I couldn’t wait to run upstairs and take a shower. I smelled like a hibachi grill, and with my new heightened senses, that wasn’t a good thing. I had been resisting the urge to hold my nose all through dinner, and could barely keep my once-favorite restaurant’s food down. Well, there’s one more sucky thing to add to the list of sucky things about being a werewolf. I could no longer enjoy the one dinner I look forward to all year.
Of course, Mr. Perfect Werewolf, Aiden, gobbled up everything in sight like it was the best thing he ever tasted. According to him, he could smell it, but it didn’t bother him enough to stop gorging himself. Jerk. Why did he have to be so good at everything? He was already a better werewolf than me, and we hadn’t even become wolves yet.
While washing the stench of hibachi out of my hair, Aiden began pounding on the door to hurry me up. “I need in there, Al. The guys will be here any minute, and I need a shower too. You’re not even going anywhere. Are you?”
“I’ll be out in a minute. And no, I’m not. Thanks for rubbing it in,” I shouted back.
“Well, maybe you should go out with me. You shouldn’t stay home on your birthday.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He was only inviting me to join him because he felt sorry for me? Who was this guy? There was a time when he wouldn’t have dreamed of going out without me on my birthday. But that was because he wanted me there. This invitation was clearly different.
I guess I shouldn’t be mad at him; he still has friends, so I shouldn’t blame him for not wanting to hang out with a social outcast.
I hurried out of the bathroom, trying to make it to my room without having to talk to Aiden, knowing it would only make me feel more pitiful. I had made it as far as my door when I heard him call out from his room, “Hey, if you’re still up when I get home, let’s sneak out front and have a beer. Like we did last year, okay?”
“Sure, if I’m up,” I said feeling a little better that he was at least trying to be nice.
I plopped down in my papasan chair and tried to read a book, but for some reason, I was too jumpy to relax, or concentrate, for that matter. Attempting to ease the unexplained jitters, I instead decided to pace back and forth in my room. When that didn’t help, I did a few jumping jacks. I even tried a mini makeover, but nothing would calm the anxious, itchy feeling inside me. It was the strangest feeling, and it didn’t seem to be going away. What I really wanted to do was rip my skin off and throw it in the washing machine. Since that really wasn’t a viable option, I grabbed my Adidas and headed for the treadmill. I had just showered, but at that point, I was willing to try anything.
I hopped on the treadmill and started out walking at a brisk pace, but that just wasn’t doing it so I cranked it up a bit. I jogged for a few minutes, without any improvement, so I upped the speed even more. Before I knew it, I was full out sprinting. Never had I run that fast in all my life, and I wasn’t even getting winded. After thirty minutes, I finally slowed it down and got off, completely flabbergasted that I had hardly broken a sweat. The good news was that the itching was gone, thank goodness, but I still felt uneasy.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, glad that Mom and Dad were nowhere to be found, and headed back to my room. Just as I closed my bedroom door, exhaustion took over, and I barely made it to my bed before I passed clean out.
***
“Pssssssst. Hey Al, wake up.” Aiden was shaking my shoulders to rouse me awake. Not the best way to be awakened, by the way.
As I opened my eyes, I breathed in and immediately began to gag.
“Omigod, Ad! You reek. How much have you had to drink tonight?”
“A little more that I should have, but really I’m fine. Come on. You promised you’d have a beer with me. Let’s go,” Aiden said as he stumbled toward the door.
It was clear that Aiden was well above the legal limit, and he was lucky that Mom and Dad were already asleep because they would have to be complete morons to not realize that he was completely trashed. The last thing I wanted to do was sit outside with my wasted brother, but he was persistent. Before I got out of bed, I asked “You sure you haven’t already had enough? You smell like a wine-o.”
“I’m fine. Really. Now come on sis. Get your ass in gear. It’s your birrrrthday,” he slurred.
Not wanting to get into it with him at the moment, I reluctantly followed him downstairs and out to the front porch, only to find three of Aiden’s friends waiting for us on the driveway. I pulled Aiden to a stop and pleaded to him with my eyes.
What was he thinking? Bringing these guys here, and Thomas of all people?
“Oh come on, sis. Loosen up. We’re all friends here,” he tried to assure me as he pulled me toward his friends.
“We used to be friends, Ad. Not so much anymore,” I whispered more to myself than to Aiden.
Thomas smiled and winked at me as he tossed me a beer. “Yeah, come on, sis. We are all friends here. We could be really good friends if you’re up for it,” Thomas added.
Seriously?
I walked over and opened my beer, but made sure to keep my distance from the rest of the guys. Aiden held up his beer to make a toast and announced, “Happy Birthday, Al. To you being seventeen and to us being werewo—”
“Where we are right now,” I cut in knowing it would make no sense, but had to stop Aiden from blowing our little family secret the day after we found out that we were soon-to-be werewolves. Could he be more of an idiot?
With Aiden doubled over in laughter, Thomas took the opportunity to grab me by the waist, pulling me against him. He whispered in my ear, “I know where I’d like to be right now. Between those hot thighs of yours.”
As I shoved him away from me, I said, “Ugh! Not ever going to happen. Don’t you think you have caused me enough trouble this week?”
“Come on, baby. You know you want me,” Thomas slurred as he pulled me to him again, but this time instead of grabbing me by the waist, his creepy hand landed firmly on my ass.
Aiden clearly wasn’t going to be any help, being that he was still cracking himself up. So I did the first thing that came to mind. Not only did I shove Thomas off of me once again, but this time, I poured my beer down his pants, and said, “Maybe this will help you cool off, asshole.”
Before the can was empty, Thomas jumped back and shouted, “What the hell is your problem, you crazy bitch?” Then he turned to my brother and announced, “Hey Aiden, you need to get your sister in check, man.”
Aiden pulled himself together, looked up, and shouted, “What the hell are you doing, Alli?”
“What? He grabbed my ass… again! This is totally your fault, Aiden. Why the hell did you bring him here? I told you he was a douche-bag.” I barked as I headed for the front door.
“Don’t be such a drama queen, Al. Christ! You don’t just dump your beer down my friend’s pants. What’s wrong with you?” Aiden yelled.
That stopped me in my tracks. What is wrong with me? What the hell is wrong with him?
Just before I turned around to let Aiden have it, I caught sight of the light in the front room of our house flip on and knew either Mom or Dad was awake, but that little inconvenience did nothing to defuse my anger. Apparently, Thomas saw the light as well because he immediately said, “Come on guys, let’s get out of here.” And as the guys hurried to their car, Thomas turned to call out over his shoulder, “Later psycho!”
I watched them drive away before turning back to Aiden, “I can’t believe that you would do that to me. What? Just because he is your friend I’m supposed to let him put his nasty hands on me? And you blame me?”
“Yeah, I kind of do. Lately, you blow everything out of proportion. Do you even realize how hard it is to defend you every day, especially when you do shit like that?” he admitted.
“Then don’t. Don’t defend me. I never asked you to. God, Aiden! You’re being an even bigger asshole
than Thomas,” I said as tears started to sting my eyes. This was all I needed. Now, my one and only ally had turned against me too.
Aiden grabbed my arm as I turned to walk away from him, and when he did, something in me snapped. My vision narrowed and my pulse raced. Without a second thought, I lunged for my brother with everything I had. Before I had a moment to comprehend what was happening, I had knocked Aiden to the ground. Acting on pure instinct, I jumped on top of him and started punching, hitting, clawing, anything to cause him pain. To my surprise, he wasn’t trying to restrain me. No, he was fighting back.
His fingernail raked across my cheek, but it didn’t hurt. It just pissed me off more. He managed to flip us over, so that he was on top of me. He was trying to pin me down when my elbow made contact just above his eye. Blood. Lots and lots of blood poured from his face. There was so much, so fast, that it soaked my entire t-shirt. Seeing so much of his own blood must have stunned Aiden too, because he sat back and stopped fighting. All I could do was stare at what I had done to him.
“What in God’s name is going on out here?” Mom yelled as she busted through the front door just a few minutes too late.
Immediately, Aiden slid off of me, and I backed away until he was out of my reach. Mom took one look at Aiden’s face and rushed toward him. “Oh my God! Aiden are you okay?”
As my adrenaline slowed, I could fully feel the pain he had inflicted on me, and from the looks of Aiden, he was in just as much pain as I was, maybe more.
It was then that it hit me, what I had started, what I had done. I was so ashamed. I couldn’t look at Ad. I couldn’t look at Mom. All I could do was run to my room.
Chapter 5
ALLISON
I woke up the next morning face down on the end of my bed, with tear-streaked mascara dried to my face. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that no one came to check up on me during the night. I mean, I did get into the biggest and most painful fight of my entire life last night. It certainly seemed worthy of some kind of attention. Even bad attention was better than nothing. At the very least, I expected Mom to either storm in my room accusing me of being insane, or come and get my side of the story. I bet someone checked on poor Aiden. God forbid I leave any permanent damage to his precious face.
After washing off the evidence of my pitiful cry-myself-to-sleep act, I wandered down stairs to fill my empty stomach, and found my brother sitting on the kitchen counter with a bag of frozen peas on his swollen eye. I was so not ready to deal with this yet. Without a word, I quickly snatched a Coke from the refrigerator, ignored eye-contact with Aiden completely, and hurried back up to my room. My muscles were achy and tired, and the scratch on my face was throbbing. Plus the anger that was only beginning to brew moments before was quickly mounting.
I couldn’t believe Aiden. He should have stood up for me. He would have never let someone treat me like that a year ago. Apparently, this whole werewolf thing has turned Aiden into a complete jackass. It was like I didn’t even know who he was anymore.
***
Just as I was about to dramatically slam my door shut I heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. It was Aiden. I would recognize those heavy footsteps anywhere. I gently pushed the door closed and hurried over to the window, sure that he was headed my way.
“Al, can I come in?” he said after a light tap on my door.
“Really Aiden, I’m not ready to talk.”
“Come on Al. We need to talk, don’t you think?”
This time I didn’t answer. I wasn’t sure if I wanted him to really go away or barge in to talk, with or without my approval. I turned to sit down on my bed figuring the old Aiden would come in, but, at the same time, wondering if this new were-Aiden would just turn and walk away.
He came in, just as I had secretly hoped.
“I know you don’t want to talk, but I do, so I guess you’ll just have to sit there and listen,” Aiden ranted, and he tromped over to the other end of my bed.
I didn’t comment, but decided to sit there and give him my attention, at least until he pissed me off again. As mad as I was at him, I didn’t want to fight anymore.
He sat there for several seconds staring at the floor before he spoke. “Al, I really am sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. I never thought I had it in me to hurt you, and I just can’t… I just can’t believe I got that out of control.”
He looked away as his eyes began to water, surely not wanting me to see him this way. Aiden doesn’t cry, like ever. Not even when we had to put our dog, Greg, to sleep a few years back, and he loved that dog more than anything.
I was about to say something, though I wasn’t really sure what, when Aiden continued, “I should have punched Thomas in the face. He’s such an asshat. I shouldn’t have let him get away with that shit. I don’t know what I was thinking, Al. Really. I was smashed, but that is no excuse for what I did.”
Before he could continue, I admitted, “I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that. I don’t know what got into me. I was just so pissed off. I could have killed Thomas. He’s lucky that light inside came on when it did.”
Aiden laughed which, in turn, made me laugh. He reached over to slug me on the arm and said, “Yeah, he’s one lucky son-of-a-bitch. How did you learn to fight like that, anyways?”
“Hell, I don’t know. Lots of practice I guess. That makes four fights this year, you know.”
Aiden looked at me, his expression suddenly becoming serious.
Uh-oh, I know that look. This can’t be good.
After an extended moment of silence, Aiden finally said, “Last night, after I sobered up a little, Mom and I had a very interesting conversation.”
“I’m sure. I mean it is not every day that your kids are trying to kill each other in the front yard. How pissed was she?” I asked, actually curious about how she took the whole thing since she hadn’t bothered to come talk to me.
“Very, but that wasn’t really what we talked about. Anyway, listen, she wants to be the one to tell you, okay. I just thought I should warn you. It’s pretty heavy,” he said.
“Just tell me, Ad. I can’t take anymore drama this week.”
“Alright, but don’t shoot the messenger. We are probably going to be moving.”
“What? Are you serious? To where?” I shouted.
“Don’t freak until we talk to Mom, okay. Come on. Let’s go find her and get this over with.”
Just as we were about to walk out of my bedroom, Aiden turned to me and said, “And, hey Al… I think it’s a good idea.”
Before I could respond with What the hell do you mean, a good idea? he shot down the stairs and into the kitchen.
Mom was just hanging up the phone when I got there, and Aiden was already seated at the breakfast table ready for “the talk.” We sure have been having a lot of those lately.
I took a seat next to Aiden just as he asked, “Who was that, Mom? It sounded serious.”
“Actually, it was your grandmother.”
And to that, Aiden and I gave a simultaneous, “What?!”
Mom couldn’t seem to hide her smile. “My mother, your grandmother.”
“Why were you talking to her?” I asked. I thought y’all didn’t talk.
Just as mom opened her mouth to answer my question, Dad walked in the front door with the newspaper, a dozen donuts, and four venti Starbucks coffees.
“Hey! They live.” He paused. “But look like hell,” he added as he lightly ran his thumb over the cut on my cheek.
“My baby girl, your poor face. Looks like it hurts,” Dad said before he kissed the top of my head.
“No, I’m fine Dad.”
“Okay then, are we all getting ready for another Wright-family talk? I brought some serious-talk food,” Dad said.
“I was just about to start without you, honey. I talked to Mother. She and Dad are planning a trip to Rome. Doesn’t that sound fun? By the way, Mother says to tell you hello,” Mom said smiling at Dad.
“No she didn’t. Don’t even try to butter me up,” he immediately responded.
We all settled in at the table, and Aiden and I started in on the box of assorted donuts. There was definitely one perk to being a werewolf. I could eat all the donuts I wanted and not gain an ounce. Nothing better than a speedy metabolism.
Mom cleared her throat, preparing to begin her speech. “Kids, we’re moving to Red Ridge, New Mexico. My hometown. And before you go all ballistic, the decision has already been made. I will not risk your safety, or the safety of others, for that matter,” Mom said looking directly at me. “And I don’t want to watch you suffer anymore, baby. You both need to be around other kids like yourselves. I went through my change a long time ago and things are different now. I’m not going to sugar-coat it; it’s not an easy adjustment. It’s going to be hard on all of us, but your father and I agree that it is necessary,” Mom rambled on, hardly pausing to take a breath.
Aiden reached over and tapped my hand, “This really is a good idea, Al.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at Aiden. How could he? Was he seriously trying to be consoling? Like I didn’t already know that this was all my fault. That I was the one who couldn’t handle the whole werewolf thing. Perfect little Aiden would probably handle everything, well… perfectly. It was me who was the big screw-up. Me, who everyone now hated. Me, who was going around kicking everybody’s ass. No one needed to say it. I knew this was my fault. Did they really think that they could make it all better by uprooting the whole family to a new place? Did they really think this little move was going to fix all of my problems?
PART II
Allison, Kendall, and Cade
Chapter 6
ALLISON
The last two weeks flew by in a blur. When Mom announced that we were moving, I thought she meant eventually, not immediately. Both of my parents worked from home, so that made their decision a little easier, I guess. I barely had time to pack my room before Mom was shoving us in the car and we were driving away from Houston.
