by Tamara White
By the time the sun has set, though, I am more than ready to leave.
Chapter Eight
After Dad and I got home last night, I went straight to my room. I couldn’t speak to him due to how angry I was. And when I’m that upset, it makes my wolf a little more volatile.
Now it’s the next day, and Dad and I still haven’t spoken yet. I woke up to the scent of bacon and eggs, which told me that he knew just how upset I was with him. He doesn’t cook breakfast for me unless he’s pissed me off. And it’s the same for me. I cook him pancakes if I made him upset.
I take a seat at the kitchen bench, reaching for the jug of orange juice and pouring myself a glass. Dad also left the coffee pot out, but sadly coffee isn’t something I can have. It makes me all jittery and takes away some of my control.
Once I’ve had a sip and set my cup back down, Dad speaks. “Are you stable?”
He’s referring to my wolf and the fact that I was shaking when I came home. I had to have a cool shower to ease some of the pain from keeping my wolf side under my skin. She barely tolerated Duncan.
As the night wore on, and he’d had a few more beers, he got even more vocal about how I needed to be disciplined. How I needed to be put in line so I could be the best hunter my generation had ever seen. Even when I walked down into the yard to explore the grounds near the house, I could still hear his loud voice, and it took a lot of meditation to keep my wolf hidden within.
“I guess so. You survived the night, didn’t you?” I snark at him.
He freezes in the middle of flipping an egg and it lands on the floor. He sets the pan back on the stove, ignoring the mess.
“Liza, please.”
I shake my head in anger. “No, Dad. Last night was messed up.”
He sighs and goes back to the food. “I know, honey. But we had to go. If we didn’t, then it would have raised suspicion, you know that.”
Dad places a plate in front of me that’s piled high with bacon, eggs, sausage, and grilled toast before taking a seat on my left with his own plate. His only contains three pieces of bacon and two eggs though.
“Dad, it’s not that. I understand not having people suspect what I am, but I meant what happened with Duncan. He drunkenly rambled on all night about my lack of discipline. Then he took you aside when we were leaving and told you to punish me. Physically!”
I still can’t believe he had the gall to say such a thing. When I got in the car, Duncan pulled my dad to the side and began to whisper to him, unaware I could hear everything.
He berated my father for letting me have such a loose tongue in front of other hunters. I listened for ten minutes as he advised my father that a girl like me needed to be taught her place and made to understand that just because I’m a hunter, it doesn’t give me the right to speak to men the way I did.
Which was fucking ridiculous. How am I supposed to speak to men? Should I bloody bow before and after speaking? Or does he want me to kiss ass when I talk to them? I don’t know what the fuck he expected, but it was annoying to be rebuked for something so unbelievable.
“I would never do such a thing, you know that.”
I sigh, taking a deep breath to calm myself. “I know, but it was frustrating because while he was talking, you were agreeing. I know you were blowing smoke up his ass and agreeing for the sake of it, but I can’t go back there, Dad. I don’t think my wolf could take it. She wanted to rip him to pieces, and she’s never been that violent before.”
“I don’t expect you to go back. Hopefully, we won’t have to. Maybe I could convince Duncan to let his sons come here for training rather than you going there,” he offers helpfully.
“Why do I even need to train with them? We both know I’m better than his children. Even if I was just a human, I’d still kick their asses.”
Dad chuckles softly but doesn’t deny it. He takes a delicate bite of his food while I eat more vigorously. I’m finished with my plate by the time he’s taken three bites.
I take my plate and rinse it before placing it in the dishwasher and moving around our small kitchen to prepare my lunch for the day.
I’m almost done making my fifth sandwich when Dad finishes his breakfast. He steps around me to rinse his plate, doing the same as I did and placing it in the dishwasher.
After dinner tonight, it will be filled with plates, and that’s when we’ll run it. Neither of us likes to turn it on unless it’s absolutely full.
Once the dishwasher is closed, Dad leans against the kitchen counter, watching me carefully. “I know you’re better than Duncan’s sons, but the thing is, Duncan is in a position of power among the hunters. While we don’t exactly have a firm structure to abide by, there are a select few hunters who work with the government to keep the wolves under control. Duncan is one of those people, so if we stay on his good side, he’s less likely to pay attention to us.”
“Do you really think he cares though? As far as he knows, I’m your daughter and a hunter. Shouldn’t that be enough to keep him off our backs?”
“Honestly, it should have, but he seems to be struggling with his own children. Rather than trying to fix them, he’s fixating on you. A girl he knows has already faced a wolf. I think he’s a little jealous of me and the progress you’ve made when he has two children who have yet to face a wolf. I found out last night that Jayden has only ever been on two hunts—one with his father, and one after he got his tattoo. He’s been stuck in his father’s home training his brothers rather than going out into the world on his own.”
The sympathy in Dad’s voice mirrors how I feel. Poor Jayden. To be stuck there and not out living his life, well, it’s really sad.
“We don’t have to decide on what to do now, but you need to understand how serious this is. If Duncan keeps showing an interest in you, we may have to move across the country. I don’t want him watching you too closely.”
Sighing in defeat, I move to wrap my arms around him in a firm hug. “Thank you,” I tell him, my voice mostly muffled in his chest. I rest my cheek on his heart as he embraces me. He’s just doing what he can to keep me safe, even if it means uprooting himself from a life he’s happy with. He’s always putting me first, something I can never even begin to repay him for. “You’re the best dad I could have ever asked for. I’m glad you found me.”
He squeezes me a little tighter.
“And that you didn’t kill me,” I add. “That would have totally sucked.”
His chest rumbles with laughter. “I’m glad I listened to my heart that night. You have been the light of my life, Elizabeth, and I would do anything to protect you. I hope you know that.”
I do know. Some days I wonder if forced to choose between the hunters and me, what choice he’d make, but I know deep down it would be me, even if he says otherwise. He loves me just as much as I love him, and even though we aren’t blood, we’re family. And we always will be.
Chapter Nine
I take the same seat in homeroom as yesterday, glad I’m here a little earlier today. The warning bell hasn’t rung yet, which means I have the class to myself for the moment.
Dad had to drop me off quickly this morning as he had a shift to get to. Before he left, though, he reminded me I would be fending for myself tonight since he had a double shift. Once the day shift as a cook is over, he’ll be doing a night shift as a bartender. He won’t finish until two in the morning, but I’m okay with that.
Nearly every place we’ve lived, he’s had a job that hasn’t brought in a lot of money. He gets a hell of a lot of tips as a bartender though, so it’s the most profitable job he can take, but sometimes no one is hiring. Dad actually went so far as to work as a stripper in one town, which I still think was absolutely hilarious. Not because my dad isn’t attractive, but because he has no rhythm.
I snuck in once to video him in case I ever needed blackmail material and almost gave myself away because of how hard I was laughing.
He looked like a stick gyrating against a woman w
ho, if she touched him, would break him into brittle pieces. It was absolute gold, and I’m sure the footage will come in handy one day. Maybe when he gets married.
The door to homeroom slams open, making me jump in my seat as my gaze swings over. I roll my eyes at the sight before me as Hannah saunters into the room with her little posse, all four of them wearing matching red and black striped cheerleading uniforms.
It’s the second day of school. Surely, they don’t need to be wearing their uniforms in the middle of class?
All of the girls sit in the front of the room in a small, square section of desks where they can talk to each other.
Hannah throws a dirty look my way but quickly ignores me when her friend starts speaking about tryouts.
Maybe she knows I won’t be an easy target for her little antics and has given up. I really fricking hope so.
Happy that day two might be starting off a little better, I pull out my mini notepad and pen from my bag and begin doodling on it. Nothing of importance, just the tattoo I’m supposed to get when I turn eighteen.
Dad says there is a special design template that is stored away for when that time comes, but I keep attempting to draw it myself. No matter how many times I try it though, it always looks wonky. Either the paw is too big or too small. Or one of the nails looks deformed. It sucks that I can’t draw it perfectly, but it doesn’t mean I’ll stop trying. Maybe I might even come up with my own design, something that marks me as a wolf and a wolf hunter.
The sound of a chair scraping across the tiled floor alerts me to the presence of another person in the seat beside me, and a quick glance has me dropping my pen in annoyance.
“Are you fricking kidding me right now? Go away!” I hiss. His girlfriend has ignored me so far, and now he’s sitting with me. Is he trying to make this shit with her escalate?
Ash grins, settling into the seat beside me. “But I want to sit here. Just because you rejected the idea of us sitting together at lunch doesn’t mean we can’t sit together for homeroom.”
“Yes, it does.”
I get up to move, but his hand snaps out and grabs hold of my wrist. “Don’t. If you move, I’ll just follow you. I only want to talk, that’s all.”
I lower myself back into my seat, shaking his hand off me. “And have you thought about what your girlfriend will think? She doesn’t exactly strike me as stable. To her, this could look like you’re hitting on me, which will result in disastrous consequences for me.”
“And what if I am hitting on you?”
I blink slowly, a laugh bubbling up and spilling free.
He appears offended by my laughter, but it doesn’t stop me from speaking the truth. “If you are, then you will most definitely be getting kicked in the nuts by the end of the day.”
“Really? Again with my nuts? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you just want to cop a feel.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose in absolute frustration. “Okay, you’re just pissing me off now. At first, you were trying to come off as cute and playful. Now, you’re trying to come off as a ladies’ man. Which, considering you have a girlfriend right across the room, makes you nothing but a pig in my eyes. So I’m going to say this slowly so it sinks in. You have a girlfriend. I want nothing to do with you. So please, just leave me alone, or I will make you.”
“I’m sorry, Eliza. I didn’t mean to come across that way. It’s just nice to talk to someone who’s the same as me but not my family. I thought maybe we could be friends, but I guess I was wrong. I’ll leave.” His eyes are filled with acceptance, and I feel stupid for doing it, but this time I grab his hand and stop him.
“Fine, you can stay, but promise that if your girlfriend asks, you’ll tell her we’re friends. Tell her our dads are close, which makes us practically related or something like that so she will stop seeing me as a threat.”
“She won’t hurt you. Hannah may be persistent, but once she knows she can’t bully you into being her puppet, she’ll just ignore you.”
“Oh, yeah, because being bullied into being her puppet is a way to make people like her.” I roll my eyes. “But at least if you tell her that bullshit, she won’t be threatened by me. She’ll think I have no chance with you, so she’ll back off. Hopefully. Because if she doesn’t, I will retaliate. I don’t want to hurt her, but I won’t take her bullying.”
He remains quiet for a minute, his gaze on his girlfriend and her group of friends. “All right, I’ll make sure she knows you’re off-limits because you’re family. But if she doesn’t leave you alone, tell me. I’ll sort it out.”
Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen. I really don’t need a man to fight my battles for me. If I can’t handle a self-entitled cheerleader, I may as well not be a hunter.
“So was there something in particular you wanted to talk about?” I ask, remembering the way he said he just wanted to talk to someone who wasn’t his family. Maybe he has questions his brothers and father weren’t answering.
“Are they really as bad as Dad says?”
My heart skips a beat and I turn slowly, unsure how to phrase it. I can’t exactly tell him some of us, like me, are actually pretty nice to be around. Sure, I may be a little bitchier than the average person, but I doubt that’s all the wolf side.
“You mean when you hunt one?” I inquire, needing to clarify what exactly he’s asking of me. We hunt them any time of the month, but on the full moon, and the days leading up to the full moon, we are more likely to see things that paint them as every bit the monster they are.
He’s staring directly into my eyes when he explains, “Yes. Dad only ever says they are rabid animals that need to be eradicated. He’s never explained why he thinks that, only that it’s his family duty to teach us what his father taught him.”
I fidget in my seat awkwardly and settle on a half-truth. “Honestly, all the wolves I’ve met are rabid. They’ve tried to attack me or my father, and we were forced to take them out before they killed us. I’ve helped my dad track wolves, seen them be as horrible in human shape as they are in wolf form, which leads me to believe they are all savages.”
From the devastation on his face, that was not what he wanted to hear. “Do you think that maybe there could be a good wolf or two out there?”
For a second, I wonder if he’s talking about me specifically and almost panic, only to notice his eyes are far away, thinking about someone else.
I shrug, unsure how to say this while being kind. “I’m a hunter, so I look for wolves who have harmed or will harm people. I’ve never looked for one that hasn’t hurt a human, so I guess it’s possible they could exist.”
He remains silent, and I feel for him. Whoever he lost, maybe they were lost to a wolf attack and he hopes they’ll return to him.
As I ponder over who it could be, it suddenly clicks—his mother. They said she passed away, but it’s entirely possible the circumstances around that were wolf related.
Is that why their father is so hard on them? Because they lost their mother to a wolf attack? If that’s what happened, it would explain so much. The lack of field training. The fact they haven’t faced a wolf yet. And the way Duncan is pushing them into being hunters. He wants vengeance and will use his sons to get it.
Chapter Ten
My classes drag on with me getting a shit ton more homework, but at least I did most of yesterday’s, so I won’t be too overwhelmed during the week. Now I can sit back and enjoy my sandwiches until it’s time to head back into class.
I was lucky to get here early enough that I scored myself a table over by the wall, keeping my back protected from attack. Not that I expect an attack in the middle of school, but it appeases my wolf to look after myself from all angles.
I’m onto my third sandwich when Ash sidles into the seat across from me, setting his tray of cafeteria food on the table and dropping his bag at his feet.
Before I can insist he move or risk upsetting his girlfriend, he peeks up at me, his eyes intense. “What’s it lik
e?” When I hesitate, he rushes to explain, “Being a hunter. What’s it really like? Do you get scared? Or do you grow numb to it?”
I shove the last of my sandwich in my mouth to buy me some time. How the hell can I answer that honestly? If I say anything to deter him from being a hunter, Duncan will make sure to reiterate that I need punishment.
I swallow and meet his curious gaze. “It’s hard to really explain, but yes, I was scared. I don’t think I’ll ever not be scared. We’re hunting wild animals designed to kill us. But now that I know how to defend myself, how to aim a gun loaded with silver right between a wolf’s eyes, I’m a little less scared. It helps that for the time being, I have my dad with me backing me up so if I fuck up I’m not killed.” I take in a deep breath, voicing my true fears. “Every day I worry that I’m making a mistake. What if the human I’ve been told is a wolf is just that, a human, and the information was wrong? What if the wolf I killed is the rare wolf that hasn’t ever harmed a living creature? Those questions are always swirling in my mind. Which is why I ensure to do my full research on a subject before agreeing to a hunt.”
Ash just stares across the table at me, his blue eyes narrowed in concern. When the silence stretches for several minutes, I break the tension. “Sorry, I guess I’ve been holding that in for a while.”
“No, it’s okay, I’m just processing.”
I grab another sandwich out and dig in while he stares off into space, slowly eating the gross oil covered fries on his plate.
“So how are you dealing with it?” I ask, trying not to gag at the odors coming from his cafeteria food. The downside to having an excellent sense of smell is that I can tell how not fresh the school food is. It’s why I always bring my own lunch.
He shakes his head, and his expression conveys his frustration. “Dad isn’t exactly pleased with my hesitance to follow this lifestyle. He thinks I haven’t embraced the hunting as much because I haven’t gone out yet, so he’s decided that this full moon, we’re all going out—Jay, Ty, me, you, and your father.”
