“From who?” Megan asked, quirking her eyebrow slightly.
Immediately, Trish wondered if she should tell her sister. She loved Megan, but Megan was always a bit overbearing. She did have her reasons, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t slightly annoying at times.
“Remy. He was a guy that was out in the parking lot. He seemed to see that I was stuck and he helped me out,” she told her.
“You have to be careful. That’s how guys prey on girls, Trish. You’re an adult, and I won’t try to force you to do something, but you need to be smarter about this. I’m glad that you’re okay, but this dude sounds like bad news,” Megan told Trish with concern.
“I get it, Megan. He didn’t seem bad at all. I mean, he did help me out, so I guess it might just be because he’s a bit different,” Trish told her.
“I guess. I wouldn’t see him though. I don’t like the sound of him,” Megan admonished.
Trish rolled her eyes, heading to her room to go to bed. She understood that her sister cared a lot about her, and it was for her own good, but seriously, she could be so controlling at times. However, as she got ready for bed, Trish wondered what Remy was up to. Was he okay? He seemed a bit out of sorts after they talked. He didn’t even tell her what he was doing out there. Oh well, guess it was just one of those fluke meetings or something.
The next day, Trish went to the restaurant she managed, thinking that nobody of importance would show up today. It would probably be just another generic day, but then, about halfway through her shift, Trish noticed a familiar face come in.
“Remy,” she said to herself.
Immediately, Trish told the other servers that she wanted to take care of his order. They happily allowed her, and without hesitating, she walked over to him, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“You again,” she said with a smile.
“Hello. I’m glad we ran into each other again. I heard about this place from a friend of mine. They said it was good. I never imagined you’d be here though,” he told her.
“I’m actually the manager here. Let’s have a seat, I’ll take your order and we can chat,” Trish told him. Thankfully, the restaurant was a bit slow right now, and her normal staff could handle few remaining customers. When they sat down, she could see the slightly nervous look on his face.
“You don’t have to be scared. I’m not going to hurt you,” she said.
“I know. I just worry that I might. Plus, I’m not totally keen on crowds. This is the first time I’ve been around people in a bit,” he admitted.
That was strange. Trish didn’t expect him to be so different.
“So you’re not very social?” she asked.
“Not really. You’re the first person I’ve talked to in a bit. Besides my friend. I don’t really do well with other people unless I…know them, in a sense,” he said.
He was definitely different, way weirder than she thought that he would be.
“Well, I hope that I don’t scare you off or anything,” she told him with a smile.
“I don’t think that you will. If anything, I worry that I might scare you,” he told her.
Why in the world would he worry about that? It would take a lot to scare her away, that’s for sure.
“You’d have to do a lot of damage to do that, you know,” she teased.
“That’s good. Say uh, can we maybe see each other tomorrow evening?” he offered.
Wait, for real? He wanted to take her out on a date? This made it even better. In truth, Trish wondered if she was making the right decision. Something about him did seem dangerous, and normally, she didn’t feel so strongly for another person, but this man, this man in particular, was drawing her in, and she wanted nothing more than to let it continue.
“Sure. Let’s do it,” she said.
The two of them exchanged numbers, and Trish felt as if she was on cloud nine. However, that night after Trish got home, Megan couldn’t hide her concern.
“You seem happy,” she said.
“Yeah, I’m actually really happy,” Trish told her sister.
Megan looked at her, immediately worried about that.
“Okay, spill. What just happened?” she asked.
That’s when Trish noticed it. Her sister was worried about her. Trish knew her sister wanted to protect her, but she didn’t want Megan budging into everything.
“Well, remember that guy that I met last night? Remy,” she told her.
“Yeah, the one I told you to stay away from,” Megan snapped.
“I know you did. But he came to the restaurant today. He asked me out. We sat down and chatted. He is a bit weird, but he’s actually really sweet. I kind of do want to go out with him,” she told her sister.
“Kind of? You might get hurt. I mean, you don’t really know this guy, how do you know he’s not some creepy dude that’s going to kill you or something. Can’t you tell that this is a bit odd?” Megan worried.
“I mean, I know that this is something different, but he seems like a good person,” Trish was getting tired of defending her choices.
“But you don’t even know him! Even you feel like this is weird. Listen, I’m trying to help you out, Trish. You’re my sister. I love you a lot. I don’t want you getting hurt,” she told her.
Trish thought about it for a moment. Maybe she really should listen to her gut feeling.“I know, sis. I mean, maybe this might be a bad idea.”
“I think it is. Especially since you don’t know anything about the guy. Or where he’s taking you. He could be a killer or something. I just…I worry, you know,” Meganfelt relieved that her sister could finally see the potential danger.
Trish knew this. Her sister was very careful about this sort of thing. It made sense that she was scared, but at the same time, Trish wanted to take a chance.
“I’ll think about it. I mean, I don’t want to say yes or no until the time comes,” she told her.
“Fine. Do what you want. I’m not fighting you,” her sister muttered.
With those words, Megan left the room, and Trish felt bad about the whole thing. She knew that her sister meant well, but she was being way too overprotective of her. She didn’t like the fact that her sister was always babying her, making sure that she didn’t step out of line, keeping her on the right path. She knew that her sister was practically a mother to her since their parents died, but in a sense, Trish didn’t want to just live under her thumb.
That night, Trish knew she had a lot of thinking to do. However, the next morning, she woke up, seeing her sister on the couch.
“Ugh,” Megan whispered.
“What’s the matter?” Trish asked with concern.
“I’m sick,” she said, coughing hard. Megan looked pretty bad, but that’s when Trish noticed it: the thermometer in her mouth said 98 degrees. It was right at body temperature.
“I see. Well, I think I’m going to go out tonight,” Trish told her.
“But why? Can’t you take care of me?” Megan asked.
“Well, I’d think about doing it even more if you were actually sick, and you weren’t just trying to pull a fast one on me. I know what you’re doing, Megan, and while I get that you want to be the protective mother figure to me, I can make my own decisions. I’m a big girl,” she told her.
“But Trish...”
“I’m getting ready for the date later. I don’t need you holding me back,” she said to her.
Megan did realize that her ruse wasn’t doing anything. Trish was her own person, and that’s what Trish decided to do. She couldn’t believe that her own sister was working so hard to force her away from this guy. Sure, he was a bit different, and she didn’t really know him, but this was also getting stupid. Her sister needed to learn that she was an adult, with her own aspirations, and her own desires. She didn’t need to be babied.
As she got ready for the date, Trish began to think about things, things she normally didn’t think about. What wo
uld happen if her sister wasn’t bossing her around anymore. Trish would love it if she could just go away for a bit. She was sick of her always trying to boss her around like Trish was some sort of animal she could control. Well that wasn’t happening tonight.
As she finished up the final touches of her outfit, annoyance set in. She was her own person, and her stupid sister needed to realize this. as she stepped out the door, Megan looked at her again, groaning in pain once more.
“Cut the crap sis. I’m heading out, and you’re not going to stop me. I just want to see what it’s like, and I’m not going to let you control every aspect of my existence,” she told her.
Before Megan could say anything, she walked off, heading straight to her car and feeling a bit excited about this. What would happen now? She honestly didn’t know, and she had a feeling that this would soon become an interesting night, an interesting night indeed.
Chapter 2
Remy sat in the parking lot in his car, thinking about what to do. He was right there, and he knew that Trish would be here soon enough. He liked her a lot, but there was just too much on his mind to give her an accurate answer, way too much for his own head to process.
He liked her a lot. She was headstrong, confident, independent, and he could tell that this was definitely something that he wanted. But at the same time, he did have to think about the pack, and recent events that happened.
He didn’t even know how to tell her about that, and he definitely was scared of getting her involved. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her or anything, it was the fact that this could open the door to many problems, various issues that he had to put into perspective, and various parts of himself that he didn’t really want to deal with.
Earlier today, he did talk to Ember about it. Ember was his best friend, a member of the pack he was in, and he seemed enthralled by it, but the recent events, and even the fact that he was also to tell her the truth might make it worse.
The one that he did remember were the recent events that he had to see. It was right in front of him when it happened. Vinn was one of the members of a nearby pack that he did respect, however, he was also a fledging shifter. During one of the full moons, his mate Simone was around. Simone hadn’t fully changed yet, and she didn’t know the nuances of a fledging werewolf, and because of that, it ended up creating a bad situation. Vinn went crazy, and Simone was unfortunately killed by the man.
That would’ve been the end of it, if Frake didn’t exist. Simone wasn’t a shifter yet, but her brother was, and while they weren’t close, it did affect him quite badly. Frake was one of the alphas of the pack that was near Remy’s, and when all of that happened, immediately Frake went mad, going crazy and killing Vinn and some of the others. This then started to throw the rest of the packs out of balance.
In all honesty, he knew that war was close. The packs did try to stop Frake, but Frake was now attacking their own, trying to incite trouble, and overall just being really rotten towards everyone. Frake is this close to threatening war with his pack, and being an alpha, this would mean that he was definitely close to even having a situation such as this which could prove to be bad for all of the packs.
War hasn’t happening in such a long time. It’s something that Remy honestly didn’t expect for him to have to worry about at this point. Most of the time, the general rule was that the packs would all live in peace, harmony, and work with one another despite being from different groups. This situation however has already started to make everyone feel on the edge, including Remy’s pack.
That’s why Remy sat there with his hands on the wheel, just about ready to get the hell out of here. He knew that he didn’t want to worry the packs, and while he liked Trish, he knew that it was dangerous for werewolves and humans to be together. It was mostly a general consensus that most shifters would mate with other shifters and that would be it. But, there were the cases of a mate being a human, and often, if they weren’t changed already, this brought about very dangerous circumstances.
This left Remy with many questions. He knows that he shouldn’t do this. He shouldn’t try to push Trish into this life. He didn’t think it was good for anyone to be a shifter, but he did really like her. She was smart, funny, independent, and he knew that if things did work out, they wouldn’t have to worry all that much. But, could they? Could a shifter and a human really work? He definitely didn’t want to hurt her.
That’s what scared her. He talked to Ember about this before he went out, sitting there and holding his head in his hands.
“I don’t know Ember. I really like her, but after the whole mess with Vinn and Simone, I feel scared. I mean, I don’t want to hurt others. It’s why I’ve never even bothered to try and find a human. I just…I want there to be peace between everyone. You’ve seen the skirmishes, the way everyone is simply on edge and unable to calm down. I don’t want anything worse to happen,” Remy admitted.
Ember sat there, smiling at him. “I get that. But, you like her don’t you? Do you think she’s got potential, and might join us?” he asked him.
“I think so. I mean, she did seem really interested in me, and while I did try to figure out a way to not get her involved, I just know that she will be, especially if she decides to join me,” he said.
“You worry far too much, you know,” Ember teased.
“You would too if you know that you’re putting a woman’s life at risk,” Remy spat out.
“Come on, I’m just teasing. You need to go. I’m serious, you should try to make this work. I believe in you Remy. You’re a good man and a strong leader. I mean, I know that it’s scary. I get that. Whenever I do end up finding that special person, I’ll probably have to worry about this as well, but you’re my best friend, and I know that ever since you met her, you’ve wanted nothing more than to show her the life that you have, and I know that it is scary, but trust me on this Remy, I believe in you,” he told him.
Remy nodded. “I’ll try,” he said. He didn’t think that he could. He feels like this is too damn risky. As he left the pack, he went to the car that they all shared, sitting there and holding his phone in his hands. He did have her number, but as his fingers graced over this, he sighed.
“I can’t just call to cancel. I know that’s what humans do, and women don’t like that. So what do I do?” he asked himself.
He could just run away. He can’t do that though. She’s too nice, and the last thing he wanted to do was to stand her up and make her feel worse. I might just be best to go there in person, to tell her the truth, that he’s scared of being in a relationship, and he started to head towards the place.
He waited there, and when he saw her car pull up, he got out of the car. Immediately, his eyes are fixated on her gorgeous body, the smile on her face, and the look in her eyes.
Shit. He couldn’t cancel on her.
“Hey there,” she said.
“Hi. Did you make it here okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Traffic kinda sucked, and my sister is being a bitch, but I’m here now. I’m excited,” she told him.
Remy knew that this was it. He could go tell her right now that this was a bad idea, end this right then and there. It would be better, it would be easier, it would involve less emotions.
And yet, he couldn’t do it.
With a smile on his face, he holds the door for her, which surprises her, and soon, the two of them headed inside he would try to make the most of this, no matter what might happen. The only thing that he could do now, was to just hope for the best, expect the worst, and try to make it go right.
The waiter sat them both down, and when he got the menu out, he grimaced slightly.
“Ugh, too many veggies,” he said to himself.
“What, you don’t like them?” she teased.
“I’m more of a carnivore myself,” he said with a teasing smile.
Both of them laughed, and Remy realized that she was so easy to talk to.
“So, you got here a bit early. Everything okay?” she asked him.
“Yeah. Just have a lot on my mind. I’m honestly kind of nervous. What about you, it sounds like you’ve got an interesting sister,” he pointed out.
“Yeah. Unfortunately, she believes that things are bad all the time, and she definitely doesn’t always consider my feelings. I love her a lot, but man, she could be overbearing like no other,” she said.
“I get that. I mean, she probably just wants to protect you,” he said to her. In all honesty, that’s what he wanted to do to her. He wanted to protect Trish, and that’s why he struggled to actually go through with this.
“Don’t worry, I’m going to be honest with you Remy, I actually can take care of myself. I get told all the time that I need to be protected, coddled, treated like I’m in some glass house or something. But I don’t need to. I mean, I know that this isn’t easy for people to understand, but I’m willing to experience danger, since often it’s something that I enjoy,” she told him.
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