Chapter 6

Shaun and I walked down the quiet residential road. As we walked, I kept stealing glances toward at him. Shaun Hunter was walking me home. I swear the way this day was going, not even aliens landing their flying saucer right down in front of me would surprise me. 

“Oh,” Shaun said, breaking the silence. “Uhm, so the school librarian told me you have their copy of Monday’s Trouble.”

My brow furrowed. “Uh, yeah, I have it,” I replied, not sure why he was asking me about a book. 

“Cool. When you’re done with it, can you give it to me? Been wanting to read that one for a while.” 

Was he serious? Not only did Shaun read books, but he wanted to read that one? That was like the top tier ‘nerds only’ type of book. Okay, so perhaps today could still surprise me. I smiled at the weirdness of the day. Weirdness I survived. “Yeah, of course. I can bring it to school tomorrow. I’ve read it like a hundred times by now.” 

“Yeah?” He looked excited by the idea. 

My smile grew. “Yeah. No problem.”

“Great,” he replied and gave me that breath-taking smile of his. My breath froze in my throat and my heart raced at the sight of it. Realizing he heard the way it beat, my face warmed, and I looked at my feet. 

Once again, we fell silent as we walked. To my surprise, Shaun walked me up to the front door. “Well, here I am,” I said as I stopped in front of it. “Thanks for walking me home. You didn’t have to.”

He shrugged with his hands in his pockets. “No problem. Just be careful, okay,” he said, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw genuine worry on his face. “Especially out in those woods. You know that’s not our territory and if something happened… my dad wouldn’t have any authority there.”

I almost told him just how aware I was of that fact, but decided against it. I was alive, the hunters weren’t and the vampire… well, the vampire was a problem for another day. Right now, I was glad to still be breathing and with Shaun. “I know,” I told him, fighting a smile as I still saw the worry on his face. “I swear to pay more attention when walking in the woods.”

“Or you could not take a walk in the woods,” he said, but kept his tone light, letting me know he was only half serious. 

I pretended to consider his words, then shook my head. “Nah, I don’t think I will.” Giving him a quick grin, I added, “But I don’t go too far from our borders, so I should be safe.” I wasn’t exactly lying. I had been going out in those woods for most of my life and today was the first time I’d ever been in danger.

“Yeah, well, just be careful. Okay?” Shaun said. There was an edge to his voice now and a serious expression on his face.

“Yeah, totally,” I replied, yet again taken aback. 

Just as quickly as it appeared, the serious was gone and replaced by his casual, aloof smile. “Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With a wave, he left my porch.

“See you tomorrow,” I called after him and watched as he walked down the street. So Shaun Hunter remembered I existed and was worried about me. Another grin broke out across my face and this time I didn’t worry about my racing heart as I turned around and went inside.

I rounded the corner cautiously, looking for my aunt. Aunt Lauren was no where in sight, so I hurried to my left in the little laundry room and left my mud covered shoes by the washer. I’d drop them there later. As soon as I turned to leave, I came face to face with Aunt Lauren. Her eyes blazed with anger and even her nostrils flared like a furious bull, preparing to charge.

“What on earth have you been up to?” She demanded, sending her voice up in pitch without increasing her volume. 

“I fell in a hole,” I said, and took a breath to explain more when she cut me off.

“Of course you did.” Aunt Lauren rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Well, I will not pay for your distractedness. All that—” She pointed at my clothing with her index finger. “Is going to be replaced on your own dime. I swear I work myself to the bone, just to have you throw it in my face.” With another shake of her head, but this time accompanied by a scoff, she turned from me and walked back over to the kitchen to the stove. “And whatever mud you track in the house, I expect you to clean up.” 

I blew out a breath and rolled my eyes right back at her. “Yeah, sure,” I said flatly as I walked over to the stairs. 

“What was that?” Aunt Lauren said, looking over at me. 

“Yes, ma’am,” I corrected, giving her a forced smile and started up the stairs. 

“Improve that tone or you’ll find yourself grounded, young lady.” 

I just gave her another forced smile and continued up the stairs. So I’m guessing my dear aunt is now color blind to not have noticed that I had blood on me besides mud. How was it that Shaun, who I haven’t talked to since middle school, showed more concern for me than my own family? Or even better, that I’m not at all surprised by my aunt’s reaction.

I couldn’t wait to get out of here. All I needed was a job… Or maybe I had one already. The work the vampire wanted me to do. Would he pay me? I wonder how probable it was that he’d kill me if I asked for money for this so called work he wanted from me. Well, seeing how much my aunt cared about my well being, perhaps it was worth the risk.

I’d just reached my room when I heard a loud snorting laugh. “What did you do, roll around with the pigs?”

I looked over at my other cousin, Declan. “Something like that.” He was a year older than me and Alisha, but he had her blond hair, though his was darker. Declan wasn’t very tall, only a half inch more than me, and unlike most werewolves, he was slimmer built.

It was something he spent hours in the gym trying to change, but despite all the muscles, Declan still looked smaller than the other werewolves. His eyes were darker, like my uncle, with a smattering of freckles along his cheeks and nose. He’d be cute if it was for that arrogant smirk that was always on his face.

Declan crossed his arms. The smirk grew. “Finally making friends, right? Or don’t even the pigs want to be around you?”

“Bye Declan,” I said, opening my door.

“Nope. You need to do my chem homework.” 

“I thought you said I wouldn’t touch your homework ever again?” I knew it was too good to be true. 

“Yeah, but I need to pass. So do better this time,” he demanded and, without warning, tossed his chemistry book at me.

I gasped as the massive book flew at my face. I brought my arms up in time to keep it from hitting me square on the nose, but I earned a scoff of disgust from Declan as it thumped on the floor. 

“Dude! If you break my book, mom’s gotta pay for it,” he demanded. 

“How about you don’t throw it at me next time then,” I said, glaring at him as I picked it up. If it wasn’t for the twenty bucks he’d been giving me every week to do his work for him, I’d shove this book right up his back end. I didn’t care if Aunt Lauren would ground me a month for it, either. 

“How about you act like a wolf?” Declan growled at me. “And I expect at least an eighty on that assignment or next time, what I will do is much worse.”

My stomach dropped. Next time? Much worse? “What did you do?” I demanded and opened my door. The room had been so trashed, it looked like a tornado hit it. “Wh-what?” 

“Next time, don’t make me fail,” he said coldly, a smirk on his face. “Oh, and Alisha’s on a date, so you need to do the dishes tonight and take out the trash.” The smirk grew into a chilling grin as he disappeared into his room.

I just scoffed, shaking my head as I focus back on my disaster of a room. This wouldn’t happen if I could actually lock my room. My stomach sank as I saw the pieces of ‘Monday’s Trouble’ scattered around the floor. Declan and ripped it into pieces. My eyes stung with tears. This was so unbelievable. What was I going to tell Shaun now?