chapter 8

The next day came and I delayed returning to the pack house till noon. On my way, I heard people discussing something about the Blood Fang pack. My conversation with Helena had me more curious about this pack so I made sure to hide as I listened in on their conversation.

“You serious?” The first person said.

“Yeah, on Selena’s name, I’m serious. The Blood Fang pack has been raiding other packs left and right.” The second person replied.

“Why would they do that though? I mean, they are powerful enough; it’s not like they needed anything from those packs they raided.”

That was true.

“It must be some sort of power play.” The first one said.

“Power play? What do you mean by that?”

“You know, showing all the little wolves that the big wolf is still big and bad. A power play.”

“Still don’t get it.”

Neither did I.

“They are probably carrying raids to remind packs that they are the strongest ones.”

“That’s stupid. Why would any pack need a reminder? It’s literally taught in schools that the Blood Fang pack is the most powerful in all of Texas.”

“Well if it’s not that, then I don’t know what else.” He said raising his hands in frustration. The second person had stopped talking deep in thought, then suddenly he gasped dramatically, gripping the first man like his life depended on it. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“What if we’re next?”

“What?”

“I mean, if they’re going around raiding packs, what if our pack is next?”

“No. No. I seriously doubt that. We’re fine. They’re not going to come raid us. We’ll be fine.” He responded sounding more as if he was trying to convince himself rather than his friend.

“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s not worry about anything.” He agreed to switch the subject.

I realized the conversation was over and I snuck away back to the pack house, yay. When I entered the first thing I noticed was how horrible the place looked. It looked like a trailer had run through it, leaving a trail of disaster in its wake.

“What on earth?” I asked aloud.

A head peeked out from the games room it was Adrian. Out he came, trailed by his entourage of Beatrice and Casey, Cameron was absent.

“You’re back Lilli.” He said his tone was too cheerful to bear.

“Please don’t call me that.”

“What?” He asked the smile disappearing from his face.

“I’d rather you not call me Lilli, you can go back to calling me freak, like you all always do.”

“Why can’t we call you Lilli, Lilli?” He asked still using the nickname.

Because the only people I ever want calling me ‘Lilli’ aren’t alive anymore and hearing that name makes my heart ache, but I can’t say that because it would be no different from giving them ammunition to use against me, so I tried a different approach instead.

“It’s far too pretty a name for a defective thing like me.” They always enjoy it when I bring myself down in their presence, here was I hoping this same tactic would work again.

Adrian narrowed his eyes at me and I feared I had been discovered. Then he went back to smiling.

“Well, you said it, not me.” He said, “Well freak, welcome back.”

We were back to ‘freak’ now, that was good.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why the house looks like this. Well, you see, after our little visit yesterday, we thought about ways we could make your return feel more welcoming.” He said.

“So we put our heads together and realized you love doing chores so much, what better way to welcome you than to have you do more chores!” Beatrice said jumping up and down with glee.

“Wow, guys, you shouldn’t have,” I responded, my smile forced and awkward. They really didn’t have to but they did because they were terrible people and they thrived on the suffering of others, specifically my suffering.

“No need to thank us, we just knew you’d love it,” Adrian said wrapping his arm around my shoulder. I stiffened at the contact and tried moving my body away to avoid as much contact between us as possible.

What was with this person and invading my personal space?

“What did Luna say about this?” I asked.

“Oh Mom was on board with this, she agreed it would be great for you to return and do something that you’re familiar with.” He responded grinning like a child.

“Wonderful. Well, I’d better get to it then.” I said in response, maneuvering my way out of his embrace, I rushed to the supply cabinet.

“Have fun!” Casey called out. I looked up to find them going up the stairs with Adrian holding both of their hands. Guess that answered the question of whether or not they were a throuple.

Stretching my body, I winced slightly at the pain that radiated from my back. Eyes scanning the house I assessed which place I’d start with. The Luna knowing about this meant I had to be done in time for dinner. Speaking of food, I immediately remembered the spaghetti that I had hidden. I checked the spot where I hid it not bothering to open it because I knew it had gone bad. I dumped it into the trash and decided to start with the pile of dishes and the messy kitchen, that way even if I didn’t finish the rest of the house on time, the kitchen would at least be clean enough for me to make dinner, because Selena forbid the people in this house go a night without food.

I made quick work of the dishes and the messy kitchen; it was not as bad as I thought it would be. After that, I headed to the games room- big mistake.

The first thing that greeted me was the smell; it smelled like someone had hung curtains that were soaked in alcohol. Bottles and snack nylon were scattered everywhere in the room. I closed the door backing away from it. I was not ready for that.

I tackled everywhere else in the house, barring the upstairs, of course, because I did not believe that they would be dumb enough to mess up their parents’ rooms for me to clean, and because throughout the entire time I was cleaning, Adrian and the twins were still upstairs going at it. The sex noises I heard each time I passed the stairs were a good enough deterrent, but it also confirmed that there were no grown-ups in the house.

With the rest of the house cleaned up, I finally ventured back into the games room, this time I wore a mask. First, I opened up the curtains and the windows to make the room more breathable, then I got to work picking up the bottles and trash. And I cleaned the room like my life depended on it.

I do not know how I did it but I did it. I finished right on time and got started on dinner for them.