3 Hair Do and Don't

SILVER LAKE PACK

By ten o’clock, Celeste was by herself again after her brothers left for either work or school. Trying not to think about how short her time was before she left, she ran the five miles to the 24-hour gym in the human town.

She spent two hours on weights then took a shower and emptied her locker. Her parents didn’t like her using the pila or human gym. Pilas, a crude name for humans taken from a breed of hairless dogs, were unaware that the nearby city was inhabited by werewolves. Celeste remembered the rumors from high school that it was a cult of some sort. Frequently she would assure her friends and teammates that it was not a cult or strange religious sect.

However, there were times that she thought that it was exactly that.

Females had few rights that were not guaranteed by the federal government of the Werewolf Council. Most families, including her own, opted to send their daughters to the public school in the pila town, Peony Village. This was done for their protection because as a male came into his prime, he could sometimes be unpredictable and in a moment of lust and desire, attack an unmated female.

For the same reason the pack had laws that her father refused to change. One of which was that females could not use the pack gym by themselves. And she, even as the daughter of the Alpha, was forbidden from the gym and training grounds unless one of her brothers was with her.

As was her regular routine, she went to the little café next door and had a quick lunch. Before heading back home, she went to the beauty shop and had her hair cut into a pixie style and donated the long black tresses before running back home for another shower to get the remaining traces of hair off her newly sweaty skin. She was walking out of her bathroom as her mom walked into her room.

Aislinn was quite beautiful and did not look as if she had borne thirteen pups and was approaching her fifth decade. Her brassy auburn hair fell in tight curls down to the middle of her back. Her golden tanned skin was flawless after a lifelong strict skin care routine that she passed on to her daughters. She stood five feet four and had a slender build, with soft brown eyes that were currently focused on her daughter.

“What did you do to your hair?” Aislinn screamed, the deep Irish lilt from her childhood slightly tinging her words.

“I got it cut. I wanted something different,” Celeste said, going into her closet to get dressed.

“But why now?” her mother squealed. “Do you really think that cutting your hair will change the way your mate feels about you?”

Walking back out in yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt, Celeste glared at her mother. “Did you ever consider that I did it because I wanted a haircut? That I wanted something different? That it has nothing to do with my mate? Or that horrible hunt?”

“But your hair. Why? Your mate -"

“Are you not listening?” Celeste yelled. “It has nothing to do with that fucking hunt! I wanted something different! If it won’t affect my mate finding me, why the hell do you care? My looks shouldn’t be why they want to be with me! With me! Not my damned hair!”

Celeste grabbed her gym bag and walked back into her closet to put her dirty clothes in the basket.

“Don’t yeh walk away from me, girl!” Aislinn yelled back, her Irish accent a little thicker.

“Why the fuck not? You’re planning on sending me away with a fucking stranger in just a few days!”

“He’s your mate!”

“Well, who the hell is he?”

“Your mate!”

“A fucking stranger!”

“Celeste Starr Moore!” her father said, walking into her room. “You do not talk to your mother like that!”

“Then you tell me who you’re going to sell me to!”

“We are not selling you,” Malachi said, trying to calm his daughter. He didn’t like her yelling or cursing at her mother. But she was his strong daughter, just as strong as her brothers. Perhaps even stronger. Celeste was the one who could take on the world. And win. The tears that she refused to shed would be his undoing.

“Am I not good enough for two cows and a goat?” she demanded angrily.

“I would never sell any of my daughters.” Malachi walked towards her.

“But you have no problems with them being raped.”

The instant his hand hit her cheek, Malachi regretted it. There was no shock in her face. Her eyes radiated with anger and rage.

“Celeste,” Sirius said walking into the room after clearly overhearing the heated discussion. “Why don’t you pack a bag and come stay with me for a few days. Let everyone cool off. We’ll talk about all of this in a few days.”

Celeste stepped back into her closet and grabbed a change of clothes and the old running shoes, shoving them into the newly emptied gym bag. Then she walked out of her room, down the stairs, and out of her parents’ house for the final time.

“I… I…” Malachi tried to apologize as his shoulder slumped, and then locked eyes with his son , “tell her I’m sorry.”

“I will. But she’s not wrong.” Sirius glared at their father. “Two of my sisters have been raped at the Hunt. And your response both times was to get their bags and make them go with their rapist. Aria is dead. And Sky fears her husband. Still, you wonder why Celeste doesn’t want anything to do with the hunt?”

He turned on his heel and followed his sister’s path. When he got to the circular drive, she was nowhere to be seen. Her scent told him that she went in the direction of his house and hoped that was where she went. As he was getting into his car, his wife’s voice came through the mate link saying Celeste was at their house, crying. His sister was hurt badly. Celeste never cried.