Wolf Sirens: Forbidden: Discover The Legend Page 13

  I rolled on my mattress. Reid had told me how he and Sky were created. From everything Sky had told him.

  “Reid why does Sky wear those tags?” I asked innocently.

  “You’ve noticed that?”

  “Yeah? He never takes them off?” I questioned.

  “No. They were his in ’Nam,” Reid replied casually, staring straight up at the ceiling.

  I didn’t attempt to control my fascination. “He was in the Vietnam war?” I urged.

  “He doesn’t talk much about it.”

  I listened silently while Reid told me how Sky had been a bricklayer in the sixties when he was recruited for the war, much to his liberal mother’s horror. He had left school and worked long hours, though his back was beginning to go. “The stress of Nam stuffed it good,” according to Reid. Carrying his injured friends had caused irreversible damage. He was too tall for bending, manual labour. Reid looked sorry then. “Sam found him in the hospital. She was visiting her second husband’s bedside as he lay dying. Cancer I think.”

  She saw him lying in his hospital bed, stunning even for a human, even a broken one. He’d been in bed for ages in traction. It must have made her reminiscent, of her sister who had spent days confined to a chair. There was something about him that drew her in. “We have strong senses, especially smell. Maybe she was lonely and decided the pack needed an addition,” he offered as I listened absorbed. I recalled it had been only the girls then.

  Reid went on. “Just like in people, humans, certain pheromones seem to draw us; she picked up on his scent. One day she came into his room and talked to him. He thought she was a nurse, in his drugged stupor. He didn’t have a big family and few prospects.” A perfect candidate.

  “One visit she found him on the balcony in a chair, offered him a light - and bit him. He was sedated somewhat, she wasn’t sure how it would affect the venom, but it helped enormously - very dangerous, we don’t like to take those kinds of risks nowadays; Sam herself would rip you to pieces,” Reid cautioned looking at me and I smiled softly at him.

  He continued, “Sky was violently ill, from the venom. Back in those days they didn’t have the tests they do now, and the doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him. Eventually in the dead of night he transformed. He ran out of the hospital and terrified the nurses on night duty who thought they were seeing things,” he laughed. “Sam heard the commotion from her husband’s room, where I guess she was listening, and she chased him down. She was crazy to do it in such a public place but in those days she didn’t know to be careful, not like now. He woke up in the hospital bed the next morning, stunned, thinking he must have dreamt it vividly. Imagine his surprise when he realized he could move without pain and sit up! He felt fine. Better than fine! He felt great, powerful.”

  The way he said it made me realize Reid knew the feeling well.

  “After being checked, he walked out of the hospital healthy and strong. Sam was waiting outside with her long white blonde hair and nice car. She took his hand and told him what had happened. He went through all the emotions: confused, disbelief, angry, sad, acceptance, and then he was thrilled. He loves it.” Reid smiled.

  “Do you?” I asked.

  “Yeah, what guy wouldn’t?” He looked serious then. “Well parts if it anyway.”

  “Tell me more - and he liked her?” I enquired innocently.

  “Yeah, so it was perfect. She didn’t need the money anymore from any rich guys, so it didn’t matter that he was broke.”

  “Reid, what happened to her husband in the hospital?” I enquired sympathetically.

  “Oh, he died I guess, a little later, he was on his last legs.” He shrugged.

  “He wasn’t a wolf?”

  He breathed, “No.”

  I sat up on my elbow. “Was Sam sad?”

  “She was, I think, more than with the first one. She still keeps a picture of him. In the hall,” he recalled.

  “What happened to the first one?”

  “The first husband died from official causes – suicide, I believe.”

  Reid glanced at me and we exchanged looks. I hoped it was an accident.

  Reid didn’t tell me why she didn’t change her husband instead of Sky.

  “Then when did Cresida date Sky?” Things were so different now - If Sky had instantly loved Sam, how could he change so easily and be with Cresida instead?

  “He went through a rebellious stage, the forties are hard.” Reid looked at me. “He broke it off with Sam. He began to feel he’d never had a choice - about being with her, so he kind of relived his youth or something. Like he woke up one morning and went: ‘What am I doing?’ He stayed with another pack and when he turned up back at Sam’s, yours truly was there,” he smirked. “We got on, but Jackson was making trouble, the girls were going to take him out.” Reid’s jaw tightened.

  “What was he doing?”

  “Oh, nothing, he just figured it out.”

  “Oh, so he wasn’t changed?”

  “No. Sam was making sure everyone knew who was boss. I was really worried they were going to attack him.” I noticed the corner of Reid’s lip pull a little as he said it.

  “So you changed him?” I gasped, I had no idea.

  “Yeah, it was touch and go for a while, but he came up good and I got Sky to join me at school. He wasn’t keen but he wasn’t doing anything else.”

  I had recalled feeling the same myself. He thought for a moment as if remembering. “Cresida was the most popular girl in school when he arrived. He befriended her and before we knew the rumour mill was turning.” He gave me a knowing look.

  I wondered if he did it to piss Sam off. “So they didn’t date?”

  “No, they did for five minutes, before Sam tried to eat her like dog chow.”

  “Sky saved her?” I guessed.

  “We did,” he replied.

  “You and he are close, huh?” I’d begun to realize early on they had the strongest bond of the group.

  “Yeah, when he tried to break off from her, we kind of were our own pack for a while – after we converted Jackson. He still lives at home, like Giny does,”he explained - and like Reid himself, I thought. He kissed me goodbye and I lay back in my pillow. I thought about all the facts swirling in my mind. A creeping sensation rose and swallowed me when I was finally alone. I pondered in anticipation the moments that I would be able to see and talk and be around Sky again.

  Reid showed around ten, early for wolves on the weekend. He knew mum was at work and my heart fluttered knowing I would now have a chance to ask him all that had been bothering me throughout the night.The desire grew and turned into a more hideous monster every day. I was carnivorous for anything he could feed me about the wolves and especially ravenous and drooling for information about Sky.

  He tapped on the window, I slid the frame open and we smiled at each other.

  “You could have used the door.” I smiled.

  Reid wrapped his broad arms around me and we kissed. Feeling his warm lips, I played the part, but I was acting. I was going through the motions, numb. After making out on the bed, I decided I had done enough to deserve more answers.

  I pulled away.“Where’s the rest of the pack today?” I knew they were most likely in bed.

  He tried to pull me close again. I resisted.“What’s Jackson up to?”

  “Shit all.”Reid smiled showing a broad white row of teeth.

  I ignored his charm. “How come he’s changed - and Giny’s not yet? Will Sam or Bianca change her?”

  “Probably,” he sighed. “We keep her human as a sort of cover. Sam’s idea.”

  I made sure to praise his narration with my feminine wiles. I stroked my fingers along his arm. “Why doesn’t she change her? I mean, isn’t she worried she’ll tell someone?” I thought it was a little hypocritical that Sam forced Reid to change Jackson, but yet she kept Giny as she was. I knew Giny would want to be one of them.

  “With Giny it’s different.”

  �
��How?” I asked even though I knew why.

  He turned his head up in thought.

  “Gin wants to be one of us,” he concluded. His mouth shrugged in sadness. There was more to it than that. I knew she would likely not get her wish. “The more we turn the more dangerous it is for us.”

  Reid had a way of simplifying things beautifully. I didn’t yet understand time was irrelevant to them. I needed more details about the past.

  “Did she know what you were at first?”

  “No she just hung around Sam and did whatever she wanted. She was never cool and always wanted to be. The other girls made fun of her…I think Sam felt sorry for her.” I doubted that was Sam’s motive, but I found myself nodding enthusiastically. In my heart for some reason I felt sorry for Giny.

  He ran a hand over my back, I ignored his gesture. “Why do you and Sky call her Cres?” (I hid the pleasure I derived from uttering his name.) I hadn’t noticed anyone else refer to her so affectionately.

  “Sky called her that, before she broke his heart.” I pretended the words didn’t scrape at me.

  My interest was piqued. “Were they in love?” Again the words caused a strange chemical reaction inside me, like the blood wanted to drain out of my feet. I wasn’t sure I could maintain my composure when I heard the answer. This question had seared in my mind all night.

  “I don’t think so, not really.” He shook his head. Relief made me almost exhale. I wondered how he could be so sure.

  “What makes you think that?” I was burning with curiosity, which I tried to play down.

  “I don’t know, they were always better friends I think. He kind of used her to hurt Sam, they were drawn to each other, and he likes trouble, nearly as much as you do!” He teased leaning in towards me, so I could feel the warmth around his body seep through my clothes.

  “He doesn’t look the type,” I said, contemplative. He looked questioningly at me. “-To be vindictive,” I added, searching his calm caramel eyes.

  “You don’t know how Sam can be to anybody weak in the mind. He sure got her good though, when Cresida turned out to be – the hunter she is…”

  “It sounds so complicated,” but I knew I didn’t want it be. He breathed out and rolled onto his back on the bed.

  “It is.” He glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Tell me if it’s all too much, okay…are you hungry?” He started to rise.

  I shrugged. I guessed I probably was. But I wanted to know more.

  “How does Sam be to weak-minded people? What did you mean by that?”

  “Persuasive,” he added, for a second I thought he meant me.

  “Aren’t all leaders?” I held his eye.

  “Not like her,” he breathed. “So what do you want to do? Get something or raid the fridge?”

  He was changing the subject. “Fridge,” I answered, quietly annoyed.

  He helped me up and we walked down the hall towards the kitchen.

  I tried asking a different question, one that intrigued me more. “How did Cresida become a hunter?” We entered the kitchen, which was illuminated by a large back window, overlooking our modest courtyard.

  “She never became one, she just was and never realized it. She could have been born in any place in the world but she happened to be here, where we were. It’s like there has to be this symbiotic relationship between our kind, the hunters and us. To keep the universe in check, or something.” He shrugged.

  “So what? She’s like your law or something?”

  “Our law and punisher, hunters are meant to be just that. Hunters who kill us track us and take us out. We were fortunate she takes a liking to us more, now that she is one of us.” He smiled cheekily. He opened the fridge and scanned the shelves. I was glad Sophie had done some shopping recently, and we were well stocked.

  “She’s not meant to be a wolf too?”

  “No, her kind is meant to commit suicide, when that happens-or be taken down by their own-or so the rumours go. Sandwiches?” he enquired casually, looking about as though he was thinking of food more than what he had been saying. He pulled out a block of cheese and a parcel of ham and placed them on the bench. He reached for the bread cupboard. “Someone-a hunter is meant to finish her.”

  I noted his closeness with Sky had revealed to him many secrets about their world. I wondered if he had asked as many questions as me.

  “Like an honour killing? Is that why she keeps a low profile, now?”

  I walked over and handed him a tomato from the pantry. “Why doesn’t she kill you all and just kill herself?” I looked at him. “For argument’s sake,” I added.

  He smirked. “Maybe she’s waiting for them to come and get her? It’s not as easy as all that, Lila.” His expression became more serious. “Would you kill your ex friends, your ex boyfriend and yourself, or would you live? She has a family you know - a younger brother and she has had a lot of friends in school that would be in danger if she died trying to take us out.” I thought about Bec. Even though we weren’t close anymore I could never end her life. He was right. “Mostly, though, she’s waiting,” he added, opening the drawers with a clank, searching until he found the right cutlery.

  “For what?”

  “It will come,” he sang, buttering the bread on the counter.

  “What will?”

  He pulled some more bread from the bread cupboard. “The next hunter, it’s just a matter of time, she knows her number is up.” His voice had an introspective ring.

  “What about her parents?” I added. He looked at me. I had asked as if maybe I knew something, but I pretended I had just forgotten momentarily that her aunt was her guardian.

  “They’re dead, remember? They made it look like an accident, whoever did it. The official story goes they were killed in a car accident.” He looked blank. “It wasn’t one of us,” he answered defensively, to my unasked question. He busied himself cutting the block of cheese.

  “But she wasn’t in the car?”

  “No.”

  He had led me to believe she was. “So the scars?” “All Sam,” he admitted.

  It seemed to me Cres had put up a fight. “There seem to be a lot of official stories involved in this.” I raised my eyebrows. “She never was on drugs either was she?” I wondered how he could put it past Sam or Lily, not to have killed Cresida’s family. After all, Lily had tried to hurt me.

  “You’re telling me,” he answered with a glint of wry humour in his eye.

  “Who could have done it?”I asked.“Killed them?”

  He looked serious again then.

  “Maybe the other packs in the territory over, though it probably was just an accident. She lives with her aunt and her little brother,” he said reminding me, though I hadn’t forgotten. Reid patted the bread. I pretended not to notice how tender his action was. I was certain if he lost concentration his muscular hands could make the bread disintegrate beneath them.

  “Do you know the other pack?”

  His answer was a sharp. “No.”

  “Why wouldn’t they have killed her as well?” I thought aloud.

  “I don’t know, that’s why it was just an accident, it doesn’t make sense.”He shrugged, handing me an expertly constructed tomato, cheese and ham sandwich. I knew he knew more about the other pack than that.

  I had a thousand questions but one above all that haunted me. I opened a cupboard so he couldn’t see my face. “Does she still love Sky?” I passed him a plate. Pretending the answer wouldn’t matter.

  “I don’t know, all I know is she doesn’t want to kill him, mostly because he and I saved her life. We stick close to Sam. Sky thinks if we leave, Cres will kill her and Bianca and now she’s killed Lily…we protect our own pack,” he explained gathering the cheese and ham, placing it back in the refrigerator.

  I was confused. “But she only shoots when they get out of line?” Or so he had been telling me. I thought of another question then “Does she ever phase?” I imagined her writhing, fighting th
e beast inside herself.

  He looked impressed with my use of pack terms, squashing the two other sandwiches he had made together on his plate. “Only when she has to, or when it’s necessary.” He leant in and whispered, “You’re learning to ask the right questions, little student,” ruffling my hair. I smiled. Reid bit a chunk out of his sandwich. I thought of what qualified as necessary for her to phase.

  I washed my hands under the kitchen tap and rubbed them dry with a tea towel. “Did you like her, Reid, when, - before she was turned and realized what she was?” I asked tentatively, taking a bite. After all, they had attended the same high school before all this, before Sam and Lily and Bianca.

  “Yeah,” he thought. “Why - you jealous?” He teased. “I do like her. It’s just hard when she thinks she has to murder us you know?” He chuckled with a bite of bread in his mouth. “Let’s go get some air,” he mumbled through full cheeks.

  Perhaps I was seeking out her appeal. I thought he looked a little flushed. I followed him out the screen door, into the daylight. It wasn’t him I was jealous of, though. All Sky’s history should have turned me further off and I’d thought satisfying my curiosity was going to make me less drawn to him. But I even loved the ugly parts about him. I would have perhaps drawn a line at mass murder, but anything less only intrigued me. We sat on the paved steps interspersed with weeds. I wanted to know everything about him. The way he saved Cresida from Sam and made sure Reid looked out for her, warmed my heart. Their compassion for her was endearing. I wondered why she still felt the need to hunt them, why didn’t she just give up. Why did she fight it, now she was one of them? But that wasn’t the only thing that didn’t make sense to me. Whilst I had Reid as my loyal boyfriend I did not think of him when I was alone - guilt and anxiety ripped through me. Instead it was Sky who I pined for in the emptiness of my room: the man, who treated me coldly, and not the boy who loved me affectionately. Only my pillow knew my torment. I felt less and less guilt over the fact that I was infatuated with Sky, and I knew then that I was in more trouble. It crept up on me until the feeling of not being near him made my heart turn in knots. I wanted the feeling to be reciprocal. We ate in quiet as even the birds abandoned the trees in Reid’s presence. I admired the green all around us; the beauty of the valley had been lost on me during the winter months when I had arrived. I looked out at the view of the hills, which encased the valley. Now they meant protection not entrapment, freedom for my beasts to run and be safe. I thought of Sky out there, licking up the ice water from the hidden streams which fed the curving golden Artemis River that ran down through the centre of the town.