I would just like to say thanks to everyone! Your support means the world to me -Roxy.

Chapter 39

I chewed on the horrible gunk in my mouth with a disgusted look on my face. "This tastes awful." I complained; working to choke it down. My brother nodded beside me; staring broken-heartedly at the failed dish on the plate before him.

“I don’t get what I did wrong. I followed the instructions exactly.” He groaned; taking another bite in hopes that it would taste better. He began coughing immediately; proving that the food didn’t.

Jake and I had gotten back to the house about an hour ago. Dylan and Jackie left to go back to their own home; the reminder of mates making my heart ache at the memory of mine, though I managed to keep the tears in this time which I was grateful for. My brother decided that it would be a good idea to make us some dinner while I washed all of the blood I’d gotten onto myself from my little training/venting session, which I might add was like my fifteenth since I’d gotten back.

***

It had been about a week since I’d left Blood Moon and every day I went to train just so I had an outlet to unleash some rage; which wasn’t as nice for the pack members as it was for me. That was mostly because I would always leave at least ten people bleeding and another five unconscious. The pack doctor; a middle aged woman by the name of Katherine, had been working in overdrive from the trail of injuries I’d been leaving.

I’d gone to visit her the day before with a plate of ‘thank you’ cookies for all her hard work. She’d told me that she didn’t mind all the casualties because it gave her a chance to practice. Though she did grumble about how stupid the pack members were for being so willing to take me on despite knowing what I could do.

***

My wolf now sat quietly inside me; temporarily pacified from all we had unleashed earlier, on almost half of the pack. I winced as I swallowed another mouthful; something getting caught between my teeth. I pulled it out; seeing that it was a piece of plastic. I shoved it in front of my brother’s face. “What is this doing in here?” I asked; giving him a look.

He shrugged. “I might have had a hard time getting the chicken out of the wrapping.” He admitted sheepishly.

I sighed and threw it onto my plate. “Sorry Jake, but there’s no way I’m eating any more of this.” I got up. “I’m ordering pizza.” I said; dialling the number.

***

I got up the next morning to a churning stomach. I felt my nausea build; running to the toilet just as vomit spewed from my mouth. I grasped the porcelain bowl as I continued to empty the contents of my stomach into it. When all I was doing was dry heaving; I got to my feet and rinsed my mouth.

I clutched my stomach as I went over to Jake’s room; finding him in the same position I was in, just a few minutes ago, by the toilet. I pushed on the back of his head; until I heard a satisfying splash followed by a lot of profanities. “Chelsea, what the hell?!” He snapped; getting up to wash the mixture of toilet water and puke off of his face. I flushed the toilet as I watched Jake scrubbing at his head.

“That’s what you get for making me wake up to puking.”

“You too?”

I crossed my arms. “Yup. Thanks a lot Jakey.” I mumbled sarcastically; my eyes drifting off to the window in my brother’s room. “As if I didn’t have enough to deal with already.” I muttered; more to myself than to be heard. I knew Jake heard it though; pretending to not be affected by my words as he walked back into his room.

He threw on a shirt on his way to his door. “You want to do something today?”

“I want to do something every day.” I mumbled in response; preoccupied as my mind wandered off to the memory of when Logan and I had been ‘happy’. I even felt bitter when I thought of that word. I stopped myself from reminiscing; pushing down the feelings that came with it, as I met my brother’s gaze. “What did you have in mind?”

“I thought we’d go to the mall or something. Do something normal for once.” He replied; changing into jeans.

I nodded in agreement; thankful for anything that would keep my mind off of Logan.

***

My feet were sore and some of my hair clung to the back of my neck as I trudged along behind Jake. The boy was like an excited puppy; rushing over from one thing to another. “C’mon Chels, I thought girls loved the mall.”

“They do, but not when they’ve been following their brother around for three hours.” I groaned; stopping in my tracks. My brother looked back at me with an amused expression.

“Fine, we’ll take a break.” He spotted something behind me. “Want some ice cream?” I nodded thankfully; glad for anything that could moisten my parched throat. Jake threw an arm around my shoulders as he led me into the shop. I immediately realised that this had been the exact shop where Jen had taken me the last time I’d had Logan troubles. How history repeats itself. I mumbled to myself.

My brother let me choose my flavours; my usual pistachio and vanilla. He left me with my cone at one of the tables’ as he went to pay. I scrolled through my phone as I waited; noticing a few messages from Miranda complaining about how I haven’t gone to see her. A shadow fell over me; my head tilting up to look at whom I had assumed to be my brother.

The smile on my face; that I had plastered there for my brother’s benefit, fell as I noticed it wasn’t him. My eyebrows pulled together as I recognised the human before me as the one who’d harassed me the last time I’d been here. Seriously, is history running out of space for new stories?! I sighed mentally; exasperated.

“Can I help you?” I asked; hoping that he’d say no.

“Yeah. Do you remember me?” He asked; a hopeful look on his face.

“No, not really. Should I?” I lied; giving him a look that almost screamed ‘I’m telling you to go away’.

“Yeah, we met here a while ago.” He continued; still with that hopeful look of his.

“Sorry, I can’t remember.”

I sighed in relief as Jake came over; towering over the smaller human. “Hey, are you ready to go?” He asked; giving me a look. What’s up with the human? He asked through our bond. He’s just some weirdo I’d met here a few weeks ago. He kept pestering me for a date and I think he’s trying to do the same thing now. Help? I pleaded.

“Yeah I am.” I finally said; blatantly ignoring the guy in between my brother and me.

When I moved to walk away I felt a hand on my arm. My wolf stirred immediately. “Hey wait!” The human exclaimed; trying to hold me back.

My brother grabbed his arm in return. “I suggest you get your hand off of her before I pull yours from your body.” He threatened.

The guy flinched; releasing me. “Sorry, I was just wondering if she wanted to hang out.” He explained; turning to me.

I didn’t bother sparing his feelings as I full-out sighed. “I told you the last time, no.” I snapped; grabbing Jake’s hand as I dragged him out.

“What is that kid’s deal?” My brother mumbled; taking a huge bite out of his cone. I shrugged as I licked at my ice cream.

“I have no idea but it’s creepy as fuck.” I held a napkin out to Jake as ice cream dribbled down to his jaw. “Were you born and raised as a five year old?” I teased; watching him struggle to not let any more ice cream drip from his cone onto himself. “You’re such an idiot.”

He flashed me the middle finger; earning some disapproving looks from some nearby grannies. “Yeah, yeah... Do you want to go home yet? Some of us have responsibilities to get to, you know?”

I nodded. “You can go ahead. I think I’ll head over to Miranda’s. She just about filled my inbox with complaints.”

“I’ll drop you off.” He said around his cone; the whole thing already crushed inside his mouth.

***

“Darling, how have you been?” Miranda asked as I walked into her home; her arms locked around my shoulders. “I heard you got back quite a while ago.” She mumbled disapprovingly. “And you’ve only come to visit me this once.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, sorry about that. I had some stuff to work through.”

She smiled as she pulled away; leading me over to take a seat in her living room after she shut the front door. “I heard about that too. Kathy tells me that you’ve been tearing through pack members like Jake tears through hamburgers.”

“He does love hamburgers.” I mumbled distractedly; my mind returning to the memory of what it was I was trying, and failing, to work through these past couple of days.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong with you? You seem different. How is that mate of yours?” She asked; probably already knowing that that was the issue.

“Did Jake tell you?” I asked quietly.

She nodded. “He did.”

“What do you think?”

“I think that boy is a worthless little dumbass who can’t tell when he’s gotten lucky.” She snapped; agitation ringing clear in her voice. I gave her a small smile as she held out a plate of my favourite cookies. I finished them as I told her what had happened.

***

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Miranda asked as she pulled open the front door for me.

I sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be alright after what happened; but I will push on. What else can I do?” I mumbled; grasping the other woman tightly before walking out. “I’ll see you later, Miranda.” I said over my shoulder.

“See you later sweetheart.” She yelled in response.

I guess I must have spent quite a while at Miranda’s considering it was already dark out. The maroon high-tops I had on didn’t make a sound as I stepped through the woods. I felt the long grass brush against my shins; my legs exposed in the denim shorts I’d worn with my black and grey baseball shirt. I looked up at the sky; the billions of stars twinkling above me. The cold wind served to cool me as it blew my hair back; off of my shoulders.

“Beautiful night isn’t it?” Someone muttered behind me.

I whipped around to see a human leaning against a nearby tree. His hazel hair was cropped short on his head; longer at the front than it was at the sides and the back. His brown eyes studied me as he straightened up and took a step closer; his average frame clad in nothing but black, from his leather jacket, to his jeans all the way down to his combat boots. I gave him a suspicious look. “Yeah, it is.”

“Even so, what is a girl like you doing out in the woods, in the middle of the night, all on your own?” He asked darkly; reaching for something in the waistband of his jeans.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Well I was just out hunting monsters and it looks like I’ve just found one.” He sneered; pulling out a small gun. As he pulled the trigger; I rushed out of the way, coming at him with the intent to tear him apart already imbedded in my mind.

I punched him in the face as my claws made an appearance. I swiped at him; the human managing to duck from my attack as my claws sent little chunks of bark into the air as it left marks in the tree behind him. I didn't let that faze me as I lifted my foot and kicked him in the stomach, my eyes turning black.

I saw his little gun skid out of his hand. He dove towards it; my hand clamping onto his ankle at the last minute as I yanked him back. "What's the matter, can't beat me without that little gun of yours?!" I growled; pulling him back so I could grasp his collar and began to punch him in the face.

My wolf relished the feeling of his blood as it soaked our knuckles. Nobody gets away with hurting me. "You chose the wrong girl to mess with!" I snapped; using all of my strength to keep him on the ground and defenseless from my attack.

I noticed their scents before I noticed them; my head snapping up to see a whole crowd of humans, about six or seven of them, with guns similar to the one the guy beneath me had. I stood up slowly; feeling all of their gazes on me as I lunged from one to the other, sharply snapping their necks with so much force that they dropped to the ground one by one. The ones who I hadn't attacked yet, could only watch and attempt to shoot me with their puny guns as their comrades fell.

When I finished tearing through them all, I felt a single pair of eyes on my back; turning to see one man still standing. My eyes widened as I felt a stabbing pain in my chest; I looked down to see a dart protruding from the flesh slightly below my left collarbone. My knees gave out below me; my body collapsing to the ground. My head felt impossibly heavy;my fingers refusing to move.

“Gotcha.” I heard the man mumble; just as my eyes closed.