Change of Plans (6 page)

Chapter Thirteen

F
amily Secrets

Allie

I feel like crying, and I
have no idea why. I haven’t cried since my mom’s death and the events that
followed. Then again, when you’re eleven and your mom dies, you feel like you
could cry a river. I didn't though, I cried twice- once when I found out, and
on the first birthday that she missed. Not because I didn't love her, or
because I didn't miss her, I did, like crazy. But I knew my
mom,
she wouldn't want us mourning forever. So I didn't mourn forever. My dad, on
the other hand, has been mourning for nearly six years straight.

My mom was beautiful.
Inside and out.
She was kind and loving, and she cared for
everyone and everything. When I was nine, she found a cat. My dad wanted to get
rid out it, but my mom kept it. The poor thing was terrified of my dad, but she
loved Mom. After Mom had died, she ran away. I guess there was no reason to
stick around anymore.

She died in a car accident.
It was a drunk driver on a late Saturday night and no one around for miles. I
was told that Sunday at 11 o’clock. I was sleeping upstairs when there was a
knock at the door, my dad answered it and then he was crumpled on the ground,
in shock. We all mourned in different ways. My dad locked himself in his office
at the university where he studies animal behavior and teaches classes. My
brother mourned alone, and when it was apparent that Dad was going to be
staying at the office more, he started taking care of us. I was at school the
next day. I didn't keep my head down, or run to the bathroom to cry. Instead, I
held my head high and didn't take any crap from anyone. I was eleven years old,
and I fortified myself, cared for myself, and raised myself. My days consisted
of Matt, the only person who didn't look at me with pity in his eyes, and
taking pictures with the camera Mom gave me. My dinners consisted of chicken
pot pie
and lasagna that the neighborhood mothers dropped on
our porch. My life consisted of "sorry for your loss" from people I
didn't know and flowers at the doorstep. My heart consisted of nothing. My
plans consisted of getting out of this town. And my feelings consisted of pain;
there wasn't room for anything else.

After years of holding my
head high, here I was, about to break down.
And for what
reason?
I had no idea. Not too long after Caleb left, I heard the front
door open. Brody. I guess Caleb told him, or he sensed it, because he came
straight to my room. He crawled next to me in bed and wrapped his arms around me,
like he use to do when we were little kids. All the emotions that I had held up
suddenly poured out and I was balling in his arms, just like I was on my
twelfth birthday when Mom wasn't there. He held me
tightly,
whispering now and then that everything would be alright. I hoped he was right
because I wasn't sure if I could handle this for much longer. First Mom left,
then Dad, then Brody and today, Matt. I couldn't lose anyone else.

Brody and I fell asleep that
way, close and snug- how siblings should be. When I woke up he was gone, but
that was
alright
. Having my old brother, the one who
was always there for me, back for one night was enough. Downstairs, pots banged
and the smell of bacon floated up to my room. Yum. I threw on a clean shirt and
my hair in a ponytail and bounced down the stairs.

Brody was standing at the
stove cooking eggs, and the table was set for three. Yet, there was enough food
to feed an army. He turned to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice, filling
up a glass for me. “We aren't going to school today,” he said with no
explanation. Usually, I would have fought him on it, but I needed a day off.

“Okay, is Dad coming home?”
I asked, questioning the third place setting.

“No, Caleb is on his way. We
have something to tell you.”

What would they need to tell
me? Brody didn't look like he wanted to share any more information about the
subject, so I sat down and munched on bacon. Five minutes later, Caleb walked
through the front door. He didn't say anything, just strolled in and took a seat
next to me. He wouldn't make eye contact with me, and when Caleb shied away,
something was definitely up. Brody joined us with more plates of food. It was
an uncomfortable silence while the three of us ate our food. The boys went
through three plates each until eventually, Caleb cleared his throat and gave a
pointed look toward Brody. His dark hair was covering his eyes, but I could
tell that he was glaring at Brody.

Brody looked like he wanted
to be anywhere else right now. “I don’t really know where to start with this,
so I’ll just jump right into it. We aren't human, or at least not fully,” he
said with a straight face.

I laughed at his joke, but
Caleb
glare
at him, “Really, that’s how you’re going
to tell her?”

“Tell me what exactly?” I
asked, but I was overlooked.

“Well,” Brody shot back. “It
isn’t everyday you tell your little sister that she’s not human.”

I butted in, “First, I’m not
little. Second, if I’m not human what am I?”

For all the talking they
did, they were suddenly silent. Brody looked at Caleb, “Go on, Caleb. After
all, she is your pair.”
Pair?
Caleb shot daggers at Brody.

“In the last week, you have
been different,” Caleb started. “You probably think people are always too loud,
or the light in a room is always too bright. You probably even feel more
emotions towards me than you usually do.” Why would I ever feel emotions toward
Caleb? Yeah, he’s been nice lately, but I only almost-kissed him once, and I
wasn’t planning on that happening again. His comment earned a glare from Brody,
but Caleb just continued. “Your birthday is in less than two weeks, which means
you’ll be changing soon.”

“Changing into what?” I
asked, nervous for the answer.

Caleb and Brody shared a
look, but it was Brody who spoke up. “A Wolf, as in a werewolf. I changed on my
seventeenth birthday, and so will you.”
A werewolf... really?
There’s no such thing as werewolves. They were fairy tales, like vampires and
witches. Bedtime stories to scare little kids and things to be made into movies
where people sparkle and people find their soul mate by looking at them.

Before I could say anything,
Brody cut in, “That’s why this past year has been so rough. I didn’t know
either until Caleb told me. Dad decided to keep some things from us. I thought
that if I kept you away from the pack, it would change what was going to
happen, but it wouldn’t. Nothing can change it.” That’s why Brody left me? To
protect me
from.
. . werewolves?
Because…
werewolves existed.
All those times he said that staying away from me
was best, he wasn’t trying to be rude, he was actually doing what he thought
was best.

Every instinct told me not
to believe what they were saying, but the things that said were true. The
smells, noises, and lights all leading up to awful headaches like the one
yesterday at lunch. Somewhere down deep, I knew it was true, but it wasn’t
possible… people can’t shift into animals, could they…?

I couldn’t handle this, not
today, probably not ever. I couldn’t be a half Wolf
thingymajig
,
I could barely handle being Allie. I wasn’t entirely convinced I was a
werewolf,
I wasn’t even convinced they existed in the first
place. It wasn’t possible for someone to be human one second and then a wolf
another. Even if it were true, that would change everything. I had plans, and
they didn’t involve Wolf Creek, Virginia.

“I-I just need a moment to… uh... think, yeah to think,” I said as
I pushed back from the table and hurried up the stairs. I crashed through my
door and landed onto my bed. I stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to
comprehend what I was just told. If my dad was a werewolf, why didn’t he tell
us? Was he so caught up on Mom that he somehow forgot what his kids might be
going through? And was he the reason the cat ran away?

Chapter Fourteen

Werewolf
101

Caleb

She
took it better than I expected. She probably knew, deep down, that it was true,
no matter how much she wanted to refuse it. Brody stood up to go after her, but
I shook my head and stood up myself. This was something you needed a pair for.
I slowly took the stairs up to her room.

I’ve
never been in her room, and it was not what I expected. There were pictures
everywhere, really good pictures of nature and people. With my heightened
senses, I could see a box peaking out from under her bed, probably more
pictures. I didn’t know Allie was into photography. When I looked up, she was
laying on her back in the middle of her bed, looking defeated.

I
moved to join her, lying carefully next to her. Her gaze didn’t move from the
ceiling above us. I moved to place my hand on her arm, but she quickly twisted
her body until it was facing mine. Curious, blue eyes peered at me from inches
away. I knew she had tons of questions to ask, and I was ready to answer them
all.

“What
did Brody mean by you being my pair?” Well, any question but that. I don’t know
how to explain that I was madly in love with her, and she was madly in love
with me, even if she didn’t know it. It was so much easier to accept the idea
of pairs when you are young, but now that I was saying it out loud, I saw how
different it was for her.

I
reached down and grabbed her hand, needing the distraction. She didn’t pull
away for once. “Well, just like in every cheesy, corny movie you’ve ever
watched about werewolves, we have pairs. We find out who our pair is around our
shift. Usually they are in the same pack, but sometimes not. Pairs are soul mates,
in every way. They love, protect and care for one another. They share a bond
that humans could never have and love each other unconditionally.

“During
the transition, you need your pair. The heightened emotions and temper can be
too much to handle on your own, so when it becomes too much, the pair is there
to take away. Like in the car yesterday, that shock you felt was your body
reacting to me taking away some of your emotions. Even in the hallway with
Sierra, without knowing it, you were marking your territory.” Her eyebrows shot
up. “That was because of the transition, but once I took away some of the
emotions, you calmed down a little.
Enough for your thoughts
to go from murderous to manipulation.
Sierra and her mother are always
trying to move up in
pack ranks, that’s
why she is
always with me. She is paired with Brody, and you with me, but she hopes that
she and I will end up together.”

She
looked a little upset by that, but then her brow creased. “Wait, if you need
your pair for the first shift and you’ve already changed, who was there for
you?”

I
had to look back down at our linked hands, “Nobody, I did it alone.”

“Why
didn’t you tell me sooner? You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone, I
could have been there for you.”

“It
wasn’t my place to tell you, and I didn’t know. I’m older than Brody so I
shifted before him, and we didn’t expect you two to shift since your mom was
human, so no one knew. I thought I was one of the unlucky few
who
don’t get a pair. We didn’t tell you after Brody shifted
because he was hoping that you would get lucky and not change, so he held off
on telling you. In the past couple of days, when it became obvious that you
would change, he knew he had to tell you.”

She
looked upset by Brody keeping it from her, but she understood why. I thought
she would ask more questions, but instead, she shifted and laid her head on my
chest. It surprised me, but I didn’t hesitate to wrap my arms around her. Her
breathing evened out in a peaceful sleep. After laying with her for a couple of
minutes, I got up and slowly laid her back down. She shifted and rolled over,
but her eyes stayed closed.

Matt
was downstairs watching TV when I reached the base of the stairs. I grabbed a
glass of orange juice and joined him in watching the morning news. He took
another swing of his own side before setting it down. “How’s she taking it?” he
asked me.

“Better
than I thought she would,” I responded. “I’m glad we told her.”

“Yeah,
me too,” he responded.

———————————

When
I woke up, it was around
lunch time
. The TV was off
and a blanket was thrown over me. Pots clashed in the kitchen, I got up and
stretched and then padded into the kitchen. Allie was cooking. I walked over to
see what she making.
Yum, grilled cheese and tomato soup.
Her hips were moving to an invisible rhythm, and she was still dressed in her
pajamas from this morning, which consisted of
very
short shorts. She
turned around when she noticed me standing in the doorway. “Hey, sorry if I
woke you up,” she said. “I woke up and I was starving.”

Shocker.
“Yeah, that happens before the transition, make sure to eat a lot or you’ll be
grouchy,” I yawned. “Where’s Brody?”

She
flipped a sandwich on the pan. “He went to school. Are you hungry?”

I
nodded and took a seat at the table. She set a plate and bowl before me with a
small, shy smile. She asked what I wanted to drink, but I told her I would get
drinks and went to the fridge. There were only root beers, so I grabbed two and
glasses with ice.

She
sat across from me and dug into her food. After her first grilled cheese, she
looked expectantly at me. I took another bite of my sandwich and raised an
eyebrow, waiting for her to spit out whatever was on her mind. She looked down,
almost guiltily. “Can I ask you something?” she asked, her voice small.

I
set my food down and gave her my full attention. “Yeah, anything, what’s up?”

“What’s
it like? To be a werewolf?” she clarified.

I
sighed and started in for a long day of questions.

———————————

For
that Tuesday and Wednesday, that’s how we spent our time.
Sleeping,
eating, and me answering her questions when she was awake.
We grew
closer, and I could feel her warming up to me. With Allie’s perfect attendance,
she didn’t mind taking time off and needed to until she learned how to control
her emotions and senses. Brody was at school most of the time, but came in to
answer questions when he was home. I think Allie was most excited about having
Brody back.

Over
the two days, she learned the basics about being a werewolf and cleared up some
annoying stereotypes. No, we didn’t only change on full moons. We could change
whenever we wanted, but the allure to change on the full moon was stronger.
Yes, we ate more than the average person. Three times it. No, we didn’t make
new wolves by biting them. The only way you could be a werewolf is being born
one (sorry Twilight fans). Yes, we can only be killed by silver. No, we weren’t
immortal. We lived longer because of our faster healing. No, our eyes didn’t change
into a creepy yellow when we shifted. The questions went on and on, but she
avoided questions about pairs.

On
the third day of our Q&A session, we slept till one.
Allie
in her bed, me downstairs on the couch.
Not that I would mind sleeping
in Allie’s bed with her, but I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Allie was
exhausted with all the information, and I couldn’t blame her. It was a lot to
take in.

Allie
walked into the kitchen as I was making breakfast even though it was afternoon.
“Morning,” she was energetic, thankfully instead of irritated with her shifty
emotions, and still dressed in her pink fuzzy pajama shorts. “Did Brody go to
school today?”

I
nodded with a piece of bacon between my teeth as I flipped a pancake. She came
close to see what I was cooking and I snaked an arm around her waist and pulled
her closer to me. “How’d you sleep?” I asked, finishing the strip of bacon that
was in my mouth.

“Great,
except every car that went by woke me up,” she grumbled. She rested her head
against my shoulder as I flipped another pancake.

I
ruffled her hair. “That’s normal, I’ll teach you how to control it later.”

“You
can control it?” she asked.

“Yeah,
otherwise we would have all gone mad by now,” I answer amused. She shook her
head and broke away from me to go to the refrigerator. She was pouring herself
a glass of orange juice when the doorbell rang. Before I could say anything,
Allie spoke up, “Matt’s here... Wait, how did I know it was him?”

I
smiled, “Your senses. Everyone has a personal scent, like a perfume that they
always wear. Even though you may not recognize it, your Wolf does and
identified that it was Matt. Come on, let’s go see if you're right.” I grabbed
her hand and pulled her toward the door with me.

When
I pulled open the door, it was in fact Matt. He stood there looking ticked off.
His scent reeked of shock from seeing me but was quickly taken over by anger as
his eyes shifted between Allie,
me, and our linked hands
.
He scoffed and looked straight at Allie, “Him? Really? This is the reason
you’ve been blowing off my calls and not going to school for the past two days.
Unbelievable Allie, truly.”

I
wanted to shove my fist in his
face,
he had no idea
what was going on with Allie. She stood close by my side, jaw opened in shock.
But once the shock was gone, all that was left was anger. I guess Golden Boy
wasn’t so golden now.

“You
need to leave. Now,” I said before Allie’s temper got too out of control. The
past two days, her emotions have been all over the place. She even threw a pot
at my head at one point. I could tell that she was hurt and angry by Matt’s
assumption which
didn’t make a good combination. She didn’t
have her emotions under control yet and she could lose it in front of Matt,
which she would hate.

“Gladly,”
he didn’t give Allie another glance and stormed off to his car. Allie flinched
when his car door slammed. I closed the door softly, and turned toward Allie.
She didn’t speak, just turned and walked toward the kitchen.

Cabinets
banged together as she tried to look for something. I slowly approached her
from behind and wrapped my arms around her waist, taking away some of her
anger. The electric current rippled through me again, but this time I welcomed
the feeling. She sagged against me and I put my chin on the top of her head.

“Don’t worry, I got this. Go sit.” Her head
nodded under me and I pressed my lips to her hair. She untangled herself from
my arms and sat at the small table. I added chocolate chips to the remaining
batter and continued to make more pancakes. Since I always needed to eat so
much, I learned how to cook a long time ago. When I was done there were two
plates stacked tall with pancakes, chocolate syrup, strawberries and whipped
cream.