Werewolf Dreams (9 page)

Cyrus shrugged. “Chasing and touching are two different things Harry. So I say we turn the tables on them. All she has to do is tell everyone that
she’s
picked
me
for her mate. Everyone will back off then. They’ll have no other choice. When you’re done here, you leave. Unless of course, Ava changes her mind and wants to stay,” he said quietly, staring at Ava until she dropped her eyes.

Patricia moved to the table, carrying a bowl of strawberries and melons. “Cyrus, I don’t think that’s very wise,” she said quietly.

Tobias nodded his head, looking uncomfortable. “Your mother’s right Cyrus. I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if things developed between the two you for real? You put two young, healthy attractive people together and what started out as pretend soon turns into something very real. What then?” he said quietly.

Harry stared at his friend pensively but said nothing. Ava rolled her eyes in frustration and pushed away from the table. “That’s right
Cyrus, I’m not good enough for you. Your parents don’t want you to settle for someone like me,” she said tightly before standing up. “Time’s up Dad. I’m going to go pack now. We can be to the airport by this afternoon and you can be back here by tonight. You’ll miss a day of work, but think of how much more productive you’ll be now that you won’t have to worry about me,” she said bitterly and walked quickly out of the room.

She ran up the stairs two at time, so furious she could scream. She grabbed her duffle bag and her back pack and threw them on the bed. She turned and ripped the closet door open, wishing she could just put a fist through it. She grabbed a couple shirts and turned to throw them on the bed when she caught sight of Cyrus standing in her doorway, staring at her.

“They’re wrong. It’s the other way around. You’re too good for me,” he said quietly.

Ava let her shoulders fall but went about her task, ignoring what he said. “It doesn’t matter, although it was a good idea. My father refuses to tell me anything. All he ever says is, wait, wait,
wait. It’s like he’s scared or something,” she said grabbing the dress she wore the night before and folding it up before placing it on top of her shirts.

Cyrus walked in the room and moved in front of her closet, blocking her from taking anymore of her clothes out. “He doesn’t want to lose you Ava,” he said softly.

Ava paused and blinked in surprise. “Nothing he could tell me would make me walk away from him,” she said.

“Don’t be too sure. Your mother walked away and never looked back. Leaving me and leaving you was very easy for her,” her father said from the doorway.

Cyrus glanced at her father and then back to her. “We’ll talk afterwards,” he said and left the room quickly.

Her father stepped in and shut the door and walked to her. Ava swallowed nervously, all of her anger gone as she saw the torment and anguish on her father’s face.

“Dad, I would never walk away from you. I love you,” she promised, squeezing his hands tightly.

Harry shook his head. “Ava, some things are too big. Your mother and I loved each other so much and so passionately that I knew for a fact that she’d be fine when she found out the truth. I assumed that we’d go on living our lives together, with you just like we had been doing. But as soon as she realized what we were, she left and she never looked back. It killed me Ava and in some ways, it changed me. I’ve never been able to trust another woman.”

Ava shook her head, her heart squeezing tightly in her chest. “That was mom.
I’m me
. Besides, whatever you are, I’m half. I can’t turn my back on myself,” she said, wishing she could wipe some of the strain out of her father’s eyes.

“Actually you can. I’ve been teaching you and training you to control yourself, your emotions and your body from the time you were old enough to walk. You have such complete mastery over yourself, that it’s likely that you could repress your, um, heritage forever if you chose to.”

Ava blinked in confusion. “So it has something to do with my body? All these people in town, they’ve got something weird going on with their bodies too? You? But dad, I’ve never noticed anything strange or out of the ordinary with you,” she said looking closely at his face and shoulders and arms.

Harry smiled and let go of her hands, walking to the window. He stared out the window at the beautiful landscape before looking back at her. “You only see what I’ve shown you Ava.”

Ava ground her teeth in frustration. “Then show me!” she demanded, her hands fisted on her hips.

Harry let out a loud breath shaking his head with a light laugh. “Oh sweet heart, you have no idea what you’re asking. I think telling would be the first step before showing.”

Ava frowned before massaging her temples. “I’m going to count to ten and you’re going to tell me or I’m leaving Dad. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. . .” she said when she heard her father say something softly.

She stopped counting and glared at her father. “A little louder please,” she instructed.

Harry sighed and threw his hands in the air. “We’re werewolves,” he shouted. “Everyone in this psychotic little town is a werewolf. That girl last night who wanted to rip your throat out, is a full blooded werewolf. I’m a werewolf and . . . ,
so are you
.”

Ava blinked a few times, her face completely expressionless as she stared at her father. She nodded her head once and sat down on the bed, shaking her head back and forth.

“You have completely lost it Dad,” she whispered.

Harry came to her, kneeling down in front of her and taking her face in his hands, looking at her eye to eye. “I have never lied to you Ava. I never have and I never will. The reason your mother left was because she saw you change into a wolf right in front of her eyes when you were three years old. It’s real Ava. This isn’t a fairy tale or some fantasy. We’re st
range and odd creatures,” he said quietly.

Ava stared into her father’s intense eyes not wanting to believe what she was hearing but knowing deep in her soul that he was telling her the truth. She closed her eyes, as her face clenched in pain. “Well, that explains why I’ve always felt so different then,” she whispered as her father wiped a tear making its way down her cheek.

“Do you see why I wanted you with me this summer? You need to get used to all of this before you start your life on your own. I couldn’t just send you off to college and hope for the best. You’ve always been in control and you’ve never been allowed to drink or do drugs. For moral reasons yes, but mostly because you wouldn’t have control of yourself if you did. You could change into your wolf form and harm yourself or someone else, or worse, end up on the front page of the news. That’s why there are small communities across Canada of our kind. You and I live in regular society. We don’t get second chances there,” he said quietly.

Ava nodded her head, wiping another stray tear away. “I understand,” she said quietly, looking away from her father’s beseeching face.

“I’m so sorry Ava. I had a choice. I could have raised you here amongst your own kind, but I couldn’t stand the thought of that. I left, because of the way women were treated here. I couldn’t let what happened to Serena, happen to you,” he swore, his voice turning hard and low.

Ava looked back at her father,
“Serena?”

Harry brushed the name away with his hand, and smoothed out his features.
“Another time. Right now, let’s just focus on you. And me. Are you okay? Are you okay with me? Please tell me if you’re going to run away from me,” he begged, gripping her hands painfully in his.

Ava’s face crumpled and she threw her arms around her father’s neck, letting her tears fall helplessly. “No Dad. I won’t run away,” she said through her tears as her father hugged her tightly.

A few moments later Harry stood up, wiping his own eyes. Ava stood up too, grabbing onto his sleeve.
“So now what? What happens next, now that I know?”

Harry looked lost for a second before he shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked uncomfortable but he forced himself to look at his daughter. “I’ll give you some time to get used to the idea, but eventually you’ll go through a change. We usually do it at night, because we’ve always hid from civilization that way. But you can change really at any time.”

Ava let out a shaky breath and rubbed her hands over her face. “So that old saying about werewolves and full moons?”

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Nah, it was just easier to see us because it was so light. No, we don’t have any restrictions, but as you’re probably aware, strong emotions can trigger a change. When you changed as a little girl, it was because you were so happy. I’d come from teaching and I’d brought you a stuffed teddy bear. Your little face lit up so brightly and you stood up laughing and then, you went through the change. Your mother fainted as you ran around the house. You changed back quickly and took a nap afterwards, but your mother was gone by the time you woke up. You didn’t see her again for over a year,” he said with pain in his voice.

Ava shook her head. “Dad, why didn’t you choose a mate from your own kind? Someone like you, who didn’t like the way things are?” she asked.

Harry smiled sadly and rubbed a hand over his neck. “That’s a story for another day. Listen, you’ve had a shock. Why don’t you take some time to yourself? Come down to the lake with me today. I’ll do some work while you swim around the lake. You can think up all the questions you can and I’ll do the best I can to answer them. Bring your running shoes and you can go running. That always calms you down. Get in a little work out. It’ll clear your mind. Okay?” he asked hesitantly as if she would refuse.

Ava nodded readily and his face broke out into a relieved grin. “Okay, this is great. You are handling this so much better than I expected,” he said with a soft laugh.

Ava smiled back at her father. “What did you expect me to do, really?” she asked, curious.

Harry shrugged. “I thought you would hate me. That or you’d be so overcome with emotion that you’d make the change. I expected to have a furious wolf on my hands,” he said with an embarrassed smile.

Ava smiled and watched her father leave her room, shutting the door softly behind him before she collapsed back on the bed, shivering as she let her slight control slip away. She groaned softly as so many different emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Fear, anger, distress, guilt and disgust all warred inside of her. She breathed fast as she pounded the mattress, groaning as she fought harder than she’d ever fought before to gain control of her emotions. She now knew what would happen if she lost the battle and then her father
would
have a wolf on his hands. She tried to picture her father’s anxious, loving face in her mind, but she couldn’t draw it up. She pushed up on her knees as she moaned louder, pounding the mattress over and over with her fists.

She heard her door open softly and tilted her head to see who had entered her room. She closed her eyes, wishing Cyrus would just go away as a wash of anger threatened to overcome her.

He moved silently behind her on the bed and began massaging her back with his hands. “This always helped me when I was young and out of control. Of course my mom would sing too, but I’m not very good at that. Here, lie down and picture the waterfall in your mind. The one we passed on our way into town. Think of all your emotions pouring out of you like water,” he said softly as he kneaded her shoulders and back.

Ava closed her eyes and sighed as some of the tension left. She did as he told her and felt some of the emotion wash away. She buried her face in the blankets and groaned in misery now. Her life had just changed so completely and so permanently that everything she had known to be true and every dream she’d had for her life was now changed. Who would have her now? Knowing how her mother had reacted to her changing explained so much, but also cursed her to a lonely life.

“There now. See? It’s not so bad,” Cyrus murmured softly, moving down lower on her back.

Ava made a snorting sound and almost smiled. She sighed deeply and then moved away from Cyrus and sat up, facing him. He stared at her tear stained face and his eyes turned soft.

“I’ll help you any way I can Ava. Now that you know, I’ll answer your questions. I’ll change with you. You never have to feel alone or scared,” he said quietly before reaching for her hand.

Ava stared at his hand holding hers and pulled away, only to take his hand in both of hers so she could study it. She pulled him closer and looked at his long strong fingers and the hard calluses that covered his palm.

“You’re a werewolf,
like me
,” she said letting his hand fall and then staring at her own hand as if she’d never seen it before.

Cyrus nodded and pushed her hair away from her face before tilted her chin up with his finger. “We’re just alike Ava.”

Ava shook her head and tried to smile. “No Cyrus. We’re not. Not really. I overheard your parents talking last night before the party and your father was telling your mother that you could never be with someone like me. That it would be selfish and that they’d have to pay the consequences. As much as I’m off limits to everyone,
you’re
off limits to
me
,” she said, moving away from him.

Cyrus’s eyes turned hard and cold as he reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her before she could stand up.