Surprise

Chapter 18: Rogue Shifter

We stayed in the coffee shop all afternoon, studying the book.  The pieces of the prophecy were mostly in elegant script every chapter or so, but there were bits hidden everywhere, including in the main paragraphs and the chapter headings.

We’d bought a highlighter from the book store and marked all the parts of the prophecy, and any references to it.

We also got the basic concept of the storyline; Kristy Coombs grew up in a werewolf home, a witch mother and a werewolf father.  Her father was a pack alpha and her mother had been born to be a leader of the witches, but when she had met the werewolf alpha, she’d fallen in love, the witches sent her away.  Now, their daughter discovers just before her seventeenth birthday that she’s destined for greatness.

“It sounds like you, Stella,” I said, but she denied it.

“Why would there be a character like me in a book about a prophecy child?”

I wanted to say “because maybe you are the prophecy child,” but decided we didn’t know for sure, so there was no point in saying it aloud yet.  I just continued to skim it.

“She’s a vegetarian.”

“So are a lot of people,” she insisted.  “It’s a lifestyle choice.”  To my shock, she actually was snapping at me.

We continued to look at it and discover what was foretold in the prophecy until seven when it started getting dark.  “Stella, I think we need a break.  We’ve been at this for six hours and we haven’t even had lunch.”

She looked up from the book slowly and sighed.  “Alright, fine.  Besides, we should probably show this to my parents.  They understand prophecies better.”

I nodded.  “That’s smart.”  I silently added a snarky “if only you’d thought of that six hours ago.”  We stood from our table and my rear end hurt from having sat for so long on such hard chairs.  “Oh wow that feels nice,” I said, maybe a little too loud, drawing attention from the people at surrounding tables.

“Let’s just go.”  She looked tired and worn down, as if reading had taken all her energy out of her.  But then again, considering how intently she was studying the book, I wasn’t surprised.

We stopped by a small bakery and got a small loaf of bread to eat on the way home since we were both starving, and Stella had spent most of her money on the books and the high lighter at the bookstore and we couldn’t even afford McDonalds.

We picked off pieces of the bread as we walked and it was mostly gone by the time we neared the street of the pack house.  As we rounded the corner, though, we dropped it and ran.  Why?

Because we heard screaming.  It was girly, human screaming, and it was coming from near the pack house.

When we came into eyesight, we saw what the cause was.  Two girls were running towards the pack house, the nearest shelter, from a huge wolf.  It wasn’t a natural, real wolf, though it wasn’t a member of the circle pack.  Looking at Stella, I could tell neither of us recognized the scent.

It was a black female with vicious teeth bared.  No wonder the girls were scared; I kind of was.

“Maya, fight her off while I get the girls inside!  I’ll get help,” Stella yelled to me as we ran, almost to the girls.  I did as told, and was able to run a little faster and I leaped right behind one of the girls, who was a bit slower than the other.  I cut off the she-wolf’s strait line towards the girls, which deterred her just a second while Stella grabbed the girls’ wrists and pulled them towards the door, shouting encouraging words to help them make it.