The Runt of the Litter

Old, and It Fits

Note: Hey, Beauties! Thanks so much for reading, voting, and commenting! I genuinely appreciate it so very very much.

This chapter was requested by SydneyHodder who wanted to see Anna hunt a werewolf in another state without telling the boys. So, you know, some badass Anna and some pissed off brothers. Good stuff 😉

In this chapter, Anna is eighteen.

Old, and It Fits

"So, yeah," Kate finished with a sigh. "College is intense but kinda hilarious, and I think I'm gonna fail my chemistry class. How are you?"

Anna smirked. "You won't fail, Kate. You're buckets of smart... If that's a way people talk."

"Well, I'm not gonna do well, and that's as bad as failing."

"Are you kidding me? Remember that class I failed to prove a point?"

"How could I forget? My life was in as much danger as yours when Sam found out."

"Nobody's life was in danger," Anna said with an eye roll and moved so she could lie on her back on her bed with her head tilted upside down over the edge of her mattress. "Sam's a total teddy bear. As I was saying, though, he was far less pissed when I got a C than when I had an F."

"Okay, so there's a minor difference. I want an A. I really want an A."

"I know you do, but it's your first semester, so cut yourself a little slack and trust that you're smart enough to do this shit."

Kate went a little quiet the way she always did when Anna started complimenting her. "Thanks," she said softly, then abruptly cleared her throat as if trying to eliminate the imaginary awkwardness. "So, you said you had a crapfest to talk about?"

"Not a crapfest," Anna corrected and sat up abruptly, the blood that had rushed to her head making her feel a bit dizzy. "I'm just getting kinda restless. Not all of us have bats in our dorms and hard chemistry classes to occupy ourselves with."

"You've been hunting full time. That's ten times more exciting than NYU."

"Is it?" Anna challenged. "I feel like I'm not doing anything. I've been training more than I've been actually hunting, and I'm ready for more than that. I'm beyond ready. I'm itching for it."

"Okay, well, not to be a dick, but maybe you should trust the two experienced hunters to know when you're ready."

It wasn't meant to hurt, and it shouldn't have-- for that very reason if nothing else. But it did. "I have experience too," she said more defensively than intended. She tried to backtrack, but she felt a bit flustered. "I- I get- I get what you're saying," she amended, trying to slow down and think through what she wanted to say. Her teenage years up to this point had been riddled with lectures on respect and arguments that could have been avoided altogether had she simply been better at thinking before she spoke. "I don't want to be the kid anymore, Kate," she admitted, her tone falling somewhere between vulnerable and frustrated. "I know how to shoot and run and fight and stab and hunt. I can do all the things I need to do. I have been since I was a kid. Granted, not as much as they did as kids. But still."

"But is taking it slow such a bad thing? Like you said, you may have been in the life since you were a kid, but you didn't start to really train beyond self defense until we graduated."

"Okay, but all I'm saying is, I graduated literally forever ago, and I still haven't been out on a real hunt yet. I mean, we've done some spirits, and I took the head off a vamp last week, but... I just feel like I'm not goin' all in like I expected, you know?"