The Silver Dagger

Warning

Sunday.

Her Aunt had either forgotten her birthday for the first time ever or there was something wrong. Just in case her aunt was sleeping in, Aiyana waited until after church to call. Her call went directly to the answering service. That could mean her aunt had lost the charger again or lost her phone, but it had been over a week since she heard from her last. She waved goodbye to the girl she'd caught a ride with and went into the dorm, already dialing the one person she'd never imagined she'd call when her aunt made her put his number into her phone.

An hour and three pages of notes she already didn't remember later, her phone rang. Alpha Wayne was calling her back? Why wasn't it her aunt? The smooth case nearly slipped out of her hand and across the room as she raised it hastily to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello Aiyana."

She didn't know she could feel so relieved. "Aunt Aimee, are you okay? I've been trying to get a hold of you all weekend."

"I'm fine. I'm sorry I caused you to worry."

"Are you sure? You missed my birthday."

"I didn't miss it. I remembered it, I just didn't have a phone."

"It's all right Aunt Aimee. I'm just glad you're okay."

"Did you have to call Alpha Wayne? This is embarrassing. He made me call you on his phone. He's waiting in the living room."

Her aunt thought having him there was embarrassing? She should try cold-calling him to ask him to check on someone. "Well maybe you'll keep a better eye on your phone in the future."

"You sound like my mother."

"Your mother told you not to lose your phone? Has your mother ever owned a phone?"

It was a source of frustration for her aunt. Her mother - Aiyana's grandmother - was completely against technology. She didn't even own a television. Aiyana suspected her grandmother spent most of her days laying in the sun in wolf form. Luckily, she lived in the heart of wolf territory so no one cared if she sprawled out in the front yard or not.

"Aunt, I have something big to tell you."

"I have something big to tell you too."

Something big? What could have happened? Did her Aunt finally get a promotion? "You go first Aunt Aimee."

Her aunt's voice got quieter and the buzz got louder. Aiyana imagined her aunt stepping to the far corner of the kitchen near the noisy refrigerator to try and keep Alpha Wayne from hearing."Remember that thing of your father's I gave to you? Some wolves came by looking for it."

"Thing?"

"Letters," she said cryptically.