Blue Lupus

Chapter Eighteen: Hearts and Hunts

            “What is that?”

            Alyssa glanced up at Deven as he asked her. She had been over at his house, studying. Over the past month or so she had been around him quite a bit. There relationship seemed to be going well, even though Alyssa refused to discuss if it was exclusive or they were an official couple whenever Deven brought it up.

        Although she wasn’t ready to allow herself to be in an actual serious relationship for the first time, she was still enjoying her time with him. Sure, he still wasn’t magical and the spark they had was dim at best, but she liked talking to him. He was different then her other boys, much kinder and less possessive. 

        The best part was that he invited her to his house almost every day. She needed a break from her own family. Jake and Jared were being even more annoying then usual, and Alyssa couldn’t even stand being the same room as Alaska. 

        Alaska: the girl who’d rather be a hunted rogue instead of be in the Approx pack.

        It made Alyssa sick just thinking of it. Alaska had tried to mend their relationship, but to no avail. Alyssa had decided that Alaska was a she-devil and nothing would change the alpha’s opinion.

        Thankfully though, Alyssa didn’t have to dodge Alaska that often, since she was now always at Deven’s house. Deven’s parent were often at work so they got plenty of alone time- and luckily in the past few weeks Deven got much better at kissing. Even when Deven’s parents were around they were kind to Alyssa, always inviting her to stay around longer. It was nice being in a house with an actual function set of parents.

            Earlier today, Alyssa was invited to come to his house to do some homework and watch TV- their normal after school activities- however this time Deven noticed something new.

            “What is that?” The boy asked again, Alyssa frozen. She didn’t need to follow the boy’s gaze to know what he was talking about. She knew it immediately. Her arm. 

            When she entered his house, she took off her jacket- as usual, but today she had forgotten to wear long sleeves. She figured her cuts weren’t that noticeable. Apparently she was wrong.

            “They are nothing.” Alyssa moved her arm away. She hadn’t cut in about a week; maybe she could pass them off as something else.

            Deven wasn’t buying it. He knew what they were. The boy’s heart sunk, and his stomach felt full of lead. He wasn’t as ignorant as Alyssa thought. He knew what teenagers did. He knew that when someone felt so worthless, lost, or numb they would do terrible things to try to feel again. The boy reached out, grabbing her wrist.

            Alyssa tensed, biting her inside cheek as she normally did to try to control herself. If it had been anyone else she would of slapped them away in a heartbeat. If it had been her brothers grabbing her arm, they would both already be on the floor, nursing their newly blackened eye. But this was Deven. Deven was a human. Deven was weak. Deven cared about her.

            She watched his face, trying to decode his thoughts as he turned her arm over. She didn’t even look down; she knew what it looked like. Her pale skin was riddled with scars, flaws covering her milky skin. It was like a tic-tac-toe game had been played on her flesh. Some scars were diagonal, some horizontal. Some were still crusted with dried blood, and others were almost completely faded. However, she knew it could have been worse. Due to her werewolf healing she knew that most of her scars didn’t last longer then a month or two. A few lasted a bit longer, but over all, if all of her scars had stayed- it would have been much worse.