Rayonnante - Paul Lahote

Chapter 13

As far as she could remember, Lena had always hated loud noises. She'd gotten better through the years, but it used to be so bad that even the roar of a motorcycle engine was enough to make her have a full on meltdown. Her dad used to hate it. She remembered it happening a few times when they were on their way to the grocery store, or to a friend's house. A motorist would fly by and she'd burst into tears, unable to contain the pure fear that coursed through her body. He used to tell her to pull herself together. His exact words always ended up being somewhere along the line of you're a kid, what do you have to be crying about? or just wait until you're an adult and are faced with the real world. In fact, because of him, she'd spent many years imagining adulthood as some sort of curse. She'd be sad when she heard that a cousin had turned eighteen, absolutely certain that it meant that their life was now over. They were facing the real world, now, and they'd never be happy again. It had taken her many years before she finally understood that life wasn't as horrible as her father made it out to be. Or, at least, that it didn't have to be.

But tonight, she felt like a kid again. A scared, trembling child, waiting for the loud noises to end so she could finally feel safe again. She'd seen people be angry before, of course. While her father thankfully wasn't a violent man, she'd seen him rage a few times when he didn't have enough money to go out with his friends or when he got fired for another job for slacking off. He'd never turn his anger towards her, but still. It was never fun to be in the same room as him when his temper surfaced. Still, she'd never faced anything even remotely close to what was currently happening in the Black household.

It was like a switch had flipped in Billy the second Jacob had entered the house. One second, he'd been laughing with her, looking relaxed, and the next, his face had become somber. She'd seen a similar knowing expression cross his face a few times, like when they'd seen Sam Uley run towards the forest behind the grocery store. But he'd never looked this severe. He'd grabbed Lena's arm tightly when she'd started to get up to see if her young neighbour needed help and nodded at her to stay behind him, which she did worriedly. Her brain couldn't quite comprehend the scene in front of her. Jake was pacing back and forth, running a hand through his hair, shaking so hard his form was almost blurry. The smiling boy she'd grown up with seemed long gone at the moment. She wondered for a second what could've possibly made him this angry. Even though Jake had been a bit more easy to provoke these past few weeks, it had never been this bad.

"Jacob", Billy called out

The boy flinched noticeably, as if he hadn't even noticed that they were here. His gaze first rested on his father who was staring right back wearily. Then, it stopped on Lena. She was frowning, looking like she wanted nothing more than to disappear behind Billy.

"What?", he snarled.

Billy sighed and slowly wheeled himself closer to his son, still careful to keep a respectable distance between them both. He'd heard enough about the dangers of a first transformation to know that it would be incredibly foolish of him to approach him any further.

"How are you feeling, son?"

At this, the teenager laughed bitterly, running a hand through his already messy long locks. Sweat was beading on his forehead and his russet coloured skin looked oddly pale. Clearly, he wasn't feeling very well.

"Just peachy, dad!"

Billy sighed, not surprised to learn that they wouldn't be able to hold a conversation considering his son's current predicament. Slowly, he grabbed the phone. There was nothing he could do for him at this point except try to keep him calm long enough to take him outside and away from Lena's eyes. It wasn't time for her to learn the tribe's secret. Especially since their laws stated that her imprinter was the one who had the honour and responsibility to tell her the truth. He doubted she'd take things very calmly if her first experience with shapeshifters was Jacob bursting into a huge wolf in the middle of the living room.