Upside Down

(33) Face Palm

Chapter 33

Cats : Good :: Monsters : Bad

We didn't leave right away but stayed a while to drink some more hot cocoa and eat some leftover chocolate cake someone brought in. By the time we finished Kriss's eyes were slowly falling and I couldn't really blame her since it was really late. As Kriss slowly fell onto my sholder to sleep I looked at the clock.

Geesh! Forget about late, it was basically morning!

I put away our food and put our dirtied dishes in the sink to be cleaned the next day then went back to the couch to pull Kriss up into my arms were her legs wound around my waist and her arms around my neck. She hummed quietly in my arms as I walked out of the room, locked up then ambled through the halls to the front entrence and locked that up too.

It was beautilful outside with a light snow fall and the pine trees that surrounded us like a million christmas trees just waiting for someone to take home and decorate. You know, if it wasn't so fucking cold outside and had Kriss in my arms I probably would have stayed there for a long time just whating the snowflakes fall on my skin.

But I was freezing my ass off and so Kriss who was dressed in very little clothing since we found here was probably an ice-pop by now.

I made my way to my truck, opening the passenger door and laying Kriss down with my jacket as a blanket then I dashed over to the other side so I could revel in the comfort of the heater in the truck. I quickly tossed open the door and threw myself in to have warmth washed over me like a blanket and Kriss huddle up to my side.

Was I doing the right thing? TakingKriss home, I mean? Was it a wise descion to trust her again, not so fully this time but even a little smidge of trust ... that shouldn't hurt anyone ... right?

But that's just it, this one descion could result in the death of my pack or even mass destruction among all wolf and cat packs to were a war wages on and on and on for enternity. This is a turning point, I can not go back on my choice and I must choose soon. I could either taking Kriss home and coddle her, trust her, believe her to toss er out of my truck to fend for herself and just assume she had some part in the killings, or I might even have to kill her seeing as she might be a threat and if I recognize this as a threat and don't take her word ... I would have to kill her.

Geez, when did my life get so fucked up? Why did if have o be so complicated? Why couldn't it stay the normal boring old life as a normal teenaged wolf shifter?

"Emmie?"

I looked down at Kriss who's head laid in my lap with her big grey eyes looking up at me, blinking her thick black eyelashes. "Y-yeah?"

"They won't give up," Kriss whispered to me and even in the warm cab of my truck I had a chill run down my spine. "she will bring them, the animals, again. She won't stop until she wins or dies trying."

"Then she'll just have to die then because I won't let anything happen to you, Kriss." I brushed some of her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead. "You are a part of the pack now, and I will forever protect my pack."

As I sat back up I saw tears fall down Kriss's face silently. A small smile playing on her lips as her eyes started to droop and her hand clutched mine more dearly. Just as she lost consciousness she parted with three words that nearly made my heart leap out of my throat, "Emmie," she whispered, "I love you."

I let out a small chuckle and looked down at her in my lap.

"I love you too, Kriss."

[The Next Morning]

"So ... who exactly is this guy suppose to be?" Grant asked from the other side of the cab.

"His name is Kalle Jensen," I answered looking at the paper in my hand (which isn't safe to do while your driving but screw it) "and he's an expert on all things shifter and he's a doctor so since Dr. Trodden isn't working today I thought I could kill two birds with one stone."

"Why do you want to kill two birds?" Kriss asked from between Grant and I.

"It's just a saying Kriss. Means fixing more than one problem with one solution. I'm taking you to see Dr. Jensen to see your shifter abilities and what caused them and I'm taking Grant to see why he and Drew where acting so crazy the other day."

"Oh," Kriss smiled at me then asked, "do babies have tonges?"

Grant and I looked at each other before bursting into laughter.

"What?" Kriss asked but I was still laughing, trying to keep control of the truck. "I've never looked inside a baby's mouth! And they don't have teeth! I didn't know!"

"It's okay, it's okay and yeah babies have tonges," I answered her then turned left to a very offical and boring looking building with small shaded windows and brown brick littered with holes. "We're here! Now get the hell out."

So we all got out and after crossing the parking lot, walking into the building and getting checked in by the secrtary, we finally made it to room 306 where Dr. Jensen did ... whatever doctor/scientist do.

"Dr. Jensen, Dr. Jensen?" I knocked on the door. "It's Emerson James, I talked to you over the phone."

The door swung open to show a guy with one of those lab coats on. He was about as tall as me with copper half glasses but what I couldn't stop looking at was his teeth, his messed up teeth like he should of had braces a long time ago. "Ah, yes, the Alpha's child. Please, come in, come in,"

Kriss and Grant shuffled in behind me as I glanced around the room. It was pretty standardize science kind of room, very white with silvery trays with scalples and test tubes and junk.

"I would offer a cup of tea for everyone as is proper but leaving around drinks in here isn't exactly safe, if you can imagine. Don't want to be picking up a cup and it turns out not to be tea, eh?"

Kriss giggled, "I like the way you talk."

Face palm.

I thought the man would be upset or something but he just laughed saying, "Oh you do? I'm from Finland, born and raised Finnish, one of the most amazing places in the world until about a decade ago."

"What happened?" Grant asked as we all sat down in some chairs next to his desk.

"Ah, the devil did it, you see, I was born into the Finnish pack," He told us, writing something down in what looked like a planner. "But my parents died so I was adopted by a family of lone wolves outside the pack.

"I never met the pack, but I heard they were nice people, a good group then one morning we had urgent news that they were dead, all of them dead. Only one person survived to live to tell the tell about the crazed she-wolf who attacked the whole pack killing everyone, men, woman, and children. The entire villaged in which they lived was burned to the ground. So my family and I moved here to the states."

"That's horrible," Grant mumbled and Kriss looked like she was about to sob. I had already heard this story, of course and was surprized Grant hasn't. But it was pretty intresting to meet someone who lived through it.

"Ah, yes, indeed but you didn't come here to dwell on the past, eh?" He shook off the morbid air and slid a smile on his face. "So, is it that you need me to look at, eh?"

"Uh, I'm not sure how to put this but some of my pack members have been acting weird like getting anger a lot quicker and such so I was hoping you could answer me why and also see why Kriss is able to shift into two didn't ... variants of her animal form."

"Variants? What do you mean?"

I shifted in my seat, not feeling comfortable. How do you say 'she can shift into a cute little kitten but also a fucking scary enormous cat-monster' without sounding mean?

"I can shift into a cat and a monster," Kriss explains for me, not looking sacred a bit. She had her head raised high and her eyes focused on the man but I could tell that was hard for her to say. I mean who would ever want to admit they were a monster?

"Oh, that is a bit ... variant. I'll see what I can do. For now, I'll take a look at your Grant friend and in a bit I'll run some test on Kriss to see what I'm working with. I'll have some answers for you in ... about three hours.

Great, now I had to wait.