Run From The Alpha

Chapter 6

My mind was reeling - as one would expect after learning of their adoption and dramatic secret heritage all in one go. It seemed that everyone's minds were reeling. Mom and Dad wanted to focus on apologies to me. I wanted to focus on being adopted. Lucas wanted to focus on the true secret behind my birth.

And Peter. It suddenly hit me that Peter wasn't here. Why would he be? We were all in the kitchen at Lucas's house as he served us each a cup of coffee. My comatose state hadn't lasted more than an hour but with my parents here I began to worry. The worry mixed with guilt that I had almost forgotten about him.

"I'm sorry," I started with a look to Lucas, "but where's Peter? You left him at the house alone?" I glared at my mother. 

"No one in my pack is going to break into someone's home and harm an innocent person. I resent the insinuation that they would," Lucas stated. His voice was very level but the underlying annoyance was clear. I wasn't sure if it was more due to my dig at his pack or my bringing up Peter.

"He's alright, darling. He doesn't know what has happened. We told him we would be back soon after a pack thing. I'm sure he's just watching TV or packing or something." Mom tried to comfort me. She wouldn't leave my side since the revelation just minutes earlier and sat right next to me at the island. "Do you need some milk for your coffee?" As she asked, Lucas grabbed a half gallon out of the fridge and sat it in front of us. She poured it while I sat in silence. 

She remembers how I take my coffee I thought fondly. It seemed a silly comfort in the moment but it was a comfort nonetheless.

"Look, I know this is going to seem harsh but I really need to know more about Eve's true parents."

"Lucas," I snapped. It was almost comical - like we had been together for so long that we were comfortable with chastising each other in a quick we'll talk about this at home  way. 

"We don't know hardly anything," Mom insisted. "We just wanted a family and we couldn't turn our backs on a baby who needed us. We didn't ask a lot of questions because it felt safer for them and for us to not know anything."

"Is this why she runs so fast? It obviously caused whatever happened earlier," Lucas insisted, though he was almost talking more to himself. His eyes told me that his mind was going a mile a minute trying to piece things together.

"Oh geez, I don't know. I just remember when your father came to speak with us about her. He was so suspicious when we left and then came back with a baby but he never said anything until she joined the pack runs. We didn't want to cause any trouble we swear-"

"Mom, you aren't in trouble," I interrupted. I hated seeing how nervous she was. My dad stood silently across the island from us, a permanently concerned look on his face. "Right, Lucas?"

"I just need to sort some things out, okay?" He replied. He was now looking at me with a guarded face - a stark contrast to how he spoke to me just hours before.

My mind drifted as the room settled into an uncomfortable silence. We all seemed to be processing on our own.

I honestly wasn't even sure that witches were still around before today. Their history was slowly coming back to me the more I thought about it, but having gone to public school everything I knew - or thought I knew - was from old pack tales. 

If I remembered correctly, witches and werewolves and fayes were all the old lineages of supernatural beings. I didn't know much about fayes - or faeries if you asked some - but I think they were more concentrated in other countries. There was even talk about a large family of them residing in the Congo but I believe they preferred more cooler climates overall. Witches and werewolves had tended to migrate together. Their populations were always almost an equal ratio as humanity spread throughout the globe. However, werewolves really turned their back on them as humans became more insistent on hunting witches down. The whole ordeal put a significant dent in their bloodline and forced them into hiding on their own. Not a lot had been taught to me outside of that.