Claws

Chapter Ten

"What the heck?" These were Zale's first words when he saw me walk into the kitchen.

His hair was all over the place, and there were bags under his shocked, tired, blue eyes. He was dressed in sweats and a black T-shirt. He looked at me with wide, stunned eyes as he sat up straight. He still looked handsome, even though he was hungover. It was so annoying. Remembering last night, I shot him a nasty look and gritted my teeth together. He slowly stood up with a strange look on his face, blinking a couple of times in confusion.

"Zale! Where are your manners? The first thing you say to Mae is, 'What the heck' after eight years? The nerve!" Linda immediately sighed, crossing her arms with a stern look on her face. "Apologize, then greet her properly."

"It's fine, Linda. I was just about to say the same thing," I smiled at her, then coldly turned my gaze back to Zale. "What the heck are you doing here? I thought you had your own place." Robin let out a snicker, slinging his arm around my shoulders as I crossed my arms, trying to resist the urge to walk up to him and punch him in the face. From the stunned look on his face, I was pretty sure he didn't remember last night. "You look hungover. You must've drunk a lot last night."

"Mae, be nice," my dad butted in as Zale continued to stare at me in utter confusion. "How are you doing, Zale?"

Zale blinked once he heard my dad's voice and tore his eyes off me to look at my dad. "Oh, hello, Mr. Astor. I'm doing well. How are you?"

"Very well, thank you. We are all glad to have our Mae back," my dad responded with a kind smile, shaking Zale's extended hand.

Where did these manners come from? I clenched my jaw as I turned to Robin in disbelief. He just gave me a look that said, "I know, right?" and squeezed my arm. This atmosphere was so awkward.

Suddenly, Zale cleared his throat and stood, striding over to me. His gait was lazy and slow as he opened his arms. His baffled expression was gone instantly, replaced with a calm smirk. "Welcome home, Bambi. It's nice to see you again." Again, with the nickname he gave me as a kid. "You're looking good."

My eyes widened as Zale pulled me away from Robin and hugged me. It was a different type of hug than the one he gave me last night. It was less familiar and more forced. I gritted my teeth together as he smushed me into his chest. I wanted to hit him, but I still didn't want my parents to know I ran into him last night, nor anyone else. "Yeah, thanks," I almost seethed, shoving him off me. Robin had already begun to shove Zale away from me when I retracted.

"Don't be a creep," Robin mumbled as my mom desperately started a conversation with Linda. "Why are you here? You don't usually visit us twice in one month."

"Do I have to have permission to visit my own mother and little brother?" Zale sighed, ruffling Robin's firey hair. Robin smacked his hand away with a nasty look on his face. Zale frowned. "What's up with you?"

"You caused a mess at the bonfire yesterday, I was told. You temporarily marked another girl and got into a fight, right?" Robin glared at his brother. "When are you going to start acting your age?"

"Hey now, you don't need to be so rude, little bro," Zale scoffed, raising his hands coyly. "She came onto me first."

"Disgusting," I mumbled, turning around. Feeling repulsed at the thought of not only Zale kissing me last night but that he'd done it after he'd been macking all over another girl, I walked over to my parents, hoping to join in their conversation with Linda. I would lose my appetite if I talked to him any longer. Our second reunion was almost as bad as our first one. Why was I not surprised?

"Hey, hold up," Zale scoffed, grabbing my arm and turning me around. I scowled at his overly pretty face as our eyes met again. Good. This was the same feeling I'd always had looking at his beauty. Pure contempt. Irritation. Zale squinted his eyes at me and looked me over. "Did you just call me disgusting?"

"Yes, I did," I nodded with a straight face as Robin shoved Zale's hand off me. "And that was being generous."

"Well, that's not very nice, is it?" Zale raised his thick, dark eyebrows, crossing his arms. "Look, kiddo, what do you know? It's not like you know what I was doing last night."

I gritted my teeth and turned to Robin, snatching Zale's wrist. "Can you give us a second? I need to speak with your brother. Tell Linda and my parents we'll be right back."

Robin gave me an odd look, then hesitantly nodded. "Yeah, I'll just go help set the table. Oh, and Zale?" Robin turned to his brother and shot him a dirty look. "If you lay a hand on her, you're dead."

"Why would I lay a hand on my kid sister? As if," Zale scoffed, rolling his eyes as I yanked him towards the backyard. "Ow."

I was seething as I dragged him out the door and shoved him into the backyard deck. Before I knew it, my fist connected with his nose. Blood spewed everywhere as he stumbled back, baffled. "I've wanted to do that since last night."

"What the heck?" Zale coughed with watering eyes, holding his nose. Scarlet blood oozed out between his fingers and drenched his black t-shirt. He spit a wad of blood out of his mouth and let out a few profanities as he cracked his nose into place. "What was that for? What did I do?"

"As I thought, you were so wasted last night, you don't even remember what happened," I laughed, irritated. "Robin was right. You really are a wreck."

"What do you mean?" Zale managed to lift himself to his knees, his eyes slightly glazed. I may have hit him too hard, but I was too mad to feel any sort of sympathy.

"Last night, you attacked me from the woods, forced me to shift out of my Claw form, then sexually harassed me the moment I was able to stand up! I was sick with a fever all last night because you smothered me with your pheromones! Do you know how much you reeked of tequila? It was horrible!" I rambled, furiously running my fingers through my hair. "And when I tried to walk away from your drunkard hide, you grabbed me and kissed me! Do you know how disgusting it was?"

When I looked at Zale again, I was surprised to see that his swollen eyes had widened in horror, and his sticky hands had dropped to the snowy ground. His face was covered in the blood that continued to seep out of his nose, staining the snow underneath him. He looked shaken up as if he'd seen a ghost. "F-for real? I did that?"

"Yes! Do you think I'd break your nose just for kicks?" I sneered, kicking some snow onto his hands.

"I didn't mean...Look, I was drunk. When I get wasted, I'm not in my right mind." He looked down, cringing, as he spat more blood out of his mouth.

"Which is, like, four days a week or more from what I heard," I scoffed, crossing my arms. "You've really hit rock bottom. I knew you were a mess, but I didn't imagine you to turn out this bad."

"Hey, what do you know? You're just a kid!" Zale sneered, forcing himself to his feet. "You've been back for a day! I haven't seen you in eight years, and you're already making it clear that you hate me, just like when we were younger! Grow up!"

"Where do you get off being four years older than me? And you should be groveling on your knees, begging for my forgiveness, thanking me that I haven't told anyone yet, not lecturing me on how I'm treating you!" I yelled at him. "From what you did to me last night, forcing yourself on me, you deserve to hear this!"

Zale opened his mouth and then closed it, shaking his head as he closed his eyes. After a moment of silence, he opened his eyes and gave me a confused look. "Wait, you haven't told anyone about last night?"

"No, of course not, and don't think I did it for your sake," I said with a blunt look on my face. "I did it because I didn't want to let everyone know the pack's infamous man slut was able to force himself on me. I have my pride to protect."

That was when I turned around and walked inside, leaving him speechless in the snow.

Was that a little too harsh? Maybe. Was it true? Yeah.

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