Not A Love Story

Promised

Jake's POV

My palms were coated with sweat. I was standing just outside Leona's hospital door. At first, I heard muted noises coming from the room. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but every now and again I caught a few words, like "Sara" and "forget" and most often, "please." Dad had told Kate to keep quiet about the "wolf escapade". I thought he was being stupid. There was no way  Leona would ever forget, even if she was unconcious for most of it. Besides, even her sister saw me, for crying out loud! What's up with him, anyway? Sure, we need to keep our 'furry little secret,' but this is going way beyond that. I mean, you get maimed, and you don't even get to know how it happened? 

The door swings open, and suddenly I can hear Kate clearly saying; "Oliver will be coming later, so please, please, don't tell him anything."

"I won't." That's Leona's voice. God, she sounds terrible. My wolf wanted nothing more than to run out into the woods an make the Eclipse pack pay for what they did to her. The only thing that was keeping me here was the fact that Leona was just beyond the doors.

  It takes a minute for me to focus back on the  conversation, so I only here Kate say "I hope that's a promise you intend to keep."  The door swings shut softly. When Kate turns around, shock is written in every feature across her face. 

"Jake! Listen, I-I know I shouldn't have said that last part, and I'm really sorry, but Leona just thinks it's- I dunno- like a quirk of mine or something, please believe me!"

"Kate, its fine," I say, but inside I'm seething. 'I hope that's a promise you intend to keep' is what I guess you could say is an old werewolf saying. It's supposed to represent telling regular people about being a shifter. I can't believe she said that to Leona! Especially after what my dad said about keeping our secret.

"How did it go?" I ask.

Kate sighs. "It went okay, I guess. She was asking me again and again if what happened was real and stuff like that. But Jake, she heard us talking together."

My heartbeat quickens. "When?" 

"I don't know. If I had to guess, it would be that time after school, the day you asked Leona out, which, by the way, turned out to be a stupid move on your part. She seemed to know a lot."

"Crap!" I spin around and kick a trashcan that really didn't deserve it, which earned me quite a few weird looks from  both Kate and the various nurses who convienently chose this time to wander the halls.

Kate looks at me. "Jake, maybe we should take this outside." What she can't say with all the nurses around she thinks instead *...So you can shift.* 

I couldn't agree more. We make our way through the hospital with all it's twists and turns, (Who knew hospitals double as mazes?) and finally burst outside where a autumn sun hangs lazily in the sky. Luckily, the forest in only a stone's throw from the hospital's back door.

When we get into the forest, Kate and I split ways. We both knew better than to shift out in the open, and we DEFINETLY knew better than to shift in the same place. You see, if you shift with all your clothes on, they basically get ripped to shreds, since your wolf would probably not fit in skinny jeans. 

So, unless you want to lose all the clothes you own in a very short amount of time, (trust me, it literally takes less than a week) you need to shift with all your clothes off. So that means things get a little awkward when you need to shift at a dinner party. 

Anyway, I had just finished shifting when Kate came out from behind the huckleberry bush she had shifted behind.

*You know, you really need to make sure I've shifted before you come over here,* I think.

Kate snorts and rolls her eyes. It really looks stupid, seeing as she's a wolf. Imagine a giant white wolf rolling her eyes. If you ever see a wolf doing that, it's either Kate or a crazy rabid wolf. *I DID make sure,* she complains, *I could see the silahouette of your back and your tail was sticking out of the bushes!*

*No need to be crabby,* I think to myself.

*Hey!*

*Stop listening to my thoughts!* I playfully lunge at her, sucessfully knocking her to the ground. She looks up at me, her great blue eyes reflecting me.

*Jake, this is serious!* She pushes me off her a gives her pelt a shake. *Listen, there's somehting I havn't told you.*

My heart stops. *What is it?*

*Leona's dad used to tell her bedtime stories about werewolves. He wasn't exact, but he knew things       like the Eclipse pack and us. He didn't know our name though. But he knew about mates, and Alphas and Betas, and pretty much everything.*

*We need to talk to her dad!* I'm starting to get frantic. What if she starts questioning her dad? What if she already told him? 

*Where is he? I mean, you probably don't know exactly where he is but-*

*Jake, here's the thing-*

*Where is he?*

Kate flinched at the Alpha tone, but calmly thought *You tell me.*

*What?*

*Leona's mom and dad broke up about 7 and a half years ago, Jake. After that, no one knows where he is.*

*We have to find him!*

*It's hopeless. Leona's mom had world-class detectives looking for him, but he disappeared without a trace.*

*We can at least try-*

*And how do you plan to do that? Sniff him out? Jake, he could be dead by now. Eight years is a long time.*

I flop down on the ground, defeated. *So now what?*

*There's only one thing left to do.*

*What's that? We need to know about the stories, but the one person who knows them is long gone.*

*Maybe he's not the only person.*

*Really? Who else?*

*Jake, I think it's time you to meet Leona's mom.*