Fears To Face

∞ Chapter 38 ∞

Kayley

I was restless.

Tonight was the turn so I couldn't see Rayne, mom was crabby – I could take it from her – so was dad – I couldn't handle it from him – and I was in my room, trying not to get involved in their wrangle and hoping to distract myself by pacing through my room with nothing to do. That wasn't working out so well.

After a short knock my door opened and Sam came in. "Hey," he said. "Could you use some company?"

"Oh thank god, yes. I'm going crazy."

He half laughed and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Mostly? The fact that Rayne is in misery in his house and I can't help him and that dad is just stupid." I fell down on the bed.

He sat down on the edge. "Yeah, he and mom are fighting a lot these days."

Mom had decided to use Rayne's offer to go into the woods with him after they turned into wolves, what Rayne had suggested when he first met her. The amount of fights I overheard last week on that topic... I lost counting. My father was against it – I saw that one coming – because he still thought it was unsafe and because he didn't trust Rayne, even less now than in the beginning. But my mother was resolute and wanted to try.

"Yeah, he just wants to nag me. He thinks it's funny to ignore Rayne and pretend he isn't there. I think he hopes I break up with him, but he's naïve when he believes that."

My father's behaviour hadn't improved over the last days. His mouth instantly hung low as he saw Rayne and he refused to talk to him with the exception of grumbling noises. We ignored him as much as we could, but I still hated the situation. I mean, he was my father and Rayne was so important to me and I just wanted his approval.

"What do you think about mom and Rayne running through the woods together tonight?" Sam wondered, studying me closely.

I shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'm gonna wait for moms reaction. I love the fact that she trusts Rayne and he is right, it can't be natural for a wolf to be chained and locked up in a dark room, but yeah, I'm nervous too. I have no idea how this will turn out." I'd thought a lot about it since mom had been clear she wanted to try. It felt weird, after all these years of her going to the shed, she'd be running freely. Then again, Rayne was with her and he'd been running through those woods for years.

"I really thought dad was going to say he wouldn't let her." Sam looked a bit sad.

"Did you hear what they were saying during their arguments?" I asked. "Mom said that he couldn't really say she wasn't allowed to go since his main argument was that he wouldn't set her out on her own, but now she wouldn't be alone, because Rayne is with her and he knows the woods like the inside of his pocket." Sam nodded slowly. "You don't seem to be convinced," I commented.

He smiled faintly. "I just – isn't it weird for you that your mother and your boyfriend are going to spent the night together, deep in the woods, as wolves?"

I shot him a look. "I tried very hard not to think of that, thank you."

He grinned shyly. "Sorry," he shrugged. "So how are you going to do it? I mean, I don't assume dad's going to move mom in her wolf form, right?" Sam asked.

My eyes narrowed. I hadn't thought about that yet. I pulled my phone from my pocket as I said, "Good, point, I'll ask Rayne." Sam got a doubtful look in his eyes, but I smiled. "Don't worry, he said I could call." Last month I had feared that he wouldn't appreciate it, but I had asked him about it and he assured me I could call when I wanted to, although he couldn't be close to me. And it was needed too, since we needed to arrange some preparations now my mom was going to him.