- Last chapter, I have some stuff to say at the end -
I must have been good at putting on an act because nobody seemed to notice how tense and wound up I was. My dreams were all nightmares now and I was so jumpy that the littlest noise scared me. Nathan told me that he and his family were trying to find out what exactly was going on but it did little to reassure me especially when he admitted that it seemed like whoever was doing it was trying to scare the life out of me, perhaps in turn warning the Evans family of their presence. I was now convinced that the dead animals had everything to do with the red haired man and his buddies but Nathan still hadn't found any trace of them.
I tried not to act scared in front of him because he was feeling so bad about it all. But I felt threatened and was mentally preparing myself to be attacked at any time. I knew that the Evans family moved around because they were convinced that Amelia was in danger from other werewolves who didn't want the curse to end. But I couldn't help thinking that they wanted me out of the way too, especially if they believed that a real werewolf would be a better mate for one of the cursed Evans males.
Nathan wasn't keen on me going anywhere. So I found myself sitting with him and my family in my living room most of the time. I knew he was worried but I was going stir crazy being indoors all the time. One of the few times we were alone, I brought up the subject of me hiding away forever.
"We can't keep sitting in here in case something bad happens."
"I know you're scared Perdita, you don't fool me. And I couldn't cope if anything happened to you. Besides, it's not forever, it's just until we find these people and deal with them."
"Deal with them how? You've said yourself, your family aren't used to other werewolves. What if this crowd are really psycho?" Leaving dead animals on people's doorsteps sounded pretty psycho to me.
"I'm not going to let anyone hurt you." He held me close to him and I felt the full force of his fear and guilt. It was overwhelming. And scary. If he was afraid then I definitely should be.
He kissed me differently then, fierce and rough, as if it was the last time and he was making the most of it. I knew that was my morbid thinking rather than his but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was a sort of farewell.
"I'm sorry about all of this," he said when he pulled away. "My family is weak. We've hidden for all these years that we don't know what to do against these people. So stupid. We could have fought back from the beginnng, stood our ground, made them think twice about going after us but instead we ran. And now look what's happening, we can't even track them properly. We don't know how to be decent shifters."
He was so bitter that I worried for him. If anything happened to me, I feared for what would come next. He wouldn't be able to control himself, I figured that much. He was even angry at his Uncle for making them hide. But Byron was trying to protect them, he had no way of knowing how things were going to turn out.
Nathan, Amelia, Tammie, Joey and even Noah turned up at my house that weekend to help with the painting, I was already covered in green paint. I was determined to get my room finished first. It didn't take as long once my friends pitched in but we all worked a little slower together. Gran, Dad and Erin were making a start downstairs so the place looked like a bomb hit it. It was a nice distraction, even Nathan seemed to cheer up. Duke was getting in the way so we took turns to have a break and babysit him. He was the centre of attention and loving it.
At dusk, Amelia offered to take Duke out for a walk because he was getting agitated and restless. I went with her for some fresh air. The paint fumes were really getting to me and I desperately needed to stretch my legs. My Dad wouldn't let Nathan leave, he wanted to take advantage of my boyfriend's unusual strength to move some furniture. Joey was determined to pull his weight so Tammie stayed to keep him company. Noah stayed to help move furniture although he was such a lightweight that he wasn't helping as much as he thought.
