Fears To Face

∞ Chapter 46 ∞

~ Rayne ~

"Hey, what are you do– " Kayley's voice was positively surprized when she opened the front door.

She had just arrived back from school. She only had the time to kiss me after she had crashed on the bed next to me when the doorbell rang. Her parents were working so we had a little freedom. It had been incredibly boring alone in this house for hours, waiting for Kayley to come home again. Kayley had made me swear I called her when something was wrong, also during her classes and she called me herself during her lunch break, telling me she could still skip her afternoon classes if I wanted her to.

She didn't end her sentence at the door. Someone was mumbling low. "Yeah, of course," she replied, then the door closed again. Slow footsteps appeared on the stairs, but there were more than two feet. Whoever had stood at the door was coming up with her.

Kayley came around the corner and stopped in the doorway. She linked her fingers around her elbow and smiled shyly as she said, "You have a visitor." I followed her movements with narrowed eyes as she took a small chair from a corner of her room and sat down on it. She looked at me and then averted her gaze to the door.

When I looked back at the door too, I gasped inwardly as I saw who had come up with her.

Luke stood in the middle of her room.

It was the best thing that could happen and the worst at the same time. The fact that he was here was a confirmation that last time's interest had been real and he didn't hate me anymore. But I still didn't want to pull him into my curse. That would make my whole take-off all these years ago useless. A million questions where running through my mind. How did he know I was here? Had he been to my house too? Did Kayley know he was coming?

"What are you doing here?" I breathed instead.

"Hi to you too," he replied. Kayley motioned him to sit down on her desk chair. "Mom's freaking out about you taking distance again. So I decided to come and investigate."

Investigate for mom sounded less interested than I'd hoped. "I told mom she couldn't visit." That was meant for you too, I wanted to tell him, but I didn't have the chance to say that out loud.

"Exactly. That's why I'm alone. But seriously, what's up with the silence for a week? I'm not a doctor, but I don't think there is an illness where you aren't able to speak." He eyed me suspiciously.

I thought about telling him I lost my voice, but I didn't. I didn't want to lie to him. Not now he had come to me to find out whether something was wrong. What kind of brother would I be if I lied to him now? After it took so long for him so act normal to me again? I took a deep breath and said, "Okay, I will tell you what happened, but you have to promise me you won't tell mom." Mom couldn't know I was shot. She would drag me back into her house and never let me out again without me being able to do something about it. She was protective when I was young, but since she thought she lost me, she was over-protective.

His eyes narrowed for a second and then he said, "It has something to do with the wolf." He sure figured that out quick. I nodded. "Okay, you have my word. I'll keep my mouth shut. Now tell me."

I hadn't realized Kayley had left until she came back into the room with three glasses. "Okay, I told you I only turn into a wolf for the night, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, from twelve till sunrise."

"Yeah." He had remembered it better than I expected. I took a deep breath and then said, "When mom called last week, I couldn't talk because I was a wolf."