The Wolves of Cain

The Night Shift

Date: 3-16-17

Chapter 53: The Night Shift

That night, Ivie can only think about that kiss that she shared with Adrian. She kept it to herself, a guarded secret. Ivie didn't even tell Vanessa and Selynn.

Ivie gets in bed around 9 pm, wondering what'll happen tonight. Will she turn into vine girl?

Ivie tosses and turns for hours thinking of how complicated Adrian is, finally falling asleep sometime past midnight.

Ivie doesn't turn into vine girl that night, which baffles everyone, including Ivie.

~*~

The next day everyone seems to be taking a break. Since Adrian is gone on his business trip and no one has seen Monique around, everyone's had a quiet and normal day.

Except for Ivie, who thinks non stop about Adrian or her best friends. Or vine girl. Basically, Ivie goes over all of her main problems. That turns out to be exhausting, so Ivie sits and watches a movie with Lena after lunch.

~*~

Lucas debates for the hundredth time if he should pick up his phone and text Lena. But should he load yet another problem onto her shoulders? Is that fair?

Lucas already told Mason his problem. Their problem. Tonight is the full moon. After all this time waiting, Lucas hadn't even noticed it coming up.

Now Lucas is in a sort of panic and Adrian isn't here. Lucas doesn't want to ask Adrian for help. But if Adrian was here, Lucas would be asking. Possibly begging.

Because Lucas doesn't know much about being a werewolf. This is his first shift. The first of many. Lucas can't believe it. What will it be like?

Lucas decides to text Lena after dinner. "Hey. How's your normal day been?" Lucas types and sends.

"Amazing! Why can't every day be normal? Or at least 4 days of the week. Yeah, that'd be nice :)"

And with that, Lucas decides not to tell his girlfriend that he's going to turn into an animal tonight.

~*~

Lena and Ivie sit down together in the living room with Jerica, who came over after dinner, to watch yet another movie. The full moon shines just outside their house, but none of them notice.

~*~

Lucas feels the pull to be in the woods is stronger tonight. Stronger than it's ever been before.

Lucas jerks out of bed with a gasp, clutching at his chest as if he can't breathe. Lucas hadn't even attempted going to sleep tonight, but played games on his phone instead.

But now Lucas shoves his bedroom door open, stumbling drunkenly down the hallway. It's good that he didn't live upstairs. He would've fallen on his face.

Lucas gets to the living room and collapses on the couch, feeling slightly better. Lucas feels a warm glow on his face and sees that the full moon is shining its rays into the room.

Lucas hears a thump and someone cursing from the direction of Mason's room. Mason must be feeling all of this too.

Mason comes stumbling in, much the same as Lucas had, and throws himself on to the couch next to Lucas.

Mason concentrates on breathing properly while Lucas stares out the window.

The moonbeams calm Lucas so that his chest isn't clenched so much anymore. Then suddenly Lucas' eyes burn a bright gold, reacting to Mason's eyes that had already begun glowing.

It seemed that Lucas had himself under control for a moment but Mason didn't, which caused Lucas to lose whatever control he'd had.

Lucas' head pounds as he stares at the suddenly intimidating moon. Mason pushes on his forehead in hopes that it will ease the tension gaining there. Nope. Not a chance.

Mason jumps up from the couch and races for the door with Lucas close behind. They charge into the woods without another thought, only pausing when they arrive at the spot where they were bitten.

"Lucas." Mason groans out while leaning against a tree. Sweat beads on his forehead and his eyes are squeezed shut.

"Huh?" Lucas manages to mutter.

"Never mind." Mason says. But Lucas understands his twin brother for the first time in weeks.

Lucas knows Mason is seeking comfort without actually wanting help. Lucas basically feels the same way.

Lucas closes his eyes and is about to say something when he hears a growl that's low and angry.

Lucas' eyes snap open in fright, burning golden in the dark.

Mason is looking around with his golden eyes wildly. Lucas almost gasps at the sight of fangs in Masons mouth. Fangs.

But what comes out of Lucas' mouth is a protective growl. A primal need to protect himself and his brother. "Someone else is here. Someone not invited." Lucas' senses seem to scream at him.

Lucas whirls around to stand back to back with Mason instinctively. They both have their claws out, ready to fight off whoever and whatever.

But it's still a shock when the thing hiding in the bushes turns out to be the wolf who bit them in the first place. It growls at them, a horrible sound low in its throat. Lucas and Mason growl back.

The wolf makes a sound that sounds like a laugh. Why would it be laughing?

"You can't fight me. You're not strong enough." A voice in Lucas' head says. Lucas looks around quickly in confusion.

"It's me. The werewolf in front of you. I can talk in your minds since I'm in my wolf form." The voice says again, but this time it smirks, reminding Lucas of Adrian.

Adrian who isn't here. Adrian who's supposed to be hunting this wolf. Who is this werewolf anyway?

Its blood red eyes fix on Lucas and Mason.

"What do you want?" Lucas says with a slight slur in the words. It's harder than he thought to talk with fangs.

Mason jumps in. His words are slightly slurred too. "I know how this goes! We're not going to join your pack." Mason snarls out that last sentence.

Lucas should probably feel appalled at the animal like nature that they've both suddenly obtained, but Lucas feels proud of his brother.

The wolf seems to chuckle at them. Once again he speaks without opening his wolf mouth. "That's not why I'm here." He says.

Lucas knows those red eyes. They look so familiar. But the only other red eyes he's seen is Adrian's. Could this possibly be Adrian? Has Adrian been lying all along?

Adrian said that he wasn't the one who turned them. Adrian even gave Lucas a name. Matthew Ellington. He said it was a rogue werewolf, but wouldn't say more.

Now that Lucas thinks about it, Adrian was very vague. In fact, anything that had to do with werewolves and their abilities Adrian was vague about it. Lucas narrows his eyes at the wolf, Adrian. It has to be him.

Lucas feels betrayed but not very surprised. He really should've seen this coming. Lucas has always had this gut feeling that Adrian isn't trustworthy. Lucas should've listened to his gut. He should've listened to his instincts.

Lucas snaps his attention back to Adrian when he mind speaks again. "I'm here to kill the two of you for good."