The Lone Wolf

Chapter 31

Okay so this chapter is just to get something up.  It may not be good and what you were hoping for, but it does explain a few things and its all I can do right now.  I know I said two chapters left 2 chapters ago, but things have changed... so now its 2 or 3 more chapters. lol.  But i'm so tired... I'm going to bed.  I don't care if its only 5 o'clock at night.

Chapter 31

I felt the searing pain of the blade instantly, and let out a sharp yipe of pain.  I tried taking a breath of air in, but couldn’t.  Great, add a punctured lung to my list of thing to figure out.

“What the hell Melanie!”  I heard Jackson shout.  He pushed her away from me and another wolf tackled her to the ground.

Even though she had just stabbed me with a knife, I still didn’t want anyone to hurt her.

Don’t hurt her! I sent out to the wolf standing over her, snapping his teeth viciously.  He heard my command and growled, but didn’t hurt her.

The pain in my chest only increased as my time without air kept going and I fell to my knees.  “Riley,” a voice said behind me, in an oddly calm voice.  “Riley, I need to take the knife out, will you let me do that?”

I nodded my head slowly, trying to keep my mind working aps the pain.  I just had to wait for the knife to be taken out, then I’d heal.

The man who asked if he could take the knife out stepped in front of me and put his hand on the hilt of the knife.  Then, without warning he yanked it out.  I hissed in pain but besides but was just glad it was out of me.  Now I just had to wait for it to heal…

“It won’t heal,” Mel stated flatly from where she was pinned to the ground.  “That knife was dipped in Miltoniopsis.”

The man holding the knife immediately dropped it.  “Sh*t,” he swore loudly.

Okay, someone seriously needed to explain what the hell Miltoniopsis is! 

“She’ll heal,” a voice said, and I recognized it as Shawn’s voice.  I heard footsteps around me and a hand came down on my back, softly petting the fur in a relaxing way.  “Just give it time Riley, you’ll fight it off.”

“That’s impossible,” Mel said.

Beside me, Shawn laughed.  “I think we’re all about to learn Riley here is oddly resistant to dying and can achieve what we used to think as impossible.”

And sure enough, I could feel the familiar burning sensation in my chest meaning I was healing, and within seconds I was able to take in a deep breath.

“No…” I heard Mel whisper but I didn’t pay any attention to it.  I was majorly pissed at her currently.  Why would she stab me?  It’s not like I don’t feel pain.

Someone get my some f***ing clothes, I sent out to anyone who would listen.  People started to move into the house right away to get me clothing.  Within 20 seconds I had a blanket to cover me up while I shifted back to human form, and sweatpants and a sweatshirt to change into.

Once I was a fully clothed human again I turned my angry glare on Mel.  “Care to explain?” I asked her in hard voice.

But her eyes didn’t have any friendliness in them.  “Not really.”  Then she turned her head away from the look at the wolf still standing over her.  “Would you mind letting me up now?  This is getting old.”

My anger increased a notch and I let out a growl.  “No, what’s getting old is people trying to kill me all the time!  I saved you Mel, why would you do that?”

But she still didn’t answer, just glared at the wolf above her.  I growled in frustration again, but before I could do anything rash a hand came down on my arm.

I turned around to see who it was and was met by a familiar set of eyes.  I opened my mouth to say something, but then closed it again.  The eyes… they were exactly like mine.

The man in front of me smiled brightly.  “Hey Riley.  This is weird right?  But anyways, back to business, she’s a hunter.  That’s why she tried to kill you.”

He said all of this with a happy smile on his face and all I could do was blink and stare.  A hunter?

Someone heaved a deep sigh from behind me.  “Charlie, you’ve never been good at explaining things.”

I turned around to see another man with eyes just like mine.  Then it clicked.  These must be the two boys in the photo.

This other man stepped in front of me with his hand out, “Hi, I’m Christopher, the one who pulled the knife out of you.  And the idiot over there is Charlie.  And… well we’re your brothers.”

I looked over him critically, looking for resemblance… and I had to admit it was very possible we were siblings.  Besides the eyes, both boys had the same wavy, dark brown hair as me.  Both of them were very tall, probably about 6’5”, which would explain where I got my height from.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Christopher said, “but we have a lot of explaining to do… and so do you.  You need to tell us everything that’s happened since the first time you shifted until today.”

I just raised my eyebrows at him.  “That will take all week.”

Christopher laughed and gave me a warm smile.  “Don’t worry, we’ve got time.  And plus, we have to wait for dad to get here for you to explain your part, so I suppose we’ll start explaining whatever we can for now.  You’re friend, Melanie, is a hunter.  Most likely she comes from a long line of hunters, since its passed down by generation.  I’m surprised to see one from your town though, shifters haven’t been there in decades.”

The older man who I’d instructed to help the injured earlier walked up beside Christopher.  “Probably stayed in town to make sure no shifters ever came back.”

“True,” Christopher replied.  “But anyways, she’s alone right now.  Does she have parents that might be coming to attack?  I don’t think it’d be a big problem, but we might as well be alert for it.”

I tried to push past all my confusion and answer his question.  “Um… yeah she lives with her dad but I don’t think he…”  But then I remembered.  That first night I was shot, it was by Mr. Williams.  I thought it was just because he saw a wolf and had a gun on him because he was a police officer but… I also noticed that no one seemed to figure out that they were shooting the same wolf over and over and it never died.  A normal person would have asked questions, but if he knew I wasn’t a normal wolf, he wouldn’t have raised any questions.  And after that first time, I never caught the scent of the person who shot me.  It hadn’t bothered me the, I just thought it was the way the wind had been blowing but… “Would a hunter know how to keep their scent away from a shifter?”

Christopher nodded his head.  “They usually know how we hunt and can use that to keep their scent away from us.”

“Great,” I muttered.  “Then yeah, he dad’s a hunter too.  I don’t know if she told him where she was going or what she was doing tonight though.”

“Alright well how about we keep three guards out here while the rest of us go inside and talk everything over.  Sound good?”

There were sounds of agreement around us and three people volunteered to stand guard.  Jackson walked up to me and took me hand.  “This is all so crazy,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded my head drearily and rested it in his shoulder.  “I just want to go to bed.  For like, 4 months.”

Jackson wrapped his arm around my shoulder hugged me closer to him.  “Things will get easier now though.  You’ve found your dad, well kind of.  You’ve found his sons and soon you’ll get to see him and everything will get explained.  After that, it’s just smooth sailing.”

I raised my eyebrows.  “Smooth sailing?  Really?”

Jackson laughed and just said, “You know what I mean.”