Pennies For Peace

chapter 12

The clearing was quieter than I thought possible. Most people stared at me in shock or pity, but a few looked at me with respect. Everyone seemed to be in shock, except me. Then Zeus seemed to shake off the surprise and stated,"I, Zeus Danielson, accept your rejection."

Those words broke the spell, and most of the werewolves from the packs looked outraged. I saw one of them pushing toward the small space Zeus and I stood in, and Jake was reaching for me, but instead of facing what happened, I did what I did best.

I left.

I pushed through the crowd in the direction of the woods, finally reaching the edge of the crowd and pushing through, into the woods. I ran until I reached a clearing I knew well. It was the clearing where I'd told Marcus I was quitting Pennies For Peace. The clearing where I'd stopped with Justin to catch our breath on the way back to the place I then called home. The clearing where I'd met up with Christina as we ran from my brother's pack. And now the clearing where I accept my rejection by the one person meant to love me unconditionally.

I quickly stripped and shifted, not worried about my fancy look. I stood under the light of the waning moon and admired my wolf. She was beautiful.

Gee, thanks, Zaney said sadly.

It's true, I replied, You are beautiful.

Then why did Zeus reject us? she whined sadly.

I fell silent for a moment before telling her, Zeus didn't reject us. He rejected me. If he met you, he wouldn't even know we were connected.

Zaney quieted, and we sat together in the moonlight, allowing our pain to wash over us with the moonlight. Even though Zaney wasn't physically beside me, I could feel her presence just the same. So we sat together, comforting each other without words just by being there.

Comfort time ended when a twig snapped behind me.

Still a wolf, I spun into a defensive position facing the trees. I relaxed almost immediately, though, and went back to staring at the moon because it was only Christina. She came over and sat beside me as I lowered myself all the way down. We sat in silence for a moment before she spoke.

"More of the Alliance are finding their other halves," she informed me, and I nodded acknowledgingly,"Mates, beloveds, and even a few of the nymphs' loves. Though the nymphs won't tell anyone what the name for theirs is." I let out a wolfy chuckle at Christina's disgruntled expression, and it suddenly turned to annoyance.

Then the memories of Zeus hit me again, and I quieted, staring again at the moon. Christina looked at me in concern and asked,"Laney, are you okay? Be honest."

I shook my head and she sighed. "Shift," she commanded, and turned away so I could. I did so and pulled on my discarded clothes, which were miraculously without stains.

"You can turn around now," I informed her as I fixed my hair to the way it had been. She looked at me with pity, and I snapped defensively,"You know, I chose this. People can stop pitying me any time now."

Christina laughed and my confusion must have showed, because she giggled,"That's just so you!" She sobered up and informed me,"You really just can't accept pity. Comfort, maybe, but not pity. You shove pity away because you think it means people see you as weak. But it doesn't, Lane. It just means they feel bad that something happened to you, and they wish it didn't."

We both lapsed into silence after that declaration, and I thought about what she'd said. "Maybe you're right," I admitted,"Maybe that is what pity means. But weakness isn't why I hate pity." I paused, taking a steadying breath before telling the vampire next to me my biggest secret.