The Lupine Necklace

Chapter 13

Chapter 13

          Karen and Lewis were sitting awkwardly in the living room, not really looking at each other.  I almost laughed.  Karen was doing everything she could not to acknowledge the fact that she was sitting in the living room with a werewolf.

          Lewis smiled when he saw us.  "You're looking much better, Layla."

          I smiled back at him.  "Thank you, Lewis.  How is everything out here?"

          "Awkward as hell," he laughed. 

          Karen looked shocked.  "I'm right here you know," she told us. 

          I looked at her coldly.  "Yes, we know."  I went back to ignoring her.  "My pack mates should be here soon," I told Lewis.

          "I can't exactly go back to my pack," he told me.  "What will happen to me when your alphas show up?"

          I smiled at him reassuringly.  "Don't worry, Lewis.  I'm sure we can add you to our pack."

          He shook his head, still worried.  "Do you have enough power in your pack to guarantee that?  Because if not, I should leave now."

          I laughed at him.  "I forgot that you have no idea who I am."  He looked at me in confusion so I told him.  "I'm the alpha's daughter."

          Karen's jaw dropped and Lewis looked between us in confusion. 

          "You're what?" Karen asked me.

          I looked at her in disdain.  "Did you expect me to give up and die in the woods all those years ago, mother?" I asked her scathingly.

          Her eyes widened and she shrunk back in her seat, not answering me.  I could see the answer in her eyes, I didn't need the answer.

          "Let me give you some background," I told Lewis.  "I am a half-breed.  My father got Karen here pregnant with me, but was kidnapped.  His friend Derek helped him and he came back here three years later to find that Karen no longer had me.  She had found out I was a werewolf and left me in the woods at the age of three.  Told me she forgot something in the car and never came back."

          Lewis glared at Karen.  "What kind of heartless monster are you?" he asked of her.         

          She gasped.  "Me, a monster?  Me?  I'm not a werewolf!  You three are the monsters!"

          Xena growled at her and she flinched.  "You left your daughter in the woods to die.  At least werewolves take care of their own."

          Karen looked quietly down at her feet, not having a comeback for that.

          "In other words," I continued, "yes, I can guarantee that my pack will accept you."

          We are almost there, Layla, Ian told me. 

          I smiled happily.  "They're almost here.  I'm so ready to go home."

          Xena carefully hugged me.  "As am I.  I miss Lee," she said with a dopey smile and I couldn't help but laugh at her.

          "You two are so cute," I told her and she laughed with me.

          We all sat quietly in the living room for the five minutes it took for us to hear the large van pull up into the driveway.  I smiled at ran to open the door. 

          The van doors burst open and Jason, Alice, Jeremy, Nate, Lee, Ian, Dylan and Ben, the pack doctor erupted from the doors. Xena and I were surrounded in a group hug in the middle of Karen's entryway. 

          Everyone began speaking at once.

          "Are you okay?"

          "I'm so glad you got away!"

          "What happened?"

          "Where's Derek?"

          "How did you escape the territory?"

          I laughed and held my hands up for silence.  "We're as good as we can be, Derek is alive as Xena only knocked him out, and we had some help escaping the territory."

          Jason looked at me in confusion.  "What do you mean?"

          It was obvious that Ian hadn't told anyone about Lewis.  "Well, a boy around our age caught us sneaking away and had no idea what was going on.  He helped us get here.  I'd like it if we could take him into our pack."

          Jason's eyes widened.  "We can't just take him in, just like that, Layla.  How do we know that he's not a spy for his pack?"

          "We took Ian in, just like that," I pointed out.

          "That's different," Jason sighed, sounding exasperated.  "Ian's pack did not have a feud with us!"

          "Lewis didn't know what was happening!" I exclaimed.

          "And how do you know that he's telling the truth?" Jason asked me, his voice rising as he tried to make me understand.  "Your gut isn't a reliable source, Layla!"

          "My gut is what I rely on, Jason!" I yelled.  "I promised Lewis that he would be accepted into our pack and he will be.  He is the reason I even made it here, Jason.  You owe him something for that," I said the last quietly. 

          Everyone else was standing in a ring around us as they watched us closely, waiting to see what Jason would decide. 

          We stared at each other for a few minutes before Jason sighed.  "I want to meet him for myself," he stated.

          "He's in the living room," I told them.  Xena and I led the way and everyone followed us. 

          Karen looked up as we entered and she gasped when she saw Jeremy.  "Jeremy?" she asked. 

          He glared at her coldly.  "Karen."  The word was unfriendly and cold.  He looked away from her and ignored her.

          Jason sized Lewis up and Lewis stood tall and confident.  "Thank you for helping my daughter escape.  She's determined that we can trust you, so we will take you back with us."

          Lewis bowed his head in respect for Jason.  "Thank you, Sir.  Her faith is astounding.  I'm not sure I would have been as trusting, had I been in her shoes."

          "She's certainly unique," Jason stated sardonically.  He turned and stiffly addressed Karen.  "Thank you for allowing them to wait here for us.  If all goes well, you won't ever have to see us again."

          She stood straight, looking at us warily.  "I hope all goes well," she stated.

          I knew that she didn't care about me; I knew that she was too obsessed with normalcy to love a werewolf, even if I was her daughter.  But, hearing her say that she hoped to never see me again still hurt.

          Ian growled angrily and pulled me gently to his side.  The pack closed ranks around me, protectively, knowing that her simple statement had hurt, no matter how much I thought I was over her rejection.

          "You're a cold hearted woman," Jeremy told her.  "I wish I could say that I'd never met you, but then I wouldn't have my amazing daughter."  Jeremy turned on his heel and led the way out of Karen's home.  I refused to call her mother ever again.  I would call Alice my mother, but I would never, ever refer to that woman as my mother.  She may have given birth to me, but she didn't have a maternal bone in her body.  I felt bad for the baby sleeping in the nursery.  One day, she would realize what a terrible mother she had, I just hope that child turned out better than its mother.