hybrid on the run #wattys2018

chapter 25. watch that temper

Cheyenne's point of view

I come in from the fire to find Colby pacing around the room. I can tell he's pissed. He turns his attention toward me the minute I enter the room, pure rage in his eyes.
"All you want is that sorry lowlife idiot! All you care about is controlling those band of misfit morons! You don't give a damn about me or kate, or hell, even Dallon! I was your world before they showed up, but ever since you got the chance to play the hero, you're entire world revolves around catering to, and spoiling those ungrateful brats! I mean, thousands of dollars to each of them for FREE?!? They don't even have to work for it! What the hell is wrong with you?!?"
"You're just jealous!"
What happened next, I could never have prepared myself for. He backhanded me across the room, my head hitting the bedpost hard. He said that we were through and left the cabin, the camp, and the pack. Luke came into the cabin moments later. I was crying and holding my head in painful agony.
"Are you ok-? What did he do to you?!?"
He was by my side in an instant cradling me. I cried my eyes out in his arms. He didn't say a word. He just sat there cradling me in his arms the whole night, letting me cry to my heart's content. Guilt washes over me. Is what he said true? I thought I was doing what was best for my pack. I tried to give them everything I could to give them a chance at a better life with the humans. I fell asleep in his arms.

He stayed by my side the whole night. I wiped the dried  blood off my healed face and picked the dried clumps out of my hair. I woke him up softly and shooed him out of the room so that I could change. He walked with me to switch on the generators and went back to his own room to get dressed for the day. It doesn't look like anyone has slept. We head to school in silence. They know what happened. There's no way the don't. It becomes more evident when Colby isn't at school. When we arrive, the principal comes over the announcements.
Good morning students. I'm afraid I bring bad news. Last night the school secretary Beth was murdered. She was walking home when she was attacked by a very large animal. Please stay away from the woods around the school, and please be in your homes by sundown. Don't travel alone. If you walk home currently, I highly recommend talking to someone about riding the bus. Now let's all take a moment of silence before the pledge.
Everyone bowed their heads respectfully, but the whole pack knew what had happened. Ella. She's sending a message. She knows where we are, about how long we spend there everyday, and that she can do what she wants.
After school
"Stay with the pack Luke. I have some business to attend to. Don't let them follow me. You're in command in my absence."
He gives me a worried glance before nodding, and I silently make my way through the forest, the late afternoon sun casting yellow and orange light through out and creating ominous shadows on the trees. I find myself in Ella's presence, and she looks like she wants to kill me.
"We need to talk, Ella."
"Sure we can talk, after you're dead"
She lunges at me, and I dodge it easily. She lunges again, and again I dodge. Finally I hold still when she lunges. She claws my face, and although it hurts like hell, I show no sign of pain. Instead, this time I lunge forward and flip her before she can even register that I have moved. I can see that her determination has faltered and that the remanence of fear seems to hold her. Again she lunges, and instead of dodging, a bend down, sweep her feet off the ground, and watch as she does an involuntary triple backflip into the dirt. She rolls over to watch me, and the fear has completely consumed her. She watches the wounds on my face heal right before her very eyes.
"Now are you going to listen? And don't lie to me. I can hear your heartbeat."
"Yes I will listen."
"There's been an attack on school personnel. I woman was ripped to shreds by a "large animal" in the woods by the school. Did you, or did you not have any prior knowledge of what had happened or that it was going to happen?"
I listen carefully as she responds.
"I have known nothing of this until you speak it to me."
Her grammar makes me cringe, but her heart tells everything. She is innocent. I thank her for her time and take my leave. She knows not to follow me. So if not Ella, then who?
When I return, Luke looks so grateful for my safe return. He rushes up and hugs me. Then he looks down at his toes, embarrassed.
"I'm sorry. I was just worried about you."
"It's fine. I would think you didn't care if you weren't at least a little worried. Can you come into the bedroom for a moment. We need to talk."
I can see the worried looks of the pack while we walk across camp to Green Cabin. I explain what happened and what I have learned. He thinks that it could have been Colby, and it very well could have been him. He probably only did this because he was upset. He'll stop soon, I'm sure of it. I had no idea that he would get this upset for not being the center of my universe. He has no understanding of responsibility. Looking back, I should have known he wouldn't be able to handle this. I should have wiped his memory the moment I realized that we would have to run. I should have ended it right then and there. Luke can see that I'm starting to overthink, and walks closer to wrap me in a warm embrace and tries to comfort me, but I know that he wouldn't have done this if I had just payed him a little more attention. That girl is dead now because I neglected him. I never expected this of him. I start crying into Luke's shoulder and fall asleep that way for the second night in a row.