Boundaries

Aidan: twitchy

Aidan

Conor offered to give blood for Grant, but I resisted because I didn't want Grant to be forced to obey. Even though things with Tish were fine now, I knew that Conor wasn't as careful about orders as I was.

Grant and I volunteered to trudge down to the cows and check on them, but they were cozy enough. They had hay and water and I dumped pellets into their trough before sitting down to milk them. Grant stayed by the fence; he spooked the cows.

"Do you think it's a bad idea to invite my dad?" he asked.

I shrugged. "No, I think Peter will behave. If he's in charge like you said, will he get away?"

"He'll probably try," he sighed. "Honestly, I think my dad would give up the hunters and move here if Ralph and Mel would let him."

"How did that man get into hunting anyway?" I questioned. "Your mother I can understand; she was rather bloodthirsty as a human. But Peter seems more suited to be a soccer dad. Or an accountant."

Grant shrugged. "The same way most of the hunters are recruited. He had someone close to him get killed by a vampire. In his case it was a vampire clan who stole a couple of his college friends when they went camping together. Six went out in the woods; four came back. They found their body parts stacked in a ravine completely drained of blood. My dad went out every day with the cops until STF showed up to investigate, and he signed on right away. I think he even was part of the raid that took out that clan."

"That's sad," I remarked.

"My mother comes from a family tradition of STF. I think her grandfather was part of the original hunters? I should have paid more attention, but I would tune out when my mother would start droning about tradition."

"Regardless, you didn't see any farming in your future, did you?" I teased.

Grant snorted. "No. No, I didn't."

The icy wind blew Grant's hair into his eyes; he refused to wear a hat, said it was too smelly. I wondered how long he would be happy here. I was content because my alpha was content, this I knew, but Grant didn't benefit from the same calm. He had mentioned before, when we were in Chicago that he didn't want to stay here forever. I didn't want to keep dragging it up, but it was constantly on my mind.

"Will you invite your parents?" Grant inquired.

I shuddered. "I will if Keith wants to. But our parents...if we were human and living out here, they would be so upset. And I'm not sure I can think of a way to tell them and not end up in an asylum somewhere. I mean, Keith cashed out all of our college money to buy our land. If my kids did that to live on a farm away from civilization, I think I would be pretty upset."

"You had good reason," Grant pointed out.

"Yes, and I don't regret it. But they don't know all the particulars. Ralph says we could tell our families, what with this new contract we have with the hunters, but that doesn't mean they're going to accept it."

I stood up and stretched my back. My hands were sort of numb to the cold by now.

"True," he agreed. "You know, it's cold enough even I feel the temperature. Is that milk going to freeze out here?"

"It will if we don't get it inside," I laughed, lugging the milk pail behind me. "Come on."

The wind bit much more now that I was out in the elements. Grant laughed at me and reached up to pull my hat down over my ears.

"Thanks," I told him and then nestled into my scarf.

We took the milk back up to the house, but it didn't seem Mel had any more plans for the pack today, not with the weather like it was. We headed back out to the shop so as to not be in the way while Brian taught English. And, if I was being honest, I needed to work on my own lessons. I hadn't been putting as much work into teaching now that Grant was back. That wasn't fair to Katie and Susie.

"You can help me with the bubonic plague," I mentioned as Grant flopped on my bed.

He rolled over on his stomach. "To contract it or to avoid it?" he asked.

"To teach it, turtle," I laughed. "I teach class this afternoon. I'm not ready."

"I'm not the right person to ask; I didn't even go to college," he pointed out. "And I didn't really learn much in high school if I'm being honest. I did the bare minimum to graduate."

"No one will think less of you if you want to sit in on the classes," I pointed out. "Might as well since we're stuck indoors today."

Grant rolled his eyes. "I don't know if I entirely see the point of our education," he said. "Education is for assimilation and job prep, right? What is Susie Lynn planning on doing that she needs to know about medieval times?"

"Well, she wants her high school diploma for starters," I told him. "And I have been trying to highlight the points of history that would have outed us, or times we would have been persecuted. I wish the hunters kept track; no one seems to know where we came from."

"And so you've focused on the bubonic plague?" Grant asked skeptically.

"We couldn't catch it; we're immune to most diseases," I pointed out. "Someone would be bound to notice groups of people who didn't get ill. Anyway, it's on the outline from the charter school. It shouldn't take me long; you can watch something on your tablet while I work."

I wished he was interested in helping with lessons. During our emails, he had been encouraging, but now, not so much. I tried to focus on my lesson plan and the slides I was making, instead of watching Grant out of the corner of my eye.

"Do you want to go hunting?" I asked. "After I'm done here?"

He frowned. "Won't it be too cold for you?"

"I can shift; then I'll be fine," I told him. "And I'm almost done."

Grant's mouth liftedinto a smile. "Yeah, I'd like that."    

____

Fun Fact: in a previous version of this book, Peter was going to be turned. But it didn't work out. I think he secretly wants to be turned, to prove to the hunters that they can be 'normal'.

My 'smart' alarm woke me up like 30 minutes before I had to be and I'm sadly awake sooo early. (okay, it's like 30 minutes but it feels so early)