Trapped: the Truth (Book 2)

Chapter 4

I still cannot believe they agreed to help the wizard get the emerald he needs to create more werewolves. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that a wizard exists.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" I ask both Chris and Nate on our way home. We are half way there.

"I'm doing this because of him," Chris points out. He looks annoyed at the fact that Nate jumped into the situation without much thought.

"This could be my purpose in life: to train werewolves," Nate answers enthusiastically. "Just like Chris trained me."

"This is insane," I tell no one in particular. I rest my elbow on the car door and rest my head on my palm. I have a feeling this is not going to end well for all of us. Who knows where this wizard is going to take us. Yes... us. Because there is no way I am going to stay behind. Communicating through a phone will not be enough for me. They might lie: telling me they are fine when they are absolutely not.

I text Steph to let her know that I will not be able to hang out wit her tomorrow as I will be going on a road trip with Chris. I leave Nate out of the picture because that would look like I prefer Nate over her. Steph replies with an 'Ok' and I know she is not okay with this. I promised her we would spend more time together but I have broken that promise over and over. The guilt is killing me but what else can I do? I wish Nate would tell her the truth. But then she might also find out about Chris and Luke. I do not like keeping things from her. I need to talk to Chris and Nate about this.

"Nate." I turn to face him as he is sitting in the backseat of Chris's car. "What do you think of telling Steph the truth?"

He simply stares at me for a bit. "I don't know. Is it safe for her to know?"

"I know and I'm still alive." It is probably worse that she does not know because she cannot protect herself.

"What do you think, Chris?" Nate turns to Chris who is focused on the road.

Chris inhales and exhales loudly before answering. "Maybe Emma could have some back-up with Steph's help."

I smile at his answer. He is finally accepting the fact that I missed my friend and he knows how much I hate hiding this from her.

"Okay then." Nate claps his palms together once. "Shall we tell her today? She might be able to come with us tomorrow."

I do not think she can handle everything all at once. Or maybe she can? I guess we will find out very soon.

I text Steph to meet us at a local coffee shop. I hope this goes well. I hope she does not freak out.

"I'm so glad you decided to meet up." Steph sounds excited as she hugs me.

We all sit in a booth for four people. I sit next to Steph and across Chris. I place the smoothie I ordered on the table in front of me. The place is not crowded at the moment so we can talk openly.

"What's up with all of you? You look like someone died." Steph has always been very observant. Her face turns serious. "OMG... Did someone die?"

"No one died," Chris assures her.

I have no idea how to tell her the truth. How do I tell my best friend that our friend and my boyfriend are werewolves?

Nate intervenes before I can say anything. "I'm a werewolf."

"Me too," Chris admits.

Steph bursts out laughing. It is not the expression I anticipated but it is better than freaking out. She turns to me. "Are you a werewolf too?" She chuckles. "As far as I know it's not April fools' today, right?"

I look at Chris and Nate and they look at each other not knowing what else to say. I take over this time. "Steph... It's not a joke. Chris was born as a werewolf and Nate was bitten almost two years ago."

"The attacks..." Steph looks appalled.

Nate speaks next. "That was me before Chris trained me to control myself."

"So you don't do that anymore now?" Steph still looks stunned but at least she is not freaking out yet.

She asks us a lot more questions. We tell her about Luke and why he bit Nate - my brother was so angry after losing our parents. We tell her about the wizard and his request. We ask her to join us in his quest and she accepts. I am so surprised she took all this so well. She loves adventure and excitement so maybe that is why she took it so well. She agrees to keep it all a secret. We set up a plan for the wizard's quest: including time, meeting place and things we need to bring.