Eternally Hers

Part Twenty Five

Saoirse Kane

If I had been worried about the emptiness of the house when Dot and I stepped in, it didn't last long. A hand on a loaf of bread only minutes upon our arrival, the swift slide of the backdoor alerted me of the girls' presence, and I turned quickly on my heels to see them.

​Jamie stepped in. Raking my eyes over her, I could tell she was uninjured. Despite this, a sheepish look slipped across her features upon meeting my gaze, and she diverted her eyes just as quickly, moving to take a seat at the dining room table.

​"What's with the look?" Dot pondered beside me, having resumed her seat on the kitchen island, legs crossed at the ankles.

​Jamie responded to her girlfriend's hummed question with another grin, this one a little less sheepish, and a quick, "We're in trouble."

​"Trouble?" The word had left my lips before I could even think it through, and Jamie's grin shifted back to sheepish. There was no need for her to reply, however, because Arabelle had stepped in through the back door.

​Her Wolf was big, dark, and, if I could smell correctly, bloodied. My stance went rigid automatically, and my eyes quickly surveyed her entire form. Despite the smell, she looked perfectly fine, if not for the hackles raised. Based on the curl of her muzzle into a furious snarl and the fact her ears were pinned back, I knew she was angry.

​Theresa stepped in almost immediately following, a bow held tightly in her right hand, which was resting against her side. She, I noticed, was equally as angry as Arabelle seemed to be, which, after sending a raised eyebrow to Dot, seemed to shock her as much as I. We had never seen Theresa so much as grimace, which made the anger even more alarming.

​"What is going on?" I voiced curiously.

​Neither the Wolf or the Hunter seemed to hear me, and if they did, they were swift to ignore my question. Rather than reply, Theresa raised her free hand towards the hallway and sharply demanded, "Go wash up and change."

​I looked at Dot again, perhaps looking for any sort of answer as to what was going on. As if feeling my gaze, she looked over and shrugged. For someone with a peculiar ability to know more than the average person, she didn't seem to know anything at all about what was happening.

​In response to Theresa's sharp demand, Arabelle's hackles seemed to raise even more, which I didn't think to be possible. A sharp snarl left her mouth, ears tightly pinned back. She had turned to face Theresa now, her large form taking up quite a lot of room in the house that normally felt quite spacious.

​I almost openly gaped at the scowl that was quick to form on the Hunter's face. I didn't even need to glance over at Dot to know her reaction was almost identical to mine. Jamie, however, looked amused at the situation, and she leaned back in the chair only feet away from my mate and the Hunter, watching the scene unfold with bemused eyes.

​"Go and change, Arabelle," Theresa demanded again, tone as sharp as the canines that Arabelle flashed her in reply. "Now!"

​With a hearty growl, my mate turned her back to the Hunter, leisurely walking away and down the hall. The pace in which she was going was much slower than a human would walk, let alone a Wolf on four legs. I knew she was doing it to further anger Theresa, and it had worked quite pleasantly, because Theresa's scowl had deepened into an expression that twisted her features disturbingly.

​"Oh, boy," Jamie snickered lowly, "this is going to be something."

​"If you want to keep your own leg unharmed," Theresa replied smoothly, her scowl melting off and an icy tone replacing her sharp one, "I suggest you remain quiet."