The Strength of a Pack

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I was exhausted by the time I got home.  So much had happened in one day, and I was not looking forward to dealing with my dad tonight.  The first thing I did was go up to my room to take  quick shower to get all the blood off of me. 

Then, I went downstairs where Susan was in the kitchen, cooking dinner.

“How was the meeting?” Susan asked.  Being a human, she wasn’t allowed to go.  But I don’t think she minded.  She got the whole house to herself for a couple hours.

“Um… not so good.  There might be some fighting going on here later….”

Susan sighed deeply.  “Well, I guess you better eat something now, get your energy up before dealing with your father.”

I laughed at her words, and she gave me a smile.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

I shook my head.  “It’s okay, I’m sure I’ll to talk about it plenty in a couple minutes,” I said, grabbing a plate and putting some of the lasagna Susan had made on it.

Susan gave a soft chuckle.  “That’s true.  Well, eat up.”

I did as she said, and managed to finish eating when the front door slammed shut.  Susan raised her eyebrows at me and I sighed, getting up.

Mark came into the kitchen.  He stopped at the door and looked at me for a moment.

Finally, he said, “What were you thinking?”

I bit my lip, not really knowing how to reply.  “I guess I wasn’t?”

His eyes narrowed.  “No, you weren’t!  I asked you not to tell anyone about what happened in New York, because I’m trying to protect you Riley.  And you’re making that really difficult right now.”

“Dad, I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to lie to everyone anymore.  We need to figure what’s… different about me.”

He clenched his jaw tightly.  “We can figure that out without the rest of the pack knowing.”

“No, we can’t!  I understand why you would want to keep some things from the pack to protect them, but this isn’t protecting them.  Carter came after me because I was different, who’s to say someone else might not do the same thing?  The pack should know what they’re protecting, who they’re protecting.”

“Riley, you’re not that different.  You just have elevated healing abilities, that’s it.”

“Really?  That’s it?  Then why won’t you let me tell anyone when my real birthday is?”

He froze.  “Riley, please don’t tell me you told Tyler that,” he said, and his voice actually sounded almost… scared.

“No, I didn’t.  I didn’t tell him anything about what happened in New York.  But why can’t I?  I don’t understand why you’re so insistent on keeping that part of my like so secret.”  Not that I minded, I really didn’t want people thinking I was any more different than they already did, but apparently that was inevitable.  I might as well just be honest with them.

Mark took a step further into the kitchen.  “I told you, I’m trying to protect you.”

I took a step forward myself.  “What are you protecting?  You obviously know something I don’t, so could you just tell me?  It’s my life we’re talking about, you should just tell me.”

He didn’t answer me right away.  He looked away and out towards the window for a long while.  I waited, knowing he needed time to think before he answered.