Howl

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Four

“I really think someone should stop him,” Sophia said as she watched Lukas walk towards the front door. Ever since Emma’s rejection, he hadn’t been the same. He’d gotten so bad that Sophia had him move in with her just so that someone could be looking out for him.

Although everyone looked in Lukas’ direction, no one moved to actually stop him. In the month since his depressive mood started, they’d all tried talking to him to see if there was any way they could help him snap out of it. So far, no one had any success, which was the main reason Sophia had called the meeting of Lukas’ band of anti-hunters.

While completely uninterested in anything any of the pack members had to say to him, there were brief moments when he seemed like his old self.  Those were the times when he was taking out hunters. While he’d been working for the pack, Sophia noticed that he was extremely cautious in his actions and he often had other members of the group doing the dirty work. From what she’d heard about her cousin while he was with other packs, that was not normal.

Since Emma had left him, Sophia was sure that she was seeing the old Lukas, the man who was absolutely ruthless when it came to eliminating the one threat to a wolf’s safety. He no longer let the others get heavily involved, and he had effectively benched Cory, the youngest member of the group.

Because of his new behavior, most of the group found themselves talking to Sophia about what to do with Lukas. Although they mostly agreed that Lukas shouldn’t be working, no one really wanted to outright say it, as if he was no longer working for them, the pack could easily demand that he be left on his own since he wasn’t a member. Those that he worked with obviously liked him, but Sophia had no idea how the rest of the pack felt about him.

Sophia actually found herself grateful for Talon’s absence. Although it bothered her that he had just vanished, she was sure he would be demanding that Lukas be cut off. She missed her brother, but not dealing with him, even if just for a short period of time, was a blessing. She had no idea where he went – she just knew that he would disappear for a while and then come back.

“He doesn’t listen to anyone,” Jason spoke up as Lukas neared the door. “It’s like he’s deaf. Doesn’t hear a thing anyone says.”

“Poor guy,” Amber remarked. “Can’t imagine what he’s going through.”

“Have you tried talking to him, Amber?” Sophia asked.

“Yeah, but I’m not getting anywhere either. Won’t even speak to me. I even followed him all the way to that Starbucks that he’s been going to, but he just sat there, waiting. And ignoring me.”

Lukas could hear the others talking about him, but he simply didn’t care. They weren’t important. The only thing that mattered was getting Emma back. After she left him, he’d sent her a single text, telling her that he’d be at a certain Starbucks every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday to wait for her. He sent the same message on Facebook, but she never replied, nor had she ever shown up in the three weeks it had been since he last saw her.

Several times, he thought he caught her scent, but when he looked around, she was nowhere to be found. He just put that down to him losing his mind – he always thought he could smell her or hear her laugh or even feel her punching him.

Once again, he found himself driving down to the Starbucks, just in case today was the day that Emma finally came for him. He saw that Jason and Amber were following him, and although he wished they’d just leave him alone, he simply didn’t care enough to tell them to knock it off.