The Second Covenant

My dad drove me home but I could see flashes of color in the trees alongside the road. The wolves were following. “Sweetheart? I know this is a dumb question, but are you okay?” I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Not a dumb question. I’m okay. I’m tired though. What should we tell mom?” He frowned like it had just occurred to him. “I’ll talk to her.” I gave a little laugh. “Why’d it have to be a wolf, why not a cat? Mom hates dogs.” My dad took my hand and squeezed. “But she loves you.”

I slept the whole day away, not waking up until about three in the afternoon. Great, now my body clock was going to be off for a week. I blinked at the sunlight streaming in through the window and groaned as my muscles let me know how sore I was. I rolled over and found two aspirin, a glass of water and a note from my mom. “Tristan called, was worried about you, we’re down in the kitchen when you’re ready.” I squinted to read the time she’d written, noon. Three hours ago. There was another note under that, from ten a.m. “Druex called to see if you wanted to go out for lunch.”

I lifted my brows at that note. ‘oh yeah?’ I thought. “Trouble.” I said out loud. “Big trouble.” I threw back the covers and forced my tired body to move. I snapped up my cell phone and texted Tristan to let him know I was awake, and fine, and that I’d call him later.

Then I called Druex. He picked up on the first ring. “Cherish?”
“Big Trouble.” I growled and I hoped he felt the bite from my voice. “Big, fat trouble.”
“Honey please, I can explain…”
“Don’t you Dare honey me! You know what I feel like right now?” I barely took a breath before plowing right on over his answer. “I feel like shit, like I just had some animal try and claw it’s way out of me. Forcibly. You know what else people call force Druex? Four letters, starts with an R.”
“I never meant it to be like that Cherish. Please come down and let me explain.”
“Not today, I’ve got to go down and lie to my family.” I hissed and hung up on him.

I had to look my mother in the eyes and tell her I didn’t know who it was. Lie to my father and tell him that no, I didn’t know if the wolves from last night had been regular wolves or Werewolves. And then I had to call Tristan and tell him all about what had happened last night, except for the part where my boyfriend had tried to rip the beast out of me. Then I had to lie more and say I didn’t know when the wolves would come back or if they would at all. It was a minor miracle that my father or my uncles hadn’t put a color scheme together. I felt even worse by the time I crawled back into bed.