Chapter 3

There were still a few lights on in the house, but I just wasn't ready to head inside yet. I figured Brady would attack as soon as he saw me, so I settled myself on the front steps. It was about 11 p.m. and for once it wasn't raining yet. I couldn't help but thinking about tonight. It was really fun hanging out with Embry and I don't know why we haven't really hung out before. Sure, he is a year younger than me, but I used to talk to Jacob Black a little bit when we both would spend the day with our dads at the town hall. Jacob and Embry are basically best friends, along with Quil Ateara. Now it's weird because they are two years older than Brady, but they are really good friends with him.

I was dragged out of my thoughts when I suddenly got a feeling that I was being watched. I turned around and looked at the windows behind me to see if Brady or one of my parents were spying on me, but no one was there. The hair on the back of my neck raised, and I got chill bumps on my arms. My eyes searched the edge of the forest by my house, but I couldn't see anything. All of a sudden, the porch light flicked on and I saw the reflection of eyes along the tree line. I couldn't help it when I let out a small screech. As I scrambled to get up the stairs, the front door flew open and my Dad looked frantic.

"Mackenzie! What's wrong?"

"Holy crap DAD! There's something in the woods!" I squealed. He just stood in the doorway looking out into the front yard. "Dad! MOVE! Let me inside before something eats me!" He just laughed and told me not to worry, that there was nothing there and it was just my imagination. I figured he was right, but it still freaked me out.

Once up in my room, I changed my clothes and got ready for bed. I decided to set my alarm early, so I can go for a run tomorrow morning because I had so much junk food tonight. I need to work it off some way. Once changed and my alarm set, I slipped into my nice and cozy bed. You just have to love the feeling of cold sheets when you first lay down. Usually that's what puts me to sleep, however, it didn't help tonight. I just lay there thinking about those eyes. It was pretty creepy if you ask me. Since I was so restless, I got out of bed and went over to my window. I love the view I have from my second story room. It's a corner room, so I have two windows. One looks out into the back yard, which is surrounded by the woods, and the other looks out to the side of the house, where you can see the woods again and a little bit of the street out front.

Looking out the side window, I realized something was moving along the edge of the forest. Something big. The more I looked; I realized it was what I had seen earlier. I saw the reflection of its eyes once more as it moved around to the back yard. At one point I got a glimpse of it and it looked like either a huge wolf or a bear, but I wasn't sure. I was stunned into place for a few seconds, then I quickly went over to the other window to see if the animal was in our back yard. I honestly couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Brady coming up the steps and disappear in the back door. How could he be out there with such huge animals? He could have been killed! What if that wolf/bear thing would have been hungry? What was he doing outside at this time anyway? And with no shirt on. Wow, I think my little brother is crazy.

A few minutes later I heard a light knock on my bedroom door. I was still glued to the window looking for the huge wolf/bear when Brady cracked my door open.

"Hey Kenzie, you asleep?" he whispered as he stuck his head through the doorway.

"Uhhh…noo. Brady why did you just get home? Where have you been? And did you know that there is a huge wolf/bear thing outside that could have just killed you?" I started out slow and ended in a frantic half-shrieked whisper.

He laughed at me. That stupid little ass laughed at me. Are you freaking serious? I really want to smack him right now! I mean really, he got to pull the overprotective brother earlier today, and now when I'm seriously concerned for his safety, he laughs at me. What the hell?

"Don't laugh at me Bray! I'm serious. I don't want my little brother eaten by wolves or something. Even if you are extremely annoying!" I said over his amused chuckles.

"Sorry sis, I didn't mean to laugh, but aren't you the one that says the wolves are the protectors?"

"In the legends, yeah. And besides, I thought you and you're friends were the protectors?" I asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, we are. So you don't need to worry about me. I can take care of myself. And to answer your other questions, I just got home because I was at work. I'm just taking a quick break now."

"Ohh, so what are you protecting us from tonight? Big wolf/bear things?"

"No Kenz. I'm just patrolling around the Rez for a little while…no big deal. Soo…how was your date with Embry?" he sounded amused.

"It was good. Like I tried to tell you from the beginning, we're just friends and we decided to keep it that way, but we will probably hang out a little more. At least I hope so, tonight was pretty fun." I finished with a smile.

"Yeah well, I'm glad you had a good time. I gotta get back to work…go to sleep and I'll see ya tomorrow sis." He said as he walked towards my door.

"Night Bray. Be careful out there. Love you." I said as I drifted off to sleep.