…Three Year Later…
"This is ridiculous! I'm almost twenty years old." I yelled at my father. "You can't forbid me to see someone!"
"I can and I will." His southern drawl was firm and absolute. "It's too dangerous for you to go out alone with boys."
"They're not boys anymore Daddy, they're men."
"Reason all the more. You don't know who these guys really are."
"That's why it's called dating. So I can get to know them." I said through gritted teeth. "You can't keep me locked up."
"I will if I have to."
"Why can't you trust me? I'm finally going to college in September, are you going to keep me under surveillance there too?"
He crossed his arms and he got that guilty look in his eyes. Oh, great.
"What are you, mental?" I asked. "Why do you insist that I can't take care of myself?"
"You've been fighting off mutts since you turned fifteen! I just want to protect you."
"You're smothering me. You have been since I Changed the first time. Why do you think I'm going to college in Washington? So I can get away from you." I said with more venom than I'd intended. "Tell whoever it is you have looking after me up there to back off. If I catch them they'll regret it."
I stormed from the room, almost knocking into Jeremy. Becoming aware of the burn of tears in my throat, I up looked into his black eyes, they were hard with concern. Jeremy was my Alpha but he was more than that; he was my grandfather: the person I turned to when my parents drove me crazy. He was the one who convinced my dad in the first place to let me go away to college; though I'm sure he had something to do with finding whoever was going to be tailing me the whole time. I moved around him and continued on my path through the house and out the back door. I practically tore off my clothes in my haste to Change and go for a run. When I rose from the ground and sniffed the air in my wolf form I caught the scent of my brother in the air. I hoped I'd be alone today but if it had to be someone I was glad it was him. Logan burst out of the bushes and tackled me to the ground; his teeth clamped playfully around my throat. I quickly flipped him around and held him in the same position. He pushed me off of him and jetted into the underbrush. I followed after him. The land we owned here wasn't as far stretched as the land in Alaska, not even close. Still, it was enough to scratch the itch so to speak. It made me sad to think of how long it had been since my last visit. Logan shook me from my reverie with another tackle from the right. I nipped at his back leg, a sure signal that I wasn't in the mood to play. He still didn't stop. Sometimes I wondered if we were really twins. He still held the maturity level of a fifteen year old sometimes; we couldn't possibly be the same age. We wrestled a little longer before I got aggravated enough to actually bite him, then he back off. This run wasn't doing what I wanted it to do for me. I went back to my clothes scattered about and Changed then went into the house again.
I ran into my mom in the kitchen. She didn't look at me right away, which meant a "talk" was coming. Maybe she overheard us earlier. I made to walk out of the kitchen but was stopped by her outstretched hand.
"You need to apologize to your father." She said still looking down at the sandwich she was making.
"I won't." I said firmly. "I can't. I should have been allowed to start dating at sixteen when all the other girls were allowed to but no I had to wait because I was going through Changes. Well, y'know what? I'm nineteen and I got asked out and I said yes so I'm going."
"You really hurt him." She finally looked up at me.
Ouch.
"At the risk of sounding like I'm twelve; this is totally not fair." I said.
"Honey, you know why we're so careful with you. I know you're a smart girl but if we lost you to some asshole mutt because we let you go out alone…" her mouth hung open for a few moments. "I don't know."
"What does he think I'm going to do when I'm at school?" I asked her quietly. "I'm not just gonna be sitting in my dorm room all the time, watching the seconds pass on the clock. I'm gonna go out and…do something, anything."
"I think that scares him a lot." Then she laughed a little. "Just be glad your brother got accepted to that school too otherwise we'd all be moving out there."
"Yeah." I rolled my eyes and turned out of the kitchen, heading towards my bedroom.
I was almost all packed to go. I had boxes piled up and ready to be shipped by my door. Why did I want to go on a date anyway? It was only a guy from town and I'd be leaving in two weeks so it's not like anything would come of it. I called him and cancelled, saying that I had some last minute school shopping that I needed to do. Sorry, buddy.
I woke up the next morning with a headache. Great start to the day. I showered, dried my hair, ate breakfast and started writing the address labels for shipping all my crap across the country. Mom, Dad, and Jeremy took an early run and Logan was still asleep. When a knock echoed off the walls of the hallway I heaved a sigh and put my pen down. We didn't get a lot of visitors and anyone welcome knows to come right in, so this had to be another door-to-door salesman ignoring the "No Soliciting" sign. I pulled open the door to a tall, muscular man with dirty blond hair and green eyes. Seconds later his scent hit me and my heart leapt into my throat. A mutt. He grinned at me and lunged toward my torso. I jumped in time to kick off his back and send him to the floor. He laughed and came at me again. I ran out the door only to collide with another one at the bottom of the steps. He was much bigger than the first. I felt like I ran straight into a wall. He picked me up with one hand by the throat. I pushed off his chest and twisted my body with as much force I could muster to boot him in the face. He went down, but so did I. The first one was on top of me in an instant. I hit him in the jaw, feeling the bone crushing under my fist but he still hit me back.
"Fiery little pup aren't you?" He said breathlessly in my daze.
"Jerry get off her. Let's get her in the car." The bigger one said pulling me from under the first. "The chick's ten times better than fighting Clayton or Jeremy."
I saw a giant fist coming at my head and ducked away. This big guy was strong but not quick, I had that working for me. I twisted out of his grip and hooked his face. It surprised him how much power I held in my little hands. But there was the other one ready and waiting. He grabbed me from behind in a chest crushing bear hug.
"Logan!" I finally managed to yell for help before the air was pushed from my lungs.
I struggled against the bone crunching grip as he carried me over the only car I didn't recognize in the driveway. The big one opened the door as I heard a symphony of vicious growls rang out behind us. I could see three wolves standing at the edge of the forest out of the corner of my eye. Relief flooded through me. Of course, the big one went down first. Mom ripped his throat out before he mustered up enough breath to scream. The one holding me didn't loosen his grip, if he had me he had something to bargain with right? If he was going down he'd probably want to take someone with him. He looked around me at the two wolves approaching us. Wait…two? Then I heard the low growl of Jeremy behind us. The mutt put his back against the car. Smart. Then he dropped me, taking me by the hair and pulling a spring action knife out of one of his pockets and putting it to my throat. Pussy. Any respectable werewolf didn't need, nonetheless use, human weapons. Still it had the right effect. They backed off a little, only a little. I brought my elbow down hard into his liver making him jerk forward. I used the motion to pull him over my shoulder and onto his back on the ground. Dad proceeded to rip out his throat, covering us all in blood.
I let out a ragged sigh and walked back into the house trying to push the image of the dead empty eyes of my assailants from my memory.
