and
started walking toward the door.
“ This is bullshit!” I
growled balling my hands into fists as I followed him out of the
diner.
He stopped over by his truck. “What are
you doing?” he asked looking at me. His expression was dark and
angry.
“ I was reading the menu,” I
said annoyed.
“ Becky and Audrey have rank,
you aren’t supposed to talk back to them,” he growled.
“ I don’t give a fuck about
their rank. If they are rude I am going to be rude back,” I said
angrily. I couldn’t believe he was even defending them.
His expression darkened. “They may not
be able to whip your ass, but I can,” he growled stepping forward
and closing the space between us.
“ I am not afraid of you!” I
growled and shoved him backwards. He had made me angry and I wasn’t
going to tolerate it.
He lunged forward and shoved me into
the side of his truck. “I won’t tolerate this Kylie!” he yelled
angrily.
“ Fuck you!” I hissed and
caught him across the face with a punch. He stumbled backwards
momentarily disoriented. I took the opening and ran toward the
woods. I had all my energy back so I was able to run like I had
before the necklace.
I could hear him crashing through the
woods behind me as he tried to catch up. He tackled me and we went
to the ground hard. I struggled, but he got the upper hand and
pinned me. He smacked me several times. His hits were jarring and I
could taste the blood in my mouth. He grabbed my chin and forced me
to look at him.
“ You may have beat that
fucking necklace, but you haven’t beaten me. I am your pack master,
and I swear if I have to beat you every time you step out of line
then I will,” he growled.
I glared at him. I was trying to catch
my breath so I couldn’t speak. I was furious and I wanted to yell
and scream and hit him.
His expression softened a little. “I am
not your friend Kylie. You need to forget what I let happen. I take
responsibility for that, but it is over. It was nothing. I will
never touch you like that again. Do you understand?”
I nodded and he released me. I
scrambled away from him and he let me go. I looked at him for a
minute. I couldn’t figure out what I was feeling. It was a mixture
of such tumultuous emotions. I turned and ran deeper into the woods
away from him. Hot tears streaked down my cheeks. I collapsed in a
clearing trying to catch my breath. I wasn’t hurt physically, but
my chest hurt. I never felt like this and I hated it. The feeling
made me angry. I felt vulnerable. I stayed where I was until I
regained control of my emotions. After a while I slowly got to my
feet and walked back toward my house.
I was deep in the woods and I hadn’t
paid much attention to where I was when I was running. Now that I
could look around it was nice. There was a little house nestled in
the trees. It was dark, but there was a woman sitting on her porch.
“Are you ok dear?” she asked as I was passing by.
I hesitated and looked at her. “I’m
fine,” I said softly.
“ I’m Maggie the pack healer.
You must be Kylie, Kyle’s little girl,” she said
smiling.
She was a werewolf and the pack healer.
She healed werewolves and helped during the time the females gave
birth, which was right around this time. Mating season ended in
April so many of the babies were born in three to four months,
between July and August. Our gestation period wasn’t as long as
humans and it wasn’t as short as a wolf’s, it was somewhere
in-between.
“ I am. It’s nice to meet
you,” I said softly then went to walk away.
“ Why don’t you come in for
some tea? I haven’t had much to do this week. The company
would be nice,” she offered. I thought about it for a minute. I
knew healers were nice so I wasn’t worried about her hurting me. I
just wasn’t sure I wanted to be around anyone.
I sighed and walked toward the house. I
would stay a few minutes to make the old lady happy. She smiled
then turned and went into the house and I
Don Oberdorfer, Robert Carlin