Chapter 12
+5 Bonus
Tala’s Point of View
“Die! Diel Diel”
“No! You cheated!”
“Ha ha! Die sucker die!”
*Chester
“How can you cheat in this game?”
“I don’t know, but you did!” I roll my eyes and throw my controller at Shane, hitting him in the leg. What a sore loser
“Fine, if you can’t take losing to a girl, then I’m done playing. It’s not worth all of your yelling. It’s still too early in the morning for this.”
So, Shane and I are playing Call of Duty, We’re on opposite teams and I keep killing him before he even has the chance to take one shot at
- me. He’s in shock that me, a girl, is beating him, the guy, at a war game. He claims I cheat, but I really don’t see how you cheat at this game. I’m just awesome I guess. That, and Hailey was obsessed with this game when it first came out so she had us play it with her. Sad to say, she hooked both Tyler and I and we made an emergency trip to the mall one night a few weeks later.
“Do you know how wrong it is to lose to a girl?” Shane slumps down in his bean bag chair and lets his own controller fall from his hand to the
floor. I laugh at his defeated expression and move my own bean bag to sit next to him.
“There’s no shame in losing, even to a girl. It just so happens that this girl is amazing at this game.” He shoots me an annoyed look.
“Could have warned me.”
“Where’s th
the fun in that?” I give him a little shove, but not enough to push him off his seat
“Ok, we’re done with video games
“Who’s a sore loser?” I coo and he gives me a harder push than I gave him to end up face first on the ground.
“Ow. You don’t know w your own strength, idiot.” I sit up and rub r
my side.
“Crap, did I hurt you?” I mock glare at him, even though he is looking slightly guilty.
“No.” I draw out the word. “I like using the floor to cushion my falls”
“Alright kid, stop with the smart comments. They’re not appreciated.” I give him a cheeky smile.
“I save them all for you Mr.” He rolls his eyes and holds out a hand to help me up.
he lifts me to my feet. Way to change
“As much as i love our games, I think we should change your b bandages.” The smile slips off my
the subject Shane. We were having a perfectly normal time before you brought up what will remind me of everything that happened yesterday.
“Way to kill my fun. Besides, I’m fine. They hardly hurt anymore.” He pokes me in my bad side and I growl quietly at the slight pain. Freaking
jerk. He knows that hurt. “Stop it”
“Bullshit Tala I’m trying to help so stop acting like it’s nothing… And no arguing. I know it still hurts, but you don’t need to put up a wall to protect yourself from me.” He adds when I open my mouth to object. Keeping my hand in his, he drags me from the living room and to the
bathroom down the hall “Sit on the counter. He orders.
“Yes dad” I tease, but hop up onto the cool surface. He grabs yet another first aid kit from under the sink and kneels across! mom must have these things all over the house.
“Just lift your leg for me.” I do and he carefully starts to unwrap the bandage around my thigh. He’s so bossy sometimes.
“So “I stare and his eyes flick up to look at me briefly before focusing on what he’s doing.
from me. His
“So?” He slowly peels away the dirty bandage. It’s sticking lightly to my skin because it dried under a few layers of cloth. Shane begins to wipe
my legs clean of the dried blood and I scrunch up my nose in disgust. He shouldn’t have to do this.
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+5 Bones
“Shane, I can clean myself up.” He shakes his head and slaps my hand away when I try to take the wet towel from him. “Just let me have it!” i
reach for it again, but his hold on it is too tight. “Shane Johnathon, give me the damn cloth this instant.”
“Stop will you? I can do it.” He all but growls, getting annoyed at how persistent I am.
“Shane.” I lean forward, but he moves out of reach, holding it high above my head if I were to stand up and try to get it.
“Tala.” He retorts in the same mocking tone I used. “I’ve got it.” He states, softer then before. We still have a stare down, neither of us wanting to back down first. After a minute or two, I give him a final glare and tilt my head back to look at the ceiling. From the corner of my eye, I can see him smirk in victory.
“Fine, be Mr. Stubbom.” I roll my eyes and move to sit with my back against the mirror. I stick my leg out to him and he kneels down again.
“If anything, you’re the stubbom one.” He smirks and I choose to keep quiet. This argument is going absolutely no where. The sooner we finish here, the sooner I can eat. I’m hungry again. “You’re definitely something. I tell you that He’s met with silence. “Like I said, stubborn.” He sings and my leg has a spasm and gets him in the jaw. “Ouch.” He rubs his face and ignores my innocent look that I give him.
Surprisingly, his touch is gentle as he cleans around my wound, even after I kicked him in the jaw. The towel he’s using is turning a dirty rust color from the dried blood, but it doesn’t seem to be bothering him at all I know it would have grossed me out to have to clean someone else’s blood off of them. That’s why being a doctor is totally out of the question.
“No way” He mutters, more to himself, but I here it.
“What?” I lean to see what he’s looking at… or what we should be looking at. My eyes widen slightly. “How is that possible?” I slap his hand
away from my leg to be able to get a good look at it.
My thigh, once with a gruesome stab wound gushing blood, now only has a small cut in its place. There isn’t even a slight bruising around where it is like I would imagine there would be. My mouth opens in shock, not sure what to say. How could this happen?
right
“Um, you say you turned into a wolf last night. Is there any chance this is a side effect?” He asks hesitantly
“I don’t know and–wait, you actually believe me?” He nods. “I thought you’d think I was crazy” He holds up his pointer finger and thumb.
“Just a little, but you have no reason to lie. Plus, there’s almost no way to overlook what I saw last night. You couldn’t have faked any of it.”
“You put way to much faith in me bucko, but this time you’re right.” He chuckles and grabs a bandaid from his handy dandy box.
“For you since it’s no longer a gash the size on my hand” I smirk and place the blues clues bandaid over my little boo–boo.
“Thanks Doleven want to check the bullet hole in my side?” He shrugs.
“We might as well, but if you’re lucky then it’ll be exactly like your leg.” Cause being some freak who can heal super fast is a good thing. Yea,
“Seriously though, do you think it’s possible I can heal faster then everybody else?” He shrugs.
“I don’t see why not.” He shrugs
“Should I test it?” His head snaps in my direction and he narrows his eyes.
“Tala, don’t hurt yourself just to prove a point.” I hold up my hands in silent surrender. It was just a suggestion.
“Okay, I was just thinking out loud.” He shakes his head and throws the dirty towel into the trashcan.
“So when do I get to see your wolf?” His subject change doesn’t go unnoticed and he could have picked any topic, yet he picked that one. This
boy, I swear…
“Never” I answer simply, avoiding his prying eyes.
“What? Why not?” I lift up his shin to start undoing the wrap around my stomach.
“I never wanted this to happen to me Shane.” I mutter and he gives me a crazy look.
“But it did. You probably can’t ignore it.”
“I don’t care.” I snap, instantly regretting it as he flinches back. I sigh. “I’m sorry. It’s just too much for me. I just want to be normal, but now I’m some woll/human thing. That is unnatural and if people find out then I’m the official freak of the town.” He wmps a comforting arm around my
Chapter 12
+5 Banus
shoulder and tums my
my head to look at him. Right now, I really wish he was my brother. He’s so much better then Barron at comforting people
*I get it and I’m sorry for pressuring you to show me. I won’t ask again.” I give him a slight smile and nod. God he’d make an awesome brother. Maybe I can talk to his mom about giving him to me.
“This is why we’re friends.” I state and he smirks
“That, and because you love me.” I shake my head, hiding a smile behind my hand. “Come on, say it! I love you Shane!” I break out into a fit of laughter when he starts to tickle my sides. “Say it!” I shake my head. “Say you love me and that I’m the best friend you’ve ever had!”
“Ne–e–eve–r!” I force out between laughs. My side begin to hurt from the lack of air and I have no choice but to give in unless I want to die.
“Fine! I love you Shane!*
“And?” He prompts. I take a gasp for more air.
“You’re the best friend event” He immediately stops tickling me and I take in a breath of much needed air.
“Was that so hard?” He teases and I nod, shoving him out of the bathroom door. He lands in a heap on the ground with a groan. “Yikes.”
“Im sorry!” I jump off the bathroom counter and kneel next to my friend Guess I have to work on controlling myself.
“Strength is another thing you have apparently. Remind me never to challenge you to an arm wrestling match.” He’s cracking jokes which means he’s okay. Thelp him sit up and he rubs the back of his head. “Jeez kid, I bet you’d pack one hell of a punch.” He jokes, but I can tell he’s partially serious.
“I’d rather not try.” He laughs and I help him stand up, almost flinging him across to hall. “Oops, sorry.”
“This is going to take some getting used to.” He mutters, then shoots me a smirk as my stomach growls. “Hungry again?”
“Uh, maybe?” I start down the hall to the kitchen before he can make fun of me anymore. I know it’s coming
“So you have the appetite of a full grown man, can heal any injury at super speed and have the strength of ten men.” He pauses and I peer at
him from behind the refrigerator door. “Day–um. I pity the poor guy brave enough to get stuck with you for the rest of his life.” I grab the closest thing, which happens to be a small tub of butter, and chuck it in his direction. It hits him in the shoulder and he winces in pain, but keeps a teasing
smile on his face.
“You’re so mean!” He chuckles and sits down in one of the island chairs.
“I know. Hey, will you make me lunch?” He asks, sounding hopeful. Even after making fun of me, I can’t help but love him. He’s definitely
grown on me in the last month
“What do you want?” He smiles triumphantly.
“Chicken,”
“You’re getting grilled cheese.” I state, turning back into the contents of the fridge.
“That’s what I said.” I smile to myself and pull out the sliced cheese. He’s also not picky, which is nice
“Sure.” I draw out the word to tease him and I feel something hit my back. Looking down I see the butter. “Did you want me to feed you?” I ask,
placing a hand on my hip and turning to face my friend.
“Uh, the dog did it.”
“You’re stupid.” I state and his face turns a little pink from embarrassment. He doesn’t even have a dog.
I end up making five sandwiches, two for him and three for me and all with two slices of cheese. He watches me with an amused expression as I scarf down all three of them in under five minutes.
“Like I said, appetite of a man” I throw a piece of crust left over on my plate at him, but he catches it in his mouth. “Thanks kid. I was planning on asking if you wanted that “He’s so impossible.
“Ill have y you know “The doorbell rings, echoing throughout the house.
“Maybe you should take this time to check your stomach while I get the door.” I poke my tongue out at him and laugh at the face he makes.
“Immature kid. Very immature.” He shakes his head before walking out of the kitchen to the door.
Chapter 12
-5 Bonus
I back away from the table and finish unwrapping my abdomen. Sure enough, the hole is almost completely healed except for a small cut.
“Shane?! It’s almost gone too… How do I know if it’s infected!?” I’m honestly curious.
“Is it oozing anything?” He shouts back and I check
“No!” I throw away the dirty strips of cloth and pull the shirt back down over my stomach, I clean it later. I’m still starving! What the
heck?!
“Then you should be fine!” I hear him open the door and ask who they are, I use the time to make another sandwich quick before taking my
food to check on Shane at the front door.
“Who is it dude?!” I ask, coming closer, but Shane is blocking my view of them by standing in the doorway. “Shane?” He looks at me over his shoulder, looking annoyed. Oh no.
I push him to the side and see none other then Barron and Bo? Why is he here?
“Can I help you?” I ask rudely, taking a bite out of my sandwich. Bo watches me and his eyes dart from my lips, to my eyes, down my body and back to my eyes again. What is his problem? He looks ready to shit the fan, but nothing has happened to possibly make him mad. His fists clench at his sides and I notice his mouth press together in a thin line. I refuse to meet his eyes though. He’s actually the reason left the house yesterday. He brought up so many different emotions I was trying to keep
buried.
“Why did you run off last night?” Barron demands and I roll my eyes. I’m silently praying they don’t notice the blood on the clothes I’m wearing.
There’d be a lot of explaining to do then.
“I needed to get out and ended up wandering here. Why?” I lean against the door–frame to act as if nothing is wrong. Who knows what they’d think if they knew my secret.
“You had everyone worried sick! Mom, Bo, James Who the heck is James? Seeing my confusion, he continues, “Mr. Asher Oh, wait, why would he be worried about me? All he did was ruin my family. “We all tried calling your cell and when you didn’t answer we all thought the worst” His face is turning red in anger, but I stand my ground. Im not afraid of him I might have been scared of what he’d do a month ago, but not
anymore
“I can do what I want, when I want and without all of your permission! And newsflash, I lost my phone in the crash”
“It doesn’t give you any reason just leavel You don’t know what the house was like all night! We thought you could have been hurt in the
woods somewhere and no one could have found you.”
“Well I’m here and I’m fine so I suggest you leave and I will go back to that house when I’m ready! I stand to my full height and stare my
brother down. Taller and older aside, I refuse to back down to the likes of himl
“Tala, maybe you should calm down.” Shane mutters so the guys can’t hear. He stands behind me and puts a restraining hand on my shoulder. Realizing he’s right, I close my eyes and take a deep breath
“Holy shit! is that blood?!” Well, so much for that wish. I open my eyes to see two pissed off boys.
“Why do you pretend to care? Just leave me alone okay?” I move to slam the door, but somehow Bo gets his hand on the door to stop me. I try to close it using more of my strength, but find he isn’t budging… and neither is the door
“That’s it! You’re coming home right now!” His eyes darken and I take a small step away from him.
Tm not gHey!” He picks me up by the waist and easily throws me over his shoulder. I slam my hands against his back in an effort to make him put me down, but it’s almost like he doesn’t even feel my blows and I decide not to hold back anymore. “Shanel Bo starts to shake under me
and he
stalks towards the car. I see Shane struggling with my brother from over Bo’s shoulder, but it’s obvious he isn’t going to win.
“Stop struggling “Bo orders, but I completely ignore him. He stops next to his car and tries to open the door, but I end up almost getting away without both his hands holding me in place. “Tala, stop”
“Put me down Bo!” I shout, hoping to attract the attention of at least one neighbor, but with my luck no one will be home at this time.
“If I put you down, will you promise not to run?” I nod my head immediately, but I can tell he doesn’t believe me.
“I wont “I mutter, letting my muscles relax and give him the impression I’ve given up. Slowly, he sets my bare feet on the ground and my hand flies up to my head. All of the blood is rushing from my brain and we all know how that fools. A hand steadies me and what’s weird is that I get these small tingles running through my arm where he’s holding me.
I quickly rip my arm from his grasp and make a move to run away. Do realues this right away and gets a hold of me before I make it five feet
Chapter 12
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away.
He easily swings me up into his arms and carries me back to the car. Before I can even try to get away again, he opens the back door and sets me inside. I lunge to try to get out, but he slams the door shut in my face.
I grip the door handle and try opening it. Bo smirks at me the through the window which only makes me angrier.
They have the child lock on!!!!!! How dare they?!
I slam my body against the closed door in an attempt to make it open, but the only thing I end up doing is hurting my shoulder.
I muster up my most hatefull glare and make sure it’s directed at the person out the window,
“Give up princess, you can’t get out.” I curl my hand into a fist and send it straight into the window. I don’t get enough force behind it and the only thing ending up broken is my hand for the second time since being forced to move here. “Shit, stop hurting yourself.” Bo almost pleads and it looks like he’s debating on whether or not to open the door or not. His eyes are still dark, but they look like they’re getting lighter. It must be the different lighting.
A sudden thought pops into my mind to get me out of here and I hide my sudden hope behind a glare.
verto
“Just go get Barron so we can be done with this” I stare straight ahead of me and refuse looking at my kidnapper as he walk quickly over my brother who is still restraining Shane. I wish he would have won, but I’m going to work on that
I quickly crawl over the dash board between the front two seats and into the driver’s side. Trying the handle here I almost howl in victory when it clicks open. Wait howl? This wolf thing must be going to my head.
I throw it open and take off at a sprint down the street. Now remember that I’m in Shane’s shirt and boxers so ima
imagine how it locks is still have bed head too since I never actually did anything with it today. Plus, the chilly air is nipping at all of my exposed skin while the ground is practically eating my feet.
I quickly hear the sound of shoes hitting the pavement behind me and kick it up another notch. Iround the next street corner and risk a look.
over shoulder Let me tell ya, Bo looks pissed all over again and he’s gaining fast, much to my disappointment
I make one attempt to get away, but it’s all for nothing as arms encircle my waist and stop my great escape
“Why are you running?” Bo asks, sounding really mad. His body is still shaking and with mine pressed against his I can feel ever tremor that
wracks his body
“I don’t like being told what to do.” I fire back. He tightens his hold around my waist and suddenly flings me over his shoulder once more. “Stop
manhandling me!” I snap, propping my head up on my elbow. I got away once, but there’s probably not going to be another chance.
Bo chuckles and jumps slightly to readjust my body. I have a gut feeling that he’s staring at my butt. So, I slap him on the back of the head. He tums to look at me, freezing in his steps, and so that our noses are almost touching. I refuse to back down from his intimidating stare and he
seems to find this annoying.
“Why are you so difficult?” He mutters before picking up where he left off. That’s right, taking me against my will back to the place I don’t want
to go right now.
I specifically choose not to answer and end up crossing my arms for the rest of the ride. He sets me down next to an open door and looks pointedly inside, silently saying I better get in.
1 kick him in the shin and jump inside the car, slamming the door behind me so he cant retaliate. I hear a string of curse words before he stomps to the front door and gets in. I smirk to myself and avoid looking at him through the rear view mirror. Thinking of a way to be even more difficult, I lay down across the back seat instead of putting on my seat belt for the ride.
“Dude, she totally owned you.” Barron whispers, starting the car and backing out of Shane’s driveway. I briefly see him standing on the front porch and he’s not looking very happy. I sigh. I have to text him later.
“Shut up man. I honestly am having a hard time right now.” I hear my brother cracking up and I frown. Those two are idiots and showing up at my friend’s house to forcefully take me back to the house isn’t helping their situation.
They bicker about some other nonsense that I eventually just tuned them out. I think they asked me a few things, but I wasn’t paying attention and wasnt about to ask what they said so I kept quiet. I can tell by not saying anything is getting on their nerves more then if I actually
did speak. Such losers
Chapter 12
+5 Bonus
*Tala, for the love of god at least put your seat belt on.” I snap back to reality and turn my head to look at Bo turned around in his seat and
staring at me.
“I’m comfy. Thanks for the suggestion, but no thanks” He narrows his eyes at me and I roll mine. I’m not intimidated by him at all so he might as well stop trying
“Like hell…” He mutters before unbuckling his own seat belt and turning around in his seat
“What are you doing?” I ask him, suspicious. The look in his eyes has me slightly on edge. Before it was a look saying ‘do what I say and now it’s along the lines of it’s on‘
He doesn’t answer me and instead starts to climb into the back seat. I bolt upright and sit so my feet are in his face. I try to kick him so he’ll stay up front, but he swats my limbs to the side like they’re nothing.
“Stop kicking me.” He grunts as my one foot hits him in the face and that causes me to smirk. Take that.
“Whoa, kids, calm down before I have to pull over.” Barron threatens, but I can picture him with a smirk on his stupid face.
“Shut it.” I mutter and Bo finally makes it to the back seat. “Touch me and I swear I’ll scream.” He smirks and I know he doesn’t believe me.
Whatever, it’s his ears then.
He suddenly lunges for me and pina my body to the seat Reaching for the seat belt, I open my mouth to deliver my promise. He flinches back away from me and immediately slaps a hand over my mouth. The sound is muted, but I don’t give up.
“Jesus, will you be quiet.” I stop to the a deep breath and he relaxes… before I scream again. “Oh for the love of god.” He removes his hand and before I can comprehend what’s happening, he leans over and kisses me. The scream catches in my throat and I freeze. Slowly, he pulls back and watches me warily.
“Why What…“Oh my god… I want to hate him for doing that, but why did i actually like it? Why do I want to grab him and kiss him again? I’m going insane!
I do the first thing I can think of to bring me back to my senses. I raise my hand so slap him across the face. His head snaps to the side and he lifts his hand up to is cheek. I quickly avert my gaze to look out the window and try to shake off these weird feelings
“You wouldn’t stop screaming and it was starting to give me a headache. Bo finally say and I peek back at him. I notice he doesn’t meet my eyes and I slowly press myself as close to the door as I can. Well that’s as far as I can get away from him unless the door would like to magically open and the world would swallow me up. How I wish
“If I wasn’t driving, you’d be dead already.” Barron threatens and I smirk.
11- uh my bad dude. Won’t happen again.” Bo states, moving to sit behind Barron and farther away from me.
“Better not and Tala,” He pauses and waits for me to look at him. “Put a seat belt on.”
