Chapter Four

Keiran stood in the middle of the living room and looked around at the members of his pack. The twins were chatting quietly with each other; Blaez was standing in the shadows of the room as far away from everyone as possible with his arms crossed over his chest. Embry sat directly across from him. Her eyes, laced with worry, were staring right directly at him.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he took in a breath and leaned back against the wall. “Alright, guys. I know you all aren’t going to be too happy about this, but some things have come up and we’re going to have to put off the full moon run…at least for now.”

He counted down the seconds until there was a reaction…three, two, and one.

“What?!”

“Wait, did something happen?”

“But it’s the first full moon of the year! We can’t miss that!”

He let out the breath he had taken and put up his hands in defense. “Everyone, please, just be calm for a second and listen to me. When I tell you what happened, you’ll understand why I’ve come to this decision.”

The noises of protest dimmed down to a dull roar and he scrubbed a hand over his face.

“Yesterday, I was out patrolling for the PD. I caught the scent of blood and followed it till I found a body. The man was human, and he had been tortured till his body wasn’t recognizable. They’re going to have to use dental records to confirm his identity. As for the reason this is going to affect our run…well, I found a note by the corpse. Blaez?”

He looked over at his beta as he handed the note to the closest person, Seth, and retreated back to his shadows.

Seth looked at the note and immediately cursed, as Keiran had expected. Tala grabbed it from him and when she saw the symbol of the shifter hunters, she dropped the paper and started crying. “Oh, daddy… Why?”

This was why he had been hesitant to share this information. Robert, the leader of the shifter hunters, was the twins’ father.

He walked over to the twins and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “I’m sorry.” He gave Tala a hug and squeezed Seth’s shoulder. But none of the comfort he tried to offer did anything for the young male. Every time he heard of another person that his father had killed, it just fueled the anger in his heart, and he had every right to be angry.

When Tala’s sobs had subsided, he stood straight again and crossed his arms.

“Until we know who this man was, and the things he might have known, I don’t feel like it is safe for any of us to go out, especially for the full moon run. Even though we’ll be together as a pack, Robert could take the opportunity to attack us all. Hopefully we can get this all figured out before then so we can go for our run. Guys, don’t forget that I know how important it is, okay?”

“But the full moon’s in two days? How are we supposed to figure this out in that short amount of time?” Seth’s anger was putting him in a bad mood.

“I don’t know,” Keiran grunted and squeezed the bridge of his nose.

“Well, couldn’t you look at the dental records of the man, Keiran?” Em’s soft voice sounded so out of place in this conversation.

“I was going to do that tomorrow.”

“Okay, so you can do that and the rest of us will ask around, see what a human would know about us, if anything. We can start tonight.” She stood up and walked over to the coat rack.

“No.” Blaez stepped out of his shadows as he spoke, but he kept his head lowered. “It’s too dangerous. Seth and I will go.”

At this, Seth stood and nodded, but Em wasn’t about to let this go.

“I’m just as capable to go around and ask people questions as you are, Blaez.”

“No, Em…”

“Since when did you start giving me orders, Blaez?” She didn’t look like she enjoyed being this way with him, but when she had her mind set on something, she wouldn’t back down. She’d always been that way.

“I’m not…giving you any orders, Embry. I just…”

“He’s right, Em. You should probably stay here.” She turned and looked at him, pain in her eyes. She wouldn’t like it, but she would obey his orders.

“Fine.” Putting the coat that she’d picked up back on the hook, she turned and exited the room without a word. The sound of the library door slamming closed told them all she wouldn’t be coming out any time soon.

“I didn’t mean to-…” Blaez cut himself off before finishing his own sentence and it made Keiran wonder what exactly he was feeling right then.

“She’ll be okay. Seth? Blaez? Go ahead and see what you can find out, but don’t stay out all night. Stay focused and report back to me as soon as you get any kind of information, okay?”

“Yep,” Seth grabbed his coat and pulled it on before tossing Blaez’s at him. He was running out the front door before he’d even made sure Blaez had caught the damn thing.

When it was just Keiran and Tala left in the living room, he slowly moved over to the couch and sat down next to her. She was still crying silently, the tears cascading down her face.

“Hey…it’s going to be okay,” he rubbed her shoulder, feeling uneasy with the whole comforting thing.

“You know, I can honestly say I never thought as a child that this would happen to me. If some person had come up to me and told me that when I turned twelve my family would be attacked by wolf shifters, that my mother, twin brother, and I would be changed into what had attacked us. If they’d told me that my own…my own father would kill my mother because of what she had become, and that he would vow to spend the rest of his days to kill me and my brother, too… I obviously would have told them they were insane.”

She rested her head against his shoulder and sniffled. “But if they came to me now and told me the same thing, I’m not entirely sure what I’d say. I can’t exactly tell them they’re crazy, can I?”

“Maybe you could ask them if they’d like to switch lives for a day, huh?” He smirked and was glad that the joke made her laugh, even if it was only a little bit.

“Maybe, but even with all the danger and stuff…I don’t think I’d trade my life. I lost my mom because of my serial killer father, but you know what? I got you out of this, and Blaez and Em. You guys are our family now. I just wish Robert didn’t have his mind set on killing everyone one of us. If only it was just me…”

He shook his head to stop her. “Don’t think that way. If it wasn’t Robert, it’d be someone else. You know that. We’re different and not everyone’s going to accept what we are. But it doesn’t really matter because we are what we are and no one’s going to change that.”

She lifted her head up from his shoulder and smiled brightly through her tears. “You’re right, and if anyone’s going to get us through this, it’s definitely you.”

He returned her smile, but he sat there hoping she was correct about that.