"Where have you been?" My father booms from the end of the kitchen table when I come in the patio door startling me. "I told you to stop seeing that boy." The overhead lamp was reflecting on his baldhead. He was on the internet on his tablet again. Ever since he bought that thing, he hasn't put it down. He doesn't even look up when he's talking to us anymore either. All you ever see is the top of his baldhead because he's always lost in the tablet.
"I told him that he's mating Autumn and that we can't see each other again Dad. We've been best friends for eighteen years. I thought that I at least owed him an explanation. It was the honorable thing to do." He would understand honor, I hoped. He did. He nodded.
"Get dinner started." I nod and set about preparing the meal. My mother died giving birth to Freddy so we all do her chores. When Kelly left, meals became my chore. When I bolt, all of my chores will fall on Freddy and Autumn. I should take them with me and let him fix his own damn dinner. I don't remember my mother that well but I remember that Dad changed when she left. It was he buried his heart with her and she left us with a hollow, empty, nasty shell.
My duffle is packed and at the foot of my bed waiting. I'm staring at the ceiling right now but first thing in the morning when I am supposed to be going to work, I will be hitting the highway in search of a new life. I would like to leave now but there is no way I will make it to the car with a house full of werewolves listening. I hope that I don't have that dream again, okay maybe I do.
Chapter 2
"Get up." Autumn shoves at my shoulder. "Summer, get up. You have to fix breakfast." I stretch and look up into her almond shaped blue eyes. Her white blonde hair is up in a high ponytail. "Are you awake?" I nod. "Are you … ?" She pointed at the duffle. I nod again. "Okay. I don't blame you. This whole thing sucks. Daddy is being an ass." I smirk. I refuse to talk with him in the house. He can hear everything we say. His ears are unbelievable. "He's in the shower, your secret is safe." She hugs me when I stand. "Where?" I shrug. "Okay. Keep in touch." Autumn and I have discussed this whole mating with Jackson thing at length. She hates the idea because she is in love with Tim. I hate the idea because I know that they will both be miserable but mostly because with every fiber of my being I believe that he belongs to me. He is mine, even if he doesn't feel the same. He can never belong to Autumn because I would rather die than know they are together. Daddy sucks.
"I will." She turns and leaves.
Breakfast is uneventful. We aren't big talkers in the morning. Autumn is busy with her cell texting someone. Freddy is eating his eggs with his eyes closed and Dad is surfing the internet on his tablet. I look around at them, my family. I miss Kelly. Her eggs were better than mine are. Jackson is at the patio door. I motion for him to come in. "Breakfast if you haven't eaten." I point at the stove. He shakes his head.
"Sir? May I have a word when you've finished eating?" Dad closes the cover on the tablet and carries his plate to the sink. Dad thinks Jackson wants to talk about him mating Autumn. He probably thinks Jackson is ready to get started. Boy is he ever in for a surprise.
"My office." He gestures at Jackson.
"I'll clean up." Autumn offers giving me a look, and I hurry to my bedroom. Normally I would listen to their conversation through the wall but not today. I know my dad. Jackson is about to suffer the wrath of my father, you don't question a decision that he's made and come away unscathed. I haul my duffle onto my shoulder and leave a note and my cell phone on my pillow. Nobody will find them until tonight when I don't come home but I need the ten hours or so to escape. I'd like to kiss Jackson goodbye but he belongs to Autumn now. I can't stay here and watch him with my sister. It will rip my heart out.
Out on the highway, I watch the signs go by. I've been on the road seven hours now. I only stopped for gas and to pee. I'm getting hungry and the sun is starting to dip lower in the sky. There is a town in ten miles and I wonder if there is a pack close by. I've never known anyone that switched packs but I know it must happen. I think it's best to lay low for a while until I decide if I want to stay and so my dad doesn't come after his bargaining chip. I'm further from Kelly since I went the other direction, Dad won't expect that. I left my cell phone in my room because he can track it. It's too hard to hide from GPS. I will need a new one if I want to get a job though. My boss knew two weeks ago that I was leaving the parts store, I gave my notice, and he paid me in cash to help me out. He isn't pack but I can trust him. He said he would play dumb if my dad came around and he would give me a great reference if anyone called. He's a nice human. My dad hates humans since a human killed his father. What did he expect to happen though while he was running around all wolfed out near the farmer's sheep? Duh! Wolf or not, you have to be smart. Stay away from sheep and the business end of a rifle. Farmers are touchy about their livestock. I've stopped at a hotel that looks run down and cheap but I want to be easy with my cash. I have plenty on me but I don't want to waste any of it, I still have to find a place to live. It seems like a nice town so far. It's clean and I don't see any of the crack heads or winos' hanging around that Dad always harps on when he talks about the city. I get my key and go to my room. There is a payphone outside of my room so I call Autumn. I push the star and six seven so the number won't show up on her phone. Dad is smart so, he'll look for that and drag my ass home. "Autumn?"
"Hey Sissy! Where did you end up?"
"Not sure yet, I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay. I don't know if I'll settle here but I was tired so I stopped. Have I been missed?"
"Not yet. You should keep driving. He talked to Jackson this morning and they nearly came to blows. Jackson told him that he would not mate me. Thank God because eww." I laughed at that. Jackson is far from eww. "I know you think that he's hot and I guess he is good looking but Tim is … ." She took a deep breath and sighed.
"I know. You should mate him. Let him claim you. Just turn your tail up and let him take you Autumn. Then Dad won't have a choice."
"Really? He won't?" My sister's a submissive wolf and is certainly not strategically inclined.
"No." I really hope that she does not mate with Jackson. I couldn't bear it.
"Then why didn't you do that with Jackson?" It's not as if I haven't wanted to forever.
"We aren't like that. He doesn't like me that way. We're friends and that's all. If he'd ever shown an interest, I would have. I hate the idea of Dad destroying yours and Jackson's lives the way he did Kelly's. Be happy Autumn, have Tim, make him yours. It may cost him pack position but you'll both be happier for it."
"Thanks Summer, I'll talk to Tim tomorrow. For the record, you're wrong about Jackson. I don't know exactly what he said but he was putting up a good fight for you. Hey got to go, he's coming." She clicks the phone off. Neither of us wants Dad to know that I've left yet or that she knows all about it. What did that mean? He put up a good fight for me. Yeah right.
I crawl under the quilt in my hotel room after a shower and food from the restaurant next door. I have a chair wedged under the doorknob just in case and fall asleep a lot faster than expected.
I have a dream about Jackson. He's in the woods howling as if he's mourning someone. I wonder who he's lost. I can feel how empty he feels, how hollow his chest is and I wake up crying. I miss him, not in the sense that I haven't seen him in a long time but in the sense that I know that I won't see him again. It's weird but it seems like the feelings are real not just a dream. I should've told him but knowing Jackson, he would've confronted my dad and told him that I would leave. After that, I would spend my days chained up in the basement until my dad and his council decided what to do with me. No thanks. Jackson may be an alpha but it's recent. My dad has been an alpha for forty years and he is so much better at it than Jackson is. I shower and brush my teeth. Time for breakfast, I eat more fast food which is getting old. I drive around town and check it out. I see a few help wanted signs and an apartment building that rents month to month. I go into the places with the signs and the woman at the bookstore hired me on the spot. It was the third place that I applied and I'm thinking that this is fate. I explained that I was new in town and just striking out on my own. She said that I could rent the apartment over the bookstore if I was interested.
"It's small but it's clean and furnished. All that I ask is that you keep an eye on the place. I can't afford an alarm company and if there is someone here, it will deter a break in. The place next door got robbed a few weeks ago and I am a little frightened." Her deep brown eyes twinkled with mischief and I liked her immediately. Her name is Shirley, she's in her fifties I would guess, and she seems genuine. She's wearing a wedding ring but I don't scent a male. Huh. Maybe divorced and can't let go? Maybe she is a widow but it's been awhile because she doesn't seem sad. Time will tell. "What do you think?"