The Legacy of Kilkenny (34 page)

“P?
 
I’ve waited a long time to hold you like this.”
 
Oakley whispered to the top of my head.

I think I whispered, “Me too.”
 

“Well, well.
 
Look at the little werewolf girl trying to play grown up.”
 
Arien said.

“What the hell are you doing here?
 
You’re on Pack territory, you’re not welcome here.”
 
I snarled at him.

“Oh dear, in due time, in due time.
 
Now, I think you and your friends got a brief show of what we can do to implicate your little Pack of wolves.
 
I hope those mean old hunters don’t shoot any of you while you’re stretching your legs.”
 
Arien held his hands with the fingertips tapping each other.

“What do you want?”
 
I yelled

“What I want is to know who the Great
Wolfy
is!
 
You’re limited on time dear, your little friend Allie will soon be
my
princess.
 
Don’t worry your little head, she hasn’t told any of us who your secret wolf is.
 
She will be mine though; either turn over the wolf or we will leave more calling cards… and then I’ll make your little Allie Cat mine.
 
I do so love calling her that,
Dog
.”

I shifted and hunkered down growling at him baring my teeth.

“Oh, Love, I can do that too.”
 
He opened his mouth and his fangs grew down for me to see.

Oakley started shaking me trying to wake me up.
 
I realized I was in wolf form, looking around my room trying to see if Arien was in there.

“Pru, it’s okay.
 
It’s me Oak.
 
Come on
hun
, just shift back, no one can hurt you here.”
 
He stroked my back trying to calm me down.

I finally shifted back, realizing I tore my favorite pajamas.
 
Well hell!
 
I ran over and grabbed my bathrobe putting it on and told him about the dream. After discussing the ramifications, we both agreed that maybe we weren’t going to be able to save Allie.
 
The vamps were making it personal; there wasn’t much I could do about it.
 
Our entire mission is to protect Abel, and sadly we might not be able to protect his sister.
 
We’d talk with everyone this week.

“We have to figure out if Abel is spiritually connected with his soul, he will be easier to protect if he can protect himself.”
 
I said.

“Pru, let’s talk with the Pack before we make any crazy moves.”
 
His voice of reason was starting to aggravate me.
 
Ughh
.

I close my eyes and sigh.
 
When I finally open them I say, “I know.
 
I’m just frustrated with all of it.
 
I just wish we could fast forward.
 
I’m
gonna
go shower.”

I cranked the water as hot as I could handle, letting it wash away the dirty feeling I had from Arien invading my personal dreamland.

ABEL

I spent the next couple of days at school trying to randomly hear people’s thoughts.
 
Most of the teachers are pretty easy, the older a person is, the easier they are to hear.
 
Most teenagers’ thoughts are scattered and random.
 
On our way to the lockers I can hear people recite their combinations in their heads… now
that
might come in handy.
 
Freakish Julie
Tidsdell
started crushing on me.
 
On
me
of all people.
 
I am def not into her.
 

Julie did everything in her power to get me to notice her.
 
She would go to the bathroom and adjust her cleavage and wonder if I was a boob man.
 
Geez!
 
She would randomly drop things in front of me so I’d pick them up.
 
She even went as far as parking next to me and thought about making her car door whack my car so she could pay to have it fixed.
 
She thought it’d make me give her my cell number.
 
I conveniently foiled that plan.
 
Every time I turned around I had Julie all up in my face.
 
She was turning out as hard to shake as Arien.

Bryon and I are driving over to Pru’s.
 
I’m listening to him babble about Shaynie, how hot she is, how funny she is, how creative she is, how she is such a good kisser.
 
I’m about to put him on the side of the road when he starts asking me about Pru.
 

“I think your old girlfriend Julie has the
hots
for you.”
 
Bryon teasingly says.

“Right.
 
She won’t leave me alone.
 
I can’t even go to the vending machines without her offering to buy my soda.”
 
I still haven’t told anyone about my ability to hear thoughts.
 

“We need to get you a girl.
 
You know Oakley and Pru are hooking up don’t you?”
 

I’ve been suspecting they were more than friends but I didn’t think they were actually hooking up.
 
“Hooking up?
 
Really?
 
I can’t see her doing that,” I say, defending her virtue.

“I don’t know that they are doing the deed, I just know they are kissy
kissy
.
 
I actually think they make a good couple.
 
I know you’ve been crushing on her, but seriously you know as well as I do she’s never taken her eyes off him.”
 
Bryon says as he takes his straw up and down making it screech.

“I know.”
 
I said as we pull onto her street.
 

Thankfully the storms from the night before are over.
 

“Oakley is out back boys.
 
After your workout I’ve got some homemade protein bars for you.”
 
Dolly says as she smiles at us.
 
“Trust me, they’re really tasty.”

“Yes ma’am.
 
I’ll be sure to try them when we get done.”
 
I give her hug before heading outside.

Meditating with Oakley is serious business.
 
He is all about clearing the mind and opening our lungs.
 
As hard as I try, I don’t think my mind is ever clear.
 
I just realize that Oakley doesn’t randomly answer the questions I’m thinking anymore.
 
Crap
.
 
I think to myself.
 
I’m supposed to be all clear minded.
 
Why isn’t he answering anymore?
 
Stop thinking!
 
Clear your mind.
 
Ughh
.
 
I hate meditating.

Oakley said, “Hey, I want to talk to you about something before we start.”
 
We walk over to the patio table.
 
“Look, I was wondering if you know anything about General Phelan’s meeting.
 
Usually I don’t ask much about his comings and goings but he said he’d be back before dinner today and the guys from the farm called to see if he was eating here.”

I did my best poker face and said, “No, I just heard Pru tell me he went on a business meeting, I wasn’t told when he’d be back.
 
You don’t think that something happened do you?”
 

“No, not really.
 
When you’re
Pack
you feel your Alpha, when we shift we can hear him talk to us.
 
None of us sense anything wrong, we just weren’t sure if we misunderstood.
 
His calendar only has him marked out through today.
 
Oh well, I’m sure everything is fine.”
 
He says as he flips the switch to turn the fountain off. “I’ll meet you in the garden.”
 

We sparred for the next twenty minutes, me mirroring his moves.
 
It all of the sudden occurred to me that I might be able to read his thoughts and can anticipate his movement.
 
I grin to myself at my cleverness.

“Wow!
 
You’re getting really good at this.”
 
He growls ever so slightly when he realizes he can’t get a move in on me.
 
“Okay, I hope you’re ready for some serious hand to hand combat.
 
In case you’re wondering why we’re doing this, it has to do with us not always able to have a weapon with us.
 
Our brains, agility and alertness make us lethal.”

“So, my hands are now a lethal weapon?
 
Awesome!”
 

We flipped around, crouching and throwing punches.
 
I find the ability to hear his thoughts is pretty
freakin
awesome.
 
He came at me with his drop sweep roll and for whatever reason I jump up like Superman flipping in the air… catching the limb of the tallest tree in the canopy and hang there.

“What
the
?!
 
How’d you do that?!”
  
He squints and holds a hand over his eyes to shield out the sun as he looks up at me.

I finally decide that I’d try to drop down in a roll.
 
Probably not the best way to dismount.
 
I hit the ground hearing both my ankles snap.
 
All I feel is burning, throbbing pain shooting through my feet.
 
I hear screaming and suddenly realize it is me doing the screaming.

 
Everyone in the house came running outside.
 
I roll around back and forth as the pain sears through me to the core of my existence. Dolly hunkers down next to me, checking my vitals.
 
She starts telling everyone that they need to clear out while I started to heal.
 
She is all business and everyone pays attention when she gives orders.

“Oakley, go in there and get in my first aid kit and bring me the vial and syringe, I’ll give him something for the pain, his body will probably sweat it out before he leaves.”
 
Dolly ordered.

“Nothing for the pain, I don’t want anything.”
 
I grabbed her arm.
 
“Please.
 
I figure that the pain reminds me that I’m alive,” I say to her.

“You’re alive, but you don’t have to be in pain.
 
You’re not going to get addicted from one shot, dear.”
 
She takes a cool washcloth and wipes my forehead.

“No drugs!”
 
I yell too loudly.
 
“I’m sorry; really I just don’t want any drugs.
 
Please.”
 

 
Dolly stayed calm throughout the crisis.
 
The guys are all keeping an eye on me, I guess they think I will turn out like a rabid dog and act a fool.

 
Pru is sitting next to me holding my hand in hers.
 
“How the hell did you do that?”

I take a deep breath trying to focus like we do in meditation.
 
“I don’t know, one minute I was practicing with Oak and for whatever reason my mind told me to jump, so I did.”
 
I close my eyes, remembering the feeling.

She let go of my hand and said, “Have you done that before?”
 

I shake my head no, telling her that it was just this overwhelming feeling to just do it.
 
I didn’t even think about the consequences I just acted on it.
 
She went on about how we had to always keep in mind that for every action there is a reaction.
 
As if I’m not aware of that.
 

I start wiggling my feet to see if the bones have healed, since I’m not screaming it is a pretty safe conclusion that I am good to go.
 
Dolly tells me that I should be careful about jumping off of high places until we were sure I was back to 100%.
 
I listened in to Dolly’s thoughts and hear her worry about General Phelan. It is out of character for him not to call when he would be late.

Instinctively I put my hand on
her’s
and tell her he is okay.
 
No sooner have I said it when I realize that I blew my cover.