Page 47

Kieran gave me a smirk that made my toes curl. As cheesy as it sounds, there was no one else who could compete with his looks. He was ridiculously good-looking.
“You’re still a grumpy old woman trapped in a teenage body, aren’t you?” Kieran joked.
I let out a sigh. He was still the same. He didn’t change that much after all.
I think your comebacks are still a bit weak. Come on, Redford.
“It’s tough for a student to learn if they’ve got a rubbish teacher.”
“Touché,” I said with a smirk. “I thought you were hanging out with Beck.”
“Beck decided to cut up Lila’s undergarments,” he said, laughing. Oh gosh, that sound. It was great to hear. “I didn’t want to be there when Lila threw a tantrum.”
At that exact moment, I laughed at just the right moment. There was a loud crash inside the house. “Beckett Morven,” Lila said in a low voice. “You’re such a child!” Then there was this high-pitched scream, and it was unmistakably Beckett Morven’s.
Kieran and I burst out laughing. Yeah, it wasn’t a proper laugh, but I still appreciated the fact that I actually laughed in his presence. The silence that followed was actually pretty comforting.
I couldn’t believe that we were actually having a civil conversation.
“So, how’s your mum doing?” Kieran asked, sounding worried. I don’t know what it was, but there was just something about him that made me trust him.
“She’s fine,” I sighed. “I just wish I’d been there to save her. She wouldn’t be suffering right now.”
“It’s not your fault,” he said. I know this might sound strange, but I think he moved a bit closer to me. “You weren’t expecting it. You need to stop blaming yourself for everything, Talis.”
“So, you and Pamela?” I asked. To be honest, I just blurted it out. I couldn’t help myself. I was dying to know more. Also, I wanted to stop talking about my mum before I ended up having a breakdown again.
His eyes opened wide before he scratched the back of his neck. “It’s nothing,” he said simply, shrugging.
I don’t know why, but his answer made me angry. I pushed my brown hair out of my face, sure that my green eyes were blazing with anger. “It’s nothing?” I lost it. “What do you mean it’s nothing?”
Was he using her? She was such a sweet girl. It was totally wrong of him to do that to her. She didn’t do anything wrong to him, and he was just using her to get over a break-up.
“You wouldn’t get it, Talis,” Kieran whispered, looking a bit annoyed.
“Oh, please enlighten me,” I snapped sarcastically.
“Best not to say, Talia.”
“She loves you, you know,” I said, my voice starting to rise. I stood up and faced him. “And you had to go and break her heart!”
At that moment, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I rubbed furiously at them. At that moment, I was trying to work out whether I was talking about Pamela or myself.
“What exactly are you trying to do?” I yelled.
“Talia,” Kieran said, sounding a bit desperate. “I’m telling you. Ignorance is bliss.”
“I’m not in the mood for secrets right now.”
“Why does it matter to you?” Kieran said, his voice getting louder. He was so close that I could feel the electricity buzzing around us. I looked into his dark eyes. “Why do you care what goes on between Pamela and me?”
“Stop trying to turn the tables, Kieran,” I said, poking him in the chest.
“Why does it matter, Talia?”
“I asked you something!”
“Why does it matter to you?” Kieran let out a growl. “It shouldn’t matter so much to you, Talia! You’re the one who broke it off! So why should you care?”
I was wondering if you’ve ever thought about the fact that I’m still in love with you? I lost it, and tears rolled down my flushed face. I shoved him in the chest and punched him, driven by all the anger I felt. “Just because I broke up with you doesn’t mean you have to have a girlfriend! You want to know why I broke up with you? I didn’t break up with you because I didn’t love you! I just didn’t want you to get hurt and get tangled up in my mess! You want to know why? Because I loved you too much to watch you get hurt!”
I breathed in, tears welling up. I wasn’t sure if Kieran could understand me anymore, given the way I was speaking. He didn’t say anything, just looked at me in shock.
I was so stupid. I thought my soulmate still loved me. And there it was! The excruciating pain that almost killed me, Kieran! I almost died because you made love to another woman! Does this mark mean nothing to you?” I asked, pushing my brown hair back and showing him the Eclipse-shaped birthmark on my neck. “So, as I was saying, the answer to your question is pretty clear. I care because I’m still in love with you.”
He stayed quiet for a bit before his lips trembled. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“You’re not sorry,” I snapped once again. I got angry again. “If you were sorry or if I meant anything to you, you wouldn’t have been with Pamela!”
“Talis,” Kieran replied, sounding upset.
“No, Kieran,” I said, putting up my hand. “Don’t pretend you care when it’s clear you don’t. You’re still that playboy and I was one of those stupid sluts who fell in love with his player ways.”
“Damn it,” Kieran said, his eyes going black. He punched the cement wall of the house, leaving a dent in it. I jumped back a bit, even though I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. If you still loved me, you’d have faith in our relationship! If you still loved me, you would’ve made sure you kept our relationship alive, despite the drama that comes with being a healer. If you were still keen on a relationship, we’d still be together! And don’t try to say I didn’t care when you made it seem like you didn’t love me anymore when we broke up! So stop being jealous of my relationship with Pamela!”
“You’re an a*****e,” I said, shoving him in the chest.
“What’s going on here?” Luca shouted as he ran out the back door. He stood between Kieran and me. Kieran’s eyes had gone from crystal blue to pitch black. His growls filled the silence. Cruz, Beck, Brielle, Maren and Lila were watching with their eyes wide open from the porch. Logan was standing next to me, giving Kieran the eye.
“Just step away, Carson,” Kieran said, breathing in and out. “This is just a chat between me and Talia.”
“This conversation has ended,” Luca said. “Just calm down, OK?”
“Whatever,” Kieran muttered, looking at me before he ran off. His clothes were all torn to shreds as his beautiful grey wolf ran into the forest.
“Logan, keep Talia calm.” It was only then that I realised my fur was itching to escape my skin and my growls were low and vicious. “There might be hunters in the forest and the last thing we need is a dead Alpha,” Luca ordered.
My blood ran cold, cutting my anger short. I watched as Luca legged it off towards the woods in his wolf form. After hearing what Luca said, I wanted to follow him to make sure my friend was OK.
“Talia, you’re not going there,” Logan ordered, reading my thoughts through the mind link. He was a higher Healer than me, so I was reluctant to move.
I looked at him angrily, storming into the house with fresh tears running down my face. I didn’t answer my friends’ calls and I kicked myself for being so stupid.
‘Don’t worry,’ my wolf whispered, at the same time as I did.
After Logan and I got a heads-up last night that the hunters and the rogues were still on our tail, we decided to do some digging on our own. After all, we were Sinclairs, and we weren’t ones to just stand around and wait for something to happen. Logan and I decided to take things into our own hands.
“That guy was lucky there weren’t any hunters or rogues in the woods last night,” Logan said, sitting comfortably in the passenger seat.
“Tell me about it,” I muttered, gripping the steering wheel. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if he died.”
Logan just sighed and didn’t say anything. He’s been on the ball all morning, keeping a close eye on me and giving Kieran the stink eye. He moaned more than I did about the whole situation. Everyone moaned more than I did. It was pretty clear they weren’t exactly thrilled with him right then.
When I found out he’d got home OK, I cried tears of relief. I was really worried and if he died, I would’ve hated myself for the rest of my life.
I pulled into the small car park at “The Huge Spot”. It was one of three stores selling guns in Oakmere. We checked out one of the other two gun stores before we came here. But we didn’t go for it in the end because the guns were rusty and the place was a bit of a shambles.
I looked at the small, rectangular shop with a sense of trepidation. I’m the one who always thinks of the worst-case scenarios. I was worried that the humans would find out what we were. It was risky walking into a place with guns. We could be dead any minute if they found out.
So, when Logan and I got to the shop, the little bell on the door went off to let them know we’d arrived. My stomach did a flip when I saw all the guns on the shelves and walls. Logan, who always stayed calm, snorted at a picture of a man next to the bear he’d shot, smiling proudly. I was amazed when it landed on the same kind of spears I saw the night of the warehouse incident.
“Logan,” I whispered, gripping his forearm. “Those are the ones the hunters used when my dad planned the attack on us.”
His eyes widened slightly before he gave a smirk. “Then I think we found the right place.”
“How could you be so careless?”
“Hi,” a gravelly voice said. We turned around to face a skinny guy dressed in faded jeans and a flannel shirt. His dark, curly hair was pushed under a blue, faded cap. He smiled, showing a set of yellowing teeth. His tag says his name is Hank. “Can I help you with anything?”