Chapter Forty-Seven - Jessica

The day was mostly gone when we finished cleaning the estate.

My body ached from bending over and picking up item after item. I tried my best to hide my tears from the pack.

Was it normal was a pack member to cry?

I didn’t know. Would they treat me differently because I’m a she-wolf? Most likely. Part of me wanted to be treated more delicately. I was new to all of this.

Then again, my wolf wanted to be treated the same.

I swept the last of the broken glass from the kitchen into the dustpan. Sweat built on the back of my neck from an entire day of cleaning.

I hadn’t expected any of this. The only good thing was that I stayed at the pack house with Mason. If I had been here alone, I wasn’t sure what would have happened. Could my wolf protect herself?

Jacob groaned and scrubbed his face with his palm. “This is insane,” he mumbled. “That took way longer than I imagined.”

Dad cleared his throat. “Maybe I’ll order us pizza tonight. I don’t think any of us is in the mood to cook right now.”

Jacob nodded. “That sounds good. We’ll need some fuel before tonight.”

Mason’s fingertips splayed over my lower back and rubbed reassuringly.

Not that it worked. I still felt terrible that so many of my grandmother’s things had been destroyed.

“I’m afraid to leave the estate unattended,” I said.

Jacob put his hands on his hips. “I don’t see someone coming back again, Jess. They either found what they were looking for or they didn’t. I don’t want Mason or you here just in case. Now that we know there is more than one lycan, we don’t want to risk them attacking you both.”

I swallowed down Jacob’s direction. He was the alpha, despite my wolf’s need to be heard, we had to listen to him.

Mason pulled me toward him. The feeling of him against me calmed my wolf. “Why don’t you order that pizza now, Dad?” I asked. “I’m starving.”

He pulled out his cell phone. “Sure thing.”

I tightened my robe around me, smiling at Mason’s T-shirt and shorts he’d found in my grandfather’s belongings in the closet. “Stop laughing at me,” he said, pulling me toward the door.

I took off my grandmother’s robe and shoved her diary into my mouth. It felt surreal to know I had her life in between my teeth at the moment. I wanted to get

back to the pack house before the other members so that I could sink into a hot bath and read.

Mason and I shifted before the other pack members. We raced back toward the pack house. The runback wasn’t as fun as before. Too many what-ifs hung in the air.

We shifted, and Mason opened the front door for us. “I’m going to take a long, hot bath.”

Mason pressed his mouth into a thin line. “What are you hoping to find in there?”

I stopped on the bottom step of the stairs and shrugged. “Answers.”

“Answers to what?” he asked.

By the look on his face, I knew he imagined there was some sort of giant secret lingering in my family.

It was the only way I could have lycan blood inside of me.

“Answers to who I truly am.”

Mason stepped over and cupped his palms around my face. “I love you, Jessica. No matter what you find out, I will always love you. But I’m not sure that digging up someone’s dirty secret will do good in the long run.”

I looked down at the diary in my hand. “Are you suggesting I don’t tell my dad if I find out?”

“Depending on what it is, yeah, I don’t think you should crush him.”

“You think my mom cheated on my dad, don’t you?”

Mason shrugged. “I don’t know what to think, Jessica. I just think we should talk about it before you tell anyone anything.”

“I can do that,” I said, nodding. “I don’t want to hurt my father. He moved away from Slade Springs because my mother’s death hurt him. I won’t add to his pain.”

Mason pinched my chin. “Go take your bath. I’ll let you know when the pizza gets here.”

I found myself anxious to get to the bathroom. Locking the door, I slipped into the bathroom and turned on the hot water.

Watching the water fill and steam rise, I slid into the tub and let it blanket me. The feeling of a warm bath felt just as relaxing being a werewolf as it did as a human.

Reaching for the diary, I opened it to a random page.

The date was the late 70s. Small print littered the yellow aged paper. My grandmother’s writing brought tears to my eyes. I imagined my life would be so

different if I had grown up here.

July 4th, 1976.

Today we celebrated the 4th. Mother decorated the estate beautifully and we spent hours that night popping firecrackers with the community. It almost made me feel at home. When we left Texas, I never thought I’d feel at home anywhere else.

But today, felt close to it.

There is something about being out late at night that excites me. Maybe because Mom never allows me to, or it’s the surprise of what lies in the dark. I saw him again today. The boy from my class, Donovan.

There is something about Donovan that calls to me. I've never seen a boy that cute back in Texas. Donovan is kind. He asked before he held my hand.

However, something seems strange about him. The way his eyes sparkle at night, the mischievous way he smiles. But more so than that, the way he disappears into the woods without fear. It’s exciting how much freedom he has for his age.

Mom would never allow me in the woods so late.

I’m not sure I blame her. I’ve heard wild things out there since arriving. Maybe it’s my imagination, or then again, maybe it isn’t.

A heavy knock on the door drew me from the pages. Mason walked inside holding an entire box of pizza. “Your dad paid the delivery driver extra to get here fast. It’s ready whenever you are.”

My wolf begged me to continue reading, but I put the diary aside. I needed something to eat, my body was weak from my lack of lunch.

I tossed climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel.

Mason watched me closely. “Did you find anything interesting?” he asked.

I shook my head while drying myself off. “No, just a few pages about her moving here from Texas and meeting Donovan, my grandfather.”

Mason nodded. “You can read more later. You need to eat.”

I tugged on a T-shirt that sat on our bathroom counter and snagged the piece of pizza from Mason’s hand. “Thank you.”

He smacked my bottom as I walked by toward our bed. He sat down beside me and grabbed a new slice. “Tomorrow we start training,” he said.

I chewed my piece of pizza thoroughly. “I’m nervous. My wolf is excited but I have no knowledge of fighting.”

Mason shoved his shoulder into mine. “We’ll work on fighting in both forms. Human and wolf. You’ll be sore, but it’s in your blood, you’ll get used to it.”

“Hopefully,” I mumbled.

Mason lifted my chin, his emerald-colored eyes locking with mine. “You’ll be great, I promise.”

We finished eating the box within minutes. My appetite had grown immensely since shifting for the first time. Mason grabbed another box and brought it up.

“Am I going to get fat eating all of this?” I asked.

Mason chucked. “Nah, our wolves burn off so many calories that we need all of this to live.”

“Good to know.”

When we finished a second box, I lay down on the bed and stared at the vaulted ceiling. Mason climbed over and curled me into his body. “Sleepy?” he asked.

“So sleepy. Today was exhausting and something tells me tomorrow isn’t going to be any different.”

“I won’t push you too hard,” he yawned in my ear. “Tomorrow is going to be fun.”

My gaze drifted toward my grandmother’s diary on the bathroom floor. I’d read some tomorrow after our training session.

I needed a good night’s sleep with my grandmother’s innocent entry. I knew deep down the entries would only get darker the more she entertained my grandfather.