“Why can’t we go back to the way things were?” I asked Eva as I took a seat next to her on the couch.
She sighed, but answered without looking at me, “Because back then things were easier.”
I nodded silently in agreement. Letting out a sigh of my own, I dropped my head onto her shoulder and closed my eyes.
“Where’s Dad?” Eva asked.
“I haven’t seen him.”
We fell silent. I could hear Emeric moving around in the kitchen and the low buzz of the TV as Eva surfed through the channels. It was strange how peaceful it felt even though we knew that things could change at any moment.
Eva shifted, making me sit up. One glance at her face had me frowning. She switched off the TV and leaned forward to place the remote on the coffee table, before she turned to look at me again.
“I think Dad is wrong about you getting pregnant,” she said, surprising me.
Colour flooded my cheeks as I blinked at her. “You were eavesdropping,” I accused.
“I wasn’t planning on it.” She gave me a small smile. “I was going to leave but then Dad started shouting at you, so I stuck around to hear why he was angry at you.”
I stared at her silently for a few minutes before I turned to face her. “What makes you so sure?”
“Lucas is human. A human male’s sperm count is lower than a Lycan male’s. Don’t get me wrong, there might still be a chance of you falling pregnant considering the fact that you’re basically as human as he is with your animal being dormant.”
“How the heck do you know all that?”
Eva shrugged, but the small smile slipped from her lips. “I use to hang out with Doc Ali when I skipped school. Besides that, I’ve heard Grandma talking to Granddad David.”
“More eavesdropping.”
“It’s not like that!” She glared at me. “They like to go for walks and it’s not my fault if they don’t check to make sure that they’re alone before they start gossiping.”
“Gossiping?” I giggled. “What could they possibly—”
“They talk about stuff Dad never told us about,” she interrupted.
“Such as?” I enquired softly, unable to shake the curiosity.
Eva crossed her legs and reached out to take one of my hands. My eyes dropped. They last time we sat like this was a few days before the kidnapping. I blinked and glanced back up at her when she started speaking.
“I heard that Mom had a few miscarriages before she got pregnant with us. Grandma believed that it was because Mom was human the first few times she fell pregnant. When she got pregnant again, Dad had already changed her.” She frowned. “It makes sense to me because I think that her human body was too weak to handle a Lycan pregnancy.”
My eyes dropped to our hands again as I tried to take it all in. I knew that what she was telling me was logical, but I believed that she hadn’t heard everything. On the other hand, Dad had mentioned the pain he and Mom went through earlier, had he been talking about the miscarriages?
But then again it kind of explained why Mom got so sad on certain dates.
“They talk about Uncle Ethan sometimes too,” she said softly, making my eyes snap up to hers. “Granddad David stayed with Grandma so she wouldn’t be along tomorrow. It’s Uncle’s death anniversary.”
“I forgot,” I whispered.
“Me too.” Eva gave my hand a squeezed. “We’ve been too preoccupied.”
Something was tugging at my mind, a memory, but before I could grasp onto it, it disappeared. I swallowed and shifted before I spoke again.
“What do they say about Uncle Ethan?”
Her lips parted as if she was about to answer the question but then she pursed them and shook her head. It only made me more curious about the conversations she had overheard.
Talking about Uncle Ethan wasn’t exactly a taboo subject, but nobody really spoke about him. He was sometimes mentioned but the subject always changed within a few seconds. Even the pack members never talked about him—well not around us anyway. There was also the fact that we didn’t know what he looked like. We knew that he was Dad’s age and that they were non-identical twins. The only photos Grandma had of Uncle Ethan, was when he was little. Most of the photos had been lost in the fire that killed him.
None of the things we had been told had ever bothered me before, but thinking about it now, I could tell that some things weren’t adding up.
“You have to agree to Grayson’s plan.” Eva’s sudden words snapped me back to reality.
I blinked at her and then frowned. “I don’t have to do anything.”
“It’s the only plan we have at the moment and it’s a fucking good plan!” She leaned closer. “Can’t you see that? The only other option there is, is to wait for Oliver to strike again.”
Pulling my hand from hers, I stood and moved towards the door.
“You claim that you don’t want any more people to die!” she hissed, making me freeze in my tracks. “They will die if you don’t agree to this. They will die trying to protect you! Thousands of people, because if we don’t put a stop to this now, Oliver will continue to hunt you for the rest of your life.”
I could feel her eyes burning into my back. Her words made my stomach twist with nausea as the implications of it settled in. I couldn’t hide from him forever. What kind of life would my family have? How many families would be destroyed because of me? The only family I really cared about was mine.
A gasp fell from my lips when I was suddenly tackled from behind. The air was knocked from my lungs when we hit the ground, and for a moment I completely froze in fear as the body pressed me into the carpet, but then Eva shifted, snapping me out of my frozen state.
I rolled onto my back and slapped at Eva’s hands as she reached for my hair.
“Get off me!” I screamed.
“Stop thinking about yourself!” she growled.
“I’m thinking about my family!” I yelled, wincing when her nails scrapped my cheek. “All I’ve been doing is thinking about my family!”
“Liar!”
A cry fell from my lips when she dug an elbow painfully into my ribs. My hands shot out and to grab hold of her braid. I gave a sharp pull as I thrashed underneath her body. It only pissed her off more because she retaliated by slapping me.
“What the hell has gotten into the two of you?”
An arm wrapped around Eva’s waist and pulled her off me.
I instantly stumbled to my feet and glared as her as I rubbed my burning cheek. My body jerked when gentle fingers wrapped around my wrist and pulled my hand away. I blinked up at Dad in some surprise before I glanced over at Eva.
Grayson still had an arm wrapped around her waist, even though she was clawing at it for him to free her.
“Eva!” Dad snapped as he spun around. “You have ten seconds to explain your behaviour.”
She stilled but continued to glare at me. Instead of answering him, Eva forced her way out of Grayson’s hold and stormed out of the room. Grayson hesitated for a few seconds before he followed her.
“What happened, Ariana?” Dad asked, turning to from down at me.
I licked my lips. “J-just a stupid argument.”
Dad scoffed. “You’ve had arguments before but they have never gotten physical.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I gave him a small smile as I took a step back. “I-I think I’m going to go lie down for a w-while.”
He caught my arm before I could hurry off like Eva. Concerned eyes darted over my face before locking onto my cheek. Dad reached up and pressed his palm there for a few seconds before he dropped his hand.
“Tell me what’s going on between you and your sister,” he ordered softly.
My eyes locked with his. Dad had always made it clear that we could talk to him about anything, but sometimes it just wasn’t that easy. There were things you could talk to your parents about and then there were things that were best kept secret. Dad was very understanding when it came to the stuff every teenager struggled with. As much as I would love to tell him everything and have him help me, I was sure that it was something I needed to figure out on my own.
But there was someone I know who would be willing to help me out without telling anybody about it. Someone I trusted to be honest.
“C-can I call Granddad David?” I asked Dad.
I caught the pain that flashed through his eyes before he glanced away. “Do you think that it’s a good idea?”
“Probably not,” I muttered.
“I’ll see if I can find a secure phone for you to call him. Okay?”
I nodded. Taking a step closer, I stood on tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”