Who is that maN?

~Stephane~

I was biting my nails as I paced in front of Mom and Dad. Dad wasn’t giving me any attention, he was just staring at the newspaper he was reading and Mom kept flipping the TV channel.

“Mom!” I yelled after a while. “Are you not gonna do anything, and what about you Dad, Janine is not here anymore and she’s with Kaden. I don’t even want to go to school anymore, everyone is talking about Janine!” I raised my voice.

“So?” Dad looked up from his newspaper and gave me a stare.

“You won’t do anything?”

“Janine is your sister, she’s getting married to Kaden, be happy for her.” He shrugged and returned his gaze to the newspaper. My jaw dropped staring at him.

“You’re after your political affairs than your daughter’s welfare. Kaden should have been with Stephane, that’s the only way we would be happy. Have you ever treated Janine as your daughter? Why should Stephane treat that witch any differently?” Mom defended.

“I did treat her as my daughter. We adopted her together...” Dad folded the newspaper and kept it beside him on the couch.

Mom laughed.

“We should look at the brighter side, the Alpha family will still be involved with us and we’ll maintain our social status in the pack, and even outside our pack because the Alpha is our in-law.” Dad claimed.

“You’ve accepted the marriage between Kaden and Janine?” Mom asked.

Dad shrugged. “They are mates.”

“Am I your mate?” Mom asked him.

Dad frowned at her questions.

“Didn’t we get married Baron? So why can’t Stephane be mated to Kaden? Janine is a nobody and we could have made her disappear and nobody will even know or care about her whereabouts....”

I snorted. “You should have done that before Kaden found her, you can’t do that anymore Mother, at the ceremony he boldly called her his mate, everyone knows about Janine now!”

Mom sighed. “Stress.”

Dad cleared his throat and picked up his newspaper again.

“What will happen to me now?”

“Find your mate,” Dad muttered without staring at me.

“It’s Kaden I want!” I shouted and sniffed.

“He’s with Janine, find someone else.”

“Dad you’re so cruel!”

He dropped his newspaper angrily and sprung up from the couch. He pointed a finger at me. “Maybe the reason you can't find your mate is because you haven’t wolfed out yet, you’re my daughter and you’ve no wolf?“

“Is it my fault that Janine shifted before me?” I asked not getting intimidated by his hard glare.

He turned to Mom. “Janine shifted?”

He didn’t know.

Mom twitched her lips and turned the other way avoiding Dad’s questioning gaze.

“Why didn’t you tell me Janine shifted?”

“Why is the point of saying it? What would you’ve done about it? You never cared about her, so why should I bother? When I showed you the scratch on my face that she did to me the night she escaped, did you ask if it was her fingernails or her claws?” Mom muttered in a quiet voice.

“You are acting strange Baron, you didn’t care about the mute girl, why act as you did? Because of the Alpha family, what about our family?”

“Our house hasn’t been the same since Janine left,” Dad stated the odd truth. He stared at Mom, those eyes didn’t hold any love in them, it was the first time I saw him staring at Mom like that. He turned to me. “If you don’t shift before the next full moon, we are having a DNA test!” He yelled and stormed out of the living room leaving me shocked.

Mom gasped and stood up from the two-seater chair. “Baron!” Mom called after him.

She walked briskly towards me and placed a hand on my shoulders. “Forget about what he said, Stephane. He doesn’t mean it.”

“It sounds like he did, Mom. Dad is a man of his word and you know that! What if I don’t shift? What if my wolf never comes out?” I mouthed my fears.

Mom shook her head. “I will speak to him, and you don’t have to be scared about anything, I already told you, you’re a late bloomer.” She patted my hair and kissed my cheek.

“What about Janine, are you going to let her off?”

“You know what your mother can do, Stephane, even if she’s with Kaden. I will find my way to her, and she will never be happy when she stole from us.”

I nodded satisfied at Mom’s words, over Mom’s shoulders I saw someone shadow outside our window. “I will go speak to your father.” She exited the living room and took the stairs.

I kept staring at the window, the shadow was moving the room, and the structure of the shadow seemed like a man, I think he walked to the door and came back to the window.

I heard Mom and Dad's loud voices. What were they quarreling about this time? Was it me? Or Janine.

I made my way to the front door and opened it. There was a man, lurking around the side of the window. He froze when he saw me, and then awkwardly raised a hand, and waved at me.

I remembered him because of the black hoodie, rough look, and awful smell.

“Stephane.” His voice wasn’t a baritone, and it didn’t sound quite pleasant to hear.

I wonder how he knew my name.

He cleared his throat, realizing his voice didn’t sound nice when he called me.

“Who are you? How did you get through the gate? How are perhaps a stalker?” I rasped.

He shook his head at each of my questions.

“Leave before I call the guards!” I warned.

He tried to smile, I saw the corner of his mouth stretched out. “Stephane.” That was the only thing he said.

“Leave!” I drawled.

“Stephane who is there? Who are you speaking with?” I heard Dad’s voice behind me, I turned to him, and my gaze left the man for a second. “There is someone...” When I took my gaze back at him, he was gone.

“Who?” Dad stepped closer and held the door. He looked around, there was nobody there.

“There’s nobody here.”

I nodded. “Yes, Dad. There’s nobody here.” I admitted.

“Get inside, it's cold.” He closed the door.

I craned my neck at the window and saw him leaving the house. He turned and caught me staring at him, he smiled now. “Be a good girl.” I heard his words clearly though he wasn’t close to me.

Who was this man?

“Stephane, let’s eat,” Dad growled behind me and walked towards the dining area.

I snapped out of my trance and placed my feet on the ground.

“Was anybody there?” Mom asked as she took my hand and led me to the dining area.

“That man from before came here again. He was standing outside.”

Mom stiffened and tightened her grip on my hand. “Did your father see him?”