Chapter 50 Garrett
Kyson opens the front door for me. It’s not unusual that he or Noah would answer the door, but what raises my concern is the look on his face. Instead of his usual cocky smirk, he has a solemn look. Instead of his usual jerk remarks, he’s silent, stepping out of the way to let me inside.
Even in here, I can literally feel the sadness in the room. Worry overwhelms me as my mind runs through all the possibilities. Something happened to Alec, to Cassie, to Noah. To their family. Something’s wrong. What happened?
Noah looks at me from the couch in the living room as I scan the room looking for Alec. Noah alarms me even more. He doesn’t have his usual happy, carefree look. When I don’t see Alec, I look back at him. He gestures his head towards the kitchen.
I don’t stop walking, entering the kitchen.
Alec is standing by the sink, looking out the window into the woods. Cassie is at the fridge, grabbing what looks like a pre-made casserole.
“Hey.” My voice is loud in the shockingly quiet house. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it this quiet, even when Alec and I are here alone.
He turns away from the window, giving me a forced smile.
“What’s wrong?” I ask before he can say anything else.
I can feel everyone fix their gazes on me at my words. He looks away from me. I can practically feel the sadness radiating off him. I go to him on instinct, putting my hand on his arm. I just want to comfort him. He still hasn’t looked at me. I look to Cassie, hopeful that one of them can tell me.
“It’s the anniversary of Garrett’s death. It was a year ago today.”
Garrett? I’ve never heard of him before, but obviously, he was very important to them. I look back at Alec, and he looks sad but also angry. I can guess that he did not die of natural causes. I put my arms around him, hoping to ease some of his grief.
“I’m sorry,” I say to all of them.
Just cause I didn’t know him doesn’t mean I don’t recognize how much they cared for him. He puts his arms around me, holding me against him. I look up at him while he finally looks at me again. I want to ask about him. But I want to make him feel better more than anything else. I don’t want him to hurt so much. Although I know I can’t take away grief, I can at least make it less painful.
“Go sit, I’ll finish getting the food heated up,” Cassie says to him and me. But she’s looking at me.
I listen to her pulling away from Alec despite him not letting go, and lead him to the couch. He doesn’t lift his hand from me once, as though he’s scared I might disappear or run away.
Noah’s watching TV while Kyson goes to the kitchen to help Cassie. It’s calm, but we can all feel the tension in the room.
“He was a part of our pack. He was the youngest of us. He was 16 when he died.” Alec talks to me in a low tone.
I look at him from my spot, almost on his lap. He was only 16. That’s too young for anyone to die. I can’t even imagine losing someone that young, especially someone that I was as close to as they are with each other. No one else in the house acknowledges his talking.
“He was killed by hunters. It was supposed to be me. He saved my life. He got me out of the way and gave me the time to run.”
I can hear the intense pain in his voice, the anger seeping into his words, the longer he talks. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as werewolf hunters. How could there be a person out there willing to kill another person because they were born differently? From everything I’ve been told, werewolves never hurt people. Especially not unprovoked. So why would someone do that?
“There are hunters?” I ask my mind, unable to comprehend it.
“They have been hunting our pack for a long time. But they’ve never been able to find us. We would’ve been fine, but Garrett and I were traveling for the pack. We left the state, but we never imagined we would run into hunters.” He takes a shaky breath.
“You don’t have to tell me all of it. I understand.” I don’t want him to feel pressured, but he continues.
“When they found us, they realized what pack we were from. We overheard them talking about how much money they would get for both of us. But it was too late to run. We fought them off for as long as we could, but another one appeared and almost killed me. Garrett took another shot for me, and I had no choice but to run. I was too injured to fight.”
This is horrific. How could people do this to a child? He was still so young.
“I made it back, but Garrett didn’t. We never even got his body back.”
“Did you find out who the hunters are?”
He shakes his head. “No, we’ve tried to track them again, but they’re too experienced. Today is a reminder of Garrett. And a reminder of the sacrifice he made.”
I understand his anger now. I would be furious if this happened to someone I loved. I know he may not admit it to his friends, but I can feel his guilt. I can assume he blames himself for the fact that he didn’t save him. Especially knowing he was several years older than he was.
“I’m so sorry that that happened to you.” I peck his lips softly, not knowing how I can make him feel better.
“We’ll catch those pricks someday; they can’t hide from us forever.”
Kyson joins Noah on the couch as I hear the oven preheat. “Yup, we know what they look like and smell like. All it takes is one glance, and they’ll be killed.”
It’s weird to hear them talk casually about killing someone, but at the same time, I understand it. If anything, I think I’d be more weirded out if they didn’t plan on killing them.
“These were his favorite foods, so we decided to make it a tradition to have them every year.” Cassie says, placing a platter of nachos on the coffee table for us to pick at.
“His mom’s homemade lasagna is in the oven cooking, so don’t eat too much.”
It makes me sad for them, for his family, and for him. It’s unfair that he was killed for practically no reason. It makes me angry that his friends have to eat his favorite foods without him.
I’ve never met Garrett, but I feel a deep sadness for him.