Clarity (13 page)

She made a face. “I know. I heard her dad’s pretty bad. She doing okay?”

“I’ve no idea. I’m kind of… grounded. And her phone is broken, and the hospital won’t let me speak to her.”

She bit her lip. “I could drop in for you. But why hasn’t Amelia?”

I pretended to study my book. “Doesn’t want to get in the way, you know?
Perdy’s
probably busy with her family anyway. Her Mum is back.”

“Seriously?” She shook her head. “That must be awkward. I’m not surprised you two are keeping out of her way then.”

I knew
Perdita
didn’t have a relationship with her mother, but the last time we spoke, it seemed as though she might be willing to give it a try. Although, it wasn’t exactly a good time for a reunion. I hated the idea of her going through the drama alone.

I paid little attention to anything going on around me for most of the day. With everything running through my head, I couldn’t concentrate, and my wolf seethed at the idea of enemy werewolves invading our territory.

At lunch, most of the people at our table quickly got the idea that I wasn’t in the mood for talking, but Aaron started on me again. “What’s with the moping? Did she ditch you then? Or did you dump her? Not getting any?”

I dug my nails into my legs, trying to distract myself with the pain. “Shut
up
, Aaron. I’m not in the mood.”

“Oh, come on. Can’t take a little banter?” He laughed.

I jumped to my feet. “That isn’t banter. It’s you being a pure dickhead. Get out of my face. This is the last time I’m warning you.”

He stood, squaring up to me. He was taller, but I stared into his eyes, letting him see the wolf. He backed off a little, looking confused, then glanced around and saw everyone was watching.

He threw a punch, but I blocked it and hit him twice in the face without thinking. Seeing the fear in his eyes pushed all of my emotions to the surface. I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck before he fell, twisting his entire body sharply so I could speak into his ear. “If you ever open your mouth about her again, I’m going to end you. Understand me?” The wolf twisted and turned, trying to break free.

“Nathan Evans. Office. Now.”

The principal’s sharp voice ran through the black storm clouding my vision. It was only then I saw everyone’s horrified faces. I looked down at the blood pouring from Aaron’s nose to the tile an inch away from his face. He wasn’t cocky anymore, but it gave me no satisfaction at all. I let go of him, and he crumpled to the floor. Some of the lads helped him to his feet, and I knew that was it for me and the football team.

I followed the principal into her office, ready for the worst.

She sat down and eyed me calmly. “Do you think your family is ready to deal with you being expelled again?”

I shook my head dumbly.

“Listen to me. I’ve had my eye on you since you started here. You haven’t put one foot out of line, and today you lose it over someone like Aaron
Hannigan
. You need to deal with that temper of yours before you ruin your life, Nathan.”

I nodded, but I didn’t know where she was going with the whole spiel.

“I can cut you some slack this time. I know you’ve had a hard time recently. New home, new school, losing a family member, and I heard all about the incident at your home over the weekend. Combined with hormones and everything else, I can call it a one-off. So I’m going to do you a favour. I’m sending you home. Tell your family you aren’t well. I don’t care. But get out of here while you’re in this mood. This is your get-out-of-jail-free card. The only one you’re going to get. Use it wisely. I don’t expel kids if I can help it, but I can’t tolerate violence.”

I stared at her in surprise for a few minutes. I had never had a teacher or principal who gave a crap about me. They judged first, thought later. She was bending the rules to help me.

“Thanks,” I said. “I mean it. I’m sorry about Aaron. There’s just a lot going on right now.”

“So deal with it,” she said. “Why make everything worse for yourself? Take the day to calm down. Come back tomorrow with a new outlook.”

I nodded, getting it. I left the office and decided going back to get my books was asking for trouble. I walked out, leaving everything behind, and ran to clear my head. I had messed up yet again. I hadn’t lost control since I first starting turning wolf, so the only explanation for my temper was being away from
Perdita
.

When I got home, I had some explaining to do. I thought Byron would explode, but he nodded with understanding. “It’s because you’re not with
Perdita
,” he said pointedly.
Opa
ignored him. “It was stupid to send you back to school like nothing had happened.”

“It’s not only that,” I said. “It’s her dad. He’s sick. He only woke up yesterday.” I told them what Joey had said about the blood transfusion.

Opa
paid attention then. “His body reacted to the blood? Interesting.” The gleam in his eyes made my stomach turn.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“It might mean nothing, but it makes me think the wolf’s bite infected him, and that’s why his body is rejecting the blood from the transfusion.”

“Hold on,” Byron said. “Are you saying there’s a chance he could turn?”

“No. But maybe there’s something in his genetic makeup that makes it more likely. Maybe that’s why the daughter turned out to be a mate.”

“But he’s sick,” I reminded them.

“I think the transfusion changed something.”
Opa
almost sounded disappointed. “The new blood ruined it.”

“We have to do something,” I said. “Tell the hospital how to help him.”

“We don’t
know
. What can we tell the hospital?” Byron said, looking worried.

“Crap! This keeps getting worse and worse. What am I supposed to do?”

“You keep doing what you’re told,”
Opa
said sternly. “Nobody makes a move until I say so. The man will be fine. As soon as his body replaces the blood naturally, he will be back to normal. Pretty much.”

“What do you mean,
pretty much
?” Byron’s voice was edged with a gruff anger, and I realised we needed to ask my grandfather the right questions because he wasn’t volunteering anything important.

“This isn’t our concern right now.”
Opa
waved his hand as if dismissing us.

I couldn’t contain myself. “Then what is our concern?” I felt my back make a disjointed movement. Byron eyed me with concern, but I was too keyed up to pay attention. “Jeremy told me it sounds as though you already know this alpha who’s after us. Why don’t you tell us exactly what’s going on for a change?”

Byron stood next to me, and the wolf calmed down a little, knowing we were on the same side for a change. We kept uniting in our discomfort at
Opa’s
actions. Strange way to connect, but whatever worked was fine by me.

“Jeremy should keep his mouth shut,”
Opa
snarled. Literally. I thought he would change right then in front of us, but he closed his eyes and calmed himself.

Byron took a half-step in front of me. “Nathan’s right. It’s time for you to set everything straight. What the hell is really going on?”

Something in Byron’s voice sent shudders through my body, and I waited for
Opa
to argue, but he spoke in a meek voice instead. “I found a low-ranking member of the other pack. He doesn’t live amongst them, but he hosts them when they’re passing through. I’ve gathered a certain amount of information from him. I trust him because some of it has already transpired. From what he tells me, I may have come across this wolf before. He was no alpha then, and I don’t believe he’s a real threat now. If he faces me, I will win. That’s the story. Can you all start trusting me now? Listen to your elders even?” His voice turned cruel, his eyes darkening. “Enough of this. Leave me now. When all of this is over, if the girl’s father is still ill, we might try to figure out a way to help him, but it will be at a high cost because helping him will reveal more of ourselves. Is that what you really want?” He stormed out of the room.

I exchanged a worried glance with Byron. “What the hell, Byron?”

“Give me time. If we push too hard, who knows what kind of orders he’ll force on us? He’s still unbalanced from losing her. You know, we all are, in one way or another. We have to tread carefully, for our own sakes. I think he’s right about
Perdita’s
father, though, that his body will naturally expel whatever was in the wolf bite. It would be highly unusual for him to turn into one of us. It would have already happened if it was going to, so don’t worry about that.”

“How can I not worry?
Perdita
will kill me if her dad keeps getting dragged into our messes.”

“No, she won’t. She’s your mate. Trust me when I say she will forgive you anything. You’re forgetting the power of the curse, Nathan.”

He patted my shoulder and left me to mope about alone. They all put so much stock into
Perdita
having no choice but to forgive me. What if they were wrong?

I felt trapped in my own home. I couldn’t go where I wanted. I couldn’t go to school without wanting to kill someone. I had almost revealed everything. And I had a horrible feeling that my grandfather was screwing me over. I couldn’t let him get away with it.

I had to do
something
.

Perdita

Dad kept catching my eye and throwing me worried looks, but I managed to avoid being alone with him. When he first awoke, he had been delirious, talking in frightened whispers about monsters and death. He was a rational man, and once the fever left him, he calmed down and refused to speak about the nightmares, which had likely been prompted by my confession. If I didn’t mention anything again, he would probably assume my words had been part of his delusions. I had no choice but to manipulate him if it came to it.

My entire family had battened down the hatches. Uncle David actually took time off work to come to the hospital. Apparently, he was convinced my mother would try and take over, maybe persuade me to take off with her, or even make some vital medical-related decision.

“He’s not on life support, David,” I tried to remind him.

“You don’t know that woman,
Perdy
. She’d try anything, the devious little—”

“David!” Stella’s sharp voice cut him off.

He glanced at me as if seeing me for the first time and groaned loudly. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking. Listen, I know she’s your mother, but somebody needs to be on Stephen’s side. I’m his brother, and I have his best interests at heart.”

“So do I,” I said softly.

Stella squeezed my shoulder. “We’re here for you, too. Whatever you need to happen, we’ll support you, even if that means you want Meredith around.” She glared at her husband, silently warning him not to open his mouth.

“It’s fine, really. I can deal with her.”

That was a lie, though. The problem was that, technically, my parents were still married because they had never gotten a divorce or an official separation. Stupidly. Oh, so stupidly. So there were two teams, Team Meredith and Team Dad. Team Dad consisted of David, Stella, and an embarrassed Erin. She didn’t know where her place was in the situation, and I couldn’t blame her for feeling awkward. All of the family’s dirty laundry was being aired right in front of her. Team Meredith consisted of a surprisingly meek Gran and my mother.

I couldn’t understand why my mother was back. She hadn’t been interested before, so what had changed so drastically?

I barely had a chance to mope about Nathan and his family, or even worry about the werewolves attacking again, with all of the drama at the hospital. The nurses tended to stand beside
Erin
, but some were sticklers for the stupidly backward rule that said a marriage, even a failed marriage, made my mother a part of the family, and Meredith was determined to take advantage of that. I had no idea why she was hanging around, why she would even want to visit her estranged ex other than to make life awkward for
Erin
.

Dad was still extremely weak and pale, but as long as I could avoid looking at the massive bandage around his neck and shoulder, I could convince myself that everything was fine. There was talk of calling his malady a blood disorder, but I still had the strong sense that nobody knew what was happening. They were all hoping it would go away by itself, and Dad seemed to be improving despite the treatments rather than because of them.

Joey and I hung out in the hallway while his parents spent time with Dad. They wanted to talk to him about my mother, and I definitely didn’t want to be around for that conversation.

“You coming back to school soon?” he asked.

I had to roll my eyes. “Trust you to think about school.”

“Nah, it isn’t that. Nathan and Amelia keep stalking me; that’s all.”

My stomach did a little flip. “What do you mean?”

He scratched the back of his head. “Nathan’s saying he’s grounded so he can’t come see you. He says he’s been calling the hospital. They seem worried about you.” He glanced around the hallway. “But they aren’t here.”