Ian took me home and for the first time since I had known him, he didn't crack any jokes or try to make me laugh. The car ride was completely silent and the air was thick with tension. I could only imagine what that girl had gone through. If she were human then she would have been scared out of her wits.
"Is she human?" I asked Ian as he stopped in front of my house and he stayed silent. "I deserve to know that much."
"I've never seen her before so I assume she was human or a tourist."
"How many tourists do we get in Lunarius?"
"Not a lot," he sighed and turned to me. "We will find whoever did this, I promise you that. Darius will not rest until this town is safe."
"It's not Darius I'm worried about," he scrunched his brows in confusion. "What are you going to tell her family? Are they going to know she's gone or will they assume she's just missing? If she was truly just a mess of body parts then how do you even identify her?"
"Leindra-"
"She deserved better. They both did."
He opened his mouth to speak but the front door to my house flew open and I saw my grandma standing there with her robe tied tightly around her. Ian glanced over at me as if to be sure that I was fine but I was too tired to hold up fake expressions so I just quietly got out of the car. He stayed there until I had gone in with Grandma before he finally drove off.
Grandma shut the door and turned to me. "Are you okay? What were you doing outside at this time Leindra? I know you're old enough to do what you want but you live here and you have to think about all of us. Do you know how worried I was when-" "I saw it," I cut her off and she went silent. "I saw the wolf that killed the last girl and this one. It was three a.m. and I was sitting on the ledge, I know how much you hate that but I saw it and it killed someone else."
There was no shock on her face, only resignation just as I was expecting. She ran her hands through her hair and sat on the couch closest to her. I watched her carefully and she gestured to the seat next to her. I did so hesitantly and we sat in silence for a while.
"What do you know for now?" she asked after the silence had passed. "There is a lot to be unpacked and Leindra, you are not ready for it. Tell me what you know and I will tell you what you need."
"That's not fair. I deserve to know everything that is going on."
"Sometimes knowledge can be a curse, Leindra. You are neither prepared nor ready for the truth and I will not burden you with that. I always told your father that it was a bad idea to let you know about werewolves when he did. I wanted you to live like a human until you were ready. You had forgotten your childhood and-"
"My dreams are real, aren't they?" I asked and she went silent. I scoffed and stared at her in disbelief. "How much are you hiding from me?"
"I will tell you only what I think you are ready to hear. Do we have a deal?"
I knew I wasn't going to get any better so I nodded.
Grandma decided that it was a conversation we shouldn't have in the house in case Chris walked in on us. She made us both coffee and we made our way to the front porch where the swing sat. We sat next to each other and although the cold air hit me, I could barely feel it. My mind was a jumbled mess and I hoped that Grandma would be able to help me make sense of everything that had been happening.
"You've known about wolves since you were four, that was the first time you ever encountered a wolf," Grandma began. "They always seemed to find you and the reason why is an explanation for another day but you were young and you forgot about it. Over the years, they would find you once you crossed the town's borders." "That's why we stopped going on vacations," I deduced and she nodded.
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"Your parents thought it would be smart to tell you about wolves when you got older because you always wanted to travel and they didn't want you to be shocked or stranded. They were the ones who started the training camp because they feared that wolves would cross Lunarius borders and they didn't want to be shocked when it happened."
She took a sip of her coffee before continuing. "Your father was adamant that informing you was better than keeping you in ignorance and I thought it was utter bullshit but he was your father and his word stood. Then he died, and you left and the wolves started coming back. I was grateful you were gone when they started."
"Why did they come back?â She stayed silent but I could tell that she knew. "I'm guessing that's on a need-to-know basis."
"I know you don't like this Leindra, I don't either but trust me when I say that you are not ready. You run from your problems and I will not give you more problems to run from."
Her words found their mark in the center of my chest and although I was hurt, I knew she was right. I always ran from my problems but today I did the opposite, I ran towards it and that was an improvement but I knew there was no need to tell Grandma that. Instead, I sat quietly and drained the last of my coffee from my cup.
I waited to see if she was going to tell me anything else but she was content with staying silent. I stood to my feet and started to make my way into the house but she stopped me. I turned to her and she handed me her empty coffee mug. I rolled my eyes but took it from her anyway. As I picked up the cup, she wrapped her free hand around my wrist.
"There is one more thing you need to know," she began. "You and Darius are mates. That is what I meant when I said that there were powers at play that you would never understand."
"What are mates?"
I remembered the word from my search but I couldn't remember what I had read on it.
I was so focused on the other things that I had glossed over the word.
"Why don't you ask the pretty werewolf girl you work with?" I opened my mouth to lie for Serena, but she cut me off. "You didn't think I would let you work in this town without knowing who you were working with, did you?"
I started to leave again but she stopped me. "One more thing, Leindra. The internet is a terrible source of information. All you will get are half-truths and fallacies. We have a whole town filled with werewolves, take your pick. I'm sure one of them will give you the answers you need."
I left the porch with more questions than answers on my mind. I knew there was more to the story than Grandma was telling and I hated the fact that she wouldn't tell me more but I knew there was nothing I could do to drag the answers out of her. The fact that she made us talk outside meant that Chris knew nothing so I couldn't ask him any questions.
I was restless for the rest of the day. Every time I wanted to research something, I remembered what Grandma had said so I refrained from doing so. I was so restless for answers that I ended up leaving for work twenty minutes earlier than I should have. For the first time, I got there before Serena and met the girls that we took over a shift from.
As I looked over everyone in the bar, I couldn't help but wonder if they were all werewolves. Was I the only human or was there someone else and how was I supposed
to find out? I couldn't just go up to Darius to ask and asking Serena would be a bother. For the first time in my life, I felt worried and scared. I was weak and helpless around them. They could easily hurt me and nothing would happen.
The girls at the bar tried to be friendly but I couldn't bring myself to strike up conversation with them. They seemed to notice my hesitation because they left me alone after that. I waited by the bar for Serena and as soon as I saw her, I let out a sigh of relief. She took one look at me and instantly knew something was wrong.
She hugged both girls and they left the bar for us. We had five minutes to get ourselves ready before we had to serve. Serena walked over to me and folded her arms over her chest.
"Are you okay?" she asked then she dropped her voice into a whisper. "Ian told me what happened this morning. If you need to go home then I can take over your shift or Darius will call in someone for extra hours."
"It's not that. I don't even want to think about that. How many werewolves are in this town?"
She furrowed her brows. "That's a very weird question. I don't think I could give you an exact number even if I tried. Ask Darius, he should know. What brought this up?"
"I-" I trailed off and when I couldn't find the words, I let out a sigh and asked the next thing I could think of. "What are mates?"