The blood pack (book six)

Chapter four

~Elliot~

It was still dark as I walked outside with Julie at my side. We had been quite rudely awakened by Diana sending us a message via her usual means, a flaming piece of paper to literally light a fire under our asses. It was a good job she was such a good friend, otherwise I knew my wolf would have taken an instant dislike to being woken from our deep slumber.

Lately, my wolf had been restless, and I knew it was partially my fault. Julie did not know the full extent as to why I hated the creature that dwells within the recesses of my mind. We may have been twins, but I was slightly older than her and had taken it upon myself to try and shelter her as best I could from the hatred that others felt towards us. When we were young, our father’s pack thought that we were just like everyone else, our mother’s witch genes being squashed by the power of our wolf. If only that was the case, maybe my relationship with the beast would be completely different.

“I hope this is good.” I grumbled as we headed away from the old church building we had made our newest home and headed towards the tattoo parlor.

My eyes drifted down the street to the abandoned building that we used to call our own, a van parked outside. Had the wolves of the world not taken enough from me and my sister? We took our exile with grace, we didn’t fight them, even though I knew we could. When the alpha of our pack found out that I could do magic, it did not take long for him to put two and two together and realise Julie could use magic as well. He was afraid of us, probably rightfully considering we were nothing but pups at the time but could easily pin him to the wall with the power of our minds if we wanted to.

He convinced our father to give us up, send us to live with our departed mother’s family, thinking that our powers had squashed the wolf that would have lived within us. Julie didn’t see it, but I did. The relief in our father’s eyes when he was told to send us away. Julie was too busy crying, not understanding why we were being sent away. I knew all too well that the piece of s**t we had called father was happy to get his life back, not having to try and raise two daughters while also desperate to find another wolf to fill the hole our mother had left in her passing.

I did not know how she died, even though I tried to find out as much as I could in our time living with the witches. They were as tight lipped about her as our father had been and, on our eighteenth birthday, when me and Julie turned under the light of the moon, they were quick to decide that we had no place with them either. Again, I sheltered Julie from their words, calling us abominations against nature.

We were not the first witch wolf hybrids. Not by far. In fact, the lead alpha himself and his mate had a run in with one of our kind, even though she was certifiably insane. I guess they did not want to have another Lucy on their hands, delving into people’s minds and forcing them to bend to their will. They did not care that me and Julie had no such intent against anyone, all we wanted was a home, a place for us to call our own, but it was not by their side.

The warmth of the tattoo parlor enveloped us as we walked inside, the place quiet as it was not yet open for business. We walked through the beaded curtain and up the stairs to find Diana with her back to us as she looked out the window. “Thank you for coming.” She greeted us without turning around.

“I know you said you wanted us to train, but did it have to be this early.” Julie yawned.

Diana turned towards us, her eyes drifting from Julie to me with a look I could not put my finger on. “That is not why I called you here.”

“Then why?” I pushed, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach.

Diana walked away from the window to the small kitchenette I knew was hidden behind a screen, emerging a moment later with a tray of tea and cups, gesturing for us both to sit at the round table at the centre of the room. My wolf began to pace, not happy with my lack of communication about why I was feeling so uneasy and thinking that a threat was nearby. I shrugged off the feeling, walking over and taking my seat as Julie did the same.

“I called you here to talk about a matter that I have tried to broach before.” Diana said as she filled three small teacups, passing one to me and Julie before taking one for herself as she sat down. We remained silent, waiting for Diana to speak. “The two of you need to learn how to get along with the wolves inside of you.”

Her eyes lingered on me, knowing that I was more at odds with the beast than Julie. We had never talked about it, but with Diana, sometimes the silence spoke more than any words could. “Diana…” I started before she held up her hand.

“I know that the wolves have hurt you in the past. I know that the witches have as well, yet you still see me as a friend.”

“You are not like the witches that cast us out.” Julie kindly whispered, taking a sip of her tea.

“And the witches abandoned us when we were eighteen, so we could take care of ourselves. They were not our blood and they did not cast two pups out into the harsh world alone, not even finding out if we were being taken care of properly.” I snarled, the voice of my wolf mixing with my own making a small growl of frustration escape me.

“I think you have just made my point Elliot.” Diana sighed. “Julie does not struggle as much as you do. Her wolf is dominant, yes, but not as dominant as yours. You can only fight against the power it has for so long before it drives you insane.”

“I can handle it.” I gritted out.

“You may feel that way, for now. Hell, you may feel like that until it is too late.” Diana shook her head, her eyes staring down at the decorative table cloth. “I do not want to see the two of you turn rogue.”

“You really think it would come to that?” Julie gasped, her eyes going wide as she looked at me. I could see the fear that Diana was planting inside my sister, and I did not like how that fear was being aimed at me.

“It could, and like I said, I don’t want that, for either of you.”

“So what?” I snapped. “You want us to petition one of the local packs, hide the half of ourselves that we can live with to embrace the side we hate?”

“Nothing like that.” Diana put her tea down, placing her hands on her lap as she looked at me. “I assume that the two of you have seen the new shifter shelter that is being set up down the street.” A low growl escaped both me and Julie. “I thought you would have. Anyway, I know the pack that is building the shelter and they owe me a favor.” A low huff escaped me, knowing full well Diana racked up favors by performing magic for the local packs. “They have agreed that the two of you can work on the site and have a place at the shelter once it is up and running.”

“Let me guess.” I started, leaning closer as I stared deep into Diana’s eyes. “They think we are just a couple of lone wolves.”

She shifted slightly. “Well, yes.”

“I knew it.” I gritted out, slamming my hand on the table as I pushed to my feet.

“Elliot…” Julie started, getting up and pulling on my arm, stopping me in my tracks as I headed towards the stairs.

“Julie, do you want to hide who you are again?” I growled.

Julie drew back slightly, shifting slightly from foot to foot. “No.” She whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked at Diana before turning back to me. “But I think I need this, we need this.”

“Why? Because you are scared I will turn rogue?”

“I am scared for both of us.” She told me, taking my hand in hers. “I know you don’t like hiding who we are, but maybe we will find a way to tell them, eventually.”

“So they can cast us out, like everyone else?!” I knew I was partly speaking from the fear inside of me now, not sure if I could survive being cast out another time.

“We won’t know if we don’t try.” Julie whispered, giving my hand a small squeeze.

My heart tugged looking into my sister's eyes. I would do anything for her, I would gladly walk over hot coals, kill and die for the other half of who I was, the one person who had always been by my side. “Fine.” I sighed, knowing that she needed this, and I would never forgive myself if I saw pain in her eyes and knew that I was the reason for it.

“Really?” Julie gasped.

I nodded slowly, pulling her into a tight hug. “We stay together. Always.” I whispered the words that we had said to each other everytime we felt the world was becoming too much. Alone, we may be weak, but as long as I had her in my life, I knew that I had to be strong.

“Good.” Diana’s voice broke through, the two of us pulling away. “The wolves that are working the site are called Jonny and Paul. One is an enforcer for the Blood pack, while the other used to be an enforcer for the Moon pack back when it was still going. Now he works construction and not much else. I am sure that the two of them will not give you any trouble, and even if they do, you will handle it.”

I nodded slightly, glad that Diana had given us some information on the guys we were meant to work with. Information was power, and although they may not know about me and Julie, I would be sure to find out all that I could about the two of them. “When do we start?”

“Now.” Diana smirked. “They are waiting for you.” Rolling my eyes, I turned back to the stairs heading down to find Steph walking in from the cold.

“Hey guys, did Diana tell you about the shelter?” She smiled as she shook off the cold.

“Yeah.” Julie smiled back.

“I’ll tell you what, those Blood pack boys are a slice of s*x on legs, all of them.” Steph sighed as she bit her bottom lips, her eyes rolling back.

“I’m sure they are.” I laughed, knowing that most of the male wolves made ordinary men look like ugly ducklings in comparison.

I pulled open the door, letting Julie walk out before I followed behind her. “Thank you for this Elliot.” She whispered as we walked down the street.

“Anything for you sister.” I smiled back, knocking her shoulder with my own making the two of us laugh slightly.

Our laughter stopped when we approached the truck we had seen parked up earlier, two wolves getting out and walking round, staring down at me and Julie as if we were not what they had been expecting. My eyes moved to the taller one, his shoulders broad and his muscles pulling at the thick coat he wore. Even underneath all those layers I knew that his body must have been ripped and I silently cursed myself because Steph was right, the Blood pack certainly were s*x on legs, but it was a slice of cake I would not sink my teeth into.