The Secrets We Keep

Chapter 6

Erika

My relationship with my mom got a little better after the unwelcome visit from Anthony. I had to make peace with the fact that as much as I loved him, and no matter what I did, it would never work with him. I was doing well in school and trying to be happy again. Mathias switched partners with Uriah so I was able to get to know him a little bit more. Mostly school related though, nothing on a personal level. I still had a crush on him, but I wanted to swear off guys for awhile, since I had to work on myself and my heart. I was doing very well in school and actually becoming closer to Danny and Syl. We always tried to hang out but it never worked out because something always came up. In the mean time, me, Zeric, Alana and Uriah decided to spend our free time having epic concerts of karaoke, guitar hero and actual music and vocal lessons. Alana again swears I'm a show off because she thinks I sing better than her.

Fall season began to fill the air and it was my favorite time of the year. Time for the leaves to change color and the air to be cool and crisp. A time for bonfires, sweaters and warm drinks, being around friends and, lastly, my birthday was next month and I didn't want to celebrate because my dad always managed to ruin it. It's the middle of October, and football is playing the district game. It is freezing out here right now, but that's part of the deal, you know. Its been a little over a month since Anthony showed up at my house, and I've been moving on surprisingly well. I can even deal with Danny and the love sick puppy phase she and him are going through.

The day after the visit was a little much for me though. We went to school and, apparently, Anthony got back to the compound and made her leave when she tried to calm him down. She was so confused about what happened, she said he woke her up by throwing things and screaming for her to get out.

I felt terrible for her, but there wasn't much for me to say. Alana glared at me, knowing exactly why he did what he did to her. Danny was terrified Anthony was going to dump her, but later that day he went and apologized to her. So she was back to her normal bubbly self in no time. I wasn't sure what to do about Mathias still. I wasn't ready for a boyfriend but he kept trying to take me out. I was terrified of what would happen. Danny was trying her hardest to get me to go out with him. She wouldn't stop trying to get me to agree and was even telling me about how sweet she'd heard he was. I finally caved after the game when she literally locked me in the locker room till I agreed to say yes to him. She turned the deadbolt and pulled the door open so I could come out. I threw a glare her way and pushed past her.

"You're welcome!" She said in disbelief that I was upset.

"Whatever Danny, maybe I'm really not interested in a relationship. Did you ever think about that?"

"Yes, I did actually and I came to the conclusion you just needed a little push to get into one. Especially after how heartbroken you were for a couple of days last month." I noticed her instant regret after she heard the words spill from her mouth accidentally. I shot her with another glare. "Okay, I'm sorry that shouldn't have come out, Buuut! You still need to try and be happy at least."

"Why, it's not going to last. And even if it does, what is to stop my mom from moving us again, while its going well?" I asked her to see what smart answer she had for that.

"Well then you come live with me!" She said in a real perky voice. I looked at her with a dead serious look.

"What?" She asked.

"Well, where to start? Umm, your dad doesn't like me, hello!"

"OK, fair point, but daddy doesn't like anyone. He really doesn't even like Anthony. He tolerates him for me." I looked at her for a second. " He's my mate duh!" After she said that, she paused and looked at me slightly worried about something. I stopped and looked at her.

"He's your what?" I asked as I busted out in laughter, "your mate? Like a soul mate? If you believe in those girl, you are crazier than me."

"Ugh! Never mind you ass! My point is! If I love you and want you to live with me, daddy will just have to learn to deal."

"You know I hate you?" I asked her. "Like I really do!"

"Impossible, I'm the greatest friend ever to walk into your life." I swear if I had a dollar every time I rolled my eyes at her I'd be a millionaire. She smiled as she made her day by holding me hostage to get what she wanted. She was in a hurry, after our conversation, I blinked and she was already in her vehicle picking her up from the game. I turned to start walking to the parking lot so I could jump in my car to head home. As I was walking checking my phone, someone came up behind me in an attempt to spook me. It worked, and I swung first and asked questions later, but as soon as my fist made contact with this person's face, guilt filled my heart.

"Mathias?!" I asked in an apologetic tone, as he fell to the floor.

"Erika!" He laughed, holding his jaw.

"I'm so sorry!" I said, frantically trying to grab his hand to help him up.

"Its ok haha! I shouldn't have snuck up on you!" He laughed at how bad I felt. "You're pretty strong for your tiny self." I c****d my eyebrow at him. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"You know I could probably whoop you in a hand to hand sparing session." I joked with him.

"Ooo, don't tempt me with a fun time." He winked playfully. I felt my cheeks heat up as I blushed.

"So a little bird told me you, said I could take you out." He smiled.

"A little... oh damn it Danny," I said, slightly bugged, "umm yeah ha. I just didn't know she was going to say anything so fast."

"Oh I'm sorry I thought you asked her to let me know." He said, looking a little disappointed at my reaction.

"No I did, Mathias. I just didn't expect you to ask right after I decided." He chuckled at my answer.

"Well, take your time, Erika. I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to pressure you to date me if you don't want to. I probably shouldn't really be dating right now anyway." I was shocked at that now and then offended that he was so quick to change his mind.

"Why not?"

"Umm I just have a lot on my plate right now. The football season is in crunch time, my dad wants me to start getting ready to take over our family business, and I really want to find the right one for me, you know?" He said like he was embarrassed by his response. All I could do was smile at it.

"You're sweet Mathias."

"Call me Mat, my full name sounds way too proper." He smiled.

"Mat," I started, "I would love to go out with you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really." I smiled at him. "What is it going to hurt?"

Mathias

I can't begin to explain how excited I just got. I felt like a kid that had just discovered the value of a dollar.

"Umm. Can I offer you a ride home?" I asked her.

"Oh umm thank you, but I drove."

"Then can I walk you to your car?" I tried, hoping she didn't shoot me down again.

"Yeah, I'd like that." She smiled and looked down at the ground. We talked a little bit of small talk until we were at her car.

"Well, that is it," she said proudly.

"Okay, what do your parents do?" I asked her, looking at her car.

"Why do you ask?" She giggled.

We talked for a couple of minutes when a couple of pack members came up to us and kind of interrupted us. Tyler glanced back and forth between me and Erika, noticing I was a little irritated. His girl had her arms snaked around his waist and giggled because she noticed too. He grabbed his little brother Edrick and pushed him towards my SUV.

"Alright man, we are gonna go chill in your Tahoe and wait for you." Edrick was staring at Erika like he knew her from somewhere.

"Her little brother goes to your school bud. I think he's the same age as you." I leaned towards him so he would finally snap out of whatever trance he was in. She smiled at him and introduced herself with kindness in her beautiful green eyes. Edrick turned and ran to catch up with his brother and I couldn't help but kiss her on the cheek, followed by telling her good-night. She looked at me shocked and touched where I kissed her.

"I'll see you tomorrow beautiful." I said as I made my way to my truck. I waited till I saw her white car leave the parking lot before I made my way home. As I was making my way down the road I felt my phone go off. It was my dad.

---Are you on your way back to the Ranch?

---- Yes, is there a problem?

---- Not at the moment, but I believe we have rogues.

After reading that, I heard Tyler's voice speak. "So what is that about?"

"What's what about?" He nodded his head in Erika's direction. I let out a deep sigh and shrugged my shoulders. I looked over and saw Tyler, Reyna, and Edrick all looking at me with their eyebrows up with curiosity.

"I think she's pretty. Where is she from?" Edrick asked with a big smile across his face.

"Oh no you don't, little dude," Tyler laughed as he smacked the back of Edrick's head, "you let Matt get over the sleeze bag that found her mate and left him high and dry."

"This is just for fun, right?" Reyna finally spoke, "I mean you can't be serious about that." I was slightly bothered by the question, so what if I wanted to have a human mate, maybe that's what I'm supposed to end up with.

"What do you know, Reyna, you don't even know if Ty is your mate." I meant for it to be a jab at her ego. I brushed them off and sped home to find out why my father asked about rogues or why this was even a thought. We hadn't had rogues come onto this part of the territory since I was a pup, and a pack was totally destroyed.

Erika

I was surprised at how shy I felt after Mathias kissed my cheek. I left school and headed home, listening to the calm silence. My phone went off and, not much of a surprise, Danny was calling.

- "Erika are you home yet?"

- "Almost Danny why?"

- "Okay. Be careful please, I overheard my dad talking with some of his friends, saying there have been, umm, some wolf sightings, I guess."

- " Wolf sightings?" I asked. "Okay, is that not a regular thing here?"

- "Well I mean it happens sometimes, but these wolves are umm diseased?" She didn't sound very sure of her lie.

- "Okay Danny, thanks for letting me know."

I ended the call on my Bluetooth screen and looked over at Zeric who was now sitting in my car and heard the whole conversation.

"Well, I guess we had better make sure the property line is wolf-proof before we end up with cattle turning up mauled." He laughed.

"What?" Scoffed at him. "Umm I'm sorry, I'm pretty sure that responsibility falls on you and dad. I mean I have other things happening in life and it's not mending fences."

"Damn it, Ricky!" He yelled. "Grow up! You made a deal with dad too, you have to help here too, or you won't get to do anything."

"I know that!" I spewed back at him, "do you think I'm stupid or something? And besides, dad isn't here anyway, so why should I bother? He made it clear we didn't mean a damn thing to him, so why should I bother?" My brother wasn't OK with my answer. He shook his head and got out of my car. As I got out to go after him, in hopes of me carrying on our spat till I won, I heard something. A growl and suddenly we caught a wiff of wet dog. I stopped and slowly turned around and saw it. It was crouched down low, watching.

"Erika back this way slowly." I heard my brother's voice break through my concentration on the beast staring me down. And that's when I smelt it. Rotting meat and sewer, it was the most foul smell ever! I could tell Zeric could smell it too, by the gagging noise coming from him.

"Zeric get inside." I said in a stern, low voice. I heard it growl again and I accidentally let out what sounded like a growl of my own.

"Ricky just get over here!" I ignored my brother, knowing this wolf wouldn't just stop because we went inside. It would probably wait around like it was on a hunt. I wouldn't make it to the door even if I tried, so I just waited, holding its gaze.

"Erika, please just come with me!" He begged. But before I even got to answer, it came charging full speed at me.

"Zeric go! Get inside!" I moved faster than I anticipated and it slammed into my car. I took this opportunity to run and lead it away from my family. I dont think I've ever been so happy that I could run as fast as I could. I pushed myself but I could hear the wolf gaining on me. I stopped so I could turn to face it. It stopped about 10 yards from me, as if I were an animal it was stalking. It was making its way to me slowly and it let out a chilling howl, as if to sound an alarm to let others know it had found something. I readied myself for its attack in a defensive stance. I had stepped back and realized I was right by the barn on our property. I saw a pitch fork right next to me and I reached for it and waited for it to spring into action.

The wolf took one step and suddenly it was hit hard by a bigger wolf. As they rolled around, I ran along the border of the woods and our ranch as fast as I could back home. I could still smell the sick smell that rolled off of it and filled my senses with disgust.

I was almost to my house when I was cut off by another one, same as the last with that foul smelling odor. This one looked a little more determined though, it snarled at me and was baring its teeth stepping towards me. Before I knew it, there were three more of them in front of me facing the ugly scraggly one. All of a sudden, the three in front of me were attacking the other one. I could hear it yelp as it was being pretty much ripped apart by the bigger three. As soon as they were out of sight, I ran straight into my house and slammed the door shut.

I looked around to see if I could find my family. I listened to see if I could hear them. I heard something, but it was faint. I made my way up stairs quietly, and focused. I could hear a whimper coming from either Arya or Lucas, which was a tell instantly. I made my way to the master bathroom, and as I opened the door a fist came flying at me but I caught it before it could make contact.

My brother looked at me in disbelief that I was alive. I smiled at him.

"You know this is the most anticipated move in the book, right?"

"Ricky!" They all yelled at the same time.

"What did you think I couldn't out run that mutt?" I was tired from the adrenaline rush that faded quickly once I found my family all alive and safe. I'm not sure what happened after that but I'm guessing my brother took me to bed. I woke up in my bed and changed into clean clothes. I rolled over and saw my sister asleep with me. I sat up and saw both my brothers were crashed out on the floor. I looked at the clock and saw it was 6:45 am. I jumped up and ran to the shower, waking my siblings in my rush to get ready for school.

"Good lord Ricky! Why are you awake?" Alana asked in an irritated voice from her sleep being disturbed.

"School!" I yelled back.

"s**t!" I heard them all say in unison.

"How does she do that?" I heard Uriah ask.

"She's a robot I swear!" Zeric said in a sarcastic voice with a laugh. I finished my shower and finished getting ready for school. I didn't care that my hair was still wet and curled since I didn't have time to style it. As I made my way down the hall, I yelled for my siblings to meet me in my car. As I walked around to the driver's door and saw it wasn't dented, even after the wolf slammed into it. I was relieved that wasn't going to be brought up in a conversation. I was still able to smell the scent that lingered inside of my nostrils from when we got home last night.

One by one, my brothers and sister got into my car. We got to the junior high to drop off Bubba. He hugged me as he jumped out. We continued to the high school, and as we pulled up Alana got excited suddenly.

"Today is the pep rally!" She squealed.

"Umm yeah. So?"

"We actually get to enjoy this one!" She yelled again. I had forgotten about that. We got out and started to make our way to the building.

"Erika!" I heard from behind me and Zeric.

"Great here comes, captain pretty boy." My brother said, agitated. I didn't understand why he was so bugged. At least he wasn't Anthony, or even a friend of his honestly.

"Hey, you're on the same team as him! And just as concerned about your looks." Mat finally caught up to us just as Zeric started making his way to class annoyed.

"How are you beautiful?" He asked sweetly. I noticed he had bruises that weren't there yesterday.

"I'm good," I said, smiling at him, " but what happened to you?" I asked him, sounding a little more concerned than I wanted to.

"What these?" He pointed to the bruise on his face.

"Umm yeah?"

"Oh nothing, me and a couple of the guys took our wrestling match a little too far last night." He had a bit of a tell when he lied. He pursed his lips together, trying to come up with something believable.

"So, hey I was hoping, would you want to go watch a movie with me tonight?" He asked me, trying not to smile.

"Umm sure, what time were you thinking?" Just as we were about to decide on a time, I was pulled away by a hysterically excited Danny.

"Oh my goodness Ricky! I was so worried about you last night!" She just about fell over herself with how dramatic she was being. "Ricky, I had literally told you that there were sick wolves out right now!"

"Do you mind Danny?" Mat finally intervened.

"Eww Mat don't be rude! I'm worried about one of my best friends and all you care about is asking her on a stupid date!" She yelled as she stomped away, pulling me with her. I looked back at Mathias, who was standing there with a smile still stuck on his face. I felt myself running into a hard metal object and heard laughter as I gathered myself trying to figure out what it was.

"OK! We are done running!" I yelled at Danny as she tried to compose herself from how much she was laughing.

"I'm sorry! I told you "LEFT", you just weren't listening, you were too busy gushing over Mathias." I shook off whatever damage was done by the door, and followed her into the locker room and we started to get ready for the pep assembly. We walked in and there was a whole bunch of chatter going on as always, but this time it seemed louder for some reason. It was starting to give me a headache, and Danny could tell.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just getting a really bad headache. Do you have any meds?" She rummaged through her bags but couldn't find anything. I got up and decided to go to the nurses office. As I made my way to the nurse's office, my phone went off. It was Mathias. I felt myself smile at the sight of his name. It was a strange feeling, smiling at someone's name who wasn't Anthony. It was strange, but it felt good, and it felt freeing.