Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

I silently thank God as I wake up that today is Saturday. I lay in bed for nearly an hour after I wake up, trying not to think about last night. But I fail miserably. There were people there last night with Felix and I- people who could have killed us if they truly wanted. But that's not the case. They are trying to terrify us, make us leave without anyone getting hurt. But that's not to say that they won't kill us if it comes to it. God knows they have the means to.

At about 9:30 in the morning, Elijah calls me. It's a bit of a surprise but I answer. "Hello?"

"Priscilla? Listen, this is Elijah."

"I can tell," I say sternly.

"Well, I may need a favor from you, if you're up for it."

"What is it?"

"I'm meeting Jordan's old pack master today, and I truly don't want to go alone. Will you please go with me?" He asks. I sigh and sit back down on my bed, criss-crossing my legs. I rub my left temple with my hand.

"Why can't someone else go with you?" I come off a bit rude but I don't particularly care at the moment. Last night had been extremely terrifying for me and I would love to spend today with my own mother, trying to regain just a shred of normalcy. "Andrew, Felix? Carter?"

"Well, you're the only one truly qualified for the job," he goes on, completely oblivious of my implications. "Andrew, Felix, and Jordan are patroling the forests around here for the bears. I have Beau and Nicolette searching the nearby towns. Carter is a werefox, he probably won't be welcome. Plus, you've had the most personal expierence with them so far."

I sigh. "I'll go with you. Come get me in like an hour."

When Elijah comes, I'm not totally mentally prepared. I'd only thrown on jeans, some flats, and tee shirt and an over-sized hoodie that Felix had given me nearly a month ago- all with my shifting gear underneath. I climb into Elijah's car, buckle myself, and pull the sweatshirt tight around me. It smells of him. Of cilantro and his favorite colonge. It's what I need right now.

Elijah and I don't speak for a long time but when we do, it's so I can recollect what happened last night and give him as much detail as possible. There's not a whole lot to tell but he insists that it helps a lot. I shrug and let him keep driving us in whatever direction he chooses. I nod off and fall asleep for the rest of the drive.

When we arive, the Alpha shakes me awake and leads me out of the car. We're in a nice neigborhood in a cul de sac. It's a gated community but the security guard is two natured -a were-hawk- and he lets us in anyway. Payson Leeks's house is the third on the left and is quite impressive. Two stories, brown bricked, white patio and pillars and a balcony. The windows are high and large and obnoxiously clean. I stare up at the house as Elijah leads me to the door. He takes the bronze knocker in his hand and knocks three times.

There's hardly a wait before the door flies open and reveals a blond woman. She's only an inch or two shorter than me with long hair that nearly surpasses her breasts. It's clean and straight, though. She has fierce green eyes and her slender build is slightly disfigured by her protruding baby bump. She smiles at us nervously. "Hurry, come inside."

We rush inside the home to find that the inside is just as nice. Perfectly polished flooring, white walls, beautiful couches and chairs. There's a coffe table made entirely of glass. She even makes us take off our shoes before we walk any further into the house. We walk into the living room and take a seat on the couch while she sits down on the chair, sitting comfortably with her pregnant belly.

"We have to hurry before my husband gets home," she explains.

"Why?" I ask a bit too aburbtly.

She smiles nervously once more. "He's a human, he doesn't know about me being two natured. It'd be pretty hard to explain why I'm even talking to two teenagers from a few towns over. In fact, I shouldn't even be talking to you two at all, but I know how desperate you guys are."

"Why shouldn't you be talking to us?" I lean forward, now a bit more curious in her personal life than our little delima. Elijah doesn't say anything so I know he must be curious as well.

"I left that life behind. I live as normally as I can. I refuse the shift on the full moon, I avoid as much contact with two natured as possible. The only reason we have one as our security guard is for occassions like this, when people may need my help. Otehr than that- I live like a normal human being."

I clamp my mouth shut in sudden anger. I'm not really sure why this bothers me. I mean, she probably grew up knowing what she was, and if she hadn't, she had been taught. She had learned to channel it, to live as both sides of her. I didn't have that luxury. I'd had what I was supposed to be hidden from me, I had to find it out on my own in the worst of ways. I had to learn from, strangers what my deceased father should have taught me years ago. I had no idea what I was supposed to be, and I'm proud to be it now. But she's not. She has rejected who she is and somehow that makes me sick.

"Let's get down to buisness," Elijah speaks up, softly, sure, but it effectively changes the subject. And we do get down to buisness. Elijah tells her of the finding of the first carcas and what we know already about the bears. Then, he allows me to relay what happened to me last night. Payson listens carefully, occassionally rubbing her stomach.

"Well, it certainly does sound like you have a werebear problem," she remarks. "And I can tell that they're being careless."

"Careless?" I ask astounded.

"Yeah. You can tell because of the way they threw that carcas at you," Payson leans forward ever so slightly. "Werebears are generally silent creatures. Big and bulky but they don't live in cities and stuff like we do. THey just wander around from forest to forest, so they're pretty much keyed in on the art of silence. They wanted you to hear them. They didn't want to hurt you."

"Why wouldn't they? I mean, they'll do anything to take our territory, why wouldn't they hurt me?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" She asks but I just raise an eyebrow. Nobody says anything and Elijah drops his head for a moment. "Anyway, there's only a few things you can do at this point. They're obviously already on your territory but they want to dominate it. And they obviously don't want to wait for it."

"Well, what did you do?" Elijah asks.

"Trust me, kid, you don't want to go down that road if you don't have to. The best thing you can do is try and lure them out and try and emasculate their Alpha. It's still pretty early in their plans, so if you make their leader seem weak, the others will back off." She looks away slowly.

"Well, that could be worth a shot," Elijah ponders this for a moment. "Any other plans of action we could try if that doesn't work?"

She bites her lip. "There are two others. The werebears don't take things by brute force. They are a society of planning and trade. They ally themselves with the other two natured in your area and try to outnumber you so if it comes to a battle, you may surrender or go down pretty easily. I'd try breaking those alliances or prevent them from starting."

"And the other?" I ask, my eyes narrowed sharply. The way she's talking I can tell that neither of the plans she's given us are the plans she used to effectively rid herself of the bears.

"Like I said, they're creatures of trade," she sighs. "They will more than likely back off for something vaulable or beautiful or strange. Weredeer are the same way."

"Well we could just do that, right Elijah?" I turn to my Alpha. "We'll find something to give them and-"

"No." Payson's response is swift anf fierce. "They will not want any of your items. They live within the forest and live off the land- what use would they have for it? But, if you were to have, say, a person who seems to outshine everyone else... Trade them that person and they might just leave you alone."

Elijah and I's mouths fall open in disbelief. This woman is talking about bartering a human trade for land. And the scariest fact of it all is that she's done this once before. I glare at her, my voice full of vemon. "Is that what you did? Just trade out one of your own for your own safety?"

She lowers her glare, green eyes flashing. "I did what I had to do to protect-"

"Protect who?" Elijah grips my shoulder, giving me a jolt of warning through my brain and my emotions. I fight it off and keep my eyes level with the blond woman. "Protect yourself, right? You sicken me, honestly. Since I stepped in here. Hiding who you are from the man you married. And now we know that you traded one of your own to keep yourself safe. Being Alpha means protecting the pack-"

"Get out," she barks. She's breathing hard now, her nostrils flaring a bit. I wear a cocky grin of satisfaction. I'm not sure what's come over me. I never act this way with people but I've had enough of her decietful ways. "Now."

"Glad to, hunny," I say, my voice heavy with sarcasm. I stand quickly, hugging my sweartshirt around me tightly. I slip on my shoes, Elijah racing ahead of me to leap into his car. Payson follows me on the way out. As I'm about to walk off of her patio, I turn and point a menacing finger at her protrouding stomach.

"You can hide from what you are all you want," I say through gritted teeth. "You can lie to that man, lie to your kid, but in fifteen years or so, that kid will be your downfall. That baby is going to grow up and be two natured without anyone to warn them or teach them. And you better hope to God they never found out that you hid it from them. It'll be your downfall, I swear it."

I spit harshly on to the ground, walking angrily to the car. Not looking behind me, I shout, "Have a great, fake life!"