Talons

Chapter 44: The Fallout

Rhea’s POV

Classes have long ago started, and Jack has made more of an effort to talk to me, but I have caught on to the fact that our conversations always seem to land on my sister. I don’t care the way I used to, and I give him advice where I think he may need it.

I head toward the study hall, mentally preparing myself to deal with the guys, who haven’t let me rest as they claim to be turning me into a scary B, not a baby one.

That started after they caught sight of my back and freaked out. I tried to explain that it was a cultural punishment, but they insisted that it was child abuse.

In some ways they are right; a pack scourging is a punishment that should only be handed out to those over the age of wolf maturity, I was not sixteen when I was beaten.

“Baby B!” One of them shout. He eagerly holds up a test paper that has 32/40 marked on it and I smile brightly at him; he has come a long way.

“You should smile more often,” Mike says, and the compliment makes me blush.

“Jailbait,” Brice says mockingly, and Mike rolls his eyes as the guys around him laugh.

“It was just a compliment.” I silently pray that the conversation will end there, but it sparked a discussion about my age, and I tell the guys my birthday. “So, you'll be seventeen soon?” Mike asks and I nod. “That means you'll be able to attend events on campus.” I breathe deeply as I glare at Mike, but he is just smiling cheekily.

He has invited me to several parties, and my excuse is that I am not allowed on campus yet. He knows I am about to lose that pretext.

After my lesson and workout with the guys I head home to shower before my night class. I find Raven in my room sniffing around and when she sees me, her eyes go dark with rage. I ask her what's wrong and she asks me why she can smell Tucker.

I remind her that he has been helping me take care of the fish on days where I start early and end late, but she isn't listening to me. She starts rummaging through my draws before she pulls the sheets off my bed. I become annoyed, because I know that I will have to clean the mess she is making.

"What are you doing?" I ask, and Raven chuckles at my words.

"My sisters is f*cking my boyfriend and you are asking me what I am doing?" I tense at her words. I cannot believe what she just accused me of. "I know that you are jealous that the guy you like wants me. So what? You decide to sleep with Tucker to get back at me?" 

"What?” I ask incredulously. I am so over Jack that I don’t even answer most of his calls. “I don't know what you are talking about," I say, but Raven is already in my face. 

She goes to push me, and I make the mistake of blocking her. Her eyes darken further, and her nails elongate. I move just in time, and instead of gouging my face, her nails dig into the flesh of my arm. 

Horror overtakes me as I come to terms with the fact that my sister is willing to hurt me over a man. 

Raven’s POV

I found a pair of underwear mixed into my laundry, and I’m pretty sure they were left in the machine by B. I go into her room, wanting to put them away from her, but the faint smell of Tucker hits me. It's not his normal scent that I smell, it's the smell of his fluids, which I have become more familiar with since we stopped using protection.

I start trying to find the source of the odor, but I can’t pinpoint a single location, which means that there is a little of him everywhere. I start sniffing around, and B comes home while I’m searching her bedroom.

Robin told me that she had a crush on Jack, but I already knew that. At first, I was just flirting with him for appearance’s sake, but he is cool, and while I wouldn’t mind a s****l encounter with him, I will never cheat on Tucker.

I thought B would have known that, but apparently, she has decided to do something worse to me and from the smell of her room, she is trying to take Tucker away from me.

I ask her why I can smell Tuck in her room, and she makes a mockery of my anger by telling me that he helps her take care of her fish. I bought those stupid damn fish, and she is now using them as an excuse against me. 

B questions me again and I snap. I find myself laughing at the fact that a gift I bought is now being used as a cover to explain away the unexplainable. I know B has no sense of smell, and Tucker is a human, but I can’t believe that they thought I wouldn’t find them out.

"My sister is f*cking my boyfriend and you are asking me what I am doing?"

B acts surprised by my words and there is a look of hurt and shock on her face, but she was able to trick our parents into thinking she was angry with them for weeks, and I won't fall for her act.

I try to push her, but she blocks my attack, making me even more angry. Before I know what is happening my claws are out and I am trying to destroy Baby B’s face, but she moves just in time, and I scratch her arm instead. 

The scent of her blood serves to calm me, and I instantly regret my actions. I reach for my little sister, but she runs into her bedroom shutting and locking the door behind her. I also go to my room, and Gigi apologizes for taking control, but it’s not entirely her fault.

Lark has warned me that I am not spending enough time with the pack, and he said that I would start to feel the rogue effects if I didn't at least come home for regular visits. I dismissed his claims as nonsense, but I guess I am witnessing the beginning of it.

I must look terrible because when Tucker comes in he is immediately at my side, picking me up off our bedroom floor.

"What the hell happened?" He shouts, and I continuously push him, telling him what I think. 

Tucker grabs my arms and forces me to look him in the face before asking me if I have lost my f*cking mind. He has never cursed at me, and I find myself wondering if I have made a terrible mistake.

I can’t tell him that I can smell him in B’s room because it would be opening up the windows to subjects that I cannot legally breach without him being my fated mate or my legal husband. I am pretty much bound to secrecy until I make a choice between him and Dolton.

"I know you've been in her room," I say. I know I am dangerously skirting the edge, but Tucker doesn't deny it.

"When? This morning? Yes, I went into her room while you were in the shower. She leaves at six on Wednesdays, and I went to feed her fish." My face shifts into one of remorse and I realize that the smell was probably residual from Tucker’s hands after our morning activities. 

B keeps her fish supplies in a plastic bin under her bed. He must have sat on it as he prepared to feed them, and then he must have washed his hands in her bathroom before leaving the room. That would have left small amounts of him everywhere, and I can’t believe I hadn’t considered that first.

Rhea’s POV

My sister and her boyfriend are clearly arguing about me, and I decide that it is no longer safe for me to live with them. Raven may actually be going mad, and I don't want to stick around for it.

I start to hear a bed creak while my sister moans loudly and I feel disgust mixed with pity toward her.

I don't have anyone who I can call other than Robin and Luke, but I don't want to put either of them in an uncomfortable situation; so, I swallow my pride and call coach Jim. 

I told him that I had a family fall out and needed a safe place to stay. To my surprise, he showed up just as my bags were packed.

I cautiously open the door of my room and find Raven sitting on the floor outside of it. She stands when she sees me, and she tries to approach, telling me Tuck is showering, but I flinch away. I cannot shift yet, and my wolf is still recovering. She knows how fragile we are, yet she attacked me; the reason is irrelevant.

"I'm sorry. Tucker’s scent carried over from the morning we had and into your room." My sister says it so casually that I’m convinced she doesn't actually feel remorse. She knows she messed up and she is afraid I will tell our parents. "Are you going somewhere?" She asks and I see no need to lie.

"I'm moving out. I will get the rest of my things later in the week. The rent is paid, so all you have to worry about is utilities." My sister's mouth opens but a knock at the door shuts her up.

I run to it, and coach Jim and a girl I have seen around but have never met are waiting for me. My sister growls and I spread my arms wide in front of the pair, but coach Jim pushes me behind his back.

"What pack are you from and what are you doing here?" I stiffen as the girl with coach Jim flashes a reassuring smile.