Uprising

Chapter 4

I woke to the alarm of my Alexa buzzing in my ear. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, and found a note on the table from Danny. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the device in annoyance.

"Alexa stop." I muttered coldly, not in the mood to hear the noise or even think about the fact that I had to get up and get ready for college. I had no clue what time I must have fallen asleep on the sofa; the last thing I could remember was tossing and turning the idea of telling Danny about my secret.

I leaned over to the coffee table and looked at the note. Gone to work this morning as I've been called in. I'm going to spend tonight at home. Love you, D x

I let out a sigh as I ran my hand through my hair. He must have been annoyed that I'd fallen asleep on the sofa, fully dressed. I didn't let myself think about it as I forced myself to stand up before I threw myself backwards again and headed back to sleep. I needed to go to college. I was so close to finishing out my final year that I needed to attend just to finish up my course work and do my last-minute cramming for my exam.

Sleepily, I went into the kitchen and got myself a cold drink of water in hopes that the cold would wake me up more. I knew I was in no fit state to drive to college. "Bus for me this morning. Let's hope I can stay awake through the lesson." I muttered and then downed my glass of water before forcing myself to get sorted so I could leave.

Eventually, half an hour later, I was ready. I wasn't refreshed but I had changed my clothes and had made myself look at least a little human. I hadn't been able to face trying to put any make-up on, so I skipped it and prayed no one made any comments about how I looked this morning. I wondered back into the kitchen, grabbed my college bag and wondered back into the living room. I threw my phone into my bag too and then put on my trainers that I'd left out from my late-night walk.

When I was ready to go, I left the house, locked the door behind me and wondered down the street to wait at the bus stop. I dug out my phone as I stood waiting in the queue of people for the bus and decided to text Danny, apologising for last night. I had to hope that he'd be ok with me going over to see him after I'd finished work so that we could talk.

You can always back out, you know. I shook my head a little and then pressed on the screen to get my messages up to him.

I'm sorry about last night. I guess that nightmare threw me more than I wanted to admit. Can I come over after work and can we talk?

I hadn't been expecting a message back, so I was surprised to get a message from him just as I was about to put my phone away in my coat pocket.

Sure, I told you, I'm always here to listen to you when you need it. See you later.

The message was kind of short and had no comment about loving me or anything. I bit my lip, wondering just how much damage I'd caused myself with the lies and the nightmares. I shook my head again to clear the thought away, as I knew I couldn't deal with it right now. I had to keep my focus on college for now. I knew I'd deal with Danny later; things would work out fine, as they always did in the end. I shoved my phone into my pocket just as the bus turned up, so I fished around for my purse and pulled it out as the queue began to move to get on the bus.

The bus journey was pretty quick for once, as the bus was pretty empty and traffic was pretty light too. I got off at the stop at college near the car park and walked down the pathway to get to the building that I studied in. As I got closer to the car park, I saw the all-too-familiar car of my ex, Eric. I couldn't help but laugh and smile a little as I walked down, wondering what he had to tell me today.

"Morning." Eric muttered, seeming like he was in a bad mood, which was strange as Eric seemed to always be in a good mood, even when he'd had an argument with his current girlfriend. "Didn't drive this morning?"

"Nope. I had a bad night's sleep, so I wasn't going to risk it." I stopped and stood on the path, looking at him more closely to see that it looked like I wasn't the only one who looked like I'd had a bad night. "Bad night?" I asked.

"You could say." He grumbled as he locked his car and came around the front and looked at me, then seemed to wrinkle his nose up. "Hanging out with people you shouldn't be?" His teasing grin began to fix itself in place. There it was, the cheerful Eric, who was about to make my life hell because he knew I'd been with Xander.

"You know who I was with." I laughed simply at him. Eric was like me. Well, I say like me, but what I mean is that he's different like me. He's a werewolf. His mum and dad are the Luna and Alpha of the local pack and when the right time comes, he's to take over. Just like I knew his secret, Eric knew mine.

You see, Eric and I used to date, hence the ex comment. Things between us had been amazing and fun and everything a relationship was supposed to be until Jen came along. I never blamed her for our breakup. Eric had always been honest with me and told me that some day he'd find a female who was his mate and who was to become his Luna. I knew the good times would end at some point; I just secretly hoped that they'd lasted longer than they had.

I thought once that Eric had found his mate that he'd forget about me and wouldn't want me around anymore, but Jen had been the total opposite of the pack girl's I'd met. The pack girls I'd met had all been needy and clingy and wanted their mates to themselves, but Jen had been ok with Eric and I still being friends. When Eric had first introduced me to Jen, the meeting had been a little strange. I'd expected her to tell me to stay away as I wasn't welcome around him, but she'd not; she'd hugged me and thanked me for loving Eric and taking care of him. The gesture had brought me to tears that day and that had also been the day that I'd lost my boyfriend, but I'd gained a brother and a sister, which had turned out better for me.

"So what did the walking dead want?" The question pulled me out of my thoughts about Eric and made me laugh a little as we began to walk together.

"To check in, I guess Cordelia wanted to know I was ok and asked him to go and see me." I shrugged a little, hitching my bag up on my shoulder a little higher.

"And she never called me? I'm offended. So is that why you look like a pile of s**t this morning?" I shook my head and rolled my eyes a little at his comment.

"Kettle and frying pan." I answered with a grin. "Besides, what are you doing here early? Normally you don't turn up until lesson time and you certainly don't walk this way either with me."

"Yeah, I've got to go and meet dipshit." Eric sighed as if he wasn't looking forward to whatever was about to happen.

"Dip..."

"Yeah, my partner." He glanced across at me casually. I knew the look; he'd been talking about his partner, who had his back when they worked for the hunters to keep the humans safe from rogues. I'd heard Eric speak about him a little in the time I'd known him and I'd also heard him make passing comments like he had about him, but I'd never actually met him as I knew Eric liked to keep his personal life exactly that.

"So he's here?" I asked a little confused. "Why would he..."

"He came last night as a lead brought him here, which is not what I wanted." Eric stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So I had to spend the night listening to his rants about why he needed me to help him. Thinking it over, I think I'd have rather have spent the night with the walking dead than him."

I couldn't help but laugh and notice the way that Eric had smiled, as if he'd been pleased that his rant had somehow made my day just a little better.

"So I get to meet him then?" I asked.

"Nope. I won't..."

"ERIC!" A male shout came from the other end of the car park. We both seemed to look over as we saw a young man slightly older than me jogging over to us. My breath caught in my throat as I watched the black-haired, slender young man now casually walk over. I looked him over, seeing that he was wearing black trainers with jeans and a black jacket.

"Run." Eric warned me under his breath. "Just walk away now and save yourself."

"He can't be that bad." I muttered back quietly and then he stood before us with a childish grin on his face. I looked at him for a moment longer and then pulled my eyes away to look at Eric.

"Yo." Eric muttered.

"Not going to introduce me?" The young man shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Isabelle, Jake Blackthorn. Jake, Isabelle."

"What no last name for me to find her later?" Jake grinned with a wink. "Then again, I don't need a last name."

"She has her own s**t to deal with; she doesn't need to add you to that pile." Eric warned.

"Ok, ok, I was just joking. Anyway, can I talk to you in private?" Jake asked, as I noticed he seemed to switch from winding Eric up to business mode.

"I should get going so I can study for my exam at the end of the week." I shifted my bag on my shoulder again and then hugged Eric. "Be safe and tell Jen I said hi and we'll have to catch up at some point again."

"Will do." Eric kissed my cheek lightly and nodded as I left.

"Nice to meet you, Jake Blackthorn." I muttered and headed into the building. I could feel Jake's eyes on my back, which made me feel a little on edge. I knew his surname; I just couldn't think why. I already knew he was a hunter and I knew I needed to be careful around him, as I certainly didn't trust him. All I could hope and pray for is that whatever job had brought him into town would be done and dealt with pretty quick so he could leave and so Eric could go back to Eric and so I could go back to feeling a little safer without having to worry about another hunter in town.