Chapter 147

I wake up from a weird dream, there was the oddest sensation of someone watching me but I brush it out of my mind.

It feels like I woke up in the night to roll across the bed to Virgil but that's not possible, Virgil didn't sleep over.

School would begin tomorrow and I was already exhausted, school would be weird now because everyone would be Werewolves.

You know what, maybe all this has just been a dream, just my subconscious playing a nasty prank on me and I'll wake up to find out that I'm still at the Beach house.

I scoff at myself. 'I wish.'

I roll out of bed and make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I reach forward absently for my toothbrush and pause, the shower is still humid and there's only two toothbrushes in the canister.

I drop my head in my hands with a tiny smile, I'd still kick Virgil on his shins when I see him but knowing that he did sleep over is relieving.

Dale's toothbrush is most likely back in the cupboard again and I've given up on getting them to try and compromise.

I suddenly feel tons better, my stomach grumbling with hunger. I hop into the shower with a spring in my step, knowing that Virgil still wanted to sleep over enough to lift my mood.

Even though that didn't mean that everything was fine and back to normal but it was progress.

I get lost in thought in the warm spray of the shower but my mom's horrified scream breaks the serene atmosphere.

I hurry out in my towel. "Mom, I'm fine." I tell her quickly, before she caused the apocalypse.

"What? Hayden? Are you okay? Where are your bandages? You showered all by yourself?" She hurries towards me, eyes roving over me in a panic.

"Calm down, mom." I can't believe Shana or Mae didn't bother to tell my mom. "Mae fixed me last night, I'm fine, see…" I pull down the towel that had been wrapped

high around my shoulders. "No bruises."

My mom just gapes, freezing up.

I just place my hands on her shoulders and push her out. "Wait, let me get dressed up, I'll explain everything to you when I get down."

She's too stunned to protest and I hope I hadn't broken my mom.

It's already the middle of September so it's pretty cold, my woolen collection are now in my closet and I decide to binge one them.

I pull on comfy jeans and an oversized pastel blue, knitted sweater that has 'My BaBy' printed in white on the front - another of my mom's works - and a beanie.

I make my way to the living room to find my mom waiting for me, as well as Shana and Mae who looks perfectly fine which is a relief.

"Oh? We've been waiting for you." Shana says spotting me first. "You look so adorable, maybe I should take up knitting too, what do you think, Renee?"

My mom is already by my side, squishing my cheeks in both her hands. "I'm definitely dragging out my crocheting tools again."

I step away from her, batting her hands away. "Please don't, I have enough to supply an orphanage…"

But she's not listening. "You know since we're staying at the Pack House till the new year we could rendezvous…"

"No, no!" I cut her off, moving closer to Mae. "There will be no rendezvousing, how do you feel Mae?"

"Just great, Hay and you might as well be talking to mannequins because they aren't listening." She waves a hand in the direction of my mom and Shana who are engrossed in a discussion of how to knit and crotchet more sweaters and beanies for me, socks aren't exempted.

I sigh long sufferingly. "I know."

We make our way down to the kitchens, my mom and Shana still engrossed in their plans to drown me in handmade clothes.

Mae is in a sunny yellow sweater, her two hands down the front pockets of her white jumpsuit, curly hair in a fluffy ponytail as we discussed school.

The rabid Werewolves would all be relocated to a facility deep in the woods and would have to live the rest of their lives in captivity which wasn't much as the virus slowly deteriorated their health, giving them a short lifespan.

It was really sad and I had no idea what would be done to Alexis but I could tell that it wouldn't be pretty, they had handed him over to the Alpha of the Pack in Cine because they suffered the most loss.

All that Crimson Pack and Dark Moon Pack suffered was just a couple injured Werewolves due to their fights with the rabid Werewolves.

Apparently other Werewolves moved into town as well but they weren't a part of any Pack which was just fine with everyone as long as they followed laid down rules.

I was just happy that Werewolves had a place they could all live in harmoniously and be themselves.

At the moment the case of the wild wolves that plagued the small town of Pine Creek or at least that was what the newspapers thought, would sufficiently deter any investors who had their eye on the town or the woods.

It also kept humans away which was to the Werewolves advantage because it got harder to keep their identities secret when there were so many of them in one place.

The population was still just a little under five hundred but Mae kept raving about how it was the largest gathering of Werewolves in one place for decades so that was that.

I was just happy that everything turned out fine, at least as fine as it could be without the threat of being turned into a wild animal hanging over your head.

My relationship issues seems tame in comparison to nearly getting captured by a serial killer with an affinity for bio weapons and I was happy to settle into smaller problems.

Like homework and school, boyfriends and mean girls.

A lot had happened since Dale came to town and I had a feeling that my last year of high school wasn't going to be a walk in the park, that didn't mean I was going to shy from it.

I'd managed to survive through an almost rape, a psychopathic teenage girl with more than a couple screws loose and a mass murderer, surviving the last year of school shouldn't be so hard.