Toy Wolf

Chapter 22: phone call

Just before the sun came up I slipped out of my room. No one seemed to be awake; we had been up until quite late in the training room. I snuck up a floor above me, looking for the small medical room that we had found earlier. I only knew one number, but I sat on the counter, tentatively dialing. Would Ralph and Mel be awake? I held my breath as I listened to the ringing.

"Hello?" cam a bleary voice that brought tears to my eyes.

"Ralph?"

I caught him midyawn and then the phone clattered; he had dropped it.

"Conor? Oh my god. Are you okay? Where are you?" and then Ralph yelled: "Mel!"

"I'm fine," I told him. "The police took me to a research facility, but I'm out of that now. I'm at some training campus."

"Campus, for what? Are you being held there? Can we come get you?"

"They're hunters," I replied. "They hunt werewolves and vampires."

I could hear pattering feet and more that one whisper. I wondered if Mel had woke the whole pack up and if they were waiting to here I was all right.

"Vampires! Just when I thought the world couldn't be weirder," Ralph grumbled. "Where are you?"

"I don't know," I said. "I'm sort of being held here; it's complicated. A couple people trust me, but not all."

"We can trace the call," said a voice that sounded like Brian. "The area code will narrow the search. Is he on a landline?"

"Please don't," I begged. "I'll be home soon. I want to make sure they aren't tracking me. Please."

"Conor, we're not going to leave you out there if we can do anything about it," Mel told me. "We've searched, we've harassed the police, we've..."

"They're hunting for packs," I interrupted. "I couldn't bear it if they caught you or Susie Lynn."

"I can take care of myself," I heard Susie Lynn retort.

"Ralph please," I said, glancing at the door. I didn't want to be caught. I wasn't sure what Grant or Timmons would do, but I didn't want them to know about my family. "I would have never called if I thought you would put yourselves in danger for me."

"Will you call again?" Mel asked.

"I will try," I promised.

I could hear conversation on the other side of the phone. It sounded like Mel was talking Ralph out of getting into his pickup and hunting me down himself, and I could tell she won when he spoke next.

"Stay safe, Conor," he said. "Stay safe, and get out as soon as you can. If they're hunting werewolves then they're not going to trust you not matter what they say. You need to rely on yourself and get out if something goes wrong."

"I promise," I said with a smile.

Ralph and Stefa were giving me the same advice. I wanted to follow it, but it wasn't always possible. I hung up the phone and hopped off the counter, heading down the hallways back to Stefa's room. She was lounging on her couch, reading a newspaper when I came in.

"I swiped this from someone's room," she told me. "I've been horrified to note that Grant was right about the increase of attacks. They're making the damn news; this is a problem." She frowned at me. "What's wrong?"

I sat down next to Stefa, leaning against her shoulder as she wrapped an arm around me.

"I called my pack," I said. "I know, I shouldn't have. But I needed to know they were okay."

"Were they?"

"Yes. But I had to talk them out of coming to find me, and I know that they would only get caught if that happened. I just...I want to leave and go home, but I need them to be safe."

"We will leave," Stefa told me, squeezing my arm. "It might not be at the timetable that you want it, but we will leave. Even if we have to fight out way out."

"I can probably fight humans better than I fight you," I admitted.

Stefa rolled her shoulders. "Vampires are faster than you," she said. "And we've been fighting longer."

"I've held my own before," I protested. "I thought I would last more than a few seconds against you."

She grimaced, but didn't say anything. I turned to face her, not saying anything until Stefa continued.

"I had a talk with the vampires that Candice kept throwing at you," she said quietly, almost like she was ashamed. "I told them that if they harmed you I would tear them into bite sized pieces."

"What?"

"I didn't want you to get hurt," she explained. "And the moment you lost a fight all of this," she gestured around us; "would be gone. Our chance of escape over. I didn't want that to happen. Please don't be mad."

I didn't know what to feel. I had wondered about my own abilities of course, but I had assumed, like everyone else that I was somehow much faster than I should have been. I blinked at her, leaning forward to rest my head in my hands.

"You fought that werewolf in your own right and you did fantastic," Stefa told me. "Nearly killed me with worry, but you had no problem there, love. You just don't have a prayer against a vampire."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"A lady has to keep some mystery about her," she smiled.

"Stefa," I complained.

"I knew that if I told you, you'd have a harder time pretending," she told me. "And Candice wanted you dead, Conor. You wouldn't have lasted a day with them, let alone six weeks."

She placed a hand on my back, and I looked back at her, worry lines plain on her face. She lied to protect me and wasn't sorry about it, but perhaps it had been for the best. I hadn't told my pack everything to protect them. I wanted to be upset, but I would be hypocritical if I was.

"Well, what happens when they want me to fight a real vampire?" I questioned. "What if we actually go hunting with them?"

"Simple. We leave. They can't fight me, and you are quite fast enough to outrun a human." Stefa smiled. "I mean, I'm not super opposed to hunting down werewolves, but I have better things to do. Clearly there's a problem in our world, and I don't think picking off the idiots who get in the news is going to fix that."

"What kind of problem?" I asked.

Stefa sighed through her nose and leaned back against the couch.

"It has to do with my clan, I think," she said. "And I'm not ready to talk about them yet. I'm sorry."

She didn't speak again. I returned to my position of resting against her shoulder. I was quite tired, having only slept a couple of hours before getting up to make a call. Stefa ran her fingers through my hair as I closed my eyes.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back to your room?" Stefa asked me with a laugh. "You have a bed in there."

"I should have a bed in here," I grumbled and pulled my feet up on the couch.

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I have been toying around with writing a couple chapters about the pack back in Montana, after the end of the book. What do you guys (and gals) think? Thanks for reading!