Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Forty

Adrianna's POV

"Caleb's mate," I echoed slowly, more out of surprise than anything else. I scrunched my brows. "Why would you want me to know about that? Shouldn't he be the one to-"

"He'd never tell you," Jess cut in. "He feels too guilty about it."

"And what?" I asked with an incredulous laugh. "He thinks I'll judge him for it?"

"He thinks it's his fault," she ground out, a sudden harshness evident in her voice. "Would you admit to a crime that made you look like a horrible person? Especially to someone you really liked?"

I thought about my own deep dark secret and winced. Although I had to bite my tongue to keep from snapping at her for using such a derogatory tone with me, the truth was that she was right.

"Is he guilty?" I eventually asked.

Jess yanked a handful of grass blades off the dirt and flung it to the side, sending a spray of dirt in my direction. I cringed. "I'll let you be the judge of that once you hear the story."

She fixed her aquamarine eyes on mine and delved into her tale.

"Her name was Vanessa, last name Irrelevant. What you need to know is that she was born into this world unlike any of us-she was the complete opposite of strange and supernatural. She was... normal."

"A human?" I questioned. Jess nodded. "But that's-"

"Impossible?" Jess finished with a raised eyebrow. "It is. Well, it was. But Caleb's always striving for the impossible, even if he doesn't necessarily mean to. I mean, he's with you now isn't he?" When I responded only with a glare, Jess carried on with the story. "Caleb and I were both fifteen when he first laid eyes on her. It was in the winter of 2004-New Year's day, actually. His birthday had just passed about a week before on Christmas, along with his father's and his grandfather's and every other werewolf in an Alpha lineage in the world.

"By that time I had been at Moonlight Shadows for about a year; I was bitten when I was fourteen on my way home from school, you see. My mom had always warned me about not cutting through the woods to get home faster..." she trailed off with what I thought were sad eyes. Then she seemingly got a hold of herself, straightening up her posture and tugging at her oversized t-shirt with a clear of the throat. "Anyway. Moonlight Shadows usually has this huge New Year's Day dinner every year, where the entire pack hunts together and later on joins in on a celebratory dinner on long tables that are set up in the Alpha's cabin backyard, like an outdoor cafeteria. After we went ahead and partook in the massive hunt, Caleb was asked by his father to head into town and buy... something. I can't remember what it was, sorry-but it doesn't really matter. The point is that Caleb asked me to go along because he wanted the company, and none of his friends could because they were with their families getting ready for the feast.

"We made our way into Sheridan-that's north from here-and winded up stopping by a bookstore on the way to wherever it was we were going. I think it was the supermarket? I dunno." Jess sighed. "Caleb had this thing for books back then, and I reluctantly followed him into the place. He wanted to see if he could find the next book in this action series he was reading. The bookstore was small-so insignificantly small that I can't even recall its name-located in an alcove of a line of little antique parlor shops and such. It even had a jingly bell when you opened the door.

"We ducked inside, thankful for some momentary relief from the frigid snow that blanketed the sidewalk and the streets. There was hardly anyone there, save for the cashier lady and some girl eyeing a shelf of teen romances with her hand wound around her dog's leash as the animal laid obediently by her side. I hastily moved to get away from the store's main entrance-I didn't want to block anyone's way of leaving or entering-but Caleb hadn't followed. I turned around to ask him what was up, and that was when I caught the look on his face.