Carnal

Chapter Sixteen - Prove Him Wrong

Ella's P.O.V.

I sat on the floor in my room, all of the documents we had acquired in the past few weeks spread out around me.

The only thing I didn't have was the duffle bag full of files on the doctor that Daniel and Jai had gotten in Frankfurt.

Those were in Cain's office.

I was still angry with him, even though it had been several hours since the revelation of my grandfather's Lycanthrope heritage that he had passed down to me.

While this theory had yet to be officially confirmed, I gathered from several pieces of information that he was indeed a Lycanthrope.

For starters, the book I found in his attic on Lycanthropy was a neon sign that flashed in my face. If I was being honest, I felt like an idiot for not noticing it sooner.

After a careful review of his medical records, I could see now that there were indicators of Lycanthropy all along. His white blood cell count, for one, was incredibly high, especially for a man of his age. Not to mention that he was nearly seventy years old and didn't need so much as a hearing aid or reading glasses.

As I sat on the rug with all of the various documents surrounding me, I felt the need to bash my head against a wall and admit myself into a mental asylum.

Why didn't I notice before now? I asked myself.

Because I didn't know what to look for before.

Standing up, I cautiously navigated my way through the sea of file folders to my bed where my laptop sat.

I had managed to think clearly enough after getting back to the room to submit the assignment I had been working on before it was due. I was thankful for this, seeing as it was well past midnight and I likely would have forgotten if I had waited.

Climbing up into the bed, I opened the laptop and started a video call.

If it was nearly one in the morning in Germany, I knew it was in the early evening in D.C.

When Zak's face appeared on the screen, I felt a wave of emotions rush over me.

Did he know? How was I supposed to tell him if he didn't? Would he believe me? If he did know, why didn't he ever tell me?

'Ella?' he signed, snapping me out of my worried thoughts and into reality.

'Hi,' I signed.

Zak waved his hand, but the narrowing of his eyes on my face that hadn't concealed my thoughts carefully told me that he knew something was wrong.

'What's going on?' he asked.

I took a deep breath before holding up my shaking hands to sign.

'Did Mom and Dad ever mention anything weird to you about Grandpa?' I asked him.

He raised an eyebrow.

'Like what?'

I shrugged, not knowing how to continue the conversation.

I looked over to my left and my eye caught the book that was laying on the bed.

Drawing in a shaky breath, I reached over and grabbed the book. I closed it and pulled it into the view of the laptop's camera so Zak could see it.

Showing him the cover of the book, I waited to gauge his reaction as he read the title.

He read the title and drew in a deep, exasperated breath as he ran a hand over his cropped hair.