Blackmailing A Werewolf

Chapter 26:

"Tessa?" Walter raps on the bathroom door and she scrunches her eyes shut. The sound of his knocking is gunshots in her busy head. He's going to be so mad at her, he always is, whenever she lets her silly feelings get the best of her. Continuing in a soft whisper he says, "It's only me, let me in."

She bangs her head into the bathroom door, scrunching eyes closed. No tears. Walter always hated her crying, saying she was too old for it. There was no use hiding it from him, if Walter stood on the landing and created a commotion the others would surely come and that is the last thing she needs is more humans around. Sniffing, she opened the door. A screech of metal and creak of wood reveals Walter's pinched features. Pushing past her, he marches into the bathroom, relocking the door. He stands by the sink, crossing his arms.

A tear rolls over her cheek. Why is she like this?

"What happened down there?" He's trying to keep the bark out of his voice, the irritation all older siblings hold towards their little siblings when they mess up a seemingly easy task. Tessa can't meet his eyes. Instead, she focuses on the navy dressing gown hung by the bath. Focus on the mundane, that's what Rye does when he is losing control - maybe it will work for her.

The dressing gown is well worn. However, the original fluffiness of it still lingers despite the fraying sleeve and she bets if she takes a step closer towards it she would get a face full of Rye's smell. No. What is going on with her brain? One minute she can't breathe and now all she wants to do is put that dressing gown on so the hood falls over her face. Then she would curl into the bath and stay there until everyone left her alone.

"Tessa, I'm waiting for an answer."

He sounds like mum.

"Keri, the paper she gave Rye was titled; How to kill a werewolf when there is no full moon and no silver bullets. It made me freak out a little."

"A little." Scowling, Walter paces the narrow space between the bath and sink. "Otto asked if he should call an ambulance. How are we going to explain this away? You freaked out immediately after reading that title, but now you are fine."

Except she is not fine. The bathroom shifts in her vision, left, right, left, right, left - she latches onto the radiator to anchor her head. It doesn't work. She sinks down the wall, placing her head in her knees.

"I'm sorry, after reading it all I could think about was my best friend trying to kill me...and how the wolf would defend itself if she tried to." She scrubbed at her eyes, unable to look at Walter as he stood over her. "I know it's stupid-"

"Yeah, yeah it is stupid. You keep making these stupid mistakes Tessa and it's going to backfire on all of us. Me, mum, the pack - we are the ones who are going to suffer if you can't pull yourself together." Walter's working hard to keep his voice a whisper, his eyes flashing a brilliant yellow. The irony. Ninety percent of the time Walter is the fun, easy-going, Otto obsessed brother Tessa loves. The rest of the time he is the serious boy who should have been the next alpha of their pack. She ducks her head, she doesn't need to be told she is a disappointment. His words dig under her skin and once again her brain is swirling as if it's no longer attached to the rest of her. "And don't think for a second I'm not telling mum about this. The last thing we need is Keri running around the bleeding forest trying to kill werewolves. You know you had one job when you became her friend-"

Tessa snapped her eyes to meet his eyes, nails scratching into the tiles beneath her.

"Don't even start with that."  

Heya, sorry for the delay in updating, but please stay tuned for all the things I have planned for spooky season!