Fangs

*Thirty One

Chapter Thirty One - Meeting The Family

Markus' POV

"Where is he?!" Chloe exclaimed in frustration.

I held back a laugh, and she glared at me. "I didn't do anything!" I defended.

She rolled her eyes. "He was meant to be back..." She glanced at the watch on her wrist. "Three minutes ago!"

This time, I didn't bother trying to hide the laughter that came out of me. "You're stressed." I noted.

"Well done, genius." She responded sarcastically.

"Why are you stressed? Caleb only went out to get some food. He'll get back before they arrive." I told her.

She sighed. "I'm being weird, aren't I?" She asked, sitting down beside me.

I nodded. "Yeah, you are."

The door opened suddenly, and Caleb walked inside.

Chloe stood up and glared at him. He held up his hands in mock surrender and glanced at me. "Still being weird?"

"Yep." I answered. He walked into the kitchen.

"I can't help it! I'm stressed, okay?!"

"We know." Caleb and I replied.

"Calm down - we're not going to do anything embarrassing in front of your family." Caleb continued. "Well, we'll try not to."

"Thanks for that. I can always rely on you both not to embarrass me." She replied sarcastically.

"We won't embarrass you. What's the worse we could do?" I responded.

"You could accidentally turn into a wolf." Caleb suggested to me. "Or I could accidentally scare them away with my unusual eye colour."

"Look, I know you'll be fine. I'm just scared of how they'll act. They're...protective. My dad will strongly dislike you if you are anything below what he expects you to be." Chloe told Caleb. "Oh, and I don't think my irritating siblings will leave you alone."

"They don't know us...do they?" I asked.

"No, but they're a lot more confident than me. They're the type of people to hug a stranger if they're asked to. They're only nine, though."

"You've somehow accepted our families. I'm sure yours aren't as bad as mine." Caleb commented.

"True..." I couldn't help but add.

"That's the part when you're supposed to say 'they aren't that bad'." He told me.

I shrugged. "Just stating the truth."

"But--"

"Don't question the truth."

"I really don't like you right now." He commented dryly.

"Love you, too."

There was a knock at the door suddenly, and Chloe flinched slightly.

She opened the door, and two people walked inside. I could tell from one glance that they were her parents, and they both hugged her tightly.

"It feels like years!" Her mum exclaimed happily. "Your brother and sister couldn't come - they're both ill. We have your aunt staying over to watch them."

"That's fine." Chloe responded. "I missed you, too."

Caleb came out of the kitchen, and I stood up and walked over to where he was.

"Hi," Caleb stated after a pause.

"Hello." I added, holding back another smile.

"Mum, dad, this is Caleb, and that's Markus." Chloe told her parents.

On seeing us, her mother widened her eyes slightly.

"Sorry! I didn't see you, there!" She stated. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Lucy, and this is Paul."

"Nice to meet you." Caleb responded, shaking their hands. I quickly did the same.

---

Caleb and I were walking through town whilst Chloe spent some time with her parents. It was busy, and there were lots of people everywhere. I'd nearly lost him countless times.

"And then so I said-- What's wrong?" I asked when he froze on the spot, his wide eyes fixed in front of us. I looked the same way, but just saw a crowd of people. "Since when were you scared of big crowds?" I asked, turning back to face him.

He shook his head. "Didn't you see her?" He asked, glancing at me before quickly looking back to the crowd.

I shrugged. "I can see lots of hers."

"No, Markus, I'm serious. Did you see her?" He responded. I immediately knew from the tone in his voice that he was, in fact, deadly serious, and slightly afraid.

I looked back towards the crowd, but shook my head. "I don't see anyone I know." I told him. Looking back at him, I asked: "Who did you see?"

What he told me next was enough to make me widen my eyes in shock and quickly look back towards the crowd of people, searching almost desperately for the person Caleb had been looking at.