In The Shadows (Teen Wolf) (Shadow Series #1)

Chapter 13

"Knock, knock."

I tear my gaze away from the woods outside of the window in my room. Aunt Kate is hovering in the doorway, her hands hidden behind her back. I force a smile on my face and wave her in. I slide off of window seat and move over to my bed, patting the empty spot next to me.

"How ya feeling?" Aunt Kate carefully sits on the bed, her hands still hidden.

I tuck my feet under my body. "Better. I think it was just a twenty four hour bug."

Lie.

Truth is, I've locked myself in my room to let myself go over my thoughts of the previous night. Derek turning into this weird werewolf with an insane amount of facial hair on his face kind of freaked me out. I overreacted, that's for sure. I shouldn't have called him a freak and ran away from him. Yes, a part of me was terrified, but another part knew that he wouldn't hurt me. Mixed feelings like that make me react like how I did.

Aunt Kate smiles. "Good, because I have an early birthday present for you." She pulls out a box wrapped in red wrapping paper from behind her back. "I'm giving Allison hers tomorrow, but I couldn't wait to give you yours and we need tomorrow to make it happen."

I quietly giggle, while setting the square box on my lap. "Thank you."

For the past days, I've pushed aside the fact that my Aunt may have been the one to shoot Derek. I've ignored the fact, that maybe, just maybe, Aunt Kate knows what Derek is.

"Don't thank me until you open it." Aunt Kate waves her hands at me.

I tear a hole in the paper and continue to yank all of it off. A brown box with a lid now sits on my lap, wrapping paper discarded on the floor. I lift the lid off, peering inside. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but the thought of an arrow being in it never crossed my mind. Carefully, I pick up the arrow, immediately knowing that it belongs to my bow downstairs in the garage. I haven't done archery in a couple years, so my bow has remain untouched.

Aunt Kate notices my confused expression. "Your father will probably disapprove of this, but I want to teach you about our family history. Allison's not ready, you, on the other hand, is ready to know everything. This arrow will be the first one you shoot at our first practice. Tomorrow, in the morning, I'm going to teach you everything I know."

Sliding my thumb over the point of the arrow head, I gently press down to see how sharp it is. "Why would dad disapprove?" A sharp sting catches my attention when I feel the tip of the arrowhead pierce my skin.

"Let's just say that he doesn't want you to live this life." She doesn't elaborate. Does this have to do with what Derek is? Is that why she shot him? Or is she just going to tell me that we have a weird tradition in our family about archery? "But, you have to keep it a secret. You can't tell anyone, not even Allison. Can you do that or did I make a mistake in telling you?"

I gaze at my Aunt, thoroughly curious to know why everything is hush hush. What do Allison and I not know about this family? "You didn't make a mistake."

Aunt Kate beams. "Good. Tomorrow, I'll wake you up earlier and I'll give you your first lesson."

"Okay." I nod my head.

♢ ♢ ♢

Aunt Kate wasn't kidding when she said she would wake me up early. At the crack of dawn, she marched straight in to my room, demanding that I have to get up. With much struggle, I eventually did get up and dressed. Everyone was still asleep when we left, which made it easy for us to sneak out.