[ 010 ] house of wolves

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CHAPTER TEN
house of wolves

WHEN THEY RETURN TO THE LAHOTES' PLACE in the evening, Violet can't shake the relief settling over her shoulders that the sleepover is still in effect

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WHEN THEY RETURN TO THE LAHOTES' PLACE in the evening, Violet can't shake the relief settling over her shoulders that the sleepover is still in effect. After the events of today, the idea of going back to an empty house and dealing with her hyperactive imagination or hallucinations of moving shadows growing teeth and red eyes alone soured her gut.

Kit had invited the other boys over, and Violet was a little more than interested in pressing them for questions about werewolves. Sage couldn't care less who joined, though the disgruntled sound in the back of her throat when Jared seemed to steal ounces of Kit's attention from her friends at a time indicated that it wasn't the outcome of their little adventure that she favoured.

Since Kit had fended off the vampire, however, it was only fair she had free reign over the rest of the day. Plus, it was the sensible call for the pack to stick together tonight; considering Violet was a marked target, a loose end, and Sage had been inadvertently caught in the crossfire, whatever line of defence presented itself to them, they would accept without complaint. While the girls changed out of their hiking attire and swapped it for fresh clothes, the boys set up camp in the backyard. A fire pit filled with chopped wood for a potential bonfire had been set aside to a corner, and lawn chairs were arranged in a semi-circle, as though they were expecting to spectate the girls' shenanigans. Snacks piled high at their feet, and Sage dipped out of filming duties to pilfer from a bowl of Doritos every now and then.

While the three girls took their skateboards to ramps and rails in Kit's backyard, the boys watched. By the time Violet was satisfied with her nose-slides enough for Sage to begin filming, sweat glistened on her forehead, and her hair was plastered to her temples. Leaning against a ramp, she waited out Kit's turn at completing a line of tricks that Sage was artfully recording on her video camera. Tipping her head back, Violet let out a deep exhale into the sunless sky, but she couldn't breathe the tension out of her shoulders.

Monsters were real. She'd always known it. Perhaps not immediately, but she hadn't been foolish enough to dismiss cold evidence that night in the parking lot four years ago. Stranger than the feeling that she no longer had to fight for someone to believe her while she clung to seams of memory in hopes that they'd see what she could see, was that she wasn't afraid. Angry, unsatisfied, unnerved—all of those, she felt without a doubt. But she hadn't come back to Forks to cower at the moment of truth. Korchaks didn't submit. Korchaks didn't hide from their adversaries. She would show her father she had the spine and grip on her clinical sanity that he thought she'd been lacking all these years.

Somewhere along getting lost in her thought patterns, Violet's gaze had drifted to Paul. Sandwiched between Embry and Quil, their quick, light banter trapped him in place. But he'd been ignoring their conversations, and made no attempt to contribute. Instead, he met her icy gaze with an indecipherable look.

BLOOD FOR BLOOD ─ paul lahoteWhere stories live. Discover now