Forsaken, A Werewolf Story (Rewrite)

Chapter 5

The Lindell villa was on top of the hill, part of it perched on stilts and overseeing the beach. A set of concrete and metal stairs lead down to the beach. The Lindell house was like a massive square except that the center of it was occupied by an open-air courtyard.

"You have like the hugest house ever!" I said as we came up the hill.

"With so many kids, we kind of need to."

We walked through a patio door and into a large open plan kitchen and dining room. Miriam went through the cupboard and got some cups, tea, and a kettle, the latter of which she put on the fire. Rather than using individual tea bags, she had whole leaf tea which she put in a ball infuser.

"Is green tea okay with you?" She asked.

"Yeah. You don't do tea halfway." I said.

"Of course not." She gave me a smile.

As we waited for it to boil, the door opened. I turned around and saw it was Nico along with Lloyd and Tom.

"Oh hey Juno," He said, "Guess you're here too."

"Getting some tea."

"I was going to play video games with the guys." He answered. "You look okay."

"I told you I can take care of myself."

"Right. Well, see ya home."

He and the boys disappeared upstairs, leaving me with Miriam.

"Your older brother seems nice, if a bit protective." She said.

"We're twins, but he just loves to lord his twenty-six minutes of elderness. He's really the baby if you ask me. He didn't learn to ride a bike until he was thirteen 'cause he was so terrified of it."

"I'm so glad I don't have an older brother." She said with a grin. "Well, I do but he's like thirty-five so it doesn't really count."

"Want to get a twin? I'll sell him to you real cheap."

"But where would we put him? We're already full!"

"Darn, guess I'm stuck with him."

She let out a chuckle.

She took the boiling kettle out of the fire and put a thermometer inside, watching it intensely until she finally dipped the infuser in. "The secret to a good cup of tea is temperature control if you put the tea in water that's too hot it'll burn and taste bitter. For green tea you want it to infuse between 185 and 170 degrees."

Our little lesson on tea was interrupted as someone shouted. "Come back here!"

I turned my head only to see a young adult guy come in, chasing after a small puppy.

"Having problems with the little pup?" Miriam asked.

"He won't take his darn bath," The guy sighed a little out of breath. "Just started running away."

Miriam got out from behind the counter and helped him corner the pup, which she managed to catch. She whispered something to the pup's ear who didn't resist once caught. She gave the pup back to the guy, whose name I hadn't caught.

"Didn't know you had pets," I said. "I mean beside Heidi."

"We technically don't except for Taylor's fishes, my dad's a wildlife ranger, he picks up the occasional abandoned or hurt animal and we nurse them back to release them."

"Wait, was that?"

"That was a wolf pup."

"Damn. I thought they were extinct in California."