Shaping Destiny (15 page)

“What do you want me to do
next?” I asked almost too quietly for my cousin to hear.

“I need you to find her!
The more time we waste the stronger this wolf will become. We need
to eliminate her while she is still unsure what is happening. It’s
time to stop asking people if they know where she is and break into
places and see for yourself. Go to her dorm at school and push her
roommates out of the way. Go to her home at night and sneak through
a window and search the house yourself. Do you know who that man
she is always around is? Where did he come from?”

“His name is Max.” I
gritted my together in anger. “As far as I know, he is her new
boyfriend. He came out of nowhere, and I have no idea what he wants
with her. All I know is that he is always around and also a wolf.”
Just the word
Max
had me pacing in defeat.

“Don't give up yet,
cousin. You’ll have your revenge on Max, but you must find him
first. I have a feeling that wherever he is, you’ll find the girl.
Now go, and don't come back empty-handed again. Call me when you
know their location.”

I left with a new-found
courage to keep the mission going. I left the motel where my family
had been staying for a couple days. They always bounced from place
to place.

I went to find Max; he
would be my driving force. For now I headed to Leah’s home to storm
my way in, no questions asked.

***

THROUGH LEAH’S
EYES:

My mother kept food on the
table, and my father made sure his property was safer than ever
before. He bought more wood, bricks, and tools to enforce his fence
line. He would come back to the house almost every night saying,
“Nobody is getting in here.” I think the more times he told himself
that the better it made him feel.

Leon and Luke never went
back to their lives. They stayed at home helping Dad and fixing
things around the house that Dad never got around to. I could never
convince them to leave; according to Luke they were here until the
end. Max and my brothers became best of friends, as if they had
known each other forever.

There had been many days
of training, and many days of stress, wondering each day was the
day. As the days went by, we reminded ourselves that it was not
over. If we got too lazy and assumed that today was just another
day, that was when we wouldn’t be prepared. Maybe the enemy really
didn’t know where I was, or maybe they were just letting days go by
so they could attack when our defenses were down. We were very
unsure of what and when things were going to happen. There had been
no clues to help us better determine what to expect.

It slowly warmed up as the
day became late morning. We ran over our usual drills. I was
getting fairly good at defending myself. Our training center in the
backyard had transformed over the past couple weeks. We had a
picnic table set to the side and blankets hanging up between two
trees, acting as our changing rooms.

“I can tell you one thing:
you have been getting stronger and stronger every day,” Max said
through puffs of air.

“Thank you, but you have
always been stronger.” I took a deep breath in.

“I'll race you,” Max
suggested. Because we both were so in tune with each other and the
daily routine, I knew exactly what he meant. I raced behind the
blanket. I then striped down my clothing as quickly as I could and
transformed as my human legs were running. My feet became paws as I
continued as quickly as my four legs could carry me. I was getting
quicker and quicker each day, but I never quite could beat
Max.

As I made it back to our
training circle, Max howled in victory while I growled back at him
in defeat. His black fur moved freely, portraying his happiness. I
tried to catch him off guard as I leaped for him and knocked him
down in a wrestling spin. We rolled until I ended on top and got
him pinned down. I knew I couldn't hold him down long, but just the
few moments having him on his back felt good. He gently chomped
down on my neck to show that he could still hurt me even in this
submissive position.

We both had our lips
pulled back to show our teeth.

“Hey guys!” Luke said from
afar. We both looked his way.

“I heard Max howling. He
beat you again didn't he, Leah.” He laughed.

I headed that way and
whacked him in the leg with my heavy tail, then headed to my
changing blanket.

“Ouch! That's going to
leave a bruise,” Luke said as he rubbed his leg. The wind blew the
blanket into me as I dressed, but I walked out in no time with a
smirk on my face, looking toward Luke.

“Sorry about your leg,
brother,” I said sarcastically. Max changed as well and was talking
to Luke as I started my way over to them.

“It still amazes me that
you guys can shift like that. I watch you guys walk around with
such grace and friendliness, and yet you look like a large bear I
should be running away from.”

“It’s a good thing that
we're on the same team then.” Max smiled. “So what's up, bro? Did
you come to watch the fight?”

“Well, I do like a good
fight, but Mom wanted me to tell you she has biscuits and gravy if
you're hungry.”

“I think we are always
hungry lately.”

“Yes! And a nap after that
sounds good too!” I added.

***

6 hours later…

I stretched and swung my
legs off the couch. Max slept in the soft, black recliner in the
corner of the room. All was quiet in the house.

I entered the kitchen to
notice homemade soup on the stove set on low. I lifted the pot lid
to give it a good stir. Max showed up next to me. He held me around
the waist. We looked at each other and both had the same
idea.

Let’s get the bowls and
spoons out.
We dished up our plates and
sat at the kitchen table.

“Do you know where
everyone took off to?” I asked. “It doesn't feel right having it
this quiet. They never just take off without saying something.
Plus, it’s getting dark, and they have never been out this late
before since we've been home.”

“I dozed off mid-afternoon
and didn't hear them leave either,” Max said

“How long have we been
sleeping?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess
about three hours.” We both contemplated for a bit while we
continued eating our soup, until a large thump made us jump from
our seats.

“What was
that?”

“
I think it came from the
bedrooms. Stay here.”

“
You have trained me all
this time and you want me to stay here?” I charged ahead to find
the reason for the noise. I entered my room and turned on the
light, ready to take care of any intruder.

“Jared?” I asked in
surprise. Jared had a dark baseball cap on. “What are you doing
climbing in through my window?”

Max let out a breath of
anger. “You think you can just sneak in here and there won't be
consequences? You need to leave before I kick you out!”

“You guys, wait. You're
acting like I'm your enemy. Leah, it’s me, Jared. You really want
me to leave?”

“You are the enemy!” Max
yelled.

“Enemy? I've been trying
to find Leah now for a while. I’m worried about her.”

“Do you believe this guy?”
Max seemed disgusted as if he could see right through him. Jared’s
eyes stayed on me. My hands rested on my hips as a tear tried to
escape my eye.

“Leah, we spent every day
together. You must understand that I haven't seen you for weeks,
and you left school. I thought something was wrong.” Jared pleaded
his case while Max took every word as a lie.

“Jared, I'm sorry. I just
wanted to be alone. It would just be safe for all of us if you
would have stayed away. Go visit your parents for a little while.
Then go back to school. I'll keep in touch with you after my life
gets back in order, but you need to go.”

“So you want me to leave?
Leah, I wish you would talk to me. You know me better than this
guy. You can trust me.”

“You sneak in my home and
you want me to trust you? Please do what I asked and leave. You
need to stay away right now, and don't come back to my house.
Please respect me and go.” There was a quick pause. Jared knew that
he wasn’t welcome. He had a strange sadness being asked to leave
such a familiar place.

“I can see that you're not
hurt, so I’ll go like you ask. But don't push me out of your life
forever. I still love you.” Jared turned and left the way he had
come.

***

THROUGH JARED’S
EYES:

I wanted to tell my cousin
where Max was so they could crush him. Leah would be in the
crossfire during my revenge, but I would worry about that when the
time came. Max had to leave so I could have Leah to myself again.
He’s the one that had to leave.

I took my phone out and
started dialing. A grouchy man on the other line
answered.

“Did you find
them?”

“They're here in Pagoda at
her house.” I heard my cousin repeat what I’d said far from the
phone. Then the phone disconnected. The word was spreading fast
through the Sparks family that the wolf girl was in Pagoda,
Colorado.

Max followed me out to the
kitchen.

“
Do you understand now why
I don't trust him? He climbs in through your window and when he
gets caught he claims he did it all for you.”

I rested my hand on the
kitchen table to hold myself up. I was completely in thought while
half listening to Max.

“I knew something was up
with him. He must be working with the Sparks. It’s part of his
family, and he's so determined to find you. He's probably running
back to them right now to tell them where you are. That makes me
sick. How could he say he loves you if he's doing this to you?” Max
vented.

I just continued breathing
in through my nose and out through my mouth. Then a thought crossed
my mind again: did we know where my brothers and parents
were?

“Max, hold on. I know
you're mad, but do we know where everyone is? Where's my
family?”

“Right. We need to call
them.” Max took his phone out to call my father. I called Leon. My
phone rang and rang until it went to voicemail, but by the time I
hung up, Max was telling my dad all about Jared. With relief I
plopped myself down on a chair and waited until Max
finished.

Five minutes later, he
grabbed Leon’s truck key. “Let’s go. They got into a car accident.
They’ve been trying to get it running again, but it sounds like
they were just about to call us.”

“Oh no! Are they
OK?”

“Yeah, but Dad said he
wanted to show us something instead of talking too much over the
phone.” We walked out to the truck quickly. “If Jared is behind all
this, I’m going to crush him.”

“I still don't know if
Jared is one of the bad guys. He did sneak inside my house, and the
Sparks are related to him, but it’s Jared. He just wouldn't do
something this bad.”

“I know you think that,
but you must keep an open mind. Please don't trust him. You must
trust your instincts and what your body is trying to tell you.
Don't let your love for him blind you.”

Maybe my heart was
drowning out my common sense.

We pulled over to where
Dad's Suburban lay half in the ditch. Luke and Leon were pushing
the vehicle from behind. Dad pushed the passenger’s door frame, and
Mom accelerated on the gas pedal, leaving mud spattering in all
directions. It didn't look like the vehicle had too much damage.
The truck came to a stop and Max and I were out in
seconds.

“Is anyone hurt?” I asked
as we rushed over to them.

“No, but I think the
Sparks family knows where you are,” Leon said.

Max and I looked at each
other and we both thought one name, Jared. We gathered around
Leon’s truck. Mom spoke first.

“We just wanted to go get
food at the store. We're getting low on food, and everyone wanted
to get out of the house for a bit. We made it to the store just
fine, but when we got out and started heading home . . .” Mom was a
little shaken up still. Dad took over.

“Our brakes were cut. It's
an even slice. Someone did this deliberately, and after you told me
on the phone about Jared stopping by it made me start to
think.”

“He wanted to get as many
people out of the house and make sure you didn't come home. He
wanted to sneak into an empty house, or at least a house that had
as few people as possible,” Max said, finishing Dad's
thoughts.

“Exactly,” Dad
stated.

I felt sick thinking Jared
could be bad. I still couldn’t get myself to believe it.

We all piled into the
truck and left my parents’ broken-down suburban in the ditch.
Everyone could sense the fight coming close. We didn't know for
sure if they knew my location, but something inside of us told us
they did.

When we arrived back home
my brothers and dad jumped out of the back, while my mom slid out
of the passenger's side door.