Big Bad Wolfie

We're on our way through the hot and muggy Forrest after finding the last known whereabouts of the hybrids from the computer drive. Things were going slowly, a.k.a, we're all bored out of our minds waiting for something to happen.

Anything.

Anything other than my calf hurting like a mother trucker.

Wolfie got a call.

Well I guess that's something.

"Hello?" He spoke into the phone.

The person on the other side spoke. He narrowed his eyes at me before he said, "Yeah, she's with me, why?"

Destiny's POV

"Oh ummmm," I looked to Doc and Trainer Marco for help, "I need to talk to her because. . ."

They were no help and just motioned for me to hurry up and come up with something.

I tried to hide my small pout. I'm not good at lying.

"Um, vampire stuff," I said lamely.

"Well I'm sure -" by the tone of his voice I knew he was about to shut me down.

"Girl vampire stuff," I added hurriedly.

Doc and Trainer Marco looked at me like that was the dumbest thing I could have said.

Wow, I'm stupid.

"Can't you get someone else to help you with that? She -"

"Can I please just talk to Maria?!" I sputtered, "she's like a sister to me and I don't want to talk about this with anyone else," I looked down shyly, even though he can't even see me. It's because I do see her as a big sister, but that's kind of embarrassing, don't you think?

He sighed, and for a second, I thought he was just going to hang up.

"What's your name?" I was happy when I heard his voice again.

"Destiny," I mumbled quietly.

"Maria, there's a Desity on the phone wanting to talk to you," I heard him on the other end, mispronouncing my name. I've always been told I'm hard to understand over the phone. "Desity?" I heard her question.

Oh my goodness, how embarrassing.

"Yeah, I don't know," Mr Jason said, probably rolling his eyes.

"Oh! It's probably my favorite little wallflower!" I heard Maria a second later.

I blushed.

I cursed myself. Dang it, I'm only able to blush right after I feed, but Doc and Trainer Marco are standing right there.

I don't think Trainer Marco noticed, but Doc pinched my cheek.

I sighed.

Sometimes I hate being the youngest.

15 is young, but not pinching cheek young. And it only made my blush worse.

My thoughts were interrupted by Maria's chirpy voice, "Hey Desi, what's up?"

I smiled, but then it turned to a frown when I remembered why I was calling. "You're not on speaker, are you?" I whispered.

Her voice lowered a little, "No, why?"

I breathed in and out, "Trainer Marco wanted me to tell you House Crescent Moon returned your call. They except the deal and are ready to go when you are."

I don't even know what I'm talking about, but Doc figured Mr Jason would be more likely to hand the phone over to Maria if I was the one that asked. There was silence for a few seconds.

Her voice came back different. I can't put my finger on what it was about it, but it made my frown deepen. "Okay, thank you Desi. Is that all?"

"Yeah," I mumbled and was about to hang up dejectedly.

"Oh cool, so how's it been over there? I trust you're holding down the fort while I'm gone?"

That made the smile come back to my face.

Goodness, I'm pathetic. It's not like she's my actual older sister giving me praise. I don't even have one.

But I gave a small laugh, "I guess."

"Sweet, and I know no one's been able train for a while, but how did the blood collection go? I know it's not as exciting as fighting, but at least it's something," she asked, probably shrugging her shoulders in her nonchalant way.

"Oh, it, um, it went okay. The wolves are actually pretty good listeners. They didn't get in the way too much," I giggled at my own joke.

Maria snorted, "I wonder where they got it from. I know it wasn't their alpha."

I giggled more.

"Are you done?" I heard Mr Jason on the other side. He didn't sound happy, in fact, he sounded pretty annoyed.

Maria sighed, exasperated, "I guess. I'll see you later, Desi. Take care of yourself, okay?"

"Okay," I smiled, "Be safe. Please don't die."

"I'll try," she said in her quirky way.

She always says that. It's either that or 'no promises'. It makes me nervous. Do you know how many people would be devastated if she went out and never came back? What would happen to our house?6

I shivered. I don't even wanna think about that.

"Maria!" I heard Mr Jason's voice.

Oh, definitely not happy.

"Ugh! Calm down!" She grunted. "I gotta go, Des, bye."

"Bye."

She hung up.

I sighed.

She better not die. I will be very mad at her if she does.

Maria's POV

My nerves are shot.

The call with Desi honestly helped. She's so cute and lovable. She reminds me I have a house I have to be strong for.

But now I'm just stuck in the suffocating silence again.

This is awkward. Like, really awkward.

Everyone can feel the tension between me and Wolfie.

It's literally palpable.

And I'm not even able to break it like I usually am. My mind's too occupied worrying about the hybrid we encountered.

The gash in my leg and arm just serve as reminders.

They're after us.

They're probably tracking us.

This is bad.

It's making my nerves go haywire and my hair stand on end 24/7.

I feel like we're being watched.

Every second, my talent feels closer and closer to the surface.

Even the little creatures in the forest breaking a twig in the distance makes it flare dangerously close to the edge.

I can't go over the edge.

I can't.

I can't inconvenience the team like that.

It hasn't happened in a group setting in years, and I don't plan to change that on this trip.

At the very least, it wastes time we don't have and puts the group in more danger.

I can't be the cause of that.

After hours of walking, but fortunately covering a lot of ground, night came.

"Alright, I think we should take a break for a while. I hope you're all rested though, because I wasn't planning on stopping to sleep until the third night," Wolfie announced.

Well, I haven't slept in weeks, and it'll probably be even worse now, but I'm good at running on fumes.

... But, those who's bodies haven't been conditioned to withstand weeks to months without sleep because their heads are actually screwed on straight, may have a little problem.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to set up any sort of camp, even a one night setup, three days into the forest? At that point, we'll be pretty close, if not on top of, the hybrids if we stay at this pace. It might be dangerous. And I think it'd be wise to be well rested," haha, I should talk, "when we're a day's walk away from this supposed hybrid hub. It just makes it easier for them to find and jump us. Especially on their home turf."

I could tell by Wolfie's face he was about to disagree, but Cali spoke before he could get a word out.

"She's right, I think the second night would be best," Cali sided with me.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone would get any sleep knowing their only a day's walk away from some of the deadliest creatures in the world," Brandon chimed in.

"Let's vote. Who wants to set up camp the second night?" Stephan proposed.

Everyone raised their hand, other than Wolfie.

Even Happy raised his hand.

Wolfie turned to him. "Dude!"

"Sorry man, it just makes more sense," Happy shrugged innocently.

"Well, this isn't a democracy," Wolfie crossed his arms over his chest.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay. Who wants to make this a democracy?"

Everyone, but one, raised their hand again.

I smiled at him, "Sorry, you've been overruled. It's a democracy now."

Jason's POV

Ugh, this whole second night thing doesn't work because, I planned to attack the hybrids using some stealth strategies that work for small groups. We need to be well rested for that.

But I can't tell them that now because, they'll shoot the idea down right away. I need more time to make a solid plan that I know and they know could work.

I sighed, half from all the chaos going on in my head and half from what Maria just said.

"Oh, c'mon now," she rolled her eyes, "don't be that guy."

I raised an eyebrow. "What guy?"

"The guy that nobody likes because he's always trying to tell everybody what to do," Rose answered for her.

"Yeah," Stephan agreed.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

"I don't know what's up with you, but it's annoying. You're usually so cool to work with! What the h3ll happened?" He continued.

"I happened," Maria shook her head before I could even think of a response. "He's trying to prove to me who's boss," She looked at me like you would an amusing child.

And she wonders why I can be cold to her.

'Why? Because she can see right through you?'

Us! She can see right through US.

'Whatever.'

"Ugh, fine," I rolled my eyes with a glare at Maria.

This is going to be a long few days.☐☐☐