Page 9 of The Wolf She Shouldn't Desire

“Always do,” I say before walking away from him and into the city.

I don’t know where I’m going or what, if anything, I’ll do but I know I can’t go back to the pack house right now. Both my wolf and I need to expel the pent-up energy after the interaction with Talia that’s left me with nothing but questions that I really don’t have answers to and memories of the gorgeous vampire I had pressed against me that are slowly starting to drive me to slow insanity, and she doesn’t even realize it.

Chapter 6

Talia

The coven house is my home, but more often than not lately, it doesn’t feel like home.

As I walk down the halls towards one of the few people I find joy with here, that is what I’m thinking. I have lived here all my life, but lately I have started to feel on edge in this house to where I feel I have to be looking over my shoulder constantly. I blame all the other people occupying the house with their fighting, backstabbing, and twisted thinking of things outside this house. It feels like an oily layer that coats every surface in the house like I constantly need a shower with a bottle of dish soap like I’ve seen on television with the baby ducks after an oil spill. Or, more often than not, needing a distraction. I find distraction from the coven house and its less than savory occupants occasionally in the very few people within the house that aren’t evil and twisted. The few that are good and who are compatible with me and my views of things. Yes, I’m not perfect and do some pretty evil things at the order of my father, but usually it is towards those who are deserving of it. If they aren’t, I struggle with it––trust me––but to defy my father is to ask for a certain dose of hell. My father knows just what to do to make me hurt and regret disobeying orders and that’s saying something when he has had me trained to withstand torture. He is the master of pain and making my life miserable. Whowouldn’t when they have constantly maintained a watchful eye on someone since birth? Since I can tolerate most, if not all, forms of torture, he tends to threaten those I care about and have me watchthembeing tortured. I can’t stand to see those I care about be harmed, so I do as I’m told no matter how much I may disagree or dislike the order.

Josie is one such person in this coven that is good and can provide me with the distraction I crave right now.

I knock on her bedroom door and hear her faint command to come in through the wooden door.

As I enter, I find Josie lying in bed placing a book down beside her. Josie is almost nine months pregnant and on bedrest until she delivers her baby.

Some people out there may think that vampires can’t become pregnant, but we can—just very, very rarely. Most of the time we are made through an exchanging of blood but there a rare few that are born. I am one of those rare few souls born instead of made. Vampires are more similar to humans than some would believe. The main differences being our diet, slower heart rate that results in a slightly lower body temperature, and immortality.

“Talia! It’s so good to see you again.”

I smile warmly at her as I make my way to sit beside her and face her. Once on the bed, I wrap my arms around her in a deep hug.

“It’s really good to see you too, Josie. How are you feeling?”

“Oh, same as always. Like a beached whale unable to move.”

We both chuckle.

“How areyouTalia?”

I sigh. “Same as always, I guess.”

We stay quiet for a minute before she speaks again.

“Something seems a little different though…almost…I don’t know. Has something happened?”

I glance down at the comforter of her bed and pick at a loose thread.

“Oh! Something has! Tell me. Please Talia! I’m so bored in here by myself and need something to gossip about or focus on other than my boredom.”

I’m not sure how to talk to her about Jordan. No one can know about the confusing thoughts surrounding him that have kept me awake most of the night, almost every night to be honest, and about a werewolf no less. I shouldn’t be having any thoughts about him really. But…it can’t hurt to talk vaguely about him. I need someone to talk to even if it is just to speak whatever I can out loud, and I really don’t want to have this conversation with Danny.

“There’s a man I met the other night…a very attractive man,” I say quietly.

“That’s great!” she squeals. But upon closer look at my face, she asks tentatively “Right?”

I don’t say anything as a crashing wave of sadness, hopelessness, and several other confusing emotions hit me with her simple statement. It isn’t great. He’s a werewolf, meaning it is pointless to entertain any thoughts or feelings toward him. I have nothing against werewolves unless they attack me or attack others for no reason, but I’m a vampire and vampires and werewolves don’t mix— either in relationships, romantic or friendly, or just to chase a quick orgasm after a particularly long dry spell. It’s the spoken and unspoken rule between the two species.

“Talia?” Josie whispers, pulling me out of my head.

“Nothing can come of it, Josie. So, no, it’s not great and talking to you makes me realize it’s pointless to dwell on too.”

She stares at me as if trying to discern the words I’m not saying and unwilling to acknowledge myself. I start to fidget from discomfort that grows and grows the longer she stares at me.

“Okay,” she finally says. “Anything interesting going on in or outside the coven house that I might find juicy then?”

I awkwardly chuckle in the relief that sweeps through me in that she isn’t going to push me on the one topic I really realize with that brief, almost nonexistent conversation, that I don’t feel comfortable discussing at the moment. So, I tell her what has happened since I last saw her. She becomes angry when I tell her what had occurred with Jackson a few nights ago, which I’m grateful my father did not seem to care all too much about and did not make a fuss about it.

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