A5. The Call

Marina was looking outside the truck as they were driving down the trees that were surrounding the cottage. She sighed before her grandfather was pulling out in the driveway. She got out before she was walking toward the cottage.

“You should not trust that guy,” her grandfather said as she turned to look at him. He was grimacing before he produced the keys to unlock the door. Marina turned to look at him before he went inside the cottage, scrapping his boots against the welcome mat before removing the cap that hid his greying hair.

“What do you mean?” Marina asked him, coming after him when she was closing the door before locking it. It has been the afternoon when they reached the cottage and Marina knows that she needed to prepare some food for them. It was expected before her grandfather turned to look at her. He wanted to say something but hold it in.

“If you have something to say, just say it. I will not hold you up for something that I don’t even know by the looks of your face. I am not a mind reader,’ Marina said before she took off her cardigan as hooked it to the coat rack. Her grandfather sighed before he looked at her.

“I will be going out to hunt. You stay home and make sure to lock the doors. We don’t want any intruders to come,” he said before her grandfather was making his way to get his supplies. Marina was pulling her sleeves up to the elbows to prepare for their lunch.

“What about lunch?” she asked him before he waved at her.

“I’ll manage. I won’t be long,” he said before he kissed Marina on the forehead as he was slinging the backpack on his shoulders and went out of the cottage. She turned to look at his retreating figure when her grandfather was walking into the woods as he was eaten by the shadows of the forest.

*****

A few hours later, she managed to pull some stews for her and her grandfather when he returned later on. Marina was cleaning the pots before the landline phone was ringing all of a sudden. She stopped what she was doing and dried her hands before she went to pick up the receiver. She cleared her throat before answering the call.

“Hello, Kasun’s residence. Who is this?” she said before she heard the husky voice that chuckled lowly on the phone. Her clit instantly throbbed as she already who was the caller.

“Well, this is lovely to hear your voice when I just met you a little while ago,” he said before Marina was biting her lips. She wanted to giggle but she controlled it so that she would not seem too eager to get a call from Caleb.

“Hmm, and what would be even lovelier if you can’t hear my voice?” she jested before Caleb laughed.

“That’s a tough one but I think if I have one date with you that would be nice,” he said before he was sighing in the call. Marina furrowed her eyebrows before she was gripping the receiver.

“What’s wrong?” she asked him before Caleb cleared his throat. She was nervous to know what was making him sigh two times when she just talking to him for literally minutes in the call.

Was he regretting calling her? Does he have someone else? Does he have a girlfriend? A lot of questions were coming into her mind before Caleb was speaking to her.

“Listen, there will be a Folk Festival in town at the end of the month. I was hoping that you would like to come with me? It starts in the evening and usually ended around midnight but if you think that your grandpa would not allow you, we can do something—“

“Yes,” Marina said immediately as she knows what Caleb was implying to her.

“Yes? Don’t you need to ask your grandpa or something?” he said, confused with the confidence in her answer as she was taking a deep breath. She rolled her eyes but there was a smile on her lips. Caleb cared what Grandpa thought of him.

‘That boy was not good for you,’ his warning voice was penetrating into her skull before Marina pushed that thought away as she was trying to think of nothing else right now.

Nothing but Caleb on the phone.

“It’s fine. I’m sure he would allow me to go to the Folk Festival if I asked him to. So do not worry about it,” she said as she was smiling in her voice. She can hardly wait for the festival and if she remembered correctly, there was only a couple of days before the weekend of the end of the month.

This was the best week of her life! Argh!

“Okay, if you say so. And one more thing,” Caleb said as she was gripping the receiver even tighter now.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think of coming to a hunt with me? I would love to show you around Paphos and the forest was a nice time for camping and I hope that—“

“I would love to,” she said before Caleb chuckled.

“I swear you immediately say anything to me just for the fun of it. Let me guess, your grandfather will allow you to go with a man into the forest again?” Caleb teased her before Marina blushed. Hard.

“Well, I am a grown-up, independent woman. I can take of myself, thank you very much, and I don’t need him to be pestering over me like a mother hen. I know martial arts,” she said before Caleb laughed.

“Of course, you do. So, this weekend?” he asked before Marina was biting her lower lips.

“It’s a date,” she said before the heat was on her face. Why did I have to say that? She mused to herself but Caleb just laughed it out loud.

“It’s a date then. I see you later, Marina,” he said before the phone beeped, meaning that he had hung up. Marina put the receiver back onto its place before she was smiling to herself. She cannot resist the warm blood on her cheeks as she was making her way to the bedroom, wondering what it would be like to go on a date with a man.

*****

‘He was closing in,’ Xavier said in the mind l**k as Caleb, Arthur, and he was scanning the area where the old man was pouching the meals.

‘Damn this old man. I cannot believe that my mate would be related to this guy,’ Caleb said as he was baring his teeth while the saliva was dripping from the corner of her mouth. The wolf with the same brown fur was looking at him with his grey eyes before he can sense that Xavier was amused.

‘Yeah, talking about respect. This old guy did not have one,’ he said before Arthur was coming from behind him. The black wolf with the greenest eyes that Caleb saw was sniffing the air.

‘He got more of the rabbits now. We need to stop him, we can’t just let him get away for hunting in our territory,’ Arthur said as he was baring his teeth as well. Caleb shook his head before he was trudging away from the bushes.

‘No, it is not the time for that. We will be getting that soon enough,’ Caleb said before he howled and the wolf that was biting down on the bunny not far from them was startled. That should do it, he mused before the old man, who was now in his wolf form with his grey fur and blue eyes, was stuffing the rabbit inside the satchel that he brought with him. In an instant, the grey wolf was running away from them and he poaches.

‘Damn it,’ Arthur said and was ready to go after him before Caleb stopped him.

‘No,’ he said as he was snapping his teeth to Arthur. The black wolf submitted immediately. Caleb turned to look at the grey wolf before it disappeared into the dark forest.

‘Patience. Let him have his fun and later, we will tear it away from him,’ Caleb said before was running in the shadows, following the grey wolf before he came to the neutral territory of the cottage where the old man lived.

And his mate.

*****

The old man should know that howl was a warning. He transformed himself on the edge of the neutral territory before he was putting on his clothes back on. His hair on his nape was standing. He was near, he can sense it. The old man was walking hastily toward the cottage before he was unlocking the door and slammed back into the slot.

He breathed out the relief that was feeling after he was walking into the cottage. It was late at night and he knows that his granddaughter must have fallen asleep. He did not want to disturb him so he went to skin the rabbits that he brought home and stored them in the freezer for his granddaughter.

Marina was his legacy, the only living descendant of the Old Council. It was his duty to tell her what she really was but she never showed that she was getting the genes that would change her life forever.

She did not shift when she was 15 years old and did not once again when she was 18 years old. Marina was 24 years old now and he knew that the time for hope was gone. He was the last descendant from the Old Council of Paphos Pack and the only Elder that lived on after the Great War.

He sighed before he went to sit in the living room and turned on the television. The old man did not hear the unlocking of the locks that he thought would protect him. He was wrong and tonight will be the last night that he would ever be safe in the cottage that was decreed to him from the Old Council.