Dinner at the Blackthorne estate was like a formal affair. The long mahogany table stretched down the center of the grand dining hall polished so clean it gleamed in the candlelight. The chandelier above flickered with golden fire and servants in muted tones moved like ghosts between courses. Amanda sat stiffly at the far end across from Skylar. He hadn't said a word since he walked in, not even a glance in her direction. Samuel Blackthorne lifted his glass, smiling widely.
"To new beginnings", he said, eyes flicking between Amanda, her mother Celeste and Skylar. "And to family", he added.
Celeste, always willing to lighten the mood, smiled and clinked her glass with Samuel's. Amanda raised hers half-heartedly. Skylar didn't even bother. He didn't look up, just toyed with his knife. His silence said everything louder than words. Amanda wasn't family, at least not to him. The meal was elegant: steak, vegetables, wine she wasn't allowed to drink, but every bite tasted like sandpaper in her mouth. She kept her eyes down, trying not to flinch each time Skylar's cutlery scraped his plate. When the leftovers of the main meal were cleared and dessert served, Samuel cleared his throat softly.
"Amanda, how are you finding school?", he asked.
"What?", Amanda was startled by the question and jumped slightly before regaining her composure.
"Oh, yeah, it's fine", she answered.
"I'm sure Skylar is showing you around? Showing you the ropes?", he asked, his gaze flicking between both of them.
Amanda opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. Should she lie and say yes even though Skylar avoided her like a plague in school?
"I wasn't aware that I was her babysitter", Skylar cut in before Amanda made up her mind to answer.
Samuel frowned.
"She is your step-sister, she's your responsibility now", he replied calmly.
Both of them stared at each other, something tense and strange passed between them, but it seemed Skylar lost because he frowned and bowed his head. He stood up, the chair making a screeching sound across the floor.
"Excuse me", he said, and walked away without waiting for a reply.
Amanda watched him leave, mixed feelings in her chest.
"You'll have to be patient with Skylar, he's always been grumpy", Samuel chuckled.
She smiled back politely, thinking to herself that grumpy was an understatement.
After dinner, Amanda, not wanting to go back to her room, decided to take a stroll. She walked through the garden towards the back, earbuds in. Lost in a haze, she found herself walking into the forest at the back of the estate. She had been walking for about 10 minutes when she felt something was wrong. She took out her earbuds and looked around. That's when she heard it, a low growl, similar to the one she heard at night. Her instinct was to turn around to leave, but it was like her feet weren't listening to her brain as it led her further into the forest. She heard another growl, but this time louder, more frightening. She looked up and saw Skylar. Only this person in front of her didn't look like Skylar, he didn't even look human. Bright golden eyes, sharp long teeth, an unnatural amount of hair on his face and his hands. He looked up, and their eyes met, something dark lurking beneath the golden glow of his eyes.
"You shouldn't be here", he said, his voice low and guttural, almost animalistic.
Amanda took a step back, then another, and then she broke into a full run. She didn't get far before she felt a hand on her arm.
"No!", she shrieked.
"No!, let me go! Let me go!", she screamed.
"Calm down, calm down for goddess' sake", Skylar said.
"Where do you think you're going?", he asked.
Amanda paused and looked around. She realized that she wasn't running back towards the house, towards her mother like she thought, instead she was running deeper into the forest.
"You don't go into these woods, ever", Skylar said coldly with an authority that irked her. She shrugged his hand off.
"Let me go", she took a step back.
His sharp teeth were gone but his eyes were still glowing and there was still hair on his face. She looked towards the forest and back at him.
"Why? Are there more...", she hesitated as she looked him cautiously up and down. Her heart had stopped beating wildly and now she could think more clearly. The dots began to connect, the weird vibe of the town, how she felt there was something more tying the people in this town together than just 'community'.
"What are you anyway?", she asked carefully, her voice low.
Skylar scoffed.
"A werewolf", he answered simply.
She scoffed back.
"Yeah right", she said, despite the fact that deep inside she believed him.
"Well, I don't know what else to tell you", he shrugged.
She studied him for a moment before nodding.
"Ok, ok, so you're a werewolf and this town? Moonridge is what? Some... some kind of-"
"Pack, a werewolf pack and my dad's the alpha", he interrupted.
Amanda's eyes shot up.
"Your dad's the alpha? My mother is married to the alpha?", she asked.
Skylar didn't reply but Amanda's mind had already descended into chaos.
"Are you okay?", Skylar spoke up, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"Yeah... I mean no, no, I need to go to my mother", she said, and began to walk away, towards the house this time, not looking back, not caring if he was right behind her or not.
Amanda burst through the doors of her mother's room without knocking.
"Oh!", she walked in on her mother and Samuel entangled in an embrace.
"Amanda!, what...?", Celeste said.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry", Amanda apologized hurriedly.
"It's okay", Samuel said soothingly, a small smile on his face.
He looked between Amanda and her mother before bowing his head slightly.
"I'll give you guys a minute", he said before leaving the room.
Amanda made sure the door was locked behind him. Samuel had been nothing but kind to her since they met, but knowing he was the alpha, she couldn't help but see him differently.
"Well, Amanda, what was so urgent that you burst in here without knocking?", her mother asked but there was a soft smile on her face.
Amanda approached her slowly.
"Did you know?", she asked.
"Know what?"
"That Samuel is an alpha, that this town is a freaking werewolf pack, that Skylar is a werewolf!", Amanda held her breath as she waited for her mom to burst into laughter, to ask her where she had heard such a silly story from to dismiss it, but instead the smile on Celeste's face fell.
"Oh."
"How did you find out?", she asked.
"I saw Skylar, in the forest behind the house-"
"What were you doing in the forest behind the house?"
"Mom, is that really what's important right now?", Amanda rolled her eyes.
"Right, sorry, I guess it's not", Celeste smiled self-deprecatingly.
Amanda sat beside her mother.
"So did you know?", she asked again.
"Yes, yes I did", Celeste answered.
"Before you got married?"
"Before we got married", she confirmed.
"Then why?", Amanda was stunned.
Celeste looked her in the eye.
"I love him", she said simply.
Amanda wanted to scream, to shout, but when she saw the look in her mother's eyes she couldn't. She remembered how much she had struggled when it was just the two of them. Her mother always tried not to show it, but she knew her father's death took its toll on her for a long time. She sighed.
"Why didn't you tell me?", she asked, her voice soft.
"I didn't know how you'd react. I was going to tell you, but I kept getting scared and kept putting it off and that was wrong. I should have told you, you had a right to know what you were getting into just as I knew", Celeste answered, grabbing her hands in hers.
"And I would understand, if you didn't want to be here any longer", she continued.
Amanda looked away, her mother was right, she deserved to know what she was getting into. She took a deep breath.
"He loves you?", she asked.
Celeste nodded.
"And the fact that he's the alpha may make him seem scary, but I promise you Amanda, he's still that awkward guy who has no idea how to be a good stepfather but trying his best to", she added.
Amanda chuckled a bit when she remembered her first interactions with Samuel, he really had been awkward. Either he was being too nice or trying not to seem too 'trying'.
"Ok", she said.
Celeste's eyes lit up.
"Really?"
"Really", she nodded with a small smile.
"I mean it will take some adjusting to, but Samuel does seem like a pretty good guy-"
"He is", Celeste nodded enthusiastically.
"And aside from being a little bit weird, no one in the town has actually caused any trouble for me", Amanda shrugged.
"Thank you, thank you", Celeste pulled her into a tight hug and showered her with kisses.
Amanda smiled back at her. Her mother's happiness was very important to her. Sure, she could get used to living in a werewolf pack, going to a high school surrounded by people who would barely touch her with a ten-foot pole and a stepbrother who ignited emotions in her that she couldn't even understand yet.
Sure, nothing bad had happened,
Yet.