Shameful by May Dawson
14
Legacy
That afternoon,Tania sat at the kitchen island, her chin propped on her hand, watching me sadly. She would’ve ditched class anyway to come sit with me, but she’d already been forbidden from leaving pack lands. I half expected my bestie to be pissed at me, but instead she just seemedsad.
“I don’t understand how there’s any other possible explanation for what happened to me,” I protested.
Mom joined us, pushing cups of tea across the island toward both of us. “I believe you, Legacy. But none of the footage shows a vampire—just you, running down the street. As a wolf and as a human. Your change was even caught on camera.”
I felt sick and ashamed, even as I wanted to believe that none of it was my fault.
“Dad got the footage, right?”
“Dad got it,” she assured me. Her lips tightened, her jaw flexing. “And Tyrone put out a call from the police force for any cell phone footage. Between him and the council’s hackers, we’ll make sure it disappears.”
“The Eldersknow?”
“Baby, there’s no keeping a secret like this.” My mother patted my hand comfortingly. “We had to talk to the council. To keep everyonesafe.”
“I was trying,” I whispered. “I did mybest.”
“I know,” she said, trying to summon a smile.
In the next room, I could hear the drone of the television. Dad was never home watching television during the day. I cocked my head to one side, worried. Was he still working pack security? Or was he focused on protecting menow?
And if he was protecting me… was it because they expected the vamp to strike again?
“You believe me, right, Mom?” I said, even though she’d just said she did. I needed to hearit.
“Of course,” she said. She kissed the top of my head, and I started to relax before she added, “Something scared you out there. It was real foryou.”
“It was real,” I insisted.
“Maybe witches cast a spell on you,” she said. “Maybe a rival pack shifter, knowing you’re Lucas’s mate, went after you for himself. Or maybe, yes, it was a vampire. There’s no way of knowing.”
I know,I wanted to say, but I couldn’t deal with being disbelieved one moretime.
My cell phone pinged.
Lucas.
I’ll pick you up for the pack meeting early so we can talk. 7pm.
Everyone else would be at the quarterly pack blood drive before the meeting. We always had to be ready for an attack—now more so than ever, if vamps were targeting our pack and not justme.
Tania craned her head to look over my shoulder, then snorted. “I can driveyou.”
“Lucas wants to take you?” My mom asked, and when I nodded, she said, “I think you’d better ride with him. You two will have a lot to talk about.”
“What if he doesn’t believe me?” I asked. He’d barely spoken up in the meeting with Cyrus and Tyrone, and then it was only to blame my time in Crosby for the disaster.
My mother didn’t answer. I turned to Tania, who said, “Then I’ll kick him in thenuts?”
“Tania. Please.” My mother sounded affectionate.
No one was answering my question seriously. I wanted to ask Tania if she believed me, but I realized how pathetic I sounded, especially when there seemed to be no proof of what I’d seen. Lots of cameras had captured me, but none had captured the vamp. Vampires were fast, but not that fast. And no one else had found traces of his scent to track, either.
Although I had to wonder if the pack was even really trying to track the vamp, or if everyone thought I was aliar.