Nothing ever stays the same

"Damn, I should have guessed 'too dramatic.'" I roll my eyes. "Is there anything else or can I go back to my conversation with Brodie?" I turn to walk away but she grabs my arm again. "We need to talk." She says, perfect enunciation in every word. My mother always needs to talk to me about something. "I'm serious." She continues.

I roll my eyes and gesture sarcastically for her to walk in front of me. I turn back to Brodie who is staring in my direction confused. I catch his eye, I roll my eyes and shake my head in over exaggerated annoyance. Sorry... Good luck. He mouths back.

I follow my mother back to the small cottage that she lives in. Weeds grow about the yard, there are toys shrewn about that I haven't seen in years. I spot a particular area where I can see what looks like a tuft of fur sticking out of the overgrown grass.

I dash over to it like an excited little girl, and pick it up gingerly, "awww, Gracie. I had wondered where you were." She's caked in dirt and falling apart from being out in the weather but somehow still recognisable. I hear my mother tut at me as she walks in the front door. I roll my eyes gently placing Gracie back down and follow her inside.

The moment I sit down, mother starts playing the polite hostess. " Would you like some tea? How about a cookie?" My mother asks, my heart starts pounding. She only gets like this with me when it's something really big, something that she doesn't know how to talk about.

The last time she was like this was on my 18th birthday, when she finally told me the truth about my father. He hadn't died when I was just a few months old, like she said, he had died when I was 12. She divorced him while she was still pregnant with me, he became unhinged, delusional.

Someone had told my mother they saw him climbing up a tree, he was talking about how he had a vision. That if he climbed all the way to the top and prayed to the god of all species he'd get everything in his life back.

Apparently this person had seen him get halfway up before his foot slipped, and he lost his grip. He fell the entire way back down the tree, branches snapping, stabbing into his flesh as he fell down the tree. As he gained momentum larger branches snapped off, until he was about 12 feet off the ground. He snapped off a branch the size of my arm and impaired himself. I was told in graphic details how my own father died but I was never told the source of the information, a bit weird in my opinion. My mother assured me the source was reliable, the fact that she didn't want to tell me the source had me a little bit suspicious though.

She never told me much about him growing up. Most or the pack members who knew him, say I don't even really look like him, with the exception of my caramel skin. I have my mother's black wavy hair, her amber eyes. Her tall slender figure, her face and body structure. People always tell me I have 'the beauty of my mother, with the kindness and energy of my father.' It always made me want to meet him even more.

"Caitlin," she snaps me out of my thoughts. "Would you like some tea? Have you eaten?" She asks. "Mom, just get it over with, we both know you don't care if I've eaten." I retort.

"Thats no way to speak to anyone, you need to learn some manners. You're too -" I hold up my hand cutting her off. "Mom." I glare daggers. She sighs, opens her mouth to speak but no words come out. She closes her mouth again, deep in thought. "I know you don't want to hear it, but you need to control your emotions. You could have seriously hurt someone today."

"Since when did you start telling jokes?" The question comes out before I can stop it. Please don't hurt me, I think as I watch her expression. "I'm not joking." She responds, rolling her eyes. "What you think I started the fire?" I ask. I'm not sure how she thinks I would have been able to do something like that. "Didn't it extinguish itself when you looked at it?" She remarks, ignoring my tone. "You don't think that might have been because you wanted it to stop, so you could look for Blake?"

There's no way she expects me to believe that I'm, somehow, responsible for starting, no, sorry, creating a fire. Not only that but, a fire that killed, that incinerated my boyfriend?. "I bet you don't remember anything after starting to get angry." She chimes, as if she knew about my argument with Blake . "Right, and you know this because you were there?" I say sarcastically.

My mother's face shifts, she looks uncomfortable. I can't quite figure out her expression. "Wait, what are you not telling me?" I can't help the accusation in my voice. "Caitlin, why would I hide anything from you while trying to have a serious conversation with you?" She asks. Is she serious right now?

"Because I've never been able to trust you? You lied about dad. You're now implying that I, somehow, created a fire, that killed my boyfriend, and many other people, and you've not even told me why were here yet." My mouth moves on its own. What is wrong with me today? It's like I have a death wish.

Maybe you do? My wolf, Lia, chimes in. Maybe, something is causing you to, accidentally, just say what's on your mind. It's not like you have two magical beings that's can do that whenever we please. Lia continues, I squeeze my eyes closed and wish that something would come whisk me away.

You're evil, I bite back. Who said Lia was the one who did it? Olivia asks sounding triumphant and impressed. Olivia is my vampire half, or is it technically third? My vampire third? No that sounds weird, my vampire half.

I'm a hybrid, mom and dad were both hybrids like the majority of the pack. Some families have remained a single species household and will only ever have a mate of their own species. It's a weird thing for the moon goddess to do but we don't choose our mates.

I mean one time, I met a vampire who accidentally stumbled out of pack territory after following something she described as 'buring the most amazing vanilla candle while eating chocolate tart.' She ended up outside of pack territory and finding her mate, who turned out to be human. How weird is that? Her mate ended up asking her to turn her into a vampire too, humans are very misinformed. She also believed that werewolves worship the moon.

To be clear vampires and werewolves wee both created by the moon goddess, that's why vampires burn in the sun and werewolves shift involuntarily on a full moon. It's more to do with finding your mate than it is to do with baying at the moon and acting like a lunatic like the vampimate thought.

She's actually much better informed now. Turns outz she was also a really sweet person, she became my best friend very quickly. I helped her learn our history and taught her everything that she needed to know to be able to survive in our pack. It can be pretty brutal here sometimes.

"CAITLIN!" Mom screams at me. Holy crap I was deep in thought. "I'm sorry, I have a lot on my mind. Did you say something?" I respond sheepishly. "I asked, are you still not convinced that you have the power to create fire?" She sighs in exasperation. "If you're not, I can get you to do it again in a safe place." Liv, Lia, do you know what she's on about? She sounds crazy. I can sense awkward glances between the two, but neither respond. What? Is there something you know that I don't? I'm more confused than ever. Before I can ask anything more, Lia chimes. Caitlin, you're not actually a hybrid. Why does nothing ever stay the same?