Predator | 15

"At work," Shawn replied in a bored tone. "Something important came up and he had to leave very early this morning. I think he will return very late at night, also. So don't expect him to be home anytime soon."

April sighed. "I see," she muttered silently and pushed herself off the bed. She briefly wondered what her brother was doing right now. Everything seemed so strange.

"Want to eat something? I'm quite hungry," April suggested after seconds of silence and turned around to face him.

He got off of the bed and followed her into the kitchen, shrugging his shoulders. "Sure. Thank you."

Shawn was sitting at the dinning table, his hands folded together in front of him. Soft gleams of the brisk sun were shining directly on half of his face, but it didn't seem like it was bothering at all.

There was silence between them, as April occupied herself in the kitchen, preparing lunch. It was an unused thing to do, eating lunch with someone.

Before arriving in Rosewood, she was used to an empty kitchen at her parent's home as well as her own apartment. April almost forgot how nice it could be, to be in company with other people.

After declining the help Shawn offered, the silence around them became thicker and thicker with every second that ticked by and April couldn't shrug off the feeling, that he was actually avoiding to talk to her. God knows only why, but when did the people here in Rosewood make sense anyway?

Once finishing prepared the food, she placed the plate in front of Shawn, who thanked her silently, before sitting down in the opposite of him at the table.

For moments, the silence kept stretching through the time, before April cut through it by beginning a plain small talk.

"How's the food?" She asked, raising her eyes from her plate to his face.

Shawn nodded, wiping his mouth with a napkin before answering her. "It's good, thank you. After eating what Eric prepared once, I expected you to be quite a disaster in the kitchen as well," he joked with a slight chuckle at the end.

April snickered at that. "Must have been a long time ago, 'cause from what I have experienced, he isn't that bad of a cook, actually," she spoke, her lips slightly tugging up slightly. "By the way, when did you say was he coming back again?" April asked and watched him for moments before he decided to answer.

"Late at night, most probably. It depends on the situation," Shawn answered, showing the spoon inside his mouth.

"What kind of situation?" The curiosity was killing her. She already figured that whatever Eric was doing in his free time during 'work', had to be some kind of nasty business. A corrupted cop, maybe? Still, she wanted her thoughts to be confirmed. Or rather denied, she hoped.

Shawn's fingers twitched around the spoon. "How would I know? You should ask him, not me. I usually stay out of his business."

"But you work at the police station, also. You should at least know about the problems here around Rosewood."

A thoughtful expression was all over Shawn's face, before being replaced with a more nervous one. "I don't. I really don't. Look, I don't exactly know where you are coming from, but here in Rosewood things are different. Knowledge can be a deadly thing, you know. It's the best when you don't know anything that happens here. Either that or you pretend to be blind and mute."

"So there is something bad happening here!" April exclaimed, but frowned afterwards. "So why would Eric want me to visit him in the first place, when he knows that it's dangerous here?"

A heavy sigh fell from his lips. Shawn thought for a few moments, before looking into her eyes and answering her, "It's dangerous, yes. But there is nothing for you to worry about. You are safe."

He sounded genuine, but April doubted his words. Her guts were telling her something else. Rosewood just gave her a bad feeling and she could feel it deep in her stomach, how it was twisting and turning around.

The shrill sound of a phone ringing broke through April's thoughts- the sound of Shawn's phone. He let his fork drop on his place, wiping his mouth before excusing himself from the kitchen.

Left with nothing more than silence, April tried to overhear Shawn's conversation over the phone. He sounded muffled, barely audible. It was impossible to catch on what he was saying, not as long as he was whispering in the other room.

Minutes after, he strolled into the kitchen again. His eyes were slightly crossed with anger, she noticed. Must have been an unpleasant conversation he had, she figured.

"Thank you for the lunch, April. I'm afraid I have to leave now. Something important came up," he excused himself.

April followed him into the living room. Shawn placed his phone on the table and grabbed his jacket that hung from a hanger.

Once he put his jacket on, April tagged along to the front door, seeing him off. Just as she was about to return to the kitchen, she noticed Shawn's phone on the table in the living room.

For brief moments, she thought if she should quickly follow after him, returning his phone. But the curiosity won, as it always did.

Almost hesitantly, she grabbed his phone, unlocking it. To her surprise, the last person he was talking to was Eric. Awkward emotions of anger and confusion rushed through her.

Without spending another thought on was she was about to do, she quickly grabbed her keys and left the apartment.

With the keys tightly inside the palm of her hand, she hurried over to Eric's car. April tried to find Shawn, but he was nowhere to be seen.

She cursed under her breath. There was no way in hell she could now know where her brother was. Just as she was about to leave the car after long minutes passing by, Shawn left the building.

So he was in his apartment before, she guessed.

April quickly ducked behind the steering wheel, hoping he wouldn't see her. Luckily, he didn't. He seemed to be too distracted by his own thoughts to noticed his surroundings.

She let her eyes follow after him into the woods. Momentarily, Shawn was standing stock-stiff next to a tree, breathing heavily.

What the hell is he doing? April thought to herself.

Was he waiting for someone? For Eric, maybe?

She narrowed her eyes at him, peeking from under the steering wheel and continued to observe him from afar.

April snapped from her line of thoughts when she noticed the slight change in Shawn's posture. His breathing became heavier, it was almost unmoral, as if his lungs were restricting him from breathing.

Unknowingly, April's eyes widened. Like being possessed by an evil spirit, Shawn's body was slumping forward a few times.

Sitting silently in Eric's car, she watched Shawn digging his nails across his chest, ripping his shirt off his body. The destroyed material of his shirt fell around him on the muddy ground.

Shocked, April noticed traces of blood on the bare skin on his chest. Shawn fell on his hands, his nails digging into the muddy ground beneath him.

Then it clicked in April's mind. He was transforming. The disturbing scene was the process of a Lycan transformation.

Her grip on the steering wheel tightened. There was a great distance between her and Shawn and the car didn't allow any noise to enter inside, but she could imagine the sound of his bones cracking painfully within his flesh.

After long moments, human flesh was replaced by thick fur. White canines dripping in saliva were clenched tightly together, almost in an angry manner.

Shawn jumped forward in his Lycan form and run through the forest. April ignored the unsettling feeling and started the engine.

She drove after him, her gaze flickering between the road and the forest Shawn was running through. His pace was impossible high, forcing her to ignore the town's speed limit. April doubted it would even bother anyone here in the town. It was Rosewood, after all.

After a few minutes of driving after him, she finally lost the sight of him between the endless amounts of trees. He was nowhere in sight.

April let her eyes drifting through the whole area around her, but it was hopeless. Shawn was gone and she wondered if he noticed her following after him. It wouldn't surprise her if he did.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath and slowed down her car. She lost the track on him, there was now no way of finding out where her brother was and what he really was doing at work.

Great. Just great. Her eyes slowly drifted from the wood away to the road in front of her. April quickly kicked the brake pedal when she saw Shawn in the middle of the road. In his Lycan form.

The moment remembered her of her first day in Rosewood, after she escaped Shawn. It was a moment of a déjà vu for her. It was almost funny, really. Almost.

The car halted just a couple of meters away from of him. April watched him with cautiously. He was still in his other form, it was hard to say what he was thinking, or if he was angry. No, she didn't need to see his human form to know that he was angry. He was angry and she knew it.

Moments passed and no one made the attempt to move. April was unsure what to do. Should she just drive around him? Or should she rather shoo him away?

She swallowed the sudden dryness in her throat away. Very slowly, she pushed the door open, getting off the car. April stepped forward to him, leaving only bit of space between them on the road.

It scared and amazed her at the same time, how giant and beastly looking his other form was. April didn't let her gaze waver away from him.

A low growl from Shawn made her shudder slightly. She was right, he was angry. And how angry he was. Shawn was baring his long canines at her. He approached her in slow and careful steps, making her to take a step back, also.

After a few steps, April hit the car with her back. She steadied herself by leaning both of her arms on the car behind her.

Then, she waited. She didn't know what he was about to do. His gaze - even though he was still in Lycan form - looked pretty much deadly to her, though she highly doubted Shawn would harm her in any way.

Still, the unsettling feeling inside her grew as the time stretched by. Shawn's eyes never left her and for moments, she felt like a prey- completely and utterly trapped.

Again, Shawn moved forward and April couldn't move an inch, even if she wanted to. What surprised her, was that he didn't bother with her and waltzed an all fours past her.

April could hear the soft steps of paws walking on the ground, but she flinched when she heard the disturbing noise of bones breaking.

He was shifting back to his human form. Not daring to turn around, she waited for him to do something and say something.

Shawn opened the luggage space and judging by the sound she heard, Shawn was dressing himself. Eric had spare clothes in his car?

Slowly and hesitantly, April turned around. She was relieved that Shawn was fully dressed. Now being in his human form again, she could clearly see the anger crossing his face.

He was glaring at her with burning eyes. "What the fück do you think you're doing here, April?" He spat. Shawn was intimidating when he was angry, no doubt.

April didn't let her face waver with her emotions. "The question is, what you are doing. Why didn't you tell me Eric was the one who called you?" She demanded to know. "Where is he? Is he in some kind of trouble or why do you keep everything a damn secret!"

Shawn growled angrily at her. "How do you even know?" He asked as he kept watching down on her with burning eyes.

She dug her hands into her pockets, dragging his phone out. April waved it in front of his face and smiled mischievously at him. "You left this," she explained.

Shawn's eyebrows furrowed when his eyes fell on his phone between April's hand.

"Oh?" He asked and snapped the phone away from her before she could hide it from him. "And who gave you the permission you could sniff in matters that are none of your business?"

"I don't need permission from anyone. He's my brother, anything he does is my business," she spoke slowly between gritted teeth.

"You're behaviour is annoying, do you know that? And your curiosity will bring you a lot of unwanted problems. Do you want that, April?"

"All I want is to know where he is. I know that he is in trouble."

"You know nothing," he spat. "And what did gave you the impression that he is lying to you?" Shawn asked curiously, but his voice was furious still.

"Everything. I know that he isn't telling me everything. He only tells me what he can not hide from me anymore, just like the existence of Lycans. If it wasn't for the accident not long ago, he wouldn't have told me that either. I think I deserve the truth."

That, of course, were her guts that were making her speak. It was just a feeling that made her believe something was wrong, but she was sure her guts were telling her the truth.

"And I think with that irritating attitude of yours, you deserve nothing."

If Shawn didn't make it clear that she should stay away from her brother's business, he sure as hell did now. But April didn't accept this. She knew there was something going on. Something that no one was willing to tell her and April would do everything to find out what it was.

Shawn just let out a tired breath, shaking his head. He was irritated with her and annoyed that she bothered even sticking her nose into things that had nothing to do with her.

He placed both of his hands on April's shoulder, grabbing her with a strong grip and forcing her to step closer to him, unwillingly.

For moments, she seemed confused by his odd action, until she felt pain on the back of her head and unconsciously slumped against Shawn's chest.

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Vote, comment and share if you like this story. I will start writing the next chapter tomorrow and hopefully finish it by Wednesday. As always, thanks for reading!