Predator | 33

Lorena dragged April through the fifth shop in the neighboring town. They were looking for new clothes, or rather it was mainly Lorena who was looking for clothes, but she had yet to find anything eye-catching enough.

April had already bought a couple of things and was just following Lorena around as she eyed clothes but found them too boring to even consider trying it on in the fitting room.

It was a surprise when Lorena stood in front of the door earlier today, asking if she was busy today. She had asked for her company - female company - and chose her as her 'victim of the day', as she put it. It also was a great opportunity to get to know each other.

They had met each other a few times and exchanged here and there a couple of words, but other than that they couldn't exactly they that they know each other.

Shopping wasn't really April's favorite thing to do, neither was it Lorena's. April didn't like the long lines at the fitting rooms, never being patient enough to wait.

But she was indeed in need for new clothes. She wanted to buy new clothes days ago, but never found the time or was just too lazy to look through the shops.

An Rosewood didn't have any good shops. According to Lorena, they had just one or two second-hand shops and another clothing shop that sells clothes which just aren't Lorena's style.

So, like any other person in Rosewood, they visited the neighboring town, which had at least a few decent shops where they could look for clothes.

During their trip April noticed that Lorena was quite picky with her clothes. Her way of dressing was ordinary, to say the least. She wore a denim shirt with a white shirt underneath it, a black jeans and black converse.

For April, of course, the weather was just too cold to wear something as thin as a denim shirt with nothing underneath it than a even thinner shirt.

She was wearing a synthetic down jacket which she carried on her arm once being in a shop. Without it, she would freeze in the cold to an ice block. The mere thought of walking around without her jacket made her shiver uncomfortably.

"What do you think of this?" Lorena asked, holding a denim shirt in front of April's face.

April furrowed her eyebrows. "Lorena.. that's exactly the same as the one you're wearing right now."

"It's not," she denied with a shake of her head. "This one is a shade darker than mine and the buttons and prettier, if you look closely."

"I see no difference," April admitted.

Lorena rolled her eyes. "You can never have enough of denim jeans. The more the better." Her eyes slid to a pair of light brown jeans, eying them with interest. "What do you think of these? I kind of like them but I never now what I wear to match to the brown color."

"I think a grey shirt would look good with it."

"You think so?" Lorena asked doubtfully but still searched for her size and carried it to the fitting room. "I'll be quick," Lorena promised as she hurried into the fitting room.

April went through the shop and searched for for a few shirt and jeans, but ended up picking socks in black and grey. She already bought a few clothes in one of the previous shops, so she didn't need to worry about having no clothes anymore.

When Lorena excited the fitting room, she looked at April incredulously. "Here we are to buy some clothes and all you chose are socks?" She shock her head. "You're quite an odd one, do you know that?"

"I need socks!" April replied. "Lately, Eric has been complaining that I borrow his. I forgot to bring enough socks with me and now he's been nagging my ear off," April complained and scoffed.

"Oh, I believe you. Eric can be a whining bitch sometimes," Lorena said, her lip tugging up in a smirk. "But enough talking about your brother. I'm more curious about you and Nikolaj."

"How do you know?" The question surprised her and April could feel her cheeks heating up. No doubt her face turned to a soft shade of red.

"Shawn told me the other day. I hear that our Niki is smitten with you. Isn't that cute?"

Shawn? How does he even know, April wondered. The thought that her brother might have told him was slightly uncomfortable.

"There's nothing really going on," she lied as they excited the shop after paying for the clothes. They walked down the street to the parking space, heading towards Lorena's car.

"Really? Having sex is nothing?"

April groaned inwardly. She had hoped that Lorena had dropped the topic and wouldn't ask anymore questions. It wasn't like April was afraid to let her now that she was kind of involved with him, but Nikolaj and her didn't even talk about it yet, so it was kind of pointless to talk about it to Lorena.

"Did Shawn tell you that too?" April asked dryly.

A laugh escaped Lorena's lips. "Shawn was very talk active. I almost thought he's jealous. But yeah, he told me about that, too. He said that Niki reeked of you and it wasn't hard to figure out what happened."

April's cheeks burned again. If her face hadn't turned red before, then it surely did now. "At least I know now why you wanted to spend your time with me."

"What can I say? I'm a curious person," Lorena admitted without batting an eyelid. "But it wasn't because of that. I really want to get to know you."

April gave her a smile. It surprised her that Lorena was cool about it. After all, Nikolaj had told her how some of them might treat her badly if they ever find out. She had expected Lorena to scrunch her nose in disgust rather than making jokes about it and brushing it off like it's nothing. Like it's the most normal thing in the world.

"You don't think that it's.. well, not right?"

April was almost hesitant to ask that and she dreaded to hear the answer to that. She isn't one to take other opinions too seriously, but she couldn't deny that it still hurt when people talked bad about her or people she cared about.

"What? You and Nikolaj?" Lorena inquired and received a nod from April. Her forehead turned into a slight frown. "No. Why would I think that?" She asked confused.

"Well... Nikolaj told me that a few of you don't like to hear about humans and Lycans being, well, intimate. He said that they might treat me different now."

Her expression changed to an understanding one. "Oh, right. What he said isn't entirely wrong. But I'm not one of them," she said. "I had a human boyfriend not too long ago. I think it was a year ago."

"Really?" It surprised her to hear that. That made April curious."Did he know about you? What you are, I mean."

"No.. He didn't. That's why I broke it off, eventually. We've been together for half a year and sometimes he got suspicious, asking me where I was or what I've been doing. He even asked me if I was cheating on him. I told him I didn't, but how could he possibly believe me if I couldn't even explain myself?"

Lorena smiled a bitter smile and avoided April's gaze, pretending to search for the keys of her car once they reached the parking lot. Her whole posture had changed.

"I'm sorry to hear that," she spoke quietly.

"Don't be," Lorena said in an even and confident voice. "To be honest, I don't think it's smart to date a human who doesn't know about our existence. It's just too risky and the possibility that they will freak out once they discover what we are is pretty high. That's the main reason why a lot of us don't like the idea of us being involved with humans. But seeing as you already know of us, I don't see the problem."

April got into the car once Lorena had found her keys and opened the car. It was freezing inside and the atmosphere somehow changed into a somber one. Talking about her previous relationship had changed Lorena's mood within a split of a second.

There was so much April wanted to ask, but she decided to remain silent since she didn't want to be noisy. There was one question however that she just had to ask.

"What did the others think when they found out about you being in a relationship with a human?"

A heavy sigh escaped her lips. "I would like to know that as well," was her answer. "They didn't know. I kept it to myself. Eric is the only one who knows and he found it out by accident. I would have never told anyone about it. They wouldn't have hurt him, but I know that they would have made him feel unwelcome here or treated him badly. I didn't want him to experience that. I mean, how could I have explained it to him if everyone around here started to treat him like a bitch?" Lorena shook her head. "Telling anyone about it was just out of question for me."

April sinked deeper into her seat. It was somehow a forbidden relationship, she thought. Was all the hiding and all the secrets really worth it?

"What about Eric? Did he judge you?" They way he had overreacted the other day, it wouldn't surprise her if he did "When Eric found out about me and Nikolaj, he nearly hurt him."

Lorena laughed, as if hearing an amusing joke. "There's no way he could have hurt him. If anyone has to be afraid to get seriously injured, then it is your brother. No one beats Niki." She had a huge smile on her face. April realized that she was referring to the cage fights. "But anyways, your brother was cool with it. I think the reason why he reacted this way is because he's your brother."

April rolled her eyes. "What a wonderful reason that is."

Lorena shrugged a shoulder. "Well, that's the way he is, darling. He probably wants you far away from the bid bad wolf." She snickered at her inside joke.

The rest of the drive was mostly silent, a bit small talk here and there. Lorena soon dropped her off in front of Eric's apartment.

When she stepped inside the living room, she was greeted by the sight of Charles. He had made himself comfortable on the couch - a bit too comfortable - and drank from his tea. His feet were hanging over the rim of the table, as if he was in his own home.

When his eyes slid over to her, a wide smile illuminated his face. "You were shopping?" He asked, eying the shopping bags. "I hope you had a wonderful evening, though the weather isn't one to enjoy."

"What are you doing here?" April asked. She shrugged her jacket off, dropping it over the armrest of the couch. "Is Eric here?"

"No, he is not. And to answer your previous question, I am here because I have nowhere to stay. I much rather spend my time with good company than renting a room in a hotel." Charles dropped his feet off the table, his face turning into a serious expression. "I had hoped you would arrive soon."

"What do you mean?" April asked confused, a frown starting to appear between her brows. She didn't like the change in his tone. It sounded deeper and more serious now. "Did anything happen?"

"I think your lover needs you now."

______

This is a couple of hundreds word longer than the last few chapters. It was supposed to be a long chapter, but then something came up and I didn't have the time to write. I should be sleeping now but I really wanted to finish this chapter. Anyways, hope you like the chapter and as always, thank you for reading. :)