Dearest Readers,

Thank you all for the support, and I hope you all are enjoying this story so far! If you have any questions, comments, or simply enjoy the story, feel free to leave a comment/review! I deeply appreciate any feedback I can get!

Don't forget to check out my other works!

XOXO Ally Layne.

Bad Moon Rising

Chapter 6: No One Likes Secrets

I held up a hand but didn't dare touch his bare chest.

Damn, that chest was good looking. He was good looking. Too bad he had an attitude problem.

"Okay, first of all- what the fuck, dude?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air.

Jacob Black, the biggest jerk I had the displeasure of meeting, let out a sound that sounded suspiciously like a growl. My jaw tightened.

"You… you ruined everything," He spat back at me, looking up and down at my figure with a sneer. "You're nothing, we… you are nothing."

I blinked. "Uh, literally, I'm standing right here and you're yelling in my face so yeah, I am something you dickwad."

Jacob's glare sharpened, and his body vibrated even quicker than it was before. He looked from me, back to Bella, then to me again, and let out another snarl before turning and running into the woods.

I scoffed. How childish.

My arms crossed beneath my chest as I let out a heavy breath. This place is full of more lunatics than Camp Half-Blood. They better be careful or they're going to be pretty close to the inhabitants of Mt. Olympus at this point.

"What did you do to him?"

I immediately whirled around to see an irate Bella Swan glaring at me with her fists clenched at her sides. "Nothing, honestly."

She blinked, shocked at my answer, but quickly her anger took over once more. "No… you did something to him," she insisted. "Why would he act like that if you didn't-"

"Bella, it's okay," a voice insisted, cutting her grievances off.

I watched as Billy Black wheeled himself over to where we were standing, a faraway look in his eye as he gazed out to the woods where his son had just departed. "Miss Jackson here didn't do anything wrong."

Bella blinked again, looking at Billy as though he had just grown a second head. "What do you mean? She made Jake run away!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, obviously you didn't notice the part where he just started yelling at me out of nowhere after I literally did nothing wrong."

She crossed her arms to match my stance. "Obviously you did, or he wouldn't have started to yell at you like that."

I let out another scoff. "This is the first time I've ever met the guy, so how would he know me enough to start yelling at me out of the blue like that? If anything, he's absolutely bonkers!" I turned to Billy. "Are you sure your son is completely sane? Maybe I look like someone he has it out for or something along those lines?"

Bella let out an enraged gasp. "Jake is completely fine, it's you who-"

I raised a brow at the woman as Billy placed a hand up to try and calm her. "It's fine, Bella." He turned back to me. "Now, I'm not crazy enough to go calling my son completely sane considering he is a teenage boy, but I don't think that has anything to do with what just happened."

"So what just happened, then?" I asked the older man, who was still sitting relatively calmly for everything that just occurred.

Billy rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not my place to tell you, you've gotta ask him himself."

Bella let out a snort. "There is no way she is going anywhere near Jake after what just happened! She obviously is no good for him-"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, stuff it, Bella. The guy's fixing up my car, he's going to have to deal with me at some point." Her face continued to redden with her anger. I was surprised steam wasn't coming out of her ears. "You can tell him I'll be expecting an apology."

Her brown eyes glared daggers at me. "You'll be getting a lot of something, and it won't be apologies," she promised. Bella turned and stomped off into the woods, calling out behind her, "I'm going to go make sure he's okay, obviously neither of you are nice enough to care."

"Well, he literally did just call me nothing," I voiced, albeit at this point it was more to myself. "It's not like nothing can do anything."

Billy let out a sigh. "It's really nothing against you, girl. It's something far more complex than either of us could comprehend."

I blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He grinned up at me from his wheelchair. "I'm afraid that's not something I can share," he said jovially. "That's for my son to tell you."

"Well, it's not like he's telling me anything. I'm nothing, remember?"

He let out a chuckle. "I'm sure he'll be having to dig himself out of that one."

I followed as he started to wheel back toward his house. "It's like you think that I'll ever speak with him again. It'd be a waste of time after how he just treated me, even you could admit that."

Billy shrugged, moving his chair to be seated comfortably back on the porch. "My son normally has a better head on his shoulders than how he just acted, Miss Jackson," he admitted. "And I can't apologize for him. But I can tell you that if you choose to stick around, good things will be coming your way. He's a good kid."

I let out a sigh, sitting back down on the chair next to his. "And let me guess, he's just misunderstood?"

He let out a chuckle. "You could say that."

A huff of air escaped my chest. "I'm still gonna be waiting for that apology."

Billy reached over to pat my hand. "Of course, I wouldn't expect any less of a strong girl like you."

"You act as though you know me so well," I pointed out. "We literally just met yesterday, Billy."

He shrugged, turning back to stare out at the forest line. "Things change. I think I'm starting to understand you more and more as this day goes."

"I think I'm starting to understand you're just a weird old man."

He let threw his head back in a long bout of laughter. The crows feet and laugh lines on his face started to make sense, now. "You'll fit right in, kid."

Well, that'd be a first.

"You're welcome to come to the reservation fire tonight," he said. "Considering you've just made yourself a resident of these lands, you might as well learn something about them."

I blinked. "Learn something about what?"

He grinned. "Learn something about what made these lands what they are. What made the people who live here the people they are. You might learn a thing or two about yourself if you decide to stick around."

"I used to always go to the bonfires at camp," I told him. "We'd share myths and stories and some people would sing."

I noticed my voice become slightly nostalgic at the remembrance back to the days when the camp wasn't surrounded by death or shrouded by the memories of the people who were no longer there with us. It was always fun, hanging out with my friends, with my brother…

"What camp did you go to?" he asked, a curious glint in his eye.

I bit my lip as I decided what I could share. Something about Billy made me want to be honest. That was definitely a little unnerving considering exactly why I was there in the first place. "A camp for my family," I said. "There were different cabins we would be in, but we'd always find time to get together."

He quirked a brow. "You got a big family?"

I shrugged. "Distantly related. My dad's side is really picky about bloodlines and stuff."

He let out a chuckle. "Sounds like a fun way to spend your summers. Family is always important, and don't you forget that."

There was something odd about the way he said that. Like a warning.

I didn't like it.

Not when all I could think about was my missing half, the only person I had been with since birth, never leaving my side… until now. And I had no idea where he was, and considering what I've seen in the past, I had no clue just how deep this could be.

"Is Jacob your only child?" I asked, trying to get the focus off of myself. But, I was also slightly curious as to who this family was.

Billy let out a sigh. "I got two daughters. Rachel and Rebecca. They're in Hawaii, Rebecca's got a husband- a family of her own. But Rachel isn't going to live there long term."

I nodded. "Must be hard to be away from them for so long."

"We didn't part on the kindest of terms, and it's hard to find the money to book a flight to Hawaii," he admitted.

I pursed my lips. "I kinda know what you mean."

Billy looked at me again, as though he was starting to see me even more clearly. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

He let out a huff of laughter. "You don't act like you're seventeen, missy."

I shrugged. "Well, you're just seeing me now. Who knows, maybe next time we meet I'll be acting more like a dramatic twelve-year-old girl who just wants revenge or something."

"That'd be interesting."

"Okay, I'll strive to make your life a bit more interesting."

He let out a low grunt. "That's not what I meant."

"Oh, I know."

"Persephone! You're here!"

I blinked, turning to look out down the gravel road where a few of the guys from yesterday were walking. Of course, none of them wore shirts, and all of them wore jeans cut off just above the knee. Billy let out a low chuckle. "I'll leave you with the wolves."

I rolled my eyes at the old man. "Oh, how chivalrous of you."

He gestured down to his wheelchair. "Well, I have a noble steed so I think I'm already halfway there. Go, they seem to want to talk. I'll see you at the fire."

I tilted my head. "So you just decided that for me?"

"I think you were the one who made the decision already. I'm just letting you know," he informed me with a firm nod. He looked over to where Quil, Embry, and Jared were standing with another tip of his head. "You boys take it easy on her. She was given the full shock from my boy earlier."

They shared a look. "Yeah, we heard," Embry admitted, wincing slightly. He saw my confusion and added, "He wasn't exactly quiet."

A sigh escaped my lips. "No, he was not." I hopped off the porch and headed to the guys with a goodbye to Billy. "What're you all doing here?"

Quil grinned cheekily. "We still haven't grown bored of you yet. We figured if we spend enough time with you that it'll happen eventually."

My brows raised. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

Embry laughed, punching Quil in the shoulder. "He's the dumbest person I've ever heard, so I think it's normal."

Quil punched his shoulder. "Shuddup, man. I'm not dumb, you know it."

I crossed my arms and grinned to Jared secretly. "I happen to think Black might be the dumbest of you lot, so let's call it good boys."

Jared nodded in his agreement, keeping his hands firmly in his cut-off's pockets. "He's the slowest to get to the truth, that's for sure."

I didn't know what he must've meant by that, but I figured Jared knew what he was talking about and agreed. He seemed to be the most level headed of all the boys on this reservation. At least, from who I've met.

"Emily wanted us to bring you to her place," Embry told me once he finished bickering with Quil. "She said that we had to take you as our hostage if you disagreed."

"Well, that's aggressive."

The boys grinned. "You don't even know the beginning of it."

I had a feeling I was going to be muddling in some deep shit. Everyone was in on a secret, and it seemed as though I was the only one who was clueless.

So, like any other investigative demigod fake-journalist, I decided to go along with it and see what I could learn.

Maybe it would bring me one step further to finding my brother.

Let's just hope it won't get me killed.