Change of Plans (14 page)

Chapter Twenty-six

Clearing
Consciences

Caleb

Hell no! Every head snapped
up when my dad announced the news, shocked. Even Sierra’s who was sitting next
to me. Allie let out a tiny gasp. Brody and I were up before we could fully
digest the news, growling. Allie tried to grasp our wrists, her face begging
for us to sit down. Her blue eyes were murderous, but she was trying to take
the higher road.

Too bad I wasn’t.

I twisted my hand from her
grip, heading full charge for my dad. Expecting it, he turned toward me. Before
he could say anything, I punched him square in the face. He laughed, wiping the
blood at the corner of his mouth. I was about to swing again when Allie stepped
between us. ‘Stop,” she commanded.

Everyone was looking at us,
except the few looking at Sierra and her mom, blaming
them
.
Even my mom was speechless, trying to shoo Rebecca away. Allie was still
between me and my dad, her head a good
half foot
below
mine, but still intimidating. Even I wouldn’t mess with her right now. She
wasn’t looking at me though, not even at my dad. She was addressing the pack.

“I know I haven’t been a
part of this pack long. Hell, I only found out I belonged to a pack last week.
But I’ve still known most of you my entire life. When I use to see you, I use
to be intimidated, but now I’ve witnessed you roll over like a puppy to this
man,” she pointed to my dad. Meanwhile he was glaring at her, but the rest of
the pack, minus Mrs. Griffin, was staring entranced by her. “So, I’ll be damned
before he hands down this pack to the Griffins, because even if the rank is
Sierra’s, we’ll all know who runs the show.” Glancing at Sierra, she flushed
red. Even though I believe she had no part in planning this, I know she’d jump
at the chance to be alpha. “Let it be known, after next week, when I shift,
this pack will be back in the hands of the
Underwoods
.”

Before the pack could
respond, or even I could comprehend what she had just done, she shooed
me and Brody
out the door, slamming it behind her. I’m
pretty sure the pack was still in there with their jaws on the floor, including
my dad.

Before I had the chance,
Brody suffocated her in a hug. “Damn, sis,” he whispered to her. “Dad would be
proud. So would Mom.” I could see tears spring into Allie’s eyes, not that
she’d ever admit it. I felt like I was intruding in a family moment, but one
day Allie was going to be family and I needed to be here after what she just
did. She was a threat to my dad and Mrs. Griffin now. I had no doubt the pack
wanted the pack to be hers, but my dad wasn’t going down without a fight.

Unwrapping herself from her
brother’s embrace, she walked into mine. I kissed the top of her head,
impressed as hell. Before my dad came out we headed back to our cars, Allie
with me, Brody alone. If there was ever a chance of Brody and Sierra ending up,
it was now gone. She might be his pair, but Allie was his family, and knowing
Brody, family comes first.

Opening the garage, I let go
of Allie so she could get in the car. Halfway on the car, I heard the side door
to the house open. I expected my dad, but I was surprised when my mom came out.
The pressure of my dad had taken it’s toll on her, blonde hair graying and eyes
surrounded with wrinkles. But for the first time in a long time, she had a
genuine smile on her face. I got back out of the car hugging her. She
whispered, “Thank you, from all of us.”

She quickly let me go,
heading back into the house. I left my house as fast as I could, wanting to get
distance. It’s been a long day. Brody had no trace of the scent from their
house and Allie had pretty much just claimed the pack as her own.

“What the hell did I just
do?” she asked me, laughing uneasily. I laughed with her, but I couldn’t answer
her because I had no idea myself.

I wasn’t ready to go home
after the meeting. Driving past the turn to Allie’s house, I kept going. Allie
didn't question where we were going, just sat with our hands linked between us.
I continued to the edge of the town and pulled off to a dirt countryside road.
A mile went before I stopped. Twisting to reach behind me, I grabbed spare
blanket in the back seat with my free hand. Allie hopped out after me, walking
to the front of his Jeep and taking my hand again.

I dragged her toward the
tree line. She looked around, obviously comfortable in the woods. When we were
fully submerged in the woods, it felt like we were in our own world. The
sunlight peaked in between the branches, causing the already red leaves to catch
on fire. I led her through the woods as our feet crunched the falling leaves.
She didn’t know where I was going, but she followed me anyway.

Animals scurrying through
the trunks caught my eye, but instead of running away from us, they came
closer. A doe that was drinking from the creek lifted its head as we passed but
then calmly went back to drinking.

“They can tell that you’re
one of them,” I told her. Animals tended to draw closer to Wolves.

“It’s amazing.”

“Just wait,” I said as I led
her to a clearing. The creek ran right through the clearing with wild flowers
growing along the bank. The sun clearly shone down, radiating off the still
green grass. The perimeter was lined with crisp, autumn leaves that skipped in
the wind. Allie stood in awe, while I set down the blanket I had been carrying
with me and sat down. She sat down with me and we observed in silence as the
day went by.

After a while I spoke, “I
found this place when I was fifteen. It was by accident. We use to have a dog,
Lucky, and I took her on a long walk one day and ended up here. I came here
nearly every day after that. No one else knew about it except Rebecca because I
took her a couple times. It was a place where I could just think and be away
from my father. I wanted my first shift to be here, but when my father came
along, I knew I couldn’t take him here. He couldn’t ruin this one place for me.
After I shifted, I didn't come back much, not when I couldn’t accept what I
was. I didn’t think I deserved this place.”

Allie didn't look at me as I
spoke, only at the creek. She was rested back on her elbows with her head
tilted back to soak in the sun. “Anyway,” I said. “I thought that you should
see it.”

“Thank you,” she said. She
finally looked at me and smiled. “I think you’ll be a great alpha. Anyone
watching could see
,
everyone knows that you will be
the change that this pack needs.” She said it as if I was doing this on my own,
as if she had no impact. The only reason I made it this far was because of her,
not because of myself.

I jumped up and reached down
to give her a hand. “Come on, we should get back before Brody starts wondering
where we are.” Allie nodded and took my hand, pulling the blanket up with her.
We made the short walk back to the car and started home. I turned on the radio
to my favorite station and we both started humming along to The Kooks.

When we got to Allie’s house
Brody’s car was in the driveway but most of the upstairs lights were off. Allie
unlocked the front door and walked to the living room with me at her side. I
was about to flick on the light switch when I spotted Brody on the couch.

With
Sierra.

I automatically tensed,
sensing a threat. Brody stood, subconsciously protecting Sierra. He put both
hands up, trying to ease my spiking temper. “Caleb, she came to apologize. She
didn’t know what was going to happen today. Just listen to her.”

“There’s nothing I want to
hear,” I growled. “Get out.”

Brody tried to argue, but
Sierra placed a hand on his arm, making Allie tense up. Sierra, well aware of
the tension, left silently. I glared at Brody, angry for trusting Sierra. I
knew she was telling the truth about not planning it, but I still didn’t want
to hear about it. I left Allie and Brody in the living room, heading up the
stairs to shower. I heard Allie and her brother talking, but I didn’t care
enough to listen in.

     
I
calmed down as the steaming water poured down my back. The water was lukewarm
before I got out of the shower. Allie was sitting on her bed when I walked out
of the bathroom. Silently, I walked to my bag, grabbing sweatpants and a shirt.
Closing the door behind me, I heard Allie sigh before typing on her computer
again.

When I came back out, Allie
was glaring at me.
Why was she glaring at me? I’m not the one who did
something wrong
, I thought. “Will you stop being in a bad mood?” she asked
me. I half glared, half pouted. “Please,” she begged, pouting her bottom lip
out.

     
God,
I swear this girl could make me do anything for her. “Fine,” I said joining her
on her bed.

“Perfect! I want to show you
something,” she grinned. A thousand thoughts flowed through my head, not one
was innocent. I was let down when she reached down under her bed and pulled out
a big, plain cardboard box. Placing it beside me, I went to reach for the lid,
but her hand stopped mine.

“You have to promise not to
laugh,” she said.

I put three fingers up,
“Scout’s honor.”

“You were a scout?”

“No, but you get the point.”

She shook her head at my
stupidity. Either way, I would never laugh at something of Allie’s. Okay, maybe
not never
, but most of the time. She took off the
cover to the box of photos and pushed it towards me. She didn’t need to explain
what was there because as soon as I saw the first photo, I picked it up and
turned it over.

“You took this? It’s-”

“You,” she interrupted.
“Yeah, I know. When you told me that the color of our eyes and hair stays the
same as a wolf, it clicked. I knew you wouldn’t remember because it’s in your
wolf form, but I thought you should know.” I looked back down at the photo.
Never had I seen myself as a Wolf, but I always imagined it to be something
like this. Hidden between the trees, green eyes calculating, jet black fur
shifting in the wind.

       
   
“Can I keep this?” I asked
Allie. She nodded and I slid the small picture into my wallet. “Thank you, but
Allie, what the hell were you doing in the woods with Wolves? I could have hurt
you.”

She
laugh
at that; we both knew I would never hurt her, even in Wolf form. I sighed,
putting my hands up, giving in, but still upset that she was in the woods. “I
was perfectly safe. Even if there were a lot of Wolves they probably wouldn't
have hurt me either, I’m one of them, after all.

     
“This
photo is from the first time I saw you. I remember that day perfectly. I went
out to the creek to take some photos and you just popped out from behind a
tree. You didn’t attack or anything, just stood in front of me. It’s like I
intrigued you, which isn’t surprising because I’m your pair, but it was
amazing. Every time I went back out to take more photos, you were always there,
watching from a distance. You’re beautiful, by the way. There are probably more
photos of you in here,” she said patting the box, “than you can count.”

“How long ago did you first
see me?” I asked as I dug through more photos.

“About six months ago, why?”

I smiled softly to myself,
“Six months ago is when I accepted what I was. Every time I shifted back to my
human form, I was happier than normal and I felt at peace with myself. I always
thought it had something to do with often I was shifting, but I guess it was
just you. I felt so good after I would shift back that for a while, I shifted
everyday. That’s when I started going back to the clearing.”

She smiled, her expression
relaxed. “Why did you never like being a werewolf?” she asked, suddenly
becoming melancholy.

Setting down the photo that
was in my hand, I turned toward her. It was a question no one had ever asked me
and I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Well, like I told you a while ago, my father
forced the change on me. Growing up, I always hated my Wolf side. Maybe it was
because my
father made it seem
so bad, or maybe
because I just wanted to rebel against him, but I hated it.

“On my seventeenth birthday,
instead of being with my pair like most people were, I was with my father. I
tried to resist the change; I didn’t want to become a werewolf. I would rather
have died. My father had different plans. He expected me to resist it, that’s
why he was there. As alpha, he can force anyone to shift, and being in a
vulnerable state, he tried to force me. I tried to resist it as long as I
could, and it was probably the most painful thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s
like every bone in your body breaking, and then healing, only to break again.
Sometimes, I wished I
would have just
died; it
probably would have been less painful. I didn’t remember anything after that
except waking up in the forest alone. I didn’t know about the clothes stored in
bushes at that point, so I had to find my way back home freezing cold and
alone. When I finally found my way back, my father was already home, but he
acted like nothing happened.”

She reached out toward me,
trying to comfort me. Tears stung her eyes, but I was long past feeling sorry
for myself. “Please don’t cry
,
I hate seeing you cry.
Especially because of me.”