Change of Plans (8 page)

Chapter Eighteen

Exposed

Caleb

Allie’s
dad, Jim, stood just outside his door.
I’ve run into him
many of times before, but not when I was about to kiss his daughter. Awkward.
He was a big man with dark hair, just like Allie. I haven’t seen much of him
since Amber passed away, but he was always around when I was a kid, since my
dad was his beta. He was technically still able to change, but he never did
anymore, and he certainly never came around the pack. I wasn’t even sure if he
knew his kids were werewolves. It wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t.

I could feel the hate and
surprise radiating off of Allie, who was still standing close to my side. She
never quite forgave her dad for leaving Brody and herself to fend for
themselves. I knew she didn’t want to talk to him, so I took the lead.

“Hi Mr. Underwood, sorry if
I kept Allie out too late, we just went to see a movie.”

“No worries, Caleb,” I could
hear the distaste in his voice. “Allie, why don’t you tell your friend
goodnight and come inside, it’s cold and I’m sure Caleb can call tomorrow. I’ll
be leaving again soon for my office, I have a class in the morning, and I would
love to catch up with you.” Yeah, I’m sure he would just love that.

Well, I guess that was my
cue to leave. I kissed Allie on the top of her head and told her I would call.
Yeah, right, I would be back later. I wasn’t leaving her alone, especially
after I got promoted from the couch. I hopped back in my Jeep, as she was
walking to the door. When she reached her dad, she turned and gave me a small,
shy wave. As my headlights flashed on, I could see Mr. Underwood staring
daggers at me from his porch. Allie followed her dad inside and closed the door
behind her, the front porch light flickering off soon after.

I pulled out of the
driveway, wondering what was going on in the house. There was no movement in
the windows, and I knew if I stayed any longer, I would look like a creep. I
went three blocks away from Allie’s house to Elm Street and turned the
headlights off. I waited thirty minutes; until I was sure her dad was gone,
until I went back to her house. Brody answered the door before I could knock.
“What did your dad want?” I asked.

“Just needed to pick up some
clothes for the week. He started asking questions when he noticed Allie was
gone, but didn’t suspect anything, especially the fact that my younger sister
has her pair staying in our house every night.”

“Yeah, well it’s good that
he didn’t suspect,” I said, ignoring the second part. “See you in the morning.”
I turned toward the stairs, intending to go to Allie’s room.

“Where are you going?” Brody
said from behind me, probably knowing exactly where I was going.

I turned and crossed my
arms, daring him to stop me. “Allie’s room.”

He sighed, knowing that he
was fighting a losing battle. “You better not hurt my sister.” Oh no, not this
talk. I’ve heard it enough, even before Allie knew I was her pair.

“I couldn’t hurt her if I
tried. Maybe, if you actually accepted Sierra, you would know that.”
And
maybe she would stop throwing herself at me,
I thought.

“Point taken. And no way,
Sierra can do her own thing,” He acted like he didn’t care, but I knew he did.
It hurt him that Sierra didn’t choose him, and I couldn’t blame him. If Allie
worked as hard as Sierra did to ignore me, I wouldn’t be able to take it
either.

I nodded and said a
goodnight before taking the stairs two at a time to Allie’s room.

When I walked in it was
dark, but there was enough light from the moon beaming through the window that
I was able to make her figure out. She
laid
in bed on
her side, eyes closed, but I knew she wasn’t asleep yet. When she sensed me,
she flicked on her lamp on her bedside table and sat up.

“Hey, I didn’t know you were
coming back,” her voice was grouchy with sleep.

“Of course I came back.”

She smiled a shy smile and
threw aside her blankets. She scooted over to make room for me and in the
process, twisted her shorts, causing them to ride up. Dear God, her sleeper
shorts were short. I slowly walked toward her bed, measuring her response. This
wasn’t the first time I’d slept in her bed, but last time it was only a nap.
When I reached her bed, I kicked off my shoes and climbed in beside her. She
nestled herself in the crook of my shoulder and rested her head on my chest. I
combed my finger through her hair causing her to sigh against me. She drifted
off to sleep quickly, her breathing evening out and leaving me to my thoughts.
Kissing the top of her head, I soon drifted off with her tucked away in my
arms, just how she should be.

The next morning, I woke up
to my phone buzzing. The bright morning light and chirping birds told me it was
still early. Allie was still sound asleep, hair askew. She looked so peaceful
during her sleep, all her muscles relaxed and her chest rising and falling
evenly. I lifted my arm slowly, trying not to wake up Allie to grab my phone
from the bedside table. The screen blinked with a text from the last person I
wanted to talk to.

 
Glad to see you and your pair getting along so well
together.

 
So well, we never see you at home
anymore. I’ll be by the

 
Underwood house later
to meet Allison.

                               
   
-Dad

Great. I’ll deal with him
later. I groaned and nearly slammed my phone back on the table, accidentally
waking up Allie. She stirred in my arms and tilted her head
up
 until
she was facing me. “Morning,” she stretched her arms above
her head, causing her shirt to expose most of her stomach. God, she was slowly
driving me crazy.

“Hey sleepyhead, how did you
sleep?” I ruffled her hair some more.

“Best sleep I’ve had in a
long time, what about
yo
-”

A knock at the door
interrupted her mid sentence, “Allie?”

Matt. I let out a stream of
cuss words in my head. Allie’s blue eyes went wide, realizing that he could
walk right in and see us together in bed. Yeah, that wouldn’t earn me any
brownie points. I held my finger to my mouth, signaling her to be quiet. I
collected all my stuff as quietly as I could and hid in the closest. Seriously?
This was just getting worse and worse.

Allie patted down on her
bed, trying to even out the dent from where I slept. “Hey Matt, you can come
in,” Allie called out.

“Hey,” he tentatively opened
the door, clutching a bag of donuts in his hand. He was smiling, annoying
dimple making an appearance. “Look, I’m here to apologize. I wasn’t fair to you
the other morning and I’m sorry for storming off like that.”
Yeah,
yeah, Golden Boy and his guilty conscience.
He ran his hand through his
already disheveled blonde hair. Allie looked like she wanted to be sick,
probably because she was lying.

She patted a spot next to
her on the bed, the spot where I was
a minutes
ago,
and Matt walked toward her. He ran his hand nervously down his arm, messing up
his T-shirt. He sat on the edge of the bed, picking at the purple comforter.
From my view through the slit in the closet door, I could see Matt reach out
and grab her hand. I had to smother a growl, hands off my girl.

There was an awkward silence
as they both thought of what to say. Matt finally picked up the small white bag
clutch in his hand. “Chocolate sprinkles and doughnut holes. Your favorite.”

Allie smiled at the gesture,
“Thanks, how’s school been?”

“It’s been boring without
you. Have you been sick?” Allie flushed, hating to lie, but she nodded and
popped a doughnut hole in her mouth. “Oh, then why was Caleb here? He hasn’t
been at school lately either.”

Allie hesitated, thinking of
what to say. “He came to eat lunch with Brody. He only had my hand because he
was dragging me to the door, thinking you were the take-out guy.” Great, now
she’s going to hide our relationship. News would go around fast though,
especially through the pack. People saw us at the movies last night.

“Oh,” Matt muttered,
probably feeling ashamed of his outburst. “Yeah, and what’s up with Brody, too?
I know y’all aren’t close anymore, but I asked where you were and he got all
defensive of you.” He ran his hand through his hair again. At this rate, he was
going to be bald at thirty. “Everyone’s just being really weird lately.”

Allie’s hands twisted in her
lap, and I could sense the change in her.

She was going to tell him.

No, no, no. She couldn’t
tell Matt. That’s one rule werewolves didn’t break; never tell humans of our
existence. I couldn’t warn her without exposing myself, which Allie would hate
me for. “There’s a reason to why I’ve been so different lately. I’m sorry that
I haven’t told you sooner, it’s just I’m not really supposed to,” Allie said.

She looked down at her hands
and then up at Matt again. She opened and closed her mouth without saying
anything, maybe she wouldn’t tell him after all. Guess I spoke too soon because
next thing I know she blurts out, “I’m a werewolf.”

Well, looks like the
wolf’s
out of the bag. Matt raised both his eyebrows in
question, and let out a nervous laugh. He probably had no idea what was going
on, and I couldn’t blame him, that wasn’t exactly the best way to approach the
subject. I stood, still in the closet, fuming. Before he accused her of being
crazy, Allie jumped in and tried to explain.

“I know, it sounds crazy.
I’m not sure if I believe it myself, but you do have to admit there is
something weird about this town. The reason I haven’t been going to school is
because my seventeenth birthday coming up soon. People like me- my brother,
Caleb, Sierra, Chloe, and all those other people we hate-”
Hate?
“-
change
on their seventeenth birthday for the first time.
Before they change, their emotions are out of control and all this weird stuff
that I don’t really understand, so my brother thought it would be best if I
stayed home. He didn’t know either, my dad never told us. He found out a couple
of days before his birthday, when Caleb noticed he was acting weird, so he
doesn’t know a ton of stuff about it either.”

Matt cut in, “Then who’s
teaching you everything?” Allie ducked her head, “Who, Allie? Caleb?” She
nodded slightly, eyes focused on a loose thread in the comforter. “Of course he
is! No wonder he’s been treating you like a dog at school.” He’s lucky I was
forced to stay in the closet; otherwise I would have torn him to shreds.

“Matt,” Allie glared. “It’s
not like that. He’s my equal, he’s my…”

“Your what?”

She took a deep breath, “My
pair. He’s my pair.”

“Is that like some weird
Wolf Side voodoo thing?” He said with a small smile. Wait, did he say Wolf
Side? How did he know it was called that?

Allie let out a small
laughed, “I don’t really even know myself. Caleb said it’s like a soul mate.
You love and protect them no matter what. You don’t decide, it just happens.”

Matt’s smile faded, “So
there’s no chance for us?”

“Matt… We’re just friends
right now.”
Friends?
Allie reached for his hand, trying to get him to
understand. She opened her mouth to say something else, but someone charging
through her door cut her off.

Dad.

He walked right in, dressed
in a black suit with a green button down shirt and his hair slicked back. He
didn’t even have to look my way to know where I was.

“Son, out of the closet.
Now.”

He threw power behind his
words, like he always does, and I couldn’t resist. I opened the door and
stepped into Allie’s room. Matt and Allie’s head snapped toward me. I sent an
apologetic look to Allie and she nodded, understanding. Matt, on the other
hand, looked murderous and confused. Allie has been spared the chance of
meeting my father, but there was no mistaking
who
he
was and what he could do.

Matt stood up, “Who do you
think you are? Barging in uninvited?”

“Matt! Stop, trust me, you
don’t want to do that,” She tugged on his sleeve, hoping to calm him down. My
father laughed from where he stood, taking up the entire doorway.

“You must be Matt Peterson,
Mark’s boy. Well, know that you know about us,” he glared at Allie. “You should
know that it would not be wise to go up against me. I take it as a threat, and I
get rid of threats.” He also isn’t very against sending threats. Matt’s face
fell ashen. If Matt was unsure about our existence, I bet he was pretty sure
now.

My father took a step toward
Allie, but I stepped in front of her, blocking his way. He smirked and turned
his focus back toward Matt, “Leave now, if you tell a soul about what you heard
today, I won’t hesitate to shut you up.” Matt looked like he wanted to resist,
but luckily he knew better. Even though his words had no effect physically like
they did on other Wolves, he gave Allie one last glance and left.