Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (25 page)

“Rayne…” it came out of my mouth without
warning, like I needed to say it as much as I needed air, but I
realized detachedly that Jason was watching me closely, “I don’t
want him here, Rayne… he knew that. He knew that and yet here he is
and you’re saying I should reward him by letting him stay for
dinner…?”

His hazel eyes which I stared into were
leaning more towards their bright green when he spoke again, “I was
thinking that since he’s so worried about you… maybe being around
us for a little while will make him feel better.”

I sighed and looked back at Jason, “If I let
you stay for dinner, that’s it. You have to go home right
afterwards.”

“Fine,” he grumbled his consent and I sighed
again.

“How did you even get over here?” I
demanded, darting my eyes around in search of one of our cars.

“Bicycle, and the bus… I took my bike to the
bus stop and the bus to the closest stop to here and my bike to
here…” he explained and I had to marvel at his insight, but I was
still angry.

“I’ll take him home after dinner,” Jack
offered and I nodded appreciatively, pushing Jason over to Jack and
Caiden.

“Go inside, they’ll take you where you need
to go… I’ll be there in a minute…” I directed and Jason reluctantly
did as told.

Once the front door closed, I turned to find
Rayne and Aeril grasping each other’s forearms like a medieval
greeting.

“Welcome home, Aeril,” Rayne recited,
pulling Aeril into a hug that he returned.

“It’s good to see you, Rayne,” Aeril
remarked back as they broke apart and I watched them, fascinated.
It was the most interaction I’d really seen between any of them,
and while it was oddly formal, there was still something
underlying.

“You two…” I murmured and their eyes darted
to me, simultaneously, “If I didn’t know better… I’d think you were
brothers….”

“There are… cliques… within the pack, even
within the elite group,” Aeril commented with a quirked grin,
“You’ve kind of landed square in the middle of ours….”

I looked at them curiously but Rayne was
watching me intently while Aeril laughed.

“I wonder what she’ll think of Evan,” Farren
remarked from behind me and I jumped midair, spinning around to
face him.

“Don’t do that sneaky, silent walking up on
me stuff!” I blurted and he laughed.

“I don’t do it intentionally,” he answered
with a shrug, “It’s habit. We should get inside, if, that is, you
like sushi.”

I nodded and followed him inside with Rayne
and Aeril behind me, keeping a close eye on their interaction
throughout dinner until I was absolutely certain that their clique
consisted of all three of them.

“Jay, do Austin and Dad know where you are?”
I had asked almost instantly and Jason, with a California roll
halfway in his mouth, had frozen and stared at the table. “Jason
Reid Gray! You are being so irresponsible!”

“Ooooh,” chorused around us and I bit my lip
to stop from laughing, but Alex leaned across the table with a
smile.

“I called your house and your Dad and told
them Jason was having dinner with us. But Jason,” he turned his
attention to my little brother beside me, “You shouldn’t leave the
house without telling someone where you’re going, especially so
close to dark. And while I’ve allowed you to drop in unannounced
tonight, it isn’t polite and you shouldn’t make a habit of it.”

Trina wasn’t at dinner, and I was kind of
glad for that seeing as my gut reaction had been that Jason would
like her, but I also felt a little bad seeing as she had just
gotten home that day.

“She’s fine,” Aeril whispered into my ear,
“Alex asked if she would mind guard duty since your brother showed
up. He asked, and she agreed; it wasn’t an order.”

I sighed, watching Jason as he joked around
with the others at the table, then tried something new, focusing my
thoughts on Aeril when I thought them.
It’s pointless, isn’t
it…? Trying to keep him away… He’s going to end up here with you
guys… just like I did.

In response, an image popped into my head,
an image of my little brother, maybe a year or two older, running
in a field with several of the werewolves in wolf form and Trina
and Jack in human form. The image played until I caught a glimpse
of myself, my hand intertwined with someone who was not visible to
me, and then it stopped.

That was mean… But thank you… But… does that
mean I shouldn’t send him home…?

“Do what you’re doing,” Aeril said in a
breath across my ear, but I saw Alex’s eyes dart to us, anger
flashing across his face with the silver swirls in his eyes,
“Everything is going to work out just fine, Arianna.”

So when the meal was over, I chased Jason
out of the house with Jack who loaded his bike into the back of a
truck.

“Don’t come sneaking back over here again,
Jay… I’m fine,” I insisted, staring at Jason as he barely nodded
his head before hugging me tightly and jumping into the passenger
seat of the truck. I watched until they were out of the driveway,
then turned to find Alex behind me.

“What did Aeril tell you?” he demanded, but
I stared at him silently, “He thinks I won’t punish him… but the
fact is, if I don’t, others will act out as well and there will be
chaos.”

“Why would Aeril think you won’t punish
him?” I innocently queried and Alex sighed, “I’m not going to say
anything, Alex… I don’t understand why you’re still not trusting
me….”

“You’re not supposed to learn things before
the pack approves it… and the pack hasn’t approved it yet…” he
reasoned, but I caught a flash of something in his eyes and a
shiver ran down my spine.

“That’s not the only reason…” I mumbled and
his gaze shifted to me again, “Why else…? Why else do you not want
me to know things about your pack?”

“It’s dangerous,” Alex dismissed shortly and
I squinted my eyes to keep from letting tears escape.

“You don’t trust me at all…” I uttered,
“Leave me alone, Alex.” I stared at him until he went inside the
house and then spun and started walking towards the side yard and
into the tree line. I felt, rather than saw, them following me at a
distance—Rayne behind me, Farren somewhere off to my left, and
Aeril somewhere off to my right. They weren’t stopping me, but they
were there, if I needed them.

It was so dark outside, that I didn’t last
in my wanderings for long and ended up turned around when I tried
to start back for the house. Rather than panic, I tested the
distance between us by calling to Aeril.
I’m lost… I want to go
inside….
The response I received was a picture of a wolf
approaching from my side, a pale wolf that glowed in the faint
light with green-gray eyes and led me back to the house to meet up
with a human Farren and Rayne. I stopped walking altogether and
waited and sure enough, the pale wolf emerged just as he had shown
me and stepped up to my side. I smiled and rested my hand on his
neck and followed him back to the house. When wolf-Aeril darted
into the house ahead of me and Farren and Rayne walked over to me,
I looked curiously at them.

“Let’s go inside, Anna,” Farren beckoned,
holding his hand out to me and I took it, following them in the
side door which turned out to open into the hallway with the
shorter hall that housed the clock.

“You were both following me in the trees… so
was Aeril…” I remarked and Rayne chuckled while he closed the door
behind us and my hand fell out of Farren’s.

“It’s not that Alex doesn’t trust you,”
Rayne interjected calmly and I spun to face him, “He’s worried
something might happen to you….”

“Arianna,” Aeril called, walking up behind
me and slipping his hand into mine, “Someone caught a glimpse of a
future in which you were locked in some kind of cell. Alex is
afraid to tell you things in case that future comes true.”

“Aeril, you really have overstepped
boundaries…” Farren sighed, shaking his head, “Let’s get back
upstairs….”

We all headed back upstairs the same way
Farren and I had gone before, but when I spotted Alex, I made an
abrupt turn away from him and ended up in the kitchen with Jack,
Tobias, and Caiden. Whatever they had been joking about with each
other, they stopped, and grew completely quiet.

“Are you okay, Anna?” Caiden quietly asked,
and I barely nodded my head as I slowly uncurled my hands from the
fists they were in at my sides.

I caught Jack motion his head toward the
door out of the corner of my eye, and looked up when Caiden and
Tobias left the kitchen.

“It’s not you he doesn’t trust,” Jack
remarked and I darted my eyes to him to find silver around his
pupils, making his emerald eyes look absolutely beautiful. I was
staring at his eyes so much that I didn’t realize he was right in
front of me and I jolted when his hands slid down my arms. “He’s
worried you’re going to run into a supernatural being and
accidentally reveal things you otherwise wouldn’t….”

“I thought he said there weren’t any
vampires around here,” I grumbled and Jack laughed softly.

“There’s more than just vampires and
werewolves out there, Anna… Take faeries for example… they’re
around, and they’re local… and they’re dangerous… and werewolves
and faeries don’t get along… There are also trolls, goblins,
witches, nymphs, ghosts, shapeshifters… all kinds of things that
don’t keep quite as far away from pack territory as vampires do,”
Jack explained as I looked at him in confusion, “So it isn’t you
that he doesn’t trust, all right?” I barely nodded my head as his
fingers slid across my cheek. “Now that you’ve met Aeril… are you
still going to that show with me Friday night?” I barely nodded
again as a smile slid onto his lips. “Good… you know I mean it to
be a date…?” His voice turned into a question and I smiled softly
and nodded again. “Is there anything you don’t like to eat? So we
can grab dinner before the show….”

“I’m not a picky eater,” I replied and his
smile grew bigger, “I’m still mad at Alex….”

“I know,” he whispered, ever-so-slowly
leaning closer until he gently pressed his lips to mine, and then
the swinging door banged against the wall so hard that I jumped,
and Jack’s hands lightly resting on my arms kept me from falling
over.

I spun around to find Trina standing in the
open doorway, fury across her face as she glared at Jack. She was
just staring at him, and he sighed as I looked back at him.

“What?” I whispered almost silently and he
briefly smiled at me before looking seriously at Trina.

“Stop that. She has a right to know what
you’re saying, and you know she can’t hear you telepathically,”
Jack scolded which only made Trina’s glare worsen.

“She belongs with Aeril. What the hell do
you think you’re doing?” Trina growled under her breath, a bit of
wolf growl slipping into her voice as I backed away from her and
coincidentally into Jack, which only made her actually growl again
as my eyes widened.

“Trina, stop it!” that voice came from the
living room and Trina shrunk in on herself from the scolding as she
slowly turned to face Aeril while he walked into the kitchen. His
eyes briefly darted to me, scanned across me, and then he looked at
Trina again. “Anna can do whatever she wants. I don’t own her, and
I wouldn’t want to. Plus, you’re scaring her, so stop it.”

“But she belongs with you… everyone thinks
so,” Trina carefully stated, glancing briefly at me but Aeril
laughed and shook his head.

“Nobody can know anything with one-hundred
percent, absolute, complete certainty,” Aeril countered, shrugging
his shoulders, “Leave them alone, Trina. I won’t ask again.”

Trina growled under her breath before she
darted out the back door and disappeared into the yard. I watched
her in confusion, and briefly widened my eyes when she shifted into
a wolf and kept running.

“She won’t have any clothes when she comes
back…” I murmured, startled when Jack and Aeril both laughed.

“I’ll put something out for her, or she’ll
just go up to her room in wolf form,” Aeril reasoned with a distant
smile, “Don’t worry about it, okay?” I barely nodded as I looked at
him, my face shading pink before I looked at the floor.

“It’s late, Anna… why don’t you get some
sleep?” Jack suggested, “Liliana and Violet should be getting home
tomorrow.”

I only nodded and slipped past both of them,
hearing them talking as the door swung closed. As I rounded the
corner to walk up the stairs, I found Rayne standing in the
entryway, just standing there, staring at the exact spot I walked
into. He motioned with his head for me to follow him, and I did. We
went upstairs into the empty game room and ducked into the bathroom
where he closed the door behind us.

“You’re going on a date with Jack?” he
asked, his tone completely normal as I tried to detect what he
wanted as an answer. Instead, I only nodded and he sighed, slowly
shaking his head. “Good…” he murmured, my eyes scrunching in
confusion as I looked at him, “If you’re dating Jack… Alex
shouldn’t mind my being around you… and Aeril shouldn’t get too big
of a head about you….” He paused in his pacing as his eyes landed
on me and he smiled distantly. “I didn’t want any of this for you…
This pack is one of the biggest in the world, and it’s probably
because they keep themselves so well concealed… but my brother
never would have forced you to stay in a town you didn’t like just
because you found out about us….”

“When did…” I bit on my lip and shook my
head, “It isn’t my business… sorry….”

“When did the dayhunters get together and
attack my pack?” Rayne calmly questioned and I barely nodded my
head, “When I was eleven. My brother wouldn’t let me fight with the
rest of the pack… he said we had to be sure to carry on our line,
so he had our witch conceal me under the house… Dayhunters don’t
usually unify like that… Sure, it’s not uncommon to find three or
four of them living together… but this was over fifty of them that
attacked at once, together….” He gasped almost silently when I was
suddenly hugging him, and his arms slowly wrapped around me.