Marked (The Pack) (25 page)

“Alexis, you’re home earlier than I expected.” Louise scooted further up in the chair.

“Myles’ dad made an early breakfast, so I decided to come home after I ate.”

“Myles shouldn’t have kept you out so late last night.”

I sighed and traced a pattern on the too large shirt. “He didn’t really. He kind of helped me out of a spot.”

Louise stiffened. “You’re wearing his clothes. What happened?”

“I need to ask you a question.”

“All right, go ahead.”

“If Channing is Fenryrian…”

She held up her hand. “There’s no if, Alexis. She is, case closed.”

“Okay, if I chose to stay friends with Channing and run with her pack in my wolf form, but still tried to run with you and your friends, would the Lycernians have me killed?”

“Someone’s been informative tonight and I don’t have to guess who.”

“Don’t blame Myles. I needed to know this.”

Louise pulled a pillow behind her back. “That’s true, you do need the facts. And yes, if you were doing that and didn’t keep it secret, when Lycernians found out you’d be killed for the safety of our pack.”

“Would you do it? If they told you to, would you kill me?”

Louise dropped her head back against the cushion and stared at the sky. After a few seconds she tilted her head forward. “Yes, if I was told to, I would.”

“And Mr. Branton, he would too.”

“Yes. It’s our job. It’s what we do.”

“I thought you were a teacher,” I whispered.

“I am, but that’s not all I do. I wouldn’t want to do it, but if I had to, I would, for the pack.”

I stood from the chair.

“Look Alexis, you don’t understand that this is bigger than you or me.”

I started toward the door. “You’re right. I don’t understand. Now I’m going to put on my own clothes.”

I could feel Louise’s eyes on me until I closed the door. Suddenly, they’d sucked all the fun out of being a werewolf. 

Chapter Twenty-Four

I set the mop bucket on the floor and began my daily clean- up at the camp. Channing hadn’t mentioned the night at the cemetery and I hadn’t either. The girl that had been attacked still came by in her convertible to pick up her sister, but I had no idea about the guy. I’d never seen him before the night of the party and hadn‘t seen him since. Obviously, the girl didn’t die. I wondered how long before the virus would take effect. I tried to gauge how I felt about the fact that Channing and her friends went about spreading what was the equivalent to a disease. No wait, it was out and out a disease. It would be different if they discussed it with the person and they agreed to get bitten. But the girl and guy in the cemetery had been attacked just like… I frowned. Just like the women in New Orleans that night of the party. At least now I knew what had happened.

I stopped mopping and pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead. It gave me a headache just thinking about it. All I wanted was to go home to Chicago and hear how rehab had gone or what it had been like to be under house arrest for the summer- to listen to someone else’s tales of terror and forget my own. But since I hadn’t received an e-mail, phone call or even a postcard from any of my friends in Chicago, I wondered if they might have forgotten I existed. That was if they had ever really known it at all.

With a swish of the mop, I finished my last indoor chore and went to put everything away. Some of the craft items had been left outside on the picnic tables to dry. I had to move them inside so they wouldn’t get damp with dew overnight. I regretted volunteering to do all the clean up by myself. But, at the time, I’d felt like I needed to do something, anything, to keep me from dwelling on whether or not I should spend time with Channing anymore. Running with them a few times while I was still here didn’t mean I was officially going to join that pack and leave the one I was born to. Though I didn’t really feel like I’d been born to anything.

When the last brightly painted plaster rabbit had been put away, I wiped the sweat from my face and glanced around the deserted campground. I hurried back to the kitchen where I found my bag and dug in it until I unearthed the old ragged bathing suit I kept there, just in case I ever needed it. Today I needed it. Besides, no one was around, who’d care the suit had a little hole on the butt or that the top was so threadbare you could practically see through it. I stripped and put the suit on, then ran to the camp’s pier and leapt into the lake without slowing up. The lukewarm water closed over my head, washing away the sweat. At home the water was always cool, but here it was more like bathwater. I was beginning to like it.

I surfaced and kicked around for a minute then put one hand on the pier. It vibrated beneath my grip and I looked up. It was Eric, wearing swim shorts and carrying a towel over his shoulder.

“Hi.” He paused, standing above me. “I didn’t expect anyone to be here. You mind if I swim with you?”

I shook my head, not sure if I could speak at the moment, because my heart had begun to thump in my throat.

“I haven’t seen you for awhile.” I finally whispered.

He sat on the pier and slipped into the water beside me. He went under wetting his golden hair. When he surfaced, he tossed his head. Droplets of water shimmered in the air, a few landed softly against my cheek.

“I went on vacation with my family to the beach.”

Now that he mentioned it, he was awfully tanned and his hair did have a more sun bleached look than I remembered. He touched my shoulder, then ran his hand down my arm. Catching my hand under the water, he pulled it up to his lips.

“I missed you.”

I jerked my hand away, even though I wanted to leave it next to his lips forever. What if his touch sent me into an uncontrollable transformation to my wolf state?

“You’re not still worried about Channing are you?” He asked, raking back his wet hair.

“No, but my life is really complicated right now. I’m not sure how wise it is to start liking someone when I’m going to be leaving soon.”

“Start liking me? I thought we had passed that already. Tell me what’s so complicated. Let me help you deal with it.”

I nearly laughed. What would he say if I blurted out that I was having a bit of trouble adjusting to life as a werewolf? I decided against that revelation.

“My mom’s out of the country and I have this new stepdad to deal with. It’s a lot of things.”

He put a hand on my head and shoved me under the water. I came up choking. He laughed. “There, we’ve washed all those troubles away.”

I shook my head, then jumped toward him trying to push his head under. He swam away from the pier and I chased after him. Catching up to him, I was finally able to push him under. When he came up, he was only inches from my face. His legs bumped mine as we tread water. One hand cupped my chin. I knew what was coming. He was going to kiss me. I wasn’t ready, was I? What if something horrible or crazy happened? What if I couldn’t control myself and transformed? I wasn’t so sure this was a good idea.

“I don’t know.” The words slipped out unexpectedly.

He leaned closer. “You know.”

Then he kissed me once, his lips pressing softly against mine. He paused and kissed me harder. What I felt inside of me wasn’t an impending transformation. It was something else, something maybe even more powerful. I pressed closer to him. He kissed me harder. Our legs banged against each other as we tried to stay afloat, while still holding on. He wanted more and his hands explored my body. I tried to tell him with my kiss, my hands, that I wanted him too. We both forgot to kick. We began to sink.

As Eric pulled away so we could stay afloat, our haggard breath made ripples on top of the water. I heard the sound of tires crunching on gravel. On the drive near the pier, a sheriff’s car inched to a stop. An officer got out and walked down the pier. Law officers didn’t typically show up at day camp. Eric and I swam over and held on to the wooden decking.

The man crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared down at us. “I’m Deputy Carson. I’m looking for Ms Miller that runs the day camp.”

“That’s my aunt.” I said. “She’s already gone home for the day. Is something wrong?”

He nodded. “Bad wrong. We found a body yesterday evening over at the cemetery, straight torn to shreds.”

I froze, a band of fear tightening around my chest until I thought I might suffocate. The guy at the cemetery had been killed. I should have stopped them, should have done something.

“Alexis, are you okay?” Eric put a hand on my shoulder.

“I… That’s awful.”

The deputy nodded. “It was pretty bad.”

I licked my lips and found droplets of lake water on them, even though they seemed dry.

“You kids better get home now and don’t be alone, especially after dark. I’ll head over to your aunt’s house to talk to her about some safety measures here at the camp.”

I nodded. “She’ll appreciate that.”

Deputy Carson strode away to his car and Eric hauled himself onto the pier then reached to help me. I took his hand, though I knew I could easily pull myself out of the water. With my feet on solid ground, I shivered. Eric wrapped his towel around me, then his arms.

“Don’t let this scare you. The sheriff will take care of it.”

I snuggled closer to him, feeling warm and safe for a few moments. He kissed the top of my head. “As much as I’d like to stay here, we better go. I left my dad working by himself.”

I nodded and we hurried up the hill to the camp. A red truck pulled in as I handed Eric his towel.

“That’s my dad.” He stood for a moment longer staring at me. I felt myself begin to tremble again. A horn blasted and I jumped.

“I better go. I’ll see you again soon, Alexis. Now hurry home and be careful.”

I nodded, but he didn’t see. He was already jogging to the truck. He leapt inside and waved as they sped away. I lifted my hand then the weakness in my legs finally won. I sank onto the bottom porch step. This was what Myles had meant by running with Channing’s pack. Things like this would happen. They would kill. I couldn’t be a part of that. Getting to my feet, I went inside to the kitchen to change back to my shorts and t-shirt for the ride home.

I was pulling on my shorts when I stumbled. My elbow hit the bottle of lemon scented cleaner on the counter. I hadn’t put the cap on tight and when it hit the floor, it splattered everywhere. I sighed, gathered paper towels and got on my hands and knees to wipe up the mess. Above me, the window in the kitchen was cracked open. I heard voices. I scooted next to the window and inched upward until I could peek through the blinds. Outside stood Channing and Celina.

“I guess she’s gone already. I don’t see that stupid four-wheeler she’s always riding.”

Huh, stupid four-wheeler. I’d parked the ATV in the edge of the woods so it wouldn’t get so hot and the seat wouldn’t burn my legs when I got ready to go. Thank goodness for that now. I didn’t know why, but something told me I didn’t need to let them know I was here. They glanced toward the building and I jerked to the side of the window, pressing myself against the wall. When I looked again, they were gone, but they reappeared shortly. I hoped they couldn’t smell me over the bottle of lemon cleaner I’d dumped on the floor. I certainly couldn’t smell them.

“She doesn’t know what’s up.” Celina’s voice reached me again.

Channing laughed. “I think her aunt is trying to break it to her gently. Plus, she doesn’t really trust her with too much information. She probably thinks Alexis will spill everything she knows to me.”

“Do you think she will?”

The blonde girl laughed. “Of course she will.”

“And you think it’s important that she joins us?”

“I’m not the one who thinks it is. It’s what I was told to do, ordered to do. Bring her to our side, that’s what they said.”

“Who said?”

I watched as Channing shoved the other girl nearly to the ground. “Don’t be so dense, Celina, you know who.”

I heard a vehicle approaching. I prayed it wasn’t Eric coming back. These two might try and kill him. I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to fight both of them. I glanced through the blinds and saw a sheriff’s car stop next to the girls. The window rolled down and I could see it wasn’t Deputy Carson.

“Hey you two, what are you doing here?”

“It’s okay Sheriff Kingston, we only stopped here while we were walking. We wanted to see if our friend was here.”

“Well move along. No one’s supposed to be here this time of day. Whose four-wheeler is that at the edge of the woods?”

I saw Channing look around. “Alexis, are you here?”

I kept quiet.

Channing shrugged. “You didn’t see anyone on the way here?”

“No, not a soul and the gate down at the highway was locked.”

“The four-wheeler belongs to Ms Miller’s niece. I guess she rode home with her aunt and left it here. She’ll probably get it tomorrow. If she was within hearing she’d come out when I called.”

I wanted to let out a sigh of relief that they weren’t going to come looking for me, but then my anger began to boil. Channing seemed to think she had me coming to her on command. How stupid I had been. Channing only wanted one more person to boss around. She hadn’t wanted a friend. She was only following orders to trick me into something. I wasn’t sure what she was trying to get me to do, but I’d gone along like a little puppy. I really wanted to kick myself.