Marked (The Pack) (36 page)

Emma bounced to her feet. “I’ll see you later, maybe we can hang out on the weekend.”

“Oh, okay.” I watched Emma leaving. She smiled and waved to different people. I realized I’d spent the entire past year so busy ingratiating myself into Lindsey’s small group of friends that I’d lost sight of all the other people I went to school with. As though they didn’t exist. What else had I missed out on? Gathering my paper and empty juice box, I dumped them in the garbage and headed to class. For the first time since school started, I was excited about the new year.

My excitement didn’t last long. With one class left for the day I ran by my locker to exchange books. My hand froze before it could reach the book I needed. For a few seconds I couldn’t breathe, then I jerked my head from side to side looking up and down the hall. Was someone watching me? Was the person who left this picture of Channing lying on top of my books hiding where they could see my reaction? I wadded the picture into a ball and stuffed it in my purse, trying to keep my heart from racing. I thought of running home right now, but they’d turn me in missing from my last class and someone in the office would make the “your daughter is skipping” call. I couldn’t explain this to my mother, not when I didn’t know myself what it meant.

The bell rang and I hurried to class. Taking my cell phone from my purse, I stuck it in the waistband of my pants. Five minutes into the posted writing assignment, I went to the teacher’s desk and asked to go to the restroom. Pass in hand I went to a set of bathrooms on a hall with several empty classrooms. I checked each stall to make sure no one else was in there. Then I scrolled through my phone contacts until I found the one I wanted. Pacing the small room, I waited as the phone rang then someone picked up.

“Aunt Louise.”

“Hey, Alexis, aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

“I am in school. I’m in the bathroom right now.”

“Are you okay? You sound panicky.”

“Someone left a picture of Channing in my locker. It has a combination and I’m the only one supposed to know it.”

On the other end of the phone was silence. I didn’t know what I was expecting, some immediate reassurance that everything was okay, that this kind of thing was normal in werewolf land. I waited for Louise to speak, but all I could hear was an occasional breath and maybe footsteps like she was walking through the house. I couldn’t stand it any longer.

“Aunt Louise.”

“I’m on my way.”

That definitely wasn’t what I expected to hear. “What? You’re coming here? You can’t get here immediately. What am I supposed to do?”

“Do what you normally do, only don’t go running around by yourself. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“The picture, what does it mean?”

Silence again, then finally, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” I held the phone away and stared at it. “You know everything.”

Louise laughed, but I didn’t think it was very funny.

“I don’t know this.”

The phone went quiet. I stared at the bathroom floor then jammed the phone back in my pants and went back to class. Just when I thought life would be normal for a minute, I get this rude awakening. My life would never be normal again. I wished I’d never met Channing, but then I might not have ever met Eric. All I wanted was to get home and burn the picture in my purse.

I found that staring at the clock on the wall of my last period class definitely made the time pass more slowly. When the bell finally rang I felt as if I’d ground my teeth down to the gum line. Crushed among the crowd, I flowed out the door and onto the sidewalk then turned toward the bus stop. I couldn’t go home and sit by myself so I’d decided to take the city bus to my mother’s office and wait to ride home with her. Aunt Louise would have to explain this. Hopefully by the time she got here she’d know more than she had on the phone.

I never made it to the bus stop. I halted mid-stride then my mouth moved but no words came out. Five feet away Eric grinned uncontrollably. I made two steps. He rushed the last three and caught me in his arms.

“Bet you didn’t expect me.”

“I can’t believe you’re here. You said it would be weeks.”

“True, but I couldn’t wait weeks. I realized my uncle only lives an hour and a half from here. So I came to visit him.”

“What about school?”

“I took a few days off.”

“Your parents were okay with that?”

“Hey, it’s my senior year. I’d taken so many classes last year and before I got to Lebeaux, there really wasn’t much for me to do.”

I stared at him, shocked, amazed and more than happy. Then the realization came. I had danger awaiting me, somewhere. Glancing around, I tried to imagine who could have left the picture. I wondered if they were watching.

“Alexis, are you okay?” Eric caught both of my hands in his and kissed each one.

“I’m… yeah, I’m fine, perfect. I’m surprised to see you.”

He let go of my hands and tangled his fingers in the strands of my hair. He leaned closer until our faces were only inches apart.

“I needed to see you, to make sure you were okay now that you’re home.”

I stood on my tip toes and kissed him. “Why wouldn’t I be doing okay at home?”

He shrugged. “I thought maybe those friends of yours that ignored you all summer might be giving you a hard time.”

I shook my head and we bumped noses. “Nope, I’ve decided to ignore them.”

He hugged me laughing. “Good for you. Now, can I drive you home, or are we going to stand on the sidewalk all day.”

“I was really going to my mom’s office.”

“Let’s go then. I’ll take you there. I can’t wait to meet your mom.”

He stepped towards a shiny red convertible with the top down. The black interior gleamed and when he held open the door I was almost afraid to sit in the thing in case I had dirt on my shoes.

“When did you get this?”

He slid behind the steering wheel and laughed. “It belongs to my uncle.”

“Nice uncle.”

“Yep, he is. Which way to your mom’s office?”

I leaned against the headrest and pointed the way. Hopefully, no danger lurked around the next turn. If I could make it until Aunt Louise got here I’d feel better. What if someone came after me? Could I protect myself and Eric too? I prayed to the ancient werewolf gods, surely there were some, that I wouldn’t have to find out.

Three hours later we pulled into the front drive of my house, the red sports car a bit conspicuous next to my mother’s four year old Maxima and Aaron’s dusty truck. We’d made it home thirty minutes ago, only to be sent back out by Aaron to pick up a pizza he ordered. Eric balanced the huge box as I opened the door for him to follow me in.

“Great, I’m starved.” Aaron flipped back the lid, grabbing a slice and starting to eat without waiting for a plate. Across the kitchen my mother sighed and opened the cabinet, but before she could get the plates, Eric grinned and started on his own piece.

My mother set the plates on the table. “When you two take a breath, here’s a plate.”

“It’s best this way, straight out of the box. Right, Eric?”

Eric could only nod, his mouth full of pizza. I laughed as my mother arched an eye brow and smiled. It was the same arched eyebrow I’d seen when Eric and I had left her office earlier today. To her credit, she hadn’t looked thoroughly shocked when I walked through the door with Eric in tow. I had no idea how she had managed that, since it was the first guy I’d ever brought to her office, or home for that matter.

Opening a cabinet to get glasses for soda, I glanced through the window over the sink into the backyard. My fingers tightened around the glass. Suddenly, I couldn’t move my arm and the glass remained in the cabinet. Was that movement I saw? I blinked once, twice, then stared. Letting go of the glass my fingers grasped the edge of the sink for support. Definitely movement in my back yard. The werewolf gods had failed me.

From behind, warmth washed over me as Eric’s body brushed against me.

“What do you see?” Eric’s whispered question helped me focus. I forced myself to breath.

“Umm nothing, just looking into the yard.”

His hand closed over mine and tightened. “Don’t lie. What do you see?”

My throat constricted. Before I could think or even monitor my words I answered, “Movement.”

“Lock that door.” He nodded toward the door in the kitchen that opened onto the back yard. Then, I was cold. Eric was gone. I turned, running to the door as he grabbed my mother and Aaron by the arm. “Do you have a bedroom closet?”

Aaron nodded as my mother pointed down the hall.

“Go, now!” He propelled them down the hallway and into the bedroom closet. I raced after him.

“What are you doing?”

I saw the stunned shock on my mom and Aaron’s face as Eric slammed the closet shut and grabbed a huge dresser with one hand, sliding it in front of the door. I couldn’t move now, only stare at him. From behind me there was a banging at the kitchen door. The entire house vibrated on its foundation with every thud.

Eric stepped in front of me, grabbed my shoulders, bent and quickly kissed my mouth. “I don’t have time to explain. I need you to listen to me and do what I tell you.”

I shook my head. “Eric, wait. You don’t understand. You have to let me handle this. You could get hurt. I’m the one trained to deal with this.”

He gave a half-hearted smile and shook his head. “You are not trained for anything, Alexis, especially not this.”

Pushing me aside he raced back to the kitchen, leaping to hit the door in full stride. The door burst off its hinges and fell. Before Eric’s feet hit the ground, he had transformed into a huge golden wolf. How could I not have known?

A dark brown wolf struggled beneath the broken door. Further in the yard I spotted the second yellow wolf and prayed there weren’t more. I ran forward and in my mind willed myself to transform, but it didn’t happen. I didn’t have time to wonder why before the yellow colored wolf hit me full force. I went to the ground taking the animal with me, trying to avoid the snapping teeth. We rolled in the damp grass. I struggled to get hold of the wolf with no idea what would happen if I did. It wasn’t like I could kill it. The wolf’s sharp teeth closed on my shoulder. Its muscles bunched under skin and fur then it tossed me across the yard. In mid air I concentrated and suddenly transformed just before my body slammed into the brick wall of the house. My head thumped against the stone momentarily stunning me. The two wolves closed in on Eric. I scrambled to my feet and caught the yellow wolf dragging it backward. The larger brown wolf rolled across the grass locked together with Eric. Then the wolf was on top of him, teeth closing on Eric’s throat. Even if he couldn’t kill him that way he could make him unable to fight until he healed. I was fairly certain a ripped open throat would take more than two seconds to heal. In the meantime I’d be facing these two alone.

Struggling loose from the wolf that had clamped onto my leg I pushed off with my hind legs hard and hit the brown wolf knocking him off balance. He loosened his grip but was quickly on top of Eric, again. The yellow wolf jumped in front of me as I tried again to get the other wolf off Eric. A frustrated cry rushed from my throat. I caught the yellow wolf by the scruff of the neck and flung it with all the angry force I could muster from the very bottom of the pads of my feet. The animal flew midway up the tree, crashing through huge branches until it hit the tree trunk and hung there limp.

I turned to help Eric but he lay motionless in a pool of blood. Already I could see the jagged, torn skin trying to heal, but for now I was on my own. Then from the doorway of the kitchen I saw another wolf and my heart sank. Not two of them at one time. I didn’t know how long before the wolf in the tree would awaken and come down, then there’d be three. As if on cue the ground shook as the yellow wolf landed next to the huge brown one facing me. I couldn’t fight three of them. The wolf in the kitchen gave a shake then leapt across the grass. In the moonlight I saw his eyes and I knew. Relief swept over me. Myles.

We each took a wolf and the fight resumed. I quickly got the yellow wolf on its back. From the corner of my eye I saw Myles in wolf form battling the other wolf with Eric beside him. Even as I tried to hold my own I saw Myles and Eric tear apart the other wolf before coming to help me.

When the yellow wolf lay in pieces on our neatly mown lawn I raced into the house. In the laundry room I grabbed some clothes and transformed. When I returned to the yard Eric was gone but Myles stood there waiting, in his human form, wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

“Where’s Eric?”

“He went to his car for clothes.”

“Myles, he’s a werewolf, too.”

“Obviously.”

“Why didn’t you know already? You guys were friends? Why didn’t he tell us? Why didn’t he tell me?”

“He’s Fenryrian,” Myles said flatly.

I stopped reminding myself to breath. “But… well, it’s not really that big of a deal is it?”

Myles shook his head. “You know good and well it’s a big deal, Alexis.”

Eric came through the kitchen door in jeans pulling a T-shirt over his head. I ran toward him and threw my arms around him. He wrapped me up holding my body close to his.