Markings (10 page)

What a manipulative combo.

“All right,” I mumbled. “I guess I could
try
this Shifter thing. Look at it a little more positively.” I would at least give it a shot. For him. He was right after all: you can’t really run from your own feet . . . or paws.
I’m going to have paws
. I shoved the thought away. If people could survive and find their way out of the wilderness, I could find a way through this nightmare-come-to-life.

Aaron straightened up, rewarding my efforts with another smile. “Good. ’Cause we got a lot to teach you.”

Chapter 11: Rivalries

T
uesday morning was destined to be weird from the start. I jiggled my leg through the whole ride to school. Mom kept shooting me concerned glances until I finally told her Kat and I had had a “minor confrontation” this weekend. She tried to make me elaborate, but I told her I didn’t want to talk about it.

When the school was in sight, I gathered my courage and grabbed Mom’s cell. I sent Kat a simple text message.
It’s Lina. I know you want to kill me, but I’m pulling up right now. Be there in 5. I have so much 2 tell u.

“Where is your phone anyway?” Mom eyed me, suspicious.

“I don’t know,” I answered, which was technically true. Kat could’ve chucked my phone in the toilet. She was known for being impulsive when her emotions were driving her.

Mom let me go after I gave her phone back—and after she told me to search for mine because that phone was expensive and yada, yada. I hoisted my backpack over one arm, squaring my shoulders. Okay, I could do this. Kat was my best friend. Once I faced her, she would understand . . . well, maybe. Either way, I’ll have gotten it over with.

I climbed the steps to the main doors, almost there when the hair on my spine frizzed. Someone was staring, I felt it. Slowing my pace, I peered around. The jocks hanging out off the side of the building were discussing an upcoming party. The Goth girls sitting on the steps sneakily exchanged dollar bills for cigarettes. A wide span of people milled around inside the lobby; those visible through the doors all looked occupied.

On the last step I stopped, a shadow appearing to my left. He stood alone, just outside a gaggle of freshmen. One foot on the brick, he leaned casually against the building, the arms of his black jacket folded against his chest. A black beanie covered his head, dark sunglasses on. I stared, instantly going into alert mode. He tilted his head to the side then quickly looked away when he saw I watched him.

Would the Keftey come into a school zone? They wouldn’t. It was the center of human teenage-kind. There had to be some kind of rule about that.

I moved quickly through the lobby, weaving through crowds and dodging passing teachers. Around the corner in the main hall, I peeked out from under the stairs, having a clear shot of the doors.

Man-In-Black slinked inside, standing by the metal benches the staff passed off as décor. He sniffed the air, something no average high schooler would do unless the cafeteria was baking Dumpling Surprise again. Nose tilted upwards, he started in my direction.

Panic coursed through me.
Definitely a Shifter
. Swiveling around, I speed-walked down the crowded hall, thankful for my fast reflexes and agility. I spun and ducked around kids, not slowing my speed, ignoring their weird looks. When I reached the science wing half way down the hall, I dared a glance over my shoulder.

Man-In-Black slid past the senior softball team, about twenty feet away. He was following my scent which meant no matter where I went he’d find me. I jerked my head around, scrambling for a solution.

Just as Man-In-Black came around the corner, I ran inside the girl’s bathroom, throwing a quick glance under the stall doors. No one else there; I locked the main door.

Light seeped in from the crack under the door, a few shadows moving by with excited voices. I waited, heart in my ears as a long shadow crossed the light. It didn’t leave. I jumped as there was a gentle knock, but didn’t move to open it. Barely breathing, I bent down and dug through my purse only to remember—oh yeah—no phone.

The shadow stayed, and with every passing second I crept further from the door. Would he break it down like the big bad wolf—and come in to eat me? Or would he prove intelligent like Aaron had warned, and go sneak the custodian’s key?

Just as I readied my algebra book for use as a weapon, the shadow disappeared. I straightened, staying near the wall. What if it was a trap? The first bell rang, signaling we had five minutes to get to class. Great. I had no time now. No time to talk to Kat, not until lunch, and no more time to waste on this stalker.

Grabbing my bags I started towards the door. Tipping the lock back, I peeked around the corner. Nearly everyone had cleared the hall. A few stragglers lingered behind, mostly couples, or gangster-wannabes who thought coming to class late was cool.

I darted down the hall, scanning my surroundings as I went. I came up on the social studies hallway when a hand collapsed over my mouth. I screamed. The fingers grasped so tightly that I felt the air shoved back down my throat. Kicking and thrashing like a salmon, I was pushed into an empty classroom.

The second his hold loosened, this strange, wild instinct kicked in. I jammed my elbow into his abdomen and snapped around, swiping my nails across his face. He stumbled backwards, crashing into a desk. As I leapt to the side, my lips curled back, and the most vicious noise came through my bared teeth. It reverberated in my chest, a sound no normal human could make.

It was the snarl of a feline.

My hand flew over my mouth. Did I really just make that sound?

Man-In-Black dropped into a chair, groaning as he touched his cheek. My nails had drawn blood, tiny red lines trickling down his face. He swiped the droplets away, admiring them as they glistened on his fingertips.

“Impressive,” he muttered. His voice was familiar. “Guess I owe Brendon twenty bucks when we get back to the shelter.”

He removed his sunglasses and the black beanie, fingers picking at his hair. My eyes widened. “
Tom
?”

“Hey, babe.” The blonde, football-player-wannabe grinned at me. “Aaron’s at the shelter. Some of our clan warriors are back from the south border and want to meet us. So I assume that means he wants you to come with.”

I still couldn’t fathom what was happening here. “You were the guy hanging outside, the psycho who followed me to the bathroom?”

“Uh, yeah?” He shrugged, like this was a typical pastime.

“What is wrong with you? I just—do you not see that you are
bleeding
? I could’ve snapped your nose! I probably damaged a rib with my—”

“Lina, calm down,” he laughed. Striding to the front of the room, he plucked a tissue from a Kleenex box and dabbed his cheek. “This is a
good
thing. The Keftey tend to show up when we least expect them, so the fact that you attacked me means you react to your inner feline. You’ve got some fight. It’s all part of training. Plus, because of our shifting abilities, our bodies are used to quick changes. We heal faster than most beings.”

A
good
thing? Really? I had to bite my lip, restrain from making another animal hiss. Cain had proved to me on the trail that the Keftey can pop up out of nowhere, but Tom had to choose school to scare the living life out of me? And of all mornings especially. I could practically feel Kat’s aura radiating through the walls. She wasn’t happy. She wondered where the heck I was.

“Anyway, time’s wasting.” Tom tossed the red-stained tissue in the garbage. “Trin’s waiting out front. We gotta go.”

“Okay, I can’t keep jumping up and taking off whenever you people want.” Whether I was some Alpha leader or whatever, I refused to give up responsibility to myself. My new life had to involve certain aspects of the old. “And in case things were different when you were in school, kids get
detention
when they’re caught skipping class.”

“Don’t treat me like an old geezer, Lina, I’ve been out of school barely two years.” He shook his head. “And yes, they had detention in my day, but as it happens we have particular help here.”

“Particular help?” Was there someone on school staff who was Shifter? Everyone here looked pretty . . . human. Of course, people could say the same about me.

“We have a select group of teachers stationed around the building,” Tom answered. His smile turned mischievous. “How do you think we got Aaron, a newly grad, in here for example?”

Trinity was waiting by the doors in the lobby. A group of senior boys hanging flyers for Friday’s football game kept throwing her flirty looks. They were all jerks I’d known since freshman year, shallow and self-absorbed. The smiles got wiped off their faces as Tom appeared, planting a kiss on her lips. We slipped by campus security using the backdoor in the cafeteria. The jeep was parked behind the school, in a spot reserved for teachers and staff. As we walked, Trinity admired Tom’s face.

“She clawed me pretty good,” Tom said.

I flinched, afraid Trinity would be angry. Too many catfights break out over instances like this. Any of the high school girls would’ve ambushed me the second their men spilled such news. I prepared myself, ready to tell her it was an accident.

Trinity nodded. “Wow. Not bad, Lina.” She picked at the scabs on Tom’s cheek. Letting out a low laugh, she added, “But you should
totally
see the scar I gave his left leg. Never again has he jumped me in the dark.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Scar?” Were Shifter relationships different from humans’? I’d watched enough Animal Planet to know lions and even domestic cats rough-house, but we, the Miews, didn’t go after each other with claws and teeth . . . or did we?

Trinity smirked at me, crawling into the driver’s seat.

When we arrived at the shelter, a group was standing outside. I immediately picked Aaron out of the small crowd. He stood away from the others, leaning on the hood of his Cougar. He wore a black, tight T-shirt and Capri shorts, with checkered Vans instead of his usual flip-flops. The second Trinity pulled in, he looked up and headed over.

My heart skipped a beat. I snuck a peek at myself in the jeep’s rear-view mirror, fluffed my hair then hopped out. He strode right up to me, and for a second my imagination wandered, picturing his strong arms around my waist, his warm chest pressed against mine. I shook my head.
Whoa, Lina, control yourself
.

Without even a hello, Aaron honed in on my velvet flats. “Uh, I don’t think so,” he said, gesturing to them. Looking up at Trinity, he threw a thumb towards the shelter. “Grab her something she can actually run in, will you? Like tennis shoes?”

“We’re
running
?” I didn’t hide my dislike. “What? You pull me out of school for a day of PE?”

“Not necessarily. But better safe than sorry. Oh, and if anyone asks? You say we’re going hunting for a pair of injured deer.” He turned away without even a smile.

My heart sank. So he was the old Aaron—not the sweet, reassuring one from our coffee date, but the distant, temperamental one.
Darn it
, I thought, then followed Trinity into the shelter.

The gates to the reserve were wide open when we came back outside. Ellen waved from the sidewalk as the jeep pulled around, facing the fence. From where I stood, the jeep seemed pretty full. Alison sat on Nate’s lap, the seat belt pulled across them both. Aaron sat next to the pair, Tom in the driver’s seat and patting the seat next to him.

It dawned on me: we weren’t all going to fit.

“Trinity?” There was a nervous stammer in my voice. “Uh, doesn’t the jeep look a little full?”

“Nonsense! We always make room,” she laughed.

My stomach rolled as I admired Nate and Alison again, how they were strapped one on top of the other. Trinity aimed for the passenger seat by Tom, and the space separating Aaron’s thigh from Nate’s was maybe five inches wide.

I would have to sit on somebody, too. Trinity must have noticed my unease, because she whispered, “Don’t worry. You can sit on my lap if you want.”

“Thanks, Trin,” I said. “But I don’t want to break you. In case you haven’t noticed, my butt isn’t exactly a size zero.”

She threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, please. Don’t give me the my-butt-is-bigger-than-yours speech. You’re perfectly small. Besides,”—she glanced at my behind— “you’re lucky to have more cushion than me. You’ll just bruise skin. Me? I bruise bone, and that sucks.”

“Oh.” It reminded me how human she was—not wildcat-human with the beauty and grace and movie-star romance with Tom, but the
human
-human, who talked about body parts, and shaved her legs, and had to go underwear shopping.

It reminded me that Aaron had a human side, too.

He was probably just as nervous about this as I was . . . No, he slouched in his seat, seeming perfectly relaxed. Why couldn’t we just take two cars?

Aaron yawned, watching us approach the jeep. He did focus on my shoes, a pair of sneakers I’d borrowed, instead of my face as he offered his hand to me, so maybe he
was
a little nervous? I swiped my hands down my jeans, acting like I was straightening a wrinkle when really I was wiping the sweat off my palms.

His hand ended up being the one that was damp. He wasn’t very gentle pulling me up into the car. Hard to believe that same hand had been the one to touch my face so softly yesterday. His lap warmed my thighs, making me blush. For just a minute, his arm laid against my stomach as he pressed the seatbelt into place.

Trinity hopped in front, flashing us a smile. “How ya doin’, Lina?”

I mouthed,
fine
, before she giggled and turned around. Nate and Alison eyed us. They exchanged a glance with each other, a sly one that I couldn’t read.

Aaron shifted beneath me, leaning against the seat. It was done; we were officially strapped together.
No going back now
, I thought. “Let’s go,” he said.

“Roger that,” Tom said, letting his foot off the brake. The jeep steered past the gates, onto the reserve.

During the drive, everybody chatted except Aaron and me. I became hyperaware of our closeness, like how my feet pressed on the floor next to his, how his chest cushioned my spine, and when he tilted his head, his chin brushed my shoulder. The worst part was when we hit a bump or a pothole and I bounced, my big butt probably cutting off the circulation in his legs.
So
mortifying, yet I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. This was not the time for a nervous-giggle fit.

Aaron continued with his stoic act, staying fairly immobile. However, every now and again he’d move beneath me and his hands would touch my sides, like he didn’t want me to be shifted off his lap. His breath kept heating the back of my neck, so close at times that I almost expected to feel his lips on it.

The drive was long. The air had an early morning chill to it. The sun peeked over the clusters of pine trees in the east, lighting the shrubby, flat landscape and casting shadows on the jeep. I tried to focus on the scenery, distract myself from Aaron.