Phase (19 page)

“Just the pack.” I smiled warmly at him.

He smiled back. “Just here hanging out?”

“Jules asked me to come.”

He nodded, accepting that.

But for some reason, I felt like continuing. “I feel weird when I’m at home. Like if I’m gone, I’ll miss something important. And also, I feel wrong not telling my parents. Not that I would, but I don’t usually keep stuff from them. I’m lame like that.”

“You’re not lame. You’re cool,” he said, eyes never leaving my face. “Choosing to hang out with us.”

“Well, y’all are cool.”

He blushed.

“How’s the band?”

“Good. Hoping to cut a demo soon. Just to see what it sounds like on playback.”

“Awesome. I really hope you get to do that. Be a rock star. Go tour the world. Have millions of fans. That’d be fun.”

He bumped shoulders with me. “Yeah.” His eyes were still on me.

I looked back out toward the woods, all of a sudden nervous. “Are you just faster than the rest of them? I don’t see anyone. Not that I can see all that well until the leaves have all fallen, but even then, I can usually make out flashes of fur amongst the foliage.” I shut myself up. I was babbling.

He didn’t say anything.

I dared to look back over at him. Was his face closer than it was before?

“Sophie. You are the coolest girl I’ve ever met. Human or shifter.” His eyes shone, the odd color of them warming into gold.

“Uh, Gil?”

I supposed if I’d been a bit more experienced, I would have known what was coming. But I wasn’t so I didn’t. Know.

Gil Reade kissed me.

Chapter Thirteen

His lips pressed against mine hard and awkwardly. Surprised, I didn’t pull away immediately. I’d never been kissed before.

Gil must have taken that as a good sign because he pushed his tongue in my mouth.

I jumped away. “What, um, no, no, no. Uh…I like you Gil, but not…”

His eyes opened, the glow gone. I heard laughter. As if on cue, both Gil and I looked beyond the deck to see the rest of the pack. Aidan was doing most of the laughing, but so were Micah and Nick. Naomi covered her mouth, but the shaking of her shoulders showed that she too, was laughing.

Jules watched both of us, visibly confused.

And Ezra… I couldn’t read Ezra. His face was blank, but his hands were balled up into fists.

“Nicely done, pup!” Aidan called and wolf-whistled.

Gil turned beet red and jumped on the railing on the side of the deck, then down to the ground. He took off running.

“Gil!” I called, feeling all kinds of awful. I ran to where he’d jumped off. He was gone. Disappeared into the woods.

The rest of them started walking up to the deck.

“Looks like Sophie likes the taste of wolf.” Aidan winked at me.

“No, it wasn’t…” I tried to explain.

Micah shook his head, grinning. He slung an arm around Nick’s shoulders. The three of them entered the house.

“You like some wolf groupie now?” Naomi asked snidely, following the guys in.

Jules was behind her.

“Jules, I didn’t…” I reached out to grab her arm. “I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me.” My words were really for Ezra. Not that I believed he cared. But I had to let him know. He didn’t even look at me as he passed us and went into the house.

“You OK?” Jules asked. “I didn’t know you liked Gil.”

“I don’t. Not like that. I think he’s a sweet kid.” I covered my face with my hands. My cheeks were hot. I must have been the color of an eggplant. “He just…kissed me.” I dropped my hands.

Jules patted my back. I took a deep breath. She smelled like the trees.

“It did look like you weren’t into it,” she said.

“I feel awful. I didn’t mean to lead him on.”

“Sophie.” She ducked her head so we were eye to eye. “He’s a boy. You were nice to him. Of course he likes you. You’re very likable.”

I shook my head. “And now he’s humiliated… My first kiss.” I rested my head on her shoulder.

“That was your first kiss?” She patted my head. “I bet that was a really bad first kiss.”

I groaned and hid my face in her shoulder as she began to laugh.

* * *

I drove in on Monday morning, bleary-eyed from not sleeping soundly. I’d worried about Naomi and Jules, Gil and Ezra, which didn’t make for good rest. So maybe that’s why I didn’t see her pull in front of me.

I ran into Summer’s Miata.

Barely tapped her because the speed limit was 10 MPH in the school lot, and I was one of the few that abided by that to a T. So I nudged her with my bumper.

Didn’t stop her from getting out of her car, yelling at me.

I opened my door. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you… I don’t even think I left a mark.” I got out, too tired to feel as scared as I should have been.

“You are such a dumbass!” She continued her tirade as others started gathering around.

I examined the point of impact. I was right. Not even a scratch. “Summer, I’m really sorry, but there’s nothing there. It was a mistake.” I straightened.

She slapped me in the face before I even registered that she was close enough. It stung, and my eyes filled with tears. Oddly, she didn’t look that mad, but more…smug.

I heard someone yelling and footsteps pounding toward us. Jules shoved Summer out of the way and stood right in front of me, facing Summer. “Don’t you ever touch her,” Jules snarled in near wolf voice.

Not good.

I grabbed her arm to keep her from going after Summer. “No, you’ll get in trouble.”

“She hit you.”

“Yeah.”

Ezra hurried up and also put himself between Summer and us. She was no longer alone. Her friends and a few guys from the football team had joined her.

“Sophie,” he began.

Jules glared at him.

“Hey, calm down,” he said to Jules.

“Don’t tell me what to do.”

“You’re don’t want to phase by mistake.” His voice was low, but we could both hear him. “I’ll move your car, Sophie.” He jogged to the door while Jules pulled me aside and shouted a few things at Summer that I could never repeat to anyone. Summer and her posse left after that.

Then she said, “I saw it. Ezra was driving up when we saw her swerve in front of you. Not your fault.”

My hand was still on my cheek. “I wondered.”

Jules hunkered down so our faces were the same level. “You OK?”

“I’ve had better weeks.”

She smiled. “Wanna go to the office?”

I shook my head. “I’ve been to the office too much already this year.”

She nodded. Ezra came back to where we stood with my backpack and keys.

I took them. “Thanks.”

“Yeah. We need to teach you how to fight.”

Jules smiled. “That’s probably a good idea.”

“No way. I’m a wimp.”

Jules and Ezra walked me into school, with neither of them letting go of the idea.

* * *

I headed to Chemistry later that afternoon, still worried that both Ezra and Jules wanted to teach me to fight. Maybe they were right. I was getting into more fights than ever, even if I didn’t go looking for them.

I saw Gil coming down the hall. With a smile, I walked toward him.

“Gil! Hey…” I maneuvered through the crowd so I was right in front of him.

His eyes didn’t register that he’d seen me, but he sidestepped me with ease. I tapped his shoulder.

He spun, eyes angry. “Leave me alone.” It wasn’t Gil’s voice at all, but some strange angry version of it. Furious. And he stalked off.

Guess he hadn’t gotten over the embarrassment of kissing me.

That in and of itself bummed me out. I liked Gil.

I found my lab table and sat, my heart low. Today sucked in the worst way.

* * *

“I meant to tell you something,” Jules said as we sat down for lunch. These days, Connie and Mary-Beth didn’t even pretend anymore. They avoided us. So we sat at a table on our own. I couldn’t say I really cared at that moment.

“This morning, but you know, got distracted by Evil Redhead.”

I smiled faintly.

She paused, watching me. “You OK?”

I nodded.

“You sure?”

I nodded again.

“Well, don’t go anywhere without me, all right? Summer won’t try much if there’s both of us. And I can drop her pretty quick.”

“Don’t worry. Avoidance is my new motto.” I took a bite of chicken salad, chewing slowly. I wasn’t hungry. I had to be ill. “So what were you going to tell me?” I tried not to think about Summer or the bloody wolf or Gil.

“Oh. You know what I found out?” Her eyes lit with mystery.

“Hmm?” I focused on my applesauce.

“About other packs?”

OK, she had my attention. I looked around to see if anyone was close. The guys always ate across the cafeteria. I lifted my brows at Jules, then glanced at the guys.

“Too loud. They can’t hear. So, there are other packs. Of shifters. Not really nearby, think they said the closest was in North Carolina.”

“No way.”

“Yup. Anyway, the reason they’re so secretive, other than the fact that humans are notorious for persecuting those that are different…”

Couldn’t really argue that one. Holocaust, Crusades, high school.

“Sometimes other packs go looking for new, better territory, like here, and we have to protect our area,” she said.

“Like a gang?” I was on edge for some reason.

“Exactly.” She looked really alive with all her new information. “Sometimes other Alphas’ll send a scout to survey, and we have to dissuade him.”

“Dissuade?” I didn’t like where this was going.

“Remember the dead wolf in town?” She sobered, but light in her eyes didn’t dim.

“Yeah, the dead…” My voice broke. “That was a shifter?” I dropped my voice as low as I could.

“Yeah. Sniffing out Gregory.”

“Then…who…how?”

She rolled her eyes. “Micah.”

My belly twisted. “Micah killed someone?”

“Yeah. Apparently, there was a fight and shifters always fight to the death over territory.” She shrugged.

“How can you be so…?” I was horrified. And the smell of my food made me nauseous.

“It happens,” she replied. “As much as I don’t like the guy, Micah wouldn’t fight unless he had to. Unlike Aidan who likes to fight for any reason.”

I pushed my lunch away.

“Soph?”

“I’m sorry I just can’t… I can’t be OK with that.”

Jules continued chewing, her eyes never leaving me. She swallowed. “To save you, I’d kill someone.”

“Don’t say that!”

She looked embarrassed. “You wouldn’t do that for me? Or your folks?”

“But, but the other shifter… He wasn’t threatening—”

“New pack takes over. It’s the laws of the wilderness. Submit, or go rogue and be killed.”

My head spun. I closed my eyes and the moment I did, I remembered Micah, beat-up and bruised. It’d happened after that weekend. He hadn’t fallen. He’d killed someone.

Micah Reade, seventeen years old, a killer.

I turned to look over at the guys. They were all talking and laughing. Micah grinned at something Nick said.

It couldn’t be possible.

My gaze, as usual, found Ezra. He smiled for a second at Nick before catching me staring. He raised his eyebrows in question. I looked away quickly.

Ezra was the second. Did that mean he would kill too?

“I thought…” Jules brought my attention back to her. “I thought you’d think it was cool.”

“What?”

“Whatever adjective you’d use for us weirdos.” She dropped her gaze. “I’m gonna go.”

“No, Jules, please…”

She got up and left. I didn’t have it in me to follow.

* * *

“Hey.” Ezra came up to me after Chemistry 2. We pretty much always walked to Spanish together now. Friends.

“Hi.”

“What’s up with you?”

I glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”

“You didn’t say a word all class. Which never happens, unless we have a test and even then, you usually mutter something under your breath.”

I must have looked shocked, because he grinned.

“Superior hearing, remember?”

“Oh.”

“And at lunch, you had a weird look on your face.”

“Sorry.”

“No reason to say you’re sorry.” He waited as we got to the foreign language hall before speaking again. “Not going to explain?”

“Nothing to explain,” I replied, unable to pretend to be anything but how I was feeling. In shock.

He touched my arm before we entered the classroom. “You’re a crap liar.”

I dared to meet his eyes and forced a smile. “It’s one of my good qualities. I’m fine, Ez, really.”

“Yeah right,” he grumbled and waited for me to go in first.

What was I supposed to say? Oh I’m great! By the way, killed any shifters lately?

* * *

Jules and I didn’t meet up after school like we usually did. I felt bad, but really just wanted to go home and sleep.

I got an e-mail from her that night.

Soph,

Hope we’re OK.

J

P.S. Naomi’s the only one I’d contemplate doing any damage to.

I smiled in spite of it all.

* * *

I jumped when Jules came up to my locker the next morning. I hadn’t even heard her.

“Hi,” I greeted with a smile. I’d gone to bed at eight. Lots of sleep meant a much happier Sophie. Even if a happier Sophie was trying not to think about all the stuff that was going wrong around me.

“Hey.”

OK, no smile from Jules. Not even happy eyes. Her voice rippled with something.

“What?”

She looked around covertly. For the rest of them was my guess. She grabbed my arm and led me toward the outside doors.

“Jules?”

“Micah thinks it’s you.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “It’s me… Wait, the stuff with Naomi?”

She nodded. “It’s bullshit, but since you’re the only human who knows…” She pressed her lips together, her face getting pinchy. “It’ll blow over.”