The Secret Wolf (Book One in the Tree Top Wolves Series)

by Stacey Card

  I felt something watching me; it was the shiver that went down my spine that alerted me to the presence.  I opened my eyes and looked around.  Nothing.  I closed my eyes again and laid back, that's when I felt hot breath on the back of my neck.  I stiffened but didn't turn around.  I slowly stood up on shaky legs and walked towards the gap between trees that I had come through.  I didn't turn around because I knew that if I did I wouldn't like what I would see.  I didn't hear anything following me, but I knew that whatever it was, was still watching, waiting for me to leave the forest.

  Once I got back at the house I got showered and dressed in a pair of jean shorts and tank top.  The town was small enough that you could walk everywhere, so I walked to the centre of town.  The town centre was small, with a grocery store, a few clothes shops, and the odd shops that sell everything.  There was a small garage, and a small coffee shop.  There was only one restaurant, so that was where I assumed my mom when last night, there was a small pub next door to it.

  I walked around the shops, not finding anything that held my attention so I walked into the small coffee shop.  I didn't like coffee, but they sold hot chocolate.  The place was dark brown and white, it was modern and looked quite new.  I walked up to the counter where an old man was taking orders.

  "What can I get ya?" he asked, smiling at me.

  "A hot chocolate, please."

  "Do you want marshmallows and cream too?"  he asked, knowing too well you couldn't have hot chocolate without them.

  "Yes please."  I smiled brightly at him.

  "You're new here right?"

  "Yep, I just moved here from New York."

  "Must be a big change for you then, huh?"

  I thought about it before I answered, "Not really, I move around every month or so with my moms job.  I prefer the towns like this though."

  "Really?  Most kids like the big cities, with the lights and all."

 

  I laughed.  "My moms always said I was a strange one."

  He laughed and said, "I'll bring it over for you when it's ready, and I'll throw in a muffin too.  I'm Bill, by the way."

  "Thank you.  I'm Alysha."

  I walked over to one of the tables in the corner so that I could look outside the window at the passing people.  It was already starting to feel like home and I hadn't even been here a full day yet, maybe it's because I knew that I was staying longer than a month this time.  

  Bill came over and placed a steaming cup of hot chocolate in front of me and as promised I also had a chocolate muffin.  I smiled and said thanks before I turned back towards the window.

  Across the street was a blonde haired guy with his friends, and it didn't take long for me to recognise Dan.  As if feeling me watching him, he turned around and started walking towards the shop when he noticed me.  I put my head down pretending to be interested in the cream as it floated on top of the hot chocolate.

  "Hey, good lookin’," Dan said, by way of greeting.

  I looked up at him blankly, thinking that if I pretended that I didn't recognise him he would go away.  I was dead wrong.

  He pulled up a chair and sat opposite me.  "It's me Dan. I gave you the pizza last night, remember?"

  "Oh, yeah, um, hi."  I hoped that he would take the hint and just leave, but apparently not.

  "Fancy seeing you here, it's such a small town.  Nothing like New York I bet, huh?"

  "No, it's better,” I said smiling as I thought about all of the differences.

  He burst out laughing. "This place?  Better than New York?  Are you high?"

  "Nope, just honest."

  He was about to reply when his friends called him over.  He looked back at me and waved, ordered and sat with his friends on the opposite side of the room.  All of the boys were the broad shouldered, they looked like the perfect people for football, or wrestling.  The girls were slender, with curves in all the right places.  I couldn't help but be jealous of them.

  I looked back out of the window, I had my sketch pad out in front of me and was looking over the drawing that I done of the lake.  I might blow it up so that it can go in the kitchen, the lake sparkled with the sunlight and the trees around it were different shades, because of the angle the sun hit them.

  "Nick!"  I heard someone shout, and turned around.  That's when I saw him, the most beautiful guy I had ever seen, he was better than Jacob Black off Twilight.  He was tall and muscular like the others on the table.  He looked like Dan, but a bit bigger and with black hair instead of blonde.

  The guy, Nick, walked over to the table and sat next to Dan and a blonde girl.  She looked like a cheerleader, so it was no wonder he sat next to her.  I really needed to pee and the door for the bathroom was right next to them, I felt intimidated.  Pull yourself together, my inner voice said.  I took a deep breath and got up to walk over there, as I was passing Dan called my name.

  "Hey, Alysha!"

  I turned trying not to shoot him daggers, and smiled sweetly.  "Yeah?"

  "Whatcha doing?"

  I stared at him blankly.  "What does one usually do when they walk towards the bathroom?"  I raised my brow at him.

  His friends laughed and he just grinned, not slightly embarrassed.  My eyes were drawn to the one they called Nick, he had forest green eyes, and they twinkled as he laughed.  He had a deep laugh and it made my legs weak.  I blushed when he looked at me; it felt like he was seeing into my soul.

  "You should come and sit with us once you've finished with your business."  I snapped my eyes to Dan, blushing harder.

  "Um...I, uh, can't, I'm busy,” I replied stuttering and quickly walked off.

  When I came out of the bathroom I kept my head down as I walked passed them and I walked straight out the door.  I walked slowly on my way back home.  I couldn't stop thinking of Nick, it was strange, I was never usually interested in guys.  But by the looks of things he had a girlfriend; the blonde girl had hung off his arm while Dan was talking to me.

  ****

  I woke up after a sleepless night; I kept having dreams of forest green eyes, and something hot breathing on my neck.  I decided to go into the forest again today; nothing was going to scare me off.  I had been waiting years to move to a place like this.  I dressed in jeans and a tank, with my walking boots.  I put my sketch book in a bag and was out the door.  It wasn't a surprise that my mom wasn't home when I woke up; I haven't seen her since we moved here.

  The forest was like it was yesterday, but the ground was damp from the rain during the night.  When I got to the lake, there was a butterfly on a nearby branch; I quickly started to sketch it knowing that it wouldn't stay long.  It flew away shortly after and I walked over to the lake.  It was surrounded by dried mud and I sat down taking my boots off and dipping my feet into the water.  It was cold but it felt refreshing after my walk.

  I started school tomorrow; I was excited but nervous at the same time.  Secretly I was hoping that Nick would be there tomorrow.  The forest reminded me of him, I could imagine him sitting by the lake and walking through the woods.  I heard a twig snap behind me and turned around, there standing a few feet behind me was a wolf, it was huge and black with green eyes.  I stared at it for a few moments before grabbing my sketch book and starting to draw it.

  It cocked its head to the side, like it was confused by what I was doing and wondering why I wasn't screaming.  Once I drew the outline of him I started on the background, I would add colours and the better detail when I got home.  I had never seen a wolf before, but I always wanted to - they were my favourite animal.  The black and white ones were my favourite.

  I slowly slid my book towards him, so he could look.  It was a crazy idea but I wanted him to see what I had done.  I just hoped he didn't rip it up.  He took a few steps forward and sniffed it before looking at it.  He stared at it for a moment before looking up at me with a wolfish grin on his face.  I smiled at him and reached out my hand, it was shaking because I didn't kno
w what he would do.  He sniffed it and whined in confusion before putting his head under my hand.  His fur was soft and thick and I moved forward so I could kneel in front of him.  I ran my hands through his fur loving the feel of it between my fingers.

  I heard a howl from the distance and he lifted his head and listened again.  I watched him intrigued, there was another howl and he looked at me before running in the direction of the howling.  I looked in the direction that he ran off in before putting my shoes on and heading back home.

  My alarm went off at seven and I groaned as I rolled over to shut it off.  It was way too early to be up, I started falling back to sleep when my mum came in.

  "Wakey, wakey sleeping beauty."

  I mumbled something and rolled over onto my stomach, putting my head under the pillow.  I heard her walk over to my window and open the curtains.  The next thing I knew my quilt was being ripped off me, I grabbed it just in time and pulled it back up.  Ahh, the usual tug of war match that we have every morning, oh how I haven't missed this.  Mom won as she always did, and then she grabbed my feet and pulled.  I grabbed my head bored and held on tight.

  "Come on, Alysha, you don't want to be late for your first day of school."

  "Yes I do,” I mumbled, with my head still under the pillow.

  Then I thought of Nick and I jumped out of bed, startling my mom, she fell on the floor, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.  I laughed before turning towards the bathroom to shower.  After I showered and blow dried my hair, so that it fell wavy down my back.  I added a little bit of make up and ran down stairs to have breakfast.  I grabbed my mom's toast and ate it whilst packing my bag, she rolled her eyes at me and I grinned, showing her a mouth full of food.  I took my pill swallowing it down with a glass of orange juice.

  The walk to school was relaxing, but it was also suspense and was building up my nerves.  I had already wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans three times - by the time I get there I will probably have two wet patches on my jeans.  I laughed at the thought, thinking how embarrassing that would be.

  The school was a small red brick building.  It looked modern and new.  As I walked towards the main office I passed the blonde girl from the coffee shop, she was stood by herself waiting for someone.  As soon as I thought that five cars pulled up and out came Dan, Nick and some of the other people from the coffee shop.  The girl strutted right up to Nick and linked her arm through his.  I rolled my eyes and kept walking towards the office.

  I knew girls like that, girls that think they own a boy just because they like them.  It looked like Nick wasn't interested and he had a lot of girls trying to get his attention, but they still could be together - maybe they'd had a lovers tiff.  There was no reason why he wouldn't go for a girl like her, she had long curly blonde hair and brown eyes.  She was wearing tight jeans and heels, her top was low cut and fit her perfectly.  Her looks were not going unnoticed either, the boys that surrounded her were practically drooling, all except Nick and Dan - the ones whose attention she wanted the most.

  The main office was small, with a long desk.  Behind the desk sat a plump woman, with short dyed red hair and matching red glasses.  She smiled when she saw me and gestured for me to come over.  The walls were a boring white and were in need of some art or something to make it look less plain.

  "Can I help you dear?"

  "Yes, I'm Alysha.  I just moved here from New York, this is my first day."

  "Oh, yes,” she said turning towards her computer and typing stuff.  The printer sounded from behind her and she turned to grab the paper.

  "This is your class schedule,” she said as she handed me the paper. "Your first class is History with Mr Melon.  You'll find that down the hall and to your left, it's the second door.  If you get lost throughout the day you can always come here or ask one of your teachers.  Have a good day dear."

  "And you," I said, walking in the direction she said before I forgot it.

  I took a deep breath before opening the door, all eyes turned towards me.

  "Yo Alysha!  Baby girl, you stalking me now?"

  I slowly turned towards Dan saying sweetly, while batting my eyelashes, "Oh of course I am Dan, I can't stay away.”  I put my hand on my heart.

  He grinned and winked.  I turned towards my teacher who was shaking his head, trying to hide his smile.

  "You must be Alysha Jar."

  "Yep."

  "Well seen as you and Mr Lock are already acquainted you may sit next to him.  We are going to start a pair project today, so you will have to work after school on it as well."

  "Ok,” I said and walked over to the seat next to Dan.  I looked around and saw the blonde girl staring daggers at me; if looks could kill I would have died a hundred times over.  I didn't see Nick but hoped that he would be in my next class.

  I turned towards Dan and asked what topic he picked for our project.

  "Well, if I had known that I would have a partner I would have chosen a hard topic, but I didn't I picked the easiest which was World War Two."

  "Right, well we might be able to finish it in a week if we work on it every day after school."

  "Just can't get enough of me can you?" he said winking.

  I rolled my eyes.  "Would anyone be at your house if we went there?"

  "You mean so we can be alone?" He asked waggling his eyebrows.  "As much as I would like to say yes, my parents will be there."

  "Ok good, because my mom won't be home so we can go to yours."

  His face dropped and I couldn't help but laugh. "Ok yeah we can go to mine, I gotta ask first though so we won't be able to do it tonight.  You know I won't bite unless you ask, so we could go to yours."

  I laughed at him and shook my head, he was just too much.  The rest of class was just researching our topic in books provided and writing notes on it.

  I didn't see Nick until lunch; I had really hoped that he would be in one of my classes.  I sat on a table by myself, near the bins.  Although I had talked to people and tried to make friends, no one had offered to let me sit by them.

  As I was opening my cheese roll a shadow fell across the table, I looked up into the most extraordinary green eyes that I had ever seen.  It was Nick, all my hopes and dreams had come true!  I dragged my eyes away from his only to stare at his lips, they were perfect and full.  I felt my own part, until I heard him clear his throat.

  I blushed furiously and looked at him through my lashes.  "Hey,” I said.

  "Uh, hi.  I saw you here by yourself and was wondering if I could...uh, maybe join you?"

  My mouth dropped open and I looked at him and then at the table of his friends.  I raised my brow. They were all looking over in confusion, their mouths dropping open, the blonde girl staring daggers at me.

  "Sure,” I said, smiling up at him.

  He sat down opposite me, not looking over to his friends at al.  I wondered whether they had actually had an argument or something.  The silence stretched between us, he hadn't even asked my name, or told me his own.

  "I'm Alysha, by the way,”  I told him when the silence became too much to handle.

  He looked up and me and gave me a shy smile.  "I'm Nick."

  Oh that smile!  I had never seen a smile that cute before, my heart fluttered and I blushed knowing that I was staring again.  It isn't your fault, my inner voice said, it's his, why if he wasn't so good looking we wouldn't have given him quite so much attention.  I didn't agree with her, after all I felt like I already knew him, like I had seen him before.

  As he was opening up his own roll, the blonde girl came over; she slid onto the seat next to him, her hand sliding up his arm.

  "Nicky, what are you doing over here?" She asked sweetly.

  Nick gave her a dazzling smile and my heart stopped, if only he could give me one of those.  "I'm making friends with the new girl.  Alysha this is Carly, Carly this is Alysha."

  "Oh how nice to meet you!" She said with fake enthusiasm, al
l the while staring daggers at me.

  "You too,” I mumbled.  Why did she have to come over here and wreck my moment with Nick?  Who did she think she was?  Ok so we weren't having a convocation but still, I was enjoying sneaking glances at him.

  "Well now that you've met, are you going to come back over?  No one likes sitting by the bin,” Carly asked Nick, laughing.

  "You know, you're right,” Nick said and Carly smiled at me. "Come on Alysha, you can sit with us.  As Carls said no one likes sitting by the bin."  Carly's face dropped and I tried not to laugh.

  "But...but…,” She stuttered, trying to find words for why my coming over was a bad idea.

  I stood up smiling sweetly at her before grabbing my stuff and following Nick over to the table, which was far away from the smelly bin.