The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven

by Jessica Miller

  I sat around and watched everyone, intrigued at all the different stories, reactions, and expressions on everyone’s faces. Roman had let me know ahead of time he wasn’t going to make it to lunch. He got stuck helping one of the new kids. Something about an explosion in the chemistry class, not sure, but he promised he would see me at dinner and training.

  I noticed Jason had walked in to the cafeteria and once again I found myself staring at him. He gave me the look of death and I went back to my spaghetti. “Ella, it’s only the first day and you’re already making enemies,” Dixon said.

  I didn’t even hear him. “Hello…Ella?” He threw a roll at me.

  “Hey,” I whined. “You know you could take someone’s eye out with one of things,” I said, pegging one back, totally missing. My aim was a little off and I ended up hitting some innocent bystander in the head.

  Dixon and everyone started laughing as I tried to hide under the table. My face turned bright red as the poor soul turned to face the Neanderthal who pelted him in the head with a roll. Before he turned all the way around, someone called his name, and he turned his attention to his friend. I only caught the side of his face. His profile was that of an older man, but young in the way he carried himself. His sandy brown hair fell over his eye, but was clean cut around the neck and ears. He was tall and built so my guess was he was a wolf or vamp. I learned that all wolves and male vamps were naturally tall. There wasn’t one that I knew that was less than six foot.

  Happy to have escaped total embarrassment, I glared at Dixon, and he just laughed. “Ooh, who is that?” Dixon asked, checking out one of the new kids.

  I looked up to see that it was Trevor he was scoping out. “Oh, that’s Trevor. I can introduce you if you want?”

  “No, that’s okay,” he said, blushing and looking down at his plate.

  “When the hell have you ever been shy?” Cassidy said. “Besides, what makes you think he even plays for your team? That boy is too damn fine to be gay.” Cassidy licked her lips and pushed out her chest.

  “And that there should tell you he’s gay,” Josie said.

  “You especially should know better than anyone that all the cute ones are gay,” Dixon said to Cassidy in a contemptuous tone. Cassidy glowered back at him and through a little prying into Cassidy’s head I found out that apparently Cassidy’s gaydar was not so good and she had a habit of going after boys who liked other boys. While I was in her head, I decided to dig a little deeper and see if I could find some other things out when she turned on me.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded, looking at me ready to strike.

  “I wasn’t doing anything,” I said in a rush.

  “Yes you were. I could feel the invasion.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, looking away.

  “Don’t do it again,” she scolded. I risked a peek and got an awkward smile from Josie. I just shook my head as they went back to their discussion. I decided not to finish my lunch and made up some excuse about having to meet with one of my teachers before my next class. No one questioned it. I didn’t like the fact that Cassidy could tell I was trying to get into her head. She wasn’t the first person either. I was so lost in my thoughts I didn’t even realize I walked right past Roman.

  He stopped me and I flinched from the shock, pulling away. He frowned. “Hey, sorry, you shocked me.”

  “I thought you liked that?” he smiled, placing his hands on my hips and pulling me closer.

  “I do,” I said, placing my hands on his chest. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

  He brushed the hair away from my face. “You okay? You looked kind of out of it. You didn’t even respond when I called your name.”

  “Yeah, just have my head in the clouds,” I smiled.

  “I was just about to grab some lunch.”

  “Oh um, I’m not very hungry.”

  He raised his brows at me. “Now I know something is wrong.”

  “I promise I’m good. Go eat. I’ll meet up with you later.” I kissed him quick. He pulled me back in letting me know the quick kiss wasn’t enough. I let my lips linger a little longer, feeling better than I did a few minutes ago. I smiled, for real this time. He threw me a sexy half smile and patted me on the behind before he turned around and headed into the cafeteria.

  I decided to take a walk and ended up at the tree I healed earlier this year. I sat down in front of it, closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind. Twenty minutes later I felt refreshed. Although I think Roman’s kiss had more to do with that then the meditation.

  For once I was actually looking forward to training. Thankfully Gabe only had us do three laps around the track to warm up. Zane joined us for the after school trainings so he could work with Gabe. I kept stride with Roman while Dean, of course, slacked pathetically behind. Gabe threatened to make him run every morning if he didn’t pick up the pace. That definitely put a fire under his ass. You would think after spending the summer running he would be better at this, but no, not Dean.

  By the time we were done with Training I had worked up a sweat and an appetite. I told Roman I would meet him for dinner when I was done with my shower and he insisted on waiting in my room until I was done. I also reminded him I no longer had my room to myself, knowing full well what he was thinking. He gave a frustrated sigh and told me he would meet me outside my door in twenty minutes.

  Cassidy seemed to be in better spirits at dinner and all issues from earlier gone. That was probably because she was currently surrounded by males with Josie at her side. Why I wasn’t exactly happy about them hanging together, I wasn’t worried. Cassidy was a bitch, but she was basically harmless.

  I grabbed Roman’s arm as we walked to our table. He offered to get me food, but I told him he wouldn’t get enough. He just rolled his eyes at me. “You know I really do love the fact that my girlfriend has a hearty appetite,” he teased.

  “You might change your mind in a few years when this butt starts to get bigger.”

  He leaned back to look. “Nah, bigger is better,” he smiled. I pushed him playfully and he threw his arm over my shoulder laughing.

  When we reached the table I noticed Cassidy and her new friends had joined us. One of the boys looked over at me. I felt violated under his stare. I stayed close to Roman hoping he would take the hint and not bother me. Justin and Riley joined us shortly. Justin apparently knew the boy who was staring at me and invited him to a party he was throwing this weekend. The guy took his eyes off of me long enough to tell Justin he’d be there. Roman noticed the shift in my mood asked if I was okay. I nodded not taking my eyes off of the new guy. He took note of my distraction and turned to the new guy, eyes glaring.

  Noticing the tension he introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Brennen,” he said, extending a hand to Roman. He shook it without taking his eyes off of him. I put my hand on Roman’s knee to calm him down.

  Brennen turned to me. “Ella,” I said, shaking his hand.

  “I know, you’re the girl who threw the roll at me,” he said.

  I could feel my face turning bright red. No wonder he was staring at me. I was such an ass. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I need to work on my aim.”

  He smiled back making his yellow eyes twinkle in the light. “Maybe I can help you with that. I used to be an all-star back at my high school in Georgia.”

  Ah, Georgia, that would explain the southern accent. “Well this isn’t high school and you’re not in Kansas,” Roman scowled.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to step on anyone’s toes,” he said in his southern drawl.

  “You didn’t,” I said, narrowing my eyes at Roman. “You’ll have to excuse him, he failed his mannerisms course.” I wasn’t in the mood for a jealousy act.

  Roman took one look at me and then stood up. He walked away without another word. As much as I didn’t want to, I got up and went after him. He was acting like a butthead and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his temper tantrum. I caught up to him o
utside. “Roman!” I called and he stopped. I pulled on his arm and made him face me. “Was that really necessary?”

  “Defending you?” he snapped.

  “One, I can handle my own and two, that wasn’t defending me that was being an ass.”

  “What do you expect when my girlfriend can’t stop staring at some Kansas reject?”

  “Georgia, he’s from Georgia,” I corrected, not making the situation any better. “Look, I was only staring because he was staring at me and I thought maybe I could get in his head and figure out what his deal was.”

  “He’s a wolf, you can’t.”

  “I know. I figured that much out, and you heard what he said. He was staring because I accidently pelted him in the head with a roll at lunch. In case you missed the whole point of the conversation.” I pinched the bridge of my nose feeling a headache come on. I didn’t want to start an argument over something stupid, especially when things were going so well. “Roman, you can’t freak out anytime some guy looks at me or says something you might not like.”

  “I know,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s just hard.”

  “Do you not trust me?”

  He hesitated before he answered and I took that as a no. I walked away. “Ella wait,” Roman called, running after me. “I’m sorry, I just…it’s hard for me not to get jealous when some guy is ogling you.” I rolled my eyes. “But I promise I will make a valiant effort to not be such an ass and to not let my dickheadedness take over.”

  “Dickheadedness? Is that even a word?”

  He smiled, giving me a kiss. I let go of my anger and walked back into the cafeteria with him. We sat down at the table and when he saw Brennen he nodded at him. I would have rather had him apologize. Reading my expression, he leaned over and said, “Baby steps.” I just shook my head and went back to my dinner.

  After dinner, Roman and I went back to my room to watch a movie, and before I realized it, we had fallen asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  When I woke up in the morning, Roman was still lying next to me. I sat up and looked over at Josie sound asleep in her bed. I looked at my alarm clock. I had about another hour before I had to get up. I lied back down and snuggled closer to Roman. He stirred slightly, wrapping his arms around me and tightening his grip. I smiled as he warmed my body with his heat. I nestled my head on his shoulder and fell back asleep almost instantly.

  My eyes opened before my alarm went off. I reached over to turn it off before I woke everyone up when I discovered Josie was already awake. She was on the phone pacing back and forth. Not wanting to wake Roman who was sleeping peacefully, I carefully slipped out of bed, and walked over to Josie to see what the problem was. “Hey, what’s going on?” I whispered.

  “Oh Dylan’s in one of her tirades and –”

  “Shh,” I said, pointing back at Roman.

  Josie rolled her eyes at me. “I need to go take care of this. I’ll see you later,” she said, disappearing.

  When I turned around Roman was awake. “Hey,” I said, crawling back into bed with him. “Sorry if we woke you.”

  “I don’t mind,” he said, brushing the hair off my face and kissing me. “So how much time do we have?” He continued to kiss me, his lips traveling down my neck, collarbone, and then across my chest.

  “Don’t mind me,” Josie said, covering her eyes and bumping into the dresser in the process. “Ouch!”

  Roman groaned and pulled the covers back getting out of bed. “Josie you can uncover your eyes,” I said.

  “Sorry,” she giggled. “Crisis averted.”

  “I’ll come back and walk you to class,” Roman said, placing a gentle kiss on my forehead.

  Once he left, Josie turned to me and said, “You know I don’t care if Roman stays over, but a little warning next time would be nice.”

  “Sorry about that. It was an accident. We both just fell asleep.”

  “Ugh, how boring.”

  “What did you expect?” I laughed.

  “I thought maybe I rubbed off on you a little, but I guess not.”

  “I look at that as a good thing.”

  “Hey,” she pouted, making me laugh harder. I got up to head into the bathroom to get ready for class. “Is Roman always this grouchy in the morning? Because I might rethink this whole staying over thing.”

  “No, I think it’s just the lack of nookie. We were so used to having our own room it’s been, well, three weeks this weekend, since we…you know.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Had mad monkey sex?”

  “Mad monkey sex? What is that? You know what, don’t tell me.” I closed the door to the bathroom and got ready for class.

  Roman walked with me as promised and then we parted ways. Every day was the same. Roman would walk me to class and then I’d see him at lunch, dinner, and training. We would hang out for a bit afterwards and then part ways. I myself was desperately missing having my own room and was looking forward for when Roman and I could find some ‘alone’ time together.

  Josie spent most of her time hanging with Cassidy or the other angels. I couldn’t say that I wasn’t jealous. I got my best friend back and the most I’ve seen her was when we ate or slept. I understood the need to hang out with the other angels, but Cassidy? Really? Their sudden budding relationship had me worried. I hadn’t seen Kyle that much either. We would run into each other from time to time, but it was usually in passing on our way to class. We would exchange a quick hello and that was it.

  No one had commented on my blue streaks since the first day or the rumors that were quickly fading. My life was finally becoming somewhat normal and I was going to take the opportunity to enjoy every minute of it.

  Friday was here before I knew it and I was looking forward to relaxing this weekend, except that I promised Josie I would go to the party with her. I wasn’t crazy about going considering the last time I went to a school party Mackenzie had played a prank on me where I ended up covered in blood. Josie promised she would not let anything happen, but I knew some things were just unpreventable.

  Not having spent that much time with Josie since she’s been back, I agreed to go. According to Cameron and Dean, this was the party of all parties because it was the welcome back to school party. Funny thing, I could have sworn they said the same thing about the last one. Roman was only going because I was, although I knew he would have rather taken advantage of the empty bedroom and so would have I, but I promised him that Josie said we could have the room to ourselves tonight and she would crash with the other angels.

  Josie was getting ready for the party and jabbering on and on about all the hot guys she and Cassidy had met this week. She started telling me about this new hot vamp she had her eyes on. “O.M.G. Ella, I can’t wait for you to meet Lucas. He is like a total babe. He kind of reminds me of,” she stopped, all of a sudden not wanting to finish the sentence.

  “He kind of reminds you of who?” I pushed.

  “Oh, um, just this one guy I know,” she said, going back to doing her makeup.

  I didn’t push any further. I already knew who she was referring to and I wasn’t going to go there. Not enjoying the awkward silence, I decided to skip ahead. “So tell me more about this Lucas guy.”

  I could see in her eyes she was going to approach this slowly. “Well, like I said, he’s a major babe and of course Cassidy already has her hooks in him, but I’m not worried. She can slut it up all she wants, but let’s be honest here. You and I know there’s really no competition,” she said, brushing her hair off her shoulder.

  I laughed. “Oh how I missed you.” I got up and went through my closet for something to wear. I pulled out jeans and a t-shirt and got dressed.

  “You’re not wearing that, are you?” Josie looked at me horrified.

  “What is wrong with my outfit?”

  “Ella, we’re going to a party, not a hoedown.”

  “Hoedown…isn’t what they used to say to you every time we found you passed out at a party?”


  She looked at me aghast, jaw dropped. She retained her composure and came back at me. “That’s funny, because if I remember correctly, most of the parties consisted of let’s see how long it takes for Ella to take her top off,” she smirked.

  “Hey, that only happened once, and it was because some asshole spilled his beer all over me and Kyle gave me his shirt not two seconds later to put on.”

  “That’s not how I remember it.”

  “How would you when you were passed out?” I countered trying to keep the smile from my face. She hit me and I smacked her back. Our small feud turned into a war. She chased me around the room. I laughed hysterically, hoping over the bed, and almost falling on my face.

  Josie smacked me in the face with a pillow. “You’re a punk.”

  I sighed, getting up, and looking for something else to wear. “How is he, Kyle?” I asked, turning back around.

  “He’s good. Trying to adjust like the rest of us. He’ll be there at the party tonight. If you want I can ask him to bring an extra shirt, just in case,” she giggled and I just shook my head turning back to the closet. Josie joined me, shaking her head at everything I picked out. We compromised on a jean skirt and a cute purple top. I reminded her I had a boyfriend and was only going to this party for her so there was no need for me to dress up. She reminded me just because I had a boyfriend didn’t mean I was dead.

  Roman met us outside our room and frowned when he saw my outfit. “What, you don’t like it?”

  “No, I do. You look amazing, but that’s the problem.” I raised a brow at him, confused. “I just don’t want to have to pummel a guy for thinking impure thoughts about you.”

  “Roman, most boyfriends would be flattered that other guys think their girlfriend is hot.” His frown deepened. “You want me to go change?”

  “No,” he said uncertain.

  “Roman, at the end of the night who am I going home with?” He didn’t answer. “You and only you and that’s all you need to worry about.”