by Morse, Jody
Chapter 28
Friday evening, I headed to the school with Amanda, Jenny, and Kristina. Amanda had taken Thane’s advice about Ashton’s tastes in clothing seriously; she donned the short blue dress and heart-shaped emerald pendant she’d picked out at the mall when we went shopping, along with a black fur jacket. I might have been new to the human world, but I’d been there enough to know that no one else at the school seemed to dress that way.
Nevertheless, Kristina, Jenny, and I all gave her words of encouragement backstage as she got ready to read her poem.
When the poetry reading began, we found our seats in the first row of the auditorium. I glanced around anxiously, searching for Gage. He said that he was going to be here tonight, but I still didn’t see him.
Even though it was a terrible thought for me to have, the idea that Thane had said or done something to keep him away crossed my mind. I didn’t think that Thane was truly capable of anything bad, but he was angry. No one should ever mess with an angry wolf.
“I’m so excited to hear Amanda read her poem,” Kristina said from her seat next to me.
Jenny shot her a vague smile. “I am, too, but…do you really think it’s going to make a difference? Ashton might not even like her after this.”
“He will, if he knows what’s good for his popularity,” Kristina replied.
“I don’t think Ashton cares that much about being popular,” I chimed in. “He’s never been that way.”
“See,” Jenny said pointedly. “He doesn’t care about being popular, and that’s the only reason anyone ever goes out with Amanda.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m just not looking forward to the meltdown that Amanda’s going to have if this doesn’t work. She really likes him.”
“More than she’s liked anyone since Vinny Votelli,” Kristina agreed.
I raised my eyebrows. “Amanda used to like Vinny?”
“They dated for, like, ever,” she replied.
Hmm. If I wanted to learn more about Vinny, I could ask Amanda. Even though she probably didn’t even know that he was a werewolf, she might have known something that could help me figure out who might have murdered him. It was worth a try, at least.
Jenny narrowed her eyes at me. “How do you know about Vinny? He died before you even moved here.”
“Oh. One of my cousins is friends with his cousin,” I replied, waving it off. That was technically kind of the truth. “How long were he and Amanda together?”
“At least a year,” Kristina replied. “I’m pretty sure it was Amanda’s longest relationship to-date.” Turning to me with soft eyes, she added, “It was so sad when he died. Amanda was really torn up about it.”
“Were they together at the time?” I questioned.
Kristina nodded. “Yeah. She was broken-hearted for months after it happened. She would barely come out of her room. We thought that she was going to fail the tenth grade, because she missed so many days of school.”
“She got over it, though,” Jenny said.
Before I got the chance to ask any more questions, though, the lights dimmed as the first reader took the stage.
I glanced around the auditorium one more time, hoping that Gage was already there, but just hadn’t found me yet. When I didn’t see him, though, I felt sick to my stomach. I had a really bad feeling about tonight.
*
“The moon is a gift, a treasure from above,” Ashton read into the microphone, and a pin-dropping silence took over the room. “I can’t always see it, but I know it’s always there. It’s a constant reminder that life’s not always fair. It watches down on me every day, dangling from the sky; it always seems to bring out my wild side. The animal in me, the beast I’ve become, it makes me feel like I’m the only one…,” he said, pausing dramatically, “who’s haunted.”
As everyone clapped for him, I felt my heart racing. I hoped he hadn’t given anything away about himself. What were the chances of him talking about his animal side and the moon at once?
No one seemed to catch onto anything, though. In fact, I felt like everyone seemed to clap for him even more than they’d clapped for everyone else. I breathed a slight sigh of relief.
I heard the clicking of heels against the platform and then Amanda appeared on the stage. She gave Ashton a small smile before he climbed down the steps and took a seat in the front row.
As Amanda began to read her poem, she looked in his direction. “Roses are red, violets are blue, summer vacations are sweet, and you are new. You’re a new boy, but you’re perfect for me. From that golden blonde hair to those sexy feet, I just want to touch you; I just want to taste you. Your lips on mine are what I imagine; I would love to be locked away with you for the day in a secluded cabin.” She paused for a moment, seeming sort of nervous before continuing, “So, whether you feel naughty, or whether you feel nice, you should know that I’m getting a part-time job at Solo’s pizza, and I would love to give you a slice.” She winked at him suggestively before saying, “Thank you,” into the microphone and going backstage.
“Oh my god,” Jenny whispered. “Can you believe that was her poem? Does she seriously think that’s going to land Ashton for her? It just made her sound like a tramp.”
I shrugged. She’d only let me read her poem before the poetry reading, because she wanted it to be a surprise to Kristina and Jenny. She thought it was a masterpiece, but I thought it was…okay. I didn’t think that it would get Ashton’s attention. I could only see the back of his head right now, but I didn’t think that his feelings about Amanda had changed.
“Skye!” I heard someone hiss from behind me in a voice that was so low, I probably wouldn’t have heard it if it wasn’t for my supersonic wolf sense of hearing.
I glanced over my shoulder and noticed Gage standing at the back of the auditorium, right next to the door that had an “Exit” sign over it. A sense of relief washed over me. I didn’t know why he was late, but I knew that Thane hadn’t done anything to hurt him. That was the only thing that mattered.
Gage motioned for me to come over to him.
Feeling nervous about the risk of my friends catching me with him, I turned to them and mumbled, “I’ll be right back. I have to go to the bathroom.” By that time, Jenny and Kristina were so wrapped up in a discussion over whether or not Amanda’s poem had actually done anything to change Ashton’s mind about her to even notice that I was leaving.
I glanced around for Amanda, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Thank God. I wanted time to talk to Gage before he made his big apology.
Once I walked over to him and we stepped out the auditorium door, trying not to cause any distractions from the person who was reading their poem on stage next, Gage turned to me. His blue eyes sparkled under the dim hallway lighting.
“You look really cute tonight,” I blurted.
“I-I do?” Gage asked with a slight smile, seemingly caught off-guard by my comment.
I nodded. “Yeah, you do. I mean, you always do…but you really do tonight.”
“Aw, thanks, Skye.” Gage touched my arm gently. “I was looking for Amanda so I could apologize to her, but then I heard her read that poem.” He shook his head. “She really hasn’t changed much, has she?”
“What do you mean?” I questioned with raised eyebrows.
“I mean, she’s probably the fakest girl I’ve ever met. She might like Ashton today, but I can guarantee that once she has him, she’ll move onto someone else.” Gage shook his head disgustedly and then met my eyes. “I don’t think I can apologize to her after all, Skye.”
“You can’t?” I asked, feeling my own face fall. I’d been looking forward to Gage apologizing to Amanda, because it meant that we wouldn’t have to keep our relationship a secret anymore.
Gage shook his head. “No, I can’t. I’m sorry. I know how much it meant to you, but I just can’t find it in me to apologize to someone who hasn’t matured at all. I hope you don’t mind.”
“No,” I lied. “You have to do what you ha
ve to do.”
He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. Kissing my lips softly, he asked, “Do you want to go outside? It’s really hot in here.”
“Okay,” I agreed. It was hot—even hotter for me than him, probably—and being outside also meant that my friends would be less likely to see us together. I thought we weren’t going to need to worry about hiding from them anymore, but that was obviously no longer the case.
Once we were outside, Gage pulled a box out of his pocket, flipping the lid up. I immediately recognized what it was. Orkos had always smoked cigarettes; even though he’d hidden his smoking problem from the rest of the pack, Kyana and I had known about it.
Really, Orkos had been the one member of our pack who had done a lot of things that humans did. He ate certain human foods, and he even sometimes watched TV at Joe McKinley’s old house, which he took care of. I wondered why the rest of our pack members had been so closed off about living in a human world, even though it didn’t bother our Alpha.
“Do you want to smoke?” Gage asked, glancing over at me as he stuck the cigarette in his mouth and lit it up.
“No, thanks,” I replied politely, even though I couldn’t help but feel sort of bothered by him smoking. I knew that smoking wasn’t good for humans. Didn’t Gage even care that he was giving himself lung cancer?
As he rested back on his heels and stared up at the sky, I saw him out of the corner of my eye: Thane, in his wolf form, creeping slowly towards us. He met my gaze, and I didn’t even notice any anger in his honey brown eyes—only a sense of calmness.
Holy, shit. What was he going to do?
I turned to Gage. “I think we better go inside.”
“Why, babe? I’m just trying to relax and enjoy my cig. It’s been a stressful night,” Gage complained.
“Because there’s a dog over there,” I said, carefully choosing the word ‘dog’ instead of wolf, because I knew that white wolves were non-existent in New Jersey. “It’s really big.”
Gage chuckled to himself. “You’re cute, Skye. But if you think I’m going to go inside just because there’s a dog out here, you’re out of your mind. I’m not afraid of dogs. And usually they like me.”
“Well, I am afraid of them,” I insisted, tugging at his arm. “Come on, let’s just go inside.”
His reflexes were quick, because he slapped me across the cheek just as I pulled on his arm.
Tears sprang to my eyes as the pain of his palm against my cheek radiated against my skin. I wanted to say something—anything—but I was speechless.
As I fought against the urge to give into what my inner wolf wanted and change, Thane leapt onto him, knocking him to the ground. He wailed as Thane’s teeth sank deep into his skin.
“What the fuck!” Gage yelled. His face was bright red and his veins were bulging as he struggled to loosen Thane’s grip. “Fucking dog.” He hammered his fist against Thane’s head until he let go of him. Blood poured from his open wound.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, completely shocked. I knew that I shouldn’t have just been standing there watching, but I was frozen in place. I wasn’t sure what had surprised me more: Gage hitting me, or Thane biting him.
When Thane met my eyes again, he looked apologetic. He’d realized the same thing I’d realized; him biting Gage meant that he’d broken one of Johnny’s rules.
“Skye, oh my god!” Amanda called from behind me, rushing over to me. “I can’t even believe he just hit you.”
“Yeah, what an asshole,” Kristina said, coming to my side, too. She glared at Gage. “You need to get the fuck out of here, or I’m going to kick your fucking ass.”
Gage scoffed. “I’d like to see you try. But alright. I’m out of here. Crazy bitches.” He shook his head as he walked away from us.
“Are you okay, Skye?” Amanda asked, giving me a loose hug.
“Yeah, I-I think so,” I replied, even though I was still trying to process everything.
“Thank God for that dog,” Kristina commented. “Otherwise, who knows what Gage might have done to you.”
I glanced around for Thane, but he’d already disappeared from sight. I glanced across the street and noticed a flicker of white fur disappear into the bushes.
“What were you doing out here with him, anyway?” Jenny asked with raised brows.
I hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell them the truth. “Okay, guys…look. I’m sorry that I’ve been lying to you about this, but me and Gage...,” I trailed off, not sure where to begin explaining everything to them. “I’m sorry.”
“I knew that something was going on between the two of you,” Amanda murmured. She sighed. “As much as I hate Gage and definitely wouldn’t have approved of that relationship, don’t apologize to us, okay?”
“Yeah, I think it’s safe to say you learned your lesson,” Kristina agreed. “We definitely need to have a girls’ night. We’re going to have a sleepover tonight.”
“We are?” I asked. I’d never had a sleepover before—not a human sleepover, at least. Kyana had slept over at my den a few times, but it had only been because my mom was supposed to be babysitting her. This was the first real sleepover I’d ever have.
“Of course we are,” Amanda replied with a nod. “That’s what friends are for.”
I turned to Jenny, who had been sort of quiet. “Are you going to sleep over tonight, too?”
She shrugged. “Sure, why not?”
Chapter 29
While my friends went home to get everything they needed to spend the night, I walked across the street to our house.
“Thane?” I called up the stairs, not even trying to mask the anger I felt towards him.
A moment later, Thane appeared at the top of the steps. There was a guilty look on his face. “Yeah?”
“What the fuck did you just do?” I asked.
He looked alarmed by me swearing, since I usually tried not to swear, but I couldn’t help it. I was beyond angry.
“I-I didn’t mean for things to happen that way,” Thane admitted.
“Then, what did you mean to happen?”
He shrugged, darting his eyes away from me. “Well, I did mean to bite him, honestly.”
“Why? What would make you think that’s a good idea? We’re not supposed to bite people and turn them into werewolves, remember?” I asked, my voice rising.
“I know. The reason why I was there…I was going to bite him. It was the only way I could think of to keep you both safe. Johnny couldn’t get mad at you for dating a human if Gage wasn’t a human anymore. But then I realized that wasn’t an option, either.” He shook his head. “I’d changed my mind, and I was going to just turn around and leave the two of you alone, but…then he hit you. I couldn’t just sit there watching and not do anything. So I jumped on him. And I’m not going to apologize for that.”
I sighed. “I…I get it. He wouldn’t have hit me if you weren’t there, though,” I pointed out.
Thane raised his eyebrows at me. “That’s not true, Skye. You can’t make excuses for him like that. He would have hit you at some point, even if it was for a different reason. An angry asshole like that doesn’t just keep his emotions to himself. I’m glad I was there to defend you the first time it happened.”
“You’re right. It’s just…I really liked him,” I said, my voice breaking a little as tears filled my eyes again. “I didn’t want it to end like that.”
He pulled me to him, and I buried my head in his shoulder. “I know, Skye. I know,” he replied, running his hands over my hair as I cried it out.
*
Later that night, the girls huddled in my bedroom, donning PJs that were yellow, blue, and purple, with the words Love Pink on them. I couldn’t figure out why they all said Pink, when not one of their outfits was actually pink.
“Don’t you have a TV in here?” Jenny asked, breaking the awkward silence that had filled the air around us, glancing around my room. There was little for her to see
, though. I hadn’t put any sort of decorations on my sky blue painted walls, and I had no electronics in my room. It was really sort of, well…boring.
I shook my head. “No, I just haven’t gotten around to getting one yet.” That was sort of the truth. I hadn’t been sure if I wanted a TV at first, but now that the guys always hogged the one downstairs, I sort of wanted one. “We could watch TV downstairs, though, if you want.”
A look of hopefulness twinkled in Amanda’s eyes. “Do you think Ashton will want to watch TV with us?”
“No, he’s not home,” I replied. After my conversation with Thane, I’d told all of the guys to get out of the house for a few hours so that my friends and I could have some quiet time together. Things always seemed to get sort of loud and crazy when the whole pack was home. But, I wasn’t expecting for things to be this quiet, either.
“Oh.” Amanda’s face fell. “Why don’t we just stay up here, then? I have an idea. Let’s play a game, instead.” She turned to Jenny and Kristina with a grin. They smiled back at her, which made me sort of uncomfortable. It felt like they had a secret between them—one that I wasn’t included in.
“What type of game?” I asked.
“Truth or Dare,” Kristina replied. When I stared back at her blankly, she raised her eyebrows at me. “You have played Truth or Dare before, haven’t you?”
Knowing that there was no point in denying it, I shook my head.
“Wow. What type of place did you live in?” Jenny asked, narrowing her eyes at me. “I didn’t know there were people out there who’ve never heard of Truth or Dare.”
Amanda shot her a look. “I think I know the problem.” She glanced back over at me. “You didn’t have that many girl friends back in Alaska, did you, Skye?”
I considered her question. Kyana was the only girl I’d really hung out with from back home. Mostly, I’d just spent my time with Thane. “Not really, I guess,” I replied honestly.
Amanda nodded knowingly. “There’s your problem. Truth or Dare is mostly a game that girls play together—usually at sleepovers. So, this is exciting. Not only do you get to experience your first sleepover tonight, but you also get to experience your first game of Truth or Dare.” She grinned. “It’s really pretty simple. All you need to do is decide whether you want a truth or a dare. If you choose truth, then it’s pretty self-explanatory. You need to answer the question with one-hundred percent honesty. But, if you choose dare you have to do whatever the dare is. If you want to get out of the dare, you can, in exchange for a truth. So, we’ll start with you. Which do you want to try first? A truth or a dare?”