“Have you always lived in Everod?”
“Yeah, my nom was born here and Dad was pretty young when he moved here. They thought about leaving after they got married,” he shrugged his shoulder, “but things happened and here we are.”
“What about you? Are you planning on staying here?”
“I’ll probably travel for a bit next summer after I finish school. Then, I’ll be back.” He flashed me a smile. “That’s the thing about Everod, once you’re here it changes you and there’s no leaving. People try, but eventually they return.”
“Maybe it’s the mountain air,” I suggested.
He laughed. “Yeah, maybe.”
The drive to the Grounds was shorter than I expected. When he pulled into the gravel parking lot, his lights flashed across the group already gathered. About twenty people hovered at the edge of the lot, then as the light cut across them, they froze like deer caught in the headlights. Rachel was already there and I felt a moment’s relief for a friendly face in the crowd. But seeing her, I suddenly questioned whether I was breaking some girl code. I knew she was interested in Tristan, so should I be with him? At least with the headlights on she couldn’t see me.
He killed the engine and at the darkening of the night, everyone turned and quickly headed into the trees. We climbed out of the car and slowly followed them along the trail.
“What’s wrong?” Tristan asked, touching my arm and stopping our trek up the path. The distance between us and everyone else grew. No longer could we hear them talking and only the occasional shriek of laughter penetrated the trees surrounding us.
“I’m just, well...” Spit it out, Janie! I looked up at him, enjoying the way he towered over me. “Justin mentioned something about Rachel and her, well...about her liking you.”
“Ah,” he said, his lips curving in a cocky smile. “Janie, there’s a lot you don’t know about Everod, or about me. But yeah, Rachel’s pretty obvious. She and I dated a while back and she knows I’ve moved on. Trust me; I have no intention of getting back together with her.”
He stepped closer to me. Leaning down, he reached out and smoothed his finger along the curve of my jaw, his pupils flaring despite the light glinting off them.
He was going to kiss me. Never had I been so sure of anything in my life. Never had I wanted anything so bad. I licked my bottom lip, waiting for him to lean forward those last few inches, to press his lips against mine. But he didn’t. Instead, he pulled back and dropped his hand.
“Damn it,” he muttered with frustration.
I blinked, attempting to comprehend what was happening. Disappointment raged through me. The sound of whispered voices finally reached me just as Rachel and a guy turned the bend in front of us. They jerked to a stop at the sight of us. Rachel and I stared at each other.
Crap. I was definitely going to be walking to the library tomorrow, because there was no way Justin would consider my end of the bet won.
Rachel was pissed. Correction - she was beyond pissed. It was impossible to miss the flashing green eyes and the fury reddening her face.
“What the hell, Tristan?” she sputtered.
“Chill, Rach.”
“I thought...” Her lips pursed and I realized that she wasn’t just angry, she really was hurt. “When Beth left, I...” Was that a tear forming?
“That’s not going to happen. Ever. We already talked about this.” Tristan looked down at me and grasped my hand. “Come on,” he said, tugging me forward.
We weaved around Rachel and the guy beside her. She turned to watch us.
“You know the rules.”
I felt him tense beside me, but he continued walking. I glanced back at Rachel. She hadn’t moved. She was just staring at us. Crying. My heart squeezed unexpectedly. I knew that face she wore. The one that said every dream she had was being crushed and that she’d been kicked in the stomach. It was a face I’d worn for so long thanks to my mom.
But, I reasoned, I hadn’t done anything wrong. They weren’t dating. She never flat out told me that she liked him. Yet it didn’t matter. I was the reason she was hurt. I’d only known her a week, but there was something inside of me that recognized the friend she could have been.
“Ignore her.”
I looked up at Tristan. “What?”
“It’s an act. Rachel’s a drama queen.”
I took another glance back. She wasn’t watching us. She was leaning against a tree, sobbing.
“It doesn’t look like an act.”
“Trust me she can cry on command. She’s only interested in me now because she thinks it’ll help her gain support with the Council. Rachel looks out for Rachel. I learned that a long time ago. She thinks that it’s only fair that she gets whatever she wants. But things aren’t always fair. Not for Rachel, not for me, and not for you. And that just means we don’t have to play by the rules.”
“What do you mean ‘the rules’? The ones Rachel was talking about?”
He laughed and a warm tingle swept down my back. “There’s some archaic town law that forbids marriage to outsiders.”
“Marriage? Why would Rachel even think that we...that you...” The concept was so ludicrous I couldn’t even put it into a coherent sentence.
“Yeah, so you see why I’m not really worried. I don’t know about you, but I’m seventeen and marriage isn’t at the top of my list of things to do right now.”
He grinned and I lost focus, stupidly smiling back at him. He was cute. I loved that he had a bit of a sense of humor. Not over-powering and obnoxious like Justin, but he wasn’t gloomy or too serious either. Depression wasn’t something I needed more of. I had enough of my own to go around.
We reached the circle of people already sitting around a blazing campfire. The red and orange hues of the flames glistened across the lake, highlighting the rippling waves.
I sat down on a makeshift bench. Balanced on two sideways logs, the rough plank threatened to roll away with me on it before Tristan sat beside me anchoring it in place. He gave me a wink before turning to the person on the bench next to him.
Glancing around, I recognized a few faces. Seth reclined on the ground, leaning up on one arm, his feet crossed and casually stretched towards the fire. Kyle sat behind a beautiful girl, his arms wrapped around her. They were such a contrasting pair, it was impossible not to stare. Where Kyle was dark and strong, obviously mixed with some Native American blood, the woman in his arms was pale and creamy white. Her platinum hair fluttered in the slight breeze and Kyle smoothed it back in place.
A conversation about football came up and I automatically tuned it out. Not that I was against sports, but of all sports, football held the least appeal for me. Give me hockey or tennis, even bowling, anything but football.
“Hey, Janie,” a voice came unexpectedly from my other side.
I swiveled on my makeshift bench to face the speaker. I didn’t know his name, but he’d been with Rachel on the path.
“Um, hey.”
He looked expectant, as if I should know him, which was completely possible. I’d been living in a fog the past couple weeks. Maybe Justin had introduced us.
“Bryce,” he said. “We met on the hike.”
“Oh, right, sorry.” Crap. He looked a little perturbed that I hadn’t remembered his name. “I’ve been meeting so many people...”
“Sorry about the whole scene back there. Rach is a...well, she’s the jealous type. I’m sure once she knows you and Tristan aren’t serious she’ll be fine.”
How was I supposed to respond to that? So, I just smiled and nodded, hoping he’d change the subject. Thankfully, he started talking about something other than Rachel. Too bad he went on and on about the new training schedule the coach had them doing. I listened vaguely, but it was enough to put me to sleep. He didn’t notice my lack of interest, even when I sighed heavily. I decided to try again, determined to fill it with enough boredom that maybe he would change the subject. As I sucked the air into my lungs, I heard
a soft chuckle. Tristan.
He bumped into my side as he shifted closer, pressing the length of his body alongside mine. I smiled up at him and he grinned in return. Even if Bryce didn’t catch the hint, Tristan had.
“I didn’t think you’d be coming tonight, Tristan,” Bryce said.
“Well, I figured the company was just too tempting to resist.”
They both glanced at me and my face burned.
“Let me introduce you to a few more people,” Tristan said, rising up. I stood up and followed him around the circle of people. We sat down between Kyle and Seth.
“You already know Kyle. This is his girlfriend, Samara.”
“I’m so glad you could make it tonight. I’ve been hearing so much about the new bloods in town. Is your brother here, yet?” She had one of those soft voices that you strain to hear, but can’t resist listening to.
“No, but he’s bound to show up soon, especially if he knows there’s food.”
Justin’s arrival seemed like perfect timing. He walked up to the group, carrying a bag of hot dog buns and a case of soda. The four of us laughed at his obliviousness to the moment.
The arrival of the hotdogs buns started the roasting and the night air filled with a clash of voices competing to be heard over each other. I relaxed in the comfort of Tristan sitting beside me. At some point, we met in the middle and I found myself resting against him. Not in his arms, but comfortably linked together by the pressure of gravity.
“Ketchup?” he asked as he handed me a napkin wrapped hotdog.
I nodded and he reached for the bottle sitting on top of the cooler across from us. The movement pulled his sleeve up, exposing the underside of his wrist. A wolf, an exact replica of my necklace, was inked on his skin.
“You have a tattoo?”
“What?” He glanced at me sharply before looking at his wrist. “Oh, yeah.”
“You’re parents let you get a tat?” Justin asked from the other side of him. “Damn, my mom would kill me if I even thought of doing something like that.”
My mom would kill me regardless. I must have made a sound because Justin leaned around Tristan and gave me an apologetic look.
“So what’s the story with it?” he asked Tristan.
“It’s no big deal,” Tristan said.
“Oh, come on, Tristan.” Rachel’s voice came from behind us. I twisted on the log to see her. Yeah, I was definitely back to walking. “Tell them about your tattoo.”
For a moment, only the cracking of the fire broke the stillness of the night. Every pair of eyes was flickering back and forth between Rachel and Tristan.
“Go ahead, Tristan,” Samara said. “I’ll explain it to the Council.”
This was the second mention of the Council. Before, I’d thought Tristan was talking about Rachel wanting to be on student council, now I wasn’t so sure. Maybe it was some kind of secret club or something.
“It represents the rise of the wolf.” He watched me expectantly as if I should know the story.
“What do you mean?” I glanced around at the others, the light of the flames flickering across their faces. Other than Justin and me, everyone looked completely satisfied by his short explanation. Rachel, who had sat next to Bryce, was smirking with an eerie look of satisfaction.
Tristan looked at Samara, who leaned forward out of Kyle’s hold. Her eyes locked onto me. “Werewolf mythology is fairly common around the world. Centuries ago, myth was all it was, then that changed. The Wolf was a man who became beast and ever since others of his kind, wolf shifters, have been searching for a way to dispel the beast. The rise of the wolf is a promise of what is to come, passed from generation to generation. It is about the freedom from the untamable wolf confined within.”
Samara’s face lit up as she spoke. Her voice was so pure and gentle, hypnotic, really, lulling me into belief with words that flowed as if they’d been told a thousand times.
“So he was a werewolf?” Justin asked.
“More than a werewolf. He was Lycan. Werewolves are simply a skewed tale of who the Lycan really are. With a Lycan…once the two halves are melded – the human and the wolf - there is a consciousness of each other. Making the two separate while being one.”
“What happened to the Wolf?” I asked, more interested in getting to the explanation of Tristan’s tattoo than the differences between two fictional creatures.
“After he was changed, he infected many more, creating a pack for him to rule over. The infection was weakened by the lack of his blood, making it easy for him to be their leader.”
“He was kind of like the alpha of the pack. In wolf packs the alpha is in charge,” Seth said, rubbing one of his feet through the hard packed dirt.
“Like an alpha.” Samara nodded. “When he was in his human form he deceived a woman, mating with her and passing it to their children. The infection continued to spread throughout the village. Most people died from the infection and panic grew among humans in the area. With death surrounding him, he finally understood the horror of what he had done.
“He grew old and weak. The status of alpha went to his eldest child though she refused to control the pack. With no leader, the pack was divided across the land. Many of them traveled to the north where they could hide. The Wolf’s mate, though, would not accept their doomed fate and searched for a cure. On her death bed she called for a young girl from the pack, Amelia, and promised that one of Amelia’s daughters would carry the mark of the Wolf and through her blood she would free the infected.”
Samara sat back, letting Kyle’s arms enfold her once again. I sat frozen, aware of all the eyes focused on me. It was an interesting story, but that still didn’t explain why Tristan would permanently mark himself. Apparently Justin didn’t get it either.
“So, why’d you get the tat?” he asked, breaking the silence.
“He’s marked just as Amelia’s daughter will be marked. He’s the one who will find her,” Rachel said, watching me.
Maybe she thought I’d be freaked by the idea of him being obsessed with some werewolf story, but Tim had a lot of weird friends. And I wasn’t exactly normal either. If Tristan could accept my anti-socialness, I could handle an interest in werewolves.
“That was a beautiful story.” I smiled at Samara. “It sounded as if you’d told it hundreds of times.”
“Probably,” she said, returning my smile.
Conversation shifted to lighter topics and Rachel left with Bryce, dragging the heavy discomfort with her. It was well past one in the morning when the fire was doused and we climbed into the car. Tristan turned off the radio and the gentle rocking of the car lulled me to sleep. The ceasing of the motion woke me as Tristan put the car in park. I’d slept the entire drive home. I rubbed my eyes, trying to focus.
“Well, sleeping beauty awakes. I never realized I was so boring.”
“I’m so sorry, I was just tired.”
“It’s okay, I was teasing,” he reassured me as we got out of the car and headed towards the door.
“Thank you for driving me. I had fun.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I guess I am. I’m not really into having friends.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I’m just more into reading than people.” No way was I going to explain my parents to him. He probably had the whole nuclear family thing going on.
“Well, in that case, I’m glad you had fun and I’ll forgive you for falling asleep during the tale of my heroic battles on the field.”
“The field, huh?”
“I did play football for a couple years.”
“No wonder I fell asleep. Football works like magic at getting me to nod off.”
“I’ll have to remember that. It could come in handy.” He threw me a wicked grin, wriggling his eyebrows.
We stood at the door, silence surrounding us. I bit my lip nervously. Earlier, I thought he was about to kiss me. Would he try again? I felt myself leaning towards him. Then a
pair of bright lights spotlighted us. As perfect as his timing was earlier, Justin’s timing was crap now. Tristan backed up a step and I almost groaned in frustration. Justin bounded up the steps.
“Hey, man,” Justin said and stopped behind me.
“Justin.” Tristan nodded.
There was an awkward moment when it became apparent that Justin wasn’t going to leave us alone.
“I’ll catch you later, Janie,” Tristan said.
I watched him walk to his car and finally drive away. The second he turned the corner and his tail lights disappeared into the blackness, I turned on Justin. One fist lashed out and punched his arm.
“Hey! What was that for?” His act of innocence perfected from years of practice.
I rolled my eyes and left him standing on the porch rubbing his arm.
Chapter 8
He didn’t call. He never said he would, but I woke up Monday hoping. I waited all morning, but the phone sat quiet on its base. It hadn’t been a real date, just a ride to a group campfire. He’d seemed interested, but maybe I was wrong.
Even a trip to Telluride with Justin wasn’t enough to keep my mind off Tristan. When we got home, I checked for messages and then waited until finally the growing darkness outside dimmed all hope. When the sun filtered through my curtains the next morning, I squelched the feelings of stupidity. That’s what hurt. The hope that a person would do what you wanted, what you needed.
Twenty minutes later, I stepped from the shower and realized she was there again. The same old Janie. My fingers tightened around my towel. Was it that easy to bring her back? One phone call not made and I was willing to let her control me again?
The twisting of my stomach drew me to the mirror, searching for something different. I stared into my eyes and found it. The ring of burnt orange around my pupil. It was brighter. Alive. I’d felt it during the campfire. Life. It didn’t matter if Tristan never called. I liked the sensation of actually living.
“Janie?” Tim’s voice came through the bathroom door.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” I called back and quickly finished drying off before dressing.
Waken (The Woods of Everod Book 1) Page 6