Michael nodded and smiled at the blonde, "You first."
He still hadn't let go of my hand so I was bumping shoulders with him as we closed in the space between us and the swing. I laughed and nudged his side with my elbow.
"What?" He asked as he lowered Claire to the ground.
She pulled on my hand and I put her on the swing. "I didn't say anything." I couldn't stop smiling. I walked around so I was at Claire's back. My eyes didn't leave his until I finally remembered he was the beta.
It must have been because of his clothes, but I was having some difficulty remembering that I was supposed to submit to him.
"So, are you looking forward to London tomorrow?"
I shrugged, "I've been there before. It's not a big thing." I paused, "I guess I'm kind of nervous, though. Alex has never asked me to go with you guys to a meeting before."
"You used to go to a lot of them, when you were in London." Then, as if he needed to do something other than just stand there, Michael started gently pushing Claire. He made sure to push the swing every other time, so it didn't get to high, and I just watched.
"You know, you're really great with kids." I told him as I watched Claire's face get even brighter with joy with every swing.
Michael grinned at me over his shoulder, but didn't say anything.
I thought our conversation was over so I walked around Michael and leaned against the tree. Claire seemed to be having the time of her life, and I was glad. The sun made her hair glitter and shine, and she looked like an angel.
"Hey," I turned to Michael. His dark hair was the contrast of Claire's angelic halo. He was a warrior through and through, even when he wasn't in his amour.
Michael met my gaze and I cast my chin down to the ground in submission, but kept my eyes on his.
"Can I ask you about the Judgment?" That day with Sean was still bugging me. It didn't make sense and no one would give me any answers. So, I was going straight to the source. Michael would, hopefully, tell me what was going on.
"What about it?" I watched Michael go tense. His arms twitched as his muscles grew rigid.
"Why did you fight for me?" Normally I'd never ask a question so straight forward as that, but I wanted answers.
"You couldn't fight for yourself." He justified.
I narrowed my eyes at him, "But anyone else could have fought for me. Like Josh. But why was it you?" I pressed. I wasn't letting this go until I got straight forward answers. I had to know.
When Michael narrowed his eyes back at me, he made my glare look pitiful. I actually had the urge to kneel before him to show submission. But, like the stubborn girl I am, I stood my ground.
"What Sean did to you was inexcusable." He told me through gritted teeth; low enough so Claire couldn't hear him. "I wanted to be the one to put him in his place."
That made sense, I guessed.
Somehow it wasn't the answer I wanted, even though I didn't know what I wanted his response to be.
I shrugged it off and looked at my feet.
I tensed when I saw a pair of sneakers walk up to me. Michael stood at my back and I went rigid like the tree I was leaning against. I really hated people at my back. Even though I trusted Michael with my life, I had a feeling he was frustrated with me, so that didn't make me feel that great.
I glanced up and saw Claire started swinging on her own. She was watching us through the corner of her eyes; trying to be sneaky and snoop on us, I bet.
"I still feel like I need to fight him." Michael's voice was deep and husky and sent chills down my spine and goose bumps up my arms. I folded my arms over my chest. "I'm even more pissed at him," I took a second to forget that his breath smelled like mint and realized that he had just sworn. "every time I see him."
Michael hugged me from behind and I found myself leaning into his chest.
"I've forgiven him." I told him; barely over a whisper. "Why can't you?"
"Because,"
"Dad," I could have punched Greg at that moment. I couldn't believe it! I was, maybe, going to get some answers and he came in and ruined it.
"What?" Michael surprised me by growling. He released me, and I immediately took a step away from him. I angled myself so I could see Greg, Michael, as well as Claire.
"You're missing all the fun." The look in Greg's eyes made my glare at him. His tone was suggestive and the look he was giving us made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.
Michael nodded tightly and after waving goodbye to Claire he went into my house.
I sighed heavily and turned my full attention back to Claire. She would get my mind off my life.
CL
After Lily picked up Claire I had no idea what to do with myself. The guys had commandeered the downstairs, so I escaped to my room. Poker wasn't my favorite pastime, especially when I couldn't concentrate. My luck I'd start thinking about London, or all the shit that had taken over my life, and lose twenty dollars because I had called when I hadn't meant to.
So I settled for checking my email.
Sebastian Durand had sent me one email and my stomach was in my throat as I clicked on it. However, my excitement was short lived.
I'll call you. Love -Seb
If I knew where he was, I would have killed him. I'd call you. That's all he was giving me? Not even a, hey love, I'm fine, which was what he normally sent me.
He was beginning to drive me insane.
Getting nothing from Sebastian for this long was never good. And getting something that vague was worse. He was a Durand. Most of them might not act like it all the time, but all Durand's are troublemakers. I learned everything I knew from them.
Sebastian was no different.
Hell, he was worse than most Durand's because he had guts. He'd actually left the pack to be a lone wolf. He didn't care what other people thought of him.
Something was wrong. I knew it.
I shoved myself off my chair and half stomped over to my window. The moon was full and bright above my head and my insides itched for a run. I grinned in anticipation as I opened my window and slipped out onto the roof, but that was as far as I'd let myself go.
I leaned against the house and pulled my left knee to my chest. The moonlight was cool and calm and I reveled in it.
I heard my door open, but didn't move to see who it was. If they wanted to find me, they would.
To prove my point Josh stuck his head out the window. He was shaking his head at me, and holding something out for me.
I stared at his hand for a second, before realizing he was holding the phone.
"Let me guess." I told him dryly as he awkwardly climbed through my window. I was surprised that he made it through. Not that my brother was fat or anything, but with all his muscle he could barely sit in the back seat of a car without getting squished. The window was smaller than the backseat.
But he made it.
"He won't talk to me." Josh grumbled, "Prick." He said under his breath.
After a second's thought I grabbed the phone.
"Are you in jail?" I greeted him.
Sebastian shocked me by sighing, "No." He normally was a pretty high beat kind of guy. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him without a smile.
Even over the phone I could tell that he was frowning.
"I was waiting for me email alert to come back. I wanted to make sure that you were in your room when I called."
My jaw dropped, "You red flagged your email to me?"
"Of course I did." He told me as if it were the most obvious and normal thing in the world.
I decided to ignore that and concentrate on the fact that I finally had Sebastian on the phone. "If you're not in jail, where are you?"
"I'm just leaving a coffee house." He told me without a second's thought, so I knew he was telling the truth.
"What street?"
He chuckled, but not in a humorous way.
"What's wrong?" The dry, lifeless, laugh had certainly gotten my attention. I knew it was Sebastian. I recog
nized his voice. But something in his tone was off.
His breath turned ragged after a second and I clutched the phone to my ear. Josh, who was sitting beside me, had leaned closer to me. He must have been trying to listen for background noise, because with his werewolf super hearing he wouldn't have had to do that just to hear Seb.
"I need you're help." Sebastian told me after a second. "I did something really stupid and I need to talk to you."
I frowned at his words, "What did you do?"
"I'll tell you later." He told me hesitantly.
"If you want my help you'll tell me now." I told him; being just as stubborn as he was.
I listened as Sebastian took a long deep breath. "I called Vlad about two weeks ago. I needed some money and I asked him if he needed anything done for him over here." He paused and took another deep breath, "He did. So I started working to get some information together for him."
"I'm not seeing the stupid part, Seb." I told him warily after he didn't continue. Seb working for his brother didn't seem like a bad thing. Vlad was a responsible guy, I was pretty sure that he wouldn't make Sebastian do anything stupid.
"I got caught, Elaine." I could hear him moving over the phone. He wasn't running, but he was moving pretty fast. "Nicolais found me out." My heart skipped a beat. Nicolais? As in Alpha of the freaking 4th category of werewolf kind? The whole freaking reason we're having this damn war to begin with?
"You were working under cover in Nicolais' pack?" I yelled into the phone. I take my former comment back. Vlad must be getting sloppy over in the states. What was going through his mind when he gave Seb an assignment like that?
"Yes." He answered readily, "It didn't seem stupid at the time, El. I was helping Vlad get some stuff on him. And then I found some stuff out that I shouldn't have."
I wasn't sure if I wanted to know, so I stopped him. "Seb, where are you now?"
"I'm in Germany." He told me quickly, "Just south of where Alex used to take us camping when you were little."
I nodded, and beside me Josh was nodding his head too.
"El I need you to help me." He told me seriously.
"How do you suggest we do that?" I asked him doubtfully. It wasn't like I could leave and walk to Germany. That campsite was two days from here – driving!
"You could counsel me over the phone." Sebastian wasn't begging, per say, but there his tone was pleading.
Josh burst into laughter next to me. I jabbed his rib with my elbow playfully, and he stopped.
"Long distance anger management?" I asked dryly.
He didn't respond right away, "El," My heart broke when I heard the tears in his throat. His voice had cracked and was full of pain. "Please. I'm really scared. I got hit pretty hard by one of Nicolais' thugs and my wolf is coming out."
I subconsciously looked up at the moon.
"When was the last time you changed?" I heard panic in my voice.
"Last month sometime." Sebastian was struggling; I could hear it in his voice.
Josh swore next to me.
That was bad. A werewolf needs to change and run at least once during the full moon. If I understood correctly, Sebastian was in a city. He couldn't change there. Not only would it draw Nicolais' men straight towards him, but he'd draw unwanted attention from the mundanes. Werewolf rumors were already bad enough in that country! We didn't need Sebastian changing right in front of a crowd!
"What do you want me to do?" Anger management was normally very easy to understand. You yelled, screamed, and hit things until you were sure you're anger was out. Then you'd work on clearing your mind until you figured out the real reason you were anger. Then you'd talk about it.
"Just talk to me, El." Sebastian instructed breathily, "Tell me about your day."
I almost dropped the phone, "What?"
"Just do it. Tell him how Claire's doing or something." Josh made a waving motion with his hands; telling me to hurry up.
"I don't see how that will help you manage your anger, but whatever." I huffed, "I got in trouble a few days ago because I…" I trailed off, "The reason isn't important."
Seb gave a slight snort of laughter, and I went into a huge detailed description of the water war. Soon his breath was even and I heard some amusement in his tone as he interjected comments.
I stopped and listened to his breath.
"Thanks, El." He told me seriously.
"I didn't do anything." I told him, "I just told you about my day."
"You're a very calming person, Elaine." Sebastian told me. I could tell he was distracted. He was stretching out his vowels. He only did that when he was thinking about two different things. "You could calm Dad when he was on a rampage. And that's saying a lot."
I thought about the week before, with Pavel.
"I've already done that."
He chuckled, but again, it wasn't amused.
"What's wrong?" I asked urgently.
"I think I'm being followed." He told me, "I have to go."
"No, wait!" But I was too late. All I heard was the dial tone and Josh's frustrated sigh.
"Damn!" I hissed, then said, "I mean darn." And snuck a glance at my brother. He didn't seem to mind that I had swore, so I didn't bring it up or appologize.
I stared down at the phone and then turned to my brother, "Do you think he'll be alright?"
Josh answered right away, but I wasn't sure if it was the truth, or just him trying to make me feel better. "He's a Durand. He can handle anything."
I sighed and ended the call. "I hope you're right." I wasn't only talking about Sebastian when I said that.
Chapter Fourteen
I was sitting on the porch steps with mom when Nathan pulled the SUV into our driveway. Michael was in the passenger's seat, which meant I was stuck in the back with Gabriel. I barely contained the evil grin that begged to be released.
"Joy," I announced sarcastically, "We're going on the road again."
Beside me, mom shook her head, but I saw a light grin gracing her lips. "You be good, alright." She told me; looking at me square in the eye.
"I will be."
"Listen to Nathan, and try not to fight with Gabriel too much." Her warning almost made me laugh, but I concealed it.
I just smiled. I couldn't promise that. Sure, I'd try. But it was Gabriel we were talking about. Fights followed us where ever we went.
She stood first, and I followed her. "Hey," I called out to stop her before she got to the driver's side window. She glanced back at me. She didn't seem confused, and I was pretty sure she knew what I was going to ask, but I asked anyway. "You'll still be here when I get back, right?"
"Of course." She answered with her military voice; straight forward and firm, so I trusted it.
While mom and Nathan talked I took my backpack to the back of the SUV. Michael was waiting for me with the trunk already up.
I frowned at him for a second. I hadn't even seen him get out of the SUV. I opened my mouth to say something, but snapped it shut. Werewolves were like that; weird and shocking. I could never keep up with them, it seemed.
"You could at least pretend to be excited." Michael teased me as he took my bag.
I shrugged, "Why? No one else is." I glanced into the SUV and saw Gabriel leaning his forehead against his window. He looked less thrilled with the arrangement than I did.
When the trunk slammed shut I snapped out of my thoughts and turned back to the Beta.
"Let's go." He rested his hands on my shoulders and steered me towards the door.
"Why are you so happy about this?" I couldn't help but ask. He wasn't exactly smiling, but I could tell that he wasn't bummed about going. Call it a sixth sense.
"I haven't been on a trip without my amour on in almost a year." He told me weakly, and opened the door for me like a gentleman.
I grinned my thanks and slipped into my seat, "Yeah, but still. It's only London."
"I like London." He reminded me, and closed the door.
"Alright, y
ou guys, take care of my girl." Mom called into the SUV.
Michael got into his seat and said, "Don't worry, Elizabeth. She's safe with us."
"I know, but I still worry. I'm a mom. That's what I do." Then after lots more goodbyes and waving she walked back up to the porch.
I sighed and turned to my companion.
Gabriel met my gaze and a rush went through me. His gaze was heavy and challenging, and I squirmed. I buckled up and tried to ignore him, however, Gabriel wasn't one to be ignored for very long.
I felt him before I saw him.
Gabriel sat in the middle of the back seat so his leg was pressed up against mine. He didn't say anything, and I knew he was waiting for me to start.
My entire body went hot, and I wasn't sure if it was because I was pissed or because I was nervous at how close he was to me… which was absurd. I've seen him without his clothes on before and I hadn't reacted then… okay, that was a lie. But still. Him sitting that close to me shouldn't have made me feel like that.
"Will you move over to your side of the SUV, please?" I asked him through gritted teeth. No one could say that I started this fight, this time!
"Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?" Gabriel's snide tone made me glare.
I scoffed, but didn't get a chance to reply.
"Gabriel," Michael warned him from the front seat. He could obviously feel and hear the tension that was rising back here.
Gabriel didn't seem to hear his brother, though. His eyes were on me. I could feel his gaze burning against my face, but I didn't turn to him.
"Move back over there." I told him, less politely than before.
"We haven't even started the car yet." Nathan's tone grabbed my attention. I could hear his rage, and it shook me to my core. It struck me as odd that he was already that angry. Normally it took him, at least, a few minutes to reach a boiling point.
I smacked Gabriel, hard, on the chest when his arm fell over my shoulders. "Haven't you ever heard of personal space?"
Gabriel's chest vibrated with laughter and I could feel myself turning red from frustration. I hated when he got like this. I'd prefer for him to start yelling or throwing things at me than act all… whatever this was.
"You guys don't get another warning." Nathan turned on us, "If you two don't stop, I'll smack both of you so hard you won't wake up until we get to London."
Howl (Howl Book 1) Page 18