His jaw tightened as if wanting to argue, but after meeting the determination in her eyes, he let go of a breath and responded. “You clear it with your Alphas, and I’ll talk with my mother.”
“Fine.”
“I mean it,” Damien insisted. “No more lone wolf. You do this. You have the backing of your family.”
Giselle looked at her father. Seeing him like this broke her heart. She would do anything for him. “You have my word,” she lied, with a victorious smile.
Damien turned away. His body language screaming anger, but when he spoke his voice held only sadness. “I’m sorry if I ruined the mood. I just don’t want to see you in any more trouble. I care.”
“I get it. I do.” She stopped her eyes from rolling before he saw them. If he had truly gotten it he’d have been first in line to help. But whatever, at least he had agreed.
“Our lives are complicated in so many ways. I just want to get past these rough parts with as little opposition as possible. If you have the support of Martina, I will help.”
“I’ll do my part as long as you are willing to do yours,” Giselle agreed.
“Well, now you sound like a diplomat.” Damien couldn’t have been more dead on with his statement.
“Hardly. Just someone who hates jumping through hoops. I see; I do; I get it done.”
The smile she so loved about him returned to Damien’s face. “And that’s what makes you awesome. But you have to make sure you don’t mow others down in the process of your getting things done, lone wolf. Think of the others who might be affected by your plans.”
“Now I get lectures from my boyfriend?” Giselle was done with the conversation, but he kept dragging it out.
“You want lectures, try living with my mother. Life as a witch is not all magical fun. With great magic comes great blah, blah, blah... Everything is a lecture. Respect. Family. Loyalty.”
“Wolves are not much different,” Giselle said.
“I get that. Okay, fine. I’ll do my part as long as you do yours. No more talk on this subject tonight. Can we agree on that?”
“Please!”
“Still on for a movie, then?” Damien asked. “Or have I pissed you off too much?”
“Let me just take care of Father and let Martina know I’m leaving. Then we can go,” Giselle said, feeling less and less like going out while her dad sat trapped in that stupid chair. With Damien’s assistance or without, she would find a way to help him. He deserved so much better than that life.
Chapter 20
The week away and her weekend at home with father had flashed forward, and before she realized it, Giselle found herself sitting in Mr. Harper’s class, staring up at the fluorescent lights and wondering how she’d gotten there.
Like an echo at the end of a long tunnel, someone was angrily calling out, “Miss Richards,” and it took her a moment to realize they were speaking to her. The northern packs would only refer to her by her father’s last name, and she’d grown fond of the way it sounded. Giselle Silverman.
“Miss Richards, are you here with us this morning?” Mr. Harper’s face came into view, snapping her back to reality.
“Sorry. What?” she asked, confused, as the bloom of embarrassment colored her cheeks.
The entire class stared at her, some laughing, some mumbling about her. Words like crack head and stoner were whispered, but still found their way to her ears as Mr. Harper ground his teeth above her.
“Reports were due this morning. Your absence last week did not change when your work was expected to be turned in.”
No teacher had ever hated a student as much as he hated her. There was no reason to single her out for missing an assignment, and yet there he stood holding a hand out, publicly humiliating her for a minor infraction.
Worse, she had nothing to give him. With all the wolfy politics she’d been privy to in the last week, she had completely forgotten school and her report. Hadn’t even started it. And she needed to pass this class.
Despite her desire to throw anger with the full force of her wolf behind her, Giselle dropped her head and took a breath. “I’m sorry. We had a family emergency, and I wasn’t able to complete the report. Can I hand it in tomorrow morning?”
“Tomorrow it will be half credit.”
She couldn’t look up. If she met the hatred of his eyes, there would be no way to hold back. The venom of his words was nearly enough to send her over the edge. “You’ll have it first thing.”
Her heart pounded with anger, overpowering any remnants of the embarrassment she’d felt. The entire school could think whatever they wanted of her. She knew better. She dealt with so much more than their simple little lives demanded of them. But Mr. Harper... his effect on her life was much more pressing. A bad grade from him could derail her future. She hadn’t even wanted to be in his class again this year, but her counselor had said she needed Chemistry 2 on her transcript. And of course, he was the only teacher.
Before becoming a pack wolf, she’d never had trouble in school. Keeping a family might have been problematic, but school had always been a constant. All this trouble over family and Alphas and Council meetings had stolen her attention away from the normal part of her existence. But she was not one to fail at anything, least of all this.
The squeak of a whiteboard marker told her Mr. Harper had turned his attention elsewhere, and she let out a breath before looking up to see what he’d written.
Guarana seed.
Asher nudged her shoulder but she didn’t dare look in his direction nor speak. One more disruption and Mr. Harper would go off, and her wolf was already too near the surface.
“Continuing our exploration on stimulating substances, we’ll look at South America.” Mr. Harper continued to write on the board: Yerba Mate, Suma, Coca...
Asher nudged her again. Why he was trying to get her in trouble was beyond Giselle, but she would not give into the temptation.
In her notebook she wrote Talk after class and slid it to the side, hoping it would be enough to stop Asher from doing anything more to get her in trouble.
“The chemical compositions of these substances work to stimulate the nervous system...”
She tried to pay attention as Mr. Harper spoke, knowing at any moment she’d be called on for some further spotlight embarrassment, but as he droned on about stimulants, she felt an overwhelming desire to nod off. Di hadn’t stopped for coffee this morning, and Giselle had stayed up way too late with her sisters talking about her date with Damien.
She’d crossed a line playing the girlfriend card to force him to work toward fixing her father, and that had overshadowed the entire evening. It brought up more concerns she’d been hoping to ignore about their relationship. Since learning about Cassandra and Orion, she’d felt more and more like being his girlfriend was stringing him along. Alpha or no, a relationship between a wolf and witch could go one of two ways, and her father was a shining example of the most likely result of continuing the relationship.
Despite her desire to do the right thing, she’d already abused their bond. How far would she go to get what she wanted from the witches? If she hadn’t been his girlfriend, would Damien have given in to her demands? Probably not.
Those thoughts mixed with Taylor’s and Di’s agreement that no matter what, she’d eventually have to settle down with a wolf had kept her up to the wee hours of the morning.
“You will pick one substance from this list and describe its chemical makeup, effects on the body...” Mr. Harper continued to drone on in the background as her thoughts drifted in and out of reality.
Asher again nudged her and out of annoyance she finally turned to him, spearing him with a look of annoyance.
His eyes flitted down to the paper where she’d written word to him earlier. Just under her scribbles was a line written in his hand.
I have notes. Write your paper at lunch and turn it in before the day ends.
Her annoyance melted into gratitude. Asher might have
saved her GPA if Harper would accept her paper turned in today. That meant skipping lunch and spending the entire period in the library, but she could pull it off with his help.
Her knight in furry armor. She snickered at the thought and straightened up the moment Mr. Harper’s eyes zeroed in on her. Feigning a cough, she hoped she’d pulled off the ruse, but just to be sure, she raised her hand. “What’s the due date for this next assignment?”
He didn’t answer in words, but Mr. Harper’s scowl and the quick glance back at the whiteboard where the information was written gave her all the information she needed.
“Thank you, sir. I don’t want to miss a deadline again.” It took all she had to keep her voice level and sound sincere. She’d jokingly said she’d rather deal with him than a room full of Alphas. Vivian and he were cut from the same cloth. And now she’d much rather be back in the presence of all those intimidating heads of territories. At least with them she was able to state her case.
All she could do here was keep her head down and pray she made it through the rest of the year in his class. At least Asher had her back. She’d thank him for it later.
Chapter 21
With time against her, Giselle rushed to the library as soon as the bell rang for her lunch period. Her stomach ached from hunger. She’d hardly eaten before the school day had begun, and now more than three hours into the day, her wolf was scratching at the surface for any scrap of food. But knowing how prickly Mr. Harper was, she chose duty over sustenance. If she typed as fast as her fingers could, she just might get something decently resembling a report finished and on his desk before the next bell. Vending machine food would have to suffice – her reward if she completed her task.
She wasn’t the only one with that idea, it seemed. As she entered through the double doors and passed the checkout desk, she spotted a packed row of computers.
Shit! She scrambled, rushing over, hoping to find one empty.
One by one, she walked slowly by, looking over the shoulders of each person sitting there. One researching parts of speech; another working on a complex spreadsheet.
And then she spotted the end of the row. A guy packing up his bookbag.
“Is that one free?” she asked, before she’d even reached his space.
“Give me a minute,” the boy protested, and slowly folded his notebook.
Hunger and patience did not pair well, but she held her tongue rather than bite his head off and make him move.
She paced close while he took his time putting away his belongings as slowly as he possibly could. He smirked at her as if enjoying making her squirm, knowing his was the last open computer in the library.
Jerk.
She was just about ready to voice her annoyance when he shouldered his bag and walked away.
It was a testament to her newfound maturity as a potential Alpha that she hadn’t made a scene. At last, that was what she told herself.
A quick glance at her phone told her she was running short on time. Giselle whipped out Asher’s notes and sat down to the computer, opening up a blank document and started typing out her headings.
Not even five minutes had gone by when Giselle felt the weight of eyes against her back. She smelled wolf instantly but chose to ignore them, hoping her body language alone would scream I’m busy, but no one ever listened to that. Not even a wolf.
“Whatcha doing?” Di poked Giselle in the back.
Nose down, typing as fast as her fingers could fly over the keys, Giselle had no time for distractions. Lunch period only lasted forty minutes, and that left no time to edit her work. She grunted at her sister as she took her eyes of the screen for a moment to glance down at Asher’s notes.
“You’re missing lunch. You know that’s a bad idea. You get cranky when you’re hungry.” Di pulled up a seat next to her.
“Don’t care,” Giselle mumbled, trying to concentrate.
“Damien was looking for you,” Di taunted her.
Giselle let out a loud sigh. “Look. Harper is out to get me. I have...” She looked down at the time on the computer screen. “Shit! Twenty minutes to finish this report and turn it in before next class. I don’t have time for this right now.”
Di held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, lady. I was only trying to be helpful.”
“No, you weren’t. You were trying to be nosey.” Giselle turned her attention back to the computer screen.
“If I was being nosey, I would have told you that metabolize is spelled with a z,” Di said with as much snark as she could. “But by all means, shoo me away when I’m being sisterly.”
Giselle growled in frustration and corrected the misspelling. “Fine. You have five minutes. What do you need from me?”
“Just to tell you that Martina has laid down the law. I got a text from her about an hour ago. Between Orion’s care and the event we have to plan, we’re all grounded for the next month. Or as she says... Our calendars are full. Don’t plan anything.”
“Overreacting much?” Giselle cracked a smile and finally looked at her sister.
“Just a little. I get it, though. We’re in the spotlight. Hosting all those Alphas.”
“Right, and I saw how stressed she was over the dinner with David not too long ago. I wonder how long before her head explodes,” Giselle snickered.
“At least Christina is back and can help,” Di said.
She couldn’t argue there. Martina was a completely different person when her sister was around. Less stressed, for sure. Not even Gavin had that same soothing effect. “And she’ll take the pressure off us. Let’s face it, without her, we’d all be drafted into slavery.”
“Oh... we still will. Part two of the text she sent said to prepare for assignments at dinner tonight.” Di rolled her eyes.
“I’m already full up with assignments. Last week killed me. And...” Her eyes flitted over to the computer screen. “If I don’t get this report done now, I’m screwed.”
“Harper is a jerk.” Di’s words were true, but that brought no comfort to Giselle. She had to pass that class this year. Somehow her sister had managed to avoid his class entirely. Lucky.
“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”
“Whatever. I’m on your side, remember?”
“Sorry. Just stressing.”
“I get it. I’ll take off. But before I do... Damien was looking for you.”
“He’ll have to wait. Busy.”
“Moving further and further down the list of importance, is he?”
“Shut up.” Giselle sighed.
“Just saying.” Di turned to walk away, and despite her best efforts, Giselle lost her train of thought.
She let her head fall to the desk and banged it a few times. Life did not have to be this damn complicated.
With a groan of frustration, she picked up Asher’s notes and tried to refocus. All metabolic reactions can be broken down into two general categories: catabolic and anabolic.
She reread the line five times before the words sank in, all the while wondering why Damien was looking for her and if he might have found an answer. No. He couldn’t have found an answer that quickly. He probably just wanted to spend the lunch hour with her, like a regular boyfriend would.
But in the back of her mind the wonder was there, and Giselle desperately wanted to find out. As time ticked away, though, so did her chances for a passing grade, and she needed to finish this damn report.
Di’s words mocked her. Moving down the list of importance. Where the hell was she on the list of important things? Somewhere below the last line, that was for certain.
No. She had to do this. School would have a lasting effect on her life. She needed to finish the report. She could always find Damien later.
Chapter 22
The day escaped Giselle, a blur of words and papers, angry teachers, and missed connections with her boyfriend. Before she knew it, Giselle found herself washing up dishes in the kitchen while her mother called for a meeting in the dining room.
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No rest for the wicked. Since returning home she’d hardly had a moment to sit and relax. Thanks to Di’s warning, she already had an idea of what this meeting would be about: more Alpha bullshit.
If for nothing else, at that moment she wished she’d been awarded the title just so she’d have the power to tell people to leave her alone for a little while.
Homework from a week of missed school had piled up. She’d appeased her chemistry teacher for the moment but she still had literature, geometry, government, and Spanish to make up work in. All that on top of whatever Martina would want her to do, and research for her father. Just the thought of all she needed to take care of had her head spinning.
“Hurry up.” Christina poked her head into the kitchen.
Giselle was standing like a zombie at the sink, a dish in one hand and a scrubber in the other. “I’m coming.”
“Martina’s on the warpath. Don’t make her wait. She’ll have an aneurysm.” Christina chuckled. Frozen in time as Martina’s sister had been, Christina looked more like an older sister than her adoptive aunt. It was hard sometimes for Giselle to remember that in their little pack, Christina was an authority. Wolves, she’d recently learned, were hard to judge by age alone, often looking as old as they felt inside rather than displaying their physical age. It was if age was a sign of exhaustion; in flux rather than linear. Those who’d been through hard times appeared older. And in the truly old, times of little stress added vigor back to their features. Even old Jeffrey, Christina’s mate, had lost some of the gray in his whiskers since their return from vacation.
Things to ponder at a different time. One look to Christina made her realize she’d lost herself in thought again, and Giselle set the dish down in the sink and headed out to the dining room.
“Assignments, ladies.” Martina called the room to order. “We’ll be under scrutiny for these trials, and I want to make sure we wow them. I mean it. Wow!”
Giselle groaned as she walked toward the dining room table, earning a disapproving glare from her sisters.
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