Maddox draped a big arm around Hailey and pulled her into his side. “Just came to check on my little sister,” he said. “I wanted to make sure she’s playing nice with all the new kids.” Maddox’s cool water gaze leveled with mine.
“Stop it,” Hailey said in a playful but annoyed sounding tone. “I haven’t bitten anyone… yet.”
Courtney laughed.
“Sorry I missed your father’s memorial,” Maddox said, shifting his eyes back to Wren. “I was away on business.”
“I heard that you’re still Ryker’s errand boy,” Wren commented in a detached sort of tone that made Maddox’s expression falter.
“I’m his second.” Maddox glowered, eyes darkening. Yep. Definitely the Beta.
“Oh, his second; well then I suppose I should congratulate you. It’s good to see all the ass-kissing finally paid off.”
Maddox sniggered, revealing a straight set of teeth. Wren had Maddox by a couple of inches in height, but Maddox’s bulk was nothing to take in stride. Wren was already treading very dangerous waters, squaring off with the Beta–especially one that was besieged by his pack brothers–was not in his best interests. I reached out, wrapping my palm around Wren’s wrist hoping that my touch would convey a reminder. Maddox saw this, and his eyes cut to me.
“You must be Quinn.”
“That’s right,” I said, forcing myself to hold his gaze.
“Ryker told me all about you,” he said in a tone that one might mistake for charm, but I heard the mocking nature in it. He pulled my free hand to his lips and brushed the back of my knuckles with a kiss that sent a shiver of disgust slithering down my spine. I pulled my hand free of his grasp and squared my shoulders as Wren bristled beside me.
“What do you want, Maddox?” Wren growled.
“Be nice to my brother, Wren, or you will be the first one I bite,” Hailey said with a smirk. She slipped out from under Maddox’s arm and grabbed Courtney by the elbow and started introducing her to the rest of the pack. I watched Courtney flirt with the guys, knowing that Hailey had pulled her away so Maddox could talk more freely with Wren.
“Ryker wants to know if you have an answer for him.” Maddox leaned up against the trunk of the maple tree, crossing his arms over his chest.
“So he sent you and four others to what–drag the answer out of me if I didn’t comply? He’ll have his answer tomorrow,” Wren said.
Maddox smiled even bigger. “We both know you’ve already made up your mind. We’re just here to remind you of your fate should you choose to concede.”
“Come on Summer Boy. You know what you need to do,” Hailey added. “You know what would be best for you.”
Rage flickered through my core. I took a step forward on instinct, but it was Blaire who wrapped a hand around my arm to hold me in place. My chest swelled with an icy heat, feeding the Darkness that was swelling in my amulet.
“Such fire,” Maddox commented, staring at me. “I can see why you like her, Wren. But is she really worth dying–”
Behind me, I heard the school bell ringing, signaling that our lunch hour had ended, and thankfully, cutting off the rest of Maddox’s words.
“Come on Hailey, I don’t want to be late for the student council meeting,” Courtney said, reaching for Hailey’s free hand as the two skipped away.
“Since you’re incessantly headstrong, Ryker told me to tell you that you have until sundown tomorrow night. Be at the bar, seven o’clock sharp with your answer.” Maddox pushed himself away from the tree trunk and the others flanked to his side. As he started walking away, he called over his shoulder, “I hope she’s worth it, Wren.”
My teeth ground together as my fists clenched at my sides. Fury surged through my body like a bolt of lightning and the sky above seemed to darken. It revealed the veil of the in-between and shrouded my vision.
Teach them their place, the Darkness whispered against my ear. The rage that had been building inside me boiled over the surface, and my neck snapped sharply to the side. A big gust of wind swept out of the eastern woods and knocked all five of the heavy chrome-plated bikes over in the parking lot.
“What the hell?” The group took off running toward their fallen machines.
Blaire squeezed her nails into my arm until the pain registered. I blinked away from the scene and turned to face her coal-black gaze. “Quinn,” she breathed, “did you do that?”
My lips parted, and air rushed through my lungs in a ragged gulp. “I-I don’t know.” Her eyes were swimming over mine, and I knew she was searching my aura for the Darkness that had already departed.
I looked back at the parking lot, watching as Maddox stood there–studying me. Shit. Could he tell that I was a witch now? Wren waited until the bikers had righted their heavy chrome machines and fired up their engines before he turned to me.
“It’s that thing isn’t it?” Wren pointed to the amulet around my neck–in which I immediately scooped up in my protective grip. “Tell them what it did to you this morning,” Wren demanded.
“It’s nothing,” I said, blinking.
“Like hell it isn’t.” He reached for my shirt collar, ignoring the chain as his knuckles brushed against the silver and a strip of gray smoke snaked into the air from his burning flesh. He tugged my collar down and revealed what the amulet had done to my skin. My cheeks burned with chagrin as I pulled out of his grip.
“What happened, Quinn?” Annabelle’s eyebrows laced together in concern.
“The amulet is protecting itself,” Bryna said. “Did that happen when you unlocked the hidden door to the grimoire?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“She shouldn’t be wearing it,” Wren interjected with a sharp snap in his tone.
“It chose her,” Bryna said. The two faced off, and I watched as the lightning current began to swirl in Wren’s irises. The air was thick and pulsing with tension, but it was Blaire’s gentle voice that broke through the disarray.
“There was something else the White Witch said to you in our vision quest,” Blaire said. “After we’d linked ourselves, she said–”
“She said that only I had the power to walk the path of shadow and not turn from the Light,” I finished for her. “She told me that you guys would try to help me, but I was the only one who could do it. She was talking about this.” I held up the moonstone pendant. I had been denying it ever since the amulet came into my possession but I couldn’t deny it any longer. All the dark whispers, shadows, and impulses were revealing their hidden truths about the amulet’s awakened power.
“Hold on,” Annabelle held up her hands, “you knew about this?”
“Well, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure until now,” I said, “but I had my suspicions. I can hear things sometimes, like little suggestions.”
“It’s trying to control you,” Wren said. A mixture of worry and anger flashed across his beautiful features and his brows furrowed. The others were gawking at me as though I’d grown a pair of horns and matching pointed tail. Might as well hand me a pitchfork and call me Satan.
“Guys, I’m okay,” I said, stressing the word. “It’s not like the amulet can actually possess me or anything…” Everyone remained quiet just long enough for an icy fear to creep up from my gut. “Right?”
“We best not linger on taking that chance,” Blaire said, squeezing my wrist. “Let’s get this riddle solved so we can get this amulet destroyed.”
“I second that motion,” Annabelle replied.
“And there’s one other thing that you really need to take care of, lass,” Blaire said, looking solemn. “You need to talk to your dad. Too much has changed. I know you think you’re protecting h
im by keeping him in the dark, but I think he needs to know what’s going on–especially now that we need to leave.”
My stomach clenched. “I know,” I heard myself say.
Chapter Thirteen
Nyla
“You have got to be kidding me.” Annabelle came to an abrupt halt at my side and the motion had her long ponytail swinging from side to side like angry windshield wipers. She jutted her hip out, staring at Hailey who was dressed in the tiniest pair of black shorts I’d ever seen and a low cut white tank. The tops of her breasts were spilling out of her sports bra like swollen water balloons. I know they say werewolves are territorial, but she was talking to Coach all flirty-like, and at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to pop those massive balloons of hers with a needle just to find out if they’d explode.
“New girl has some serious curves,” Huck commented, bending to readjust his shoestring that had started to come undone. Jamie fell in after him, as the two were never very far apart. I watched him brush a lock of bronze hair out of his face, grinning like an utter moron.
“Hey, keep your eyes in your head, or else I’ll tell Torrance you were checking out the trashy merchandise,” I told Huck.
“She’s not trashy,” Jamie inserted on the defensive.
“What’s the matter Q, you’re not afraid she can run faster than you, are ya’?” Huck grabbed the end of my ponytail and gave it a little tug. I spun and cracked him in the bicep. “Ow,” he muttered, rubbing his arm.
“No, I’m not afraid of that,” I said haughtily.
“She’s only here to get a rise out of Quinn,” Annabelle said. “She has a serious thing for Wren.”
“Of course she does.” Jamie rolled his eyes as he pulled his leg back into a thigh stretch. “His presence is inconvenient for my game.”
“What game?” Annabelle retorted.
Huck burst out in laughter and slapped a hand across Jamie’s back. “Burn!”
“Screw off, man.” Jamie shoved him hard in the chest but Huck just continued to laugh. “Plenty of ladies dig me.”
Now it was my turn to snort. “Jamie, plenty of ladies would like you if you weren’t so massively full of yourself,” I said.
“And how is that any different from Wren?” He extended his arm out, gesturing to Wren who was warming up in a jog around the track. The afternoon sun was playing in his dark hair, catching the auburn strands in the light and coloring his skin a perfect shade of gold. I bit the corner of my lip, letting out a sigh. “See, you’re swooning and he’s not even doing anything.” Jamie pointed out.
“That’s the difference,” Annabelle said. “Wren doesn’t have to try.”
“So you’re saying I shouldn’t do anything at all and ladies will just flock to me like moths to a flame?” He lifted an eyebrow.
“Nobody likes arrogance rubbed in their face,” Annabelle said. “It’s not an attractive trait.”
“Huh.” Jamie rested his hands on his hips as his eyebrows furrowed in what appeared to be contemplation. A slow smile spread across my face as I shook my head. Jamie really was clueless–cute–but clueless.
In front of us, Hailey flashed a bright smile at Coach before turning in our direction. “What are you looking at?” Her icy blue eyes narrowed in my direction.
“I think you made a wrong turn out of the locker room,” Annabelle told her. “The Zombie Squad is that way.” Annabelle pointed to the group of cheerleaders practicing on the grassy patch next to the bleachers.
“What makes you think I have any interest in joining a cheer squad?” She sneered, rolling to one of her hips.
“Oh I don’t know, maybe because your new BFF is the cheer captain and the two of you seem to share equally wicked souls and a freakishly bizarre taste in toddler-sized clothing.”
A bubble of surprised laughter escaped me. I cleared my throat and pressed my lips together in amusement.
“Well, at least I have something to show,” Hailey reached up and cupped her breasts in a vulgar gesture which had the guys whistling.
“Did your parents actually sign for that half-priced boob job?”
I swore I saw a scarlet blaze flash across Hailey’s irises. Clearly Annabelle had touched a raw spot. “Oh they’re real all right, you nerdy, flat-chested chink.” Hands on her hips, Hailey stepped toe to toe with Annabelle.
“I’m half Japanese, you racist slut.” Annabelle inched closer. “If you’re going to insult someone, the least you can do is hurl the right derogative.”
I took a step towards Hailey, blood pressure spiking until I heard Wren’s voice behind me. “Everything okay here?”
“Fine,” Annabelle and Hailey said in unison.
“What are you doing here, Hails?” Wren asked, keeping his voice level. I couldn’t help but notice he’d used a nickname for her and my stomach twisted.
“Joining the cross-country team, what’s it look like?”
Wren snickered. “It’s too late in the season for that.”
“Duh, numbskull, I’m aware. Coach so kindly agreed to let me practice with the team in order to condition myself for track season. I even get to tag along to all the meets with you guys.” She beamed a spurious smile. “You know, if Thornwood was big enough to have a cross-country team, I would have come in first. Every. Time.”
“Quinny is our star,” Huck surprised me by saying as he wrapped a solid arm around my shoulder. “Though I’m sure she’d welcome some competition.”
“Perfect, what are we running today?” She pressed her lips into a tight smile.
I rolled my eyes. The world was in the midst of ending, and here I was staring down a werewolf bitch–completely ready to strangle the life from her lungs. Ugh–priorities. “Coach,” I called, “what are we running today?”
“Sprint work, two hundred relay,” he answered, waving his clipboard in the air.
“Perfect,” I echoed Hailey and started for the track.
A few minutes later, I was standing on the second curve in the fourth lane with Hailey in the fifth lane beside me. Annabelle and Harper were on the starting line. I wasn’t worried. In fact, I was in my element, and I knew that both Harper and Annabelle were equally matched in sprint-work. Annabelle would run her heart out to make sure that baton hit my hand before Harper reached Hailey. I bent forward, adjusting my heel in the starting block.
“Looks like that’s a notch too short for the length of your legs,” Hailey commented, reaching back to tighten the elastic band around her annoyingly perfect blonde ponytail.
My gaze narrowed. “I think I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s right,” she breathed, “I forgot you were the star.”
“You are planning to make this a fair run, right?” I lifted my brows and shot her a pointed look. I didn’t want to say anything about her werewolf abilities in front of the girls in the lanes beside us. “I’ll know if you cheat.”
“Cross my heart,” she replied with fake sweetness, drawing a mini X over her chest. “I’ll beat you fair and square, Quinn Callaghan.”
“We’ll see about that,” I muttered under my breath.
We leaned forward, taking our stances in the starting blocks as Coach blew the first whistle, signaling for us to get ready. The familiar burn of adrenaline began pumping through my chest. I inhaled deeply, pooling air into my lungs and breathing in the crisp scents of autumn coalescing with the warm rubber turf.
“Jamie is pretty cute,” Hailey said, nonchalantly examining her nails. No doubt she’d heard him talking about her. “Huck is pretty cute too, but I have no interest in guys who are already hung up on someone else.”
I snorted. “That doesn’t seem to stop you from going after Wren.”
“I already told you, it’s different with Wren. He belongs with me.”
Coach blew the second whistle and the first leg of runners burst out of the starting blocks. I didn’t even look behind me. I extended my right arm behind my back, palm facing up. I pushed Hailey’s comment about Wren to the foreground of my mind, using it as fuel to burn on the track. Annabelle and I had this down to an exact science. I began counting the seconds as blood pulsed through my veins and arteries. The cool metal of the baton slapped down into my hand and a burst of adrenaline fanned through my chest. I squeezed the baton and shot out of the starting block as the boys cheered us on.
In that moment there was nothing but the roar of wind rushing against my face, and my breaths coming faster and faster as I pushed with everything I had against the track. The wind stung my eyes, pulling liquid from the corners. Everything in my peripheral was a blur. I was rounding the corner to the straightaway when for a fleeting instant I caught sight of Hailey’s white-blonde hair glinting in the sunlight at my side.
“Go, Quinn, go!” I picked Wren’s voice out among the combined shouts and cheers from our team and leaned forward into the straightaway. I ground my teeth together as the muscles in my whole body exploded with heat. Leave everything you have on the track, Coach would say. I became an atomic bomb, detonating into a sharp cry as I crossed the finish line one step in front of Hailey. I was running so hard that it took another thirty meters for me to slow my momentum. And when I did finally come to a halt, my gelatinous limbs gave out and I collapsed against Wren’s chest. His arms circled my waist to help keep me upright.
“Take it easy, love.” His breath was warm at my ear.
“Nice running, ladies!” Coach clapped and whistled along with the others. “That was a close race but Quinn still holds the reigning undefeated title!”
The Calling of the Trinity (Trinity Cycle Book 2) Page 15