“You have all been so kind to me and I’m well aware that I have no right to ask any more favors from you. Regardless of what you might think, you don’t owe me anything. You weren’t the ones that attacked me and being turned into a werewolf wasn’t the worst thing to ever happen to me, it was the best thing. The day of my first Change, I punched another resident in the group home and probably broke her nose. It was only because she’d made a few snide remarks that I hadn’t liked. I don’t know how well I can control these instincts and I’m still learning what it means to be a werewolf. I’ve never been as happy or felt more at home, anywhere else compared to here. I guess what I’m trying to ask is…”
“Meghan, would you like to leave the group home to come and live with us?” Trina asked with a smile.
“What?” I asked dumbfounded. Trina laughed.
“Jack and I had already discussed it last night. We were going to ask you over dinner, but since you brought it up now,” she trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders and a warm smile.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Kodi asked with an expression as shocked as my own. Was he not okay with the prospect of me moving in here? Suddenly I realized what an idiot I was. I’d never even thought to ask my boyfriend if I could move in with him and his family. That was probably something I should have run by him first. Sometimes I could be completely clueless.
“I’m sorry, Kodi, I should have asked you first,” I said dejectedly.
“What? No. I’d love for you to move in, Meg. It’s just that as your boyfriend, I’d like to have been the one to tell you, but I couldn’t very well do so if I didn’t know about it,” he laughed lightly.
“Well consider it a surprise to you both,” Jack said with a raised eyebrow as he smiled over the rim of his cup.
Epilogue
I’m eighteen, so it didn’t take long for my lawyer, Jack, to get me out of the group home and into his own. I still saw Jane on a regular basis, who suddenly had less spare time on her hands now that Jensen finally mustered up the courage to ask her out on a date. She’d smacked him in the arm and demanded what had taken him so long. Katie and I still had an appointment to go dress shopping for Homecoming and we invited Sarah to join us. Katie also regularly gave me updates on Remy and apparently, he and Jellybean had a thing going on, much to my amusement.
Simone had stopped harassing me at school and had instead turned her eyes onto Kendra as a target. Good riddance to her because as far as I was concerned, they deserved each other.
Kodi and I spent our free class periods off-campus now that we only had to walk to the edge of the woods before we could shift. Sometimes we would run, sometimes we catch fish in the river, and sometimes, we would run all the way to the house so that we could just relax and watch a movie. I had my own dresser in the guest room, complete with strings tied to sticks just in case. I mostly slept in Kodi’s room, however, with permission from his parents, and also so that Stephen could crash in the spare bedroom whenever he needed to. Things didn’t seem to be getting better between him and his dad but everyone in the Barrett household made sure that Stephen felt our love and support.
Although Katie and Sarah had to remain in the dark about our animal counterparts, the five of us spent a lot of time together, often having bonfires in the woods, like the one I’d never gotten to have at camp. We’d tell horror stories and funny things that had happened at school that week as we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.
Not even halfway through the school year I had a home, friends, and a loving boyfriend. Things were looking up for me. It seems that it took me almost dying twice to really feel like I was living, and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. I’m not naïve enough to think that things were going to remain perfect forever. The life of a werewolf was never simple. I don’t expect the McGraths to stay quiet for long, and the Summit was drawing near. Moki and the other twenty-four pack leaders would descend upon Mountain Falls and from what I hear, you never know what to expect from the gathering.
Also, I found out that even though Kodi is my Bondmate, we aren’t actually a Bonded pair yet. There was apparently a ceremony of sorts that had to happen before we were officially off the market to other wolves. The ceremony called for the exchange of blood during the exchange of souls, which meant, we basically have to prick our hands or something similar, put and put them together while making love. Kodi and I haven’t gotten that far, but neither were we worried about anyone trying to claim one of us. After all, Simone had learned her lesson and if not, like Trina, I was always willing to teach.
High School Bites Page 21