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“I thought watching the motel was bad, but high school is so much worse,” Trent whined over our link. “I thought kids smoked and drank. Had sex under the bleachers and shit. They just sit in classrooms.”
“Where exactly did you get your idea of high school?” I questioned, as I took out some of my frustration on a punching bag. “And did you really think that’s what I did when I went to work?”
“No?” He answered unconvincingly and I snorted. “Movies make it seem so much more interesting than it actually is.”
“That’s why they’re movies.”
“People should make a movie about us,” he commented idly. “Teen wolf shifters, magically fated mates, and rival packs. I mean, it’s got everything.”
“Be sure and pitch it to a studio. Go ahead and shift in front of them while you’re at it. I’m sure that’ll get you a movie deal.”
“Yeah, the world’s first live dissection of a wolf shifter,” he responded morosely. “But seriously, I would be happy if any -” He cut off abruptly and I stopped, catching the punching bag before it hit me.
“Trent?” I pushed the thought, wondering what had silenced him. Worry nagged at me and I tried again, using a little more force. “Trent.”
“She’s on the move. Repeat, Trouble is on the move,” Trent answered and I shook my head.
“Did you just refer to Jess as Trouble?”
“Yeah …why? You have a better nickname?” He asked, dead serious.
“No.” I let it go more concerned about her whereabouts. “Where is she going?” I checked the time and saw it was lunch period. “She should be in the cafeteria.”
“Nope. She’s making her way into the forest. Looks like she’s going home,” he reported and I walked to the edge of the porch, my eyes focused on the path I took home every afternoon.
“She’s not going home,” I told him. “She’s coming here.”
“Are you sure? That would be -”
“Idiotic? Foolish? Dangerous?” I listed, knowing she wouldn’t consider any of those things if it meant protecting us.
“Yeah, those,” he replied.
“You did say she was Trouble,” I reminded him. “Stay with her until she crosses the Pack border,” I ordered. “I’ll alert the Pack that we have a visitor.”
“She might not be coming there,” he tried to protest, but I knew better.
“She is.”
I jogged to a larger cabin situated close to the Pack House, knocking on the door impatiently. Anna opened it, eyeing me curiously.
“Jess is on her way,” I told her. “I need you to greet her.”
Her mouth dropped open as she shook her head, muttering, “She wouldn’t.” My eyebrow arched and she sighed, “She would.”
“Don’t let on that I knew she was coming,” I commanded and it was her turn to raise an eyebrow.
I exhaled, admitting, “I’ve got someone watching her.”
Anna looked puzzled for a second before her expression cleared. “That lone wolf?”
“Yeah, Trent.”
“She doesn’t know she’s being followed?”
“No.”
“Make sure she doesn’t find out,” Anna advised, shaking her head as she grinned knowingly. “I don’t think Jess would appreciated the fact.”
“Well, I’m sure she appreciates being alive,” I retorted, flipping her the bird as I walked off and heard her tinkling laugh follow me.
Gregory intercepted me as I was headed to the Pack House. “A Council meeting is about to start,” he told me and I hesitated. “Can I help?”
“Jess is on her way,” I replied and he tilted his head curiously. “I don’t know why, but I imagine it’s important.”
“She’s very brave,” Gregory said and I smiled tightly.
“I was going with foolish, but either one works.”
“I’ll tell the others of her arrival. I’ll let you decide if what she has to say needs to be relayed to the Elders.”
“Thank you,” I said with a rush of gratitude.
“Fools go where angels fear to tread,” was his only response as he disappeared into the Pack House and I sighed.
“She’s on the path,” Trent reported.
“Go back to the motel and make sure its secure. I’ll escort her home.”
“Aye, aye, Cap’n.”
I realized I didn’t have a shirt and after Jess’s comment the day before I decided I better get one. I jogged back to my cabin and grabbed the shirt hanging on the railing, tucking it into the back of my pants as I made my way where Anna had met Jess.
“Oh yeah, no one has seen him in such a frenzy since….”
“I think that’s enough, Anna,” I cut her off curtly and she jumped, but Jess didn’t so much as twitch, almost like she’d sensed my presence. “I’ll take over from here,” I finished, my smile shaper than normal.
Jess turned and then just stared at me, abnormally silent and I looked down, wondering what she was staring at. I reached for the shirt I’d grabbed, thinking she must be bashful. “I’m going to have to keep a better eye on you if you’re going to walk in unannounced on Pack territory,” I warned her, tugging the shirt over my head.
