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ChapterFifteen
Layla
* * *
Even though I sleep heavily with the satisfaction of finally getting some answers from my uncle, it doesn’t keep the dreams at bay.
Once again, I wake from a frightening dream featuring wolves, to the howls of the same creature somewhere nearby in the forest.
After my new nightly ritual of changing pajamas and switching sides of the bed, I settle in uneasily.
The dream was different this time, as if my subconscious took the information from my chat with Dom and added another layer. Now I know the wolves ahead of me, the leaders, are Dom, my mom, and dad. They raced ahead, left me behind even as I sped to keep up, losing the Milo, Landon, and Jared wolves in my haste. And just like last night, three wolves jumped from the shadows and attacked me.
While the dreams were odd at first, they now give me a terrible sense of foreboding. I can’t put a finger on it, except to say that it feels like a warning I don’t quite understand yet.
The sense of abandonment by my parents makes sense. But Dom is here. He took me in and is caring for me. Maybe I’m just fearful he’ll leave me, like my parents did?
And Jared, Milo, and Landon seem pretty capable of keeping up with me. There hasn’t been a moment I wasn’t either here, under the protection of my uncle, or with one or more of them. Have I already grown so attached I’m afraid to lose them, too? I like them, but it’s only been a week.
Of course, the part about being attacked by a literal pack of wolves makes sense, and I don’t need to be a dream guru to figure that one out. New place, people who seem to hate me for no fault of my own… that’s pretty easy to interpret.
A quick glance at my phone tells me it’s after midnight—too late to text Milo, I’m sure. Even if he is up, it would come across rather stalkerish to just start messaging him in the middle of the night.
Yawning, I set my phone aside and settle back into my pillows. Maybe all the dreams will make more sense tomorrow, after my subconscious has time to pick them all apart.
* * *
Jared
* * *
“We have to tell her, man.” Milo is riding with me to school today, and I need to get this off my chest. “The longer we drag it out, the harder it will be.”
“I know, but come on. How do you just tell someone they’re about to sprout fur and bay at the moon? We grew up knowing this was the truth. Lex knows nothing about it.”
“Why do you call her that, anyway? I thought her name was Layla?” My eyes dart from the road to Milo, hunched in the passenger seat.
“She said it the first day we met her. It must be a nickname she used in LA, but she hasn’t told that name to anyone else, so now it’s stuck in my mind and it feels like something special.” He shrugs. “It’s what she wanted me to call her, so I’m gonna use it until she says something different. Also, technically her name is Lilliana, like every alpha Harridan. Whether she knows it or not.”
“That’s still weird to me.”
“Guys do it all the time. Name their kid after themselves. You want to talk about spooky, think about the fact that every first-born kid in the Harridan line has been a girl for at least two centuries. Maybe more. We just don’t get all the details.”
“You’re right, that’s weirder.”
“No, what’s weird is you deciding to come in early to school when you don’t have Monday classes. What are you doing, anyway?”
I shift in my seat. “I felt like I missed out, not meeting Layla at the same time as you guys. So I thought it would help for me to spend more time with her, like before classes and stuff. I didn’t do my reading this weekend, so I was just planning on hitting the library while you guys are in class.”
“So this is all about a few minutes before class that you missed out on?” Milo’s dark eyebrow rises, and he stares at me with obvious disbelief.
“Well, not exactly.” Turning the wheel, I pull into the Painted Moose. “Layla mentioned she likes vanilla lattes, so I thought I’d pick her up one. You want anything?”
A laugh bursts from Milo’s lips. “Jared, I didn’t know you had it in you, you big softie. You got out of bed hours before you had to just so you could bring her a coffee? You’re already smitten, my friend.”
I join the queue for the drive-through, glad my dark cheeks are incapable of showing the blush I feel heating them. “Well she is our fated, and the alpha charged us with making her feel at home. Part of that is growing her attachment to us and this place. I figured a coffee couldn’t hurt.”
When I pull up to the window and place my order, Milo leans over and requests a caramel mocha. “Should we get Landon anything?”
