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“Okay, I gotta go to the library to study. I’ll talk to you later, then.”
“All right. Tell Lincoln and your dad I said hi.”
He says it every time. I don’t bother passing the message. “Yep. Bye, Luke.”
“Bye, love.”
I end the call and wrinkle my nose. I hate the whole plan. But it’s not like I have to have sex with Luke when he comes. Or that I wanted to go to the dance with someone else.
He’s coming, so I can break up with him in person. I can learn what it’s like to have closure–something I can’t seem to find with my mom’s death.
I walk to the window and look out. The sun is setting, casting a pink hue on the rocky mountainside. I lean my forehead against the windowpane. A bird startles from one of the trees, and I look over.
There, sitting on his haunches at the edge of our property is the silver wolf. The same damn wolf that nearly ripped out my throat last night.
Chapter Four
Abe
Lauren is absent Friday which annoys the crap out of me.
Is she sick? Humans are so fucking fragile. Her twin is also absent. They could both be sick. Or maybe they went on a trip. Whatever the reason, it makes me want to tear the chem lab apart.
I’d like to say it’s only because I need her to get through this damn lab. If I don’t get a passing grade for the week, I don’t get to play football in tomorrow’s game, and Coach Jamison and my dad will straight-up murder me.
But the truth is that I don’t even care about the lab. My wolf is restless to see her. I need to fill my nostrils with her candy apple and cinnamon scent. He’s howling at the thought that she may be sick.
Like he’s going to rush over to the Sterling mansion and somehow save her.
The flicker of fluorescent lights in the chem lab brings on a stabbing pain in my temples. I scan the lab information sheet that Ms. Miller passed out, willing it to come into focus. To make sense. But my gaze can’t track the words from my periphery. I see the letters, but they’re jumbled.
Fuck.
I think of Lauren again, and my vision becomes chaotic–a dark blur everywhere but the edges.
I give my head a hard shake.
Chemistry lab.
I have to pass this, or I can’t play in tomorrow’s game.
I glance at the pair of students on the other side of the lab table. They are pack members. They would help me out if I asked.
But that would show weakness. They would wonder why I don’t know what’s going on.
We decided back in eighth grade I would never let anyone in this pack find out my weakness. My dad didn’t want any blemish in our family line to get out.
So I move mechanically, setting out the equipment the kids on the other side of the table are setting out, copying their movements.
Then I realize the answer. It’s the tactic I always use when I have to cover my weakness.
Assholery.
“Hey, Newt.” I jerk my head at the kid on the other side of the lab table. “You’re my partner today. Come over here and run this for me.”
His neck gets red–whether it’s from anger or just attention from his alpha king isn’t clear. Either way, he does what he’s told and comes around the table to take over.
I lean against the lab table and pull out my phone, pretending to scroll, even though I can’t see a fucking thing at the moment.
