My Best Friend's Werewolf

44 Disrespect

I feel like I've been trying to fall asleep for two hours, but it's only midnight. A week shy of the full moon and I'm already having to lock myself away from my parents to keep me from lashing out at them. I roll over onto my side and let out a sigh. I haven't seen Eliza since she confronted me, and I've been practicing with Jasper a lot.

My parents wanted me to clean up the table after dinner, but when I accidentally allowed one of the plates to slip from my hands and shatter, they accused me of complaining about cleaning up.

I stormed into my room after that.

Three soft knocks tap against my window. I push back my covers and pull one of my curtains back slightly. Jasper's face stares back at me, not blinking. I open the curtains and push up my window.

"Yes?"

"I need to talk with you."

"About?"

"Can you just come with me? You know being around this many human homes makes me anxious."

"Let me put shoes on." I head for my closet and grab my tennis shoes, sliding them on. I grab a sports bra. "Can you not look?"

"Really?"

"Really."

I peel off my shirt and tug my sports bra on, followed by my shirt. I slip out my window.

Jasper leads me down the street to where his truck is parked. I climb in the passenger side, watching him as he starts up the engine and pulls away from the curb. He drives thirty odd minutes from my neighborhood without uttering a word and still doesn't stop. I try not to look at him, but he has me puzzled exceedingly. He's my mate. What that means for us I have no clue. We aren't romantic, and while he's not sore on my eyes and I spend a good deal of time with him, I wouldn't go as far as to say I have a crush on him. He's a little bit too annoying for that. He wants me to give up my humanity—turn animalistic. He now apparently asks me to follow him to only God knows where at ungodly hours of the night. Those aren't exactly the best qualities in a guy. I'm not going to try to sugarcoat him.

No, I definitely don't have a crush on him. Not even in the tiniest bit.

Because I shouldn't. That would be wrong.

Never mind the ache in my stomach whenever he touches me.

Jasper stops the car in an empty parking lot. I recognize it as one of the lots for a trail that I hiked a lot over the summer two years ago.

I unbuckle. "Are we going to shift?"

He shakes his head and gets out of the car and of course I follow.

I'm following an untamed animal into the woods at night. My better judgement has been thrown away this summer.

He leads us down the unlit trail but with the help of the moon and my heightened eyesight, I don't have trouble traversing it even with the closely knit trees blocking out most of the moon.

"Why are you so quiet tonight?" I ask.

He stops. "Because I'm internally freaking out."

"What's happened?"

"The pack has to go to Canada."

"Why do we have to go to Canada?"

He rubs his eyes. "Not you. You're exempt from it."

I lean back against the nearest tree. "Can you just explain?"

"All the packs in this area have to convene—discuss how they're going to keep the peace between them. I didn't have to go to these in the past because I wasn't a part of any pack, but now I'll get to discuss how to rid the world of lupraus."

"Jasper, don't blame me for this."

He pinches the bridge of his nose. "No, damnit. I didn't mean it that way. It's been a long day, okay. I leave tomorrow with the pack, and we'll try to be back for the full moon, but incase we aren't back, I want you to go to Xavier's house and have Elizabeth chain you up."

"Why Xavier's? It will be hard to get Eliza there."

"Because I don't want you anywhere near your parents. Elizabeth can chain you up and leave." He steps toward me, leaves crunching under his feet.

"Shouldn't I just come with you all?"

"That's the thing. You don't know how to go about showing respect at these kind of meetings. Hell, I doubt Xavier would let you get away with how you talk about him if you weren't his mate's best friend. Any sign of disrespect at these kinds of meetings especially this close to a full moon can almost certainly get you killed."

"Do you know how to show respect? You're not used to pack life either."

He takes one more step, putting himself close enough to me that I press tighter against the tree. "Not really which is why I want to do this before I go." He places his hand around the side of my head and pulls my lips to his. I close my eyes, my stomach swarming violently. His kiss is slow, leaving my toes curling and me with plenty of time to figure out how to match his pace. His other hand wraps around my back, pressing me against him.

He pulls away and leans his forehead against mine. "I'm going to leave you here now, otherwise I won't be able to keep myself off you." He presses his lips quickly against mine. "I know you can find your way home." He shifts, tearing his clothes and runs farther down the path, never mind his truck is in the other direction.

I fall back against the trunk of the tree, placing my hands on my lips. Well there we have it. My first kiss went to the guy who left me in the woods.

A/N
There are only four more chapters!