Werewolf High School

Part 16: Backstabbed (Thursday)

Adam was waiting for me at the parking lot in the morning as he did on our good days. I hoped these would continue now, as we cleared some things up. We had decided to talk to all our pack members at school to stop the speculations and prevent further fights, at least for this week when we were still waiting for further directions from our Alphas.

We called them all up at the beginning of the lunch break, and both of us, side by side, made basically the same announcement as I told them the day before after the fight. The message was that no matter what will happen with the packs, they are all valuable members who cannot and will not be replaced. We added that both packs will probably end up being closely connected, so we expected them to cease the hostilities. We both did the talking, and about fifty shifters from both packs listened.

We made the meeting short as we didn't want to draw too much attention from humans by our absence. I felt good standing there with Adam and us working for the same cause. I felt like he was finally on my side, and I was on his. He looked so good and natural in the role of the leader. I loved working with him on the pack stuff, but I also craved some alone time with him. Unfortunately, this entire week I needed to go home right after school, so there wasn't much time for us to spend together.

At the cafeteria, I ate my lunch quickly and asked Adam if we could talk alone. He gave me a concerned look, as our talks lately were always serious. Still, he didn't object and followed me into one of the empty classrooms.

"What is it?" was all he could say before I grabbed his shirt, pulled him closer to me, and kissed him passionately. He returned my kiss immediately and wrapped his arms around my waist. We only had about ten minutes before the bell rang, so we had to make the best of the time we had. The kissing was just as hot as the day before, if not even hotter. He walked me back onto one of the empty desks in front of the classroom, so I sat on it and slightly parted my legs so he could stand in front of me. It felt even more intimate as I was wearing a skirt that was now riding up on my thighs. He was grabbing my waist, pulling me even closer to him. I definitely felt flushed, and my heart was beating like crazy in my chest.

He then suddenly pulled away from me, still breathing heavily, and I saw his eyes turning to a darker color when he looked at me. "Julianna... We'd better stop now; classes are about to begin," he said in a low voice. The intensity of it has surprised me as well, so I just nodded, pushed myself off the desk, and did my best to fix my clothes and hair. We slipped out of the classroom just in time before students came pouring in.

We had math the next period, which was one of the few classes we actually had together. We sat next to each other, and we kept smiling and looking at each other from the corner of our eyes or touching hands as by accident any time we had a chance. "I really liked that," I wrote on the side of his notebook. He was grinning like crazy, and he wrote on mine: "I liked it a little too much." I chuckled at that.

Everybody was probably staring at us, but we didn't stop until the teacher gave us the last warning before sending us to the principal's office. We did our best to concentrate on the lecture, but we still shared a few occasional glances and smiles.

I noticed some of the girls in the class giving us an amused look and others looking jealously. I wondered for a moment if Adam had done something like that with any of them, but I decided that I didn't want to know. I couldn't stand the thought of him with someone else. If anything had happened, it was before meeting me, and it couldn't have meant as much anyway because they weren't his mate.

When I came home that afternoon, I wanted to talk to my dad again. It was another desperate attempt to get any information about the Saturday's meeting out of him. I had tried a few times, but without any success so far. He had always told me to be patient and wait for Alphas' decision, for they knew what is best for everyone.

I told him about the events with the packs at school, hoping to get him to trust me more, but he only nodded and said we have handled it well. I hoped that would make him open up more to me, but that wasn't the case. It frustrated me to no end, but I just had to give it one more try despite everything.

When I walked towards his study, I heard him talking loudly on the phone. I stopped behind the door and listened. I knew he could normally sense me because of his enhanced hearing, but I hoped this time he was too concentrated on his phone call to think of anything else.

"Yes, I am sure of that. There is nothing we can do. She has already been marked. No, I will not let you do that! Out deal is off, do you understand? You don't have to come here. I'll call you next week," were some of the sentences I heard before he hung up. I just couldn't believe my ears. He must have been talking about me. What kind of arrangements was my dad making for me?

I walked into his study and found him thoughtful behind his desk. "Dad? What is going on?" "Nothing, sweetie, everything is fine," he said but still seemed distracted. "Dad, I heard you talking on the phone! Were you talking about me? You said I am marked, and the deal is off. What is that all about?" I demanded to know right then. It all sounded so sketchy, and I was afraid of what he had to say, but I just needed to know.

"Oh Julie... I don't want you to worry about anything. Let me take care of that," he insisted. But I wasn't going to let it go this time: "Dad, I need to know what you are planning for me. Who wants to know if I have been marked and what deal is off? I am not leaving until you tell me!" I said and sat down on a chair in front of his desk where I was planning to stay until he told me. He looked at me with narrowed eyes, and when he saw I was dead serious, he finally said: "Honey... It is all over now, so there is no need for you to worry. There was someone who was very interested in you. Do you remember Gregory from Lion's Nest pack?" "Yes, of course," I said with disbelief.

I met Gregory two years ago when I accompanied my dad to meet his father to their territory. They had a close alliance, and my dad was a good friend with his father, the Alpha of Lion's Nest, at that time. Gregory was two years older than me, and he was just... I really had no words for it. He was tall and strong with raven black hair and dark brown eyes. He always wore black, and he looked kind of dangerous and mysterious. He got my interest immediately as I met him, but he kept mostly for himself during the time of our visit. Whenever I tried to talk to him, he would only say a few words, and he seemed completely uninterested in me. I got it; I was only fourteen and just a kid for him, probably. I had a huge crush on him for the whole year after that.

"Gregory was interested in me?" I asked in disbelief. "Yes, he just got his title a few months ago, and he wanted to meet with us to see if there was any prospect for..." After that, my dad fell silent as he knew how I hated any arrangements made behind my back. I would be jumping for joy if I heard this a few months back, but now after finding my mate, there was just no way. So I just gaped and stared at my dad.

"Julie, I was skeptical about it since the start, but he insisted. I told him we would wait until you were of age," he tried to explain. "Wait with what, dad? What would happen when I was eighteen?" I said as I finally found my words to speak. "Well, he wanted to marry you, but I insisted we should talk with you first and you two to get to know each other better."

I couldn't believe my ears that my dad would be willing to match me up without me even knowing about it. "And if I said no?" I had to ask. "Honey, I wouldn't force you into anything if you didn't want to," he said with an apologetic look on his face.

I replayed the whole conversation I overheard in my head, but something about it was so wrong. Gregory wasn't backing off from it. "Dad, what exactly did Gregory say? What was it that you wouldn't let him?"

My dad was reluctant to say it at first, but he finally gave in after I didn't move. "Well, I told him you found your mate and that you were already marked. He said it didn't matter as he can bite over Adam's mark on your wedding night." I lost it when I heard him say that. I shifted into my wolf right there and ran off to the woods before I could do any damage.

*I hope you liked this chapter! What do you think will happen next?

**I'm dedicating Metallica - The Unforgiven to Julianna's dad. What the hell, dad?!