Secrets of the Wolves

Chapter 8: Under Pressure

“I want you to meet a few of our pack members. This is Kyler,” Tobias said, gesturing to a tall, boy with skin the color of a cappuccino. “This is Sasha,” he continued, pointing to a very skinny girl with blonde hair and high cheekbones. She glared at me and I saw her canines pointing out from her mouth. I shrank back. Tobias ensued to show me off like a prize toy to the rest of the pack--or at least, that’s what it felt like. There was a short boy named Drace and of course Alix was there, waving at me like a maniac, sporting a dragon nose piercing.

“There are some more of us in other grades, but this is our little group,” she said. I was grateful she spoke to me and not Tobias or Theo or that menacing Sasha.

I looked at my red-headed friend. “Okay. Nice to meet you.” I could muster that, couldn’t I? It wasn’t necessarily true, but manners are always a bargaining chip in one’s favor.

“These are the peeps that will be hanging out with you today after school,” she said, wrapping a loose strand of hair around her bun. “Thought you ought to know their names.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

“I mean, not that you know half of them already or anything, but, y’know, it’s always good--”

“Alix, you’re babbling,” Raylor interjected, giggling.

Alix’s made a face. “Yeah well--well . . .” She pouted.

“So will you be joining us?”

My attention was latched onto Theo and his voice then and my wolf completely blew logic out of the water. I didn’t care that I would be leaving soon or that any relationship was doomed--I wanted to be around my mate and not even the cosmos could mess with that. “Yeah,” I said and was confident in my reply. I would be near Theo just to be near him.

The tension in the air seemed to settle and dissipate then, knowing that the weirdo outcast wasn’t completely nutso and would reject such a powerful future Alpha. I wasn’t accepting his request, I was tagging along merely for my mate.

My wolf howled then, delirious with my answer and rolling around in the golden glow of my indulgence in my mate. There was a lower, throatier howl linking with hers and my eyes widened to the size of softballs. It was happening again! Someone else was in my mind!

It was then I realized Theo looked as baffled as I did and his green eyes were the size of cereal bowls.

Something dormant in my mind--probably reason to be completely honest--shot up out of the depths and shook me out my reverie. “I’ll--I’ll see you later, then,” I stammered and I darted out of the commons as fast as I could move my legs.

However, I could not avoid werewolves because silly me, I forgot I sat next to one in French, along with being with two others in third period chem, not to mention three other classes had werewolves in them. Sasha was in choir with me and I hardly sang above a whisper, knowing her malevolent glower was sizzling through my skin.

As I was gathering my things to leave, I felt a slender hand attach itself to my shoulder.

“Hi, Sigrid,” a slippy voice said above me. “I didn’t get the chance to formally introduce myself this morning. I’m Sasha, Theo’s girlfriend.” She smiled a wide smile, one that showed all of her long teeth, including her sharpened canines. “And I’m very close to him.”

But I’m his mate, I thought. And my wolf took charge again, barreling down all inhibitions, ready to annihilate this chick. “I’m Sigrid, Theo’s mate. Nice to meet you.” I held out my hand, but it was more of a ‘take-my-hand-because-I’m-right’ gesture.