Protecting You

--NINE--

Class let out at the usual hour, and I had to run to my car through the rain. By the time I wrestled the driver door open and dove inside, my hair was completely soaked through. The hood of my rain jacket had slipped off as soon as I stepped out of the building, but my hands had been too busy to fix it. I turned my key in the ignition and slapped on my seatbelt. School had grown increasingly worse today while teachers added more and more assignments to my load. The weekend was still two days away but wouldn't come fast enough.

I was passing through the student parking lot with all the other cars when I noticed a familiar backpack. The mate pull made me notice such trivial matters in such hellish circumstances. Even though I wanted to get away from Will, I felt bad watching him walk in the rain. He was already soaked, like he had been this morning.

Grinding my teeth, I pulled my car off to the side and rolled the window down as I drew near. Will noticed right away and looked over. His white smile nearly coaxed one onto my own face before I could stiffen my mouth.

"Hey!" I called loudly enough for human ears. "Need a ride?"

He glanced over his shoulder, but he was already heading towards my car. "That'd be great," he said.

I unlocked the door and he slid into the passenger seat. Rain poured in, soaking the door and seat before he managed to close the door. Our gazes locked. His face scrunched in a cringe.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I'm drenched."

"I noticed," I answered quietly while trying to console the clean freak within me.

Turning back to the road, I pushed the gear shift into drive and rejoined the steady flow of traffic. We were both quiet for a minute. Will seemed to be gathering his breath, and I was trying to think of why I would be so stupid as to give him a lift. This was going directly against the vow I made to myself, the vow to protect my mate from the wolf world by protecting him from me.

I couldn't protect him from myself if we were spending time together. Besides, I didn't completely trust myself. If I didn't pay special attention to what I was doing, we were likely to find ourselves making out in the backseat. That was just how powerful the canine hormones were.

My clenched fists eased on the steering wheel at the sound of his calm voice.

"Take a right at the next street," he said. "It's the first neighborhood on the left."

"That's Pine Willow, right?"

"Yep."

"I know some people who live there too."

He uttered a single, dark chuckle. "I feel sorry for them."

"Why?" I inquired with a curious glance.

"Well, it's a low-income neighborhood. I figured you knew that."

I couldn't understand his point. "There's nothing wrong with that, Will. Life is just like that sometimes."

"Right," he grumbled, facing the window.

Unsure of what to say or do, I simply remained silent. Was he that insecure about his own financial status? I had never been low-income, per se, but I was also never wealthy. Alpha took good care of us all, making sure we were never hungry or in need. Those of higher ranks enjoyed the privilege of a fatter income check, but I managed to make it by just fine. I was lucky to even be in Highriver, so I wouldn't complain on even the worst day.

I turned into his neighborhood and followed the rest of his murmured directions. When we reached his house, a single-story brown block, he instantly moved to jump out of the car. I should have let him.

"Will?" I called after him instead.

His hand froze on the handle until he slowly turned to face me. Water dripped off his nose and onto his lips before rolling down his chin and throat. He raised his brows at me.

"I like your house," I told him. "Your mom must have good style."

"Thanks." He dropped his gaze, as if embarrassed, and proceeded to get out of the car. It was only sprinkling here, thankfully. "And thank you for the ride, Jenna."

"Sure. No problem."

He nodded thoughtfully and then shut the door. My eyes followed his jogging body up to the door. Once he had disappeared into the house, I backed out of the driveway and headed towards home. I turned the radio up in the hopes of tuning out my thoughts, but I couldn't get over the strange moment I shared with Will.

A frustrated Will was someone I didn't know. I wondered why income was such a sensitive subject for him. Most of my friends from his neighborhood were joyful, optimistic kids, and they never talked about feeling disadvantaged or anything. I never realized that maybe some of them hid their feelings. Or maybe they didn't feel that way and Will was just being petty.

An involuntary snarl ripped its way up my throat when I realized the blaring radio still wasn't helping tune out my thoughts. I pressed my foot harder against the gas pedal and whipped past the packhouse driveway. Nobody would need me immediately, and I needed some time to cool off. A drive in the forest always helped me gain some peace of mind.

Hopefully today would not be the day that changed.