"What the hell were you two doing in that mill!?" Preston says lowly.
He took us back to his house right after he caught us. He didn't say one word all he did was glare and demand for us to follow him. I had enough time to shove the note in my back pocket before he could see. I could tell we were going to be in so much trouble, and no amount of lying was going to get us out of it.
I can see the look on his face that he knew we were there before, and since he didn't know how Jared smelt he must be wondering why there was another human scent. There was no lying about Jared now; I had to come clean because I know that if I didn't it will only cause more damage for me. Sasha had kept wincing on the ride here, so my guess was she was either getting yelled at by her brother or by Preston. I'm guessing both since Scott kept glaring at me, silently telling me I was in big trouble, I just knew him too well.
I look over at Sasha, a little afraid of what would happen to her when I tell him. I don't want her getting in trouble for sneaking behind his back when I forced her too.
"And don't try lying, I know for a fact that you two were in there yesterday, I can smell you all over the place to know that you didn't just show up yesterday. Now, what were you two doing there? When I specifically called a code yellow?"
"What's a code yellow?" I ask confused. He sighs and rubs his temples, oh yeah, he wanted answers not to be asked question.
"A rogue appearance, we got the call very early this morning." Preston says looking up at me. "Now, no more questions, I'm going to be the one asking questions. What were you two doing at the mill?
"I-" I began.
"We-" Sasha began. We both stop and glare over at each other.
I just knew that she was going to take the blame and I couldn't allow that to happen. I didn't want to see her get hurt. And if it came from me then I won't get in too much trouble right? I am his mate after all, he wouldn't harm me.
"It was my fault; I forced Sasha not to tell." I say looking away from her.
"Not even, I won't let you-" I shoot her a look.
"It was my fault." I say firmly looking at her, telling her to back down. When she deflates I turn to Preston, my mouth in a grim line. "I will tell you everything after Sasha is free to go, and you promise me she won't get into any form of trouble. Like I said it was my fault and I told her not to tell anyone, I actually demanded her silence. She had to go along with everything that I said."
Preston hesitates at this and looks over at Sasha. I wait silently as he makes his decision. After a while he turns his eyes back to me and I feel myself square my shoulders and lift my chin up slightly, challenging him to protests. Slowly he nods his head.
"Fine, you can explain but I can't promise anything." He says softly making my chin clench and my eyes narrow at him.
"Fine, but if you give her any sort of punishment then I will pay the same punishment." I say lowly.
He freezes at this, not expecting me to say that. He blinks once, then twice before opening his mouth then closing it once more. He shakes his head as if to clear it before sitting up straighter.
"Very well then, you may go Sasha." He says.
She begins to protest but I glare at her. "Go." I demand. Instantly she shudders and leaves the room faster than you can say fire.
When I turn around I see Preston looking from the closed door to me then back again. I can see the gears in his head turning until it finally catches on and he gasps.
"She said the Luna oath." He says in disbelief.
I nod. "It was after I was attacked by Jared. She didn't want me unprotected so she swore her oath to me; I thought they were just meaningless words before." I say, "I know she went out of protocol on that, but she told me that guardians do the same oath and she didn't want me vulnerable. Even you can see why she did it so don't be too harsh to her." I add.
He's flabbergasted at first, just staring at me with wide eyes until he snaps out of it. He gets in alpha mode in a matter of seconds, his back straightening and his hands clasping together on top of his desk. "Why don't you tell me from the start how we came by today?" He suggests.
I bite my lip before nodding in defeat. "I hated being on the side lines and not being in the action of things. So I took it upon myself to find the human spy-" He takes a sharp intake of breath.
"Why would you do that Dee? That is dangerous, you shouldn't have-"
"I had to ok? You were too busy trying to track down the rogues, you completely forgot about the human spy. I had to do something, I had to help. I have every right to look for the spy because these rogues want me. I couldn't just stand on the sidelines again." I huff out.
He's quiet for a moment before nodding for me to continue. "Go on."
I swallow. "Well I got Sasha to help me out; she was going to be the muscles in this mission. In case we found the person she would help me take him down. So I forced her into helping me and demanded that she tell nobody. We didn't find anything for a long while until uh-" I stop, how the heck do I tell him what I know without having him freak out at me?
I bite my lip once more staring at him intently.
"You found the person right?" He says softly, his face slowly softening. "That's what you've been keeping from me after the almost kidnap?" He whispers.
I swallow and nod. "We caught him when we went to the concert. Gosh I was so stupid." I whisper. "I shouldn't have gone to the restroom by myself but I didn't want Sasha to miss the show, she was so excited to get the tickets. But I should have asked her to go." I say looking down at my hands before looking up at him. "I want you to promise me not to doing anything rash until I have finished. I don't want you interrupting what I'm about to tell you, because it's a lot of information, confusing information but good enough." I say.
He hesitates before nodding. Before I could continue though he walks over to the seat that I'm sitting in and grabs me. "I hate sitting like that; it makes me feel like I'm a principal." He mumbles to me before sitting down on the couch, me on his lap.
I swallow and look at him. "A girl had grabbed me when I was washing my hands. She dragged me down these abandoned hallways; she brought me to the spy- to Jared. He's the one that has been spying on us and giving the rogues every detail. He's the one who was inside my house and took that picture of me and my brother. That's why he came back." I look over at him, his hands wrapping around my waist. "He told me a lot of things that night. He told me that this alpha wants me to help rule with him, these rogues are going to try to take down the high council and they think that I can help. I don't know why, he didn't really explain that. But in exchange for him delivering me to the alpha I will be his, Jared said something about marrying him and all these crazy ideas. When they went to go take me I used my pepper spray on them and well you know the rest from there." I mumble the rest.
"Then I found out by Katy he was staying with her. So Sasha and I decided to do a little surveillance on her house, where we found out she was moving him to their family cabin on Wednesday. We went to the house yesterday, and planned on questioning him. When we got there Sasha ended up knocking him out, we needed to find a place to go where no one would look for him so we took him to the mill. That's why we were there."
"Did you get anything out of him?" He replied softly and I swallowed.
"It didn't make sense. He was talking in riddles and incomplete sentences; it didn't make any sense at the time. But from what I understood was this alpha has basically been stalking me all my life, he's waiting for something. Jared said something about me holding it back and not being who I really am. And this alpha thinks that on my eighteenth birthday something will change, and boom I become this psycho path or something. He told me that one way or another alpha is going to get me. No matter what, nothing can stop him. Then today we went to the mill to finish our questioning only to find the place completely trashed, and Sasha smelt a rogue, Jared was gone and only this," I get off his lap and take the note out and handed it to him to read. "Was the only thing left. So we lost our lead, we can't question him or break the truth out of him because the rogues took him away once more, and there is no way they will risk bringing him back. Or if they do we won't see him ever, not if he gets another stone. I think that the scientist Dr. Manor was talking about, I think the rogues took him, our rogues took him so they can have a stone of their own. And if they still have him they will force him to make another one for Jared."
He is quiet as I finish, his eyes darkening once more as he reads the note. His hands smash the paper, crinkling it up into a ball before throwing it at his waste basket. He just stares up at me, not saying anything.
He takes a deep breath before releasing it, his head falling into his hands. I get a little worried as I watch him struggle over something.
"Preston?" I ask softly bending down in front of him, my hands prying at his until he's looking at me, his hands in my own. "Preston say something, please."
He looks at me. "What do you want me to say? I just find out that my mate went behind my back-"
"Preston-"
"I understand why you did it, you wanted to help in any way you could. I get that you want to help because they want you. But what you did was so reckless and so dangerous even if you had Sasha help you. You could have been killed, even if he's only human. This guy, this monster had done so much to you already. And you just- hunt him down." He says his eyes never leaving mine and guilt instantly plagued me.
I would rather be yelled at or see his anger then this. I don't like the disappointment in his eyes, the sad look he's giving me. I hate that I disappointed him and went behind his back, but at the time I felt like that's what I had to do. But it still doesn't make it right.
"You should have come to me, you should have told me. I feel so... disappointed, hurt, putout, and plenty more knowing that you didn't feel comfortable enough to tell me. I'm sure that I would have over reacted and not let you go, but I'm sure that if we talked it through I would have seen your side of things. I could have more backup for you or at least help you."
I look down at this my heart clenching tight in my chest. "I'm sorry, I really am. I just- I was stupid. I know that now. I just didn't want to bother you. I had it in my head that you would flip out if you knew he was the spy; I thought you would have killed him before we could get anything out from him. I feel stupid, and I acted stupid. I'm truly sorry." I whisper, pleading with him to understand.
He looks down at me, his hands coming up and cupping my cheeks. "I just want you safe." He whispers. "I forgive you Dee, I'm sorry too for almost freaking out when I found you there." I snort at this.
"Almost?" I smile up at him, the tension in the room disappearing.
He smiles down at me. "Yeah, almost," He pulls me up so I'm in his lap once more; he buries his head in my neck and breathes in deep.
I smile and kiss the top of his head, my hands wrapping around him, one going in his hair and combing it lightly.
"Promise me that if you find any more information you will come to me and tell me. I won't hold back anymore with you, I don't want you feel left out, but I don't want to feel left out either." He says pulling back and looking at me.
I nod, "That sounds like a good plan." I whisper.
"Good, now." He says standing up and gently putting me on my feet. "I have decided that we are going to be training you with those weapons."
"What? But I thought you wanted me to learn without them." I say following after him out the door.
"That was before we found out they want you by the end of your eighteenth birthday, which is coming up soon. I want you to fully understand how they work; we can work on using your strength also, just in case. But I don't want you walking around by yourself until you can defend yourself." He says dragging me to the basement where the weapons were being held.
Well this day turned out not what I expected.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................
Dear Journal,
I'm too depressed. I don't want to leave the house. I don't want to talk. I don't want to see my friends. I don't want to do anything. Why am I feeling like this? Why am I feeling so sick to my stomach? Could it be because Tyler is a douche and got me all caught up in him... again? Is it because right after he gave me another amazing night I bumped into that guy at the mall and he pushed me away? Told me I was nothing but a slut? It hurt, oh boy did it hurt, and I don't understand why. I've never been pushed by a guy before and been yelled at like that. I don't even know the guy and he's yelling at me and calling me all these names.
I just don't know what to do anymore. Ever since that night I've been feeling off. Something's wrong with me, I just don't know what.
The journal entry is short, very short and left me confused. Since her last entry was about how she wasn't hung up on this Tyler fellow and hooking up with Freddie Higgins. It leaves me confused since she didn't go into detail like she did before. I have a feeling I'm not going to like the rest of these journal entries.
A knock on my door makes me jump and stuff the journal under my pillow. "Come in." I say leaning back casually.
Brayden pokes his head in a little. "Hey, I was wondering if you were going to come out. You never really sleep in on weekends." He says.
"What time is it?" I ask sitting up.
"Almost twelve," He says leaning against the door jam. "Is everything ok?"
I sigh and rub my temples. These past few days Preston has kept his word and I trained every day. Thursday after our talk he took me to the basement was I learned Weapons 101, knowing everything about them and what they do. It was a lot of information, but luckily he didn't let me use them. Instead he trained me on how to defend myself with just my hands. Like before he was in his wolf form and knocking me down or trying to sneak up on me. My body was sore by the end of it, and then to top it off I had to go to my defense class with Sasha. Where I got to learn some cool new moves, if I weren't so tired I would have put in my full effort, but I was pretty weak after my small battle with Preston.
My classes didn't end there, oh no. After classes on Friday we were back at Preston's training. Only this time we were in his gym and he put me on a strict schedule on building up muscles. After all the weights I lifted I had come home and went straight to bed, not waking up until an hour ago, where I was too lazy to get up so I decided to read my mom's journal again.
"Shoot!" I groan out, I missed Saturday's lesson. Hopefully Sasha stayed in the class and she can show me what was taught.
"Yeah, Sasha came by at ten; I guess you missed your class. She was checking to make sure you were ok." He says.
"Dang it." I groan.
"She told me to tell you that you are welcome to go over to her house today and she can show you what you missed. And that Preston wants to talk to you, as soon as possible."
I nod and stretch my hands over my head. "Thanks, sorry I've been tired these past few days." I say scratching the back of my head.
"Your fine, I was just about to make a sandwich do you want one?" He asks making me nod. "Ok, get dressed." He says closing the door behind him.
I groan and shuffle to my closet. Seeing's how I still had to do my training I grabbed a loose t-shirt and sweat pants. Pulling them on I finished by pulling my hair in a messy bun.
"Thanks," I say to Brayden once he hands me my sandwich.
"So the classes are going well for you?" He asks after swallowing a huge bite.
"Yeah, it's leaving me pretty sore but it's worth it. I should have done this class a while ago." I say taking a bite of my own sandwich.
"So, your birthday is coming up in twenty three days, any thought on what you wanted to do?" Brayden asks.
I bite my lip at this. Well not get kidnapped by this alpha seems like my plan. But I knew he meant on if I wanted a party. Ever since our mom went crazy my siblings and I had to celebrate our birthdays by ourselves. We would make homemade presents and a cake, though it wasn't the best birthday ever it still made us feel special that our siblings would do something for us. The past few years though I've just had a dinner with my brother then cake and one present. Nothing big, even though I had the friends last year, I didn't want them to come. I accepted their gifts and birthday wishes at school. But this year, I had a feeling that it would be best surrounded by people and in a public place.
"I'm not sure," I finally say. "I will have to think about it."
He nods in understanding. "Did you need to borrow the car today?" He asks finishing up his sandwich.
"No, if you could just drop me off at Sasha's that will be fine. I'll just car pull with her." I say standing up. Grabbing the bag I had packed with some fresh clothes I walk to the front room where Brayden has a pissed off expression and jamming his phone closed.
"What was that?" I ask as I leave the house and going to the car.
"Kelly," He grumbled under his breath.
I don't say anything after that, what's the point? I don't like the girl, not anymore. I've said everything that I needed to her last week. And I wasn't about to help her situation out by telling my brother to go to her or talk to her, heck no! That would only bring torture on me.
"So what are you going to do today?" I ask changing the subject.
"I'm thinking I'll go take a look at that horse Dave has told me about. He offered for me to help around his farm again this summer, even added an extra two bucks to the pay every hour." He says I raise an eyebrow at this.
"Wow, so you'll be getting seven dollars an hour? That's better than what he's been giving you, why the sudden change?" I ask looking at him in surprise.
"His son is leaving for college; he finally got the balls to tell his father. His friend won't be around to help out anymore either. So Dave figured he would rather raise my pay a little, I guess his nephew is coming down to help during the summer too." He says making me nod in understanding.
"Is he going to let you help train the horse?" I ask.
He shrugs but I can see his excitement and hope. "I hope so, riding helps sooths me." He admits.
Brayden met Dave four years after Joey left. One of Dave's horses had gotten loose and ended up in our yard. When Brayden went to go give the horse back Dave tried to pay him, or even give him some food for thanks. But at the time we were struggling with money, so much that we hardly had enough for food. Brayden persuaded him to give him a summer job, it took a lot of convincing and begging and in the end Dave had needed his help. One of his workers ended up getting in a really bad accident. And as much as Dave wanted someone more experienced he decided to give Brayden a try. Ever since then he has been working his way up around the farmer. He went from just a little hay boy, wheeling the hay from the truck to the barn, to helping tend to the horses. Just last year he got his first job in helping train a horse. But before he learned how to train he learned how to ride on.
I was a little jealous since he would come home and just rave about the feeling of riding a horse, how great it felt. I was envious of him that's for sure. I've never learned but I'm glad he did. He told me it was great therapy for him, he's been holding a lot back from the years that Joey left. And I guess for some weird reason he took a horse to tell his secrets to.
Pulling up to Sasha's I snap out of my thoughts. She's standing on the front porch dressed in running clothes, short black shorts, a loose tank top that says 'Shut Up and Run.', and her hair was in a ponytail. When she saw me she grinned and waved. Well, at least I dressed right.
"I'll see you later, have fun at Dave's." I say hoping out he nods and slowly back up. "What are we doing today?" I huff walking slowly up to her.
"Running," She says grinning down at me making me groan.
"It's pointless, I can't outrun a werewolf." I say setting my bag down on the porch.
"Sorry sweetheart, but Preston's orders, after we run five miles I'll allow you to stop and we can work on what you missed today." She says making me huff.
"I better get a cake after this," I mumble.
She laughs and picks up my bag and putting it inside. "You actually get a date with Preston," She grins making my heart beat thump hard in my chest.
I guess this will be worth it then if I get a date with my very handsome mate. So without another word I shut up and ran.
........................................................................................................................................................................................
"Holy-" I breathe out sitting down on the cool ground.
I did my five mile run with some difficulty, I was about to fall to the ground at the last mile but Sasha wouldn't let me. We ended up walking back to her house, letting me cool down. This helped a lot, though my knees were still weak I made it back. Only to have to go over what I missed today.
"You ok?" Sasha asks sitting next to me, she didn't even loose her breath during the run and workout she just gave me.
"When do I get a break?" I groan out. "I'm over worked and it's only been a few days."
"Don't worry; you get Sunday through Tuesday off with the werewolf training." She assures me. "Now, come on you need a shower, Preston will be here in an hour." She stands up and holds her hand out for me.
I groan and take it, letting her haul me up to my feet. My legs protests as I walk into the house and up the stairs to her room. I bite my lip to stop the groan of protest that wants to slip past my lips. Getting into the shower I let out a sigh of relief, never before did warm water on my skin feel as amazing as now, though it would be better if I could just soak in the hot tube for a few hours. I feel some of my tension leave my body as I let the warm water relax me even more. But knowing that time was running out I got to work cleaning my body.
I'm out of the shower five minutes later, drying myself off and grabbing my bag. Putting on the clothes I had brought I towel dried my hair before exiting the bathroom.
"So where am I going anyways?" I ask putting my bag down and grabbing the brush she handed out to me.
"I'm not sure, he told me to dress you in comfy clothes." She looks over my outfit before nodding. "I guess that's good enough."
I look down to the jeans and sweatshirt I have on. "I just hope it's nothing too productive, my body just wants to sit down somewhere."
"Don't worry, I bet it's something to help relax you." She assures me before sitting me down and doing her magic on my hair.
I let her blow dry it and curl it into loose curls. My eyes going slightly heavy towards the end. But a knock on the door tells me that Preston is here. Finishing up she hands me a light jacket and sends me on my way down the stairs. Opening the door I see Preston standing there, his hands in his pockets. When he sees me a smile lights his face and he opens his arms out, allowing me to step into them and hug him.
"Hey," He says softly.
"Hey," I say back pulling away and shutting the door. "Ready?" I ask.
He nods and pulls me to the truck, letting me get in on the driver's side and slid in. I stay in the middle seat as he gets in. He doesn't look surprised that I remained next to him; instead he just plants a small kiss on my lips and smiles at me.
"So where are we going?" I ask resting my head on his shoulder.
"The drive in," He says I can hear the laugh in his voice.
I raise an eyebrow, "Oh my, you mean the drive in movie that is right next to that old barn?" I tease with a little giggle.
"Oh! Is the drive in right next to that old barn? The one that officer so kindly pointed out to me?" He plays along sounding shocked.
I giggle again. "Indeed, that one. If I didn't know any better Mr. Kent, I would say you are trying to go parking with me." I say making my voice sound appalled.
He laughs and wraps his free hand around my shoulder. "Why I would never." He says shocked and hurt that I would say anything like that to him.
I giggle and kiss his cheek. "What's playing tonight?" I ask seriously.
"Who says we are going to watch a movie?" He whispers huskily, his eyebrows moving suggestively at me.
I grin and slap his shoulder lightly. "I say," He pouts at me for a little bit before getting serious.
"Gone with the Wind," He says, "An old classic and pretty boring but eh, oh well,"
I grin over at him. "Well, it's not like you know that every Saturday they play Gone with the Wind. I mean why would you want to go watch a boring old movie anyway? Unless of course you had other motives?" I whisper the last part making him grin down at me.
"You know me too well." He mumbles as we pull up to the booth, not getting out of the car he pulls up to the window and pays the ten dollar fee.
Driving in I'm surprised to see the place packed. "Whatever you do, don't park by that old barn. That's where the police station themselves." I point out.
He nods and drives us in the opposite direction until we find a parking spot. He ended up backing up so the tailgate is pointing at the screen instead of the cabin of the car.
"Uh- what are you doing?" I ask confused when he got out.
"Getting everything set up." He says back as I flip to the station the movie was playing on so we could hear.
Opening up the small window in the middle of the back windshield I'm happy to hear Preston say to turn it up a bit until he hears it perfectly. Getting out of the truck I move to the back where I'm surprised.
On the tailgate Preston put down two huge pillows, so huge it they took up the whole back of the truck and laid some blankets on top, it was literally like a bed. I grin and let him help me up.
"I'm going to go get some popcorn, did you want any candy?" He asks once I'm under the blankets and comfortable.
"No thanks, just popcorn is fine." I say.
I watch the commercials as I wait for Preston. I'm glad he decided to do this; I felt myself relaxing and was well on my way to sleep when Preston returns. I make room for him and hold the blankets out for him. Once he's sitting next to me he wraps one arm around my waist, bring us closer.
"Thanks." I say softly.
"You're welcome." He nuzzles my neck lightly.
The lights in the parking lot slowly dim as the movie begins. I'm hardly paying attention; the hand on my hip has all of it. Preston was watching the movie intently, his eyes on the screen and eating his popcorn. I took a few handfuls every now and then, but my whole attention was on that one hand.
His fingers had unconsciously moved up my sweater just slightly so our skin had contact. His fingers rubbed my skin in slow circles. I can tell by how into the movie he was that he didn't even notice what he was doing. I thought I would have freaked out having his hands on my exposed skin, but it felt... good, nice and warm. Who knew that a touch could be so tender and soft? He wasn't touching me in hopes of getting more or even lustfully. He was doing it because it felt right and second nature, it was so easy to have him touch me or hug me heck even kiss me. Nothing was wrong with his touch and that only made my heart beat faster.
I'm not afraid anymore, I've come so far. A few months ago I would have had a panic attack; I would have been crying my eyes out and reliving the past. But I'm not, not anymore. Ever since I told him the truth about what happened to me I felt different. I wasn't scared anymore; I felt protected and like a weight have been lifted off my shoulders.
If I hadn't met Preston I would still be that scared little girl. Who knows I probably would have been that crazy old cat lady who lived down the street and yelled at kids who walked by. I would have died alone, literally since I swore off men at the time. Fate has been kind though, even though I felt like my world broke apart after that night I still had my friends, I still had my family, and I still have my strength. And it's only growing stronger and stronger each passing day.
Sure I've had a bad past, I had to play the cards I've been dealt. Joey was a monster of a father but he's gone now. My mother is a mess but in time maybe she will get better. Brayden and Natalie have stuck by me and helped me through a dark time. Sasha and Scott have been the loyalist friends anyone could ask for. And Preston, he's been somewhat of a rock since I've met him, he stood his ground and accepted me for me, cracks and bruises included.
A rogue pack may want me and this alpha may be delusional but I know that we can make it through it. We can take them down because of how close we are, they don't understand how strong friendship is to me and my friends. They wouldn't let me be taken without a fight.
"Hey," Preston whispers, muzzling my neck. "What has got you thinking so hard?"
I look over at him and smile, my hand cupping his chin lightly. I study him for a moment, taking in his blue eyes and dark hair. He surely is handsome with his strong jaw line and straight nose and perfectly smooth skin.
"You of course," I whisper back with a smile of my own.
He grins down at me before gently leaning down and kissing me softly on the lips. He doesn't try to deepen the kiss or go further. It's the sweetest, gentlest kiss I have ever had. Pulling back I rest my head on his chest and stare at the movie screen.
He wraps me closer to him, moving my feet over his lap. One of his hands rests on my knee, the other still rubbing soft circles on my exposed hip. I don't listen to the people talking softly right next to us or the sound of the movie coming from the radio. Instead I listen to the sound of his heart beating against his chest. Strong and steady underneath my cheek. I close my eyes at the sound, feeling my own heart beat in time with his.
Soon I fell asleep to the sound of his heart beating.
.......................................................................................................................................................................................
A\/N: So what do ya think? Good? Bad?
VOTE. COMMENT. FAN. PROMOTE. ENJOY. VOTE. COMMENT. FAN. PROMOTE. ENJOY. VOTE. COMMENT. FAN. PROMOTE. ENJOY. VOTE. COMMENT. FAN. PROMOTE. ENJOY.