Chapter 22
“What happened . . . ?” I asked. I felt like I had been run over by a truck—twice or perhaps it simply reversed after running me over the first time, either way I felt God awful. The centre of my head felt like the epicentre of it all. I could literally feel it throbbing.
Something told me that this was a part of my hangover but I refused to acknowledge it as such. After a while of looking my eyes began to hurt, the light was too bright . . . it intensified my headache and made me fall back on my pillow.
“Ow . . .” I mumbled when the shock of my head hitting the pillow sent a sharp pang of pain throughout the rest of me.
“Sweetheart can you remember anything, anything at all that might have happened that might have caused this?” Mom asked now making her way over to me. I groaned in an attempt to stall. I couldn’t tell her that I downed several cans of beer and was probably having a hangover—she would have made me feel worse. Besides I wasn’t even sure if it was the beer that did this. It could have been Damen sleeping with Amber, or seeing that flashback that being taken to that strange place. There were so many reasons and I was not going to go down for the least likely. No way. With this headache a lecture would have sent me to an early and undeserved grave.
“Maybe it was something I ate . . .” I lied. “They had a buffet set up and I didn’t check to ensure there was no shrimp in the casserole.” I paused for effect. “I did think it tasted weird . . .” To save my skin I had to sell my story so well that persons would be willing to make a movie out of it.
“Oh Alex, you know you have to be more careful than that.” Mom said wrapping her arms around me in an effort to console me. From the corner of my eyes I saw Damen roll his eyes. He obviously knew the truth but that didn’t mean he had to ruin it for the rest of the audience.
“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry . . .”
“It’s fine, Kiddo, we’re just glad that you’re alright.” Dad said, ruffling my hair. I flinched; my head was still sensitive even with the lie. “He smiled apologetically at me before a sly one took over. “And it looks like you gave your gentleman quite a scare too.” He teased.
“Good.” I muttered. The lord knew he deserved it.
Damen fell right into the act as she shot me look, feigning his hurt. “So that’s the thanks I get for caring?”
“Be grateful that that’s all you’re getting considering the night we’ve had.”
“Ooh, sounds like someone did something wrong.” Mom joked, trying to get in on the ‘joke’. “What did you do, dance with another girl, ditched her for your jockey friends? Come on clue me in.” I wish that were all he did. Maybe I would have preferred him to be the typical boyfriend forgetting my birthday occasionally, not wanting to watch chic flicks with me—though I would never watch them myself, forgetting to call often. Those things I could deal with but no Damen just had to be in a different category all to himself, didn’t he? He was so different that he came with his own aches and pains. Forget the pain of being a teenager—try having the new teenage werewolf love, that’s all the rage in Looney Ville; population, apparently me.
Damen shrug so he could pass of whatever he would say next as nothing serious. “I might have complimented a girl that wore a dress similar dress as the one Alex has and would you believe she got so angry when I did that she slapped me. I was so confused that I accidentally repeated my compliment but only in an attempt to justify my actions but again—she hit me. I would have the mark to prove it but you know, she doesn’t throw such wonderful punches.”
“You wanna bet on that?” I muttered.
He smiled down at me with a look that said I was messing with his act. It was my turn to roll my eyes.
“Bad move.” Mom actually sounded like she sympathized with him. “You really shouldn’t have said anything at all.”
“Well hold on there, Honey, what if the young lady looked great and he simply wanted to point that out.” Dad asked. Oh boy. He really shouldn’t have gone there, not after what happened last Christmas. Mom decided to take Dad to a Christmas party that was being hosted by one of the women in her book club. She came home pissed because Dad told this lady that Mom didn’t like that she looked ‘stunning’ in her dress. Mom didn’t let it go for weeks. I swear he had to sleep in the couch.
I watched as Mom’s expression darkened. “Oh you mean like the time you practically put Laura Adams on a pedestal during the last Christmas Party my book club held.” She accused.
Dad sighed. “I told you I was just being polite.”
“Not interested.” Mom said, cutting him off. Her face had on that stubborn look that meant Dad would be doing a lot of apologizing later. She leaned in and gave me a kiss goodnight then she stormed out of the room. Dad looked down at me.
“Don’t look at me; you should go get her before you and the couch find yourselves getting acquainted again.
He sighed, knowing just how right I was. He nodded hat Damen—a sign that he had two minutes, then he too left. I shook my head; they really should start acting their age soon. They had to remember that they weren’t young anymore.
“What have we learned?” Damen asked, in his know it all voice that he used whenever he knew he was right.
I folded my arms and rolled my eyes. “Drinking is wrong.”
“And?”
I sighed, hoping he got the fact that I was annoyed. “I shouldn’t just run off and leave my mate because I could get run over by a car on a rainy night.”
“Okay so are you good now, or would you like me to spend the night and keep you company until you get over your little—well-deserved, hangover?”
Well deserved?! Okay he was officially asking for it.
I put on a sweet smile and stared up at him with the most innocent eyes I could force, considering the circumstances. His eyebrows curved up in curiosity. I already caught him. “Well . . . honestly my head is still killing me and though I would hate to admit it I think I might really need my mate.” His face lit up. He really was like a puppy, wasn’t he? “So. . . I was thinking that you could help me forget about my pain for a few hours, make me only think of you.” I ran my finger along his hand. “What do you say? You think you can do that?”
A smirk crawled unto his face. He leaned unto me and was close enough for our noses to touch. “You tell me.” He whispered. In my mind I was laughing my ass off. This would be funny.
I didn’t give him the opportunity to move any closer instead I gripped him firmly and took his lips without regret. This time I dominated the kiss and took it exactly where I wanted it. I knew I had won when I felt him pull me up and try unzipping my dress. I stopped his hand when it was half way down.
“Well goodnight Damen, don’t let the door hit you on the way out. I guess I’ll see you on Monday unless of course you stop by later, I don’t know.” I said, suddenly pushing him away. Slowly he stood straight and looked down at me, blinking twice. Confused? Poor baby. I smiled up at him. “I guess I didn’t really need you as much as I thought I did huh? I thought for sure I would have been in so much pain that we would have had to go all the way but looks like I was wrong. Isn’t it a good thing I found out before we even tried anything?” he continued staring, speechless by the sudden withdrawl. I looked him straight in the eyes and continued. “Besides, you slept with Amber and I think you need some time to think about the consequences of your actions and what better way to do that but to punish you?”
He scowled, obviously peeved by my methods but that didn’t remove my smile.
“Bye.”
He rolled his eyes then made his way out of the room.
That would teach him. Maybe now he would think before he went around taking it from any girl who would throw it out. I settled in more comfortably on my pillow and within seconds I was asleep.
The next morning I woke to find Ryder sleeping on top of me, curled into a ball. I raised an eyebrow at him. Where had he been last night and at what time did he come in? I was sure that he wasn’t here when I got home and I don’t remember him coming in at all. Hm . . .
I began poking him. “Ryder . . . hey Ryder . . .” he wasn’t responding. I tired poking him again. “Ryyyyydeeeerr.”
“Grrrrrr.”
That was my cue to back up. If only he would get the hell off me.
“Don’t get all hostile with me. I was worried about you,” Not really but I needed a legit reason to be annoying before a certain time of the day, “I thought something had happened to you, I thought something terrible had happened.”
His head slowly rose and turned so that he was looking at me. His eyes held no interest in our conversation, but that didn’t deter me because they seldom did whenever I was the one to wake him up instead of his own internal clock. I pouted and crinkled my eyebrows to give myself a more innocent look. He rolled his eyes and got up.
“You didn’t have to worry; I was by the creek with Terri. She was helping me think of a strategy that we could use next Friday.”
“Next Friday?”
“The harvest moon you dunce.”
“Oohhhh—hey!” and wait . . . “The harvest moon isn’t Friday, you dunce, it’s Saturday.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Really now?”
“Yes, I have been tracking it you know. The Almanac says there’ll be a full moon on Friday that will turn into the harvest moon the following night. Everyone at school is talking about going to the school on Saturday to watch it; they even have the principal’s permission but of course I’ll be too busy fighting for my life to attend so obviously I would have to know the day.” I bragged. I kept a good account of the harvest moon and I knew how vital it was to never lose track. I was actually offended that he would have thought that I of all persons would have lost track of the lunar calendar. My parents had made that mistake and it cost not only them but their entire pack their lives. Ryder and I were all we had left of that pack but we would survive. Ryder really got me thinking after the night he cussed me out for giving up. I wouldn’t give up. We would fight together and we would win. I was already trying to hatch a plan.
Nala had said something about getting the forest to fight on my side and I wanted to know just how I would have been able to do that. The forest was very wide and covered a large surface area, if I could befriend it then we would be able to hide in the forest and have it do our bidding.
I had already seen what the forest could do and it was definitely a forced to be recognized—oh gosh, I sounded like some power hunger mad scientist in search of new power.
“What are you thinking about?” He asked, nudging me from my thoughts.
I looked at him, suddenly not remembering most of it. “Um . . . I’m just a bit curios as to how we might get the forest to fight on our side.”
He raised a puzzled eyebrow at me.
“No, just listen, Nala had told me that I should try getting the forest to fight with me which means that there must be a way and if there’s a way then we have to find it. Do you know how much easier things would be if we could just persuade it.”
“And how do you plan to persuade a bunch of trees?” Great he was mocking me. Well I didn’t blame him because when Nala told me I did the same thing to her. The idea sounded very strange when it was repeated out loud but I had a feeling that it could work and that it would work.
“I don’t know exactly but I will find a way.”
For the sake of our survival I had to.