Chapter 1

I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off. It took me a moment to open my eyes, but when I did I looked at the time. It was 6:00 am. I hated waking up this early, but my father said I had to at least finish high school. That was only two more years left after this. I slowly got out of my nice warm bed and then the cold hit me. I shivered. At least today was Friday; I would be able to sleep in tomorrow.

I quickly got dressed into the first decent outfit I could find and went downstairs to hunt down some breakfast. My mother was on the phone with grandma and daddy was finishing his cereal.

"Hello Princess," he said as I walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Daddy," I replied as I got out a bowl. I may be fifteen, but my father treat's me like his little angel. I was the only child of my parents and I didn't mind.

Half an hour later, I was ready to go. All I had to do was wait for my ride to come pick me up. The boys always took forever and were practically always late. My mother said that they were just like their fathers. All four of them had terrorized me as a child, but I still can't picture life without them; especially Robbie. Robbie has been my boyfriend for the past two years. He had dirty blonde hair and most perfect light blue eyes. It was just kind of expected of us to end up together. His father, Willem, had been and still is her mother's closest friend. My father accepted him easily, as he was the most mature of my four age mates as well as like their leader.

"Keelin!" I looked up at the sound of my name. Luckily, Robbie was driving so that meant I got shot gun. I jumped in and kissed him on the cheek. "So boys," I said as I looked back at the three sitting in the back, "what trouble are you planning on getting into today?"

"You really shouldn't encourage them," Robbie whispered to me with a smile.

Jordan had dark brown hair like me, but instead of dark green eyes, his were a soft brown. Ben's hair blonde like Robbie's but his eyes were a mix of green and brown. Mike's hair was such a light brown, it almost looked red. He had light green eyes. All four of the guys towered over my 5" 3' height, each being at least 6".

Totally oblivious to what Robbie said, Jordan spoke up, "Well, we were thinking of skipping Mr. Johnson's class today. He is having a test and you know how we don't like math."

"Jordan, don't you mean you don't like math? Robbie, Mike and I are perfectly fine with it. I say we skip out on Mrs. Hender's class. She just drabbles on about whatever pops into her head at the time."

I actually liked Mrs. Hender's class. It was pretty easy to pass as long as you paid attention to half the stuff she talked about. "You know Ben, if you all skip out of her class then I will be left all alone. You would never do that to me, would you? You can always think of a way to get me out." I tried to put on the saddest face I could. I thought it was working just fine. The three in the back took a second to think about that. Robbie just had a smug look on his face.

"You know babe," he whispered to me again, "your father would be angry enough with just us skipping. He would be furious if we brought you along with us."

"I don't care. I'm his still his little princess so it's not like I'll get into trouble," I retorted with a smirk. Maybe I used that to my advantage too much, but that was alright with me. Besides, I deserved a break, I pretty much had A's in all my classes. As a matter of fact, most of the guys were actually keeping up their grades too. Jordan was the only one with straight C's. My father couldn't be made at us for just skipping a little school, could he?

"Alright Keelin, we have decided that…we will all skip the whole school day today. How do you feel about that?" Jordan asked. He looked at my face and almost laughed but held it in. The others did not even attempt to. I had never skipped more than maybe a study hall. Sure I could probably get away with whatever I wanted, but I was just too good to really try anything. That was something I really hated about myself.

I let out a long sigh. "Okay fine. Today we will skip the entire time, but we have to get back home by our average time and make sure no one from the pack will see us. What did you have in mind?"

"Score!" Jordan, Ben and Mike all yelled while fist pounding each other. I just rolled my eyes and turned back around in my seat so I was facing the right way again.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Robbie questioned me.

"I really didn't want to go to school today anyway. And if we do get caught, I'll just say you all kidnapped me. Don't worry though Robs, I won't sell you out. I can just say you were tricked into it," I said with a smile.

He kissed me on the cheek and then continued to look at the road. "That is how wonderful you are," he said laughing.

We were finally off the country road that leads to the hotel the pack owned. Usually we would continue down towards the small town that was not far from our land, but Robbie turned off onto a small dirt path. I glanced at him for a moment but he reassured me with his smile.

After about five more minutes on the small road, Robbie stopped. Just ahead there was a small clearing. All the boys jumped out and started towards the clearing, except Robbie. He waited a moment until I got out and joined him.

"So what exactly are we doing out here?" I inquired. I truly had no idea why they would want to spend a Friday, with no school, out in a clearing just ten minutes away from the hotel.

"Learn to have some patience, princess wolf," Jordan said, mocking me.

Before I could yell at him, Robbie hit him in the back of the head. "Shut up asshole. She could sell you out to Gabriel. Whatever she tells him, he will believe."

Jordan looked back at me and I just stuck my tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and I just giggled.

"But really. Can't you just give me a clue, or are we just going to keep walking through the woods doing nothing? I would have decided to stay in school if-"I was going to say if this is all we were going to do, but Robbie shut me up with a kiss. It wasn't the kinds of kisses I've seen in movies where both people feel the fire between them, but it was what I was use to. It was nice and that was all I could ask for."Fine," I sighed," I'll shut up."

By now we were in the center of the clearing. "You ready for a run?" Robbie asked me.

I'm pretty sure my eyes lit up as soon as those words came out of his mouth. He smiled and walked over towards the other two who were fooling around. My favorite thing to do was to run through the woods in my wolf form. The wind whipping through my fur as I race through the trees was the most exhilarating feeling in the world. It totally beat running in my human form.

I could already feel the tingling in my spine. The guys were taking too long. If they made me wait another five minutes I was going to leave them behind. Just when I was reaching my end, two strong hands wrap around my stomach.

"Okay, I think we've made her wait enough," I could hear the humor in Robbie's voice.

I jumped out of his arms and spun around. I was all hyped up. I took a deep breath and then turned back around to face them. I nodded and then leaped into the woods, changing fully just before my front paws hit the ground. I heard the guys behind me but did not turn around. I quickened my pace to stretch my stride to its farthest. My muscles felt good as I pushed myself.

I had to take a break after a little while. Only one set of paws was still chasing after me. I figured Jordan, Mike and Ben would take off. I sat down and waited until I could see him. When Robbie finally reached me, which didn't take him too long, he sat next to me. He knew I liked the silence of the forest, the whistling of the wind through the trees. It really was my most favorite place to be. I never could understand how the humans could last so long without this feeling. I would never feel free if I had to be stuck in that body my whole life.

Once my breathing had been settled for a while, I looked him in the eye. He quickly understood. After a quick howl, we were both racing back through the trees. So far, he had won the most, but I wasn't going to let him win this time. For over halfway back we were even. The clearing was just in site and I smiled. Two minutes away…One minute away…Thirty seconds. I pushed off of the forest floor and leaped into the clearing just in time. Now at least I was down by one less. I let out a joyful howl.

Robbie and I were sitting in the car waiting for the three stooges to arrive. School would only be about halfway over by now. Robbie said that they had something else in mind that would last the rest of the time and that I should stop worrying. I punched playfully his arm when he said this.

After another half an hour of sitting in the car and listening to the radio they showed up.

"So who won?" Ben asked when they put their clothes on and reached the car.

"I did!" I was jumping up and down in my seat.

"It's okay dude," Jordan started, "you'll beat her next time." He was patting Robbie's shoulder.

"Dude, she can probably beat you easily," Robbie retorted.

Once we were on the road again I was being carefree. I had totally forgotten all about ditching school. I think that may have been their plan, take me on a run and make me forget all about what we were doing.

We drove through the small town and then headed off again for another half an hour. By then we had reached another small town. I hadn't realized I was hungry until my stomach growled. Jordan started laughing until either Mike or Ben punched him in the stomach. At this I giggled.

Ten minutes later we stopped at a diner to get some food. From then we decided it would be smart to head back home. If we were even half an hour later my father would probably figure something was up.