--Chapter 8--
When Sophia woke the next morning, her euphoric mood had worn off, and she was left with uncertainty. There was no denying that Luke was attracted to her, that he wanted her. He asked her out, after all. But she didn't know enough about Skinwalker culture to understand the nuances. Her father had made sure of that. She didn't have any status in the Pack, did that matter? What about Presley? She knew the blonde bitch was the alpha female. How would the Pack feel about the alpha male dating a technical human?
She got ready for school, with her stomach twisting in anticipation. Never mind what the others thought, what did she think? There was a way to deal with the Luke dating a human problem, if she only had the courage. Did she want to be with him? Her mind briefly flashed to the previous nights, of the heated kisses they shared, which still made her feel liquid warmth inside. If her father hadn't come home at that moment, would she have thrown caution to the wind? This thing between Luke and her had only just heated up over the last few weeks. It was too soon for anything really serious, they hadn't even gone out on their first date, and yet…she couldn't remember a time when Luke hadn't been there.
While Sophia performed her morning absolutions in a preoccupied daze, Luke eagerly sprang out of his bed, tossing his comforter to the floor. Today was the day things would start moving forward. Today, he made it clear to the Pack exactly where his intentions lay. He had it all planned. He'd wait for Sophia by her locker, maybe even kissing her good morning. He'd touch her any chance he got, laying his scent on her skin. Just let another male come within a foot of her during school. Then tonight, he'd pick her up. It took a while to get to Maryville, so it would be just the two of them in his car. Hell, all night, it would be just the two of them. He could hardly wait.
Luke launched his plan by casually planting himself directly in front of Sophia's locker. He had debated bringing her lunch again, but decided it would be overkill, since he would feed her tonight. His muscles were tense as he waited. The mental bond between them slowly intensified over the last few days and, while he couldn't yet read her thoughts, he knew she was walking towards him. Luke had mulled over the kiss situation and decided to go for broke. He was going to kiss her before she got the chance to say anything, just to make his claim perfectly clear. Luke was able to see the curve of Sophia's cheek as she rounded the corner before, out of nowhere, Presley was plastered against him and trying to devour him alive.
The walls were bleeding. It was Sophia's first clear thought after she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the couple. On the heels of that was the observation that it couldn't possibly be the walls. No, it was her. A red mist was literally starting to cloud her vision and something within her struggled for freedom. The usurper was touching what was hers, was marking him with her scent, trespassing on her property. She needed to pay. For a moment, a single moment, Sophia was tempted to let the Wolf break free, to let herself Change right here in the hallway. She tilted her head slightly, and her gaze shifted to the onlookers. There was Laura, temporarily frozen in horror, at the front of a crowd of fascinated human students. Next to her was Briana, Presley's best friend. There was a slight smirk on her face and Sophia knew she was an accomplice. Another bitch who needed to be shown her place. If only she could just…Sophia felt her nails lengthening, biting into her palms.
Calm, she needed to be calm. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She couldn't allow the Wolf to take control here, but maybe she could work with it. Her Wolf detected things her human half couldn't sense and the human analyzed the sensory input in ways her Wolf half could not. There was the scrape of shoe on the floor and Sophia knew Laura was about to step forward. Opening her eyes, she stared at Briana until the other girl paled and dropped her eyes. Who knew what she saw on Sophia's face? Pushing her shoulders back, Sophia moved towards her locker, her movements fluid and graceful. She reached for Presley's shoulder, her claw-like nails digging into Presley's skin. One swift pull backwards dragged Presley off Luke, causing her to take stumble before she caught her balance.
Presley could feel blood dripping down her back from where Sophia's nails punctured her skin. She watched in disbelief as Sophia turned away to open her locker, completely ignoring her. Growling a little, Presley started towards the other girl's exposed back, but Luke was suddenly there, sliding himself between the two girls. There was a look in his eyes that Presley had never seen before and it was like she was looking at a stranger instead of a male she had hunted with, ran with, fucked with. There was an intense silence in the hallway, almost as if the onlookers were afraid to breathe. Presley thought frantically, trying to come up with some way to salvage the situation. Finally, Sophia closed her locker with a quiet clock and turned back to face Presley. She moved up besides Luke, who shifted to accommodate her, instinctively turning into her. Luke glanced down at her, and Presley caught her breath. He'd never looked at her that way. Sophia tilted her head up and with a small smile, Luke dropped his head to kiss her.
Presley watched them in stunned belief. It was a simple kiss, radically different than the one she had forced on Luke. That kiss had said, "Fuck me now." This kiss was, "Hello. Good morning. I missed you." The air around the pair was charging rapidly and Presley flushed as she realized Luke was responding more to Sophia's innocence than he had to Presley's seductive wiles. Luke and Sophia broke apart and looked at Presley, the Wolf simultaneously flashing in their eyes. Presley unconsciously took a step back. Sophia took a few steps forward before reaching a hand back to Luke, with assured confidence of one with the knowledge it will be taken. She continued to fix an unblinking stare on Presley as Luke's fingers intertwined with her own. Moving as one, they stepped around the blonde girl and Luke walked Sophia to her first class. Behind them the silence shattered into pieces and a cacophony of voices shrilled to life in the air. Presley was left standing alone, staring at the dented metal lockers.
It didn't take long before whispers of the incident spread through out the school. The humans dismissed it as a face-off between old girlfriend and new, but the teen Skinwalkers knew better. Presley had tried to prove herself dominant to Sophia and failed miserably. Briana held court at a corner table in the lunch room. "I felt like my life was in danger," she related breathlessly, "I felt like Sophia could just reach out with those claws and rip my throat out."
Some chalked the talk of a partial change to dramatics, but then during gym glass, Presley's shirt slipped a bit and the alert saw the scabs on her back. The rumors grew and twisted, took on the importance of life and death. The teen Skinwalkers trusted Luke. He'd been one of the first to Flip in their generation, had assumed a leadership position through the years. They looked to him as an Alpha now and assumed he would take over the Pack one day. They thought Presley would be his mate as the strongest female, but now here was Sophia. Although the Pack generally had a low tolerance for half-breeds, Sophia had proven herself resilient, very smart, and she was already demonstrating how powerful she would be. Luke was certainly acting like a mated male, bagged and tagged.
The talk would reach the adults as soon as school let out. The adults knew, however, that it didn't matter how powerful Sophia Donner was right now. It would all come down to the Change. When would she make the transition to be a full Skinwalker and would she survive it?
