Chapter 25

Kate

I woke that morning in Luke's arms, my covers in a heap on the floor and my ceiling fan on full blast. Sharing a bed with the world's hottest boyfriend had its downfalls, but I was making it work. Luke always slept longer than I did, and thanks to my dad's lack of interest in checking in on me, Luke usually slept in until late morning.

Excited for the day, I nudged him awake. He stretched and his arms crushed me against him, making me let out a gasp. His eyes flew wide open, and his arms immediately loosened their grip.

"Sorry about that, Kate."

I kissed the tip of his nose and released myself from him, jumping out of bed.

"What are you in such a hurry for?" he asked, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He couldn't help but smile at me in admiration for my joy.

"Summer! Let's get to La Push for breakfast," I ushered.

"That sounds like a good idea." He sighed, and slowly lifted himself from my bed. "No offense, but you don't exactly have enough food to keep me satisfied."

"I wasn't planning on feeding a werewolf when I went shopping."

"You don't even have enough food for yourself," he said. "I need to fill you up."

"And your father is the perfect one to do it! Let's go!"

He lazily plucked his shirt from my floor and I hurriedly got dressed in the bathroom. Even though Luke had seen more than I'd bargained for when he examined my bruises the other day, I still wasn't ready for that much intimacy.

* * *

"Now, remember: get whatever food you can before the guys show up," Luke instructed me.

He led me up the steps to his little house near the shore of First Beach the morning after the last day of school. He claimed his father was celebrating with a large breakfast today and he invited me along, even though I wasn't the one graduating this week.

La Push's graduation was a few days after school ended, while their seniors ended on the same day our juniors, sophomores, and freshmen ended. La Push's school system had always been off compared to ours.

Luke opened the door for me and I smelt the aroma of all the breakfast dishes all at once. There were pancakes, sausages, ham, eggs, biscuits, waffles, and so much more.

"How could you get all this food?" I asked Todd.

He turned from the stove and smiled at me. "Gerard's mother runs the grocery store. She understands who I'm providing for," Todd laughed.

"Grab a plate," Luke gestured.

Todd took a skillet of eggs off the burner and came around to arrange them on a plate.

"It sure is nice seeing you around here again, Kate," Todd smiled. "Help yourself!"

"Thank you, Todd."

As I filled my plate with waffles, syrup, and some eggs, the door swung wide and the rest of the boys all came in at once.

"Wow," Peter breathed, "I could smell that a mile away."

"Good. I'm starved. Mom gets irritated when I eat all her health bars," Kevin sighed. "Hey, Kate!"

Before I could swallow my mouthful, Kevin came around and hugged me tightly.

"Hey, Kevin," I choked.

"I adore how small you are," he smiled. "I could fit you in my pocket."

"Thanks," I said flatly.

Over Kevin's shoulder I saw Luke snickering. My feet touched the ground again and it wasn't a second later until Peter came around and hugged me as well.

"Kate!" Peter shouted and set me down again.

Howard, healed completely since the last time I had seen him, came over as well and gave me an awkward hug. "Morning, Kate," he said. I decided I liked his hug the best since my feet stayed on the ground this time.

Finally Gerard came over, giving me a formal, one-arm hug.

"Nice to see you here," he said.

"You, too."

Finally, they adverted their attention to the food and I had a chance to take another bite of mine. The food was as delicious as last time, and it went just as quickly as well. Everyone stood around the small kitchen, shoulder to shoulder, Todd and I the smallest ones there compared to the towering boys, and ate whatever mixture of food was on their plates.

"Tell you mother thank you for the food," Todd said to Gerard, who raised his fork in acknowledgment since his mouth was so full. Everyone else grunted in agreement since their mouths were too full to speak the words.

"Does your mother know about you being a werewolf?" I asked Gerard curiously, thinking back to how Todd said his mother knew who he was providing for. Once I had said it, I wished I hadn't. I realized with a shock that I had never really addressed Gerard directly until now. He always seemed too serious and intimidating for conversation.

In response, he nodded and swallowed his food before speaking. "My father is one of the elders, so he has to know, naturally."

"Are you an elder?" I asked, turning to Todd.

"Yes, I am."

"But the rest of our parents aren't," Peter added, "so they can't know unless they somehow find out by themselves."

"Which won't happen," Gerard added.

"We've all sworn to keep it a secret with the best effort we've got," Kevin added as well.

"Sworn?" I asked.

"It's an alpha thing. Gerard decrees it so that we will do everything in our power not to let anyone know what we are. We have no other choice to obey."

"And I can know as well?" I asked. "Since I've been imprinted upon?"

"That's right," Luke said. "I've imprinted on you, which gives you a sort of standing in the situation. I am allowed to tell you."

"Which he has," Kevin muttered resentfully.

"When you finally imprint, you can tell whomever that girl is," Luke told him.

"If you're so sure it will be a girl…" Howard muttered.

The boys started a round of laughs and Kevin glared at each one of them. Todd managed to hush them all and began to speak.

"Now, let's remember what we are here for. This is a celebration of the end of the school year, and for some, the end of their high school career—"

Kevin and Luke, with Gerard less enthusiastically, all let out whoops and hollers as they high-fived each other.

"Graduation is the day after tomorrow," Todd continued, then added jokingly, "so we have to keep those three alive until then."

"With these three, that would be a challenge," Peter joked, and Kevin gave him a swift punch on the shoulder.

Luke beside me gave me a nudge. "Will you come to my graduation?"

"Of course. What time?" I replied.

"It's at seven. But I'm going to have to leave you alone for a while before that. My dad wants to spend some time with me."

"That's fine," I said, then I hesitated.

"What's wrong?" he asked, stroking my cheek.

"I should spend some time with my dad, too. I've kind of been ignoring him," I said quietly. I had only realized that until now, and I wasn't feeling to good about it.

"I'm sorry. That's probably my fault," Luke apologized.

"No, no. It's my fault more than anything. He's my dad."

I lowered my hand and wrapped it in his and he smiled at me, but it hadn't touched his eyes like it usually had. His hand burned mine.

As we stood there finishing our food, I thought of another person I had ignored completely—Adam. I had been so caught up in Luke since I'd met him that I'd barely had time to notice Adam anymore. I didn't even know if he slept at home last night. I suddenly felt a gush of remorse for ignoring my family. I really should spend as much time as I can tomorrow.