Chapter Two:
Merton couldn't help feeling something as he rode next to Miss Violet. The scenery was beautiful, dramatic. Shrubs filled everything. The scenery should have looked empty after lush languid California, but somehow it was strangely freeing.
Violet had been blathering for close to twenty minutes but Merton wasn't paying attention. Maybe this time. Maybe this time, people wouldn't get all caught up on appearances and . . . Merton knew it wasn't the appearance that scared most people off. Sure, pale white skin was hardly the norm in Sunny California, and the hair was unusual. It was the person underneath that drove them off.
The outside was a protective coating for the little boy who just wanted his daddy to love him. Approximately ninety-six hours of counselling had taught him this. He was symbolically separating himself from the bronzed blonde population of California by creating a personae that was physically opposite.
Merton thought that was an explanation liberally dosed in crap. So what if he was a natural blond? He looked much better in black. It suited his face better and brought out his eyes.
The next three hundred and forty six hours of therapy were just a study in how to jerk people around.
Merton was getting rather sick of it all.
The town was scarily small.
About four point six minutes from the point they had entered the town, Violet pulled the car into a typical suburban bungalow. Merton wondered briefly if there would be two point three kids.
He had a room. Not a big room. Merton suspected it was once an office. Mr and Mrs Baxter were unbelievably nice. Too good to be true, Merton suspected. He put his single black suitcase under the bed. Blue bed. Blue walls. An teeny little desk painted green of all colours. . .
"This is my daughter, Lori – "
Merton was snapped back into reality. She was beautiful. Her hair was cut short, a soft dirty blonde that framed soft hazel eyes. Instinctively, he backed up from her. More than her looks, it was her presence. Danger. There was an aura of violence surrounding her. Merton immediately pegged her as someone who could kick his ass, and pinned under her contemptuous stare, he knew she'd do it with pleasure.
"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Violet beamed, and the parents released a breath Merton had been unaware they were holding.
"Yeah, likewise." Lori dismissed him as soon as she was sure of his submission. "Mom, could I borrow the car?"
"Sure, sweetheart."
Merton watched in disgust as Lori was kissed, handed car keys, and released from the room.
"School starts early tomorrow, Merton, perhaps you'd like to get yourself set up in your room and turn in for an early start?"
Merton looked at his watch, it was barely eight o'clock. It would take him all of thirty seconds to unpack and hang his posters. "Yeah, sure."
Lori was careful to drive out of her parent's hearing range before she parked the car and ditched it. Chuck was waiting for her as she loped easily up to meet him. "So? What about the new guy?" A surge of jealousy and aggression discoloured his brown eyes. They gleamed tawny yellow.
"Nothing. My parents had hopes based on his parentage and records, but it's obvious he's not one of us."
"Good." Chuck growled as he clutched Lori to him in a firm embrace. "I have enough problems dealing with Darling Dawkins. I can't believe he's going to be an alpha. I will not submit to him."
"Don't get your hopes up." Lori laughed. "Dawkins is pretty strong. Powerful. There will be many of us flocking to join with him, many more flocking to join their children to him. You may have to swallow your pride if you want to have any sort of position in Hawthorne."
"Yeah, well, the Heat is going to burn him up. Isn't that what you told me?"
"Yeah," Lori's eyes gleamed golden themselves. "I've never felt anything like it. I should have been a relief to him, and I should have sated him, but it was like I was nothing but a sip of cool water."
"You sate me." Chuck's voice was rich in timbre as he found her lips with his.