Chapter 18: A Lesson Learned

A knock sounded on the door of the Donner residence and Sophia hurried down the stairs to answer. It was Sarah, as she had expected.

"Are you ready?" Sarah asked when Sophia came to the door. She looked at her friend more closely and started to get concerned. Sophia's face was flushed and she seemed more anxious than usual.

"Ready," answered Sophia, grabbing a light jacket in case it got colder tonight. Sarah had borrowed her dad's car for the evening and the two of them planned on going to the rave together since Lucas was going to be busy with Ruby for awhile.

Sarah took a closer look at Sophia's face under the porch light. "Are you feeling o.k.?" she asked Sophia.

Sophia let out a small laugh. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I don't know, you just look kind of warm or something." Sarah put the back of her hand on Sophia's forehead.

"I'm fine, you worry wart. Let's go." Sophia started down the walkway towards the car. Sarah didn't move.

"Sophia, your running a temperature!"

Sophia turned around and rolled her eyes. "I'm feeling fine, Sarah! In fact I feel like I have lots of energy to burn. I want to dance, so let's go!"

Sarah took a few steps towards her and asked cautiously, "Sophia? Have you like… been really… horny lately?"

Sophia's mouth fell open. "What a thing to ask Sarah! What's it to you?"

"Sophia, I think your going into heat." Sarah stated. "I did last summer, so I know what I'm talking about."

Sophia stood and just stared at Sarah. "Are you kidding?"

"No, I'm not. Once a year you run a temperature for about a week and you get really, really horny."

"So what does that mean? Can I get pregnant in human form?" Sophia worried. She was hoping to get close to Lucas tonight but she didn't want to get pregnant!

"No, you still need to be in your wolf for that, thank goodness! But it might not be a good idea for you to go to the rave without Lucas around. Maybe we should just wait awhile before we go." Sarah looked very concerned.

Sophia thought that the whole idea was ridiculous. "Oh come on Sarah, do you think I'm going to jump on the first guy I see?"

"My parents made me stay home for a week and it was tough! I did manage to sneak Stephen in through the window though," Sarah shyly admitted.

"Stephen?" smiled Sophia.

"Yeah, that was last summer though. We haven't been together for awhile now."

"Well, I'm not staying home. I really want to get out of here. Come on Sarah!" she grabbed Sarah's hand and pulled her the rest of the way to the car.

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Lucas approached the white wolf sitting on the pier and sat down next to it. "Hey Ruby."

Hi Lucas. You've had a busy week I hear.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about your cousin," Lucas said, looking down at the water. "It was him or me."

I understand. And I didn't really know him that well anyway so don't worry about that. It sounds like you did that pack a favor.

"So they said," Lucas agreed.

I'm really glad you are alright. Tyler was a bit upset about the outcome though.

Lucas could hear Ruby's soft laughter in his head. She liked it when Tyler felt thwarted.

"How are things with you? You holding up alright?"

Same as usual. I hear you did Rilot to Sophia and that you two are getting pretty close.

Lucas couldn't help but smile when Sophia was mentioned. "Yeah, you could say that," he mused.

Really? That's great Lucas! I've always liked her.

They sat quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts.

I wish Dad would have performed Rilot for Lloyd.

Lucas looked over at his sister. She had so much to deal with all the time. He had wished things could have turned out different for her as well.

Lucas thought back to Lloyd, Ruby's childhood friend. He was a runt and had a limp but his heart was as big as a mountain. Nobody had thought he would survive his first flip, but with Ruby's help he did. He was her best friend and confidante. Many had scorned him for his weakness and none more than Tyler, but Ruby had always stuck up for him.

Unfortunately, Ruby also had an attraction to danger and Tyler Creed was just the sort the young Ruby desired. She spent her wild teen years with Tyler and everyone assumed they would be mated someday. Tyler resented the time Ruby would spend talking to Lloyd and tragedy final struck when Tyler killed Lloyd in a jealous fit while he was drunk. That's when Ruby ran off to Seattle and met John Kanin.

Lucas now thought of Ruby's words and how different things would have been if his dad had protected Lloyd. Tyler would have been punished severely and Ruby would not have been forced to marry him. Lucas still did not know why Tyler hadn't been punished at all for what happened. No one would ever explain that to him.

"I'm sorry for the way things have turned out for you Ruby," Lucas said to her now. "I know you don't want to hear this, but it will be better when Kanin leaves. You can come out of hiding and be a part of the community again. I've got to give some credit to the guy though. He's sure stuck around longer than anyone thought he would."

Ruby didn't respond and Lucas could sense her sadness at the whole situation.

"Your needed here Ruby, you know that. You really willing to leave all these kids without hope?"

Don't say that Lucas! I realize that already! I've come to accept that my own happiness doesn't count for much around here.

Lucas didn't know what to say except to apologize some more. He wanted her to be happy, but as the future Alpha, he also knew that the welfare of the pack would be infinitely better with Ruby around to help the teens flip. He knew she never forgot about Amanda, their sister, who had died when she couldn't flip successfully. Ruby knew how painful it was to lose a loved one.

"Maybe you can be happy Ruby, if you give it a chance. Perhaps if you had your own pups to care for…" Lucas tried to console.

I don't want to think about that yet. Let's change the subject. I want to hear all about last night.

"O.k." Lucas agreed, happy to get off the other topic. He went quickly into the story of the Silver Lake wolves.

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It felt so good to be moving with the others, celebrating the victory of last night and celebrating life in general. Sophia lost herself in the music and the energy as she danced with the other teens by the lake. The music was loud and exciting, it was just what she needed at the moment. In fact she had so much energy she felt like jumping out of her skin.

She had no idea of the effect she was having around her. Many of the males were getting very aroused at her suggestive moves and her sexy looks. It seemed to the other females there that their dance partners were moving closer and closer to where Sophia was dancing, trying to brush up against her or get a better look at her.

Sophia was not picky about who she danced with as long as she could keep on moving. Without Lucas there, she danced with anyone who would. At one point, Randy had danced up next to her and pulled her closer to him. It was at this time that Presley and her friends showed up.

Presley noticed how Randy and many guys were trying to get next to Sophia and Sophia danced in the middle acting like she was unaware. Lucas was no where to be seen and Presley grabbed a beer, gulping it down in anger. "Sophia thinks she can have all the guys," Presley fumed to Dawn. She threw her empty beer bottle at a nearby tree, shattering it. "I'm so sick of her!"

Presley pushed her way through the crowd of dancing teens until she reached Randy. Randy turned to her and smiled, "Hey Pres…" But Presley wasn't there to dance.

Presley grabbed the front of Sophia's camisole top and broke one strap off, pulling it down to expose one of Sophia's breasts. "Why don't you give them more of a show, you whore!" She yelled at Sophia.

Sophia gasped and pulled up her top. Randy and everyone else around them took a few steps back when they noticed Sophia's eyes glow and her claws extend. Presley definitely would never have picked this time to harass Sophia if she had known the amount of hormones now flowing through her.

Sophia growled and swung her arm, backhanding Presley on the cheek and causing her to fall to the ground. Presley looked up at Sophia, unbelieving of the strength she just felt and the rage in which Sophia was coming at her again. Presley tried to turn over on to her knees to stand up but Sophia placed a hard kick to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying back against a tree.

Sean stood nearby with Sarah watching, as they all were now. The dancing had stopped and everyone watched what would happen. Without Lucas here, Sean would have to be the one to stop the fight, but he did nothing. Sean thought this was a long time coming and that Lucas had did a disservice to Sophia by not letting her fight for a place in the pack. He would never tell the Alpha that, however, because he had already figured out that when it came to Sophia, Lucas did not think rationally.

Presley saw Sophia coming for her yet again and she tried to draw in a deep enough breath to have some strength to fight. Sophia's attack was something she did not expect and she wasn't prepared for the blows she was taking.

Sophia grabbed Presley's long curly hair on both sides of her head and started pounding it against the tree in back of her. Presley reached up with her long nails and dug them into Sophia's wrist, trying to make her let go. But despite the blood, Sophia did not let go. Finally Presley kicked out at her and managed to throw Sophia off balance.

Sophia landed on the ground and Presley jumped on top of her. But Presley was feeling dizzy from the head banging and had a hard time focusing on what she was doing. Sophia easily rolled her over so that she was sitting on top of Presley. Sophia put a hand on Presley's neck and began pressing down, choking her. Presley tried to buck her off and she pushed desperately at the hand choking her.

Sarah grabbed onto Sean's arm, "Sean, you have to do something! Sophia is not herself right now, she'll kill Presley!" Sean looked over at Sarah and read from Sarah's mind that Sophia was in heat. He immediately understood and stepped forward, taking Sophia by both shoulders and pulling her off Presley.

"Enough Sophia! You won," he stated.

Presley rolled over to her hands and knees, coughing and trying to get air. Sophia felt no remorse, she tried to move out of Sean's grip and give Presley more but now Randy came and held her back as well.

"Sarah, come on, we are taking her back to her house," Sean ordered and the three of them led Sophia back towards the parked cars.

"I don't want to go home!" Sophia complained loudly, when she realized what they were doing. "Stop it! Let me go!" She struggled to get out of their grasps but they held firm.

"Sophia! Your not yourself right now. I should never have brought you here in the first place," Sarah frantically explained.

"Oh come on you guys! I promise I'll leave that bitch alone. Let's just go back and dance," Sophia tried. "Please…" She tried to hug Randy, but he did his best not to give in to her display of affection. He did not wish to feel the wrath of Lucas. They pushed her into the back seat of the car and Randy and Sean climbed in on either side of her to keep her from jumping out one of the doors while Sarah drove.

"Please don't take me home," she begged. "Take me to Lucas. I need to see Lucas!"

Sarah looked at Sean in the rearview mirror, "Sean? Can't we do that? Can't we take her to Lucas? He's what she really needs right now."

Sean sighed, thinking about what to do. "Pull over, I'm going to link up with him and let him decide."

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Uh huh… getting close… LOL

TBC

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