Chapter 4
Afternoon with the Boys
I sat on my balcony as snowflakes brushed across my cheeks. I was sitting in my favorite purple lawn chair with my arms wrapped around my legs. Smiling, I watched the snow as it melted on my knees and arms. I was hot. Ha! It had been a while since I had last checked my temperature, but I knew that it was at an unhealthy high and I wasn't the only one who had noticed. I could feel the tension in Dominic every time he touched me, but I guess there was something in the back of his mind telling him not to say anything about it.
I stood up and leaned on the railing. For the first time in a while, I actually felt the icy chill of snow on my skin as I put my elbows into a huge pile of the stuff. I shivered, but not from the cold. There was something or someone close by. I'm not completely sure of what it was, but it was moving under the balcony. I could sense it. I looked over the railing, estimating how far of a drop it would be to the ground. Sure, my room was on the second floor, but I was willing to experiment. I threw my leg over the side and just sat there, trying to plan exactly how I was going to do this without completely killing myself. The oak tree. It was pretty sturdy and Damon and I used to climb it all the time when we were younger. The only problem was that the closest branch was a foot or two away. I guess I was about to see just how strong I really was.
I steadied myself on the rail and jumped, grabbing onto the first branch that I could reach. The rustling of the leaves sounded extra loud as the branch swayed from my weight. In hindsight, it might have been smarter to leap for the thickest limb, but that didn't quite seem like an option at the time. The branch bent down low enough for me to drop the last few foot to the ground. I was surprised. That had gone a lot smoother than I had expected. There was a small scratching sound coming from under the balcony and then out came a little puppy. It was so cute! I knelt down and it actually came closer instead of running away. That's when I noticed its leg. There were bite marks all over it. The poor little thing whined as it limped over to me. I couldn't just leave it out in the cold so I picked it up, making sure to be careful of its leg.
I started to run through scenarios of how I was going to get back up to my balcony since I knew that the front door was locked. I could definitely jump to the lowest branch without a problem and I should be able to pull myself up. Hopefully I would be able to do it all one-handed. I put the puppy into my left hand and jumped for the branch, catching it in my right. It didn't take long for me to get back to the same branch that I had started with earlier. The puppy sat in my arm silently. I bounced on the branch a little bit and then jumped back onto my balcony with a loud thud. I had landed on my feet again. This whole lycan thing must have seriously affected my balance because if I would've tried something like that before, I would surely be in the hospital with two broken legs and a broken butt bone.
I slid open the door to my room and sat the puppy on my giant, purple bean bag chair. I flicked on my lamp and took a closer look at the dog's leg. It sat patiently as I lifted its back paw, which seemed to be the only part of the leg that hadn't been chewed on. Standing back up, I went to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a roll of gauze, alcohol, cotton balls, and found a bowl to pour a little bit of water into. The dog started panting at the sight of the water as I set the plastic container in front of him or her on the chair and started working on the poor thing's leg. It was amazingly patient and only flinched when I dabbed the alcohol against its wounds. The poor baby, it was so adorable, and a girl which I soon found out. She was all black with a little white patch of fur on her chest that was the shape of a diamond. This was where I got her name. She ate a few pieces of chicken that I had found in the refrigerator and warmed up for her and fell asleep right before my alarm started buzzing.
She whined and kicked her front paws, but she didn't wake up. Checking on her one last time, I got my clothes together and started getting ready for the day. I felt like doing a little bit extra so I decided to actually put some effort into doing my hair and putting on makeup. Regardless of how I was feeling, when it came to my makeup, I never put on more than mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow for special occasions. Today wasn't a special occasion though, and I felt that the eye shadow would be too much. I threw on my white, V-neck, shirt and my loose-fitting, light blue jeans. I scrunched my hair while it was still wet from my shower and blow-dried it, letting it drop down my back, curling at the ends.
I walked downstairs and told my mom about Diamond.
"You have a dog in your room…right now?" she asked slowly once I was done explaining. I smiled and nodded.
"Can I keep her?"
"She needs to checked out and, she might belong to somebody."
"I'll find out if she does." I said, looking over my mom's shoulder at the clock on the stove. Fantastic! Now I was running late. I grabbed an apple, rinsed it and yelled 'bye' to my mom as I rushed out the door.
"You made it with two minutes to spare. How do you do it?" Trish asked me as she stood by my locker before lunch.
"I guess I'm just amazing like that."
"You know, I heard the new kid has our lunch period now."
"Since when?"
By this point, I was pretty tired of hearing about the 'new kid', but I was curious to see if he really lived up to all of the hype.
"Something was wrong with his schedule and they finally got it fixed. Let's go. You're gonna love him. He's uber sexy!" she screamed, pulling on my arm and dragging me toward the cafeteria.
"What is it with all of you thinking that I'm going to think that this guy is 'uber sexy'," I asked, mocking her, "And did you all just magically forget that I have a boyfriend?"
"Stop complaining, we're practically there."
She was still running down the hallway, and when she burst through the metal double doors, I half expected to see a huge mob surrounding the guy, but from the entrance, it looked like business as usual. Trish was scanning the cafeteria as we walked over to the fruit line to get our usual lunches of fruit, chocolate milk, a muffin, and a cookie.
"Where is he?" she kept repeating to herself. We went to our seats by our various classmates and that was when she screamed excitedly.
"I found him! Look!"
She grabbed my face in her hands and twisted my head towards the back corner of the cafeteria. I moved my head out of her grip and kept looking in the direction that everyone else seemed to be staring. A small popping noise sounded in my ears as my teeth clenched together. Those eyes were perfectly clear even from here. What was he doing here? He looked different, less pale. He actually seemed to look normal in the skin tone department. The rose started to burn along my shoulder, forcing me to wince, biting my lip to keep myself from screaming. My canines started to grind into my gums causing blood to slowly flow inside my mouth. I had to get out of there.
"C, what's wrong?"
Trish's voice was faint against all of the things that were working in my mind. There were flashes that I couldn't decipher blinking in and out. I stood up and started walking to the back door. My name was being called, but that didn't matter to me. This was the big moment. I was changing and I felt like I was being strangled. I just couldn't seem to get in enough air here. Once I was through the door, and saw that the courtyard was empty, I ran. The blood was still flowing freely in my mouth, and before I had even realized where I was going, I was collapsing in the clearing. I was on my hands and knees with my mouth wide open coughing the blood out onto the no-longer white snow.
A painful crack echoed amongst the empty trees, and I screamed. My ribs seemed to catch on fire and my heart was struggling to get out of my chest. The few breaths that I could manage came out harsh and ragged, and all I could think at the time was about how this was absolutely the worst kind of déjà vu ever! A warm hand touched my shoulder and Damon's voice streamed into my ears.
"It's okay. I'm here. It's alright."
"H-h-how did you k-know?"
I had a few more questions, but that was all that I could get out through the pain. There was another snap and another scream.
"I felt it. We all know. No more questions."
There was another sickening crack and the shriek that followed was ear splitting. If the sounds wouldn't have come from me, I never would have guessed that they were possible. Damon's hand tensed and dropped from my shoulder and I realized for the first time that thick, black tears were dripping from my face. They blended and fell with the few drops of blood that were still dripping from my mouth to form a nasty, dark shade of rouge. And somehow, it wasn't until I felt the little bristles all over that I realized what was going on. Now I was changing.
The hair on top of my head seemed to spread all over the rest of me. The fur was coming, and it was soothing compared to the rest of the process. I was getting that acupuncture feeling again, only all over rather than in just my legs.
"You have to breathe. It makes it worse if you don't breathe."
By this point, his voice just sounded like an echo, but I did what the echo told me to do and fought to take in one searing breath after another.
"Make it stop," I begged. Damon just watched me, not knowing what to do or say. He dropped in the snow beside me, taking his own advice on breathing. The pain in my cousin's face truly proved to be one of the top three most painful elements of the situation, but it was the last thing that I remember seeing because after that I'm pretty sure that I passed out. Next thing I knew, I was standing and looking down to see that the things that I was standing on weren't my legs. Well, technically they were, they just weren't the legs that I was used to. These were a wolf's legs and paws and claws. I laid down on the grass and snow as Damon crawled around and sat in front of me. I was still panting and the snow was stained red beside me instead of in front of me. Damon definitely hadn't lied when he said that the first time would hurt.
"I guess girls really do mature faster than guys," he whispered unsteadily, running his hand through his hair. "I've got to say, it was a lot harder watching you change than it was with the guys. It just sounded so much more painful for you. Oh, and they're going to be here soon by the way."
This was going to be interesting. I couldn't imagine what the boys looked like now. I couldn't even remember how long it had been since I had seen them. I couldn't even be sure that I would recognize them now.
I felt a mini whirlwind of heat and wind and there they were. Considering the fact that I was still on the ground, the five boys that had just appeared made me feel microscopic. I sat up and they watched me as if I were some exhibit in a freak show. It took me a second to label the familiar faces amongst the giants. Lance was the first one that I recognized. He got his light brown hair and green eyes from his mom's side of the family. All of the boys were around Damon's size except for the one that stood on the end beside Lance, so it didn't take me long to figure out that this was Josh. He may have been shorter than the rest, but he was still pretty muscular. Then again, he could just look that built because his shirt looked to be about two sizes too small. In the back of my mind, I prayed that that was the reason.
Brice stood on the other side of Lance, but I couldn't figure out if the last boy was Keith or Kel. His bright blue eyes eyed me curiously. He bent down to swat at a fly or something near his leg and that was when I noticed his tat. Three sharp claws looked like they were ripping their way out of the thickest part of his calf. I did another quick scan of the boys and tried to find their tats.
Lance's forearm was etched with three leaves. They looked like they had been done in everyday black ink and they were curled like they were moving in a breeze. Brice's tat was on the front of his bicep. I had a hard time believing that I had missed his earlier. It wasn't huge but it wasn't anything short of unbelievable. His tat was of lightning striking. There was no ground but there were streaks of black in the shape of clouds. The realness of the tattoo scared me.
"Hey C, how ya feeling?" Josh asked excitedly. I ended my search there and grumbled. How did he think I was feeling? My bones had just rearranged themselves like a jigsaw puzzle, and I was sure that my mouth was still bloody. I lowered my head onto my crossed front paws and looked back and forth between the guys. The one that I didn't recognize bent down and tried to pet me. I snapped at him. He jerked back seconds before my teeth introduced themselves to the skin of his hand, and not so much to my surprise, he laughed loudly.
"Ha, I like this one. She's gonna be fun. Let's see what you can do."
I turned my head to the side as he started taking off his t-shirt and shorts. I didn't move a muscle, but I could feel Damon shift beside me.
"Come on, Kel. She just changed. Let her rest for a second," he said calmly.
"I'll go easy on her. Besides, she's had a second. I just want to see how advanced she is."
I snorted at his sarcastic emphasis on the word 'advanced'. He had officially triggered my competitive side. The last bit of lingering pain melted away as I sat up. I looked away awkwardly as he started to strip. A small smile crept across his face and the rest was like an explosion. It was almost the same as when Damon had changed; only when Kel did it, it seemed to take longer. He looked pretty adorable as a wolf if you ignored how freakishly sharp his teeth were, and how unusually large he was. His blue eyes stood out in his light brown fur that was already somehow laced with the white snow and small blades of grass. I just watched him as he stretched and realized that I wasn't seeing just him, but what was going on in his mind as well. He was trying to intimidate me by showing me images of what he could do to me. I spread my lips and smiled. This almost seemed to anger him for a second, but he stayed calm.
He crouched down and charged at me. I could tell that he was taking it slow. I moved to the side a second before he reached me and bit his tail playfully. He yipped and then turned on me, but I had already moved to his other side. The guys were watching, laughing, and making bets. There was no way I could take Kel head on. I didn't have to see myself to know that he was bigger than me; that was obvious. But Kel was clearly about speed and strength. We circled each other slowly. I was waiting for him to make his next move and obviously he wasn't very patient. He bounced from left to right, getting himself closer and finally hit me on my left. He had me pinned on my side and he growled into my ear. He was still trying to intimidate me, but one thing that we don't have in common is that I don't plan the majority of the things that I do in life, which is why he was shocked when I bit both of his arms and pushed him off. He was still confused when I knocked him on his back and put my paws on his chest.
I smiled happily before licking the top of his neck and backing off. I started walking and dropped down as he tried to get me from behind. I bit his tail and pulled him down with a thud while he was still in the air. I sat up and chuckled. He got up slowly and sat down in front of me. He was done. One last growl came from his mouth before he grabbed his clothes and ran through the trees to change. That was when I realized that my clothes were in shreds all over the area. Damon noticed my expression and said, "Keith is supposed to be bringing you some clothes."
I clicked my teeth together and lay back down. Kel came back and it was clear that he was still upset. He walked up to me fully dressed and with a bad attitude.
"You know that last part wasn't necessary. You better pray that you didn't leave any bite marks."
He said fiercely. That was when he came. I could feel motion behind me and then suddenly an outfit of mine was being held in front of me. I sat up to see the person who had brought it to me and the first thing that caught my attention were those eyes. It was him. Before I could stop myself, I whimpered. I think gravity just moved. Why was I breathing so hard? When did I start breathing this hard? He was still watching me. Did he think that I was scared of him or something? Being afraid of him wasn't anywhere near the problem. This was the guy and all I could do was stare at those eyes! They were so impossibly pale and clear and strange around the edges as if they were contacts covering his real eyes.
That's when it hit me. He was blind. I shook myself out of it enough to take the clothes in my jaws, but other than that, I was frozen. How did he know that I was right here if he couldn't see me? He smiled calmly. I could feel his pulse from where I was. He must have really thought that I was afraid of him, because he reached out and actually petted me. His hand was so amazingly warm in the best way! I wanted to stay like that forever, but there was a little tiny voice in the back of my head screaming at me that I was too comfortable with this stranger. I jumped back and ran into the trees. Behind me, I could hear Damon laughing as he said, "I was right."
Changing back didn't hurt nearly as bad as changing in the first place, but I still ended up screaming anyway. I ran my fingers through my hair once I had changed into the jeans and t-shirt that Keith had brought me and I could barely get my fingers through. I touched my cheek and pulled my hand back to see it smudged with my smeared makeup. I licked my teeth and spit out blood. The taste was strangely sweet in my mouth. Wiping the edges of my lips, I pulled back red fingertips. I couldn't go back out there like this. I ran to my house and slipped through the trees, onto my balcony and through my glass door. I should really start locking this thing during the day.
It was silent down stairs. Mom must have taken Diamond for a walk or something. I looked into the mirror and had to keep myself from screaming. I looked like I had just committed a murder. My lips, teeth, and gums were all red and there were dried, red drops on my chin. The mascara and eyeliner were worse than I had imagined. I brushed through my hair quickly and rinsed my mouth out. The taste still lingered, but I didn't have time to do a thorough job. I could hear keys in the door and I bolted back out leaving everything the way it had been when I had come in. I walked out into the clearing slowly to see that they were all still there. They all looked at me. I stopped where I was.
"What took you so long?" Lance asked me, but I wasn't paying him any attention. Keith was standing perfectly relaxed with his arms crossed. He was a little bit taller than Damon with wider shoulders and slightly larger arms. He was a beast. His hair was almost as black as mine and in my eyes, he was flawless. I couldn't imagine him changing into a wolf. He looked so innocent compared to the other guys despite the fact that he was easily the largest.
"So…we've already skipped school. We might as well have some fun, right?" Damon asked. I looked away. I was such a dork! I had been staring this entire time! I know I had to have been making him feel awkward, but it wasn't my fault that I was imprinting. I couldn't imagine him being blind, or even what had caused it. My nose twitched and I moved my tongue around in my mouth collecting all of the remaining traces of blood before spitting it into the snow. I looked up and they were all watching me. Awkward.
"What did you have in mind?" I asked Damon, trying to lighten the tension, but he wasn't the one who answered my question.
"What about my place? My parents won't be home for a while."
I covered my mouth to keep myself from screaming or saying anything stupid. For a split second I felt like one of those groupies who have nothing better to do with their lives than listen to whoever it is that they're stalking just to pray that one day he'll say two words. I wasn't sure what I had expected his voice to sound like, but it was nothing compared to what I heard. It would be impossible to imagine a voice like that no matter how hard a person may try.
"Yes! We never go to your place anymore. Let's go!" Josh had already started running with Lance, Kel, and Brice behind him. They were invisible. I crossed my arms as I walked closer to Keith and Damon. I had managed to take my eyes off of him long enough to be distracted all over again by the scent coming off of him.
"C, why don't you walk with me since you don't know where you're going?" Damon asked.
I nodded and Keith took off without another word.
"You knew it was him this whole time?" I asked as we started walking down the road. He frowned and looked straight ahead.
"I only knew when you told me about your dream. I was worried about how this would all affect the pack especially since it's always been just us guys. There's been girlfriends and everything, but there's never been any serious love mixed in."
I felt completely idiotic and embarrassed for asking this question, but I had to know.
"Does he have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, he does." My heart hit the ground. "And he'll know that you've imprinted on him regardless of whether you tell him or not. I don't know how this is going to work, but just don't make it too obvious right now. I know it's not fair of me to ask, but try not to think about it too much, at least not when you change."
"I'll try. I have another question."
"Go for it."
"Is Keith blind?" I wanted to pound my head into a wall after I had asked but Damon's expression didn't change.
"Yes, he is. You can only tell by looking at him though. He can 'see' just about as good as any normal person; maybe even better. It makes more sense if you have him explain that to you though, not me."
I sighed and started jogging. He mirrored me. "Come on. Show me where this place is."
He smiled and the real running started.
Keith's house was huge! No wonder they liked coming here so often. The house reminded me instantly of a cottage that Snow White and the seven dwarves would live in if they were still around these days, only it was three stories tall rather than super small. There was a small garden in front with rows of all different kinds of flowers growing in it. But it wasn't the house that we were here for, it was the backyard. The house was surrounded by acres of space and there wasn't another house for at least a mile. Damon led me around back and there he stood watching two wolves wrestle. And considering the fact that Brice and Lance were standing with him, it was clear that the wolves were Josh and Kel.
They looked so…so…vicious, and Josh looked so small compared to Kel. They bit and snapped and scratched at each other and the boys were watching as if it was some school fight. I followed Damon and sat down on top of the picnic table that Keith was leaning against. How could they just sit back and watch this? And to think, I was just fighting Kel earlier. Maybe he really had been going easy on me. With the look of the way he was fighting Josh, he could've easily killed me. They separated and started circling each other the way Kel and I had done only Josh wasn't playing with him the way that I had. He roared at him. My baby cousin actually roared at him. I gasped involuntarily and they all turned to look at me. Kel saw this as his opportunity and pounced, slamming Josh hard on his side. I guess my breathing was really as loud as it sounded in my head because Keith turned to look at me and whispered, "Relax, this is all a game to them. We're really fast healers. There isn't much that could really hurt us permanently."
I was staring at him again. He didn't seem to notice. He turned back to the snarling and growling. This time, it was Kel who was pinned. Josh bit his neck once and then backed off. Kel jumped up, but he didn't charge. Keith smiled.
"Alright, time for the main event," he said playfully, "You up for it Damon?"
I turned to my cousin as he smiled excitedly and started pulling off his shirt.
"Are you kidding? I've been waiting for this all week. Think you can actually beat me this time?"
"Don't make it sound like it hasn't happened before."
He started taking off his shirt and shorts. I had to look away. I seriously thought that my heart would explode if I didn't. I heard the popping noises and when I looked in front of me, two large wolves took the places of where the first two had just been. Kel sat on the ground to my right and Josh to my left. Lance and Ben sat down on the bench of the picnic table near my feet. Damon was smaller as a wolf compared to Keith the same way he was as a human. Keith was just as black as his hair and his eyes were just as grey, but not nearly as pale. That was obvious even from where I sat. They circled, waiting for one to make the first move. I crossed my arms and my nails dug into my skin, but I couldn't feel it enough to really care. Damon struck first. He jumped at Keith and bit down on his shoulder.
Keith yipped and shook him off. I didn't know how much more of this I could take. They were like furry wrecking balls as they went after each other causing what should have been insane damage. And they were moving so fast! It was hard to keep up with them. One second they would be circling and then the next…RAWR! The worst part about all of this was that I had no idea of who I was pulling for. On one hand, Damon is my cousin that I've known for my entire life. But on the other hand, Keith is a complete stranger that I would, without a thought, die for. *sigh* Keith. How could he possibly be real? He's amazing! He's perfect! He's taken! Why did fate hate me so much? If nature was going to force me to fall synthetically, indescribably, and idiotically in love with someone, then couldn't the guy at least be single?
Wait. What had happened before I changed again? Why had I changed? Oh yeah, I remember now. Jared was at my school. What purpose could he possibly have for being there? Didn't he already think that he had killed me? Had he still known that I was alive before he saw me today or has he just moved on to his next target? Regardless, he can't stay. A loud thud sounded through my ears and I looked up to see Damon underneath Keith's paws and Keith's teeth were bared and only inches away from Damon's neck. His toothy grin was impossible to misread even from where I was standing.
