I watched him walk away and couldn't really comprehend what he had said. I shook my head and closed my door and drove home. I carried my things to my room and saw one of the maids putting my clean clothes away. I walked into my closet and put my things away then laid on the bed as the maid left.
Images of that huge wolf from Friday night flashed through my mind. It just standing there, staring down at me as I curled up in a ball. It was so confusing but then again it made sense that he had found me so quickly and said that he didn't see the wolf. I grabbed a pillow and put it over my head as I closed my eyes and growled that he just made my day a lot more confusing.
"Leo, are you awake?" mom called as she knocked on my open door.
"Yeah," I sighed, sitting up and holding the pillow in my arms. "What's up?"
"I heard you come home early. I like what you did to your hair," she smiled, sitting on the bed in front of me. "How is school so far?"
"It's okay," I shrugged. "I've become popular with my dancing at pep assemblies."
"That's good, I'm happy that you found a way to show your school the talent you have. Have you been asked to play at sport games?"
"Not that I know of but I'm sure that Kyra may ask me to help out," I smiled then looked down at my arms around the pillow. "I'm sorry that I haven't been the best daughter. I've acted like a spoiled brat and keep pushing away Jack. I find myself always comparing him to dad."
"I know that it's harder for you to let him go since you were the closest with Brandon, and I'm sorry as well for not always being there for you. I found those videos of Dylan's of your competitions. You are a spectacular dancer and I'm sorry for never giving your competitions a chance."
I smiled at her and moved forward and hugged her. She kissed the top of my brow then let me go and got off the bed. I smiled as I watched her leave the room and she closed the door and I rolled over onto my stomach and pulled my phone out of my pocket and set an alarm for 7pm if I didn't wake up earlier then drifted off into a light slumber.
"Leo, wake up," Dylan shook me awake and I groaned and pulled the pillow over my head. "Your phone has been going off for the past five minutes. You sleep any longer and you'll never go back to sleep tonight."
I hit him with the pillow and rolled off the bed and stretched my arms above my head. He tossed the pillow onto my bed and came to me and tickled my sides. I cried out and pushed him a way and ran to the other side of the room and locked myself in my bathroom and slid to the floor laughing.
"Don't think you can hide forever, I will get back at you for hitting me with that pillow," he called through the door. "Jack had the maids put your dinner in the fridge. I'm going to sit in my room and finish up my homework then head to bed. Mom is already laying down and Jack is in his office. I'll see you in the morning."
"Alright night Dylan and thanks for waking me up," I called back and heard him leave the room.
I stood up and turned on the shower, wanting to rid my body of the chlorine from swimming. As soon as I was done, I turned on my curling iron then walked out into my closet to pull on a pair of white skinny jeans and a red off the shoulder top that was longer than most shirts. I pulled on my knee high leather boots, wanting shoes that would be easy to walk over rocks in. I walked back to the bathroom and blow dried my hair then curled it before grabbing my purse and phone then leaving the room and entering Jacks office.
"Hey Leo, where are you going?"
"I was gonna hang with some of the cheerleaders, they were going to throw a party tonight," I lied. I wasn't going to tell him that I was actually going to go talk to an unstable boy who thought he was a wolf.
"Alright, what time do you think you'll be back? It is a school night."
"I don't know but if it's later than twelve I may crash at their place. If I do that, I'll send you a text to let you know," I shrugged.
"Alright, have fun. Don't do anything too stupid," he smiled and I smiled back.
As I left the room, I rolled my eyes and walked quietly out of the house and got into the Porsche. I pulled out quietly and headed towards the bridge. I knew that there was a shaded parking lot near the bridge so I pulled in there and had ten minutes to get to the bridge across the street. I got out, left my purse in the car and manually locked the car so it didn't make any noises and walked over to the bridge.
It occurred to me then that this could have been just a trick but I was here already. I walked the shadowed edge of the bridge and slowly made my way to the bike path underneath. I felt my heart pound in my chest as I walked under the bridge and walked half way under it and leaned against the stone wall. I listened to the noises that echoed through the tunnel and kept both openings in my peripherals.
"You actually came," his voice came towards me as I saw him enter the tunnel on the other side that I had come from.
"Why did you want me to meet you here?" I asked skeptically.
"I told you I'd show you my proof that you're not crazy about seeing a wolf the size of a horse," he whispered standing a few feet away from me.
I studied him in the dark and noticed that he his shirt was unbuttoned and he was barefoot. I straightened up against the wall and crossed my arms and waited. I saw his eyes bleed brown as he looked at me and I wanted to move away from his gaze.
"And what do you have as proof that would show I'm not seeing things?" I whispered.
"Don't freak out, I'm trusting you a lot with this," his voice grew rough as he took a few steps back.
My arms fell to my sides in my uncertainty then I heard the sound of bones popping out of place. I focused on his body and saw that it was changing. I frowned as I saw his skin darken and hair grew all over, shredding his clothes. His mouth and nose grew longer and turned into a muzzle and he fell to all fours but still towered over me. As the sounds of bones stopped popping out of place, I gasped as a huge wolf stood before me in Dakota's place.
A squeak escaped my lips as the wolf looked at me with his brown eyes. He moved closer and I tensed, my mind screaming at me to run but I remained still. His head was almost a foot above me as he stared at me as if waiting for me to start screaming and run. His head was within my reach and I lifted my shaky hand slowly and touched the fur of his muzzle and his eyes closed and he pressed his head into my hand.
I heard a whine come from him and I ran my hands across his soft, black fur. He moved so he was sitting on his hind legs and lowered himself so he was fully lying on the ground. I felt my knees close to giving out from my surprise and sank to the ground next to him, my hands going into the fur of his back. He turned his head so he could look at me with one eye and I stared back at him for a moment before sliding my hand through his fur again.
"You saved me… Thank you Dakota for trusting me like this. I won't say anything about this but will you stop with all the glaring and mood swings? It gives me a headache," I growled and he let out a type of cough that shook his body and as I looked at his eye, I saw amusement. "Are you laughing at me?"
He let out that cough again as he lifted his head and forelegs so he was sitting up and he stared down at me with both eyes. He pressed his wet nose to my forehead and let out a soft growl that was calming. I brought my arms up and wrapped them around his neck and buried my face in his fur. I felt his paw on my back as he laid his head on my shoulder and I smiled.
"You don't have spare clothes, do you?" I whispered and heard that cough again. "Mutt," I smirked, pushing away from him and stood up.
Dakota got to his feet and padded to the end of the tunnel that he had entered from and I saw a black gym bag by the entrance. I started climbing to atop the bridge when I heard the popping of bones. I walked over to my car and climbed onto the hood and looked up at the stars, waiting for Dakota to finish changing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to stay calm as my mind processed what happened.