Chapter 8 #2
“How’d you get that?” I demanded, anger rising within. My eyes shifted and my nails began to elongate as I stood on the precipice of shifting.
“Adan got it,” Danny answered, as if that made it all right.
This was a total invasion of her privacy.
Not only the driver’s license but the DNA and insulin.
We’d taken these things from her without her knowledge.
And we’d been watching every day to make sure she was safe from the wolf who’d attacked her.
Shame bombarded me, enough that my nails and eyes went back to normal.
I had no right to be mad at Danny or my packmates when I’d been a part of this too.
“What do you plan to do with her license?” I asked my dad.
“I just want to look into her a bit to make sure she is who she says she is.” He folded his arms across his massive chest. “I have an obligation to make sure those of our pack at Stonemore University are safe.”
That was a direct dig at me. I should be the one who made sure my packmates at SU were taken care of. Which meant I needed to take a step back from the situation to make sure I was looking at things objectively.
“Laney isn’t a threat,” I said, confident in my observation. While I hadn’t spent a lot of time with her, the time I had gave me a sense of who she was as a person.
“You don’t find her arrival suspicious?” Gareth asked. “She’s a half-breed transfer student. Maybe she was sent to Stonemore University to spy on you guys. We have to find out who sent her and what her objective is.”
I laughed at the absurdity of it. “In case you aren’t aware,” I said, my voice turning deeper, darker. “Laney is the one who was attacked.”
“It could have been a planned attack,” Dad said.
“It wasn’t.” I crossed my own arms, mirroring my dad’s stance.
“Are you two coming?” Coach yelled from the doorway of the bus.
Everyone was already onboard, waiting for Danny and me.
“Coming, Coach!” I hollered.
“I want to meet her,” Dad said for the second time. “Tomorrow.”
“Not possible.” I couldn’t bring her home. Not only was it too far away to justify a quick visit, but she’d never agree to go with me.
As if reading my thoughts, Dad said, “We’ll come to you. You can take her out to dinner or something. Just let me know where and when.”
“You want us to have dinner with you?” I deadpanned. It would never happen. Laney would freak out if I asked her to meet my family.
“No,” Dad answered. “You take her out, we’ll run into you there.”
“I’m not friends with her,” I said. “She’ll never agree to go out with me. And in case you forgot, I have a girlfriend.”
“We gotta go,” Danny said, heading toward the bus.
“Fine,” I said, not wanting to stand there arguing with my dad in front of my coach. Without bothering to say goodbye, I headed after Danny, climbing onto the bus.
I plopped onto the seat next to him. “How the hell am I going to get Laney to go out with me?”
“You’re not,” Danny said. “I am.”
Rage boiled in me and I faced Danny, my eyes automatically shifting as electricity vibrated under my skin.
“What the fuck?” Danny said. “Calm your ass down.”
I couldn’t. The rage was so potent, I wanted to tear Danny’s throat out.
“I meant that we’ll double,” Danny said. “You, Em, me, and Laney.”
I needed to rein in my control. If I shifted here on the bus, I’d ruin everything.
“How the hell else are you going to get her to go out with you?” Danny said, his voice placating. “You’re with Em. I have zero interest in Laney. Think about it. This will get Laney to come out with us so your dad can meet her.”
Reason slowly trickled back in, and my eyes returned to normal. My chest still heaved, my breathing ragged, but at least I was starting to calm down.
“This is a fucking mess,” Danny muttered. “You can’t lose it anytime someone mentions Laney.”
“I know.” I leaned my head back against the seat, trying to maintain control. “I’m still pumped from the game.”
“It’s more than that,” Danny said, gazing out the window and not looking my way. “When Laney showed up, things changed.”
I knocked on the door to Em’s dorm room. I’d called and texted her a few times on the bus ride home last night, but she hadn’t answered or responded. While I understood why she’d been avoiding me, we had to face this sooner or later. It was time for us to talk, even if neither of us wanted to.
The door swung open. Em stood there in shorts and a t-shirt, her hair a mess. I handed her a cup of coffee, a peace offering for coming by so early in the morning, but it was the only time I could be sure to catch her here.
She took it. “This is the only reason I’m not going to yell at you.” She peered over her shoulder at her roommate, who was still in bed. “Let me change, then we’ll talk somewhere else.”
I nodded and leaned against the wall across from her door.
Em and I had grown up together, and we’d been friends most of our lives.
In all that time, I’d never been attracted to her or seen her as someone to marry.
When we first came here to college, we each dated different people.
It was the only time we could mess around and not get reamed for it since our parents weren’t breathing down our necks.
So long as I didn’t get anyone pregnant, my dad didn’t care what I did.
This was supposed to be my time to let loose.
I knew that once I graduated and returned home, I’d have to eventually marry someone from my pack.
While our numbers weren’t large, there were at least a dozen or so girls to choose from.
The only requirement was that I mate with someone strong who could not only deal with me, but lead with me as well.
And, most importantly, give me an alpha son.
About a year ago, my dad came to me saying that a few of the people wanted to break away from our pack and form a new one.
In order to prevent that from happening, he wanted me to unite with Em.
Her father was the third strongest of our pack.
It would show that leadership was united and ensure our line continued to be strong.
Once Em and I started dating, the grumblings of a new pack forming stopped.
I wondered if Em’s dad had anything to do with it.
But her parents seemed to be solid people. So who the fuck knew.
But now that Em and I were in this relationship, I was fairly certain neither of us wanted to be in it any more. Before this blew up in our faces and destroyed our pack, we needed to talk about it.
The door opened, and Em stepped out into the hallway wearing jean shorts and a sweatshirt. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail.
“Thanks for the coffee,” she said. “Let’s go outside.”
I followed her out of the dorm building. Em always preferred being outside.
Even though it was only eight in the morning, the sun shone brightly.
“Today was literally the only day I could sleep in all week,” Em said, her voice irritated as she sipped her coffee.
“Sorry, but we need to talk, and you’ve been ignoring me.” I sat on one of the many benches surrounding the open grassy area between her dorm and the library.
“I’ve been busy.” She remained standing, holding her coffee with both hands.
“I saw my dad.”
“Yeah, Danny told me. He said we’re supposed to double.”
Interesting that she’d already talked to Danny about it. “Did he text you the details?” I asked, fishing for information.
“He called when he got in last night.”
“You’ll take his call but not mine?” I asked, curious. While Em and Danny have always been friends, they’ve never been particularly close.
She sighed and sat next to me.
“What is it?” I asked. “You can be honest with me. That’s why I’m here.” If there was something going on with her and Danny, that might help explain things. Maybe that was why I’d been gravitating toward Laney.
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “Things are just complicated. I have a lot going on.”
“The last time we talked, I got the feeling you wanted out of this relationship.” I kept my focus on the area in front of me, not looking her way, trying to give her a chance to explain.
If she didn’t, I was going to have to pull rank and force her to talk.
I’d prefer it if she’d just be honest with me.
“Do you want out?” she asked, fidgeting with the lid of her coffee cup.
“I don’t know.” I did and I didn’t. If Em and I broke up, our parents would be furious, and there’d be consequences neither one of us was ready to face.
“Let’s break this down,” Em said. “Do you love me?”
“Yes.” Without reservation.
“Are you in love with me?” she asked.
“You answer first.”
“I love you. We’re friends. You’re one of my best friends. I can trust you with just about anything. But I’m not in love with you. I don’t feel that way about you.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “Do you feel that way about Danny?”
She inhaled sharply.
“Be honest,” I coaxed. “I deserve that much.”
“I’ve always cared about you,” she said. “But the day Laney showed up, something shifted. I began to feel this strange pull and connection to Danny. It’s been getting stronger every day. I think…I think it might be a mating bond.”
“Have you ever felt that way toward me?” I hoped she hadn’t been starting to bond with me, then I screwed it up by noticing Laney.
“No, never.”
I sat there trying to process this. What she described about her pull to Danny was how I felt around Laney. “Did your parents form a mating bond before they married? Or was their marriage arranged?”
“I think they bonded, but my mom doesn’t talk about it much.” Her parents had always been reserved when it came to public displays of affection and talking about emotions or feelings. “What are we going to do?”
That was a good question. “I think if we’re feeling things for other people, we need to explore that.” There was no point in forcing ourselves to be together when neither of us wanted to even be in the relationship.
“Do you feel something for Laney?” she asked.
I hesitated. Admitting feelings for Laney would make me appear weak. Vulnerable. Laney wasn’t a full-blooded wolf. And chances were she didn’t even shift, which meant she wasn’t even a wolf. She just had wolf blood.
“You said to be honest,” Em whispered.
“Yes.” I sighed. “The moment I saw her, I felt something between us.”
“I thought so. I feel it. I think we all can. The two of you have a powerful connection.”
I didn’t know how that was possible and feared voicing my concerns. I needed to appear strong for my packmates. They couldn’t see me questioning something like instinct.
“I’ve been thinking about talking to my parents,” Em admitted. “I’m going to let them know how I feel. Hopefully, they’ll understand and not be mad at me.”
I nodded.
Which brought us back to what we were going to do about us.
“Are you looking for their blessing before we end things?” I asked, thinking that was where things were going. If she felt a connection to Danny, I didn’t want to stand in their way. It wasn’t fair to them.
“Not necessarily,” she said, surprising me. “But I do want to at least talk to them so they understand where I’m coming from. It might make things easier if they know we’re beginning to mate with other people.”
I nodded. “What if they want you to stay with me?” Because I already knew my dad wanted me with Em, regardless of how either one of us felt.
“I’ll remind them that it’s my life and my choice to make.”
She’d always been strong. It was one of the things I admired about her.
“When do you plan on speaking with them?” Because they’d probably go and talk to my dad right after. Which meant I needed to discuss the matter with my parents as well.
“Probably tomorrow. That gives me today to get my thoughts in order.”
“Okay,” I said. “Then that’s our plan. We’ll each speak to our parents tomorrow.” Hopefully, things would go our way, and our parents would allow us to make our own choices. I rubbed my palms on my shorts. “So, about tonight.” The thought of going out with Laney was making me nervous.
“I’ll go and see Laney today. I’m pretty sure I can convince her to go out with me for dinner or something.
” Em finished her coffee, chucking the cup into the trash bin.
“We’ll do something simple. I’ll plan it and text you the details once I talk to Laney.
Then you can let your dad know where we’ll be. ”
“I wish he didn’t want to meet her,” I mumbled.
“I know. It’s going to be awkward.”
“Are we going to stay together for now and break up tomorrow?”
Em twisted to face me on the bench. “I think we should just break up now, if you’re okay with that. I don’t like talking to Danny and having feelings for him while I’m with you.”
Relief filled me because I felt the same way. I hated being attracted to Laney while I was with Em. I almost felt sad that I wasn’t more torn up about Em and me breaking up. While I’d dated a few other girls, Em was my first real relationship. I thought she’d be my last.
Then Laney happened.
“Hopefully, your dad doesn’t figure it out tonight,” Em said. “We’ll have to be careful what we say since he hears everything.” She reached out, placing her hand on my forearm. “Be forewarned that he might be able to sense your bond to Laney.”
“I think that’s why he wants to meet her,” I admitted. Last night, I hadn’t exactly been subtle.
“Maybe once he feels your bond to Laney and mine to Danny, he’ll understand and support us?”
“We can hope.” Although I wasn’t sure my dad would understand me mating with someone so weak.
“It’s going to work out,” Em said, squeezing my arm. “It doesn’t matter who you marry. Your firstborn will be our next alpha.”
Her words felt heavy as I thought about them.
It did matter who I married. Half-breeds weren’t allowed.
And as for an alpha marrying a half wolf who couldn’t even shift, that was out of the question.
However, a small part of me wondered if it just might be possible for me to be with Laney.
If our pack took her in, we could protect her.
If I was with her, then she’d know what she was.
Our child would grow up in the pack, protected by the pack, even if he wasn’t an alpha.
Then the enforcers could let Laney live since she’d be in our world and protected by us.
For the first time in a long time, I felt hopeful.