Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (20 page)

“I didn’t expect to see you either,” I
whispered, staring into his eyes. His eyes fell to the floor
briefly before he lifted himself up just enough to press his cold,
wet, nose to my cheek.

“Rayne,” Alex scolded and I realized when I
found myself blushing that he had meant it as a kiss, “I won’t tell
her lies, Rayne.”

“What did he say?” I murmured, resting my
forehead against his soft furry one.

“He doesn’t care what I say, he’ll find some
way to be with you, if that’s what you want,” Alex recounted with
disdain, “I won’t allow it and you’re part of my pack so you can’t
disobey me.”

“It’s okay, Rayne,” I sighed, wrapping my
arms around his furry neck, “I’m just glad you’re okay….”

“He wants to know why you’re here, despite
the fact that I’ve already told him,” Alex added with a growl in
his voice.

“Alex didn’t want me to go home last night…
I had a sleepover with the girls,” I explained with a shrug, while
he wrapped his large wolf head around my neck, “It’s okay, I’m
okay. But I have to get home before Jason steals a car and comes
looking for me and gets pulled into all of this too… I don’t want
this for him.”

“No, Rayne,” Alex really did growl that
time, “I’m not just going to let her go, it’s too dangerous; for us
and for her.”

“I hope I get to see you again, Rayne,” I
whispered beneath my breath and heard a snarl from behind me,
“Please don’t make him any angrier… I really want to see you
again….”

“He says he will see you, no matter the
consequences,” Alex revealed as I suddenly found his hand on my
arm, tugging me back to my feet and towards the door, “I suppose
once you choose someone to date, I might consider letting you two
be friends, if you can handle being just friends.”

“I’ll handle it,” I stated with certainty,
glancing back at Rayne one last time before Alex closed the door
again. “What’s with all the iron?” I murmured thoughtfully,
realizing that the collar and chain on Rayne had also been iron,
like the door and the gate.

“Your observation skills are truly
impeccable,” Alex answered without answering me as he led me back
to the house. He paused inside at the front door where a bag stood
waiting with my clothes inside of it. “Which means you should
realize, that you owe me a date.” I spun to face him with absolute
confusion on my face before I very slowly remembered.

“But you haven’t told me all the details at
all… like the iron… you’re still not telling me a lot,” I retorted,
his aqua eyes still swirled with silver, “And why… why do you
sometimes have silver in your eyes…?”

“I’m doing something out of the ordinary,
magically speaking…. Right now, I’m checking with my elite members
that are out of town to see if they are able to get back sooner,
rather than later. I could tell you everything about our pack, and
have a revolt on my hands should you ever intentionally, or
accidentally, let our secrets slip,” he explained, tilting his head
to one side, “As a leader, the rational choice is to gather my
elite pack members and let them cast votes as to whether or not I
should tell you our secrets. You will have to wait until they’re
able to return for this to take place.”

“Oh… how… long will that be…?” I whispered
and he stared at me a moment longer before the silver disappeared
from his eyes and he glanced further into the house.

“Sybil is the furthest away and the most
encumbered with her venture… she will not be able to return for a
week. The others will be home by this weekend,” he stated with a
smirk on his lips, “You would be wise to meet them as they arrive,
so that they may get to know you on an individual basis. To do
that, however, you would need to stay here. I can arrange a private
room for you, if you wish.”

“I want to go home,” I murmured, staring
down at the marble beneath my feet, “Can’t you just call me when
someone gets here and I’ll drive over?”

“There are ten of them; what if once you get
home, another arrives? It would be smarter to stay here. Malcolm
will not arrive until morning, so consider it tonight and tell me
your decision later,” he announced just as Tobias walked up from
behind him, tossing my keys in the air and catching them as he
went.

“Never left my sight,” Tobias proudly
reported when he reached us and handed me my keys, “We’d love to
have you stay, Anna.”

“I doubt I’ll change my mind… but I’ll call
later,” I promised, leaning over and picking up the bag of my
things.

“Don’t call,” Alex sighed, staring into my
eyes again, “Go outside, alone, and whoever is watching you will
deliver your message.”

“Watching me…?” I pondered in shock and he
quirked his lips into a smirk again. Suddenly, all those days of
sitting in the back yard feeling like someone was watching me made
complete sense, and made me feel less insane.

“We’ve been watching you since you got here.
As I said earlier, I’m only more intrigued by you now. Please be
safe on your trip home,” he finalized, leaning over before I could
object and lightly kissing my cheek.

I didn’t realize until I was in the car and
backing out of the driveway, that he had kissed my
other
cheek, not the one that wolf-Rayne had pressed his nose to like a
kiss. It was nearly four o’clock when I pulled up into the garage
only to find Jason jumping guiltily away from the key rack near the
door.

“Couldn’t wait for me to get home, could
you?” I laughed, but that hurt entered his eyes before he was
suddenly hugging me tightly to him.

“I’ve tried… Gods, Arianna, I have tried so
hard to accept what you want, but I can’t!” Jason blurted and I
felt a thump in my chest as I made up my mind.

“Come inside while I make dinner,” I
beckoned, slipping away from him and heading into the house.

Jason followed me around the house as I
prepped dinner for everyone and a snack for myself, and watched a
little t.v. while the chicken cooked.

“Jason,” I started and he looked up at me
from his seat next to me on the sofa, “You’re my brother… I’m never
going to see you as anything else… please,
please
, go off
and be thirteen.”

“After school starts, maybe,” he grumbled,
staring at the t.v. instead of me, “It’s too hard to find friends
around here my own age right now… with summer and all….”

“Please try,” I requested again and he
shrugged, “You haven’t been anywhere without me… I love you, Jay, I
do; which is why I want you to go off on your own….” I paused,
knowing he would hate me for it. “Besides… Alex invited me to stay
at his house for a week. All of them stay at his house during the
summer like camp or something almost… and they want me to stay,
too… if Dad okays it, I’m going to go back tonight.”

“What?!” Jason blurted, spinning on the sofa
to face me, “That’s not fair! I want to go with you!”

“Absolutely not,” I insisted, “You weren’t
invited and that’s rude, Jay. They like you, I’m sure you can come
over some, but you’re not going to be staying over there all the
time. You need to go hang out with your new friends, without
me.”

“I don’t want other friends!” he proclaimed
before jumping off the sofa and storming upstairs to slam his
bedroom door behind him.

With a sigh I headed out the back door and
over near the tree line. It didn’t take long, although I was a
little surprised when Caiden emerged from the forest in his human
form instead of his wolf form.

“You’ve already made up your mind?” he
queried and I nodded slowly, a flush creeping up my neck as I found
myself staring at the ground between our feet.

“If it’s all right with my dad, I’ll stay at
Alex’s,” I answered, darting just my eyes up to him when he
chuckled.

“Did you want Alex to ask him, or did you
want to ask him?” Caiden questioned and I shrugged, “Alex is more
than happy to ask, if that’s what you want.”

“That’s fine… my dad likes all of you guys
anyway,” I mumbled, suddenly looking up into his eyes, “Just don’t
even think about letting Jason come to stay… visit, sometimes,
maybe….”

“I see…” Caiden laughed softly, “Our little
brothers and sisters really like him at the bonfires… they text him
some too, but he never will go hang out with them….”

“Are they…” I hesitated and glanced around,
“You know… too?”

“Yes,” he stated simply and I shook my head,
“I really don’t think Jason would catch on like you did. I think
he’d be fine. Think about it. They hang out with some other kids,
too, so he’d meet a lot of people.”

“I just don’t want him stuck here…” I
murmured to myself, shaking my head distractedly, “And you’d better
get out of here before he sees you here….”

“You seemed surprised to see me in my human
form,” he added, taking a step closer to me and I forced myself to
stay still.

“I was… I know you guys can’t make clothes
appear… I didn’t suspect you were keeping watch in human form…” I
considered thoughtfully.

“When we
know
we’re on guard duty, we
carry a bag with our clothes in it with us. Change back out of
sight and we have clothes to put on,” he explained, reaching out to
lightly take hold of my wrist, “Last night, don’t think I’ll let it
go that easily.”

“It was a dare,” I countered and he shrugged
his shoulders, “I don’t… I mean… somebody else likes you… and I’m
not going to… to interfere….”

“I don’t like Sage like that,” he retorted
nonchalantly, but I looked at him in shock, “I noticed years ago…
it’s pretty obvious to me… Or were you talking about someone else?
Cause out of the four girls you hung out with, Sage is the only one
I know of; but you didn’t say you don’t like me.”

“I like Rayne… and I know that’s pointless…”
I uttered beneath my breath, but Caiden’s eyes darted up, over my
head before he lightly kissed my forehead and disappeared off into
the forest line. Only a moment after he was gone, I went inside and
met up with Jason in the kitchen. He had just gotten there, and I
was heading to check on dinner.

“Are you really going to go stay at Alex’s?”
Jason whispered and I nodded, turning the chicken and setting it to
bake a little longer.

“If Dad says it’s okay,” I dismissed,
turning to find Jason leaning on the counter, but his blue-green
eyes had been staring at the floor until they darted up to my
face.

“I don’t want you to go… but I guess… I
guess I understand… I just thought you might change your mind…” he
quietly revealed, pain in his eyes, “I was certain you were
changing your mind… and then all of a sudden, you stopped….”

“I’m sorry, Jay…” I whispered, staring into
his saddened eyes as he forced himself to shrug and stand up, “Will
you set the table? Austin and Dad should be home soon.”

He only nodded and gathered the things to
set up the table while I checked on everything, leaving the pots on
the stove at a simmer.

“So, I hear that group of kids likes you so
much they’ve invited you to stay the week with them,” Dad
carelessly commented at dinner as we all sat around the table. It
was one of the few nights that we actually made sure to all be
home, and I’d have to make sure to swing by for it next week.

“They did,” I remarked and Austin shot me a
curious look out of the corner of his eye, “Is it all right if I
do?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Dad conceded with a grin,
“I like those kids and it’ll be good for you to get out of the
house on your own for a bit. Are you heading back over there
tonight?”

“I had planned on it,” I admitted. By that
time, Austin had stopped eating and was staring at me in blatant
shock but I ignored him.

It wasn’t too much longer before we finished
and Dad had to head back to work which meant that Austin started
interrogating me.

“What are you doing? You stayed there last
night, now you’re going to go for a whole week?” Austin
interrogated while Jason washed the dishes.

“Austin… Think about it… I’m going,” I
retorted quietly. I didn’t give him any more time to argue as I
darted upstairs and packed a small bag that I loaded into my car. I
told my brothers bye and headed down the road.

Caiden was standing on the sidewalk just out
of view of the house and I slammed on the brakes as he hopped into
the passenger seat.

“Where were we…?” he chuckled as I started
up the car again, “You like Rayne… you realize that’s stupid… we
all realize you like him… Don’t you like Jack or anyone else?”

“I guess… kind of… why does it matter?” I
wondered, glancing at him while we were at a stop sign.

“Because Alex won’t let you be with Rayne…
so we’re wondering who else has a chance with you,” Caiden remarked
as I barely shook my head.

“I like all of you in different ways…” I
murmured, sighing, “Yes, I like Jack… but he’s like Alex’s right
hand… and that makes me uncomfortable… even if he is really hot…
and sweet… and funny….”

“Got it…” Caiden grumbled and I looked at
him again, “They say you were kind of flirting with Ty at Jack’s
party last night.”

“I don’t flirt…” I mumbled as his hand fell
to rest on top of mine which for whatever reason I kept on my
gearshift despite it being an automatic.

“You do, it’s just cute and sweet when you
do it,” he stated and my heart skipped as I felt my cheeks flush
red, “So can I take you out? Alex says it’s okay….”

“I couldn’t do that…” I faltered and he
sighed.

“I don’t like Sage like that… she’s more
like a sister… think about it, please,” he requested and all I
could do was nod as we pulled up at Alex’s house. He got out and
carried my suitcase inside before I could get out of the car
completely. I had no idea where he’d taken it, but headed toward
the front door anyway.

The front door was pulled open by a guy that
I didn’t know. He was tall and lean and I instantly knew he wasn’t
human. He had his fiery red hair pulled back into a ponytail that
hung to his chest and inspected me with curiously careful blue
eyes.