Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (27 page)

“Why do I have to stay away from Rai? What
did he mean he’d finish what he started?” I demanded harshly, not
failing to realize that Caiden and Sage were still talking in front
of the back door.

“The only reason any member of this pack
would consume human blood would be for a blood tie… As long as you
don’t ingest any of his blood, it won’t be finalized…” Alex vaguely
explained, “You know I can’t fully explain this right now… just…
stay away from Rai, okay?”

“Why did he do it?” I pressed angrily, “What
is a blood tie?”

“I can’t explain what… As for why… he
figured since Caiden stole the girl he loved from him… that he’d
steal you from Caiden…” Alex admitted with a sigh, “You really have
to stay away from him….”

“I got it… but how do I do that?” I insisted
and Alex laughed and then sighed again.

“As long as you’re with a member of the
pack… you should be fine,” he stated, “Everyone knows to keep him
away from you now….”

Sage finally sat down at a table with
Michaela, Samantha, and Trina while Caiden sat down at the table
with Tobias, Malcolm, and Jack. Rayne’s hand fell on top of my
tightly clenched fist and his thumb ran across the back of my hand
in little circles. My eyes darted up to him to find his hazel eyes
intently watching me.

“Eat your breakfast,” Rayne suggested and I
slowly unclenched my hands and barely nodded my head as I ate the
food on the table in front of me.

For a ‘family breakfast,’ it didn’t turn out
so well, and I felt a bit guilty about that even if I hadn’t been
the one to actually disrupt the meal. No one really spoke; there
was just the sound of forks and knives on plates and glasses being
set back down on the tables.

When everyone finished eating, the girls
stole me away from the table and we got in an SUV and left the
house. I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Sage didn’t go with
us, but Amy decided to join us, so it ended up being Lissa,
Michaela, Amy, Liliana, and me. I was even less into the idea by
the time we got to the spa; all I really wanted to do was get
Rayne, Farren, or Aeril to tell me what the heck a blood tie was
and what it would do.

The day turned out better than I expected,
because we didn’t do a whole lot of talking, it was just really
relaxing… what with the massage, the facials, the mani-pedis, and
eventually getting our hair done which was when we were talking
again. Everyone was in a better mood by then, myself included.

“So where is Jack taking you before the
show?” Amy asked while the stylist worked on straightening her
hair.

“Out to eat, but I don’t know where,” I
answered while the stylist behind me was cutting layers into my
long hair, “What do you think they’d do if I chopped off my
hair?”

I saw Amy’s teal eyes widen in the mirror
and laughed. “I think they’d faint, or die, or something… your hair
is one of their favorite features….”

I smirked and looked up at the stylist in
the mirror, “Cut it, chin-length. I’ll donate it.”

Her eyes widened and her hand stopped
moving. “Are you sure? Your hair is really pretty….”

“It also grows really quickly… How about
just shoulder-length then? And some swoop-bangs,” I decided, and
she still hesitated, glancing over at Amy.

“It’s her hair,” Amy stated, shrugging her
shoulders as I actually looked at her to find silver around her
pupils, “But Alex is going to freak….”

I only shrugged my shoulders before the
stylist tied my hair back and cut off the excess length of my hair.
When she held up the length of ponytail, I felt the tiniest twinge
in my stomach while my hair slid over my shoulders. When all was
said and done, my hair fell just above my shoulders with layers up
to my chin and bangs swooping across the left side of my forehead.
I liked it, but I had a feeling the guys weren’t going to be as
fond of it.

“Alex is mad because I’m still tuning out,”
Amy laughed as she turned to look at me and smiled softly. “It
looks great, but they are seriously going to freak out and I can’t
keep tuning out.”

“I’ll be in the back seat of the car. Why
don’t they meet us for dinner somewhere?” I suggested, standing up
and pulling out my wallet to leave a tip for the stylist.

“The day is paid for, Anna. But I like your
idea, so get out to the car,” Amy decided and tossed the keys to me
when I looked up at her. I fumbled to catch them, but managed to
get them before they hit the floor and went outside to the SUV. Not
much later, the other girls piled into the front seats.

“I want to see it so bad!” Michaela blurted,
but none of them turned to look at me and I laughed, “Amy says it’s
sexy.”

My face shaded red as we left the spa and
headed over to the mall. They climbed out of the vehicle, but left
me sitting in the backseat with the tinted windows blocking anyone
from seeing me. My heart was pounding when I looked out the window
and spotted Alex, Jack, Tobias, Rayne, Farren, Aeril, Trina, and
Sage standing in the parking lot.

“Where is Arianna?” Alex demanded, “Why have
you kept her out of sight for so long?”

“She wanted it to be a surprise. Surprises
aren’t easy when you’re dealing with a bunch of telepathic
werewolves,” Amy laughed as she opened the back door and I climbed
out of the SUV. Oh their faces were priceless! I wished I had a
camera to catch the shock, anger, awe, and excitement I saw between
them.

“What did you do to your hair?” Alex growled
angrily but I tucked my newly short hair behind my ear and felt my
cheeks flush at the look Rayne was giving me.

“I cut it. You don’t like it?” I queried
coyly, looking directly at Alex and catching the brief pink on his
face.

“I liked your long hair,” Alex reasoned,
“Let’s go get something to eat… Amy said you still had shopping to
do….”

“I think it looks hot,” Jack whispered as he
walked beside me toward the mall, “
You
look hot. I can’t
wait until tomorrow night.” He kissed my cheek and then disappeared
from my side as we reached the mall and went into the food
court.

Despite heading in several different
directions to different food stations, we all ended up at tables in
the center of the food court that the guys had shoved together. I
also hadn’t been allowed to buy my meal, which kind of ticked me
off, but I didn’t have the energy to argue with them about it.

Suffice it to say, the girls really enjoyed
shopping and they kept me at the mall until almost midnight! By the
time we finally got back to the house, I went upstairs, climbed
into my bed, and fell asleep.

I dreamt of the troll doll again, but this
time it was in a fight with a single wolf, one with nearly black
fur and gray eyes that I hadn’t seen before… I woke up just as the
troll doll broke the wolf’s back. It was after noon when I rolled
over and looked at the clock, and I sighed as I shoved my blanket
back and headed for the shower.

When I was washing my hair, I was shocked to
find it so short, having completely forgotten about cutting it; and
when I went to dry it, I had to change my whole routine to get the
same look the stylist had given me the day before. I just tossed on
a pair of jeans and a tank top before I went downstairs, saving my
new outfit for later.

I walked downstairs and found… no one…
nothing… the house seemed completely empty. There was a plate of
tacos sitting out on the counter in the kitchen and they were still
warm, but there was no one around. I sat down and ate a taco with
the dream still playing in my mind.
I wonder if that’s what I’d
look like as a wolf
… It crossed my mind before I froze, my hand
holding the taco midair before I dropped it and darted out the back
door.

“Please, whoever is out here… is Malcolm’s
little sister okay?” I questioned in a panic, not loudly because I
knew whoever was there could hear me.

Tobias walked out of the tree line a minute
later wearing only a pair of shorts, and I struggled to keep my
attention on his honey colored eyes and away from his very muscular
chest, stomach, arms…

“Why did you ask that?” he queried as he
stopped in front of me, but I bit my lip, “She’s at the hospital…
pretty much everyone is there with her….”

“Because she has a broken back…?” I
whispered and Tobias’ eyes widened before he barely nodded his
head, “I know Alex probably told you all about my weird dreams… I
dreamt that the troll doll was fighting with a wolf I hadn’t seen,
but when I really stopped and thought about it, the wolf reminded
me of myself, which made me think about Malcolm’s sister….”

“We got really worried when she never made
it home yesterday. She tunes out a lot, so we don’t know what
exactly happened… she’ll be fine though. Malcolm found her and we
got her to the hospital and got her back realigned… she’s a
werewolf, so it will heal up within the day,” he explained
hesitantly, “Jack says to tell you that you’re not getting out of
your date tonight that easily.”

“Why don’t you know what happened? Hasn’t
she told you yet?” I pressed and his gaze fell to the ground as his
long dark brown hair fell across his face.

“She hasn’t woken up yet… but we know she’ll
be okay… Alex doesn’t want me telling you anything else about it,
I’m sorry…” he reasoned with a sigh, “He told me to stay up at the
house with you, but I have to get my bag if I’m staying here… I’ll
be right back, okay?”

I only nodded before he dashed off into the
tree line and I felt my hands trembling. Before I could really
think about anything, Tobias was back in front of me with a
duffle-type bag tossed over his shoulder. He stepped past me and
opened the door, holding it open until I was inside then closing it
behind us.

“Who made the tacos?” I wondered and he
chuckled as he grabbed one and shoved nearly the entire thing in
his mouth in one bite. I was thankful he at least chewed and
swallowed before trying to speak.

“Caiden came in and tossed them together in
case you woke up. He actually had just gotten back on patrol when
you came outside,” Tobias stated as he fell onto one of the
barstools and motioned for me to sit down, “And before you ask,
he’s fine.” There was that silver around his eyes that made his
eyes look like gold.

“What made you think…” I trailed off when he
grinned at me.

“It’s so obvious you liked him and were just
holding off because of Sage… I’m sorry you got caught up in that…
Sage won’t date anyone but Caiden, Caiden won’t date Sage because
he doesn’t want to hurt his brother… Rai is obviously a little…
uncontrollable.”

“How long is my blood going to stay in his
system…?” I queried, watching him chew on his bottom lip and glance
out the back door.

“Pretty much permanently… all he needs is
for you to have one drop of his blood and it will create a blood
tie… so be really careful around him… Caiden is staying open to his
brother to show him that he’s staying away from you and from Sage…
I can’t believe Rai didn’t understand what was going on…” Tobias
growl-sighed and rested his head on the countertop.

“What do you mean ‘pretty much’
permanently?” I pressed and he sighed and groaned as he rolled his
head over so that he was staring at the floor.

“Too observant…” he grumbled, looking over
at me after a long minute, “I can’t tell you that… Alex said not to
tell you anything but what I said… so I can’t tell you.”

“Then you mean he ordered it,” I countered
and he sighed again and nodded, “Okay… what can you tell me? Can
you tell me how old everyone is?”

He laughed and sat up straighter on the
stool, starting to count on his fingers, “Amy is 20; Farren is 19;
Alex, Jack, Lissa, and Rayne are 18; Aeril will be 18 in November;
Sam, Michaela, and Malcolm are 17; Sage, Kiris, and I are 16;
Caiden, Trina, and Liliana are 15; Evan is 14; Violet is 13 and
Sybil is 12. So we have a pretty wide age-range in the elite group
when you really stop and think about it.”

“You’re my age?” I wondered and he barely
shrugged his shoulders.

“My birthday is in December. So I’m a Junior
this year. Aeril, Rayne, and Michaela are Seniors, Sam and Malcolm
are Juniors… Obviously you’ll be seeing a lot of Aeril, Rayne, and
Michaela at school…” Tobias considered thoughtfully, “Well, Aeril
and Michaela at least… Alex is still....” He trailed off and bit
his lip really hard, “Did you want to go anywhere or do you want to
stay here?”

“I’m allowed to leave?” I laughed softly and
he nodded his head, “As long as you go with me…?” He grinned and
nodded again. “I, honestly, wasn’t planning on going anywhere
today… About the only place I might decide to go would be the ice
cream parlor because that place has amazing ice cream….”

“I remember the day you were there… We
couldn’t believe Jack went over and talked to you with that fierce
protective vibe your brother was giving off… If you want to go
there, we can,” he offered and I barely nodded my head.

“I didn’t realize you were there…” I
murmured and he laughed.

“Yeah… Jack definitely caught your attention
that day… that seems like such a long time ago…” he was still
talking, but he was across the room pulling on a shirt before his
fingers glided over the different sets of keys hanging on the key
rack. He sighed and took a different set of keys than what he had
originally stopped at, then turned back to face me, “Let’s go.”

I got the very distinct feeling he didn’t
want to be in the house and checked my back pockets for my phone
and wallet before I followed him into the garage, which was
normally more filled with cars than it was that day, but I guessed
most of them were at the hospital. He led us to the oldest car in
the garage, a 2006 Honda Accord and I climbed into the passenger
seat while he eyed the really beautiful brand new sports car across
from him. It took him an extra minute to get into the driver’s
seat.