Becoming Alpha (18 page)

“Finally! Teresa Elizabeth McCaide. You called your brother but not me! And you tried to run away. What is going on over there?”

“Sorry.” My voice cracked.

She took a deep breath. “Oh, baby. What happened?”

“Nothing. I’m totally, one hundred percent, a-okay.” The wobble in my voice told my mother what she needed to know—that I was one hundred percent lying.

“Oh, Tess—”

“Mom. This isn’t the place for me. There has to be somewhere else. Axel said something about the cousins?”

She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, baby. The cousins can help, but they can’t teach you what you need to know right now. If there’s a chance that you can get a handle on your wolf without your cousins’ help, then you have to try.”

She was clearly mistaken. My emotions were all over the place, and I didn’t feel one bit like myself. “There’s no controlling this. I get so angry, and then—it’s just bad. I’m afraid of what I’ve become.”

Dad said something in the background. There was a rustle before I heard his voice. “Princess. I’ve talked to your mother’s family, and your brother is right—they could help, but I don’t think it’s the best place for you right now. We’ve kept you away from them for a reason. Right now you have some freedom, even if it doesn’t feel like it. If you got to them in the state that you’re in right now, I’m worried for what they’ll do to you. If there were another place, a better one, then I’d tell you. But Michael is there for you. He’s a good guy. You can trust him.”

“I thought you were mad at him.”

“I was, but I also am your father and have to put aside any anger to figure out what’s best for you now.” He paused. “You know I wouldn’t leave you somewhere without going over every option. Right?”

I sighed. “Yeah. I know that.” But what was up with the cousins? I thought we moved here to be closer to them.

“Listen, Michael wants me to give it time, but I need to see you for myself. I negotiated him down. We’re coming for a visit in two days. Can you hang until then?”

“Sure,” I said, and hoped it wasn’t total bull. Soft taps came from my door. “I gotta go. Someone’s here.”

“I love you, kiddo. We all do.”

“Love you, too.” I ended the call and plugged my phone in to charge. I was stalling and I knew it. I didn’t want to know who was on the other side of the door.

“Tessa,” Meredith’s voice came from outside. Three more knocks. “Tess? It’s me. Can I come in?”

“Is it just you?”

“Yes.”

I was relieved it was only her and disappointed at the same time. We were going to have to stop running away from each other at some point. “It’s open.”

She stopped at the foot of my bed and shoved her hands in her pockets. “I heard class didn’t go so well.”

I half-laughed. “You could say that.”

“Well, at least you got me out of Meta.”

“How?”

“Mr. Dawson pulled me. He’s worried about you.”

I guessed now was as good a time as any for that apology that I owed her. Taking responsibility for your actions was part of growing up, but that didn’t make it easy. “About earlier…I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

She held up a hand. “Don’t even worry about that. We all snap sometimes and I was way out of line. I don’t know what happened between you and Dastien, but you can trust me. I won’t tell anyone. I swear.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I know it’s none of my business, but you might feel better if you talked to someone about it.”

We sat there for a moment in the quiet. Bottling it up was making it worse. I looked back at the poster hanging over my bed. Meredith had dealt with crazy just as long as I had. A different breed of crazy for sure, but she’d understand better than anyone I’d met.

So I totally spilled my guts. The only problem was that once I started talking, I couldn’t stop. From my past, and embarrassing lack of friends, to moving to Texas and meeting Dastien—even about my visions. She sat on my bed and listened, with a blank look on her face.

When I finished, she didn’t say anything for a minute. I chewed on my nails as I waited.

Finally, she leaned back on the bed and let out a huge breath. “Wow. No wonder you snapped. What Dastien did is unforgivable. Inexcusable. And completely unlike him. I mean, it’s unbelievable. After I met you I didn’t believe all the stuff about you seducing him, you just seem more real than that. But I thought it was at least consensual.” She got up and started pacing beside the bed. “Why would he do that? What was he thinking! To risk his life and yours…I can’t believe it. It doesn’t make sense.”

I opened my mouth, ready to defend myself, but she held up her hand.

“No. No. I believe you. But I’m blown away. I can’t imagine what you must be going through right now. I thought you were just having trouble adjusting, but your reactions make so much more sense now.” She collapsed on the bed.

I don’t know what I’d expected when I started telling her my story, but for some reason, I didn’t think it’d be sympathy.

“And I have a working theory about your visions.”

I laughed. “Let’s hear it.”

She held up a finger. “One, I think they’re going to come back. Some of the really powerful werewolves have special abilities. There’s a Were I heard about that could move things with his mind. But since you’re different now, they might be different.”

The sense of relief was palpable. “Really?”

“Yep.” She held up a second finger. “And tied to that is my second point—werewolves have stronger minds. We’re not like humans, open for anyone to take a peek. It’s why we’re such good hunters. I mean what if there was a bad witch around? How would we be able to sneak up on her?”

This made sense, in an insane way. “Seriously?”

“Totally. I bet once you get settled with your wolf, you’ll be able to see more and you’ll have more control than you did as a witch.”

“I wasn’t a witch.”

“You might not have known it, but that doesn’t make it untrue. And now you’re like a werewitch or something.”

Oh God. I wasn’t touching that one. I had more than enough issues to deal with.

“By the way, forget what that idiot Nikki said. In case you didn’t notice the resemblance, she’s Imogene’s little sister.”

It made so much more sense now. “What a bitch.”

“I know, right? I’ve never gotten along with those two or any of their crew. You should’ve heard what they said when I put the blue streaks in my hair.” She patted my leg. “Get up.”

“What? Where are we going?”

“Last class of the day and we’ve got it together.”

“No way in hell am I going.” I put a pillow over my face. “I’ve had enough for one day.” It came out muffled, but I didn’t care.

“You can’t hide. You can’t let them win.” She took away the pillow and stared down at me. “This will be good for you. You’ll punch and kick all that anger out, and then the yoga will center you. It’s a must. Plus, I’ll be there and so will Chris, Shannon, and Adrian. It’ll be fun.”

“Martial arts really isn’t my thing.”

“It might not have been, but it is now. Trust me.”

“But doesn’t Dastien teach—”

“Crap. I didn’t think of that.” She paced beside the bed. “I hope Mr. Dawson is smart enough to sub out Dastien from our class, but if not, we need a plan.” She stopped mid-step. An evil grin spread across her face. “Oh. I’m brilliant. I was going to pair up with you, but if Dastien is there, you have to pair up with Chris. It’ll drive Dastien crazy.”

“Wouldn’t that be using Chris?”

She waved a hand through the air. “He won’t mind.” She went through my drawers and pulled out my usual yoga attire—stretchy fold-over pants, a sports bra, and a tank. “I’m going to get changed. I’ll be back here in two and you’d better be up and ready to do some damage.”

I shed my jeans and T-shirt. The thought of doing martial arts in front of class was incredibly intimidating. Not that everyone would stop to watch me make an idiot of myself, but they could. My day so far had included more than my fair share of being stared at.

I was slipping on my kicks when she rushed back into my room. “Let’s go,” she said as she grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the door.

“I’m coming. Jeez. This can’t be that exciting.”

“If Dastien’s there, it’s going to be more than exciting.”

Oh, perfect. She just wanted to watch the drama unfold. “For you, maybe.”

“No maybe about it.”

“Glad my drama can entertain you.”

She pulled her blue and black hair in a high ponytail. “Me too. It was way more boring here before you came.”

I probably shouldn’t have liked that, but I did. Making someone else happy made me feel good.

Maybe this class wasn’t going to be so bad. I trusted Meredith. She was the first person, not counting family, that knew about my abilities, and she hadn’t freaked out.

How hard could it really be to get through one martial arts class?

The scent of sweat, plastic, and new wax hit me when Meredith opened the door to the gym. The center of the shiny hardwood floor was covered in bright blue mats. A fight was going on in the middle of them. They were moving so fast that I almost couldn’t make out their faces, but Chris and Adrian were kicking each other’s ass. They were stripped down to a pair of gym shorts. A few guys had their shirts on, but that seemed to be the norm for most of the guys there.

They were managing to block all the hits, until Chris flipped Adrian on his back. The slam echoed off the walls. A few people clapped and cheered as Adrian kipped-up effortlessly and punched Chris in the stomach. The sound of flesh hitting flesh made me break out in a sweat.

Shit. They weren’t kidding about fighting. They were amazing.

And there was no way I could do this. I started to walk back out the doors. “Tomorrow would really work better for my schedule,” I said when Meredith called me on it.

She grabbed the back of my yoga pants, stopping my retreat. “You’re going to be fine. I’m sure Dastien will start you out with something small. Right, Daz?”

Dastien strode toward us. He wore sweatpants, no shoes, no shirt. I’d never seen anyone with a six-pack in real life before. My heart started pounding.

Holy hotness, Batman. Someone call the fire department. This guy was out of control.

“I thought we talked about you not calling me Daz.” Dastien crossed his arms, which made his biceps look huge. No wonder that tree had splintered earlier.

A pitiful whiney noise escaped me before I could stifle it. I covered my mouth with my hand.

The sounds of Adrian and Chris’ fight stopped. I peeked around Dastien to see my classmates watching the drama unfold. I guessed Meredith had been right about that. Funny how I never thought I’d star in my own personal soap opera.

Chris ran over to us. “Everything okay?”

I said no at the same time that Dastien said yes.

“She smells scared—”

“I know what she smells like,” Dastien said too quietly.

“Gross!” I said. “That’s really fucking disgusting. Can we not discuss what your super-schnozes are smelling right now? Kay. Thanks.”

Dastien sighed and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, they had gone from amber to bright yellow. “I was going to teach her, but maybe it’s easier if I don’t. Meredith?”

“I suck at explaining. Chris should do it.” She nudged me.

“I’m in,” Chris said.

“No,” Dastien said.

This was going nowhere fast.

Shannon joined us. “You ready, love?” she asked Meredith.

“
Don’t leave me
,” I mouthed to Meredith.

“You’re going to do fine. Kick Chris’ ass for me.” They walked to the other side of the gym, and started stretching.

Jerks. Leaving me alone to deal with the boys.

I glanced from Chris to Dastien and back again. “So, what now?”

“Fine.” Dastien crossed his arms. His biceps bulged and I wanted to squeeze them to see if they were as firm as they looked.

Dastien cleared his throat, drawing my attention to his face. I blushed at his smirk. I hoped I hadn’t been too obvious with my staring, but I had a feeling I’d been utterly transparent. Traitorous hormones.

“I’ll be watching you,” Dastien said.

That wasn’t going to help me concentrate at all.

“Chris is the best student fighter in the school, but he’ll go slow with you.” I made sure to keep contact with his eyes as he talked. It was much harder than it should’ve been. “I’m assuming you’ve never taken any kind of class like this?”

“Does a Tae Bo video count?” I said.

“No,” they said together.

That’s what I thought. “Then, no.”

“Okay, Chris. Start with basic stretches, then stances. Make sure she doesn’t break anything when she tries to throw a punch,” Dastien said. “If she gets hurt, I’ll make you hurt.”

Yikes. Poor Chris. Chances were I’d probably hurt myself, but it wouldn’t be his fault.

“I’ll take good care of her.” Chris winked at me as soon as Dastien walked away.

I looked Chris up and down. He’d put back on his shirt, which I was glad for. Dastien could possibly classify as the jealous type. But something struck me as off. “I thought you said you were artsy.”

“I am.”

“Artsy people don’t fight like that.”

“Maybe, but I’m a werewolf.” He grinned with all his teeth.

I stared at the ceiling. “Mad. That’s what everyone is here.”

Chris put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward the mats. A growl echoed through the suddenly quiet gym. Dastien was watching us, as promised.

Chris started moving his arm, but I reached up and held it in place. “Where we headed, sensei?” I asked Chris.

Chris and Dastien were in some sort of a staring contest. Chris’s blue eyes flared bright. Neither of them noticed me. Chris dropped his gaze to the ground and stepped away from me. “Let’s go over there. Don’t want to be too close to anyone else.” His hands were balled into tight fists, knuckles white.

“What was that about?”

“Nothing.” The smile he gave me was a shadow of his usual one.

“He’s…what was the word you used…more alpha than you. Right?”

“He’s more alpha than everyone. Except maybe Mr. Dawson. But no one knows for sure.”