Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) (5 page)
Read Outcast (Supernaturals Book 2) Online
Authors: Jennifer Reynolds
Chapter 6 ~ The Rehearsal Dinner
~~~Ryan~~~
Danielle and I parted to go to our respective restrooms, did our business, and met in the hall a few minutes later. I followed behind her as we made our way through the restaurant to the corner her father had reserved for the event. As we approached, we saw one of the hosts escorting Leigh to a small table away from our group and along the back wall where she was close enough to see everyone but not close enough to be a part of the dinner.
Leigh stared at no one as the man pulled out her chair and told her someone would be right with her to take her order. I saw the hint of tears gloss her eyes and the hitch in her breath as she sat alone, but nothing else about her demeanor suggested there was anything wrong.
Danielle froze at the sight of her sister, looked from her mother whose eyes pleaded with Danielle to not make a scene, then back to her sister sitting alone. I felt the woman’s body tense beside me, and I knew the moment she had made the decision that she was done playing by the pack’s rules. The scent of her anger and determination cloying the air was welcoming because it masked mine. I was doubly glad for the suit I wore as it covered the fur that was sprouting from my arms and back. I felt my teeth shifting, and it took everything I had in me not to curl my lips and snarl at the pack members surrounding the tables Mr. Alexander had reserved. My wolf was scratching at the surface of my skin, begging for me to release him. I could feel Danielle’s body vibrating in front of me, wanting to do the same.
The instant Danielle started to turn in the direction of her sister, a large man stepped up behind us, placed an arm around each of our shoulders, and led us toward our waiting pack. Instead of cowering, my wolf snapped at the man. I forced myself to keep my mouth shut and to keep my eyes straight ahead to prevent the man from seeing my defiance.
The older wolf said Danielle’s name jovially and spoke as if nothing were wrong, but his grip on us told me he was angry. Martin Burch, one of our more stubborn and vocal Council members had also seen Danielle’s decision and quickly stepped in to stop her. Burch looked fifty-five, but was hundreds of years older than that and had the strength to prove it.
Danielle’s face instantly shifted to docile and compliant, and she let him guide us to our corner, but her fake smile fooled no one. Despite our bravado, the Council still intimidated us. I could feel their hold on me weakening though. Danielle’s body language suggested the same for her.
We took our seats, and I did as Danielle had asked. I sat at the end of the table far from the Council and the bride and groom’s family. From my location, I could see Leigh’s every move, every breath, every blink. She wore a stunning midnight blue, ankle length wrap dress with matching heels. She had her phone out on the table. She pretended to read something on it as she waited for and ate her meal. She never once looked our way.
I did hear Danielle’s phone vibrate a few times from under the table and knew that Leigh was surreptitiously texting her. I couldn’t help but grin at the sisters’ defiance.
Martin looked my way a few times, his expression hardening with irritation every time he caught me watching Leigh. I didn’t hide the fact that I was watching her from anyone, though I think he was the only one paying enough attention to me to notice. He glowered at me in the hopes of intimidating me, but all his look did was fuel my anger and my determination. Our pack wasn’t small by any means, but I knew that we couldn’t lose too many members or others would see the town as weak and try to invade us. I didn’t want to leave the pack. Pine Hollow was my home. Unfortunately, I was finding more and more reasons not to stay.
Every so often, I wondered if it would be better if someone else seized control of the pack. We didn’t have an alpha family like so many others. We had a ruling Council made up of family members from the six families that created our pack. The longer they ruled, the harder their grip on the community got, the more power they seemed to want. Martin was the worst. His family had been the first to come to Pine Hollow, and he walked our streets with an air of superiority.
I didn’t know what the behind-the-scenes story of some of the other packs was, but I had to wonder if we would be better off with a single alpha couple, not a ruling Council. I didn’t think I wanted an outside pack taking over because the only packs wanting to do so were those who preferred war to peace, being nomads who rarely settled down, and mostly gave in to their animal sides rather than their human ones.
No one inside our pack would be willing to overthrow the Council, not even Dave who I thought was born for the role, so I couldn’t hope for that to happen, which meant that if I wanted a change, I was going to have to leave the pack. The Council couldn’t stop me from leaving if I found a pack to take me, and I was sure I had already found one. Martin could glare all he wanted. He no longer intimidated me or commanded how I thought or felt about others.
Before we were even remotely finished with our meal, Leigh had finished her sushi and glass of wine, paid for her food, and was standing to leave. I couldn’t take my eyes off her body or her expression of loneliness and resignation. Finally, right before she left the restaurant, she looked our way. First, she gave Danielle a weak smile and slightly held up her phone to indicate that they would converse via text messaging, then she chanced a glance my direction. Apparently, she hadn’t expected to catch me watching her because her eyes widened at the sight of me taking in her beauty. She turned sharply and walked hurriedly from the restaurant. It took everything I had in me to stay seated. I couldn’t cause a disruption by following after her, but I couldn’t stop my mouth from watering at the sight of her ass walking away from me.
The shifters sitting next to me could probably sense my emotions, my desire, my anger, my disgust, but I didn’t give a shit. They, too, wouldn’t dare cause a scene, but I knew once we were back on pack territory, one or all of the Council members would be on my doorstep to remind me of what I was and wasn’t allowed to do.
“What do you mean, ‘what is going on with Ryan and me?’ To my knowledge, nothing is going on between the two of us,” I said, giving her a questioning look. I didn’t have to feign ignorance of anything since I was telling the truth.
She looked at me for a long time before saying, “There isn’t, is there? I could have sworn that there was something.”
“Why would you think there was something between us? We barely know each other, and everyone from Pine Hollow hates me. I’m sure he’s no exception.”
“Oh, he’s definitely an exception, and not everyone from there hates you.”
“Yeah they do.”
“Dave doesn’t hate you.”
“Only because he loves you too much to hate me.”
“That isn’t true. I mean, yes, he loves me, but his feelings for me don’t sway him when it comes to other people. I love Maddie, but he finds her annoying.”
“You may love her, but she annoys you. She annoys most people.”
“True. Still, I’m not the reason Dave doesn’t hate you. He doesn’t have any feelings toward you one way or the other. He doesn’t know you; therefore, he has no reason to love or hate you. He isn’t like the rest of them who hate because people tell them to hate. Neither, apparently, is Ryan. As a matter of fact, he seems to find you quite attractive.”
“He does not. None of those people do.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice how he couldn’t keep his eyes off you during dinner.”
“The way that Martin had me escorted away from the table made me look like a freak. He was probably waiting to see what else I would do to humiliate myself.”
“I don’t think so. When we walked in the room and saw the host seating you at a different table, Ryan was pissed. Before he and I went to the bathroom, I asked him to sit with you, and he was more than happy to do so. I think he has a thing for you.”
“He doesn’t know me enough to like me.”
“I heard about what happened this afternoon in the lobby. He wouldn’t have defied those people that way if he didn’t feel something for you.”
I laid my head on the back of the sofa and sighed. “I wish he hadn’t done that. I’m sure he made more than a few enemies.”
“I don’t think he cared,” Danielle said, looking deeply into her glass of wine.
“What do you know that I don’t?” I asked, shifting positions to face her and taking a swig of my beer.
“I don’t know much, but he said something tonight that…”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing horrible or anything that showed his undying devotion to you, but I think he’s attracted to you, truly attracted. I don’t know, but if he asks you out, I think you should say yes, if you’re attracted to him, that is.”
“You know I am. I have been since the first time I saw him, but you said he was an asshole and that I should stay far away from him.”
“I was just pissed off at the time. Someone at that party said something heinous, and I took it out on everyone. Ryan didn’t say it. Didn’t agree with it. Dave even said Ryan snubbed the girl who said it and later on asked about you. I think he even sought me out in the hopes of meeting you, but you had already left.”
“You never told me any of this.”
“I didn’t because I didn’t know what his intentions were. At the time, I didn’t know him well. Yeah, he spent a lot of time with Dave, but not with Dave and me together. Everything Dave said about him was good. He didn’t sleep around. Didn’t party too much. But he’s from Pine Hollow, and everyone there seems to have a grudge against you.”
“Which is so fucked up. I mean, I’ve never stepped a toe into Pine Hollow. How can an entire town hate me so much?”
“I don’t know. Everyone there’s wound up tight. I don’t know why Mom and Dad care about that place so much. Those people have disliked Mom’s family long before you came along.”
“None of it matters,” I said with a sigh before downing the rest of my beer and rising to get another one.
“So you haven’t changed your mind?” she asked, refilling her glass.
“Why would I? Your wedding has proven that things aren’t changing, only getting worse.”
“But Ryan…”
“But Ryan nothing. A long distance relationship would never work. I’m not staying here long enough to get to know him to see if I would even want to have a relationship with him. We’ve barely said a handful of words to each other in all the years you and Dave have been together. His being nice to me during a wedding when most people feel compelled to be nice to others while in public doesn’t change my opinion about him, Mom and Dad, our family, or the nasty-ass people from Pine Hollow.”
“I think the two of you could have something if you gave him a chance,” she said dejectedly.
“How could we have a chance? I have a life and a job in Washington. Better than anything I had here, especially with what Mrs. Weston is paying me. I need that job to help start my writing career. Besides, you told me Mom and Dad are moving back to Pine Hollow. Where would I live while I got back on my feet if I decided to come home?”
“If you and Ryan could somehow spend some time together and found that you got along well, would you consider coming home? Because if you did, I could help you find a place to stay. Mom and Dad might even let you stay in the house.”
I should have kept my mouth shut. I knew she would jump on anything I said that remotely suggested that I would come home. I loved my sister, but damn she could be relentless.
“No, Danielle, I told you. I don’t ever plan on coming back. I’m not welcome here anymore.”
“I want you here.”
“And you are in that boat all by yourself.”
“I’m not. I think Ryan would want you to stay as well.”
“What’s with you and Dave’s best friend tonight? Are you hiding something from me or trying to force us on each other in the hopes of convincing me to move back?”
“Neither.”
“Yeah right. You know me better than that. I would never make a decision based on a guy. Not even one with an ass like Ryan’s,” I said dreamily, finally feeling the beers I’d been drinking.
“I knew it. You’ve been checking him out.”
“Of course, you knew it. I’ve told you for years I thought he was hot.”
“Yeah, but that’s the first time you’ve said anything about his ass. Have you touched it? Did you cop a feel in the elevator?”
I laughed at her eagerness and the flush creeping up her neck that said she was as tipsy as I was.
“No, but I wanted to so badly. All of those men from Pine Hollow are hot. I can’t believe you were able to choose just one,” I said, trying to steer the conversation away from me.
“I know, right? Don’t get me wrong, I sampled one or two before settling.”
“You did not,” I said, wondering if she really had. She hadn’t said anything about any of the guys from Pine Hollow except Dave. She dated a few in high school, but no one else that I knew of. Had Ryan been one of the guys she sampled? The anger that bubbled in me at the thought had me turning toward my sister and, for the first time in my life, wanting to slug her. The new emotion scared me. I had no reason to be that possessive over a man that wasn’t even mine.
Before I could ask my question, she said, “I didn’t sample, sample them. I did taste a few, and you can stop giving me the death glare. Ryan wasn’t one of them. I was tempted, but I met Dave the same night I met Ryan. The instant I saw Dave, I knew he was the one for me.”
“Really, the instant?” I asked, settling into the sofa with her leaning against me.
“Yep. Don’t you believe in love at first sight?”
Ryan’s image flashed in my mind, but I shooed it away. “No. I don’t think women like me ever experience that.”
“What do you mean, ‘women like you?’ What kind of woman are you?”
“Curvy, plus size, fat, and not the cute size fourteen curvy either. I only fit into a size eighteen on extremely good days. Men don’t fall for women my size.”
“Yes, they do, and all of the time. You simply haven’t met the right man yet. Well, I think you have, you just aren’t willing to give him a chance.”
I didn’t reply to this. I couldn’t argue with her. She was my sister. She was born to love me, to think I’m beautiful, to want to stick up for me. We sat like that for a long time—her imagining what the following day would be like, I assume, and me trying to picture what a relationship with a man like Ryan might be like.
At some point, I fell asleep. I woke to the alarm on my phone blaring the next morning, and my sister was gone. I was not happy about missing out on seeing her get ready, but I wouldn’t be welcome, so I got up and got myself ready to face the day.