“Uh… what is it you want me to do?” I asked, feeling like I was going to regret this.
The vampire put his hand to his pants pocket, the flash of fang gone. “Simple. I want you to use you to discover who I can trust and who I can’t in my coterie.”“Right…” I said, dragging out the word. Was he serious? How exactly was I going to do that? “Uhm, despite this might put my chances of surviving this encounter to an all-time low, I can’t do that.”“You can’t?” The vampire almost sounded surprised. “No, that’s not how werewolves work, especially me. I told you I’m an omega. I barely above a human level.”The vampire stared at me, his face a blank slate. “I see,” he said and clicked his tongue. “Yeah…” I said slowly, preparing myself to run. I didn’t think I could outrun a vampire, but maybe if I was able to get back into the alpha’s territory, he wouldn’t dare trespass. “You don’t know what you are, do you?”My brow furrowed as I stared at him. “Uhm,” I started. It was stupid to argue with him, but I couldn’t help myself. “Actually, I do.”The stoniness of his face changed, and he made a soft, quick chuckle. “If I say you can weed out the snakes in my people, you can, little wolf.”I took a breath to argue when he stopped me again.“You may not know what you can do, but I do, and you will do it for me. I will even be so generous as to pay you for your time.”“Are you insane?” Again, not productive to my wanting to get out of this alive, but a girl had to ask. “In some circles, I suppose some call me that,” he replied coolly. “However, I am not. Now enough dithering. Accept my offer or become my next meal. I don’t like the taste of your kind’s blood, but it’s been a long time since I last fed.”With a scoff, I tried to find the words to express my frustration. “I can’t… I mean, I wish I could… but I can’t.” Once more, a single dark eyebrow lifted. “Yes or no, little wolf. That I have given you this much time is a testament to how willing to repay my debts, but my patience is running thin.”Again, I stared at him with a furrowed brow. Repay debts? What was he talking about? “I don’t understand.” Now there was a hint of exasperation in his expression. “Clearly, but that is not my problem. Accept my offer or don’t. No more questions.” There was a hint of threat in his voice.Swallowing, I glanced behind him towards the alpha territory, then back to him. This seemed very much like a deal with the devil, but I didn’t have a choice. My stomach twisted, and I gave him a shaky nod. “Okay, I’ll do it.” A sliver of doubt filled me and I quickly added, “But I won’t do anything to hurt my pack or put them in danger.” The eyebrow lifted yet again. “Curious. So much concern for others who, as you’ve stated, deem you as unimportant.” “It’s not about them. It’s about me. I won’t do that to them,” I argued. “And here we are again,” the vampire said with a little shake of his head. “Fine, I won’t ask to do anything against your pack.” “Then,” I said, but paused for a breath or two. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was going to be a bad idea. But when did I ever let something being a bad idea stop me? That’s how I got into this mess in the first place. “I accept.”“Then let’s get introductions out of the way,” the vampire said, his expression softening somewhat. “I’m Alexander Dietrich, but you may call me Alec.” His tone and mannerisms were almost normal as he introduced himself that for a brief nano-second I forgot he was a vampire. The thought sent a chill down my spin. Vampires really were the apex predator. “Robin Douglas,” I replied and a flash of emotion crossed his face, but it was too quick for me to even guess at what it was or what it meant.“Well, Robin, met me on the edge of the forest after school tomorrow and we’ll begin.” Before I have time to say anything, he turned and vanished into the woods. I stood there, open mouth. Did that just happen? I looked around me, suddenly realizing there were four bodies to the left of me. Right. It happened and I’m standing here like an idiot. I realized that if someone showed up, I’d be suspect number one, so I grabbed my back pack and ran. I didn’t stop running until I stepped into the small residential street and I only stopped because I didn’t want to appear psychotic or anything that might bring attention to myself. Forcing myself to walk at a normal walking pace, I tried to wrap my mind around everything that had just happened. It seemed so unreal and yet all too real at the same time.I didn’t see him until he grabbed me by the shoulders, his face in front of mine as he called me name. I blinked a few times with another ‘was this be real?’ moment. “Shaun,” I said, more in a question that a statement. A wave of relief washed over his face. “Robin, what happened to you? Are you okay?”“What?” I said, still confused as to why he was standing there in front of me.“You look like you crawled out of a zombie movie,” he said, giving me a once over. I did the same and realized the state I was in. My clothes had huge holes in with a mixture of mud and dirt all over them. “Oh, right, I am in pretty bad shape.”“What happened?” He asked again, sounding worried about me. Shaun Hunter, alpha’s son, was worried about me? My heart and stomach did a little tango that left me light headed. “It’s nothing,” I said before I realized how stupid of a thing that was to say. I was a mess. This wasn’t nothing. As if reading my mind, Shaun said just as much. “Right. Yeah. Of course,” I said, feeling like a real idiot now. “What I meant is I’m not hurt or anything.” “That good,” Shaun said, relaxing even more. His hands dropped from my shoulders, but there was still a hint of worry in his eyes. “So what happened?” A spike of panic sliced through me. What was I going to say? I couldn’t tell him the truth. I swore to the vampire - Alec that I wouldn’t tell anyone. “What happened?” I repeated, tucking my hair behind my ear. “Uhm,” I said, drawing it out. Perhaps if I told a half-truth, that would be enough. “I fell… in a hole while walking in the woods.” Shaun gave me an incredulous look, and I realized it did sound kind of dumb. “Yeah, a hole. Sounds crazy, right?” I said with a laugh. “I guess with all the rain we were getting, it must have caused a sink hole or something.” Now that was much more plausible. It wasn’t uncommon around here for a sink hole open up in the more swampy areas. Usually they weren’t all that big, but there were a few lakes formed that way. The incredulity on Shaun’s face lessened but didn’t go away. “And your okay?”“Yeah, totally. I got a cut when I fell in, as you can see,” I said, waving a hand over the spots of blood on my clothes. “But I shifted and healed that up and I’m as good as new.” As much as I wanted to stay there talking to Shaun, I was exhausted and needed of a shower. “So… I should get home. I don’t want my aunt to worry.” I nearly choked on that last part. Like Aunt Lauren would ever worry about me. The fact she hung up on me still hurt and pissed me off. “Oh right,” Shaun said, moving to my side. “I’ll walk with you.”I stared at him, shocked beyond words. He hadn’t spoken to me in years and now all the sudden he wants me to walk me home? Was that hole a portal to an alternate universe? Was I known in some kind of multiverse craziness or something? “Uhm, you’re going to walk with me? But don’t you have like important alpha-y stuff to do?”His expression soured for a fraction of a second, then it changed to a laid back one with a small, closed-mouth smile. “Not right now and I want to make sure you get home alright.”Again, my heart and stomach fluttered and my breath caught in my throat. I nodded, trying to grin like an idiot. “Alright, sure.” “Great, let’s go,” he said with a bright grin and I lost the fight not to smile.Shaun and I walked down the quiet residential road. As we walked, I kept stealing glances toward at him. Shaun Hunter was walking me home. I swear the way this day was going, not even aliens landing their flying saucer right down in front of me would surprise me. “Oh,” Shaun said, breaking the silence. “Uhm, so the school librarian told me you have their copy of Monday’s Trouble.”My brow furrowed. “Uh, yeah, I have it,” I replied, not sure why he was asking me about a book. “Cool. When you’re done with it, can you give it to me? Been wanting to read that one for a while.” Was he serious? Not only did Shaun read books, but he wanted to read that one? That was like the top tier ‘nerds only’ type of book. Okay, so perhaps today could still surprise me. I smiled at the weirdness of the day. Weirdness I survived. “Yeah, of course. I can bring it to school tomorrow. I’ve read it like a hundred times by now.” “Yeah?” He looked excited by the idea. My smile grew. “Yeah. No problem.”“Gr
Before leaving my room, I stopped to check myself in the mirror. I usually didn’t do a mirror check before heading out, but Robin said she’d bring me the book to school today and, well, I wanted to look good. The thought of Robin made my heart race with excitement and my stomach twist with guilt. I should’ve told her that we were mates by now.I knew it was wrong to keep it from her. It’s not like I have a problem with her. No, that not it at all. Robin is perfect. Dad. Dad is the problem. He can’t stand weakness and with Robin being an omega, I was afraid he’d insist I reject her.Just the idea of rejecting Robin made my soul hurt, and if I refused to obey an order from Dad… I shook my head to get rid of those kinds of thoughts. What Dad thought of Robin was a problem for another day. For now, I’d just enjoy what time I got to spend with Robin. As I left my room, I took the elevator instead of the stairs. On the way to the ground floor, I flipped through the book I’d just finished r
I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this. When was following a vampire ever been a good idea? The darkness underneath the trees didn’t help settle my nerves at all. The day had been a deeply gray with bouts of rain. Oddly enough, the thought that if it did rain, the trees would keep a lot of the water off me helped settle me some. “So,” I said, drawing out the word. “What exactly am I going to be doing?”“You’ll be learning to run, little wolf,” the vampire replied. He looked nearly the exact same as when I met him yesterday. Did he have a change of clothes?“Right, could you be less vague, maybe?”“No.”I scowled at his back. “Then at least tell me where we’re going?”He glanced back at me with a look that screamed. ‘Are you an idiot?’ before answering me. “To my territory.” The tone was nothing short of condescending. “I know what your alpha is capable of, and I will not spend a minute longer near his borders than I have to.”What he was capable of? What did that mean? I tried t
I couldn’t lie to Shaun; not only because, as an alpha, he was even better at detecting lies than the average werewolf, but as sad as it was, Shaun is the closest thing to a friend I have. “I, uh…” I started as I tried to think of a way out of this that didn’t end with me being kicked out of the pack. Yes, I wanted to leave, but I didn’t want to be exiled. That was making me unwelcome in any other pack. With no better solution, I fell back on my usual tactic — lie with the truth. “I was meeting up with him.”Worry marred Shaun’s face. “Why?”“He’s hired me for a job.” And before he could ask, I quickly added, “Nothing that’s going to hurt the pack. I would never do anything to hurt us, but he has some things that he doesn’t want his people doing, so…” I shrugged.“Are you insane?” Shaun snapped, looking at me as if I was in fact insane.His expression and tone kinda hurt, so I snapped right back at him. “No, I’m unemployed in a town where no one will hire me.”He looked surprised, but
My lips met with Shaun’s and his surprise echoed through me. His lips were soft and warm. That softness and warmth echoed through me when he not only didn’t pull away from me, but kissed me back. The surprise was gone in a flash and instead turned to attraction. He most definitely liked me. Knowing that made our kiss all the sweeter. I closed my eyes and let the emotions, both his and mine, fill me and I forgot about everything. I forgot about school, my uncaring aunt, horrible cousins, and Alec the vampire. It was wonderful. Butterflies fluttered around in my stomach and my heart raced. I could stay like this forever and be happy.When the kiss ended and Shaun took a step back from me, it was all too soon. His eyes were a darker shade than before the kiss started and he gave me a smile I’d never seen before as he rubbed the back of his neck. It was a small, kind of shy smile that made him seem almost bashful. It was something I’d never seen from him. “We should get you home,” he said
I stared at my notes from science class as if it was an old ancient tablet with a language engraved on it that none ever spoke or knew about today. How is it possible that none of this not make sense? I wrote all of it. Myself. Today. Yet, as I continued to stare at them, they made no more sense than they had when I first tried to study this evening. Sighing, I set them aside. Perhaps my handwriting or note taking wasn’t the issue. My mind hadn’t stopped racing since I’d gotten home. It upset me Shaun seemed to have forgotten about me after school, but I couldn’t shake the feeling as if I was being stupid. Shaun didn’t owe me anything. In fact, until a couple of days ago, we didn’t even talk to each other and the kiss? Well, perhaps that was just what Shaun did. Go around and kiss girls. The thought made my stomach twist. That didn’t seem like Shaun. He wasn’t your typical cocky alpha that liked to play with girls like that. With another sigh, I leaned against my headboard and stare
I sighed and looked around us. It seemed I had no choice and if I was honest; I wasn’t feeling particularly loyal to my decision to stop working with Alec. “You’re the boss,” I said as I got in and closed the door. As soon as I was inside and the door closed, Alec nodded to the driver. Wordlessly, he began driving. Silence hung over us like a shroud of dread. I never gone to the principal’s office, but I was betting it was a lot like this.My nervousness spiked up when I realized we were heading straight into vampire territory. “Oh, we’re going into…” I started, then looked over at Alec. “Uhm, are you sure this is safe? Will I need some kind of protection?”Alec looked at me, confused. “Protection?”“Yeah, like, do you need to put your scent on me or something to keep the other vampires from attacking me?”“Put my scent on you?” He repeated with disgust. “This is not a cat/dog scenario. Werewolves aren’t big dogs and we’re not cats. We do not rub off our scent on others.” His tone now
At my request, the driver stopped at the corner of my street to avoid any drama with my aunt, or, at least, that was the plan. As soon as I stepped inside, my aunt turned and glared at me from the couch. “Where have you been?”With a shrug, I replied, “around.”She shut off the t.v. and stood. “Around? What kind of answer is that?”“An honest one.” Technically, I wasn’t lying. I had been around places: School, in a car, on the other side of town, in a vampire den. So I had actually been around.“Young lady, I demand you tell me where you’ve been and what you think you’re doing coming home this late.”This late? It wasn’t even eleven yet. Alisha and Declan both stayed out until around midnight. Unable to help myself, I said, “What do you care?”“Of course I do,” she said, and I caught the hints of a lie. “You are under my guardianship, after all.”“That didn’t matter to you a couple of days ago when I called you and you hung up on me.”My aunt scoffed, crossing her arms. “I did not.”“