Jacob waited patiently in the parking lot for school to be let out. He’d spent the day out doing a lot of nothing. He realized without having Madison around, or any of the pack, there just wasn’t much to do in West Lakes. He heard the final bell ring and saw the students flooding out through the main doors. Most were heading to the buses parked along the curbside but there were several walking down the sidewalk toward the student parking lot. One was Madison. He got out of his car and stood by the rear bumper so that she would see him when she came around the corner.
Madison wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on around her. The events of the morning still played fresh in her mind and the fact that nothing had been resolved was enough to make her even more frustrated. She turned down the final row of cars and looked up as a car went past. She waved as she recognized the girl from her English class. Madison looked down the row of cars to where she h
Zach and Emily stopped at a local bar and grill on their way back into town. It was time for dinner and neither wanted to go home and cook.“Oh, look.” Emily pointed to the poster that was stuck to the announcement wall. Zach took two steps backward and looked at the picture she was pointing to. “It’s the band that played at the school dance. ”Zach looked more closely at the picture and now recognized the group. “Yeah, they played the eighties stuff, right?”Emily nodded her head. “Yep. I’ll have to tell Aunt Maureen that they’re playing close. Maybe she can have a night out on the big town.” Emily chuckled at her last comment. West Lakes was one of the smallest communities she’d ever lived in, like nothing ever happened here of significance.They grabbed a booth to take a seat and a waitress came over with menus. They were looking at what to order when they heard the chime
“Jacob,” Madison whispered in his ear and shook his shoulder. He grumbled something, then rolled over on the other side, pulling the pillow over his head. “Jacob,” she yelled a little bit louder, hopefully not enough that her mom would hear, and then pushed him until he was halfway off the bed. He pulled the pillow off and looked up at her with sleep still wanting to take over his eyes. “It’s time to get up for school.” She pointed to the clock, which showed they had one hour before classes. “I’m going to take a shower.” She wrapped herself in a sheet and walked over to her small closet. Madison was sifting through her hanging clothes when two strong, warm arms went around her waist.Jacob started to nibble on his mate’s ear and tried to pull the tightly held sheet off of her. After being unsuccessful in his morning endeavor, he kissed her one last time on the cheek, then backed off. “I’ll be back i
It was lunchtime before the group got to mingle together again. Madison was slumped in her chair, as were Emily and Alex. None had an appetite, well, except for the guys who could eat whether there was stress or not.“This is like one of the worst days I’ve had in a long time.” Madison put her head down on the table on top of her hands.“Maybe your insurance will pay for it and you can get a new one.” Alex tried to make the best of the whole situation.“I liked my car, it was so me.” Madison lifted her head to look up at Alex. “Plus, my prom dress was in there, so looks like I won’t be going.”“I don’t know if Zach and I are either.” Emily needed to talk to her friends about what had happened this morning.Both girls’ attention switched over to Emily. “Why’s that?” Alex asked, now becoming a little uncomfortable with the idea of h
“So, what was the big fighting event with Brindle all about?” Madison wanted to get this conversation out of the way before he took her home.“I questioned her if she did anything to your car.” Jacob really didn’t want to get into the whole Brindle situation right now, he’d just gotten himself unstressed thinking that she might be the one causing problems.“And?” Madison wasn’t going to let this go. If Brindle was behind any of what had happened, the underwear in Jacob’s car, the text messages, and now her car destroyed, well then if he didn’t take care of it she surely would.“She said no.”“Obviously you didn’t believe her or you wouldn’t have been screaming at her in the hallway.” Madison didn’t understand why he couldn’t just come right out and tell her what Brindle had said.Jacob was fed up with this whole conversation. He knew th
Zach pulled the Mustang up to the curb in front of Emily’s house. Her aunt’s car was parked in the driveway, so they knew she was home and probably ready to talk.Emily let out a deep sigh. “Ready?” She glanced over at Zach, whose facial complexion appeared to have taken on an ashen appearance. He nodded his head and slowly got out of the vehicle. Emily gripped his hand as they walked up to the front door. It looked as though he needed more support with this matter right now than she did. “It’ll be all right.” She squeezed his fingers tightly and opened the front door.Aunt Maureen heard the front door open and the sound of two sets of footsteps coming down the hall. She sat on the barstool at the kitchen counter, waiting for Emily and Zach to walk in. She gave them a small smile as they both walked into the room and motioned for them to come sit down with her. “How was school?” She decided to start the conversation
“It’s positive,” Zach answered Aunt Maureen’s question, then looked at Emily for confirmation. She nodded her head yes and sat back down on the stool.“How did you know?” Aunt Maureen wasn’t sure as to how Zach figured it out so quickly.“He picked up on my feelings and maybe some thoughts.” Emily put her head down on the counter and closed her eyes. She was trying to get her feelings under control and put some rationalization into what she needed to do.“How was he able to do that?” Aunt Maureen was all full of questions now.Emily picked her head back up and glanced over at her aunt. “Because we’re mates and once mates become bonded they’re able to sense feelings and read thoughts from each other.”Aunt Maureen shook her head. This was information she had no clue about since she mainly worked with vampires and they didn’t tell her much about what speci
It was Sunday, the day after prom, and the day Emily, Zach, and Aunt Maureen were going to talk to his father. The crew decided not to do anything special last night, since they all blew off the prom, and just watched a movie over at Danny’s house. They all decided to be there when Zach and Emily did their big announcement to the alpha. Jacob and Danny both said they’d back him up with the whole bonding and would confess also.“Does he suspect anything?” Emily’s anxiety level was being pushed to its upper limits the closer Zach drove to his house where his dad was waiting.Zach shook his head no and looked in the rearview mirror to make sure Aunt Maureen was still behind him. He saw the Escalade keeping up and was surprised with her ability to drive at a speed over forty on these windy bends with that big of a vehicle. “He thinks everyone is coming over for formal introductions.”“Will anyone else be there? You kno
“You did what?” Derek couldn’t believe that his own son would defy all that was taught to him since he was a small child. “You know what this means, right?” He knew he’d have to tell the elders and that might warrant Zach being banned from the pack.“Well.” Jacob stood up and interrupted before his father had a chance to say anything else. “I just wanted to make it known that Madison,” he motioned back to Madison, who was still seated on the chair they had shared, “and I are mates and we’ve also bonded.” This earned him a look of shock and disgrace from his dad.“If they get into trouble, then I’ll have to also.” Danny stood and took off his shirt to show that tattooed marking that only those bonded as mates achieved when the complete rite was done fully. “Alex has the same marking too.” He put his shirt back on and went to stand behind the chair that sh