“Just come on, Bree.” The third friend's skin was a lighter shade of olive, and he arched an ash blond eyebrow. His amber eyes twinkled with amusement. “Don’t make us force you out.”
Yeah, right. That was exactly what all four of them wanted. Pushing back against the alpha call, I stood slightly in front of Bree. “You do realize if you did, you might wrinkle your button-down shirt and get mud on your designer pants.” Their outfits alone probably cost more than Max’s car.
"Just stop, okay?" Bree glanced around, obviously uncomfortable. "I was just having some fun."
"Yeah, she wasn't doing anything wrong." Max lifted both hands in the air and smiled. “I mean…”
“Are you seriously trying to talk to me?” Liam’s face wrinkled in disgust as he stared down his nose at my brother. “You don’t even deserve to breathe the same air as me.” His blue eyes were faded to white with his wolf surging forward.
Oh, hell no! “Who the hell do you think you are?” I growled as I met his gaze head-on. They couldn’t come to someone’s house and act like that. Didn’t his parents teach him manners?
He took a step toward me, staring at me hard, trying to make me look away—to submit. “You better learn your place, or I’ll have to teach you.”
If he thought he could intimidate me, he was going to learn how wrong he was. “Why don’t you …”
“No, it’s okay.” Bree sighed as she reached over and grabbed my arm. “Thank you, but it’s better if I just go.”
“But…”
“You heard her.” Liam’s voice was hard, unyielding. “So now you can shut the hell up and go back to chatting up some guy for a good lay.” His hand grasped his sister’s and yanked her toward the car.
“You must be overcompensating for something to be such an asshole.” He couldn’t talk to me like that or handle her that way. I took a menacing step in their direction before my brother grabbed me around the waist.
“Don’t. All it’ll do is cause problems.”
I wanted to argue, but he was right. The backyard had a view of the road, so Bree was already halfway to their high-end Escalade that screamed money.
I had to let it go even if my wolf was howling in my head. She wanted to break free and run after them. She’d never acted like that before. No one had ever stirred those types of emotions out of me, but of course, it’d be those douchebags. Good thing I wouldn’t have to see them again … I think.
Chapter Two
It took a few days, but I'd finally managed to force myself not to think about that night …as often. And when I mean not often, I still thought about that dickhead all the damn time. That couldn't be healthy.
"Are you going to help me set this table or just stare out the window?" Max arched an eyebrow at me and pointed to the forks I still had in my hand.
The garage door opened, and Dad stepped into the kitchen, joining us. He set his laptop bag down and headed over to my mom, who was finishing up the taco meat on the stove. He moved her dark hair to the side and kissed her cheek. "Honey, did you by chance get the mail today? I'm expecting something from one of the alphas out west."
"Oh, no." She glanced over her shoulder at me. "Since Max is apparently the only one setting the table, do you mind running outside real fast?"
"Now you're taking his side." It figured. Mom had even made comments about me being flighty. Granted, it wasn't solely the dickhead that was distracting me. I'd received all of my college acceptance letters already, and tomorrow I would graduate high school. Things were getting real, and though my feelings were probably normal, I'd been having trouble processing what I was feeling. Some days, I felt like I could be bipolar. One minute, I was happy, and the next minute, I was in a pit of despair.
"Now, now. There are no sides." Max shook his head and frowned. "There is only one side. Singular. And it's always mine."
"Tell that to poor Ruby, who caught you cheating on her." If he was going to be an ass, so could I.
"Hey, hey." He picked up one of the butter knives off the table. "We were on a break." He held the knife in my direction. "Don't make me use this. It could get ugly."
"If you attack me, then I'll have to kick your ass." The problem was I could, but I had always purposely lost to him. Being Dad's replacement was so important to my brother that I didn't want to be the one who got in his way. The one thing Dad and Mom had taught both of us growing up was that family always came first. Yes, our packs were important, but in order for us to be good pack mates, we had to have a solid familial base. When I was a kid, I had always thought it was cheesy. Although, now that I'd seen what competition for being top dog amongst siblings could do, I was so thankful for them. Max and I were close in a way most shifter families weren't.
"I could take you with my eyes closed." He straightened his shoulders, but the corners of his mouth tilted upward.
"Yet, you resort to threatening me with a butter knife." I shrugged as I headed out of the kitchen and into the living room. "You might want to rethink your position."
"Well, she's got you there, son." Dad chuckled as I crossed the room and slipped out the front door.
When I stepped out the door, I thought it was kind of odd to not see many people outside. Our subdivision held our entire pack, so usually there were a few people about, but the low numbers kind of made sense since graduation was tomorrow. We were all spending our last night as high school seniors with our families.
I strolled down our cement walkway and went straight for the mailbox. I opened it up and pulled out a handful of envelopes. As I slammed it shut, the gothic, formal script of Wolf Moon Academy caught my eye.
Maybe my brother was finally getting in. I hadn't applied, so that was the only thing that made sense.
Rushing into the house, I barreled through the door, pulling the envelope from the pile. As I ran into the kitchen, I came to a screeching halt. It wasn't addressed to my brother.
Why was it addressed to me?
"Hey, are you okay?" Mom turned around, her rich caramel eyes resting on mine. She placed the bowl of meat on the table and came over to stand next to me.
"What's that you’re clutching?" Max's eyes went straight to the letter, and his mouth dropped. "Is that for me?"
Dad followed Max's gaze, and a huge grin filled his face. "Maybe you got in for next year."
It was unnerving. Max was an exact replica of Dad but twenty years younger. So, to see the hope in both sets of eyes just made it worse. I should have corrected them, but I was still in shock.
"Let's see then." Mom snatched the letter from my fingers, and when her eyes landed on the name, she stopped short. "Uh … it's to you."
"What?" Max's face fell. "I didn't realize you applied."
"Because I didn't." It wasn't even on my radar. "Maybe it's a survey or something."
"Well, open it and see." Dad's face still had a huge-ass smile on it.
"Maybe we should just throw it out." Mom headed over to the garbage can.