Dylan growled and raced forward. He wasn’t slow, just lazy. When he wanted to be fast, he could be. I caught up to Casey and tripped the twelve-year-old boy as I ran by.
“Oops,” I said with a hand to my mouth to hide my smile.
“Sarah!” he yelled in exasperation just before Dylan tagged him.
I turned back around just in time to see Dad’s body in my way. I tried to stop but ended up slamming into him, knocking him over. He wrapped his arms around me to keep me from getting hurt and laughed. “You’re supposed to watch where you’re going when you run, Sarah.”
I stood and brushed off my pants. “Sorry, Dad.”
A hand touched me, and I groaned as Casey yelled, “You’re it!”
I spun away from Dad and chased after them. I stopped after five minutes of running and looked around the empty forest in annoyance. Where had they all gone? I spun to go towards the creek, but Alfred stood in my path now. “We need to talk.”
Nick jogged up out of nowhere and scooped me up in his arms just before Alfred lunged at me. He growled at Nick, but suddenly Dad came out of nowhere, grabbed Alfred by the throat, and slammed his body against a tree. “Do not touch my daughter.” His face shifted partially, his fangs growing longer and thicker.
Chapter Four
Alfred snarled. “I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“You have no reason to touch her at all. Do you hear me, Alfred? If you so much as touch a single hair on her head, I will rip yours off of your body. Understand?”
Alfred nodded once, staring at me with a need that frightened me. Nick held me tightly against his upper chest and growled at Alfred softly. I wrapped my arms around Nick’s neck and he spun around and ran back towards the house. What had Alfred planned? Surely, he could hear the others running through the forest and knew he couldn’t get away with anything. Just what had he hoped to do?
Nick slammed the front door closed, and I climbed out of his arms. “Calm down,” I whispered.
“I will not calm down!” Nick roared. “He was going to hurt you, Sarah! I saw the way he looked at you.”
“What’s going on?” Maxwell, one of the nicest Alphas, asked.
“Nothing,” Nick said and then grabbed my hand to pull me up the stairs.
“Alfred lunged at me in the forest when he thought we were alone,” I said as I struggled against Nick dragging me towards the stairs.
“Is he still alive?” Maxwell asked, looking from me to Nick.
I shrugged. “Dad threatened him, but I’m pretty sure he’s going to leave it at that.”
“Did he touch you?” Sampson, the tallest man I’d ever met, asked.
I shook my head.
“He would have if I hadn’t been there,” Nick said angrily. He looked at the rest of the Alphas gathered. “Any of you that think you want her, better understand that I’ll die protecting her. None of you will lay a hand on her.”
“Nick,” I said in both shock and exasperation.
The other Alphas smiled instead of snarling at him for threatening them, which seemed odd to me.
“You’ll make a fine Alpha one day, Nick. For now, why don’t you two run on upstairs, so we can talk with Thornton and Alfred when they come in,” Maxwell said.
Nick gave a brief nod, grabbed me by the waist, and pushed me up the stairs. “Get up,” he said softly.
“You don’t have to be so pushy,” I muttered as I climbed the stairs and walked to Mason’s room. “Mason!” I called. “Open up please.”
Mason opened the door and frowned. “What’s up?”
“We need to hide in your room for a little bit,” I said.
He looked at Nick who just stared back. Mason sighed, “Okay, come in.”
I walked into the cluttered room and felt like I was being tested as I maneuvered around piles of things on the floor, stepping only on clothes as much as possible. “Where’s your floor?” I asked as I plopped down on the bed, the only open and clean spot.
“Under my stuff,” Mason replied with a smile. “You alright?” he asked Nick. Nick shook his head and walked to the punching bag Mason had up in the corner of his room. Without a word, he began punching it. Mason sat down next to me and whispered, “What’s up?”
I relayed the story for him and then watched Nick take his anger out on the punching bag. There was something sexy about a guy hitting something. I watched his biceps flex and the impact of his fist on the bag and swallowed as I realized I really did like Nick in more than a friendly way.
“I’ll kill him if he touches you,” Nick said, turning to face me. Nick’s reminder about Alfred’s attempt in the forest sent a shudder of remembered fear down my spine. Something about my expression made him stand still a moment and then he knelt in front of me. “I swear I won’t leave your side.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck as the fear over Alfred’s attempted…whatever, sank in. “I’m sorry. I know nothing happened, but he scares me anyway.”
Mason wrapped his arms around me from the back. “It’s okay to be scared.”
“Sarah!” Dad called. “There’s a boy here to see you.”
I sat up and looked at Mason and Nick in shock. I raced towards the door, but both boys had already beaten me and were down the stairs. “Dang these short legs.” I walked down the stairs and stared at the guy at the door. I had no idea who he was. He was really cute though and seemed familiar somehow. “Hi,” I said. “Um, you’re here for me?”
He smiled. “You don’t recognize me, do you?”
I smiled, my cheeks reddening in embarrassment. “Sorry. Should I?”
“He sits behind you in first and third period,” Nick said. “Joseph Tyre.”
Joseph smiled. “Hey, Nick. I didn’t know you were related.”
“We’re not,” Nick and I said at the same time.
I smiled, “Nick and I are both orphans and we were adopted by the same guy.”
“So, you’re like step-siblings?”
“No,” Nick and I said, again at the same time.
I smiled in apology. “We’re not related at all. More like housemates.”
He shrugged. “Okay. So, um, could I talk to you alone for a moment?”
I stepped outside, and Nick would have followed if Dad hadn’t shut the door behind me. “What’s up?” I asked nervously. The longer I looked at Joseph the more I wondered why I hadn’t ever seen him before. He was attractive, and even though he wasn’t as buff as the werewolf boys, he was still in great shape. And he had the cutest dimple.
“I was wondering if you’d like to go out tomorrow?” he asked with a sweet smile. “I know we haven’t ever talked or anything, but I think you’re beautiful and from what I’ve observed, really sweet.”
I stared dumbly at him. Was he serious? And what the hell was I supposed to do? Tom, Gary, and Nick were all trying to date me as it was. Should I agree to a date with some guy I didn’t know?
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
“I know you like the outdoors, so I was thinking we could go hiking in the state park and have a picnic?”