“I bet, especially with you agreeing to go out with Gary.”
“Are you mad?” I asked as I tried to perceive his emotions.
He shrugged. “Not at you. I wish he hadn’t asked you out the same day I had, but I’m not upset you said yes. It’s not like we’re in a monogamous relationship. It’s only our first date after all.”
“Thank you,” I said as my shoulders relaxed.
He kissed the back of my hand. “You worry too much.”
Our food came, and we ate in silence. I felt strange and wasn’t sure why or what was causing it. Tom paid for the bill and then drove me home. I was surprised when he walked me to the door, but also extremely nervous. I’d never kissed a boy before and all of the teen movies showed boys kissing girls when they dropped them off.
Tom opened the door of the house. “I brought her back safe and sound, and even in one piece,” he yelled inside and then shut the door.
I laughed and hugged him. “Thank you for dinner.”
He kissed my cheek. “Thank you for coming.” He looked at me a moment and then asked, “Will you go out with me again?”
I probably should have thought it over, but my mouth said, “Yes,” before I could think.
Tom kissed my cheek again and said, “Goodnight, Sarah.”
I waved as he walked away. “Night, Tom.”
I watched him drive away and then turned to go inside, running into a warm body. “Have fun?” Nick asked.
I stepped back from him and swallowed my alarm. “Yes.” I walked around him and found the entire pack, which consisted of sixteen males ranging from the age of ten to fifty, waiting for me.
Gary winked at me from the back and then disappeared. Thornton walked up to me, sniffing my face and neck. “He didn’t bite you, did he?”
I shook my head. “No, Dad.” He wasn’t really my dad, but after my parents were killed by a vampire, he and the rest of the pack had taken me in. That was also when Nick had been assigned to be my Guardian. We were only six at the time.
“Hm, I’m surprised he didn’t try to kiss your lips.”
I growled at him. “Dad!”
He smiled, and I realized he was teasing me. “Go on up and shower. I made the boys wait so you’d have hot water.”
I kissed his cheek and walked up the stairs with Nick on my heels. “What did you two do?” he asked.
I stopped in front of the bathroom door and turned around. “Weren’t you following us?”
Nick ground his teeth together. “No. Thornton forbade me from following you on your date.”
“So, it wasn’t you that gave me that weird feeling then?” I asked in a whisper.
“What? What are you talking about?”
I waved my hand. “Nothing. Never mind. We just ate dinner and then came back.” I pushed open the bathroom and said, “Oh and he told me he’s a Dhampir.”
I slammed the door shut and started the water. Boys were so frustrating.
Chapter Two
I walked down the stairs the next morning and headed towards the fridge. The table was covered in food, but I preferred a light breakfast to the eggs, bacon, toast, pancakes, and ham the boys ate. The kitchen was full with all of the pack starting their day. I ran my hand through Trent’s, our youngest member’s, curly red hair. He smiled up at me, and I smiled back.
“Will you play this weekend?” he asked softly.
“Of course,” I said as I grabbed an orange. On the weekends I played with the younger kids and spent most of my time running away from them.
“Don’t faint again tonight, Sarah. I don’t want to have our team lose just because half of them ran off to tend to you again,” said Thornton.
I grabbed a bottle of water and showed it to him. “Yes, sir.”
“I’ll be coming to the game tonight,” he said, much to everyone’s surprise. “The Others will be with me as well.”
I swallowed nervously. The Others were the Alphas, the leaders, of the nearby packs. “When do they come into town?”
Nick finished his food in one last gulp and drew closer to me, sensing my fear.
Thornton smiled. “They know you, Sarah, none will hurt you.”
Nick ran a hand down my hair. “You’re pack this time.”
I pulled away from him. “I’ll never be pack, Nick. So, stop.”
The pack stopped eating and looked at me. Thornton frowned angrily. “Sarah—”
I turned and walked away. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I honestly didn’t care that I wasn’t literally pack, since I didn’t want to be a werewolf. I wasn’t sure why I’d said that, but the frustration and anger still boiled inside of me. Was I PMSing?
I walked out of the house and to Nick’s truck. He came out with both of our backpacks and tossed them in the bed. He stopped by me, but I stepped back and waited as he unlocked the truck.
We climbed in and started our drive to school. “Sarah, I’m sorry about yesterday.”
I kept staring out the window of the truck. “Thanks,” I whispered.
He started to reach his hand towards mine and then stopped, pulling it back. “Did you have fun last night?”
“Do you think they’ll test me again?” I asked softly as I remembered the last time the Alphas had come for a visit.
The truck swerved into the parking lot and the first open spot available. He unbuckled himself and wrapped me up in a hug, burying his face in my hair. I knew he was trying to comfort me, but I also knew he was comforting himself as well. “I will protect you, Sarah, I promise.”
“You can’t protect me from Alphas.”
He leaned back and smiled. “I’m your Guardian, which means I guard you from any danger.”
I wouldn’t let him get hurt because of me. I refused to allow that to pass. He released me, and we walked into school. Since the game was today, I was already wearing my cheerleading outfit, except I’d chosen pants instead of the skirt for now. Nick was wearing slacks, a polo shirt, and a tie. He looked handsome and poised.
Tom leaned against the side of the cafeteria in the same outfit as Nick and as we walked by, he smiled and waved at me. I waved back and avoided Nick’s glare.
“I don’t understand why girls swarm him,” Nick grumbled.
I smiled. “They’d swarm you, too, if you weren’t so glued to my side.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it. “I’m not jealous of him.”
“I never said you were.”
He growled softly at me and then stopped walking. I stopped next to him, seeing his tense shoulders.
“Nicholas, it’s good to see you,” said a frightening and familiar male voice beside us.
“Alfred, I didn’t know you were in town yet. Alpha told us you were arriving later,” Nick said as he moved a step closer to me.
Alfred was short, stocky, and the reason the “short man syndrome” diagnosis was created. He was also the one who’d wanted to kill me and had forced a test on me when I was eight and they’d last come to visit. He smiled at me. “Hello, Sarah. I hardly recognized you. You’ve turned into quite a beautiful young woman.”