Allie and I had a great time together, we laughed and she told me stories about her and Abe growing up. She told me how they would sit up at night waiting for their dad to get home and jump out from behind furniture to scare him. I keep thinking about how these two little kids where sneaking around and obviously weren’t any good at it if they never scared their dad. It was fun just being human girls, taking pictures with her cell. We tried on silly hats and posted them on Facebook. There is one of us together wearing cowboy hats as we stood back to back, that was my favorite. We got to giggling so hard I actually had tears streaming down my face when we went up to pay for our stuff.
“Allie, I’m going to go on the record and tell you I haven’t had this much fun with another girl in I don’t know how long.” I reached over and hugged her. At first she was a little stiff but she relaxed and put her arms around me too. In that three second hug, I got a whiff of her and my inner alarm went off. Dammit. “Hey, I guess we should head home. I’ll drop you off and will see you prom night. You’re fixin’ my hair for me right?”
“Pru! You think I’m mental or something? Of course I’m fixin’ your hair dork. I had a lot of fun with you today; I hope we can hang out even when you’re not getting ready for a big date with my brother.” She flopped inside the Camero and flipped out her phone texting someone at lightning speed.
When I had to get back to the farm later that night I shifted and went out for a run alone to try and clear my head. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I could sense something was up with Allie. My thoughts were on Abel and how we have another obstacle to overcome. None of my dreams were about her and I never sensed she was going to betray us. I had no idea what to do.
I’d been running for about 30 minutes when Oakley ran up next to me. He was as beautiful in wolf form as he was when he was human. I loved seeing the way his fur sways with his body, his stride was mesmerizing. I always feel at ease with him when we are wolves, just a natural order, like it was meant to be. We got to one of the clearings he hunkered down, baring his teeth at me and growling. I came to a halt and mimicked him by hunkering down until we circled each other with our teeth bared. He made the first move, leaping at me with his mouth open, ready to grab me by the back of the neck. I rolled over on my back to get his teeth out of my neck and was able to flip him over. We rolled around for a good ten minutes, just playing. Finally, exhaustion took me over so I lay down with my front legs stretched out in front of me, everything relaxed but my ears. A wolf’s ears are like radars, listening to everything. Oakley came over and lay down next to me, licking the side of my head. I love when he does that. My heart picked up speed as he cleaned my face, his slurppy tongue just flopping all over my face. I don’t think I’d like to be kissed like that in particular, that would be slightly creepy but as two wolves it was pretty hot for me. He quit licking me, he laid his head on his forelegs and we just soaked up the spring air watching the sun set. It was pretty perfect. He was pretty perfect… damn, if only the situation would be perfect. I still had a job to do, kill Abel…. so right now wasn’t the best of times to let hormones get in the way of my duty.
After dinner that night I talked with Oakley about Allie, and what I smelled on her when I hugged her. We agreed we had to protect Abe, even from his sister if needed, so we worked it out with my dad to station one of the Omega’s at Abe’s house to keep an eye on things when we weren’t able to. I am sure his parents will be okay with the idea, they are easy going when it comes to him and his friends. If they had any clue what was really going on, they just might not be so easy going.
I sat on my bed looking around the room hoping to find some inspiration. My walls were light gray to slightly blue with a big Japanese cherry blossom tree painted on one wall. I love how the black silk drapes go from ceiling to floor giving it a dramatic effect. For my birthday last year my parents gave me a huge saltwater fish tank, and you can’t have a saltwater tank without having a few Marlins, Clownfish and an assortment of royal tang, my favorite being the powder-blue one. We found some white paper lanterns in different sizes to hang around the room. I found some battery operated light kits to put in each one and it had a groovy look to it mom and I had a good time putting everything together. I didn’t always appreciate the ruthless teasing I endured over being freakishly clean.
I sat there for what seemed hours when I heard Oakley knocking at the door. Another benefit to the heightened senses, we can all smell each other, so I knew it was Oakley as soon as he knocked at the door.
“Come on in Oak”
“Hey you, whatcha doing in here? I was hopin’ we could have a talk if you aren’t too busy.” Oakley asked as he came in my room. He had on his faded jeans with a black v-neck t-shirt and his signature converse shoes. He smelled freshly showered with Irish Spring soap. I love that smell.
“It’s all good. I was just sitting here trying to figure out our dilemma with Allie and how I’m going to complete the assignment without any feelings being hurt. I just don’t know what to do or think anymore. Everything is so complicated.” My voice sounded whiney even to me.
“Okay, Miss Drama Queen, you’re making this harder than it should be.” He sat down on my bed and reached his left hand to my face, slightly caressing my cheek. My skin went all prickly causing my heart to flutter from him being so close to me.
“Really? Drama Queen, you think? This comes from the guy who wigs out if he loses a rabbit chase!” I tossed my pink bunny slipper at him.
He reached out and grabbed it. “When did I lose a rabbit chase? You’re insane, I’ve never ever lost.”
“Yeah right. Who was it that smoked you just the other night? I saw you eating my dust.” It was nice talking to him like friends again. Lately everything had been all business and we hadn’t had time to just sit back and enjoy life.
“Smoked me, you’re smoking crack if you think that, I let you win.” He stood in one quick move like he just remembered we were business again, ugh men drive me nuts. “Is Josie coming over tonight?”
Josie, of course, I hated being jealous of her but when it came to Oak I was. I even hated the way he said her name, all cute with his ‘Joe Sea’. I don’t even know why he would be interested in me anyway. The daughter of the Alpha, a shaman and all of the fun stuff that goes along with me, yeah I’m a catch, if you don’t get killed trying to be my mate. Blah, blah, blah, I thought to myself. “Yeah, we’re going over some of my diaries.”