Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (18 page)

“You’re really Jack,” I whispered and the
wolf bowed its head close enough that I could reach out and pet it,
which I did with a distant fascination.

“We’re full-blooded werewolves… which means
we can change at will and we change into full wolves,” Alex
continued, “Though as you’ve commented on, we’re faster than
regular wolves. There is a link between the entire pack so that we
don’t have to communicate aloud.”

“Can you always hear each other? No matter
what?” I wondered, still scratching the top of wolf-Jack’s
head.

“No,” Alex answered, but the tone in his
voice had my eyes darting up to him, “No… it’s possible to shut off
the connection… but we try to save it for personal reasons… and not
to block off each other when something’s going on that effects all
of us….”

“You’re mad about something,” I realized and
he chuckled distantly.

“Rayne blocked us out to talk to you
earlier… Even though that goes against our pack laws… I will have
to punish him…” he responded with that same edge of anger to his
voice.

“Why didn’t they want me to find out…?” My
voice grew quieter with the realization that Rayne and Jack both
had seemed mildly panicky when they knew I knew.

“I can’t let you leave here ever,” Alex
replied with a shrug, “I can’t risk the safety of my pack because
an outsider found out about us and might possibly fail to keep our
secret.”

“You can’t keep me here,” I exhaled in a
breath, “You can’t make me stay here if I don’t want to stay.”

“I can, and I will,” he retorted shortly,
his aqua eyes intently staring into mine, “You wouldn’t listen when
we warned you; now you must accept the consequences of your
actions.”

“I would never tell anyone!” I exclaimed,
pulling my knees up to my chest and wrapping both of my arms around
them, “Why would I ever tell anyone?”

“The information could slip, or you might
run into someone who’s capable of removing it from you,” Alex
stated simply, shrugging his shoulders, “It’s a risk I will not
take.”

“I need to get home… or Dad will worry…” I
faltered, but wolf-Jack nuzzled my shoulder and I looked down to
see the pain in his emerald eyes.

“I called your father and told him we were
having an after party here at my house and everyone was staying
here tonight. I can’t let you go home in the emotional state you’re
currently in, or your siblings will start to ask questions just as
you did,” Alex reasoned shortly, “Come inside, Arianna.”

I slowly shook my head which I let fall to
rest on my knees.
This is not happening. I don’t even like this
town! With all its secrets and people always in each other’s
business.
Wolf-Jack nudged my shoulder gently but I only shook
my head again, tears welling up in my eyes.
Why does everything
get stolen from me…?

“I’m going inside, Arianna. Let yourself in
when you’re ready, but you won’t be allowed to leave,” Alex
dismissed as I listened for him to walk away, but heard nothing
until I heard the front door close.

Wolf-Jack laid down beside me, resting his
blonde muzzle on his front paws, his emerald eyes staring worriedly
up at me. I just cried, there was no point in fighting it anymore,
I broke down and tears streamed from my eyes.

If I could just get in my car…
I
considered between sobs
if I could get in it… how could a wolf
stop me? And I saw his pants rip, he doesn’t have any clothes, so
it’s not like he’s going to chase after me stark naked.

I started mapping it out in my head. I
couldn’t just try to jump in the car because wolf-Jack would be in
my way before I could get the door open. But if I acted like I was
heading towards the house and he followed, or led would be even
better, then I could turn around and jump in. I knew I couldn’t
just get up and start for the house, nobody would believe I’d
gotten over being so upset
that
quickly.

I cried for a while, until it became
sniffles, something believable and then I let one hand fall to rest
on wolf-Jack’s head.

“I want to go inside,” I managed to say even
though my voice sounded hoarse. He stood up on all fours and my
hand stayed on his head as I pushed off of the ground with my other
hand. I only made half a movement towards the house before
wolf-Jack started off towards it and I spun on my heels, the door
mere inches from me, and started to pull it open only to have it
slammed shut again.

“Sorry, but inside,” Caiden announced from
behind me, his hands pressed to the door over my shoulders, “You’re
not allowed to leave tonight, Anna… I’m sorry….”

He didn’t move as I turned back to face him,
his dirty blonde hair just barely starting to cover those dark
brown eyes that watched me intently.

“Keys,” Tobias beckoned beside me, holding
his hand out, palm up. He had his dark brown hair pulled into a
ponytail and his honey brown eyes stared at me.

“Where did you two even come from…?” I
whispered in a breath, my hand clutching my keys. Neither of them
moved, though.

“Please give me your keys,” Tobias
reiterated, “I promise you’ll get them back as soon as Alex says
you can leave.” When I didn’t move for them, he sighed, “I’ll keep
them myself; no one else will touch them. I promise.”

I slowly shook my head, realizing then that
I was pretty much pressed up against my car with nowhere to go. I
made a slight movement, as if to duck under Caiden’s arm, but he
matched me by shifting his arm to block me again.

“Give Tobias your keys and I’ll take you
inside,” Caiden reasoned while I shook my head again. “Look,
Arianna… I’m really sorry you got sucked into all of this, but we
have to do what’s best for our pack… and what’s best for our pack
right now is keeping you here tonight, until you can calm down. No
one’s going to hurt you. The girls are inside with one of the
biggest bedrooms taken over, waiting for you to come in so they can
have a slumber party or something… We won’t even see you once you
get inside with them.”

“Where’s Rayne?” I mumbled and his eyes
briefly closed as he sighed.

“Rayne’s not allowed to see you right now…
He’s fine… he’s just on lockdown for a little while for breaking
pack rules…” Caiden reluctantly answered before his deep brown eyes
flickered over to meet mine again. “Alex isn’t going to let Rayne
be with you… you know that, right…? I don’t want to see you get
hurt….”

“Why won’t he let me be with Rayne?” I
quietly inquired but with a smirk he shook his head.

“That’s not my place to say… you could’ve
picked anyone else and he wouldn’t have minded, except for Rayne,”
Caiden replied, “Now… please, give your keys to Tobias and let’s go
inside. I’m really not going to ask again….”

I realized something with awe. Caiden’s gaze
on me was soft, despite the threats he was alluding to, and he
could’ve just grabbed me, but he was close without hurting me. I
had an idea, but I couldn’t figure out how to enact it with both of
them there.

I slid my hand up to rest on Caiden’s neck
and leaned beside his ear, away from Tobias and still keeping my
other hand clutching my keys against my side.

“So if I picked you, he wouldn’t mind?” I
said it in a breath and could feel him tense, but he suddenly
shifted and picked me up, cradling me in his arms.

“We’re going inside now,” Caiden decided and
Tobias merely nodded his head, reaching into my car and locking it
before he slammed the door closed and darted ahead to open the
front door.

The inside of Alex’s house was a mansion.
The front entryway had a beautiful marble floor and natural stone
walls and just beyond that were two staircases that curved up to
meet in the middle at the second floor. Wrought-iron handrails
trailed up the marble stairs, but I didn’t get to look around much
longer as Caiden set my feet down and Jack, back in his human form
and clothed, came sliding across the floor to stop in front of me.
His emerald eyes met mine for a brief second before falling to my
hand at my side.

“That was a dirty trick,” he uttered,
pulling my arm up with one of his hands and with the other hand,
uncurling my fingers from my keys which he tossed over to Tobias,
“And I’m talking about what you did to Caiden, not what you did to
me.” He looked up into my eyes again to find them shocked. “Pack
connection, Anna. We heard what you said to him.”

“They actually kept me from caving in to
you,” Caiden remarked, leaning over my shoulder to whisper into my
ear, “Go upstairs. The girls are waiting on you.”

I wanted to turn around and run. I even
glanced at the etched glass door, but with Caiden behind me, Jack
in front of me, and Tobias just a little to my side, there was no
way I was going to be able to get out of this.

I sighed deeply, before taking a deep breath
and looking again at the winding staircase and then back down at
Jack. “I like you better as a wolf,” I murmured, slipping past him
and up the staircase on the left. I felt their eyes watching me to
be sure I made it to the second floor, which, before I could get
there, was suddenly occupied by Elisabeth, Samantha, Michaela, and
Sage. I wondered distantly where Amy was, but decided she was
probably off with her brother, being the ruthless dictators of this
pack they had.

“Amy wanted us to tell you, that the guys
will be watching the house and your car all night, so trying to get
out is really pointless,” Samantha dismissed nonchalantly as I
glanced back downstairs to find the three talking to each
other.

“So what… Alex talks to the guys and Amy
talks to all of you? Do they ever switch it up?” I pondered and
Elisabeth laughed faintly as she took my wrist and dragged me into
the room on the right end of the hall.

“Alex is the leader. Alex, and whoever he
takes as a mate; Amy is his sister, but she doesn’t really hold the
pack leader position, she’s just still respected. If she’d been
born a boy, she’d be pack leader,” Elisabeth explained while I
gawked at the room.

It was huge, and could’ve been an entire
apartment. But instead there was a humongous round bed against the
far wall perpendicular to the wall of French doors that led onto a
small balcony. There was a half-circle sofa that had 8 partitions
in it but could easily fit double that many people. Across from the
sofa was a big-screen t.v. that was at least 50 inches if not more.
A door led off to the bathroom I was led into, where there was a
set of silk black pajamas laid out on the double sink marble vanity
for me, along with a fluffy bathrobe and slippers behind the door,
and fluffy towels beside the two-person, multiple-head stone
shower. Of course, there was also the option of the oversized
jetted bathtub.

“Get washed off and we’ll watch a movie.
We’ve got popcorn and pizza coming up for snacks, and there’s a
mini-bar over on the other wall, so help yourself when you get
out,” Elisabeth continued her explanation while I ran my fingers
over the little bottles lined on the vanity.

“Lissa… are there just the ten of you…?” I
whispered, pausing to look up into the antique-framed mirror to see
her in the doorway and she shook her head.

“No. In this town alone, and you’ve gotten
that it’s a small town, there are about two-hundred of us,
including the adults. We’re kind of… the elite group… parents want
their children to mate with us so that they have stronger
bloodlines…. Alex is in charge of all two-hundred of us, though…
And there are about ten more in our group, they’re just not home
right now,” she answered and I barely nodded my head, “I like you,
Anna; I think you’re cool. I know this isn’t ideal for you, but if
Alex is going to make you stay here, he’ll make sure you’re
comfortable and well taken care of.”

“But…” I hesitated, it was still bugging me,
but when she looked at me expectantly in the mirror I looked back
down at the bottles and shook my head. “Nevermind… I don’t want to
be asking the entire pack questions, especially knowing you’re
two-hundred strong.”

“Oh… the nearly constant connection is
really just with the elite group. The
whole
pack has to be
called on for everyone to hear. We pretty much live together, and
do everything together, so we’ve got a lot stronger bond,” she
admitted with a shrug, “Is it something important? Amy says I can
block off and talk to you, since you’re stuck here and all.” To
emphasize that point, she stepped into the bathroom and closed the
door which made a strange popping noise. “We all have really good
hearing, even as humans though, so like, the bathroom doors are
pressurized and the room is soundproof. It’s the only safe place in
the house.”

“Why won’t Alex let me be with Rayne… but
he’d let me be with any of the others…?” I mumbled, glancing in the
mirror only long enough to see the flicker in her eyes.

“Rayne… wasn’t born here… he isn’t
really
part of our pack,” she started, tilting her head to
the side, “There’s a lot of stuff, I really can’t tell you… but
he’s the only survivor of his pack. He was the younger brother of
the pack leader, so he’s strong; his whole pack was really strong…
His bloodline and his powers really surpass our elite group, but he
came here and went through the process of joining our pack. Alex
just doesn’t really trust him, and… You’re different, Arianna… Alex
would let you be with someone else, because your being with someone
else wouldn’t threaten his position… your being with Rayne would…
and Alex knows he wouldn’t be able to take you from Rayne, he has
no right to… but he retains the right to take you from anyone
else.”

“What do you mean, I’m different…?” I
whispered, finally turning around to face her as she laughed
faintly and shrugged.

“We can sense you, which is weird… that’s
why we’ve been trailing you since you got here… and that day, when
you did that thing, that
feeling
… we all felt it, which
again, is
really
weird. I mean… I hate to be rude, but what
are you?” she blurted and I blinked in surprise as I stared at her,
“Anyway… get cleaned up and we’ll fix your hair and do your nails
and talk boys, and all that fun stuff we girls get to do.” She
smiled at me and waited for me to nod before she slipped out of the
bathroom and closed the door again.