Arianna's Tale: The Beginning (26 page)

“I’m sorry,” I whispered and he exhaled a
silent laugh.

“It had never happened before, and hasn’t
happened since, to the point that a lot of werewolves don’t really
believe me… if I wasn’t from the pack leader line, and they
couldn’t tell that, they wouldn’t believe me at all…” he murmured,
refusing to let go of me when I tried to back away to look up at
him, so I rested my head against his chest, listening to the
soothing beat of his heart.

“Why did you come here though? Why did you
join Alex’s pack?” I wondered and he sighed.

“It is the biggest pack in the country… I
figured it would be a safe place to lay low for a while… When I had
all but decided to break from the pack and start my own back up…
well… this strange girl moved into town, and I felt a need to
stay,” he admitted with a faint chuckle.

“You’re still here because of me…?” I
wondered while he rested his chin on the top of my head.

“Yeah… I guess I am…” he whispered, “You
probably wouldn’t have figured all of this out so soon if I hadn’t
been here… I should have left, so you could be living your
life….”

“No,” I stated coldly, pushing on his chest
until he let me take a step backwards and look into his eyes, “No…
this is my fault. And whether you were here or not, I probably
would have kept prying, that’s just how I am… and if I hadn’t known
you guys… M…Mark….” He pulled me back against him.

“Shh,” he gently shushed me, “No one would
have let him hurt you again….” He was silent for a long moment
before he inhaled a deep breath, “It’s really late… you should get
some sleep….”

He backed away from me and wiped the tears
from my eyes with a distant smile, softly kissing my cheek before
he took hold of my hand and pulled me out of the bathroom. Caiden
and Tobias turned around on the sofa, video game characters dying
on the screen since neither of them had hit the pause button.

“Anna…” Caiden murmured, those deep brown
eyes searching my face, “Have you been crying?” He was over the
back of the sofa and in front of me before I could blink again.
“Are you okay?”

“I… I was just thinking about… if you guys
hadn’t…” I trailed off and shook my head, “What time is it?”

“Three a.m.,” Tobias contributed from the
sofa, “Caiden, let her go to bed. Rayne can tell us later, right,
Rayne?”

Rayne sighed but barely nodded his head,
leading me out of the game room despite Caiden’s argument, and
walking me back down the hallway to my room.

“Go to sleep,” Rayne insisted, lightly
pushing me inside my room, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

I nodded and shuffled over to my bed,
climbing into it without even bothering to change clothes while
Rayne watched from the doorway before he pulled my door closed.

The wolves weren’t in my dream that night…
The troll doll was back again, fully healed, and grabbing the
darting lights which I refused to admit were little winged people
out of the air. I woke with a scream caught in my throat when it
started shoving handfuls of the little lights into its mouth.

I darted up in bed, my eyes wide as I
realized my shaking hands were clenching the comforter in fists.
That was about the time I spotted the beautiful young girl standing
in front of my door. She had golden blonde hair rolling down her
back and startlingly blue eyes and like Trina, she seemed a little
younger than most of the others.

“You screamed,” she whispered, but my hand
slid across my neck as I looked at her in confusion. I could still
feel the scream trapped in my throat. She smiled distantly and
lifted her hand to her temple. “In here….” I was too focused on
trying to calm my racing heart to understand what she meant. “Alex
wants to come in…” she remarked and I only managed to nod my head
before she stepped out of the way of the door and Alex was standing
beside my bed while she pushed the door closed.

His strange teal eyes searched my face
before he pressed the underside of his wrist to my forehead. “Are
you all right?” he quietly asked and I barely nodded my head again,
“Liliana says you were having a bad dream…? Was that all?”

“Weird dream,” I mumbled, slowly shaking my
head, “I’ve been having a lot of weird dreams lately… some of them
make more sense now….”

“Please tell me,” he requested, concern in
his eyes as I laughed hollowly.

“The wolves walking around town like they
belonged there… that makes more sense now… wolves attacking a troll
doll… dancing lights in the woods with rock music…” I trailed off,
but he just kept watching me, even though I caught the tiniest
flinch in his eyes, “This one… the… the troll doll… was…” I
shuddered at the thought that crossed my mind, “It was shoving the
dancing lights into its mouth.” I blurted the words out quickly and
almost threw up it disgusted me so much, but I still caught the
brief panic that passed through his eyes and felt my heart sink.
“What?”

“I don’t like your sleep being disrupted…”
he reasoned, but I scrunched my eyes when I looked at him. “Jack
says you have a date tomorrow night…” there was the slightest hint
of disbelief in his voice so I nodded, “The girls want to take you
out shopping, and to get your hair and nails done….”

“Which girls?” I pressed and he laughed
softly.

“Lissa, Sage, Michaela, and Liliana,” he
glanced back at the door where the girl was still standing, “Who
says she forgot to introduce herself… So, Arianna, this is Liliana.
She’s fifteen like Trina and Caiden.”

“Caiden’s fifteen?” I uttered in shock and
he chuckled but nodded, “But… I thought his younger brother was
fifteen…?”

“They’re twins,” Alex answered with a soft
smile, “Caiden was born first, so he’s the ‘older’ brother. They
don’t always get along… since Caiden is part of the elite group and
Rai isn’t….”

“How does that work?” I wondered but Alex
smiled that smile he would give me when he couldn’t tell me stuff
and I sighed. “Why isn’t Trina on your list of girls wanting to go
out and make a day of it?”

Alex’s eyes flashed and I spotted the silver
around his pupils as he glanced back at Liliana standing in front
of the door.

“Trina doesn’t like you dating anyone but
Aeril,” Liliana stated with a smile.

“Should I not be…?” I wondered seriously but
she laughed and Alex barely shook his head with a grin on his
lips.

“You may date whomever you wish in the pack,
with the sole exclusion of Rayne,” Alex answered with a chuckle, “I
would hope that you can find someone within the pack… I think it
will make things easier on you in the long run….”

“You mean since I’m stuck here for the rest
of my life,” I coldly reasoned as his smile grew distant and he
barely nodded his head.

“Why don’t you get dressed and come
downstairs for breakfast and then you and the girls can get on with
your day,” he suggested and I sighed but nodded. Those teal eyes
scanned across my face again and I realized the ring of silver was
gone before he stood up and walked out of the room, pulling Liliana
behind him and closing my door.

I sat in my bed a moment longer, the dream
still running through my mind. I winced when the troll doll shoved
the lights in its mouth again, and finally flung my blankets off of
me and headed for the bathroom. A quick shower helped clear my
head, and finally changing out of yesterday’s clothes that I’d
fallen asleep in helped too. When I went to step out of my room and
head downstairs, I had to screech to a halt to keep from running
into Trina. She looked up at me with a distant smile.

“Hey,” she greeted and I barely nodded my
head, “Um… I just… don’t want you thinking I don’t like you, or
something stupid… I still think you’re awesome. I just… I don’t
think your dating anyone but Aeril is a good idea… and I can’t
support you dating anyone else… but when you get back, I’d love to
hang out, if you want.”

“As long as we’re not out super late, which
I hope we aren’t because I’m not the biggest fan of shopping…” I
paused when her eyes laughed, “I’d love to hang out when I get
back. I need more pool practice.”

She smiled and nodded before she hugged me
just a little too tightly, and just as quickly she was gone.

When I made it downstairs, I found Jack,
Tobias, Caiden, and Malcolm on the sofa in the living room, but
they all glanced at me before someone paused their movie and they
headed for the kitchen. All of them went to the kitchen, except
Caiden who jumped over the back of the sofa and walked over to me,
his deep brown eyes sweeping across my face.

“Glad to see you’re all right,” he remarked
but I just stared at him for a long moment until he laughed,
“What?”

“You’re fifteen?” I questioned in confusion
and he laughed again and nodded, “You don’t look fifteen….”

“I guess that’s a good thing,” he chuckled
as I looked at him again, he was at least half a foot taller than
me, I had to look up to see into his eyes when he was suddenly
right in front of me.

“Why do you guess it’s a good thing?” I
wondered as his fingers slid across my cheek.

“Because if you don’t think I look younger
than you, maybe you’ll forget that I am younger than you… since you
seem to really only allow yourself to go after guys that are older
than you,” he reasoned with a gentle smile, “So… can I take you out
the night after tomorrow?”

“Caiden…” I murmured, his eyes sparkling
when I took a deep breath. I was just about to say
fine
when
I spotted Sage standing in the doorway to the kitchen and my eyes
widened as my breath caught in my throat from the absolute betrayal
in her chestnut eyes.

“Sage…” Caiden sighed, slowly turning around
to face her, but one of his hands slid down my arm and lightly held
onto my wrist, “You can’t be upset with her… she always turns me
down because of you… you know you’re like a sister to me….”

“It doesn’t look like she was about to turn
you down,” Sage uttered, “Your brother is here….”

Caiden sighed again, shaking his head before
he let go of my wrist and walked to the front door. “Don’t just
stand outside,” I heard him remark, but I was watching Sage, and
she was really hurt.

“I won’t,” I stated and her eyes darted back
to me, “I don’t want to hurt you….”

“It’s not your fault…” she laughed
distantly, “I know he doesn’t like me… I just….”

Her eyes darted up behind me and I turned
around to find Caiden walking back into the living room with his
twin brother. I knew it was Rai, because their faces were nearly
identical. But Rai’s hair was spiked in the back, with long bangs
that covered half of his face and were dyed dark blue, and he had a
lot of piercings… one in his nose, one in his right eyebrow, two on
his bottom lip, and one in between them below his lip (I think it’s
called a labret), and several in his ears. I suddenly realized why
Jason had picked a fight with Rai… Rai definitely looked like
someone who would fight.

“Rai, this is Anna,” Caiden introduced when
they stopped beside us, “Anna, this is my little brother, Rai.”

“Not little,” Rai growled but Caiden only
rolled his eyes while Rai looked at me and smiled faintly, “Nice to
finally meet you, Anna.” But then he turned his attention to Sage
and smiled for real, “Hi, Sage.”

“Hello, Rai. What brings you here?” Sage
replied while Caiden lightly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into
the kitchen and out to the back porch. Everyone was there except
for Sage.

“Alex wanted to have a ‘family breakfast’
this morning,” Caiden explained when I looked around the little
tables in confusion to find everyone sitting at them, laughing and
talking with each other.

I pulled Caiden back against the back door.
“Rai likes Sage?” I queried and Caiden laughed faintly but barely
nodded his head, “No wonder you won’t date her….”

“She has no idea…” Caiden chuckled
distantly, “He came by to ask her out….”

“What is she going to say?” I asked but he
shrugged his shoulders. A split second later, though, he flinched
and pulled me out of the way of the door that slammed open as Sage
stormed outside.

“It’s not a joke!” Rai blurted as Sage spun
back to face him, but her gaze slid across me and her eyes narrowed
into a glare when she realized Caiden was holding me. I quickly
darted away from him and shook my head.

“I’m in love with your twin brother!” Sage
hollered, pointing at Caiden, “Why would I date you when I’m in
love with him?”

“But he likes Anna,” Rai pointed out while I
tried to put more distance between Caiden and me.

“I don’t care,” Sage growled, “She respects
me….”

“She respects…” Rai trailed off as his brown
eyes landed on me.

“Rai, don’t you dare,” Alex growled but it
was a little too late because Rai suddenly yanked me over to him
and kissed me. I yelped when his teeth sank into my lip and tripped
backwards away from him, my hand covering my mouth while Rai licked
blood from the pointed teeth in his mouth.

“Caiden isn’t going to touch her or I’ll
finish what I started,” Rai hissed as he spun on his heels and
stormed through the house. I heard the front door slam just before
Alex was in front of me, his teal eyes worried as he looked over my
face and then slid his fingers across my lip.

“Shit…” he muttered, glancing behind me, “I
don’t care what he threatened, Caiden… fix this now.”

Caiden sighed as he walked in front of me,
his fingers slid slowly across my lip but he refused to look at me.
When he pulled his fingers away, my tongue ran over my lip and I
realized it was completely healed as I looked at him in shock.

“What is going on?” I whispered and Alex
sighed, barely shaking his head, “Alex… what just happened?”

“Well… for starters… you have to stay away
from Rai… come have breakfast now though,” he insisted, pulling me
over to a table with Rayne, Farren, and Aeril who I realized all
looked really pissed off and worried at the same time.