Circle of Lies (Red Ridge Pack) (8 page)

I again reminded myself that it was wrong to like someone like him; he wasn’t the type I’d ever dreamed of. Aiden was part of a crowd that made others feel less than human, as if his clique was better than the rest of us. He’d fallen right into that crowd even though he was new to the school. That right there showed what kind of person he was. At least Alli had tried to keep her distance from them at first. Now it seemed we’d lost her to the pod people as well.

No, a little voice in my head promised, I didn’t want to be with someone like him. But even as I heard the words, I knew I was lying to myself.

*****

The next morning I found myself carefully applying just the right amount of makeup, fixing my hair, and picking out one of my favorite outfits. No matter what excuse I gave, the truth was that I wanted to look good. I wanted Aiden to notice me. I’d have been kidding myself to think otherwise.

Luckily, Dad was passed out on the couch. I didn’t want to wake up Sleeping Boozy, so I carefully stepped over the empty beer bottles on my way to the door. I made it safely without notice, but when I stealthily turned the knob, the door screeched. I went out cursing and praying he wouldn’t wake up. With the door closed and locked, I hurried to the car for my grand escape. Too bad if I was leaving Dad without transportation. He deserved it. He’d just have to find another way to get to work.

I reached school a short time later. Walking into the commons, I looked around for someone—anyone—to talk to, not wanting to stand alone like a leper, especially not all fancied up. I especially didn’t want to be alone if Aiden happened to pass by.

Just as I was about to casually meander over to a group of girls from my French class, Alli appeared. “Hey, Teagan. Don’t you look amazing! Any reason in particular?” She gave me a knowing look.

With an awkward grin I glanced down at my outfit. “What? I don’t look this amazing every day?”

Before Alli could grill me any further,
he
appeared as if from nowhere: Aiden. My pulse quickened, and I silently reminded myself not to fidget. I reminded myself of every reason why he and I were wrong for each other.

“Hey, Teagan. What’s up?” He walked over and propped his elbow on Alli’s shoulder. She gave him a glance that said she was humoring him.

Every synapse in my brain was firing off warnings for me to stay away from him, and Aiden’s smug smirk made me want to turn and run the opposite direction. But my body was tingling with his nearness. Instead of taking off, I ignored my fears and said, “Not much. Oh, and thanks again for the ride.”

Then there was silence. Aiden, Alli and I all just stood there. It was extremely awkward.

Aiden’s eyes left mine and drifted to the floor. His smug look had vanished. “So…uh, I was wondering if—”

Before he could finish, a familiar voice rang out. “Hey, Aiden!”

I cringed inside, knowing Becca, the next in line for queen of the beautiful people, was headed our way. She sauntered up and hooked her arm through Aiden’s as if claiming a prize. Just the sight of her made me want to gouge my eyes out.

Completely ignoring the rest of us, Becca announced, “So, Aiden. I was thinking I’d let you take me to the movies this weekend.” Aiden just stood there, so she proceeded to paw all over him while waiting for a response. Finally she asked, “Well, what do you think?”

That stupid little voice in my head answered first. It screamed,
“Forget him, Teagan. He’s out of your league. Forget he even exists!”

Well, there was no way in Hades I was going to stand there and watch Aiden hook up with that hooch. I waved at Alli and made my escape.

17.

Aiden

No, no, no, no, no.

Why did this keep happening? There was no way in the world Teagan would ever go out with me if she thought I was also seeing Becca. Teagan wasn’t like the other girls at this school, even the other human ones. Hell, I could barely get her to look at me. Most human girls stared longingly at our pack males or followed us around. It was kind of sad actually, but what could you do? Pheromones were pheromones, and wolves have those to spare.

As Alli excused herself for class, I removed Becca’s arm from mine, looked her straight in her eye and said as gently as possible, “Listen, Becca, I thought we were just friends. I like being your friend, okay?”

“Sure, Ad, but there’s nothing wrong with us being
really
friendly. Right? We don’t need anything official to enjoy ourselves.”

She must have learned that coyness from Kendall, but I knew exactly what she meant. Apparently, the girl had no pride. I was all for having a good time, but she moved a little too fast for even me. Besides, I had my sights set on someone else.

“Sorry, Becs. I’m not that kind of guy,” I said with a small smile. “I kind of like ‘official.’” Then, not sure what else to do and still save our pride, I walked away.

“We’ll see about that Aiden Wright,” she called as I made my escape. I wanted to turn and say, “Becca, you’re acting like a tramp. I’m not now, nor will I ever be, interested.” But I couldn’t. It just wasn’t in me—though I was seriously considering channeling my inner asshole if she did that shit in front of Teagan again. She clearly wasn’t taking a hint.

Alli was waiting near my locker. “What the hell was that about?” she asked. She’d apparently witnessed Becca’s offer.

I shrugged. “She’s been weird since we got back.”

“Well, you better set her straight, Aiden. At least, you should if you’re interested in Teagan. You can’t be acting like the man-whore we both know you are.”

“Man-whore? Really?”

“Yes, man-whore. It’s no secret, you know. And Teagan looked repulsed by the sight of you and Becca. You know she has issues with the people we hang with, anyway.”

“No kidding,” I said. “And, I’m trying. Avoiding Becca doesn’t seem to be working. I don’t know what else to do…short of just telling her to get lost.”

“Well, I don’t know Becca very well, but considering who her best friend was, you’re probably going to have to do just that. I’d give it to her straight.”

Alli was right. If I really wanted any chance with Teagan—and I did—I was going to have to make it clear to Becca that I was off-limits. It’s not like I’d have been interested in her even if Teagan wasn’t in the picture. She was way too overbearing. More and more she reminded me of Kendall.

I glanced up and down the hall, hoping to find Teagan and explain there was nothing going on between Becca and me, but I decided it was probably for the best when I didn’t see her. Maybe I was being a bit premature. I mean, I didn’t even know if she was interested.

Still, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

*****

I didn’t see either Teagan or Becca the rest of the day, but I was feeling a lot better by the time school let out. My shoulder was stronger, the cut on my face had gone from stinging to itching, which I suppose was only slightly better, and my mood was almost normal. The super quick healing confirmed I was a werewolf after all, despite my slow development, and that made me feel better, too.

I rode home from school with Alli and Cade, which looked to become a norm. This time, however, Alli started in on me about Teagan.

“Did you find her and explain? Are you going to ask her out? Can we go on a double date?”

I replied with the reasons Teagan should avoid me. Like, my inability to shoo away pretty girls, the new scar on my otherwise perfect face, and of course my incredible humility. Thankfully, Alli and Cade got me. Sarcasm has always been my way of dealing with things, but sometimes it backfires.

Regardless of my concerns, before we made it home Alli made me promise to ask Teagan out. Just as we pulled onto the estate I assured Alli I’d talk to her as soon as I had the opportunity.

“Well, you better be quick about it,” my sister said, “or I might take matters into my own hands.”

Strangely, Cade didn’t weigh in. Normally he would have been super chatty and opinionated, but he didn’t make a sound. I wanted to ask him if that was because Teagan was human and his father was outspokenly against human-werewolf relations, but before I could, the vehicle sitting in our driveway stole my attention. Speak of the devil.

To say that seeing Marcus’s car at our house put a damper on my good mood was an understatement. It seemed to have an effect on all of us. I knew that Cade and Marcus were still on bad terms, and I didn’t blame Cade for being angry with his father; knowing what Marcus originally said about my family and my little sister made him an ass in my book as well. I wondered what he would think of me wanting to date a human. For a moment I was nervous, but then I decided it didn’t matter. Sooner or later I’d have to have a real conversation with my sperm donor, but I’d deal with that day when it came. In the meantime, Mom had been doing a good job running interference. She’d been telling Marcus that I was always sleeping.

He was on the porch before Alli even turned off the car. “Hey, kids, how was school?”

We all just kind of looked at each other. Who was going to speak first?

“It was good,” Cade said, grabbing Alli’s hand. It was hard to tell if he was doing it just to rub his relationship in his dad’s face or because he and my sister could rarely keep their hands off each other these days. That “true mates” thing supposedly made you all crazy for one another, but still…when it’s your sister, it’s just gross.

Alli and Cade walked straight past Marcus and into our house, leaving me alone to face him. It’s not that I was afraid of Marcus; I just wasn’t sure what to say or how to act around him. There wasn’t a rulebook lying around to inform me how someone is supposed to behave when he finds out his dad for the past seventeen years is not his real father—or how to behave around the new biological father. And was I
really
supposed to think of Marcus as my father now?

We stood there in silence for a moment as Alli and Cade made their escape. When the front door shut, Marcus finally spoke. “How are you healing, son?”

My first instinct was to tell him, “I’m not your son,” and go inside, but considering I am his son and he is the pack’s alpha, I figured that might be a bad idea.

“I’m feeling a little better, sir,” I said, trying to keep it formal.

I could tell by his deflated expression that he’d been hoping for something a little less uptight. Instead of correcting me he said, “Come on, Aiden. Take a walk with me.”

“Now?”

“Unless you’d rather go inside and have your mother lie to me again about you being asleep.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that,” I said.

So, I guess he knew I’d been avoiding him. That probably made me the biggest coward alive.

“Come on, just a short walk,” he said, and he turned down our path to the sidewalk.

I put my backpack on the porch and zipped up my coat. The only thing I hated more than the cold weather here was having to walk through it. I really missed warm Houston winters.

“I know you haven’t had much time to think about things like this, but have you considered the fact that you are my eldest son?” Marcus asked after we’d walked a short distance. I must have looked puzzled, because he continued without awaiting my reply. “You are my heir, which makes you the next alpha of this pack.”

WTF! And I went from
Huh?
to
No fucking way!
in about two seconds.

“You’re kidding, right?” I said with a laugh.

It apparently wasn’t the reaction he was looking for, because irritation spread across his face. “This is no joke, Aiden. I hope you realize that I don’t take this lightly.”

“I don’t either. But…really? Me, the alpha? I haven’t even changed yet. I’m eighteen and have never turned. I just got my ass handed to me by a rogue werewolf and there was nothing I could do about it. No, Mr. Walker, Cade is your next Alpha. You’ve been prepping him for it his whole life.”

“Cade disobeyed me,” Marcus growled. “He put his wants and needs before the pack, Aiden. A true alpha wouldn’t do that. The pack must always come first.”

“Mr. Walker—” I started.

He stopped in mid-stride and turned. “Damn it, Aiden, I’m your father. At least call me Marcus,” he snapped.

At that point, I was getting pissed. I didn’t tolerate being yelled at by anyone. I tried to keep in mind that: 1) he was my alpha, 2) he was technically my father, and 3) I’m supposed to respect my elders, but it was really, really hard not to say what was really on my mind.

I took a few short breaths before I replied. “Okay, Marcus. Even if I wanted to be the alpha, I don’t think the pack would ever allow it. They know Cade. They consider him family. We’re still new here. Do you really believe that everyone will just accept me because I’m yours?”

My words seemed make him think. He paced back and forth a few times before asking me to simply give the possibility some thought. I told him I would, but deep down inside I knew that me running this pack was a joke. I was eighteen and therefore technically should have been making the transition to alpha already, if I was going to take over. No one here would accept me as a leader when I hadn’t even figured out how to shift.

18.

Peter

As the pair walked into the coffee shop, Peter almost dropped his drink in his lap. Breathtaking beauties, they had just the right builds, the right faces, and the right haughty mannerisms. He could hardly believe his eyes. They were only a few years younger than himself, but the girls met ten out of ten points on his were-points system. For the second time since arriving in Red Ridge, Peter felt absolutely positive that he was in the right place.

The two girls were soon ready to leave with their lattes, so Peter gathered his things. He couldn’t let them out of his sight. He had a lot to learn, and it all started with finding out where they were going. He had to find the network.

He followed the girls out of the coffee shop and stayed close behind them as they walked through the town center. He waited as they went into a small boutique store, and he watched through the front windows as they tried on hats, sunglasses and frilly scarves. While they played around, giggling at how silly they looked, he took the opportunity to snap a few pictures of them with his phone.