Willow (Blood Vine Series) (7 page)

             
“Gage will stay with you and protect you until you are ready to be on your own.”

             
I chanced a quick look at Gage, who stared at me with narrowed grey eyes. I doubted very seriously if Gage would protect me against anything, but any protest I had stuck in my throat.

             
“Let’s go,” Gage led the way outside.

             
I was surprised to see my familiar red car in the driveway. Somehow, seeing it there made the cabin feel more like home. “How did my car get here?”

             
No one answered me. “I’m driving,” Blake said instead.

             
“Driving?” At least Gage was as shocked as I was.

             
“I don’t know if they would react well to two males on their territory.” Gage’s eyes narrowed again. Bella would have had a fit over him. I could just hear her telling me never to squint or I’d get wrinkles.

             
“You want shotgun?” I asked Gage. He huffed an unintelligible response but slid into the front seat.

             
It was a short drive to the abandoned farmhouse where the boys were staying. The silence in the car was tense. “So will they have to start going to school once they can control themselves?” I asked as we stepped out of the car.

             
“They’re already in school,” Blake responded.

             
“They are?”

             
Blake nudged me forward just slightly and I came face to face with six very familiar boys.

             
“We knew you’d come,” Rueben Massie called from his place in front.

             
My mouth dropped open. “It was our irresistible charm, huh?” Jed Flannigan grinned.

             
Colby and Tyson Thacker stood in the half circle that had formed in the yard, almost shaking with excitement. Rodney, the would-be rock star, and the boy from the shadows in the dungeon completed the six.

             
I felt my blood pulsing in my ears and I still hadn’t been able to close my mouth. I should have known. All those muscles? I really should have known. But they had known, I realized abruptly. They knew I was a wolf.

             
“Do you know each other already?” Blake asked.

             
“No, no, not really,” I stammered. Tyson, unable to contain himself any longer, broke free from the group and gathered me up in a suffocating hug. He spun me twice.

             
“Let me down,” I shrieked.

             
So suddenly that I couldn’t tell what happened, Tyson was thrown backwards and I landed on my backside. In a blur of grey fur, Tyson was suddenly circling with a huge, black wolf. Gage was almost twice his size.
Huh
, I thought stupidly
, maybe I was wrong about Gage. I guess he would protect me.

             
Tyson bared his teeth and tensed to attack, too young to realize that Gage would rip his throat out. Gage stood still, dead calm.

             
“Wait.” I jumped up and put myself between the two wolves. “Wait, wait, wait.” Tyson rocked back on his hind legs and threw his head back and forth. The other boys grinned stupidly at us. “Tyson, get back,” I demanded sternly. I turned to Gage then. “He wasn’t going to hurt me. He’s just young and excited,” I said, my voice pleading for Tyson. Gage was still locked on Tyson though, teeth bared. Without much thought I put both my hands on Gage’s shoulders and began pushing him back. He didn’t move much so I put my knee into his broad chest and tried again. This time he seemed to notice that I was trying to get him to move and he relaxed his stance. “He’s fine,” I grunted.

             
“Sorry, Willow,” Tyson called nervously. I was glad that he had morphed back. Maybe now Gage would relax.

             
“Gage.” I held his eye contact until he finally sighed and bellied down. “Alright.” I turned back to the boys. “How did you know I was … here?”

             
“When Rueben ran into you at the store,” Rodney answered before anyone else could.

             
It was strange to see them all together like this. I realized now that they each must have tried to fit into a different group in school on purpose. There might be some hope for them yet. They just needed some guidance. Gage came closer to me, still on his belly.

             
“They told us to come here and wait for a leader,” Rodney continued.

             
“We knew you’d come,” Rueben repeated.

             
“We’ve been waiting.”

             
“Being good.”

             
“And now here you are.”

             
I reached down to put my hand against Gage’s head. It was more comforting than I would have imagined having him there. “Now I’m not … it’s just … ” The boys began to close in on me, making me nervous. Without meaning to I took a step back. Gage was on his feet instantly, putting himself in front of me. He growled a low warning. Only the nerdy boy from the shadows didn’t flinch back.

             
“I don’t know your name,” I addressed him. He was now dressed in jeans and a plain grey t-shirt. Gone were the glasses and slicked back hair.

             
“I’m Steven.”

             
“Steven.” I stepped purposefully in front of Gage, putting myself just a few feet from them. “Rueben, Jed,” I pointed out each one to make sure I had them straight, “Tyson, Colby, and Rodney.”

             
They grinned widely and dropped to one knee as a group. My breathing hitched up a notch. What were they doing? “Willow, we give you our loyalty,” they spoke together and bowed their heads. As I stood there, completely dumfounded, they morphed to their wolf forms and stayed low to the ground.

             
I turned wide eyes to Blake, still standing by the car. He was smiling. “This is going to work,” he declared happily.

Chapter Seven

My First Boyfriend

             
I picked my way slowly through the woods back to the cabin. It would have been faster to morph but it still felt weird to morph in front of the guys. Not to mention I would end up half naked. Gage stayed close to my side, in wolf form, even though I was sure it was painfully slow for him.

             
Blake had left us at the farmhouse but it was too disgusting to stay there. The boys stayed close to me as well. “You guys should clean that place up,” I commented.

             
“We don’t usually get guests.”

             
“Yeah but … was that blood on the ceiling?”

             
“Colby and Tyson.”

             
“They were fighting over a rabbit.”

             
“You eat in the house?”

             
Jed and Rueben both looked away. At least they were still human enough to know that was gross. “Can we talk to you at school?” Tyson asked from behind me. Jed and Rueben both looked at me expectantly.

             
After everything that had happened that day I still thought of the conversation with Carlie from that afternoon. It seemed like a different lifetime ago. “No,” I answered quickly. “We need to keep everything the same at school.”

             
“I don’t think we should go to school,” came Steven’s thoughts on the matter.

             
“We have to. We’re only seventeen.” I looked back to offer a smile. “I’m only a junior.”

             
“Maybe in human years. Isn’t it seven for every one?”

             
“That’s for dogs, idiot.”

             
“Jed, don’t call him an idiot.” I took a deep breath. “We’re going to school. We’re keeping everything the same.” I ran my hand along Gage’s neck; it was so much easier to like him as a wolf. “I’m right, huh?” I muttered to him. I didn’t really expect an answer.

             
“Today was only your first day here,” Rueben argued.

             
“You can still be anything you want,” Jed seconded.

             
“Anything?” My smile might have been sad but the boys were mostly behind me so they didn’t notice.

             
“Anything.”

             
“I would like to be,” I smiled as wide as I could manage, “a cheerleader.” I giggled happily. I knew Bella’s boys always reflected her mood so I needed to stay positive.

             
“You’ll need a quarterback boyfriend.” I looked back in time to catch Rueben’s grin before he was tackled by Colby.

             
“You already have a girlfriend,” he grunted.

             
“She’s not going to be your girlfriend. She just needs a jock boyfriend,” Steven commented quietly.

             
“Boys.” I rolled my eyes. I hoped this wasn’t an indication of how things were going to be.

             
“Which one of us is going to be your boyfriend?”

             
“No one. I’m not picking a boyfriend.”

             
“Rueben has a girlfriend,” Jed continued as if I hadn’t said anything, “so you can be my girlfriend.”

             
“You don’t even play football.”

             
“I play baseball.”

             
“She wants a popular boyfriend.”

             
“She said she wants to be a cheerleader.”

             
“Cheerleaders date football players.”

             
“And baseball players.”

             
I rolled my eyes again. Rueben and Jed were inches away from each other, both screaming and shaking. “Calm down.” I didn’t even stop to wait for them.

             
Night seemed to fall more quickly in the woods. I could still see well enough but I shivered despite myself. Where was Bella’s pack tonight? Were they watching us? I should have just morphed, then I’d already be inside my bizarrely pink room. I was going to have to learn how to morph quicker so my clothes wouldn’t tear.

             
We came to the cabin unexpectedly. The trees just stopped abruptly to display the cabin. Rueben and Jed had disappeared into the woods already but I turned to the others who watched me eagerly. “You guys need to go home. Get some rest.” No one moved. “I’ll uh … I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” Still they stood. I wondered if there was a special command to dismiss them. Even Gage watched me expectantly. I spun quickly away from them and ran inside the cabin.

             
I leaned heavily against the wall by the front door. This had to have been the longest day of my life. Even longer than the first time I’d morphed and been stuck as a wolf for hours. I shivered at the memory. Okay, maybe that had been worse.

             
The front door opened, startling me upright. Gage smiled slightly and nodded. “You did good,” he commented in his gruff voice.

             
“Thanks,” I tucked my hair behind my ears. He smiled tightly and disappeared back through the door. “That was weird,” I whispered.

             
With a final huff I pushed myself away from the wall. I really needed a shower, and some sleep would be nice.

             
The curtains were still pulled open in my room when I went to get clothes to change into. Sitting outside my window, almost blending in with the night, was a huge black wolf. Although I couldn’t see him well enough through my window, I was sure he had grey patches along his back.




             
The next morning I half expected to see one of the boys in my driveway, but I made it all the way to school without running into any of them. Of course my locker wouldn’t open and of course I was late for English, but at least the boys were keeping their distance.

             
By fourth period I started to relax some. Everything was going to be fine. They would be easy to train and then Ivy would take over and everyone would be happy. I was half a second from singing show tunes when a huge fist slammed into my locker above my head.

             
“Hey, newbie,” Jed grinned.

             
“I thought we discussed this.” I glared up at him but he still grinned.

             
“I just wanted to see how you were doing.”