Chapter Fifteen
Alex went over to Madison's house after school to get ready for the game and dance. The game started at seven, and the dance was being held from nine until eleven-thirty. Since it was a casual dance, the girls decided to wear skinny jeans and fitted T-shirts.
Madison, Alex, and Emily had gone to the mall together last weekend and picked out similar attire to wear for the night. Each had classic colored skinny jeans, but Madison's shirt color was a deep dark blue, Alex's was bright pink, and Emily's was a midnight black, which they all said looked great on her porcelain skin coloring and dark-colored hair.
"Hey, what time is Zach picking you up?" Madison questioned Emily as soon as she answered her phone.
"Um, I think around six-thirty. Why?" Emily was a little nervous about Zach picking her up, meeting her aunt Maureen, and being in the car with him all by herself. They had time to talk alone before, like going to class together and at lunch, but this was like the actual first time they would be completely alone.
"Just wondered, so we know what time to pick up Danny and meet you guys at the game. It's going to be crowded, so we better try to park beside each other, or we'll never find one another."
"I can text you when we leave here." Emily was trying to talk to Madison and get dressed at the same time. It was challenging to hold the cell phone with one hand and pull up tight jeans with the other.
"Cool. It shouldn't take us too long to get Danny, so we should be able to get there around the same time. So, are you ready for your big date night with Zach?" Madison sounded teasing,
"I wouldn't call it a date, or do you think that's what he thinks?" If that was the case, it put Emily's nervousness at a higher level.
"We can all tell he wants you, Em." Alex's voice rang out in the background. "He's hot for you like Madison is for Jacob."
"Jacob, are you freakin' kidding me?" Madison screamed out at Alex, blowing out Emily's eardrum in the meantime. "There will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be a time I would want or be desperate enough to desire the man-whore himself."
"He's cute." Emily had to throw her two cents into the conversation concerning Jacob. She liked Zach a lot more, in fact, a whole hell of a lot more, but Jacob was unquestionably hot.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're as bad as the rest of them now. You better finish getting ready for dear ole' Zach and text me when you're going to leave."
Emily's phone went dead as Madison abruptly ended their call. It was evident she got flustered a lot whenever Jacob's name was mentioned or when he was around. Maybe Madison did secretly have a crush on him but was too afraid to admit it to herself.
Emily grabbed the rest of the clothes and continued getting ready. The clock said she had thirty minutes until Zach arrived.
***
Zach pulled up to the address Emily had given him. He was five minutes early, which was a good thing, right. He was glad this was only a football game and a little casual dance afterward. Big relief there was no need for suits, ties, and flowers.
Emily lived in a pretty good neighborhood. The houses were a lot different from his, as they didn't have the hundreds of wooded acres surrounding them. They were well-kept homes that all sort of looked the same, each in a different color or maybe a window in a different place. Zach got out of his Mustang and made his way up to the porch, the one with freshly planted flowers and greens along the sides. He rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.
"Hi, you must be Zach." An attractive lady opened the door about fifteen seconds later. "C'mon in and wait while I get Emily." She held open the front door for him to come through into the entryway. "I'm Emily's aunt, Maureen." She held out her hand for him to shake, which he gracefully did. "Let me get Em real quick." She led Zach into the living room and ran up the stairs.
Zach was still standing by the door when Emily and her aunt came bounding down the stairs. He tried to remain poised and calm, but his wolf was raging to get out and go to his mate.
"So, you ready?" he questioned Emily as he tried to check her out inconspicuously. She looked beautiful as ever in the tight T-shirt and skinny jeans she decided to wear showed off her curves and brought out her skin's unique coloring.
"Yep." Emily pushed her anxiousness to the side and focused on enjoying the night. "You met my Aunt Maureen, right?"
Zach nodded that introductions had been done. "We better get going. It's going to be crowded tonight." He took hold of Emily's hand so his wolf would calm down about wanting to get closer.
"Have fun and be careful." Aunt Maureen waited by the door as Emily left with Zach."What time do you think you'll be back?" she yelled out to the couple right before they got into Zach's car.
"I think the dance is over at eleven-thirty. So, I should be back by midnight." Emily glanced up at Zach, who nodded in assurance before he closed the door for her. They both waved to Aunt Maureen, who was still standing on the porch, as they took off in the school's direction.
"Your aunt is nice." Zach tried to make casual conversation with Emily, who appeared a little tense. She was fidgeting around with her hands, folding them on her lap, and then rubbing them together ten seconds later.
"Yeah, she can be most of the time." Emily tried to remember when Aunt Maureen wasn't friendly to everyone, but there wasn't any recollection of an occurrence.
"So, tell me something about you I don't know." Zach tried once again to get Emily to open up a little. He wanted to find out as much about her as possible.
"What do you know about me?" Emily countered his inquiry with a question of her own.
A puzzled look came about Zach's face as he tried to think of what he knew about this girl sitting beside him. "You started West Lakes this year. You're a senior. And..." Zach struggled as he tried to think of another fact about Emily. "And you like the school pizza."
Emily let out a little giggle. "How did you find out all these deep dark secrets about me?"
"Oh, I have my ways."
Zach had a cute little dimpled smile that Emily was starting to really like.
"No, but seriously who is Emily Beauford?"
Emily shrugged and tilted her head as if in deep thought. "No one really."
"Any brothers, sisters, cousins?"
Emily shook her head. "Only me and Aunt Maureen."
"Can I ask about your mom and dad?" Zach wanted to know for his own personal knowledge and maybe find out if he would recognize a name or something that would make him understand better why she was his chosen mate.
"I never knew either of them. My mom died the day I was born, and I never knew who my father was. I've only had my aunt since birth, so I have her last name as my own." Emily didn't feel sad talking to Zach about this. She had seen pictures of her mother, but that was the extent of her awareness of her.
"Sorry on both accounts, your mom and dad." Zach felt terrible for asking about her scarred childhood.
Emily waved him off. "That was almost eighteen years ago. I didn't know either of them, so it was like losing something I never even had in the first place."
"You're not eighteen yet. When's your birthday?"
"December twenty-first. When is yours?" Emily was surprised Zach wanted to carry on a conversation with her. He seemed much different now than he did the first few days at school.
"Oh, so you're a winter solstice baby." That was interesting to know. Usually, those who may have some sort of connection with the world of wolves were born under the time of the summer or winter solstice, but in most instances, it’s the summer. "Mine's June twenty-first. I was a summer solstice baby."
"Guess we're unique then. I mean, not us personally but us together having opposite solstice birthday...I…I guess that's unique." Emily turned her attention toward the passing tree line. She felt her face heat up. She didn't mean to insinuate they were together-together and Zach to think she already laid claim to him or something.
"Mine's not so special. My older brother Adam and Jacob, we all have the
same birth date."
Emily snapped her head back toward Zach's direction. "That is weird. Like all of yours are on June twenty-first?"
Zach nodded that she was correct.
"Did your mother plan it that way? Did she have a C-section or something with each of you?"
Zach saw Emily amazed by this tiny bit of information if only she knew its real truth. He shook his head concerning the questions about his mom, which wasn't a subject he liked to dive into.
"My father also has the same birthday."
Most alphas were born on the exact summer solstice, June twenty-first. In contrast, the rest of the pack were usually born on the twentieth or the twenty-second of June. There had been cases of pack members being born under the winter solstice, but those were far and few between. And in those cases, the member went rogue or was eventually killed because of betrayal against a pack member or the whole pack itself.
"That is just too bizarre. What's your mom do on all your birthdays? Is there a huge party or something?"
Zach swallowed the massive lump in his throat. "My mother died a few years ago." He kept his eyes focused on the road and tried not to let his growing rage get out of control.
Emily didn't know what to say. She felt awful about bringing up the tender subject of his mom dying. She could see the pained expression written on his face, along with a hint of anger. "Did she die from cancer or something?"
Zach let out a deep sigh. He didn't want to get into all the details of that night just yet. Maybe someday, but not tonight. He shook his head. "She was murdered." He finally told her after a long-drawn-out moment.
Emily tried to hide her mortified shock. Now she felt twice as bad about bringing up his mother again. "I'm so sorry." She reached her hand over and laid it on Zach's forearm. As soon as their skin touched, a sense of calmness crossed his face. She didn't know why, but it felt like they balanced each other out. Like they had a soothing effect on the other with only a touch.
Zach felt his wolf begin to back down with a touch from his mate. He was all riled up after thinking about Orfeo and what he had done. But now his mate was showing compassion, a sense of tranquility came about.
Emily's cell phone ringing broke their moment. Her hand left Zach's, and his wolf let out a low growl over the moment ending.
"Hey." Emily knew who was on the other end. The girls had all switched contact numbers for their cells on the first day of school.
"Did you guys leave yet?" Madison's loud voice vibrated through the phone.
Emily covered the phone with her hand. "Oh shit," she whispered to Zach. He glanced over at her to question what all the fuss was about. "I forgot to text Madison when we left my house."
Zach got a big grin on his face like it was the funniest thing of the night.
"It's not funny," Emily smacked him on the arm, "now she's going to be pissed off at me."
"Hello," Madison screamed through the phone once again. "Did you guys already leave? You forgot to text me, didn't you?"
"I...uh...I..." Emily didn't know what to say.
Madison started to giggle. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you got all caught up in those big brown eyes staring at you. Zach has your full attention. We get it. And, oh yeah, we're right behind you guys."
Emily turned in her seat so she could see out the back window. There was Madison in her car along with Alex and Danny. They started waving when they saw Emily looking at them.
"They're behind us," Em told Zach as she turned around toward the front again. He looked in his rearview mirror and nodded when he saw Madison's car. "Okay, we'll see you guys at the field in a minute." Emily hung up her phone. Zach pulled into the school parking lot with Madison following right behind.
Both girls came running up and gave Emily a quick hug. "Guess Mr. Lovell here," Alex linked her arm through with Zach's, "had all your attention, and you couldn't remember about us lowly people." Alex jokingly hung her head, awaiting sympathy.
"No. I...just..." Emily stuttered. She tried to find an excuse as to why she didn't call.
Zach came up beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, she can't help it if she finds my company and presence more interesting than yours." He stuck his tongue out at Madison and Alex.
Both girls started laughing.
"Oh yeah, Zach, you're so irresistible. You're as hot as..." Madison tried to think of the cute guy that played in the last movie she and Alex had seen. She looked behind the others and saw one person that could ruin her whole night. "Jacob."
"I knew it. I knew it." Danny started to bounce on his toes. "I knew you had the hots for him."
"No. He's behind you." Madison pointed to Jacob, who was standing behind the group.
They all turned and saw Jacob behind them in his complete football uniform.
"And no to your assumption, Danny. That is so not happening here." Madison ducked back into her car to pretend she was looking for something. She didn't want to hear or see Jacob's comment to what Danny had said.
"What's up?" Zach questioned his brother. Jacob motioned with his head for Zach and Danny to follow. They met at a few empty spaces away from the rest of the crowd.
"Did you hear what happened?" Jacob asked in a hushed tone. They both looked at him like they had no clue as to what he was talking about. "Adam and his pack were out scouting around. Our best tracker picked up a scent of either Orfeo or one of the others over by the little community past Gibsonia Road."
"No shit. Wow. Did they see anyone or anything?" Danny was all excited. His wolf was getting all stirred up, and he felt like going on a hunt. He looked over at Alex. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye and gave him a soft smile which was enough to calm him down and gain more control of his inner beast.
"Nah. They didn't see anything, just got a faint scent. They wanted everyone to be on high alert." Jacob snuck a glance at Madison, but she was busy talking to the other girls. He wanted to know more about what Danny meant by his comment when he first came over but didn't want to hear any ridicule about him being curious about her. "I gotta get back to the team. Keep a lookout in case something's going down."
Danny and Zach nodded they would and walked back over to the girls.
Protectively, Zach put his arm around Emily, then started in the direction Jacob went, toward the field. "Ready?" He glanced down at her. She smiled up at him, looking quite content, which made him and his wolf more at ease.
***
It was halftime for the game before Emily got to talk to Zach again. The crowd's noise and the excitement from the game kept it nearly impossible to carry a normal conversation. Thanks to Jacob, Will, and Anthony, the home team was winning by three touchdowns. It wasn't a boastful brag when they said those three could play ball well and sort of owned the team. They worked together on the field like they could read each other's minds and knew what the other would do.
"Do you want a soda or something?" Zach asked as they walked over to the concession stand.
"That would be great." Her face beamed like a little kid on Christmas when he offered to get her something. She pointed to the restroom to let him know where she was going and followed Madison and Alex.
"So, it seems you got the reclusive lone wolf Zach to show interest in a girl finally," Madison questioned Emily as they waited in line to use an empty stall when one became available. "How did you work your magic?"
"I don't think he's romantically interested, just being nice." Emily tried to hide the fact she was excited about Zach possibly showing interest in her.
Alex barked out a laugh. "Uh, no. He's definitely showing interest. He's never acted like this around another girl for as long as we've known him. He's always polite but never touchy or wanting to hold hands like he is with you."
Emily didn't know what to think. She knew she liked him and felt a pull toward him but still didn't want to get her hopes up.
Madison patted Emily on the back. "Let's see what happens at the dance. I'm sure you're goi
ng to be the only one he dances with."
***
Zach got the soda Emily wanted and waited for the girls to return, which was like forever. Finally, after about five minutes, all three exited the restroom together. He had no clue why girls were like that. Guys could use the bathroom alone, but girls seemed to always have to hold each other's hand to do things like that.
"Took you long enough." He stared directly at Madison like he was accusing her of making them stay in the restroom.
"Sorry." Madison rolled her eyes at Zach and crossed her arms. "We had girl things to discuss."
"Game's about to begin again. Do you want to head in?" Zach turned his attention back to Emily and nodded toward the football field.
"Yep." Emily's voice sounded excited as Zach once again took her hand and led her back to the bleachers with the others following behind them.
The game ended with West Lakes winning. Zach grabbed Emily's hand once more as they scrambled up the bleachers to go to the dance taking place in the school gymnasium.
"Do you need anything else?" Zach questioned as they walked past the concession stands once again.
"Um, no, thank you. I'm pretty good."
Zach gently squeezed her hand and led her in the direction the rest of the student population was traveling toward the school.
Chapter Sixteen
The group heard the band begin to do warm-ups as they made their way through the line into the gym. Zach already had the money out for him and Emily and made sure to push it forward when they got up to the person taking the attendance money. Danny was behind them and paid for him and Alex. Madison wasn't with anyone, so that left her alone to pay for herself and have no one to accompany her to the dance.
"I guess we're stuck here for the next two and a half hours." Danny didn't want to be at some lame dance. He'd rather be out on patrol with the rest of the pack where all the adventure was happening tonight. But Alex wanted to come, so he had to go along with what made her happy.
Revelations (Separate Worlds Book 1) Page 7
