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She softened her expression as she closed the distance between them. Beads of sweat glistened from his forehead, a testament to his nervousness. I will not fear him. I will not fear him, she mentally chanted. Without warning him, she wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him the hug she’d wanted to give him since the moment she’d seen him.
At first, he remained stiff, unyielding, then his own arms encircled her tentatively. They stayed like that for several minutes, lost in the moment. As he held her, any lingering qualms she’d harbored vanished. Yesterday he had protected her from the werewolf. He didn’t want to hurt her.
He was the one to pull away, as if he didn’t trust himself to continue. His expression was blank but his eyes…oh, his eyes. They were brown this time. What did the change mean? She had so much to learn about him.
“So tell me. Is possessing bodies all this boy can do?” she asked softly.
Another shake of his head.
So there was more. Surprisingly, the fear did not return. “What else?”
He tangled his fingers through his hair, and a thick black lock tumbled to his forehead. “Mary Ann, what do you think the chances are that this make-believe boy who can do things others can’t has spent most of his life shuffled from one mental institution to another?”
Mental institutions? Poor, sweet Aden. She might be young, but she’d seen how intolerant people could be of those who were different. Look how Tucker had treated Shannon because of his stutter. And a stutter was nothing compared to what Aden could do!
“I think there’s a very good chance, but that wouldn’t make me like him any less. ”
He gazed down at his feet, hiding his disbelief. A moment passed. He sighed, grabbed her hand, and spun her around, tugging her toward the school. “How can you accept this so easily?”
“Easily?” She barked out a laugh completely devoid of humor. “I agonized over this all night. Did I—” They were pretending to speak of other people, she reminded herself. “Could a girl actually hear a werewolf speaking inside her head? And if she didn’t, was she crazy? Did she truly see a boy disappear? And if she didn’t, was she crazy? She either had to accept what she’d seen or admit she was, you guessed it, crazy. ”
His grip tightened. Warm and strong. Comforting. Comfort she needed as much as he did, she realized.
“What about the wolf?” she asked. “What happened to him?”
“Last time I saw him, he was alive. ” There was a wealth of guilt in his tone.
Why the guilt?
“Did he tell you anything?” she asked. “Mention why he was following me?”
“No, and there wasn’t time to ask him. Had there been, though, I don’t think he would have answered me. We weren’t exactly on friendly terms when I left him. ”
“He is a boy, though, right?” Goose bumps broke out over her skin as she remembered the husky timbre of his voice inside her head, that warm fur against her skin, those pale green eyes watching her every move. Shivers, not shudders. What’s wrong with me?
“Yes. A very dangerous one. If he returns, stay away from him. He promised to kill me. ”
“What? Why?”
Finally they reached the school, and he wasn’t able to answer. She released Aden’s hand when one of her classmates, she didn’t know the guy’s name, spotted them and gaped. She wasn’t embarrassed for people to see her with Aden and think that they were a couple, and she hoped he realized that. If she’d been crushing on him, she would have been proud to be his girlfriend. But she wasn’t his girlfriend; she still thought of him as a brother-type. And the simple fact was, things weren’t settled with Tucker yet.
Tucker. What was she going to do about him?
The last time she’d gone to sleep, she’d seen the world in black and white. A world where a fifteen-year plan had driven her every action. Now, her eyes were open to its vast and vivid colors, to a puzzle she desperately wanted to solve, each minute a surprise she couldn’t possibly plan for. Where did Tucker fit in this new life? Did she want him to fit?
Mary Ann sighed. Looked like she had more than wolves and secret abilities to figure out.
AFTER THEY STOPPED by the office and picked up a map, Mary Ann gave Aden the promised tour of Crossroads High. Their conversation about the supernatural had ended the moment they’d hit the parking lot and they were careful not to resume it, speaking only of the mundane.
Aden was glad for the reprieve, though he knew it would end soon enough. He wasn’t sure what else he’d tell her when the time came. Wasn’t sure what she could handle. What little he had revealed had caused her to pale and shake. He wanted her help with the souls, yes, but…
Could he trust her not to tell anyone? Again, he desperately wanted to, and she claimed that he could. But people, he’d learned at a very young age, often lied. We’ll always love you, but this is for your own good, his mother had told him in a note. A note she’d left for him at that first institution and he’d read years later. His parents had never returned for the son they “loved. ” This won’t hurt, doctor after doctor had told him, just before shoving a needle somewhere in his body.
People would say anything to get the reaction they desired. His parents hadn’t wanted him to think poorly of them or their decision. The doctors hadn’t wanted him to fight them.
With Mary Ann, he’d forgotten—or chosen to overlook like the idiot he was—years of lessons learned. The way she’d hugged him…as if he meant something to her, as if they were already family and had to look out for each other. Telling her, though, was the only way to gain her help. If she could help, that is.
“Watch out. ” Mary Ann jerked him to the side.
A group of jocks passed, barely missing him. “Sorry. My mind wandered. ” And it hadn’t been because of the souls. Unlike yesterday in the forest, when he’d heard them while in proximity to Mary Ann, they were once again dormant. He didn’t understand it, either.
He frowned—and almost slammed into someone else. His mind had wandered again. How long had he been walking through the school’s corridors without really seeing them?
He forced himself to take everything in. The walls were painted black, gold and white—the school colors—and posters that read Go Jaguars decorated each expanse. Kids rushed in every direction. Lockers were opened and slammed shut. Girls laughed and talked while the boys checked them out.
“Football season’s in full swing,” Mary Ann said. “Do you play? I mean, I know Dan used to, so I figured he would have the boys at the ranch train with him. ”
“No. I don’t play, and Dan doesn’t have us practice. We have too many chores. ” Aden loved watching the game, though, and hated that he couldn’t concentrate long enough to experience it firsthand.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Why?”
“Well, you sounded sad, like you wish you could play but—” Her lips pressed together as she realized why contact sports might not be the best thing for someone who could possess another’s body.
She had no idea that was only part of the problem. “Believe me. I’ll recover. ” There were a thousand other things he could worry about. “What will your boyfriend think of you giving me this tour? He didn’t want you to, remember?”
“I don’t want to talk about him. ” Before Aden could respond, she added, “Now let me see your schedule. ”
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who knew how to change a subject. He pulled the paper from his pocket and handed it to her.
She ran a finger down the list. “We have two classes together. First and second period. ”
“Are you going to let me cheat off your papers?” he teased.
“Maybe I’ll cheat off yours. I might have straight As, but I’ve had to slave for every single one. ”
“We should study together. ”
“Like we’d really get anything done,” she said with a laugh.
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“Wait. We’re supposed to accomplish something? I thought the word study was code for getting together and talking. ”
Another laugh. “I wish. ”
How normal this felt. And despite everything going on, he realized he was happy.
The wolf wanted to eat him for breakfast—so what. Victoria, the girl he still wanted to kiss with every ounce of his being, would one day drink from him—so what. Someone was going to stab him in the heart—again, so what. He could deal.
No matter what life threw at him next, he could deal.
NINE
BECAUSE OF ADEN’S CURFEW, Mary Ann didn’t get a chance to talk to him after school.
So, the next morning, she waited for him at the front doors but Tucker got to her first. Too afraid to let the boys interact, she asked Tucker to walk her to class. He, at least, seemed back to his normal self, solicitous and admiring. Still. She didn’t know what to do about him, maybe because her mind had too many other things to ponder. Like Aden and the wolf.
She tried to talk to Aden in each of their shared classes, but the teachers separated them, watching him closely, as if they expected him to be a bad influence. And between classes, there were too many kids in the halls to say anything of importance.
At lunch, he was nowhere to be found. Where he went, she didn’t know, but his absence was probably for the best. As always, she sat with Tucker and his crew, as well as Penny and hers. No telling how they would have reacted if she left them to be with Aden.
Sadly a week crawled by in the same manner: Tucker met her in the morning, teachers ensured she and Aden maintained their distance, and he disappeared at lunch. They never again had the chance to chat. She couldn’t help but wonder if Aden was relieved not to have to tell her any more of his secrets.
Each day after their final class, he was given another reprieve. She didn’t want to see him. Her wolf—the wolf who had promised to kill him—always waited for her. Actually, he walked her to and from school. The relief she’d felt upon first seeing him again, of knowing he was okay, still filled her every time she saw him.
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