Marked (The Pack)
Page 28
“I’m going to join the school with Aunt Louise.”
“No.”
I stopped, my argument stuck in my throat. Of the people I’d expected to object, Aaron wasn’t at the top of the list. One would think the stepdad would be glad to get rid of the weird daughter who’d only last night flung him in a closet to keep him from being eaten alive by vengeful werewolves.
Aaron got up from the sofa next to my mother and stood in front of me. “You can’t do this Alexis. Your mother needs you here. I need you here.”
“You don’t know me that well.”
His hand grasped my upper arm and he shook me slightly. “That’s not true. I know you enough to know you’re a young girl. You need your family with you. You’ve been through a lot. It’s traumatic and now is not the time to make these kinds of decisions.”
I smiled and covered his hand with mine. “I have to do this. I have to learn more about what I can do, about who I am.”
“You belong here.” My mother came to stand beside Aaron. “You can have an identity crisis in this house not rambling across the country.”
“I think we both know this isn’t your everyday, garden variety identity crisis, Mom.”
“You’re going to leave your family for this?”
I shook my head. “No, and please don’t take this wrong, Mom, because you know I love you, but this is my family now.”
She didn’t fall on the sofa in a fit of hysterics. I was so thankful, because I wasn’t one hundred percent certain I could have gone through with this decision if she had.
My mother only nodded slowly. As if what was happening had been expected, awaited, for some time. “You’ll come back.”
“Of course, and you and Aaron can take road trips to visit me where ever we are.”
“When will you go?” Mother turned to Louise.
“Sometime after lunch would be good.”
“Okay.”
Aaron stood by the sofa, quiet and angry.
“I’ll get my things together.”
My mom sighed. “I’ll make lunch.”
And just like that it was done.
In my room I carefully went through my clothes and folded them, putting piles in a suitcase. I wasn’t sure what I needed because I didn’t know what this school was like. Aunt Louise hadn’t mentioned tuition. I hoped if it cost money to go we could afford it.
***
At exactly two in the afternoon, life as I, Alexis Miller, knew it, officially ended. The back hatch of Louise’s SUV slammed and I climbed into the passenger seat waving to Aaron and my mother. They stood at the front door as if they were sending me off to camp. Except Aaron looked absolutely stricken. My mom just looked resigned.
“She knew this would happen one day, didn’t she?” I stared out the front window, but knew Louise glanced at me.
“She had a good idea that it would.”
We drove in silence for a few minutes. “So, what now?” I asked.
I saw Louise’s knuckles whiten on the steering wheel.
“You have to leave the boy alone. It has to end here, Alexis, for both of you.”
“That’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not fair. But trying to have a relationship with him will only get one or both of you killed. I don’t know any other way to put it. Neither pack will allow it.”
“But why? Are you telling me no two werewolves from opposite packs ever fall in love?”
“No, I’m not saying that. It happens and occasionally it works out. But those who do that give up their packs and live alone.”
“Maybe Eric and I will do that. Take off and leave our packs behind, just the two of us.”
“Now you’re talking like a teenager.”
“The last time I looked, I was a teenager.”
“Well you have to grow up, and fast. There’s too much at stake. Eric’s pack isn’t going to let go of him. I’m afraid Lycernians won’t be willing to let you go with him to live some kind of romantic ideal life.”
“Why do they care what we do?”
Louise glanced at me again and sighed. “Because you’re special and so is Eric. You wouldn’t be coming to this school if you weren’t. But Eric is… his father, Brodin, is head of the Fenryrian council and very powerful.
“Brodin, as in Brodin who’s going to start an army of werewolves with the mutated virus?”
“Yes.”
Suddenly I was exhausted, weak.
“Brodin has plans for Eric, Alexis, and, I promise, they don’t include you.”
I stared out the window, my resolve to find a way to be with Eric beginning to blur like the scenery. So what if I was special if I didn’t end up with Eric. Could I be special enough that the Fenryrians would be glad for us to be together even if I didn’t share all their beliefs?
Louise stopped at a red light. To my right, on the cross street, I spotted a red sports car. Eric was behind the wheel. I glanced at Louise, but she hadn’t seen him. Her eyes were on the traffic light in front of us. He turned my way, our eyes met and I saw the sadness there.
I’ll see you again. I concentrated on the sentence so hard, trying to send the message to him. Then, across the way, Eric gave a slow smile. I felt a tiny bit of hope somewhere deep inside of me. We weren’t finished, not yet.
About the author
Suzanne Cox lives in south Mississippi where she works full time as a family nurse practitioner. When not working she writes books in various genres including young adult, series romance and medical suspense. She and her husband share their house with two spoiled miniature pinschers and a variety of cats. Look for book one of her Atlantis series, Breathe, available July of 2012 and the book two of the pack series in winter of 2012.
Connect with Suzanne at the following places:
www.suzannecoxbooks.com
http://suzannecoxbooks.blogspot.com/
on twitter @suz_anne_cox