Clara's eyes narrowed and she got into a near-crouching position.
"What's the matter?" I asked, looking around for trouble.
"Don't you sense that?" she hissed.
"No. What do you—?"
"We're in danger. We need to get out of here. I can't believe you don't feel it!"
"I don't know what—"
Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind, ran with me across the street, and ducked between some bushes.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
I turned around. It was Mr. Foley. "What are you doing here?" I asked, relieved that it was only him.
Clara jumped over the bushes and landed on top of us. She yanked him off of me and threw him several feet away.
"Run!" she yelled at me.
I stood up. "Stop! That's just Mr. Foley…I mean, Toby. I'm never going to get used to saying that."
Her eyes widened and she turned to him. "What the hell was that for? Why did you ambush her like that?"
He stood up and dusted the pine needles off. "Even from miles away, I could sense her distress."
"Yeah, well I'm not the cause of it, wolf. I'm her cousin and I can protect her bloody well more than you can."
I giggled.
She glared at me. "What could possibly be funny?"
"You're so mad that you used a British expression. I know you're from England, but I don't ever hear you talk like it."
She rolled her eyes. "You're such a teenager. So this is your new boyfriend?" she asked, jerking her head in his direction.
I walked over to him and held his hand. "Clara, this is Mr. F…I mean, Toby. Sorry, I need to practice saying that. Toby, this is my 238-year-old cousin, Clara."
"Two hundred and forty," she corrected. "You're forgetting that eighteen months have passed."
He extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet you…I think."
She looked reluctant as she took his hand. "Likewise." She turned to me, crinkling her nose. "How do you put up with the smell?"
I nestled up to him. "It's grown on me."
He smiled at me and winked. "As has yours."
Smiling, I grabbed his face and kissed him.
Clara muttered, "I think I'm going to be sick."
I laughed. "You could try being nice to the one that I love."
"It's going to take some getting used to," she said, and then turned to him. "You know, Wolfy, the most powerful vampire alive believes that Alexis belongs to him."
"Don't call him Wolfy," I said.
"It's okay," he told me. "I can handle her." He turned to Clara. "I'm fully aware of everything that she knows. You're the only vampire in all this time that even made any attempt to find her."
"She's actually got a cloaking spell, Wolfy, so if anyone has swung by looking for her, they wouldn't have found her."
"Well, Vampy, maybe you aren't aware of how well I can sense vampires. I haven't sensed any vampires here in the last six months. Nobody has been here to look for her."
"Did you know that I was in town?" Clara asked, getting closer.
"Sure. You got here about an hour and a half ago. Give or take a few minutes."
Clara's mouth dropped open for a moment. "Lucky guess. That was probably the same time that Alexis left your company and then found me. Maybe we should call you Sherlock."
"Nice theory, Vamperella," Toby said with a playful smirk. "She left my presence hours ago so she could join her friends for some hot tubbing before the big party."
"Maybe you were spying on her, wanting to see a piece of the action," Clara countered.
"You have some interesting theories, I'll give you that. I was actually at school the whole time. I've been clearing out my classroom—and I have several witnesses if you'd like to read their minds."
"Were you aware of her friend being a vampire in your school? If you were, why didn't you say anything to her about it?"
"I was aware, but the topic never came up. Your beautiful cousin here was depressed and wasting away. I was far more concerned with helping her out of that than I was with some random common vampire. Nobody else was helping her."
Clara looked at our hands, which were clasped together. "Is that how you decided to help her?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Nope. Not until she initiated it. I just gave her some run-of-the-mill bagged blood in drinks. You vampires are pretty easy to figure out, you know."
I poked him with my elbow.
Clara smirked. "You seem legit. So, are you going to be at the party tonight?"
"That was the plan. I assume we'll have the pleasure of your company?"
"Looks that way. Especially if your buddies are going to show up."
"You don't need to concern yourself over my pack. It's gone down in size after Wes and I had a blowout."
"That sounds interesting," Clara said. "What happened there?"
"I'm sure Alexis told you she thought that Wes was working with Francine. It turns out that he was, and he wanted me to join him," he said, laughing. "As if I would do that. I've been preaching peace since before he knew what he was. He's from a dormant line, and his only real strength is his arrogance—which is no strength at all. I told him to cut off communication with her; he refused, saying that she'd threatened his family. I told him that our pack would protect his family, but he wouldn't listen to me."
Clara nodded.
"He confronted me the next time my pack met at a full moon. I let him know he could either drop the subject or find a new pack. He decided to find a new pack. I told everyone that if they didn't want to make peace between the species, they needed to leave too. There was a lot of shuffling amongst the various packs as the peaceful members separated from the others. There are some other peaceful packs that I'm working with, but we're in the minority. This has ripped families apart, mine included."
Clara scratched her chin. "So Francine really is planning war, and bringing in werewolves."
"That's what I've been trying tell everyone!" I said, sighing. "The only one who ever seemed to believe me was Alrekur."
Clara rolled her eyes. "He'd probably believe you if you said you turn into a turkey on the full moon."
I laughed. "He doesn't worship the ground I walk on, trust me."
She smiled. "I didn't say that. But the Sonnast bond is supposed to be really strong. He irritates you, but the mark on your neck is practically a brand, marking you as his."
Toby's grip on my hand tightened.
"I have free will to choose who I want to be with, regardless of some prophecy. And Alrekur does a lot more than just irritate me. He killed Tanner because he thought I was in love with him!"
She looked at Toby and then back to me. "You were in love with Tanner for a time. Like I mentioned earlier, the Sonnast mark means that you always have to be in love; but it doesn't have to be with Alrekur. Who to choose will be a battle you must take on yourself."
"How do you know all of this, if you were never told about the prophecy due to the curse of the first line?"
"I'm putting together pieces of history that I've learned over the years that I never connected before. I never knew that the Sonnast was supposed to marry Alrekur, but it does make a lot of sense now that I know. I was always told the stories about Alrekur searching in vain for his one true love for two thousand years. I'd been given the whole story in broken pieces; all royal vampires have. Who would have guessed what your parents had been hiding all of this time?"
My phone buzzed, showing that I had a text. "It's Hailey. She wants me to get over there to get ready for the party. Will we meet you at the party, Toby?"
He smiled, his nose crinkling. "Of course. And I love it when you call me by my first name."
SEVEN
Hailey's eyes widened when she saw Clara next to me. "She's back? Since when?"
"A friend told me that my missing cousin had been found," Clara said. "Alexis invited me to hang out tonight. That won't be a problem, will it?"
Hailey looked back and
forth between the two of us. "Of course not. We're just doing each other's makeup. You probably know makeup tricks that we don't."
"I'd love to help," Clara said, smiling.
Hailey shot me a look. What's going on?
It's like she said. I shrugged my shoulders. What's the big deal?
I…I'm just used to us being the only vampires in town.
She's not going to be a problem. She's trustworthy.
It didn't sit right with me that Hailey was so concerned about Clara being back. Did she not want to share me, or was something else going on?
It looked like a makeup store had exploded inside of Hailey's room. Amanda and Emma looked up in surprise when they saw Clara.
"You're back!" Amanda squealed, dropping a tube of lipstick. She ran over and gave Clara a huge hug. "You didn't tell me that you were coming back to town!"
Amanda and Clara had made a habit of going on double dates together while I was away at the castle. They must have become pretty good friends.
"I'm only here for a couple of days," Clara told Amanda. "A friend called with some news, so I came back into town. But I need to get back. William's still in England taking his exams."
"You two are still together!" Amanda gushed. "Oh I wish he was here too. I know that Mark would love to see him. You need to bring him back here so we can all hang out."
Clara smiled. "I should, shouldn't I?"
Hailey stood with her arms folded. I couldn't tell if she was upset about not being the center of attention or another vampire being here. Did she think that she owned the rights to both?
"Where's the party?" I asked.
"Braydon's house," Emma said.
"Really?" I asked, surprised. "Natalie's old boyfriend? Didn't he graduate last year?"
"Don't act surprised that he stuck around here," Emma said, rolling her eyes. "He's working for his dad so he can take over the business someday. Besides, they have a huge house with a gigantic pool. He has the best parties."
"Since when?"
She sighed. "You and your memory. His dad inherited the steel factory from his grandpa while you were in Europe. Now they're rich and Braydon throws parties every chance he gets."
I raised an eyebrow. "Is Natalie still with him?"
"You didn't know they got back together?" Emma asked. "You're the one who told us that they're secretly talking about marriage. It turns out that we were right when we joked about her getting married to someone rich so she'd never have to work a day in her life. That's her plan."
I shrugged my shoulders. "I haven't really had any time to talk with her since graduation. She was pretty upset that I hadn't told her about Mr…uh, Toby."
Emma rolled her eyes. "Did she say that in front of your parents?"
"Yeah. Why?"
Hailey laughed. "Your sister should be in the Drama Club instead of on the volley ball team. She's a first class actress. She's known about Tobias longer than any of us. Who do you think covered for you when you snuck out to see him?"
"Oh…." I wished that I could remember more. I hoped everything would come back if I didn't have any more memory lapses.
"Enough talking," Hailey said. "We need to finish getting ready for the party!"
We spent the next hour laughing and making ourselves beautiful. I had to admit that I was actually having fun, and I'd managed to let go of my worries about trusting Hailey and Emma. It was obvious that they were both eager to please me, even Hailey, who was clearly the queen bee.
I enjoyed watching Amanda and Clara. It was obvious that they'd become close while I'd been away teaching Alrekur about modern society.
Before I knew it, we had all piled into my and Hailey's cars and I was following her to Braydon's new house. I knew where the lake was of course, but I didn't know which house was his. There were plenty of large homes surrounding the lake; it was the most expensive neighborhood in Delphic Cove.
We weren't the first to arrive, so we had to walk several blocks after we had parked. I saw Toby's car and found that I was actually excited to see him again.
As I looked around for him, I noticed Clara watching me. She had a soft but intrigued look on her face. You really care about that werewolf, don't you?
I nodded, unable to explain it. Even though I'd just woken up with my latest, and if Gessilyn's blessing worked, my last, memory lapse, the rush of memories that I'd received looking into his eyes helped me feel everything I'd felt for him over the last nine months. He had been the one who had helped me to climb out of my depression, the one who had been there for me when I had no other supernatural friends. I only had to put up with his absence for five days a month.
When we walked through the front door of Braydon's house, I scanned the mass of people for Toby. At least this time I was looking forward to being with him in front of everyone. I saw Natalie right away—she was holding hands with someone that I didn't recognize. I studied him and realized that it was Braydon. He looked like a completely different person, like a respectable adult. I had to admit that they looked like a picture perfect couple. I could easily see them getting married and having a family. He would make the money and she would spend it.
Braydon looked away from the guy he was talking to and turned to Natalie. He gave her a look of pure adoration and then kissed her forehead. She smiled and giggled. It was hard to believe that they were the same two people I'd accidentally spied on in the field when I was going through my transformation.
Then it struck me that my sister and I had a lot in common at that moment. We had both dealt with a time of having a "secret" boyfriend and now we were both able to openly show the world who we loved.
"Look at the two of them," Clara whispered to me.
"I know. It's hard to believe."
"All this love in the air makes me miss William."
My eyes lit up. "I don't know what you have planned, but maybe you two could join M…Toby and me. We're going to college together in the fall. Apparently, I talked him into getting his Master's degree."
"You've got to stop saying things like 'apparently' unless you want to alert everyone to your memory loss."
"That's true. But at least I shouldn't have any more of it."
"Let's hope not. You need to figure out what's going on at the castle."
"Speaking of things you shouldn't say in the presence of mortals."
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, they like being called mortals now?"
I rolled my eyes. "Do you see M…my date?"
She laughed. "You're having such a hard time with his name! Serves you right for dating your teacher."
"Just tell me if you see him."
Natalie looked in our direction and her face lit up. She let go of Braydon's hand and ran over to us, giving Clara a hug. "Clara! What are you doing here? I didn't know you were back."
Clara returned the hug. "I'm just here for a couple of days. Long story."
Natalie looked at me. "I can't believe you didn't tell me she's in town!"
"I just found out. It's not like she called first."
"You should spend a night at our house, Clara! Our parents would love to see you. You helped them out so much both times that this one," she said, putting her hand on my arm, "disappeared. You were the glue that held us all together when she was abducted. And then again when they started regretting their decision to let her go to Europe."
"When you put it that way, how can I say no?" Clara asked.
"Is William here too?"
Clara shook her head. "He's neck-deep in his exams. Once those are over, he's going to realize I'm gone and miss me."
Natalie turned to me with a twinkle in her eyes. "I saw Mr. Foley arrive not too long ago."
My eyes widened. "Well, where is he?"
"He was heading toward the dining room. As usual, the spread is second to none."
I had been used to the food at the castle, so I was sure that I wouldn't be that impressed, but I didn't want to say anything. I just nodded with a smile.
I looked at her, surprised. "Are you sure? You've got another year of high school."
She giggled. "I know! But it gives me a year to plan the wedding. Between our dads, we have enough money to make this Delphic Cove's wedding of the century!"
"You don't want to live the wild life first?" Clara asked. "What's the rush?"
"I'm in love! That's the rush. I only want to be with him—and I don't want to give him any reason to look for someone else. I don't have any wild oats to sow. Besides," she said, looking Clara in the eye, and then me, "it's not like I have an eternity to spend with the one I love. Like I've told both of you: that's not the life that I want. I want to have a family and grow old with him while enjoying the finer things in life."
Clara leaned close to me and whispered loud enough for only Natalie and me to hear, "Mortals have no idea what they're missing."
Natalie laughed and then gave her a playful shove. She grabbed Clara's hand. "Come with me and talk to Braydon. Lexi has that look in her eyes. We'd better let her go find Tobias." She winked at me.
"Tobias, huh?" I asked. "Obviously you knew more than you let our parents know."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Of course!"
Natalie dragged Clara away while I followed the scent of the food. I stood in the doorway of the dining room and looked around at the crowd of people. Suddenly, something covered my eyes. I resisted my natural urge, which was to throw the owner of those hands across the room and draw unnecessary attention to myself. Everyone was already watching me, as always.
Against my instincts, I gently removed the hands and turned around. I smiled in relief when I found myself looking into Toby's eyes.
He smiled back. "I missed you, even though you weren't gone that long."
I laughed. "No, I wasn't."
He looked me up and down. "You look fabulous, of course."
"As do you. There's a reason everyone called you the hot new teacher from the moment you arrived at school."
"Do you get the feeling that everyone is watching us?" he whispered.
"Of course they are," I said. "Let's give them something to talk about."
The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 Page 75
