Pack of Lies

by Sara Dailey

  “Nothing? You can’t be serious. What? You think your behavior should just go unpunished? I should take that new car away. That’s what I should do. Girls like you shouldn’t be driving around in a brand new car. That’s what the other women here would say.” Mom took a gulp of her drink, and the look on her face told me it was strong, even for her.

  I shifted in my chair. What did she expect me to say? What was there to say? I screwed up. I should have known Allison would snitch. What I didn’t expect was that she’d go all schizo-wolf on me, and then shift right there in front of everyone. One very naked Allison, right there for the whole pack to see. It was actually kind of funny. Seeing her there completely humiliated was definitely worth being on lock-down.

  It wouldn’t last anyway. Mom is drunk as a skunk by ten o’clock most nights, and hardly notices whether I’m here or not. Does Marcus really plan on checking to make sure I’m tucked away in bed each night? Becca and Shari might adhere to his bullshit rules, but I plan on doing whatever I want.

  “Mom, just give it a rest. I’m being punished by the pack, okay? You don’t have to take away my car. I won’t screw up again!”

  She took another drink and headed toward me. “You better watch your tone. The fact is, what you did was stupid. If you have a problem with the Wright girl, that’s fine, but whatever you do, you need to be sure it doesn’t come back on you.”

  So, there it was. Her real problem was that I made her look bad today. She doesn’t care what I do, as long as it doesn’t affect her.

  “Fine, Mom. Don’t worry. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “You better not, Kendall. How am I supposed to show my face around the estate tomorrow? After what you did? I’ll have to personally apologize to Lillian now.”

  “Can I go to bed now?”

  She sat down at the table to finish her drink. “Yes, but you better make sure that everything is okay with you and Cade tomorrow. Your relationship has been rocky enough without you screwing things up even further. I saw how he ran over to cover Allison up. Are you sure you are telling me everything?”

  I stood up and headed out of the kitchen. “Cade and I are fine, Mother.”

  But before I made it out of earshot, she said, “Why don’t you invite him over tomorrow night? I’ll be out, so you two can be alone. Maybe some alone time is just what you two need. If you know what I mean.”

  Chapter 33

  Allison

  Ahh! The lake. Finally!

  I never thought I would be so happy to see this God-forsaken body of water. I was on the verge of freezing to death, and still very well might if I don’t make it home soon. At least my brisk walk through the woods had enabled me to calm down… some. I followed the edge of the water with no clue as to how far I still needed to go to reach the warmth of my house.

  I trudged along for what felt like forever with my internal dialogue on repeat. I hate Cade, I’m going to kill Kendall, being a werewolf totally sucks, I hate Cade, I’m going to kill Kendall, being a werewolf totally sucks…

  Then I saw it. A beacon of hope. The pier, that I would now rather forget existed, came into view, and while I was slightly repulsed by the sight of it remembering all that had come to pass there, I knew my home was not far off.

  I tromped a few steps farther when I heard the faint sounds of footsteps coming from behind me. Go away Cade. I turned around to tell him to go f–himself, but stopped dead in my tracks. It wasn’t Cade. It was Dylan, the one who was with Luke and Gage earlier, and this guy’s creepy-factor was off the charts.

  “Hey, Alli. I didn’t scare you did I?” he asked sounding concerned, but the sinister smile spreading across his face gave me the feeling that he just might have wanted me to say yes.

  “Surprised is more like it. Are you following me?”

  “You would like that, wouldn’t you?” he said moving closer toward me.

  Ewww! He can’t be serious.

  “Whatever,” I quipped as I turned around and started walking away.

  “Where are you rushing off to? To find Cade?”

  That got my attention. What the hell did he know about Cade and me? More than anything, I wanted to find out what he meant, but my gut was telling me to get the hell away from him and quickly. So, I held my questions at bay and gave him my best kiss-my-ass glare before I continued on my way.

  “Oh, I’m not supposed to know. Am I? Maybe you shouldn’t wander around reeking of the guy if you want to keep it a secret… just sayin’,” Dylan so eloquently suggested.

  I kept charging ahead, hoping he might take a hint and go away.

  Without warning, Dylan grabbed me by the arm and whirled me around to face him.

  “What the fu—”

  “Ah-ah-ah watch that tongue of yours,” Dylan chided.

  “Get your hands off of me! What the hell is your problem?” I said faking a little bravado.

  To be honest, I was scared of this guy. He seemed to know way too much about me, and I knew absolutely nothing about him, except that I didn’t like him at all. My human instincts wanted me to run, but the wolf in me knew that running could make things worse. So I stood there facing this stranger in the middle of the night, waiting for him to say something else.

  He put his hands up in the air, as if he were under arrest and said, “No problem. I don’t like leftovers anyway.”

  Excuse me? Now I was pissed! Did he actually just call me leftovers? He might be a guy and a werewolf, but at that point, I was ready to kick his furry ass.

  “You’re kidding, right? Look, I don’t know what you think you know, but you need to turn around and walk away,” I said taking a step toward him, trying to play the tough-were-girl part.

  “You’re a lively little thing, aren’t you? I can see why Cade’s smitten with you. It’s really a tragic story, you and Cade. Very Romeo and Juliet-ish,” he said.

  Knowing it was best to ignore his absurd comment, I began to walk home again, but I only made it a few feet before the psycho-were caught up with me, grabbed me by my upper-arms, and pulled me up against him. With his chest pressed firmly against my back, he inhaled deeply and whispered, “I wasn’t quite done with you, pup. If you run from me, I will catch you. And I won’t be gentle.”

  His hot breath on my neck was causing the sick, twitchy feeling deep in my stomach to begin. I tried to focus on my breathing because I knew that if I changed right here in front of Dylan, he would too. I didn’t even want to think of all the bad things that could come of that.

  “Come on baby, change for me. You know you want to. Let’s play,” he dared.

  A rustle in the trees behind us averted Dylan’s attention. He pushed me away and turned around, only to find Cade rushing toward him with fury in his eyes.

  “You wanna play, bitch? Come play with me,” Cade roared just before he pounded Dylan in the face, so hard that he fell to the ground. Immediately, Cade was on top of Dylan holding him down by his neck.

  “Touch her again and I will rip your fucking throat out. Do you understand me, dog?”

  Cade got up and told Dylan to get the hell off his estate. Without another word, Dylan staggered to his feet, changed forms, and ran off into the woods.

  Cade and I just stood there face to face. I could tell the anger and leftover adrenaline was slowly fading from his body as he stared down at me. He didn’t say anything and neither did I. There was nothing left to say. Finally, I turned and walked home. I didn’t look back, but I knew that Cade would follow me until I was safely inside.

  Chapter 34

  Allison

  “Hey, Al, get dressed. Let’s go shopping,” Aiden said through my bedroom door. Ever since the horrible “seeing my sister naked” incident occurred, he never, ever, enters my room without being 100 percent sure that I am completely covered.

  “No! I don’t feel good,” I moaned as I turned over and threw my covers over my head. After getting lost in the woods and being ambushed by Dylan, the were-freak, I wasn�
�t feeling so hot, and the last thing I wanted to do was get out of bed.

  “Can I come in?” he asked.

  “Yes, but you can’t stay long. I’m dying here and would appreciate some privacy.”

  Aiden walked in and sat at the end of my bed. “Alli, please go shopping with me. I have worn everything I own at least three times. It’s getting embarrassing,” he whined.

  “God you’re such a girl,” I said from underneath my covers.

  “Come on seriously. It’s snowing; don’t make me drive by myself. I hate driving in the snow. You know it freaks me out.”

  I threw my blanket off and conceded, “You can be such a puss! Give me ten minutes, and you totally owe me for this.”

  Eleven minutes later, I was walking down the stairs regretting my decision to join Aiden on a shopping expedition. “Let’s go if we’re going,” I yelled at Aiden, who was fumbling around in the kitchen.

  “Okay, but Mom wants us to drop this off at Gram’s on the way,” Aiden said holding up the envelope.

  “What is it?”

  “No idea. Come on, let’s go,” Aiden said bundling up like it was forty degrees below zero outside.

  ***

  Gram was sitting on her porch and Grandfather was pushing snow off the driveway with some kind of broom-shovel thing when we pulled up.

  “God! I hope Dad never makes me do that. It’s freezing out here,” Aiden said to Grandfather.

  “Puss,” Grandfather said under his breath. But I heard him.

  “Hey, that’s what I called him,” I told him. Grandfather and I shared a quick smile before he went back to shoveling.

  Gram walked down, and I gave her the envelope from Mom. She took it, but grabbed my hand and held it up to her nose. This was all too weird. She actually took a whiff of my wrist.

  “Why do you smell weird? You kind of smell… ill. Are you feeling alright?” she asked.

  “I’m fine, Gram. Really,” I said.

  “Where are you two off to today,” Grandfather asked, without looking up from his work.

  “I’m driving him to the mall. He doesn’t like to drive in the snow,” I said, which caused Aiden to shoot me with an I’m-so-going-to-kill-you-later stare. I knew he’d be pissed, but he did owe me, and I always collect.

  Grandfather chuckled and Gram shook her head. Aiden just stood there and shrugged his shoulders. “Good gracious, Aiden, we need to toughen you up,” Gram said with a laugh.

  “Well, see ya soon, okay,” I said. I didn’t know if I was supposed to hug them, or shake their hands, or just get in the car. I opted for getting in the car.

  ***

  Why was I out of bed? When humans feel like the walking dead, they don’t go shopping. They stay in bed! But no, I was driving the bawl-bag to the mall, even though I felt like I have been run over by a Mack truck. Of course, I didn’t have a clue what was wrong with me. All I knew was that I woke up with a killer headache, and felt like I hadn’t eaten in days. And oddly enough, the last thing I wanted was food. Just the thought of it, made my stomach churn.

  But nothing was going to stop Aiden from getting his new wardrobe, and ever since Mom bought the new car, he has been too chicken to drive in the snow. So here I was driving my big brother to the mall.

  It took every ounce of energy for me to get out of the car and walk through the parking lot. I knew this would be no short venture being that Aiden was far worse than any girl I’ve ever met when it came to shopping.

  It was no big surprise that he had to go into every single store even though his poor little sister felt like she was going to drop at any moment. After following Aiden around for a while, I found that sitting on the benches outside of the stores helped a bit. When Aiden waltzed out of Hollister with half the store tucked neatly inside a few trendy bags, I let him know that I would meet him in a half-hour at Macy’s. I was badly in need of some version of hot, sweet caffeine before I passed out.

  On my way to Starbucks, I saw Teagan, in a Sephora apron, taking a break at the scattered tables outside the coffee shop. I wandered up and as cheerfully as I could stand, said, “Hey girl! I didn’t know you worked at the mall.”

  She jumped like I had startled her, then smiled and replied, “Lucky me, huh. It kind of sucks, but I do get a 25 percent discount. What are you up to? You want to sit? You look… tired.”

  Lovely, I must have looked as bad as I felt.

  “Yeah, I don’t feel so great, but my brother dragged me out here. Can you believe that my big, bad brother is afraid to drive in the snow?”

  I sat down and we chatted for a few minutes before Teagan brought up the last thing in the world that I wanted to talk about.

  “So what’s up with your mystery man?”

  “I don’t know. I guess it’s over between us,” I said.

  “Ahhh, that sucks. What happened?” Teagan asked.

  “It turns out that he is not as available as I had previously thought. He has a girlfriend, a mean one, and he has no plans of leaving her.” I felt myself beginning to sulk and suggested, “Can we just talk about something else?” Suddenly, I felt even worse as my stomach cramped like someone was twisting my insides into a giant pretzel knot.

  Teagan shrugged her shoulders and replied, “Okay, but if you change your mind…”

  I felt bad for not confiding in Teagan. She was the closest friend I had, but what in the world would I say? I couldn’t tell her about the psycho-werewolf who accosted me in the woods the other night, or about falling for my were-pack’s soon-to-be-alpha who is “promised” to the horrible girl she told me about on the first day of school, or about how that horrible girl humiliated me in front of the entire pack, or about how I feel like I have the flu or something, yet I’m not even supposed to be able to get sick. Yeah, there wasn’t much I could confide in my new human friend.

  So, instead, I opted to change the subject entirely. “Hey, Thanksgiving break is coming up, so if you are staying in town, maybe we can hang out? Catch a movie or something. Maybe do some Christmas shopping.”

  “Umm…I don’t know. I have a lot of studying to do, you know to get ready for finals and all, but maybe,” she said politely, but somehow it kind of felt like she was blowing me off. I mean, I’m no perfect student, but not even Aiden, who is Mr. Honor Roll, spends Thanksgiving break studying. Though I didn’t expect to hear from her, we exchanged numbers anyway before I went to get my black tea latte and find Aiden.

  I found him in the denim section at Macy’s looking at a pair of way-too-expensive jeans.

  “Dude, you are such a girl! What is taking you so long?” I asked, hoping to annoy him. I really was feeling awful and wanted desperately to go home.

  “Stop rushing me. Go find yourself something decent to wear. I’m not the only one who’s been wearing the same thing over and over. No wonder you haven’t had a date yet.”

  If he only knew the truth. Thinking about Cade again made the pain in my gut intensify. Unable to stop myself, I doubled-over in pain, clutching my middle, and trying to keep tears from pouring out of my eyes. I looked up and saw that Aiden had dropped the jeans he was looking at and was approaching me quickly.

  “Alli? What’s wrong? Talk to me!”

  “I think we need to go, okay? I’m sorry,” I said weakly.

  “Come on. I’ll drive.”

  As Aiden drove us home, I closed my eyes and tried to wish the pain away.

  Chapter 35

  Kendall

  I was checking my make-up in the mirror one last time before Cade arrived. It had to be flawless, now that I was back in his good graces. Mom walked up behind me and commented, “You need more lipstick. Maybe a bit more blush. You’re looking a little pale.”

  I stared back at her in the mirror and fought back the urge to tell her that she was looking a bit old, and maybe she could use a bit of Botox. Instead, I said nothing and adjusted my makeup to her liking, knowing that it was the best way to get her off my back.

  “Better,�
� she said as she walked away, thankfully leaving me alone to finish getting ready.

  Cade called last night and asked if he could drive me to school today. He said, and I quote, “I think we need some alone time.” Alone time! It’s been forever since we had any of that. Applying a final coat of lip gloss, I heard Cade pull into the driveway. I practically ran downstairs and into his arms.

  “Hey, I’ve missed you,” Cade admitted as he pulled me in for a tight hug.

  He pulled back and smiled before he kissed my perfectly-glossed lips.

  I gently rubbed the proof of our kiss off his lips before responding, “I missed you too, baby.”

  “So, how about we take your new car to school and I’ll leave my bike here? I’ve never been in an X5 before.”

  Could he be any sweeter? I was actually totally bummed about not getting to drive my new Beamer today, but I wasn’t going to pass up riding to school with Cade, especially since he finally seemed to be over the little mishap that happened with Allison.

  Cade opened my door to let me inside, and as he walked around the back of the car, I pulled down the rear-view mirror to make sure I still looked great.

  Of course, when he got in, he ooohed and ahhhed just like everyone else had. Just knowing I had the hottest car on the estate made me feel a little better about how the last few weeks had turned out. But none of that mattered, now that Cade was back with me and had officially dumped the hussy he’d been screwing around with. I hope he realizes just how lucky he is that I’m so forgiving!

  “So, what do you think of my new baby?” I asked.

  “I love it,” he said as he messed with the satellite radio.

  He leaned over and gave me one more quick peck before we took off. We were making our way onto the main road when I saw the only other new car on the estate. Knowing exactly who was driving the silver Jetta, I sped up and honked my horn.

  I couldn’t stop myself. I smiled at Alli, gave her a little wave, and sped past her new piece of shit.