The Loner (Daughters of Destiny Book 1)

by K. R. Grace

  Star snorted. “That’s a bunch of spiritual hogwash.”

  I glowered at the road. “So, you can accept that there are immortal humans who can change into animals who roam the earth, but you can’t accept the existence of a Creator and His involvement in creation?”

  “I just don’t see how He would care about us that much.”

  “Trust me, He cares.”

  “If He cared, He wouldn’t have let Clint die.”

  And so we finally came to the barrier between her and the Creator. “Star, just because Clint died doesn’t mean the Creator didn’t care about him. It was Clint’s destiny to die because his death served a greater purpose. A purpose we may never know or understand.”

  Star shivered hard as she squeezed my hand, as if she needed the reminder we were both still alive. “Change of subject. Where are we going?”

  “I thought we’d finish the day going for a nice run. Get your legs working again.”

  Star let out a snort of laughter. “As if! I’m not running. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly dressed for it.” She ran her hands over her dress.

  “As interesting as it would be to see you run in that, I had your mom pack your gym bag.” I pulled it up from the backseat where Mrs. Allistar stored it last night when I dropped Star off. I’d called ahead so she could slip it in while we were talking on the front porch.

  “I’m going to kill her,” Star mumbled under her breath.

  ~*~*~*~*~*~

  Star

  “God, I’m really going to kill her.” I could barely breathe as I struggled to keep up with Drake.

  I wasn’t just a little out of shape. I was completely out of shape. After running only half a mile, my lungs burned and I wheezed with every breath I took. Two miles into the run, I was sure I was going to die from an exploding heart. The cool air got trapped in my lungs, the flab on my legs itched from all the jiggling, and my bladder was really starting to feel the Italian ice. Unable to take another step, I came to an abrupt halt and doubled over to try to get rid of the annoying runner’s cramp in my side.

  “Can’t. Breathe. Need. Water. Gotta. Pee.” I rasped. I glanced up through bleary eyes to see his smiling, unfazed face. Jerk.

  “This is seriously unfair,” I said in disgust.

  “Come on. It’s not that bad.” Drake rolled his eyes, but I saw his teasing smirk. I was going to pay him back some way, somehow when he least expected it.

  “Shut up, wolf boy.” I shoved at him. He didn’t even have the courtesy to pretend I’d used enough force to knock him off balance.

  “Last person to the bathrooms has to pay for dinner,” I said and took off running, praying my bladder would hold, too occupied to notice he’d given me a ten-second head start. Even with the handicap, he still had to slow his pace to lose.

  What a hollow victory.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  Star

  “I have a question for you,” I said on the phone a week later.

  “Okay. Give it to me.” I liked that Drake played along even though he already knew what I was going to say.

  “Does your feud between you and Sam run deeper than just a fight over a girl?”

  “Sort of. It’s complicated,” he sighed loudly.

  “Well, could you uncomplicate it for me?”

  When he was silent for more than a minute, I began to think he wasn’t going to say anything else. But, before I could come up with a topic changer, he said, “Sam’s tribe had problems with Wolves before they ever adopted me. I never got the full story, but it was mostly a power issue. They didn’t like that the Wolves carried on the Supreme Alpha line. And if I had to guess, the Wolves were cocky about it, too.”

  “So, if your mom was a Bear, how are you a Wolf?” I rolled over onto my back and stared up at my motionless ceiling fan.

  “My father was a Wolf. The wife takes on her husband’s form when she marries.”

  “So, she became a Wolf which meant you would be one, too.”

  “Sort of. The Bear tribe believes the Bear gene can be passed down from the father to the daughter and the daughter to the son without the daughter being directly affected. Which, if correct, would mean I’d turn into a Bear, not a Wolf. I did neither. I’m actually a hybrid of the two. I’m much larger and stronger than the average Wolf thanks to the Bear, but I still take on the full Wolf form.”

  “I’m glad for that. Could you imagine having the nose, ears, feet, and tail of a wolf and the head, eyes, and body of a bear? You’d be one scary looking beast. No offense.”

  His soft chuckle washed over me and made me wish we were talking in person. It was weird. When I wasn’t around him, the grief over Clint was alive and present, but the second I touched Drake, all the pain was gone and in its place was a longing I was too young to understand.

  “None taken.”

  “Guess what I did today.” I flopped back onto my stomach and looked around at my fully-decorated room. It was time for a change of subject.

  “You finally unpacked your things.”

  Well, apparently he wasn’t going to be nice and play along this time. “Not fair, wolf boy.”

  “Why wolf boy? I’m a wolf man, baby.” His voice dropped on the word “man.” Talk about a loaded ego.

  It felt good to flirt a little. I was terrible at it, but he was being nice. His voice, his presence was healing me. I felt it every morning when I climbed out of bed. Instead of dreading another day, I looked forward to seeing Drake. He’d begun picking me up every morning and held my hand every chance he got. I knew I was developing somewhat of an addiction to him. But, I wasn’t ready to go through a twelve-step program to get him out of my system.

  “Someone is here for you,” Dad said as he poked his head into my room.

  “Hey, can I call you back later?” I asked Drake.

  “I’ll be eagerly waiting for your call.”

  I was glad he couldn’t see my red face as I hung up and walked into the living room. Wayley and Onyx were listening to Mom as she explained the importance of every figurine in her glass cabinet. Poor souls. Mom could go on for hours about her knickknacks.

  “Hey guys. What’s up?” I asked, trying to save them.

  “Hey, Star. We just wanted to see if you were up for going ice skating.” It was Onyx who spoke. Wayley seemed genuinely interested in the ceramic dust collectors.

  I bit my lip. Me on solid ground was dangerous. I could hardly fathom what it would be like if I was on ice in a pair of skates.

  “You could invite Drake. It would be fun,” Mom encouraged.

  Wayley and Onyx smirked at each other. I knew they’d seen the two of us together at school, but since he didn’t always eat lunch with us, I hadn’t been forced to address the “Drake issue” with the group…yet. Not even after the movie.

  “We’re not an item,” I informed everyone in the room. It was the partial truth. We hadn’t had the “define the relationship” talk…yet.

  “You could ask him anyway. It would even out the group,” Wayley ignored my comment. The twinkle in her blue eyes told me I wasn’t fooling anyone.

  “Please, it’d be so much fun.” Onyx gave me a pouty face.

  I still didn’t like being sociable, but they were growing on me.

  “Okay,” I sighed, giving in way too easily for my comfort.

  “Great, we leave in an hour!” Wayley clapped her hands.

  I went back into my room, pulled on a pair of faded skinny jeans, a gray thermal shirt, my favorite navy blue surplus jacket, and my black fold-over boots before calling Drake.

  “No,” he answered instead of his usual “hey, baby.”

  “Please. You can’t make me do this alone. I’ll kill myself on those things.” I begged as I cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder so I could pull my hair back into a messy ponytail.

  There was a long pause, too long.

  “Hello, you still there?” I asked. Maybe we’d lost
signal.

  “Yeah, I’m here. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to keep you safe when I’m also flailing around.”

  “Please, Drake. I’ll repay you somehow. Pleeeeeeease.”

  His deep sigh told me I’d won. “Fine, but only for you. And we’re not riding with Chris and Giles. One wrong look at you and they lose a limb.”

  “Deal. Come as soon as you can. They’re leaving in about an hour.”

  “On my way.”

  I closed my phone and walked into the living room where Onyx and Wayley had parked themselves on the sofa.

  “Is he coming?” Onyx asked.

  “Yes, but we’re taking a separate car.”

  “That’s probably for the best. My car only fits five miserably.” Onyx scrunched up her nose like she’d smelled something funky.

  I joined them on the sofa and secretly willed Drake to break every speed limit as the girls talked about boys and how much they hoped to have boyfriends, or at least dates, for prom. I didn’t say much. Prom was overrated; just girls’ playing “pretend wedding” and guys attempting to get into said delusional girls’ pants. I heard the doorbell ring and jumped up with relief, beating Mom to the door.

  Thank you I said silently, and he flashed his sexy dimple showing.

  “Hey, Drake. Great solo yesterday.” Onyx smiled as we walked into the living room holding hands. No matter where we went or what we were doing, he had to hold my hand. I wondered if it was like a security blanket for him.

  “Oh, that was supposed to happen? I thought the band forgot to play.” I blushed at my admission. Could I be any more of a dork?

  Drake only chuckled and sat down in the recliner. Because the couch really only sat two people comfortably, I took the armrest of the recliner and tried not to focus on how close we were.

  “Oh, that must be the guys. I think we can go,” Onyx jumped up and answered her buzzing phone.

  Drake and I stood at the same time, and he surprised me by pulling me against his chest and whispering into my ear, “You look beautiful.”

  A strong electric current shot through me as I struggled not to blush. He released me only to link our hands together again. Wayley looked at us over her shoulder and smirked. I turned to stare at the empty wall to avoid her.

  Drake led me to his Jeep, and together we followed Onyx’s tiny car over to the school where Giles and Chris were waiting. They eyed the Jeep, and I felt him tense beside me.

  Down, boy. It came to my mind before I could stop it, and he let out a bark of laughter.

  “Resorting to dog commands now?”

  “No, that was completely accidental and not meant the way it sounded.” I could feel the blush spreading up to my roots. God, I was screwing this up!

  Drake chuckled and brought my hand to his lips. “It’s okay. I got the message.”

  My knuckles tingled from where his warm lips touched them, and breathing became exceedingly difficult. “Um, why do you worry about Chris and Giles anyway?” I managed to ask.

  “Because the Creator gives humans the freedom to choose. You may be drawn to me, but you have the power to reject me.”

  “Huh, interesting.” Definitely didn’t expect that one. “Well, in any case, you shouldn’t worry about either of them. They’re not my type.”

  “And what exactly is your type?” He gave me a heated glance.

  Tall. Dark. And howls at the moon.

  Drake squeezed my hand a little tighter, and I realized just what I’d admitted. My eyes darted over in his direction, but other than a slight tick in his jaw, he seemed completely unfazed.

  I decided a change of subject was in order and ended up talking about books, our favorite topic, the entire drive to Ober Gatlinburg.

  I liked that Drake had so much knowledge about literature. Clint was all about track and football. I’d come to dread Friday through Monday during football season. The wonderful thing about Drake? He was straight and hated professional sports. I. Was. In. Heaven!

  When we arrived at Ober, everyone filed out of the vehicles and followed in groups of two inside the arena where fifties music crackled over an antiquated sound system. I reluctantly exchanged my shoes for a pair of white skates that had seen better days. Drake asked for the largest men’s skate they had, which were still too small for his feet.

  Once Giles and Chris realized Drake and I were together together, they paired with Onyx and Wayley. They took to the ice before we did, and I could hear the girls’ delighted giggles.

  “Are you ready to make a fool out of yourself?” I asked Drake.

  He gave me a dirty look before wobbling on his feet. We scuffed our way onto the ice. I felt the blade of my right skate slide precariously and cringed. This was going to be painful. Once I was completely on the ice, I clung to the handrail and turned to look at Drake. He latched onto my hand and muttered, “Don’t you dare let go.”

  We made it four strides before our first epic crash. Drake managed to maneuver us as we went down so his back slammed onto the frozen ground, and I landed on top of him. Of course, without an ounce of body fat, he wasn’t exactly the most comfortable surface to smack face-first into.

  You need some meat on you, wolf boy.

  “You don’t want me soft, baby,” he answered out loud.

  I used his concrete chest as leverage to stand up instead of responding to that comment. I was beginning to like the silent communication thing. Clint and I always tried to have it, but he was usually thinking about food when I was thinking about snuggling up on the couch to watch a chick flick.

  We took a few more strides before my feet came out from under me. Drake yanked me in an attempt to compensate, and I ended up face-planting into his chest…again. At least he smelled really good. I’ll admit I might have taken a longer sniff than was appropriate. It was all the darn Wolf dreams I’d been having lately. Knowing Drake really was a Wolf hadn’t helped my overactive imagination at all.

  Once I found my balance, he let me go but kept our hands connected. Despite the cold, I was warm thanks to him. He must have some sort of built-in space heater or something because his body was freakishly warm every time we collided into each other.

  Onyx and Giles lapped us, and she looked back to give me a wink. I heard Wayley scream and turned to see her and Chris in a heap, both laughing.

  Drake muttered something and wobbled. I assumed it was a curse because he began to topple forward. I tried to right him, but he was too big. He crashed first and I fell second.

  “Ugh, sorry,” I grunted as I tried to pull myself off him.

  I made the mistake of looking into those silver blue eyes and suddenly the world around me ceased to exist. All I could think about was how close we were and how warm he was and how ruggedly beautiful he was…and how much I wanted him to erase the few inches between us and kiss me.

  I held my breath as he brought me closer. Slowly, he reached up and buried his fingers in my hair. My limbs were shaking as I watched his eyes darken.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, his hot, spearmint-scented breath caressed my face.

  He studied me intently, as if he was fighting some internal conflict and my face contained the answer. Our lips meshed and I closed my eyes as my heart began to river dance against my ribcage. His tongue immediately slid past the barrier of my lips, and I sighed, drinking in his taste. I should’ve been embarrassed to be kissing him on an ice skating rink with people all around us, but I wasn’t. In fact, time and space ceased to exist. All I could feel was him and his hands sliding down to my hips. More. I needed so much more. Freezing cold ice shavings splashed onto my face, scaring the crap out of me.

  “What the heck?” I tore my lips from Drake’s and glared up at the invader only to find Giles’s goofy grin.

  “Keep it G-rated, ladies,” he smirked before skating away to rejoin Onyx.

  “Idiot,” Drake growled loud enough for me to hear.

  “It’s okay. Perfect timing, actually.” I laughed ner
vously as I inwardly struggled to calm my hormones down. Someone had released a flock of bats throughout my body, causing all my muscles to spasm from adrenaline.

  It took us both several tries before we could stand again. I didn’t know about him, but that kiss had turned my legs into mush.

  “I’ve come up with so many ways you’re going to repay me for this,” he muttered through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, but this is payback for that little surprise run you planned last week. You remember? The one where you laughed at my pain and misery,” I glowered up at him accusingly. “Besides, you know you’re enjoying this,” I smirked just before I plopped down unexpectedly onto my behind.

  “Why didn’t you try to catch me?” I asked, stunned that he was still standing.

  “You were getting too confident.” He tried to shoot me a glare, but I saw the glint of humor in his silver eyes.

  Drake helped me up, and we skated a few more strides, triumphant in our first completed lap around the rink. Neither of us talked about the kiss, as usual. But then again, what could either of us say? I wasn’t sorry and neither was he. It was more accurate to say neither of us tried to pick up where we’d been before Giles interrupted us. That was the down side of going on a group date. There was never a moment of privacy.

  I would like to say it got better from there, but we spent more time trying to pick ourselves up off the ice than we did any actual skating. Finally, my body had enough.

  “Let’s take a break,” I gasped after an exceptionally painful fall. Despite his best efforts, Drake couldn’t always prevent me from crashing onto the ice.

  He helped me to solid ground, and we both plopped down onto the nearest bench.

  “I think we should stick to dry land from now on,” I said between gulps of air.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he nodded, barely winded. His hand still clutched mine. I wanted to move it to run my fingers through my disheveled hair, but his grip tightened, anticipating my thoughts. So, I happily left it where it was. If he was fine with me looking like the bride of Frankenstein, then so was I.