The White Wolf

Chapter 9: Liam

“What do you mean he may have seen something?” I asked slowly, narrowing my eyes at James.

As soon as we returned to the house, James had asked to talk to me. He led me into the kitchen and took a seat on one of the stools. I walked around the island and stood across from him. He took a breath and then started in on his story.

I stared at the counter top as he spoke. Hearing that someone was harassing Will infuriated me. Why would anyone have something against him? Was it because we made out in the hallway? I was lost in my thoughts until James’ next sentence. I looked up at him and he was staring back at me.

He saw. Will had seen James’ eyes change. Shit.

“I…I’m not completely sure if saw my eyes,” James explained. “But, I know that they did change, and it’s a possibility that he saw.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This was not something I wanted to deal with, not something I knew how to deal with. I knew I would have to tell him eventually, but not this soon. Aside from the physical attraction, I was still unsure about how much he actually liked me.

I let out the breath I was holding in and opened my eyes to find James staring at me. I wanted to punch him, but at the same time, I knew this only happened because he had been protecting Will. I sighed.

“I’ll talk to my dad about it,” I told him.

He nodded and then stood up and left the kitchen. After he left I made my way towards the back of the house where my dad’s office was located. I knocked on the door to his office and waited for a reply.

“Come in,” he answered after a few moments.

I opened the door and stepped inside, quickly shutting the door behind me. As usual, I took a quick glance around the room. This office had always been my favorite room in the house. His wooden desk sat towards the back of the room, in front of the large stone fireplace. To either side of the fireplace were floor to ceiling windows that filled the room with natural light. But, what I loved the most were the hundreds of books that lined the other walls. Most of the books were ancient, and their subjects varied from shelf to shelf.

“What’s up, son?” My dad asked when I stopped in front of his desk.

I took in a deep breath, which I seemed to be doing quite often lately, and then looked him in the eye.

“We have a problem,” I answered.

Before he could ask anything else, I launched into a recap of the story James had told me. When I was finished, my father was silent for a few minutes before he finally spoke.

“That is a problem,” he stated. “What do you think you should do?”

“I don’t know,” I groaned, pacing back and forth in front of his desk. “There is a chance that he may not have seen anything, and I don’t have anything to worry about. But, if he did see, he’s probably freaking out and thinking he’s crazy. What if he starts asking a bunch of questions? What if he just stops talking to me altogether?”

A million thoughts and questions were running through my head, and when I realized that my dad had not said anything, I stopped pacing and looked at him.

“It’s tough,” he admitted and shrugged his shoulders.

I rolled my eyes and plopped down into the seat behind me.

“So what do I do?” I asked impatiently.

“Like you said, there is a chance that he didn’t see anything, and that you’re getting all worked up for nothing.”

“But if he did?”

“If he did…well, it’s really up to you whether or not to tell him. You’re the alpha, and his mate.”

I groaned and sank lower into the chair. This had turned out to be a lot less helpful than I intended.

“Thanks for the help,” I told him sarcastically, getting up from the chair and heading towards the door.

Before I could open the door, my dad spoke up.

“Liam.”

I turned my head towards him, but kept my hand on the door.

“Remember that he’s your mate, and that you are meant to be together. He’s strong, Liam. He can handle it.”

I did not say anything, I just opened the door and left. I had too much on my mind, and it was impossible for me to figure out what to do. As soon as I entered the living room, I started shedding my clothes, my shirt, my shoes, my pants. By the time I was out the door, the only item of clothing I had left were my boxers. In a second those were off, too, and I was shifting. Going for a run seemed like the only solution.

I lost track of the time I spent running. Not long after I ran out of the house, the others joined me. At first I was slightly annoyed, but then I remembered that we are a pack, and this was something I was going to have to get used to.

We started out by just running through the woods, with no plan as to what we were doing or where we were going. I lead the way with the three of them trailing a few lengths behind me. I could not see them behind me, but I could sense them in the back of my mind. I could pinpoint what direction they were in and just how far back they were.

That was not even the most interesting part. We could still communicate, and it was something that could only be done between pack members. It was not like a voice in our heads. It was a mixture of images and scents that we could send to each other. Together, the images and scents held certain meanings and could be understood.

Seeing the others in their wolf forms was also a bit of a shock for me. I had only ever seen my dad, and his wolf looked similar to mine, but the others were different. Ryland’s coat was a solid, light gray. He was also somewhat larger than the rest of us. Jordan and James had similar coats, both of varying hues of tan and light browns. The only differences were the patterns of their coats and James’ ever present scar.

It was amazing to work together as a pack, even if we were not a full one. We ran for hours, hunting and running drills that my dad had shown me. I was able to just focus on what was in front of me and forget about everything that was going on outside of the woods.

***

“Liam!”

I groaned and rolled over in my bed, squinting at the light streaming in through my window.

“Liam!” The voice called again, this time followed by repeated banging on my door.

“I’m up!” I answered with a shout, pushing my comforter aside and sitting up in bed.

“Hurry up,” the voice continued. “You’re going to make us late.”

I let out another groan, but I got up off the bed and made my way to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and threw on some clothes before grabbing my bag and heading downstairs. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone else was already waiting for me.

“About time,” my dad greeted me. “Let’s go.”

I rolled my eyes, but followed everyone out the door. My dad’s old pickup truck was too small to fit all of us, so while I sat in the cab with him, the other three took seats in the bed. They thought it was pretty fun, but wait until they sit back there in the winter.

After our run last night, I had talked to the guys about what they thought I should do. Sadly, they were of no help and just told me that they would back me up on whatever I chose to do. That only increased my frustration. I spent all of last night trying to come up with a plan to deal with Will, but it got me nowhere and only made me sleep deprived.

My dad was right when he said I was going to make us late. When we pulled up to the school, there were already kids everywhere. This only increased my anxiety because I knew Will was most likely already inside. I slowly climbed out of the truck and trudged into the school. I tried to take as much time as possible to reach my locker in hopes of the bell ringing and allowing me to avoid him.

My plan did not work. I reached the top of the stairs and I froze. Standing next to my locker was Will. A million thoughts raced through my head, but not one of them was helpful. He turned his head in my direction, and when his eyes locked onto mine, a smile beamed across his face.

I returned his smile with a nervous one of my own and continued towards my locker. Good. He was smiling. Maybe he did not see anything after all.

“Hey,” he greeted as I neared him.

His smile was warm and his voice was soft, momentarily banishing all my worries.

“Hi,” I responded quietly.

“How was your night?” He asked as I opened my locker to grab my books.

My night was terrible, but there was no way that I was going to tell him that.

“It was, uh, good. How was yours?”

He shrugged. “It was okay. I had a bit of trouble sleeping, though. I kept having this weird nightmare about glowing eyes.”

I felt my body stiffen. Shit. He did see. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. He made is sound like he did not know why he was having the nightmare. Maybe he did not realize that it was real. Maybe I was safe.

“Uh, yeah. That is weird,” I finally mumbled, trying to act as normal as possible.

I glanced down the hall to where the others were standing by their lockers, and they were all facing the opposite direction. But, by the way they were standing and the lack of conversation, I was positive they were listening in.

“Liam.”

I felt a nudge at my arm. I turned back to see Will, his eyebrows raised and a bit of concern in his eyes.

“Did you hear what I said?” He asked, his voice tinged with annoyance.

I felt bad. I did not want him to be upset with me, or to think that I was ignoring him.

“Sorry. What did you say?” I asked, making sure to give him my full attention.

He rolled his eyes, but I could see a smile try to tug at his lips.

“I asked if you had decided what we are going to do for our date,” he informed.

I inwardly winced. With all of my fretting over whether or not he had seen anything, I had completely forgotten that I was supposed to take him out on a date.

“Yeah, of course,” I lied. “Friday night, you and me. I’ll pick you up around seven.”

I had no clue as to what we would be doing, but at least I was able to come up with a day and time.

“Where are we going?” He asked with a playful smirk on his face.

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” I answered with a flirty wink, hoping he would just leave it at that.

He moved closer, and it seemed like he was about to try and pry the information out of me, but luckily I was saved by the bell. Before he could say anything, I wrapped an arm around his waist and led him to our homeroom.

As soon as we entered the classroom, I gave Will a smile, let go of him, and shot towards Alessa and Dylan at the back of the room. I took my seat and immediately faced Alessa, who had a confused look on her face.

“I need your help,” I told her quickly.

A wide grin broke out on her face, but she only nodded for me to continue.

“I told Will that I would take him out on a date this Friday, but I have no clue where to take him or what we should do.”

She sat quietly for a few moments, with that grin still plastered on her face, and I was worried. Why was she not saying anything? Was she suddenly going to decide not to help me? I already had a lot on my plate, and I really did not need her bailing on me now.

“Alessa…” I whispered, trying to get her attention.

She shook her head. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I was just picturing you and Will making out in the hallway again.”

Dylan burst out laughing, which startled me a bit, and I quickly looked around the room to see if anyone was staring. Luckily, no one was paying attention, and the teacher had still not arrived.

“Alessa, I’m serious,” I pleaded once their laughter died down.

“Okay, okay,” she finally agreed. “There’s only one fancy restaurant in town. Have him dress up a bit and take him to La Belle.”

I nodded. “Okay, but what about after dinner?”

“Easy. You take him back to your place and fuck his brains out.”

Dylan burst out laughing again, this time even harder. I could feel the heat in my face, and I am pretty sure my mouth was slightly agape. Alessa was straight-faced the entire time, as if she had not just made one of the crudest jokes ever.

Dylan’s laughter eventually died out, and I was staring daggers at Alessa.

“Not funny,” I whispered, more embarrassed about the fact that what she suggested was exactly what I wanted to do.

“Liam,” she finally stated, her voice taking on a more serious tone. “You’re trying to make this too hard. Just go for a walk after you finish dinner. Show him around the town and talk to him. He’ll love it, I promise.”

I sighed. She was right; I was working myself up too much about the situation. I turned back to the front and sunk down in my seat, a million thoughts and worries bombarding my head.

I did not pay any attention to Mr. Ricardo’s history lesson, or to any of the other lessons throughout the day. Instead, I spent the entire day worrying about the date at the end of the week and trying to keep Will from learning my secret.

He managed to bring up the glowing eyes in every one of our conversations, and I had to keep creating new ways to steer the subject in a different direction without making him suspicious. When I finally returned home, I immediately went up to my room and fell onto my bed, exhausted, and that is where I stayed for the rest of the night, pondering about why my life had to become so damn complicated.