Chapter 5
Early the next morning, I wake up to my mother asking me if she needs to phone the doctor for me, but I decide to go back to sleep when I tell her that I was feeling better.
She kissed me goodbye and left for work soon after.
I don't wake up till late afternoon and when I do, I wake up to see five missed calls from Sam.
Great.
I sit up and dial her phone number, she answers immediately.
“Fucking finally! She's alive!” I hear her laughing on the other end.
“Very funny Sam.” I get up from the bed and walk downstairs into the kitchen to prepare myself breakfast.
“I'm sorry, I just wanted to know where my partner in crime was.”
“I'm at home. Didn't feel well last night.”
I open the cupboard, grab the loaf of bread and put one in the toaster.
“Did you get sick or something?”
“Yeah and guess what, mum found me on the edge of the toilet seat. She told me to stay home and sleep it off.”
“Okay your mum sucks for telling you that, but I guess if you aren't feeling well, then the best place for you to be is at home.”
“I guess, but I'm totally feeling fine right now. How's school?”
I hear nothing but silence on the other end. “Sam?” I warm up the kettle, take the toast out of the toaster and start spreading the butter.
I look to see if she accidentally pressed the end call button, but call her name again when I see that she hasn't. “Sam?”
“Ryder keeps staring at me and it's really creepy.” She whispers into the phone.
“What do you mean?” I grab myself a mug from the cupboard, make myself a cup of tea and sit down on the brown leather sofa.
“Well I'm sitting next to Alex who sits at the back of the class because he knows all the answers, and I don't know why but Ryder keeps looking at me.”
“Well, maybe he fancies you?” I question her but I only mean it as a joke.
“Cut the crap Alice. We both know that's not true.” Sam spits in disgust.
“How would you know?”
“Because he couldn't take his eyes off you at the diner.”
Yeah for all the wrong reasons!
“Look, just ask him why he's staring at you. It's not like he's going to bite.” I stifle a giggle.
If only she knew.
Sam groans. “Yeah, I'd rather not do that. Look I gotta go. Mr Jackson just came in.'
“Alright, have fun in Math.”
“Fuck you, I'll see you after school.” “Okay, see you soon.”
When I end the call, I look around the house and wonder what to do in the spare time that I have before Sam comes over.
I look up at the clock to see that it's 12:30, school finishes at 3:30.
I decide to make Sam proud and watch the season finale of Game of Thrones.
As the opening credits start, I can't help but feel sad that another season has come to its end. It makes me think back to when Sam and I met when we started out as freshmen. We were seated next to each other in our English class when Mr. Daniels told us to introduce ourselves and share to each other which one character in the whole world we wanted to be. When Sam told me who she wanted to be, she instantly became my best friend because she wanted to be Arya Stark. It was one of the happiest moments of my life because I wanted to be Daenerys Targaryen; The Mother of Dragons herself. We spent our first day as freshman talking about Game of Thrones, and we've been best friends ever since.
As I watch the show and see Arya Stark training with The Waif in the House of Black and White, all I can see is Sam. A long stern face, grey eyes and short brown hair.
Skinny but athletic. Where Arya gets mistaken for looking like a boy, Sam ignores the attention from the boys in our school. She can't think of anything worse than dating a guy from high school.
When the end credits of the show roll on the black screen, all I can think about is how I'm going to cope without having this show to watch every Sunday. Maybe I should start watching something like Prison Break or True Blood? True Blood has wolves in it so I'm not gonna watch that, and Prison Break?
Maybe I'll consider it.
I look again at the clock to see that it's 2:30.
An hour till Sam gets here!
I decide to put on a blue flannel shirt and some denim shorts leaving my feet bare. With only a few minutes to spare, I wash and dry the dishes, mop and hoover the floor and wipe down all the surfaces in the house.
By the time I put the hoover and mop in the storage closet, I hear a knock on the door.
I walk casually to it, open it to find Sam looking miserable at me.
“What's with the long face?”
She rushes past me and face-plants into the sofa. “I just had to endure the whole day with creepy stares coming from Ryder and his stupid gang all day!”
I laugh softly and move to sit in front of her on the coffee table.
“Did you ask him why he was staring at you?”
She turns her head to look at me and shakes her head. “Nope. He freaks me out, and it wasn't just him staring, it was all of them.”
I can only shrug. “I don't know what to say.”
Sam frowns. “Do you think maybe they were trying to lip read me?”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, when I was sitting in the cafeteria, they were all staring at me like they were waiting for something. And then again in Math, I was talking to you on the phone and Ryder would not stop looking at me, and he doesn't even have Math!”
Maybe I should tell Sam about what happened last night at the diner, I want to involve her in on what goes on in my life.
“Maybe they were staring because they kind of ambushed me last night after work.”
She shrieks, “What!?”
“I was ambushed by the four of them after work except for Kellan, he stayed out of the confrontation part, but the rest of them interrogated me about the night I was bitten.”
Sam moves to lie on her side with a confused expression on her face. “Why would they want to know about what happened to you that night?”
Before I can respond to her question, I hear a knock on the door and see Sam frowning at me.
“Are you expecting someone?” “No, just you.”
We both look towards the door and wait.
“Should I go answer it?” I ask. “Maybe it's someone for my mum?”
“Leave it.” Sam grabs the remote off the coffee table and turns on the TV.
“Sam, I can't just leave whoever's out there waiting. I'll be right back.”
I hear Sam murmur something under her breath, but it's too quiet for me to hear what she said.
I walk briskly to the front door and can't believe my eyes who I see on the other side. I stare at him open-mouthed.
“Didn't think I'd find you?” Ryder's hip leans against the door jamb.
I step outside and shut the door behind me.
“What the hell are you doing here!?” I spit. “How did you find me!?”
“I came over to apologize about last night.” “How did you find me!?”' I repeat.
'You know the answer to that question. Besides, I had to check on you.” He frowns and shakes his head, “Something's wrong with your scent.”
“What do you mean?”
“It's different. Like it's receding.”
He looks at me in confusion. “Did something happen to you last night, Alice?”
I don't say a word.
He backs me up against the wall next to the door and places his palm next to my face. “I won't ask you again. If something happened to you then I need to know.”
I bite my lip and look away from him. “I think you better leave.”
“I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what happened.”
“You want to know what happened? Fine. I fought the change.”
A few seconds pass by when suddenly Ryder punches the wall right next to me. I shrink back against the wall.
“Why do something when I told you to do the fucking opposite!? Did you not listen to a word I said to you last night?”
“I fought the change because I didn't want to become a monster.” I move his arm to slip past. “Like you and the others.”
I walk back inside the house just as I hear Ryder's loud piercing roar coming from outside.
A shiver runs down my spine.
When I reach the living room, I see that Sam hasn't moved from her position on the sofa, but she soon hears my footsteps just as I sit in the armchair.
“Who was it?”
“None other than the creeper himself.”
Sam's eyes shift to me in a heartbeat. “Ryder's here?” “Yeah, I left him outside.”
One minute Sam's lying on the sofa and the next she's out the door.
By the time I get up from the chair and rush outside onto the porch, I notice five figures in total. I see Sam and Ryder at each other's throats spitting insults to each other, but then I notice three beautiful wolves standing behind Ryder in a protective stance.
Is that Bane, Silver and Kellan? No...That's impossible.
I ignore Sam and Ryder arguing and turn to look at each wolf individually.
The smaller one out of the three has icy, cold blue eyes and razor sharp teeth. Fur the colour of ash that looks soft and well kept. The hairs at the back of the neck are erect, clearly indicating its anger. It growls as it looks at Sam but does not strike once.
Next to the grey wolf stands a much bigger wolf. Dark brown coats its entire body like a rough silk blanket, with a speck of white running down its narrow chest, its eyes the colour of the brightly lit sky and razor-sharp teeth.
But the last wolf doesn't join in with the other wolves. It stares directly at me as I stand by the door, and I don't know why but something tells me that this wolf held no threat. I had a feeling in my gut telling me exactly who it was. Kellan.
His coat is so light it could appear as pure gold, but his eyes are yellow.
That's odd. .Why are the eyes different?
I reach out with my hand towards Kellan. He slowly approaches me, inhales and nudges my hand with his head. His coat feels incredibly smooth like silk. As I stroke him, I feel completely mesmerised to think that a part of Kellan is somewhere inside this magnificent predator.
I stare at the scene in front of me, Ryder and Sam stand inches away from each other, and it sounds to me like Sam's giving him complete hell after what happened last night.
I do the only thing I can think of and grab Sam by the wrist, and pull her back to where I stand by the door. “Alright, that's enough from both of you!”
The two wolves move to stand on either side of Ryder while Kellan stands beside me. Ryder gives the two wolves next to him a sign for them to stop growling, and they do instantly.
“Who the fuck do you think you are!? You had no right interrogating her like that!” Sam shrieks.
Ryder looks at Sam with distaste. “Everything she does concerns me!” He points at me. “Did she tell you what happened to her last night?”
“What are you talking about?' Sam frowns and looks at me, 'Alice?”
“Tell her how you fought the change, and that you're most likely gonna die the next time.”
Sam gasps. “Alice, is this true?”
“Only because I didn't want to become a monster!' I seethe angrily towards Ryder and stand in front of him, both wolves start growling again.
“I've asked you to leave once. I won't ask you again.” Ryder smirks. “Are you threatening me, Alice?” “Yes.”
I look into his eyes but freeze when I see that his eyes have turned bright red.
He cups my cheek and whispers in my ear. “You really shouldn't threaten an Alpha.”