Change of Plans (12 page)

I spit and rinsed and
stomped back into my bedroom. He repeated the process and followed me into the
room. “
Al…,”
he called after me.

I turned, “Don’t you dare
‘Al’ me. I’m allowed to hang out with my best friend. He was there for me a lot
longer before you. He was there when my mom died and when Brody went off to
hang out with you. He was there for everything and where were you?”

He stepped back stunned by my sharp words. He shook his head and
turned toward the door, leaving me alone.

Chapter Twenty-two

Rankings

Caleb

Awhile later, Allie left. From
my spot on the couch downstairs, I heard the door slam clearly. Brody came down
the stairs a little later, still in pajama pants. He pointed his thumb back
toward the door, “Was that Allie?”

I nodded, “Yeah, she’s
pissed at me.”

Brody plopped down next to
me on the couch. “What did you do this time?”

I sighed, “I didn’t want her
hanging out with Matt.”

“No wonder she’s pissed.
First, she’s a girl. Second, you can’t just barge in her life and after a week
dictate what she does.”

     
He
said it like it was the obvious thing in the world. “Right, but he made a pass
at her! Why would I want her hanging out with him?”

     
Brody
slapped the back of my head. “Maybe because she’s your pair and you should
trust her. Even if Brody made another pass at her, she would probably still
choose you. Well, only if you stop acting like an ass.”

     
I
growled at him, “I need to go on a run.” I got up, already stripping off my
shirt. Running like a normal human is nice, but I needed to blow off
steam which
means I needed to run as a Wolf.

     
Brody
followed me up, “Oh no you don’t. Caleb, you should know better than anyone
that you never
shift while
you’re mad. You can’t
control your Wolf, and if you hurt someone, you’ll never forgive yourself.” He
grabbed my arm, trying to stop me, but I was too
far gone
to stop. I opened the back door to the porch and the rest of my clothes quickly
joined my shirt. The shift tore through my body, cracking my bones and
sprouting a muzzle.

And then, the world went
black.

———————————

When I woke up, the sun was
directly above me, bathing me in
it’s
warmth. I looked
up at my surroundings and found myself back at the Underwood house. Naked.
That’s one thing I hated about the transition
,
clothes didn’t come with you
.

My tension from earlier was
vanished, and my shoulders for once were relaxed. I needed shift more often. I
got up, testing the sturdiness of my bones before walking toward the back
porch. When I slid open the back door, the lights were all off.

“Al? Brody?” I called into
the void. There was no response. I walked comfortably up to Allie’s room. From
a young age, Wolves are taught to be comfortable with nudeness, but that didn’t
mean I wanted to flash Allie. Her room was dull without her and I walked toward
my duffle bag on her desk. Almost all my clothes were dirty, so I sniff out the
best smelling shirt and threw it on.

Since no one was home, I
decided it would be a good time to go home and grab more things for the next
couple of day. Well, if Allie will still let me stay. I pulled my car out the
driveway, leaving the house looking empty and abandoned. The drive to my house
was short and boring without Allie in the passenger seat.  

Pulling into the modern
driveway of my house, I debated sending her a text. Fiddling with the phone, I
finally showed it in my pocket along with my keys. An unfamiliar car was in the
driveway and I assumed one of the pack members was over.

The front door was open when
I pushed through. Two voices came from the living room.
One
of them belonging to my dad.
Automatically heading to the stairs, I
tried to
avoid  confrontation
. I was halfway up
the spiral staircase when his authoritative voice rang out, “Caleb, is that
you?”

     
“Yeah,”
I responded, hoping he wouldn’t ask me to come down. “Just picking up a few
things.”

     
“Why
don’t you come downstairs and say hello to our guest?” Like I had a choice. He
threw power behind his words and I didn’t have the power to fight it right now.
I sagged down the stairs turning toward the living room. Sitting on two sterile
chairs were my dad and Mrs. Griffin, Sierra’s mom.

     
Her
blonde hair glowed like a halo, backlit by the large windows behind her, and
her blue tailored suit screamed money. She was a duplicate of Sierra, looks and
personality. Her smug look on her face had me worried. I ignored her and turned
to my dad, “Where’s Mom? Isn’t she supposed to be involved in all pack
business?” Everyone knew that she wasn’t, but I was just pushing his buttons.

Mrs. Griffin stepped in,
unwanted. “Actually,” her high-pitched voice annoyed me. “That’s what we wanted
to talk to you about. We were discussing and have come to the conclusion that
your mom might not be fit for the alpha rank.”

What?
I
looked straight at my dad. “So you want Allie to take over now?” As soon as I
said it, I knew it wasn’t a possibility. Mrs. Griffin looked too smug.

This time it was my dad who
spoke, “Well, we aren’t sure if Allison would make a great fit either. We
aren’t even sure if the Underwood siblings are even full Wolf, much less alpha
and beta. Our current female beat, Jessica,” he pointed to Mrs. Griffin. “Could
take over as alpha.”

“No!” the word was out of my
mouth before I could stop it. My dad’s expression darkened. “Allie’s stronger
than both of you combined. She’s an Underwood and if you weren’t so greedy, the
alpha rank would still belong to the
Underwoods
.
She’s changing on a full
moon,
she will be stronger
than anyone in the pack, even me. If you think she,” I pointed to Mrs. Griffin.
“Could make a better alpha, it shows how corrupt you really are.”

I turned, planning to head
back to my room. My father, ever the alpha, hated people turning their back to
him. “Caleb, we aren’t finished here,” he threw power behind his voice, but I
was too angry and for once fought it even though it hurt like a bitch.

I turned my head toward him.
“No, we are. If you even try to have the Griffins take over as female alphas,
I’ll forget my conscience and fight you for alpha. And I think we both know who
will win, old man.” I left before he could say anything else, throwing a couple
more clothes in my bag before slamming the front door shut behind me.

In the driveway, Mom’s car
was pulling up with Rebecca giggling in the front seat. She jumped out as soon
as the car stopped, her green dress bouncing behind her. “Caleb!” She ran to
give me a hug and I scooped her up in my arms. Mom was a little slower to get
out of the car but smiled at her two kids together.

I turned to Rebecca in my
arms, “Hey chicken. How was your day?”

“It was good. Where have you
been?”

Mom looked on, curious to
the answer as well. “With Allie, we just told her.”

Mom looked shocked, and
Rebecca jumped in my arms. “Can I meet her?”

“You will tomorrow at the
pack meeting,” I set her back down on her feet. “I
gotta
go for now though. I’ll see you tomorrow.” I walked toward Mom who looked like
she had just gotten out of bed, which was most likely true. She never came out
of her room anymore. I gave her a quick kiss on her cheek, and hopped back in
my Jeep.

I was pushing well past the
speed limit back to Allie’s house. My dad couldn’t be serious to making the
Griffins alpha females. If the pack ranks weren’t so messed up, they wouldn’t
have any rank at all. They were lucky I was letting Sierra stay a beta. There
was no doubt Brody was male beta, but Allie could pick any girl to be her beta
when she was alpha.

Pulling into Allie’s driveway, I saw Allie’s Mustang in the
driveway. I let out a sigh of relief and got out of the car, taking my duffle
bag with me.

Chapter Twenty-three

A
Needed Break

Allie

     
Maybe
leaving the house angry wasn’t my best idea, but if I hadn’t left then, I
probably would have said something else I would regret. Caleb was downstairs
when I slammed the door shut behind me, not bothering to say goodbye. In my
Mustang I sent a quick text to Matt.

Breakfast at Cafe
Marco?

His reply came a second
later,
Meet you there in ten.

I smiled, happy to be able
to spend time with Matt. I didn’t understand why Caleb was being so jealous. He
was my pair, it didn’t matter who else liked me,
I
would only like him. I guess it was just protective instincts, but he didn’t
get to dictate who I hung out with after coming into my life last week. Even
though I was pissed at him, it didn’t excuse what I said. Pulling out my
mother’s death and claiming he wasn’t there was too far. He didn’t even know I
was his pair back then.

Pulling into Cafe Marco, I
waited in my car for Matt. Cafe Marco was another small restaurant in the town
square, a couple stores down from The Grill. When Matt’s car pulled in the lot
I got out and went in to get us a table. The restaurant was nearly full with
everyone craving Saturday brunch.

I was led to a table in the
back corner, by the porch. The hostess handed me two menus and turned to go
back to the front. A little while later she came back with Matt trailing behind
her, wearing jeans and a blue sweater. The hostess’s eyes didn’t leave Matt
until he sat down, nearly drooling. I laughed as she walked away, and Matt
glanced up from his menu. “What?”

“That girl,” I responded.
“She was totally checking you out.”

“Which girl?” He looked
around. I laughed again. Of course Matt wouldn’t notice a girl checking him
out. I turned my attention back to the menu, even though I already knew what I
was getting. I’d been coming here ever since I was little and over the past
sixteen years, my order hasn’t changed.

The waitress came by, taking
our orders and obviously flirting with Matt. “What can I get you two to drink?”
She put her hand on the back of Matt’s chair.

Matt
oblivious,
ordered two orange juices for us, dismissing her without a thought.

“You know if I were your
girlfriend, I would be pissed,” I said when the waitress left.

Matt looked up from his
menu,
he always took forever to decide what he wanted.
“Why?” he asked, confused.

“Every girl that’s come by
has been flirting with you.”

“I think you’re making
things up. You are always trying to hook me up with girls.”

“No, I’m not.” Yes, I was.

“Whatever. Are you ready to
order?” he asked as the waitress, Lily was her name, came back with our drinks.

“Yes,” I turned toward Lily.
“Can I get the chocolate and banana crepes?”

She nodded and took Matt’s
order. When she left, Matt looked at me. “You know Allie, they have a lot of
items on the menu, not just crepes.” I smiled, I knew.

Matt and I’s food came quickly,
and our conversation ceased as he dug into his omelet. My crepes were as good
as ever, but I was still starving when I finished. Matt pushed his plate back,
finished. I reached across and pulled it to me, digging into the rest of the omelet
and potatoes.

I must have been shoveling
the food in my mouth, because Matt cleared his throat, “You could try chewing
it first.” I glared. “Wolf thing?” I glanced around, hoping he wasn’t heard but
everyone was too preoccupied with
their
meals. I
grumbled a response around the food in my mouth. After I tried to take me food
more civilized while Matt got the check.

“I could have paid half,” I
said when the check came back.

“Nope, I got it. It’s the
least I can do with your crazy week.” I blushed. “Ready?”

I nodded, following him out
of the restaurant. The air was brisk and the wind rumpled the orange trees,
giving the illusion of fire. I looped my arm through Matt’s and started walking
down the pavement with him.

“So, about the wolf thing-”

“No,” I interrupted him.
“Please, can we just a normal day? Just me and you, no Wolf stuff.”

“Fair enough. Will you be
coming back to school this week though?”

I had no idea and I told him
so. Even though I might go just to make Caleb mad, I probably didn’t want to
push him on this. Maybe I could go if I had Brody or Caleb with me at all
times. I’ll have to ask Brody when I get back home.

Matt and I walked through
the square, walking in and out of stores. We even stopped at GameStop to pick
up the new Call of Duty game for Matt.
Boys and their toys
, I thought as
Matt gleamed at the sight of his new game, his dimples showing. It was nice
though,
I could almost forget I was turning into a Wolf in a
week. It was a
much needed
break.

Matt and I next entered a
small jewelry boutique. I didn’t usually wear jewelry, but something in the
window caught my eye. Matt noticed it as soon as I did and laughed, “Nice
Allie, real fitting.”

It was a small charm
bracelet with silver chain and a small charm of a wolf howling. A small yellow
jewel served as the moon. A lot of shops played off the Wolf Creek town
name,
one of my favorites was the Howling Moon milkshake at
the Purple Cow Dinner. I automatically went to the display case where the
bracelet was.

A sales associate came over,
“Would you like to try it on?” I nodded and she reached down to pull it out.
“It’s one of our bestsellers, and it’s a real Canary diamond.” I had no idea
what that was, but assuming from her fascination, I assumed it was special.

She latched it around my
wrist and the charm twinkled and chimed when I twisted my wrist. Completely in
love with the bracelet- even if it was cheesy- I looked down at the price tag.

I sighed, “Yeah, maybe not.”
My family had money, but not enough to buy a bracelet at this price. Matt
looked over my shoulder and let a whistle like sound out between his teeth. He
helped me unlatch the bracelet, and I thanked the sales associate before
leaving.

Outside I checked my phone
for the time. 12:07. I should probably get back home. Matt walked me back to my
car, hugging me closely. “If you need anything in the next week or two, just
call me.”

“I will,” I smiled. “Thanks,
Matt. We need to do this again soon.” He nodded before opening my car door for
me. I curtsied before sliding into my seat. Matt waited until I was safely
pulling out of the lot before heading to his car.

When I pulled into the
driveway, there were no cars there, which meant Caleb had left. Walking through
the front door I saw the back door to the porch open, letting a draft travel
through the house. I quickly closed it, locking it too, but not before I caught
whiff of a weird scent. I ignored it and went up to my room looking for a sign
of Caleb. Checking the desk, his duffle bag was gone.

Suddenly, it felt like it
did last month. Caleb and Brody gone and only Matt. Walking back downstairs I
looked for any indication that he was coming back, but there was none. I didn’t
realize how mad he was at me. He wasn’t going to leave my alone for my
transition, was he?

I sat down in the living
room, mindlessly clicking through channels. I debated whether or not to send
him a text. Cowardly, I didn’t. I was too scared for his response. Settling on
an infomercial, I waited for Brody or, hopefully, Caleb to come back home.
I seriously considering buying the Magic Swipe® when I heard the
front door open.

I immediately hopped up
quickly walking to the door, “Caleb? Brody?”

“Hey Al,” I let out a sigh of relief as Caleb walked through the
foyer, duffle bag in hand.