Change of Plans (9 page)

Allie stood up and came to
my side. I loved the whole independent thing, but I really wished she would sit
back down right now. “Mr. Winters, nice to finally meet you, I’ve heard so many
great
things about you.” Now was really not the time for her sarcasm.

“Likewise, now would you
please like to explain to me why you have chosen to expose us to a human, an
unreliable one, none the less.” His voice was calm and collected as always.

“You don’t know anything
about him,” Allie sneered, temper rising with each word that came out of my
father’s mouth. Her transition didn’t help. At this rate, she wouldn’t be able
to stop herself from lunging at him. Not that I’d blame her. I reached down and
grabbed her hand, trying to calm her down, but it didn’t work. Even when I
tried to take away her emotions, I didn’t feel the electric current shoot
through me.

She slipped her hand out of
mine and crossed her arms. Even though my dad’s height towered over her, her strong
presence filled up the room. She might have thought differently, but she was
definitely an alpha.
An alpha a lot stronger than my dad.
“No, I don’t have to explain myself to you. If I want to tell Matt about what I
am, then I will. You can’t stop me, and good luck trying.”

My father, well aware that
she was in fact stronger than him, subtly backed down but didn't submit. Allie
didn’t know she was stronger than him, but because her family has more alpha
blood and her dad was alpha of this pack at one point, she was much stronger.
Her Wolf Side was acting up and protecting itself. Just like it did last night
with Sierra.

My father smiled and took another step toward her, “I like you
already, but as long as I am alpha of this pack, you will follow my orders. You
better make sure you friend doesn’t expose us, because if he does, I will live
up to my promise.” And with that being said, he left, slamming the door behind
him.

Chapter Nineteen

About
Time

Allie

Well, that was exhausting.
When the front door closed, I turned and sat back down on my bed. Caleb stayed
still, arms crossed, frowning at nothing. I fell back on my bed, arms flinging
out. Caleb moved the pillows and crawled beside me on his side, head propped up
on his elbow.

He smiled, “You know, I
can’t name one other person who’s stood up to my dad like that. And not going
to lie, it was really hot.”

I couldn’t help but smile
about the hot part, “Why not? I thought you were stronger than him.”

He sighed and rolled over on
his back, “I am. My father doesn’t want to give up his power though and there
are two ways to become alpha. Have it handed down to you, or fight for it. My
father will let his pride get in the way and would never submit in a fight, and
I don’t think I could kill him. If the entire pack voted against him, I could
also get it, but they are probably too scared. He has all thirty-four of them
under his command.”

“Only thirty-four?” I had
always thought there were more, like fifty.

He shifted uncomfortably,
“Um, yeah, only thirty-four. For our kind, it’s
kinda
harder to um… well, you know, like, make more.”

I laughed; I’ve never seen
him more uncomfortable, even surrounded by a ton of crying girls. “Reproduce?
You talk about it like it’s unnatural.”

“Yeah, yeah, well, I
am
a guy and we don’t really talk about that sort of thing, at least not yet. How
about some breakfast?”

I let the topic drop. “Well,
Matt did leave us donuts,” I said, pointing to the bag lying by my hip. Caleb
snatched the bag and took out a handful of doughnut holes and popped them all
into his mouth at once. Pig.

“About
Matt…,”
he said, his mouth still full. “What was the thing about us being friends?” He
leaned closer to me. “Cause I can assure you Al, we are not just friends.”

Of course out of everything
I said, that’s the only part her picked up. “Well, last time I checked, we
haven’t even kissed and have only been on one date. I think you still qualify
for the friend zone.”

He groaned, joking. “No, not
the friend zone. And by the way, all that can change.” He didn’t have to say
what he was referring to, I knew. My cheeks burned and I nearly jumped off the
bed, trying to release some of the tension between us.

He followed me up and
grabbed me behind my knees, efficiently throwing me over his shoulders. I
squealed, pounding on his back and kicking my legs.

“No escaping me now,” he
said, laughing at my frantic attack on his back.

“No fair! Put me down!”

“Fair? All’s fair in love
and war, Allison. Shouldn’t you know that?”

He only lowered me halfway
but it was no use, my feet were still dangling off the ground and he held me my
squeezing me tightly to his chest with both arms.

I pouted, “Are you going to
put me down now?”

“Nope,” He smiled and threw
me up so I was forced to wrap my legs around his waist. I squealed again, but
not because of the surprise, more because of the closeness of our bodies. He
didn’t give me time to think as one of his hands went behind me head, pulling
me closer until my lips were against his.

Finally, no more attempted
kisses. His lips were warm and soft, but firmly pressed against mine. It didn’t
take long for me to respond and soon I was kissing him back with equal vigor.
His lips tasted like donut frosting from the doughnut holes. My hands were
winded in his hair and his were on my hips, holding me firmly in place. I lost
track of time kissing him. Even though I had no idea how to properly kiss a
guy, it felt natural with Caleb.

We were interrupted by the
tell tale ring of my phone. When he pulled away, I missed the contact
immediately. I must have voiced my complaints because Caleb laughed and set me
down. “As much as I would love to stay here and kiss you all day, you need to
answer your phone and I have to go to school today. With the big football game
today, they won’t let me play if I’m not at school. Think you’ll be
alright
for a couple of hours? I’ll come back for lunch.”

I nodded and he went to take
a shower before he left, quickly kissing me again first. I walked to my desk
where my phone was on the charger. The text was from Matt.

Everything
alright
? Who was that guy?

I quickly responded,
All
good. Caleb’s dad- the “Alpha.”

His response came a minute
later,
So
you're really a werewolf?

That’s what they’ve
been telling me.

Not going to lie,
that’s awesome! Are you well enough to do something later this week?

I
hesitated
,
I had no idea
.
Yeah,
I think so. I’ll let you know.

I tossed my phone back on
the desk, not waiting for his response. At least he wasn’t pissed at me.
I
was getting the homework that I missed off my computer when Caleb came out from
his shower. Shirtless. Holy crap, he was ripped. His chest was perfectly
sculpted and sun-kissed with beads of water dripping down. More beads of water
clung to the ends of his dark hair and the stubble growing on his chin. My jaw
was on the floor.

Caleb must have noticed me
staring because his course steered away from his bag sitting on my desk toward
me. “You know a picture lasts longer, and you got some drool on the corner of
your mouth.” I glared but he just smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I would
never get use to him kissing me. He pulled away too soon for my liking and went
to his bag to grab a shirt.

Soon after he told me what I
was, he decided to stay here and grabbed a duffle from home with everything he
needed. The less he left, the better.

He dragged me out of my bed
and downstairs. Sitting at the table, I watched as he poured two bowls of
cereal
;
one for him, the other for me. He placed it
down in front of me with a spoon and dug into his breakfast. He went through
three bowls before standing and dropping his dishes in the sink. I pouted as he
reached down to get his backpack and he laughed.

“I’ll be back before you
know it, I promise.” I stood and followed him to the front door.

“I know, but do you have to
leave? They will probably still let you play, I mean, how else are they going
to win state?” I wrapped my arms around his waist and leaned back so I could
tilt my head up to see him. I was being childish, but I really didn’t want him
to leave.

“Flattery won’t get you
anywhere and yes, I have to go. I need to pick up all the work you’ve missed as
well,” I groaned. “The school won’t believe you have a flu forever and since
when does my little perfectionist not want to do her homework?” He pinched my
nose softly, teasing me.

“Since she found better
things to do,” I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him, hoping he would stay
home. I didn’t want to be here alone all day. He laughed at my attempt to
convince him to stay home and unwound himself from my arms. He kissed me
quickly again and turned toward the door.

“Bye, Al. See you at lunch,”
he called out from by his car.

Yeah, yeah he better be
back. I lounged around in sweatpants and fuzzy socks, trying to pass the time.
I went through all my photos, cleaned the sheets in Brody’s and my room, and
went to the store to grab more groceries. With Caleb permanently here, all of
our food was almost gone. When I was putting up the last of the food there was
a knock at the door. It was about Caleb’s lunch break, but he wouldn’t knock. I
peeked through the window but I didn’t recognize the small white BMW in the
driveway. I went to unlock the door, trying to tame my hair along the way.
Opening the door, I groaned as I saw the devil
herself
standing there.

Sierra.

What did she want? Her
four-inch Dior heels clicked impatiently against the wooden porch. She was
dressed head to toe in skin-tight, black clothing like the stripper version of
the Grim Reaper. Her blonde hair was curled more than Dolly Parton’s and her
face was covered with enough makeup to be considered a clown. She smirked at
the surprised look on my face, “Allie.”

“Sierra. What do I owe this
great pleasure to?”

“Oh, I just wanted to give
you a heads up,” she sneered, faking concern. “The pack meeting this Sunday is
going to be quite a blast, with the new alpha and all. I just wanted no hard
feelings when you get stripped of your rank and I’m alpha female with Caleb.”
She smiled like she had won the lottery. Caleb warned me that her and her
mother were always trying to climb the ranks, but I didn’t know she was this
desperate. She could try all she wanted to be alpha, but I was stronger than
her.

“Really Sierra, and why is
that?”

“You and your brother are an
abomination. I know it, my mom knows it, and soon the rest of the pack will,
too.”

That stung, not that I would
let her know that. It was fine that she attacked me, but attacking my brother?
Her pair? That wasn’t okay. “Is that all?
Because if so, you
can leave.
I have better things to do than listen to your petty
threats.” She swallowed deeply and turned on her heel to leave, trying to keep
some pride. “Oh, and Sierra?” She turned her head to look at me. “Good luck,
you’ll need it.”

“She’ll need more than luck
if she’s hoping to bring you down,” came a voice from behind her. I smiled. Brody.
Even though he was her pair, he would always protect me no matter what.

“Brody,” her voice came out
as a whisper. That was the effect of your pair, even if you didn’t want them,
they always took your breath away. Trust me, I used to feel the same thing. She
turned around and faced him. He stood closely behind her with a frown on his
face, staring her down through his Ray Bans.

“Leave. Incase you couldn’t
tell, you’re not wanted here.” Ouch. That must have hurt, but she deserved it.
She did choose Caleb over him after all. Too bad she couldn’t have him either.
She bowed her head, losing whatever pride she had left, and scampered off to
her BMW that sat by my Mustang in the driveway. She quickly backed out, her
tires screeching, and left.

Brody watched as she left
and then turned toward me, “Hey, Caleb couldn’t come back for lunch. He had to
talk to one of his teachers. He asked me to come check on you and bring you
lunch,” Brody held up a bag from the Grill. I could smell the grease from the
burgers and my mouth watered. Yum, it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve
had a greasy burger.

“Awesome!” I stepped aside
so he could come in and closed the door behind him. He walked straight to the
kitchen and grabbed the plates and napkins while I grabbed drinks. Diet Coke
for me, A&W Root Beer for him, just like always.

I sat as Brody pulled out a
couple of the burgers out and two cups of fries. Without looking up he said,
“Don’t worry about Sierra. Her
mom probably sent her when she
found out you were
home alone. They might send threats, but they’re
benign.”

I was confused. “Why would
Sierra’s mom send her?”

“Sierra’s mom always wanted
to be alpha. She had a thing with our dad, but he fell in love with mom. When
he stepped down from alpha, it was too late to try anything with Caleb’s dad,
so she sent Sierra after Caleb.”

“What’s so important about
being alpha?” I asked.

“Caleb can probably explain
it to you better than I can, but it’s important enough that Sierra wants it.”
He didn’t realize it, but I saw his body flinch involuntarily at his pair’s
name.

“Brody, what’s the deal with
you and Sierra?”

He looked down at his feet,
“She’s my pair, but she cares more about her rank than anything else. As long
as she keeps trying to be with Caleb, I can’t have her, not fully at least.”

He looked upset about that
and I understood why. He was guaranteed to be with someone he loved but she
kept trying so hard to resist it, even though she felt the same way.  I
dropped the subject, not wanting to hurt him further.

When the subject came to
tonight’s football game, he told me that Caleb had to stay after school to warm
up but he wanted me to go watch him play. I was really excited to hear that he
to want me to come, even though I knew he would. They both thought I had my emotions
under control enough to go out. As long as I didn’t explode, I would be good.
Brody had to go soon and said, “I’ll be back after school and we can hang out
before the game.”

I gave him a brief hug,
happy to have my brother back, and he left.

I was so bored. Without
Caleb or Brody, I had nothing to do. I use to always have something to do, but
now I had no idea how to fill my time. Everything I use to love seemed so
mundane now, except photography. I would probably be in the woods taking photos
right now, but I knew Caleb wouldn’t want me in the woods. Not with all the
wild wolves running around.