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I rolled over to face him and tucked my hands under my head. He reached out and gently traced my forehead, my nose, and my mouth, before brushing my hair from my face. His hand was warm and instantly soothed me. My eyes fluttered closed and he laughed. I blinked them open and found him smiling at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Sometimes I feel like this is all a dream and one day I’m going to wake up and you’ll be gone.”

“This isn’t a dream Caeden. I’m real and I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”

He smiled but it quickly faded. “I
have
to figure out what Travis is up to. It’s not good, whatever it is.”

I took his hand and
held it to my heart. “But this time we do it together.”

He kissed me and said, “Always.”

Travis’ car was already in the parking lot but fortunately he was nowhere to be seen. Caeden relaxed beside me and his grip loosened on my hand. The crescent shaped marks his nails had left on my skin quickly healed and returned to its normal color.

“Please don’t get in a fight with him today if you see him, please,” I begged.

“I won’t,” he sighed. “I promise to be on my best behavior,” he said in a brighter tone and playfully nipped my chin.

We headed into the school and found an empty cafeteria table. I looked around for any sign of Travis or his pack in case I was going to have to tackle Caeden. I didn’t quite trust him
not
to hurt Travis.
Bryce sauntered into the school and found us easily. Charlotte’s hand was held snugly in his.

Bryce plopped dramatically into the seat across from me, his backpack bouncing.
“Ready for Harding?” he asked.

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. “Don’t remind me.” Mrs. Harding was bound to give us a ton of homework and I still had all of my homework from yesterday to do.

Bryce flashed a lopsided grin.
“It’s going to be epic. Mrs. Harding is always a bitch after spring break.”

“Isn’t she always?
” I retorted.

“That’s true,” Bryce shrugged. “Maybe bitchier is a better term,” he quirked a brow for my approval. He suddenly hopped up and said, “I’m going to go get some breakfast.”

“Didn’t mom feed you?” Caeden asked.

Bryce’s mouth turned down in a frown, which was rare for him. “She made me eat a spinach omelet. Spinach!”

Caeden laughed. “I’m so glad I didn’t have to eat that.”

I shook my head. “When will you boys learn that gree
n food is
good for
you.
If I recall correctly you did enjoy your salad that one evening,” I remembered back to the early stages of our relationship. We hadn’t even been together a year yet and I was already thinking about the
early stages
.

“Yes, but you also made steak so that made it okay to have a little bit of salad.”

“You’re logic is whack,” I said with a laugh.

“No, it’s a proven fact. If a man has to eat something green then he needs some meat,” he paused and grinned, “and of course something pretty to look at.”

“Of course,” I rolled my eyes.

Bryce returned with a tray of various items. “This is ridiculous,” he said as he pointed to his tray. “I’m going to starve to death. I mean, do they really think this cardboard is healthy,” he picked up a granola bar. He bi
t into it and said. “Ew, it has
nuts in it! I’m not a horse so why are they feeding me this stuff.” Bryce then picked up an apple. “Ugh, sour,” he said and made a face.
“This was a big waste of money,” he said and got up, stalking towards the trashcans.

Char
lotte giggled and looked at me before shrugging. “What am I going to
do with him?
” she said.

“I wish you luck,” Caeden said and slung his arm across my shoulders.

“Hey guys,” Chris said brightly. Bentley was right beside her with her hand in his. Those two were permanently glued to each other’s hips. I’d think it was disgusting if Caeden and I didn’t act the same way.

Logan sulked behind them and came around the table and sat beside me. He pulled a book out of his backpack and began to read.

Chris and Bentley sat down and Chris leaned across the table towards her older brother. “Logan, seriously?”

“What?” he asked in his deep monotone voice.

“You’re reading?”

“Uh, yeah. I think that’s pretty obvious,” he pointed to the book with a thin hand.

“You’re such a recluse. You need to hang out and talk with us more often,” she said.

“And you need to stop being such an annoying pest,” he snapped and closed the book with a bang. He stuffed it into his bag and walked off.

“I swear he’s moodier than a girl,” Chris said. “Men have no room to talk about girls and their mood swings. I mean, really?”

“It’s because he’s gay,” Bryce said as he sat back down.

“What?” we all said.

“Oh come on,” Bryce said in that drawled out, dramatic way of his. He looked at all of our stunned faces and said, “Seriously? None of your
gaydars
go off when he’s around?”

“No,” we said.

“Geez,” Bryce said and his eyebrows went up his forehead in surprise. “That’s why he’s so grumpy all the time.”

“Why would being gay make him grumpy?” I asked.

Bryce sighed dramatically. “He’s not grumpy because he’s gay, he thinks he has to hide it from us.”

“But none of us would judge him for being gay. There’s nothing wrong with that,” I said.

“But the council of elders would,” Caeden said softly. “
He would be executed.”

I gasped. “Executed? For being gay?”

“Yes,” Caeden said sadly, “it would
be
seen as impure
and a disgrace to our heritage and if they didn’t execute him he
would be
cast out of the pack.
And a castaway never survives.”

“That’s… that’s sickening,” I said.
“No wonder Logan act
s the way he does all the time.”

Chris frowned. “How could I not know this? I’m his sister. Are you sure?” she turned to Bryce.

“Positive,” he said.

Her shoulders slumped sadly. “I wish he would’ve trusted me enough to confide in me.”

“Babe,” Bentley, rubbed her shoulder.

She shrugged off his touch and said, “I have to go find him.” She melted into the crowd of students just as the bell rang.

Bryce turned to me and waggled his eyebrows, “Show time.”

*
* *

Bryce was right, Mrs. Harding was even
more of a nightmare than usual and I had the added luxury of having Travis sit behind me. This was just
fabulous
.
At least he didn’t play with my hair this time or try to touch me. He was probably afraid his hand would be torn off and even though shifters can heal fast that doesn’t mean we can regrow limbs. The idea of a handless Travis brought a smile to my lips.

“Ms. Beaumont what are you smiling about?” Mrs. Harding snapped, spittle flying.

Quick,
think
Sophie, think.
“Um… math makes me happy
.”

Travis snickered behind me which made me want to turn around and stab him in the eye with a pencil.

“Math makes you happy?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said and nodded.

“You’re in trouble now,” Bryce whispered under his breath.

“Well,” Mrs. Harding smiled, showcasing crooked yellow teeth, “if math makes you so
happy
then
you can stay after school with me and we’ll see just how happy you are.”

“Uh, I can’t do that. I work
after school.”

M
rs. Harding smiled
even
broader and I swear she looked
like a toad. “Tomorrow morning then. I expect you in this classroom at seven-thirty and you will not be permitted to leave until the morning bell rings.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” I said around the lump in my throat.

She smiled through the rest of the class.

*
* *

Mr. Collins, the woodshop teacher, was eager to start a new project today.

Pushing his black-framed glasses up his nose, he said, “Today, we’re going to start building
cabinets. I’ve run out of storage areas and I thought this would be a good learning experience for you. You should see a sheet in front of you that shows that dimensions that I need. You can either make a plain cabinet or you can add detailing for extra credit. And Sophie?” He looked at me.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Please, I’m begging you, stay away from the power tools
.”

“Will do,” I said.

“Thank you,” he breathed a sigh of relief
. “
Caeden can build the cabinet and you can st
ain and I’ll grade you on that. Get to work.”

Caeden was already reading over the directions. Since I didn’t want to interrupt him I cleaned out my backpack.

He got up and began to gather wood and tools. I dumped
the items I had cleaned out of my backpack into the trashcan and headed over to our
workstation
. I pulled my hair back into a
ponytail. Even though I wasn’t the one using the tools that didn’t mean my hair couldn’t still be caught in one of the various devices.

I watched Caeden work, his muscles flexing, and sweat dotting his forehead. This had to be the best class ever. I mean
,
I got to watch Caeden for a whole hour and thirty minutes, and not do anything. Plus, I was getting an A. Why had I ever been worried about this class?

Caeden flicked a piece of hair out of his eye and smiled up at me. “What are you watching?”

“You,” I said.

“Me?”

“Who else would I be watching?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged and began aligning pieces. He picked up the nail gun and quickly assembled the cabinet. The rest of the class was still cutting pieces.

“Looks lik
e I’ve found myself a handy man,” I smiled.

“Oh yeah,” he grinned, “I’m as handy as they come.”

“I can see it now,” I fantasized, “leaky faucets, fixing lights, painting walls.”

Caeden’s laugh filled the woodshop classroom. “And let me guess, you’re not going to help me, you’ll just watch.”

“It’s what I do best,” I laughed.

Caeden stood the cabinet upright and grabbed some trim pieces for detailing. “That’s okay, at least I’ll have something pretty to look at,” he winked.