Change of Plans (2 page)

Chapter Two

As Time Goes On

Caleb

There’s the Allie I know and love.
Sarcastic,
stubborn, and absolutely adorable.
My eyes couldn't help but follow her
cute little
tush
up the stairs and those tight yoga
pants weren’t helping.

“Knock it off,” Brody snarled as soon as she her door clicked closed
and smacked the side of my head, “She deserves better than you and we both know
if there was anyway to stop this, I would.”

I ignored that fact that he had just hit me and glared at him over
my sandwich, which was gross. Pickles and cheese
were
not a good combo. “Yeah, yeah, I know, I’ll never be good enough for your
precious Allie.” That’s all I've heard him tell me over the past couple of
months leading up to Allie’s birthday. I’ve known since my seventeenth birthday
that we were paired together and this was the exact reason I didn’t want to
tell him. After he learned about what he was it didn’t take long to connect me
lusting after his sister with the bond. Doesn’t matter if I’m stronger, he was
still going to go protective brother on me.

“Well, it would help if you started warming her up to the idea of
what her life is about to become instead of shielding her from everything. You
can't protect her forever. It’s only going to get worse as time goes on. Her
sense of smell is already growing. You should have seen her face when she
caught a whiff of my sandwich,” I couldn't help the irritation that crept into
my voice. It wasn't fair to keep Allie in the dark, she should know by now, but
it wasn't my place to tell her.

I guess I could go ahead
and tell her, but that would mean my beta hating me, which wouldn't be so much
of a downfall. Brody might not like everything that goes on in our world, but
no matter what he will always stick by my side. Even knowing that, I probably
wouldn't tell her because I might keep my beta, but I would still lose my best
friend. Brody is the only person who I can truly trust. After he walked in on
my father giving me another one of his talks about how I’m not good enough and
never will be, he’s always been there for me. He never brought up that day
again, just stood by my side no matter what. If it weren't for Brody, I
probably couldn’t handle all the stress that my father has put me under, but
that’s just him: loyal, smart and well -put together. Then
there’s
me, impulsive and reckless. I guess we cancel each other out. That’s why we
work so well together which is great because how else would we control a pack
of hotheaded werewolves?

Chapter Three

Like a Moth to a Flame

Allie

I
resisted slamming the door behind me and crawled back into my bed. My speaker
was blaring out The Black Keys to drown out what sounded like arguing
downstairs. Caleb and Brody acted like an old married couple, bickering all the
time.

Spread out on my bed were
all the new pictures that I had just gotten printed.
Photography was probably the only constant in my life other than Matt, my best
friend. When my mom, dad and brother left, I only had two things that actually
kept me going. Mom was the reason I started taking pictures and the only reason
I continued to do it was the connection to her. Our house was drowning in
photos my mom had taken, and although they brought back painful memories, Brody
and I had a silent agreement to keep them hanging on the walls.

Mom
had given me my first camera. I remember that day
perfectly,
it was one of my last good memories of her. I remember her saying, “Life goes
by too fast not to capture it, take pictures of everything, happy and sad, and
you will always remember those moments that had an impact.” That’s when I was ten;
she died eight months later. Nearly six years and thousands of photos later, I
still remember those words. For weeks after her death, I would sit and stare at
the camera she gave me, wondering what to do with it. My pain was too fresh to
do anything that reminded her of me at that point.

My
camera, a vintage 30mm Canon Demi EE17, was worn from years of
use,
my fingerprints were forever dented in it. Most people
thought it was a pain going and getting the film printed, but I thought it was
worth it. The camera gave off a filter that you couldn't get off any digital
camera. It was like my mom- original, hard to find, and missed dearly once it’s
gone.

Most
of my photos were pinned on the wall above my desk, but the important ones were
in boxes hidden under my bed. They contained every moment of my life building
up to now. Photography wasn’t something I boasted about to others, but the
photos under my bed were something I shared with no one.

Most
of the
photo on my wall were
from the woods behind my
house. The woods had become my sanctuary, my small place of peace in a crazy
world. The way the light peaks through the trees and the animals scurry off,
their tracks covered by the dense moss, created the perfect place for photos,
but more than anything it’s the wolves. Their narrow eyes, stealthy steps and
beautiful fur occupy most of my recent photos. Surprisingly I’m not scared of
them if anything I’m curious.

Contrary
to belief of the town, they were benign. Even when I breached their personal
space, they never threatened me, well except the white furred one,
I
had learned to avoid that one. There were only ten or so
that I’ve seen and never more than two together at a time. Most of the time
they came to me before I sought them out. They were drawn to me just as much as
I was to them, like a moth to a flame, especially the big wolf with
pitch black
fur and green eyes.

After
wasting most of my day avoiding Caleb downstairs and finishing homework, I called
it a night. Lucky for me, I had school tomorrow.

———————————

Ugh,
Mondays. Yeah, I know, how cliché, a teenager hating school, but I have a good
reason. Wolf Creek High School, located right outside of the town square with
only a hundred or fewer students in the graduating class and a football team
who thinks they're the coolest things out there because they won state once.
Ten years ago. Of course, our mascot was the Timberwolves, and our school
colors were blue and silver. Two stories of bland hallways with one gym and a
football field with more dirt than grass made up the school. The awful teachers
and the legendary make-out spot under the staircase weren't even the best part.
The ten or so students who acted as if they were God’s gift to the world were
my favorite part, especially since Brody was in that group. And who was the
ring leader
? The one and only Caleb Winters with Sierra
Griffin sticking to his side like a bumper sticker. The blonde Barbie doll
would have to be surgically removed from his arm. Luckily, Brody and Caleb were
seniors whereas I was a junior, so I only had to put up with them for one more
year.

I
pulled up to my usual parking spot in my little black and red 1970’s Mustang, a
birthday present from dad for my sixteenth birthday. Surprisingly enough, he
picked out the perfect car for me, even if it was a muscle car. A sudden bang
on the hood of my car startled me and I almost jumped out of my seat. I looked
through my windshield to see Matt standing
their
with
a huge grin on his face, dimples shining at full blast. I was happy to see him
since I hadn’t seen him all weekend, but if he put a dent in my baby, I was so
going to kill him. I grabbed my
backpack
and slung it
over my shoulder as I stepped out of the car with a frown on my face. Before I
could jump down his throat, Matt’s arms were locked around me in an awkwardly
long embrace.

“Well,
aren’t you just a little ball of sunshine this morning? Did you miss me?”

I
rolled my eyes. Oh, Matt. He never fails to put me in a good mood. He’s been my
best friend since third grade when he gave me half his Twinkie at lunch to
cheer me up after Sierra told me I was worthless. He was the definition of the
boy next door, golden blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes that always had a
boyish sparkle to them and of course, two dimples that winked every time he smiled.

His
comment about my mood even brought a smile to my face. He knew that my weekend
was ruined because of a certain someone over at my house with Brody all the
time. We texted all weekend while he was at a family reunion.

The warning bell pierced through the air and we
start making our way to the entrance as Matt tells me a story about how his
Aunt Judy got drunk at his family reunion.

Chapter Four

Teachers, Students, & Wolves

Caleb

Her
laugh rang through the air, drawing my attention to her from across the parking
lot. That’s how much I thought about her and only her; in a world full of
people I only heard and saw her. Just looking at her got my blood boiling, and
it only got worse when I saw Golden Boy over there with his arm around her. If
he didn't remove his arm, he wasn’t going to have an arm. She was mine, only
mine. No other guy had a right to touch her like that. A slight growl may have
escaped my lips because Brody’s eyes followed my gaze, and he frowned. He
knocked me against the head and my growl turned on him. Sometimes he needed to
be put back in his place.

“You
need to calm down before you do something stupid and shift in the school
parking lot. They are just friends, and you know that, so get it together,” he
said, a little growl coming into his voice.
Brody Underwood
everybody, the voice of reason.
I knew I needed to calm down, but I
could smell him from here, and it was very obvious that he wanted to be more
friends. Matt liked her, a lot, and that was a problem.

People
always gave off scents depending on their mood, so if they’re angry, sad, or
happy, I’ll know due to werewolf senses. Not exactly the best when you are
trying to hide your emotions, but great when you are trying to figure someone
out. And right now Matt’s emotions were flashing on a billboard in Times
Square. Allie was mine, I knew I didn’t have to worry too much about that, but
it still had my hands turning into paws. With her transition coming up, her Wolf
would start turning to me.

As
I was making my way into the school, Sierra popped up and attached herself to
my side, like she did every day. Yeah, she was super hot but not my type. I
only had my eyes on one girl, and I can guarantee it wasn’t Sierra Griffin. She
knew I was paired with Allie, but I guess that didn't stop her from hoping that
we would end up together. She was paired with Brody, the poor guy, but somehow
she managed to not feel the pull of the bond.

Sierra
was five and a half feet of skin-tight clothing, spiked heels,
dyed
blonde hair and big blue eyes framed by enough eye
makeup for a clown. She was clingy and somewhat annoying, just like her mom who
was always trying to move up in the pack ranks. She used to be cool when we
were younger, and we always hung out. When she found out I was going to end up
with Allie in the third grade, she made it her personal goal to ruin Allie’s
life. Allie would always brush her off which made her mom agitated. The one
thing Sierra hated more than losing was being ignored. When her first attempt
failed, she decided the best next thing would be to stick to my side all the
time. Brody and I shared a look, me asking for help and him laughing.

I
made my way to first period, Advanced English 101 with Coach Watkins a.k.a. the
spitter
. You did not want to be one of those few unlucky
students who got placed in the front of the class. Lucky for me, Coach Watkins,
who was also my football coach, arranged students in alphabetical order. Which
not only meant I was placed in the back of the room, I was also right behind
Allie. She was in all AP classes, so she was with mostly seniors like myself,
and she is in four of my class periods, including library assistant in third
period.

When
I walk through the door, Allie is already in her seat pulling out her notebook.
I was so distracted by her I didn't even say goodbye to Sierra, who was outside
the door like a personal chauffeur. The class would have been perfect if Golden
Boy a.k.a. Matt Peterson weren’t also in the class. Matt was the next row over
and turned around maybe every five minutes, along with at least three other
guys, to stare at Allie while she made notes in her notebook.

I
don’t think Allie realized the effect she had on guys. She was
hot
, like
smoking hot. I couldn’t think of one guy who didn’t stare after her when she
walked down the hallway. When summer came around, and everyone went to the
creek to swim, she had everyone’s attention in her tiny red bikini top and
those skimpy cutoff shorts, especially mine. She had long dark silky hair and
sapphire eyes that shimmered when she smiled. Unlike other girls, she was
simple. She didn’t care about what people thought about her or the latest
fashion trends, she was just
her
. She was also
probably one of the strongest people I’ve ever met.

I
made my way past a guy on the football team who desperately needed a shower to
my seat. Allie didn’t look up when I approached but her
head
shot
up when Matt shouted her name from where he sat. He flung a paper
airplane her way.
A paper airplane, really?
I thought
we were past third grade. Thank God for werewolf reflexes because before it got
a chance to reach Allie it was plucked out of the sky by my fingertips.

“Oh,
a note from lover boy, what could it possibly say?” I knew I was playing with
fire, but I loved seeing Allie all fired up. The look on Matt’s face said he
wanted to punch me, but he knew he couldn't. Although he’s strong for a human
and a great football and basketball player, he knew he couldn’t beat me. Not
with my Wolf genes.

Here
comes my favorite part though, Allie stood up and got right in my face. She was
half a foot below me but her glare made up for her lack in height. With her
narrowed eyes and flared nostrils she looked adorable. Her strong scent of
vanilla and cookie dough was driving me nuts. She barely came up to my brow,
but they way she held herself screamed power and it was hot. She tilted her
chin up and looked me straight in the eyes, daring me to mess with her. I
smiled,
her Wolf side was closer than I thought.

“I
don’t care how much you’re over at my house to hang out with my brother or how
much you think you know me, you don’t, so leave me and Matt alone,” I couldn’t
help but smile, I loved it when she got all frustrated with me. She turned her
back on me, not giving me another thought. Who knows, maybe this time I’ll get
something out of messing with her this time.

“Fine,
but it’ll cost you.”

She
turned back to look at me and quirked an eyebrow. “Like I have anything that
you could want.” Allie’s full lips were set in a thin line, and her scent
changed to cinnamon- annoyance and frustration.

“How
about a date?” I couldn't help myself and smirked.

Her eyes sparked with more annoyance. “Don’t
hold your breath on that.” My smirk continued to grow as she bit her lip; she
always did that when she was nervous, I didn’t need her scent to tell me that.
I loved making her nervous. While
I was distracted by her
lips
, the bell went off, and she snatched the crumpled paper airplane
out of my hand.