“I can’t even say I’m jealous at the moment, she totally deserved that,” Chann remarked with a laugh behind me.
“Quick, give me an idea so she’ll kiss me like that,” Zev begged, and I released Shannon’s hair to flip him off over my shoulder as I slid from Shannon’s lap. Ian plucked me up, settling me across his knees as I yelped.
“Thanks to Ms. White’s insight, it seems we now have a plan. It looks like it’s time to dig into the details then.” His hands were gentle as they stroked down my knee while I listened to the debate around me, arguing over who would be the best choice to film, where the perfect spot to surround the vehicle would be, and what I could say to taunt Lyle. We were actually going to do this, I realized. My family was going to keep me safe.
Chapter Eight
Pixie
“Penny,” Alarick called out to me, dragging my attention away from my book.
“Hm?” I murmured, my brain still caught up in the bloody battle I’d been in the middle of.
He smirked, his blue eyes full of laughter as he glanced down at the book in my hand. “I assume it’s one of the ones Shannon gave you?”
I glanced at the pretty cover and smiled. “Yep. It’s amazing.” I loved psycho characters, what could I say? “Did you need me for something?” I didn’t think I’d missed a training session. I knew I got really into my books, but the alarm on my phone hadn’t gone off to indicate a session.
A slight blush of color rose on Alarick’s neck and he rubbed at it, making me cock my head to study him. “Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to spend a little time with me. We never did get a chance for any one-on-one time after the masquerade.” My stomach squeezed with heat at the memory of that evening.
“Did you have something in mind?” I slipped the bookmark decorated with roses and a snake into my novel to mark my place and fell into step with Alarick.
“I know it sounds like a line, but I really did want you to see my room.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on his face. He was usually so confident, cocky even, but when he let those walls down, Alarick was really sweet and fun.
“Well, since you’ve been the one teaching me how to kick your ass if I didn’t want to be in your room, I think we’re safe,” I teased him. “Besides, when we’re in a school like this, I think it’s one of the easiest ways to really see who you are.”
Alarick studied me as we walked, his eyes searching mine for a moment as we headed to the staircase. “You know you’re allowed to change your room, right? Make it more yours? I think my father expected you would approach him about it soon after your arrival.”
I shrugged as we walked down the stairs. “I don’t mind the colors. I mean, mint, cream, and brown? It’s like living in an ice cream sundae,” I teased him, a smile crossing my lips when he chuckled.
“Well, I apologize that my room isn’t a sundae.” He stopped at an end room and I snorted. He slowly arched a brow, and I waved away the sound, not bothering to explain that I’d known he’d have the privacy that a far room offered him. As beta of the pack, it would be one of his perks.
“Oh!” The soft cry fell from my lips when I stepped inside, surprise forcing the sound out. I had expected something formal, maybe even something colorful like the twins. I hadn’t expected to step into a room that seemed to be right out of the beach. Most of the walls were white. The headboard of the large, blue bed was cut and curled like waves of the ocean. The bed was covered in a striped nautical coverlet. One wall was covered in an intricate sea glass mural that caught the light from the window, reflecting the rays back in waves and patterns, making it seem as though the ocean was just a fingertip away. A desk of painted driftwood stood against the wall, and above it, in matching frames, were sketches of ocean animals. A couch sat at the foot of the bed, stacked with coordinating pillows. Judging by the table next to it, which was stacked with textbooks, I assumed he used it as another study area.
“You can look around,” he encouraged with a wave of his hand, chuckling a little as he took in my wide eyes. “It’s why I invited you, after all.”
“Did you do these?” I inquired, pointing to the intricate pencil sketches.
“Yeah.” He shrugged, a blush tinting his neck as he rubbed at it. “I like to draw if I have free time.”
“Wow. That’s great.” He was really talented, and I had no idea. The dolphin looked like it was coming right out of the waves, and the spray looked real enough to dampen my hand if I touched the paper. The pair of seahorses that danced together were as mischievous as faeries as they wove amongst the coral home they shared. “Do you just do ocean drawings, or do you do other things too?”
“Other things as well. I just thought these suited the room. I change them out occasionally. I had a starfish and a tiger shark up a few months ago. It gives me a chance to work on different projects and improve them.” He tilted his head to study them. “I’m sure I’ll be changing these out soon as well.”
“Really?” I shook my head as I studied the sketches again. “I don’t see how you can get bored with these. It’s like they’re alive.”
A flash of light drew my attention across the room. “It’s gorgeous. I feel like I’m right on the ocean,” I breathed, approaching the mural.
“My mother made it,” he told me, coming to stand beside me. “When I was just a pup. She loved the ocean. My father used to tease her for it, said wolves were for the forest, not the ocean, but you couldn’t keep her away from it. The ocean, lakes, rivers—that’s what she was drawn to. She’d take me and we’d gather sea glass, shells, stones… it was our time together.” He walked to his bedside table and picked up a framed photo to show me. The woman in it was young, probably in her early twenties, with laughing golden eyes and dark hair. The toddler on her hip was clearly Ari, his blue eyes as bright then as they were now, though the carefree smile was something I had never seen replicated on his face.
“She’s beautiful,” I murmured. “I haven’t really heard you talk about her.”
“It’s still hard to,” he replied, setting the picture down gently. “It’s easier in some ways, the details of it, the facts. But it’s harder in some ways too.”
I froze, processing what he was saying. “Ari…” I reached for him and wrapped my hands tightly around his waist so I could press my face against his chest. “I thought she was with one of the different packs. You keep talking about the different roles we can take on, the different locations we can go to. I didn’t realize…” My heart broke for him, tears burning my eyes as I hugged him firmly against me. I let him tug me to the sofa and settle me onto his lap without releasing my hold on him.
His lips brushed my head. “We have a lot in common, you and I, Penny. My mother and I were out collecting our shells and another pack crossed into our territory. My mother was both trusting and prideful. She thought other wolves wouldn’t dare cross into our territory, that they would abide by the treaties. If they did, she was alpha female of our pack, she thought she could handle it. She didn’t count on the fact that they had no desire to fight honorably.” His voice was steady, but his hands tightened on me, holding me against him as I cried, thinking of the poor little boy who had witnessed his mother’s death.