Chapter 21 GIRL'S OUTING

Chapter 21 GIRL'S OUTING
“And this is my room," I tell James as we come to the end of our tour. "Well, it will be when I fix it up," I correct myself.

I push open the white door and flip the light switch on then take a look around. I have only ever been in this room one other time, so I am still getting used to it. It is definitely not as grand as Samuel's room, but it is still very nice and it's going to suit me perfectly. Everything is white and wood colored.

Tomorrow I'll have Samuel take me into town and pick up some paint for it. I think it will look beautiful with half purple and half white walls with a thin border separating them. I can practically envision the whole thing.

"It's nice, I guess; for a girls room anyway," James says, looking around.

"Well I guess it's a good thing you don't have to live in it then," I laugh, slapping his shoulder teasingly.

He walks further into the room and looks around before plopping down in the pale pink chair in front of the window. He kicks his feet up on the bed next to him and lets himself relax.

"Well, I would say make yourself at home, but it looks like you already have," I smile.

Placing his hands behind his head and leaning back into the chair, a wide smirk covers his face. He looks at me expectedly.

"What?" I ask cautiously.

"So... you and the Alpha huh?"

My smile drops and I groan and roll my eyes at him before plopping down on the bed where his feet lay.

"Don't start," I warn him. "You don't even know him. This isn't like the time you teased my boyfriend in the sixth grade, this is real life. Samuel won't stand for your careless attitude and disrespect towards his pack."

"Well, it certainly seems like he's got you bowing down to him," he states with amusement. I frown at him. "No, I just have respect for him. Something you know not of. Just because you got away with everything in Logan's pack doesn't mean that you can do it here. Or in The Upland pack for that matter. They actually enforce rules around here."

"Yeah, yeah, so I've been told," he chuckles, brushing off my statement.

"Why did you choose The Upland Pack anyway?"

He shrugs. "Bon's sister Clara is mates with the Beta.. He said we're welcome to join. They won't start us out at the bottom of the pack there."

I raise my eyebrows to him. I know there has to be more. "And?"

He smirks. "And...I might have my sights set on a girl over there."

Of course. I roll my eyes and giggle at him. "I know it has to be something like that. I feel sorry for your mate when you finally meet her. She'll get a girl chaser for a mate."
"What can I say, I can't be tamed. I don't think there are mates for guys like me anyway."

I know he is trying to joke around, but I don't miss the brief flinch at his own words. I feel bad for him. I hope he honestly doesn't believe that about himself. It would be pretty depressing to go through life thinking you didn't have a mate.

"Every wolf has a mate, so don't go getting crazy idea's in your head," I say.

He offers me a small smile before he yawns and looks down at his attire. His shirt is still ripped, he has dried blood on his skin where the wounds have healed, and his hair is disheveled. He looks horrible.

"Is there somewhere I can get cleaned up?" he asks. "I'd hate for Laura to see me like this today."

"Yeah, there's a bathroom down the hall. Unless you'd like to use the one is Samuel's room," I joke. He shakes his head and laughs. "Nah, I'm good."

"You should get some sleep. Upland isn't expecting you later today anyway and I'm sure you've been running for a while."

"Just from town. My friends stopped off there on the way so I came without them. They'll swing by and pick me up later. I think they wanted to get a feel of the big city before they joined the pack. I don't know what kind of crap they're going to get into this early in the morning, but more power to them."

I nod and stand up from the bed. "Well. I'll just go find you another shirt and leave it here for you.This room hasn't been used in a while so if you decide to get some rest, I don't know how comfortable the bed actually is."

"I'm used to sleeping on the hard ground during border patrols. A stiff mattress would beat that any day."

I shake my head at him while he only grins. "Sleeping on the job, why am I not surprised?"

I doubt he'll ever take anything in life seriously. He's nothing more of a big goof off most of the time. He gets that from his dad, my uncle, no doubt.

I give him directions to the bathroom on our floor before searching through my bags in the room. The same ones that have been there since the day I arrived. I'm glad they were out of Samuel's room though because I'd feel bad to crowd Samuel with all of my stuff. I have a lot of things.

I smile when I come across my iPod in one of the bags and stuff it in my pocket for later use. Shirt after shirt, I throw out of the bag, until I finally come to one of my oversized night shirts that I often sleep in. They are just so roomy and comfortable. I feel nostalgic when that scent of home hits me from my shirts. It gives me a brief sense of happiness while thinking of my parents.I lay the large white shirt over the bed like I'd promised and continue packing my things back up when a familiar scent hits me. This time it isn't the smell of home. It was Samuel. He is here with me, in the room, standing above me.

"Did your cousin decide not to stay?" he asks. I can hear the happiness in his voice from that thought.

"No, he went to get cleaned up from what your wolves did to him," I say matter of factly. I am still unhappy about that and have yet to let Samuel know how angry that made me.

"They wouldn't have had done anything if he would have stated his reason for being in our territory and who he was when he arrived. He was just asking for it by snapping at Dominic like he did," he replies with an edge to his tone.

As much as I hate to admit it, he is right. James knew what he was doing by provoking the pack. That's just who he is.

"I told him what you asked me to. I don't think he'll be causing any more problems while he's here."

"Good."

I place the last of my things in the suitcases and zip them back up before turning to meet Samuel. He has been watching me the entire time.

"I'm tired," I sigh. "I think I'll try to sleep for a couple more hours before I get my day started."

"You did get up pretty early," he notes. "You probably should get some rest. I don't want you to start feeling bad again."

I shake my head. "Me neither."

"Come on. I'm sure James can find what he needs by himself," he says, offering me his hand. Yeah, he probably can.

I give Samuel a tired smile and accept his hand before he walks me from James' room and then to ours.

I sleep longer than I intended to. It seems getting up before sunrise takes a lot of out a person. I make up for my lack of sleep this morning by sleeping until 11 a.m. Samuel doesn't stay to sleep with me, instead he decides there is too much to be done and he spends the remainder of the morning with Dylan doing pack duties.

By the time I am out of the shower and dressed, most of the pack members are out of the house. I know that because it is unusually quiet. Since I have missed breakfast again, I go to the Kitchen to find myself something for lunch. I settled for a simple sandwich and some Doritos.

When I am finished eating, I am delighted to see that I am not alone. Laura enters the kitchen before I leave and meets me at the door. We nearly bump into each other causing us stop and laugh.

"No school today?" I ask her.

"No. I don't have any classes on Friday. I have a three day weekend," she replies happily.

I smile at her. "Lucky you."

She runs a hand through her long black hair and sighs. "I'm bored. It's such a pretty day to be stuck inside the house. I'm thinking of going out. Would you like to come? I could show you around the town; you know, where all the hang out's and good places to shop are?"

I jump at her offer. "Yes, I'd love to. I haven't had any girl time in like forever and I could really use some time away from here."

Apart from going out with Samuel two times to eat, once on the way to the pack house and another time last night, I haven't really done much sightseeing. Plus, I feel it would be fun to hang out with Laura for the day. "Where are we going?" James yawns, walking into the room. I don't fail to notice the smirk and wink he sends her way upon entering. She smiles and giggles at him.

I sigh. I'll have to introduce them now.

"Laura this is my cousin James. James this is my friend Laura," I say plainly.

She holds out her hand to him. "Nice to meet you."

He keeps his smirk in place while he accepts her hand and kisses it. "The pleasure's all mine."

When he backs away and releases her hand, she giggles again. She is obviously smitten with him. Maybe I should warn her about him before she gets too interested.

"Laura and I are going out, wanna come along? Or is your new Alpha waiting for you already?" I ask him.

"It's cool. I'm going to hang with a favorite cousin and her hot friend today. I'm not meeting with him until later."

I roll my eyes at him and look at Laura. "Be careful with this one. He can't be trusted."

She looks at him and smiles but nods. "Got it."

He tares his eyes from her and throws his hands up in defense feigning hurt. "Hey, what did I ever do to you?"

"Are you kidding? Where should I start?" I scoff. "My childhood or grade school?"

"Okay, okay," he replies, lowering his hands and taking a step back. "I may have done a few things that weren't exactly nice, but hey, the past is the past, right?"

I cross my arms over my chest trying to look angry, but his sad face makes me give in and feel a smile form on my face. I know he is playing me with the pitiful look, but oh well. He's right."Yes, it is," I sigh, side stepping him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to go."

He looks excited. "Awesome, so where are we going?" I glance at him and shake my head.

"We aren't going anywhere, Laura and I are."

He huffs and looks just like a little boy who is upset with his parents. "That's not fair. I came here specifically to see you. I even ditched my friends for you. And now you're ditching me?"

I can't stop myself from laughing at him. "Fine, fine, you can come along. But behave or I'll leave you somewhere."

That seems to please him. He shoots me a lazy grin and shrugs. "I'll try."

Samuel is sitting in his office with Dylan when I arrive. They seem to be submerged in more paper work and business deals and I feel bad for interrupting. It is clear Samuel smelled me as soon as I walked in. He doesn't even look up from his papers when he speaks.

"Grace. What brings you here?"

"Grace," Dylan says, acknowledging me with a smile. He quickly notices the pocketbook on my shoulder. "Going somewhere?"

Samuel's head instantly snaps up in my direction after Dylan's question and frowns. "You're leaving?"

I take a couple more steps inside the office until I am almost directly in front of his desk and nod. "Yeah, I was just coming to tell you that, Laura, James and I are going out for a while. I thought I'd go get some paint for my room."

"Alone?" he questions. He does nothing to hide his displeasure in that fact.

"No, I said I'm going with Laura and James," I repeat.

He shakes his head and stands from his desk towering over me. "You're not going alone." His words holds finality and his eyes are serious.

"Did you not hear anything I just said?" I ask with disbelief. "I'm not going alone."

Dylan is standing next to Samuel watching between the two of us while we entered a staring contest. Neither one of us is backing down.

"You'll take Kyle and Luka with you," he finally speaks. "You can't go without protection. With news about us spreading like wildfire, you will be number one target for rogues. They know we are saving each other from loosing ourselves and the rogues don't like it. They want to see me fall. My pack is large and tempting. They want it and think it will be easy to obtain given the circumstances. I know how they work. I've dealt with them enough."

I feel guilty again. Of course he has. He lost his parents to rogues. They can't be trusted. He is just watching out for me.
"Okay," I agree. "We'll take them."

He relaxes at my reply and nods.

"Good."

He pulls a set of keys from one of the desk drawers and walks around to meet me. "But actually, they will be the ones taking you. Luka will drive. You'll use one of the SUV's. It's safer that way."

So much for our girl's day, I think.

"Fine, but I have a feeling Laura wanted to drive. She'll be disappointed to learn otherwise." I feign sadness. Though Samuel being Samuel can see right past what I am trying to do. Guilt doesn't work so easily on him.

"You'll both survive," he chuckles. "If you have any problems, call me."

"Okay, Dad. I'll be sure to let you know," I joke. "Anything else you'd like me to do?"

He crosses his arms not liking my joke and frowns. "Not that I can think of, but if I do, you'll be the first to know."I roll my eyes at him and laugh before turning from the room and walking out in front of Samuel. "I've already messaged them. They'll be waiting for you by the car," he adds.

I nod, walking into the living room and I am just about to open the door when Samuel places his hand on my arm to stop me, causing me to look up at him. "Oh and before I forget, I'd like you to be home by five. A friend of mine, David Owens, Alpha of The Downs Pack, will be here to visit and I'd like it very much if you met him and his mate."

Another Alpha friend? First Arthur and now David?

"You've have a lot of connections," I state.

He shrugs. "It pays to know people."

I smile at how very true that statement is. The more people you know, the more connections you have. And the more connections you have, the more protection you have. Samuel's hand reaches forth and gently trails his fingertips down my cheek. Unintentionally I close my eyes and lean unto him. It is an action that completely takes me by surprise.

I think by spending so much time with him, the soul intertwining is already starting to take place between us. The doctor had stated that it could happen. I just didn't know it could happen so soon.

"Come back safely," he says before letting his hand drop.

Trying to make sense of what has just happened, I simply nod and step back, trying to get my head together. Something is most definitely wrong with me.

"I wi
ll," I mumble barely above a whisper.

With that, he lets me leave and I do my best to get my breathing under control before meeting up with my travel companions. I don't want any questions to arise.