Book 8 Part 9
Book 8 Part 9
The weekend was busy and interesting. When we woke up on Saturday morning, Sam took the oath and pledged her allegiance to me and our pack. She instantly joined our mind link and she was amazed that we were able to communicate like this in our human form. I knew she would have plenty of questions because our situation was odd.
Sam had a lot of questions and between Slade and I we told her the whole truth, from the bus accident to the banishment to coming to Cloverdale. She was sympathetic and I could see how her feelings went from insecure to taking over the role of our big sister. We had an instant bond with her and Slade and I both accepted her as our new sister. We were a family now.
The instantaneous bond was a little unorthodox because Blaise pushed me to tell her everything. He hadn’t commented why, he only kept saying that Sam was with us for life. It was nice to have someone else in the house with us, someone that really cared about us.
She took over everything concerning the house and she was appalled at the state of the pantry and so we went shopping. I opened a second account and gave her that card so she could run the house. We discussed duties, salaries and responsibilities within the pack and we vowed to never rank any wolf in our pack.
Sam was overjoyed, emotional and really grateful when she realized she would receive a salary in our pack. The look on our faces was of horror when she’d asked us how much she needed to contribute toward the house, since she now lived there.
“Sam, you are working for the pack, and that means that you earn a salary,” I said.
“Yeah, this is how Jake and I do things. We talked about doing things differently,” Slade said as tears welled up in her eyes.
“You guys have no idea what this means to me,” she said and lowered her head as she cried.
Slade and I had discussed it. We wanted things to work differently with us. All pack members would earn a salary for their part in keeping the pack intact and safe. We had no plans of becoming a large pack. We just wanted to survive on our own and help whoever else was sent on our path.
She could cook and laughed when I asked her if she wanted us to hire a cleaner that would come in during the day while we were at school. It was a big house with eight bedrooms and in the end she found a woman that would come in three times a week to do the heavy cleaning. Slade was somewhat surprised when Sam insisted that we clean our own bedrooms but we promised and I liked that she had somehow stopped acting like an omega when she joined our pack.
On Monday morning we kissed her goodbye on the cheek and left for our first day of school. Slade and I raced each other down the road that led from the house to the main road leading into town and we slowed down as we reached the edge of town.
There were only two bikes in the school’s parking lot and they were ours. Everybody stared at us, we were different not only because of our eyes but our whole demeanor. Slade was a few inches shorter than me at six foot two, with his dark brown hair and tanned skin, but it was our eyes that drew the most stares. While I have two different colored ones, Slade’s eyes look almost turquoise, it’s the most intense sea-green imaginable.
“Why is everyone staring?” Slade asked as we walked into the school building.
“Probably because your zip’s open,” I said and laughed as he looked down.
“Asshole,” he said with a smile.
We made our way to the reception office and I smiled when the woman looked up at us. She was in her mid-forties with pitch black hair that hung to her shoulders, glasses perched on her nose and a cardigan that was buttoned up to her throat and she was staring.
“Morning, Jericho and Slade Cannon,” I said and she smiled as she picked up two envelopes from the counter in front of her.
“Your locker combinations are inside as well as your schedules and a school map,” she said with a smile and stared into my eyes again.
“Thank you,” I said and handed Slade his envelope.
We stored our jackets and helmets in the lockers and I smelled more than one wolf in that hallway. Slade and I had most of our classes together and like me, Slade had a photographic memory. He mostly slept through classes back in Scotland but always made good grades. We both did because it was easy to remember everything.
We were one of the first students in the class and Slade walked to the back and we sat down at the two desks in the corner against the wall. A group of boys walked in and headed in our direction and stopped in front of our desks. I smelled their wolves and I kept my aura off. There was no reason for everyone to know that I was an Alpha.
“Move,” the one boy said as he looked at Slade.
“Oh, I’m sorry, is this your seat?” Slade asked him.
“Yes, so move,” the boy said.
“No, I think I’ll stay,” Slade said and leaned back in the chair.
“Come on, Rick,” another boy said and he glared at us as they made two boys move from the back row on the other side of the class.
Slade’s head snapped up as another girl walked into the classroom and she sat down at the desk right in front of him. Rick and his friends were giving her looks, motioning her to move, but she just shrugged her shoulders as the teacher walked in and started his lecture.
“You’re late again, Miss Charles,” the teacher who introduced himself as Mr. Gowen said and I looked up.
Her hair covered her face as she looked down and I could see that she was around five foot five inches and almost too skinny. She was ten minutes late for class as she walked towards the back and sat down next to the girl Slade had been staring at since class started.