Book 8 Part 14

Book 8 Part 14
I turned into the school parking lot and saw Dani as she sat on the steps in front of the closed doors. She looked up when she saw the Jeep and I got the idea that she didn’t really want to be here. She stood up when she saw me climb out and walked over to me. I smiled at her but she was looking down again.

“Hi,” I said and opened the door for her.

“Hi,” she said and closed the door.

She kept looking out of the window as I drove out of town and her eyes widened slightly as I pulled into the garage. All three bikes were still there and another car was parked in the garage as well. I assumed it was Harper’s car.

“Thank you for picking me up,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” I said to her. “Why weren’t you in school?”

“I was sick,” she lied to me and I wondered why.

“Okay,” I said and kept staring at her.

“I think we should go inside,” she said and opened her door.

I heard them laughing as I opened the front door and let Dani walk in first. She stood around awkwardly in the doorway as Leon tackled Slade off the couch and Harper lifted her legs as they both fell on the floor.

“Guys!” I yelled and they both looked up.

“Oh, hi, sorry, Leon’s getting his panties in a twist,” Slade said and Leon punched his shoulder.

“Hi,” Dani said shyly as Leon stood up and smiled at her.

“I was not getting my panties in a twist,” he said as he glared at Slade.

“Which brings me back to my original point of you wearing panties,” Slade said as Leon grabbed him again.

“We can work at the dining room table,” I said with a laugh and felt an electric shock as I touched her back and quickly pulled my hand away.

‘Do you smell that?’ Blaise asked me as we sat down at the table.

‘Smell what?’ I asked him.

‘You should probably sniff her up close, your nose sucks human,’ he said and rolled his eyes at me.

‘I’m not sniffing her,’ I said to him.

‘Okay I’m just going to tell you because I can’t take it anymore. She’s not human, idiot, she’s like us but weak,’ Blaise said.

‘Don’t be a moron, if she were a wolf I’d smell it no matter how weak,’ I said to him.

‘You do realize that I feel the imprinting just as much as you do,’ he said.

‘I don’t think we imprinted, it’s impossible,’ I said to him.

‘Keep telling yourself that, moron, you felt it as much as I did, even Onyx smelled it on us,’ he said and I blocked him after that because he was right. I could feel it even now, it was stronger because she was sitting so close to me.

Why was I fighting against it? Imprinting was one of the most special things that happened in our lives. It was magical and made you stronger. I didn’t understand why I didn’t want to be bonded to her.

“So, is Dani your girlfriend now?” Slade asked as he looked at us.

“What?” Dani asked with wide eyes.

“Is Harper yours?” I asked him.

“I asked you first,” Slade said and laughed.

“What are you? Twelve?” I asked him.

“Answer the question,” he said and even Leon was watching me.

“No,” Dani and I said at the same time.

“Uh huh,” Slade said and opened his book.

“Slade, Harper’s waiting for your answer,” I said and laughed as Harper played along and looked at him questioningly.

“I guess so,” he said.

“You didn’t even ask me,” Harper said to him.

“Fine, are you?” Slade asked her.

“Am I what?” Harper asked him back.

“Geez, I’m not going down on one knee here,” Slade said.

“You’re not proposing, idiot,” Leon said and I laughed.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” Slade asked her.

“No,” she answered.

“Seriously?” Slade asked and glared at Leon as he laughed.

“Ask me like you mean it,” she said and I laughed.

“I love you, Harper,” Leon said as he laughed at Slade.

“Back off, pavement special,” Slade almost growled and Dani just kept looking at them.

“I guess you don’t mean it if you can’t ask me properly,” Harper said with a sigh.

“I will if you come with me to my room,” Slade said.

“Not a chance!” Harper said.

“Did you just talk yourself out of a girlfriend?” Leon asked him.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Slade said as he looked at her and she finally gave in and smiled at him.

“Congratulations, you two,” Sam said as she stood up from the table.

“Now it’s just Leon that needs a better half,” Slade said and Dani’s eyes widened.

“Uhm… no we’re not anything,” she said as she blushed and looked away from me quickly.

“We’ll see,” Slade said with a smile.

Sam made snacks and sandwiches and for the next four hours we worked on our project of recreating the eruption of Mount Vesuvius on Pompeii. Slade and Harper made the volcano while Dani and I focused on the town.

“We should do an early dinner, maybe grill some steaks out by the pool,” Sam said as we took a break and I opened the sliding doors leading to the patio outside.

“Don’t you have a date tonight?” Leon asked her.

“He canceled,” Sam said and walked to the kitchen.

“I think we did a lot today, we still have three more weeks to complete this project,” Slade said as he looked at Leon standing by the edge of the pool.

“Don’t you do it!” Leon warned him and started backing away. They chased each other around the pool for ten minutes before Slade turned and grabbed Harper and jumped in the pool with her.

“You got my hair wet!” Harper squealed and splashed him with water.

“Where are your parents?” Dani asked me suddenly as we sat at the table and watched Slade and Harper in the pool. Leon took his shirt off and jumped in too.

“They live in Scotland and we live here,” I said to her.

“Why?” she asked me.

“I got emancipated,” I said quickly.

“So you all hang out here every weekend?” she asked me.

“We all live here,” I told her.

“Even Leon?” she asked.

“Sam’s sort of like our big sister and Leon, well Leon’s a different story,” I said to her.

‘Take a whiff, human, the wind’s changing,’ Blaise said in my head again.

Blaise was right, the wind changed and her hair blew around her face and I closed my eyes as I concentrated on her scent. I smelled it and Blaise was calling me a moron again but I didn’t care because now I was angry. Angrier than I had been last night when Kai appeared.

“You better start explaining yourself!” I said to Dani angrily. I was gripping the chair’s armrests and I knew if I kept it up that I’d end up breaking it.

“What’s going on?” Slade asked me. I hadn’t noticed that they had gotten out of the pool and were standing on the patio next to us.

“Dani’s like us,” I said and her head snapped up and I saw fear in her eyes.

“You’re wolves?” she asked suddenly and got up as she backed away from us.

“She’s a wolf?” Slade asked as he turned towards her.

“She reeks of wolfsbane and oleander,” I said.