The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) (41 page)

“We will,” the woman who had tried to spit on me piped in. The black eye I had given her was already healing to a sickly yellow. Noticing my glance, she flipped a portion of her graying dirty-blonde hair over her eye.

The man sitting beside her rose to his feet. He was built like a highly-muscled bear with salt-and-pepper hair. He tugged his striped dress shirt straight, like he wasn’t used to dressing up. “What Greta means,” he grumbled, “is that
I
will begin.”

I sensed some marital strife there. Abel nodded and gestured for bear-man to begin. I got bored about two minutes into bear-man’s speech. He went on and on about pack laws broken, and punishments doled out. It went much the same with the next group. It didn't seem like Abel was even listening as he sat on the biggest rock in the center of the clearing.

As the third group began their “updates,” Devin came to crouch beside me. He leaned in way too close to me. I started to lean away, but realized he was trying to whisper in my ear. You had to whisper very softly around werewolves. Jason was close enough that with his vampire hearing, he’d probably hear everything that Devin whispered.

I held still as Devin practically kissed my ear, and whispered, “What updates will you present?”

I shrugged in response. We weren’t even officially a pack yet. How were we supposed to have updates.

Devin looked more than a little worried at my response. Apparently this update thing was more important than it seemed. Suddenly the talking had stopped and everyone’s attention was on me.

“Xoe,” Abel prompted. “Updates please?”

When I didn’t move, Devin pinched my leg. I jumped to my feet, sparing him a quick angry glare.

“Um . . . ” I stammered. “No rules broken, no punishments doled out.”

“You killed Nick,” Greta interrupted. “You killed one of us.”

“Actually Greta,” I practically spat her name out. “I didn’t kill him, but even if I did, he had just finished telling me about how he was going to slit my throat and feed me to a demon. Oh, did I mention that he kidnapped me first and held me hostage in a crypt?”

“You’re not even one of us,” Greta countered. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“The woman is observant,” I mocked. “Somebody give her a prize.”

Greta stood and started towards me, face contorted with anger. She managed to avoid bear-man as he made a grab for her. Jason and Chase both moved in front of me, but there was no need.

Faster than my eyes could follow, Abel intercepted Greta and shoved her so hard that she went flying. Her flight was stopped short by a nearby oak tree that made a horrible cracking sound with the force of her impact. She fell to the ground and didn't move.

Bear-man simply rose, walked over, gathered up the crumpled Greta, and disappeared into the trees. Everyone else stood in complete silence.

Abel casually walked back into the center of the clearing. He clapped his hands together and bared his perfect white teeth in a smile that looked more like a snarl. “Updates! Who’s next?”

Devin grinned and patted my shoulder as he stood to go rejoin Abel. The leader of the next group stood and started rattling off small discretions and their accompanying punishments. Jason's nervous energy was giving me goosebumps and Chase looked positively green. It was good to know that I probably wasn't the only one who felt like maybe my stomach was going to force itself in its entirety out of my throat.

W
hen updates finally finished there was food. And good thing, because I was starving. Then again, I was always starving. The more I worked on my powers, the more it upped my metabolism. I was hungry all the friggin’ time.

Apparently during social/food time, we were supposed to disperse from our packs and get to know each other a little better. Jason got led away by Devin. It had been agreed upon earlier that either Chase or Jason would stay with me, so Chase simply refused to leave my side whenever someone tried to draw him or I away from each other.

When we were alone I glared up at him, “I can take care of myself you know.”

“Of course,” Chase conceded. “Let’s get some food.”

“But-” I began to argue. Chase put his arm around my shoulders and turned me to face the food table that had been brought in towards the end of updates.

“Oh fine,” I gave in, seeing the spread of miniature sandwiches, cakes, and all sorts of fancy hors d’oeuvres. I walked out of Chase’s arm and made a beeline for the table, with him catching up quickly behind me.

Chase stayed behind me, almost-touching, the entire time I gathered food. I could feel the line of his body about an inch away from my back.

I turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. “I'm not going to disappear you know.”

He looked a question at me.

“Do you have to stand so close?” I clarified.

Chase had the courtesy to look embarrassed. “Sorry,” he mumbled, and took a small step back.

“Don’t you want anything?” I asked. “We haven't eaten since before our flight.”

“Just throw me a few sandwiches on your plate?” he asked in return.

Without question, I added four more mini-sandwiches to the four I already had. It was lucky that the plates were big, even stacking everything up, all the food I grabbed wouldn’t have fit on a normal size plate. Chase grabbed us each a bottle of water and we headed to the edge of the clearing away from the crowd. Screw being social.

I sat so I could lean my back against a truly massive oak tree. Chase sat cross-legged in front of me, and I placed the food plate on the ground between us.

Chase looked at me like he wanted to say something, but was going to bite his tongue and stay quiet. He started to hum under his breath.

I sighed. “Quit with the dam humming and spit it out.”

Chase smiled ruefully. “You could have been a bit more diplomatic back there.”

“Why should I?” I questioned petulantly. “It’s not like Greta was trying too hard.”

“Greta isn’t trying to establish a werewolf pack,” Chase argued.

I frowned. “I thought you didn’t want me to have a werewolf pack. ‘Needless danger’ you called it.”

Chase frowned back. “I’d rather you not get involved in werewolf affairs, but now that you have, things could go very badly.”

I picked up one of our untouched sandwiches and took a bite. “Elaborate,” I demanded, mouth full of crumbs.

Chase picked up a sandwich, but didn’t eat. “You have a lot of enemies here Xoe. If your petition to form a pack is rejected, you won’t be protected under pack law.”

I dropped my sandwich back on the plate. How had I not thought of that? I'd just strolled on in like nothing could touch me.

I couldn’t think of a proper reply, so I just said, “Oh.”

“Yes Xoe.
Oh
,” Chase went on, his accent emphasizing the
oh
. “You need to start thinking things through a little better.”

“Like the guy who aligned himself with a rag-tag group of supernaturals?” I questioned. “All because you owe my demon dad some type of life debt? I’m sure that was well planned. And coming here? Will your debt ever end?” 

“I don’t owe him a life debt,” Chase replied sharply. “He saved my life. Watching over you is the least I can do.”

“I don’t need you to
watch me
,” I replied sharply. “I have plenty of other people to
watch me
. I don’t even need watching!”

“Yes you do,” Chase grumbled. “If anything happened to you, your dad would-“

“So that’s the only reason you’re still around?” I interrupted. “Because you think my dad would blame you if you left and something happened to me?”

“No!” he shouted in exasperation, drawing a few stares. Lowering his voice, he continued, “You know that’s not the only reason I’m here Xoe.”

I clutched my water bottle, anger and hurt commingling rather than trying to win out over one another. I just stared at him, not sure whether to apologize, or throw my bottle at him.

At that moment, Max came trotting up and plopped down beside me, grabbing a sandwich from our forgotten plate.

“This is actually kind of cool,” Max said, not picking up on the tension. “It’s so weird going from being completely alone, to knowing and getting to know so many other people like me.”

Chase and I both stared at the ground in silence.

“Uh oh,” Max said in a sing-song voice. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing,” Chase mumbled as he stood and dusted himself off.

Max turned to me questioningly.

“Nothing,” I agreed, and grabbed my forgotten sandwich.

Lucy walked up and sat with us as Chase walked away. “What’s his problem?” she asked.

“Nothing,” I repeated.

“Yes, you keep on saying that,” Max observed, “but all signs point to something.”

Lucy frowned. “What did he say to you Xoe?”

I sighed loudly. “Nothing okay?”

I stood to leave . . . on second thought, I crouched back down and grabbed the food plate, shoving my water bottle underneath my arm. “I just need some air,” I announced.

As I walked away I heard Max say, “But we’re outside . . .”

Shaking my head, I continued walking, no destination in mind. Jason would be mad at me for going off alone, but screw it. I could take care of myself. I munched my sandwiches, which I now had way too many of, considering Chase had abandoned his share.

What was with him anyhow? Half the time he was a fun-to-be-around friend, the other half he was all broody. And yes, brooding can be cute, but it can also be very annoying.

All of the sudden Devin appeared at my side, causing me to jump and spill my food everywhere. All of my cute little sandwiches bounced into the dirt. 

“Thanks,” I said, handing him my empty plate as I continued walking.

He took it without hesitation and fell into stride beside me. “You shouldn’t be walking around alone out here Xoe,” he lectured. “Abel wanted me to make sure you don’t get eaten.”

“I have enough people watching over me,” I snapped back. “Trust me.”

“So what’s the deal with you and the other demon?” Devin questioned, ignoring my comment.

I stopped walking mid-stride and gave him a very annoyed look. “There is no deal,” I said sharply. “He works for my dad.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Just curious, no offense meant.”

I nodded and continued walking again.

“So . . . ” he went on. “You’re with the vampire then.”

I sighed. “Yes, I’m with the vampire.”

“Because it looked like-” Devin began, but stopped when he saw my glare.

“Why do you care anyhow?” I asked sharply.

Devin shrugged. I was tired of all of these men shrugging artfully at me. A real answer would be nice for a change.

As if reading my mind, Devin explained, “My place in this little microcosm is held because I know the correct information. I'd be a fool if I didn't continue to gather it.”

I stopped walking to stare at him. “And why, pray tell,” I asked, “is my relationship status important information?”

“For those that don't want to step on your toes,” he began, “knowing who you're with will help them to avoid doing so. This information is even more pertinent to those who would stomp all over your little feet, given the opportunity.”

I glared at him. “So what, you're trying to find out my weaknesses, so you can barter with the information?”

Devin shrugged again. “Or perhaps, I just want to make sure I don't step on your toes.”

I snorted. “You're doing a bang up job there champ. I think I might end up losing a toenail.”

I turned to keep walking, and much to my chagrin, he followed.

“I came out here alone for a reason, you know, because I wanted to be . . . alone,” I said.

“Well since you're so into motives,” he replied. “You can read into mine now, and deduce that I want the rest of your pack to like me too. Therefore I'm looking out for you, since you so carelessly ran away from your bodyguards whilst in a rather hostile environment.”

“You know, you're right,” I countered. “I should go find my bodyguards. I'd much rather be in that hostile environment, than out here walking with you.”

I turned around to walk back in the direction we'd come from, but stopped short at the sight of Jason speeding towards me.

Jason grabbed me into a hug as soon as he reached us, then held me out at arm’s length to give me steady eye-contact. “I could kill Chase,” he explained. “You’re not supposed to be alone.”

“I’m not,” I replied, freeing one of my arms to give Devin a slap on the chest. “I’ve got good ol’ Devin watching over me. Everyone is watching over me.”

Jason crinkled his eyebrows, confused at my anger.

“I’ll leave you two to it,” Devin announced before quickly making his escape.

Jason kept his focus on me, his face still showing signs of confusion. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

I sighed and shook my head. “I really wish people would stop asking me that. I just wanted to go for a walk.”

“It’s too dangerous for you to be alone right now Xoe,” Jason lectured.

“Isn’t it always?” I mumbled as the rest of our group came trotting up to us.

“There’s a dance tonight,” Lucy announced proudly.

“Seriously?” I questioned. “Is this like, junior high summer camp or something?”

Lucy frowned and playfully hit me on the shoulder. “C’mon Xoe, we’re here, we may as well have fun with it.”

“And dancing became fun when?” I asked.

Lucy sighed. “It’s always been fun.” She reached out and grabbed my hand before I could protest. “Let’s go get ready.”

I didn’t have it in me to fight her. Weren’t we already dressed up? Was pack meeting dressed-up somehow different from dance dressed-up? Did I care? Whatever.

I’d had too many realizations/enlightenments today. Chase had a lot that he wasn’t telling me. We were at a werewolf summer camp. People wanted to kill me. Dancing has always been fun.

Most of these things I could believe, but dancing? Surely not.

“I
’m coming, end of story.”

“No you’re not,” I assured.

“You, Xoe, would deny me a dance? I live for this kind of thing.”