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CHAPTER FIFTEEN: HOLY GROUND
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SAM ULEY'S HOUSE WAS surprisingly nice, especially when considering the owner was the alpha of a pack of teenage boys who shape-shifted into wolves. Maggie wasn't sure what she'd been expecting, she just knew a tiny but cosy-looking beachside cottage wasn't it.
A cave in the middle of the woods? Maybe... A normal suburban house that looked like something out of a rom-com? Definitely not...
Bella Swan's truck rumbled to a stop in the dirt driveway, the engine popping once before silence ensued. Maggie was sitting in the bed of the truck with an antsy Jared Cameron, her eyes averted stubbornly towards the trees while Jared's own gaze burned holes into the side of her head. Inside the truck, Embry was stuck behind the wheel, with a stunned Bella Swan taking up the passenger seat. She poked her head through the open window as Embry hopped out of the truck and helped Maggie down from the back of the vehicle. Desperately, she met the other girl's gaze, but Maggie's face remained blank even then.
"Hey, I think we should go back and see if Jacob's okay," she said, her worry evident in the harsh set of her brows.
Jared scoffed, retorting, "I hope Paul sinks some teeth in him. Serves him right."
"No way," Embry was quick to disagree. "Jacob's a natural. You see him phase on the fly? I got five that Paul doesn't touch him."
"What about you, Maggie? Who you got money on?"
It took a moment for the question to sink in. Upon finally meeting Jared's amused stare, Maggie let out a sigh, caught somewhere between relief that at last she knew she wasn't crazy, and also a deep-seeded fear that she wasn't crazy and the world was really such a dark and dangerous place.
"Paul."
In the end, she decided to save her existential crisis for later, when she could confront the boy in question.
Jared snickered at her answer, like he knew something she didn't -- which, to be fair, he probably did. "I'm not surprised you chose him."
"Bit bias of you, really," Embry added with a smirk.
The two had begun to make their way down the drive and towards the porch (with Maggie hesitantly following) when they seemingly remembered the other girl who was with them, still sitting in her truck like she'd forgotten how to move.
"Come on in, Bella," Embry called out as Jared made a sound of impatience. "We won't bite."
Jared rolled his eyes then, unable to hold it in any longer. "Speak for yourself."
With that, he disappeared inside, Maggie just a step behind him. Embry had hung back to speak to Bella, but nudged past Maggie a second later to eagerly race towards where Emily Young stood with a platter of muffins. Both he and Jared snatched one up before making themselves comfortable at the table, Emily laughing at them with a fond smile, having not yet noticed the two unfamiliar girls waiting in her doorway.
