Rightfully Hers

XI

JADA

"Is everything packed?" Dante peered his head around the trunk of the large van and sent Julian a thumbs up. His bright smile was even brighter today, it almost matched the sun that was finally out.

I'd spent two weeks in Hawaii, and it had rained every single day. This morning I had prepared for the regular sunken Saturday, but was woken up by the bright rays of the sun through my open curtains. I could almost taste the utter joy that circulated around the pack house. They all greatly appreciated the rare hot days, that much was obvious.

When I say hot, I mean hot. The weather was usually relatively warm, around 77 degrees give or take. Today, I'd taken one glance at the weather app on my phone, and almost shrieked in excitement. 95 degrees, and it wasn't even ten in the morning yet.

Julian had slept in my room the night before, and while we were getting dressed in all the summer clothes I'd brought, loud, consecutive knocks sounded from my door. Julian opened it curiously, only to be met by the familiar Italian man with his award winning smile. "A few of us are going to the beach today, you in?"

Julian had turned to me, I'd nodded, and we had packed immediately. An entire group of people were going together, but I noticed families and groups of friends were all packing their own cars as well. Everyone was ready to take advantage of the beach, and I couldn't blame them.

Dante had volunteered to drive, and that led Cassandra to sit in the passenger seat. She was wearing a floral sundress, but it clung to her slightly, and I could see the fast growing bump. She was -not including the day she spoke to me in the kitchen- always beaming. I'd found out they'd been trying for years to start a family, and despite her dislike for me, I found myself happy for them.

We all climbed into the large vehicle. Although the van itself was big, there were not enough seats for all of us, so Isaac, with his constant enthusiasm, quickly offered to sit on the floor. I was sitting in the chair behind Dante, Julian was in the chair beside me, and Isaac was sitting against the center console between Dante and Cassandra's seats, looking back on us.

Isabelle was sitting behind Julian's seat, Elena was in the middle, and her boyfriend, John, was on her other side. He was a vampire, but he was equally as excited about the sun as everyone else in the car. He wasn't the best at showing it, perhaps even worse than Julian, but his lips rested in a tiny smile, and that was enough for me.

Dante and Julian had grown rather close over the past week and a half, though it was hard not to like Dante. He was a big man, and from a glance looked brooding, but he was almost the most optimistic person in the vehicle, not including my new found friend, Isaac.

I tried not to become attached to him, it was the rules, but it was impossible to dislike him. I'd run into him in the game room playing pool by himself after the run in with Isabelle in the kitchen, and he'd grown on me faster than I'd ever care to admit.

Dante started up the car and Isaac cheered. The sun made his black coffee eyes sparkle, and they always twinkled in the natural light without flaw. His hair blew up slightly with every jerk of the van, and I found myself grinning at him.

He tilted his head at me curiously. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I leaned forward and ruffled his hair. "You're just too cute."

His cheeks flushed scarlet and I cooed at him teasingly, to which he flicked my hand off his head and stuck his tongue out at me. "Whatever, loser!"

The drive down to the beach was quick. It only took ten minutes to drive along the mountain top along the coast and then down towards the shore. When we arrived at the parking lot, there were a handful of cars already parked, and an array of people all along the beach. I noticed the majority of the people in the water were from Isabelle's pack, but there were a few humans a bit farther away as well.