My Wolf

Chapter 14

"Have you seen the new boys?" A voice asks, coming up behind me.

I jump and turn to find myself face to face Anna...and she's smiling at me like we're old friends. After a while I realize I'm staring at her as if she's grown eight heads and started speaking gibberish to a thousand pound gorilla - yes, my analogies are weird, but that's how it feels. I quickly shut my gaping mouth and nod, glancing over at the two in question.

"They're hot, aren't they?" She asks with a smirk.

I nod silently again and reach in my locker to grab my textbook, trying not to stare at them.

"You don't like me much." She says sadly.

I quickly snap my head around to face her, shocked. "What? Who told you that?"

She shrugs. "Isn't it obvious? You don't even talk with me about hot guys...all you do is give me weird looks or nod."

"Oh, it's not that...I'm just shocked is all. I mean, you hang out with Laura and she's already dubbed me as a loser. You should probably keep away from me if you don't want that status as well." I say, shrugging as I shut my locker.

"What if I don't care about them?" She says, leaning with her back against the lockers.

I raise a brow at her and she throws her hands in the air.

"Okay, I admit, it does sound like the dream come true...but it's not really my thing. Besides, I can't date the person I like with them around." She says, shrugging defensively.

"And who's that?" I ask with an amused smirk.

She blushes a bit and looks down at her hands. "Jasynn."

"Well, ask him out! I know for sure he likes you too." I say, playfully shoving her arm before asking if she wants to walk with me to class.

"Really? I kinda thought you two were a thing." She says, falling into step beside me.

I can't help it, the laugh just bursts from within me and I have to stop for a second to get control and ease my laugh-induced aching ribs. With my hands on my knees, I finally stop the last of my chuckles and my breathing returns to normal. When I look up, she's giving me a playful glare.

"Wait, you were serious about the whole Jasynn and me thing?" My eyes widen as she nods. "Oh, well...you don't have to worry about anything there, he's like a brother to me - him and Rhys."

She breaths out a sigh of relief and we continue into the classroom. I lead her over to our group and take my usual seat.

"Hey guys! Anna's joining us for the day, she's pretty cool." I say, taking in her appearance for the first time today.

Right now she's wearing a bright royal blue loose fit crop top, high waisted black shorts to cover most of her toned stomach, and stylish black sandals with little blue beads in assorted places. Yup, we're definitely meant to be friends. Mostly due to the fact that I'm definitely wear the same thing if I weren't already wearing my favorite pair of sheer black tights, cropped jean shorts and one of those loose tanks with the oversized arm holes in a dark grey with my grey combat boots.

"Cool!" Rhys says, clapping his hands excitedly on the top of his desk.

"Um hello." She says, timidly tucking her hair behind her ears.

I smirk at the sight of this and decide take the seat behind Jasynn to make Anna use mine. Think of it as my version of playing matchmaker.

"Yes, yes...welcome back to a new day. Always a pleasure to see all your ungrateful faces every day. And I certainly appreciated the birthday present someone - not going to say who - left on my desk! Thank you so much for whoever did that for me." Coach says, disdain dripping from his voice before he mutters, "And when I find who did it, they will get the bill and detention."

Seriously, for someone who hates kids so much, how is he still a teacher? On the other hand, why is he a teacher in the first place? He clearly hates his job.

"Oh, welcome back mister Tinneson. It's great to have you return. No seriously, the team sucks without you." Coach says - now it makes sense, he just likes sports.

"No problem sir." New guy says, making me look up.

My breath catches at the sight of him - he's actually kind of beautiful. His wavy blond locks curl at his ears and it's surprising he doesn't look younger this way - it somehow makes him look extremely manly. His ocean blue eyes threaten to take me in and drown me in their depths. He's also tall...not taller than my brother, but a good four inches taller than me - and I'm 5'8". His tanned, toned arms flex slightly as he pulls his backpack further up onto his shoulder.

"Ian!" A girl squeals from behind him.

He tosses his bag onto the closest desk and turns toward the door, scooping someone into his arms and spinning around. "Hey there."

I sigh when I notice it's Laura - ugh, of course he'd be dating her. Figures...oh well, time to worry about the important things - such as figuring out the deal behind this beast. Of course, I haven't found anything pointing to it since the attack. Why is that?

I rub my temples at the forming headache and lay my head down on my arms, suddenly tired.

Just think, in a little over two months you'll be able to find your mate...my wolf tells me. I sigh and nod to her - sadly I don't think I really want that anymore. When my wolf starts yelling at me for being stupid for not wanting to find my mate I tune her out. Getting her angry and riled up is not an option right now - not with all these people around. She's dangerous when I'm not in control, has more power than most wolves can hold over their human side.

"Hey, you okay?" Anna asks quietly from her seat.

I nod my head and rest my chin on my fists. "Yeah, just tired all of a sudden."

"Whew! I was worried for a minute, don't need you getting sick." She says, wiping imaginary sweat off her forehead.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about her getting sick. It's imp..." Rhys says, getting cut off by Jasynn clapping his hand over Rhys's mouth.

"What does that mean?" She asks, glancing over at me.

I glare over at Rhys. "It just means I have a really great immune system - haven't been sick since I was too small to remember."

____________________________________________________________________________

Hey guys, Anna's to the side