Chapter Sixteen - Long Way Around

“Are you going to say anything Lia? We’ve still got a half hour left to drive.” Lia ignored David’s question and leaned forward to turn up the radio. No. She was NOT going to have a conversation or even make small talk. She sat stiffly in the cab of Jake’s truck, wedged in between Jake and David, squeezing herself even tighter than necessary as she tried not to brush up against either man at all. Annoyingly, Jake wasn’t taking the hint and seemed to be spreading himself out to brush up against her every chance he got. The tingly feeling on her skin and the stupid buzzing noise in her head were not helping her mood.

A Department of Natural Resources van was following behind them filled with what Jake insisted were his ten best warriors. It was the only way he would agree to let her go to her own home to collect some of her things. He’d only agreed to the trip at all when she’d yelled at him over breakfast that she was not his prisoner and he had no right to keep her there against her will. The omegas serving her food had been so shocked he’d stumbled and dropped her eggs on the floor. Jake had left the room immediately after that, and nobody had spoken another word for the rest of the meal, or at least not until after she’d left.

A few hours later David had come to her room and told her about this arrangement. She was still annoyed that everyone felt she needed an armed escort and wouldn’t be allowed in her home alone, but at least they were letting her go. Okay, so the last time she’d been there she’d been poisoned, but they said they’d checked for the poison and the only wolfsbane in the house was in the chest at the back door, exactly where it was supposed to be. She still had no idea how it had gotten into the attic. Maybe Gran would know when she woke up...if she woke up. The more time passed the less likely that seemed.

Jake shifted so that his thigh rested against hers and the buzz in her head suddenly sounded more like a kitten’s purr. It must be her wolf that was making the purring noise in her head. Could wolves purr? Her inner wolf sure seemed to. It made a buzzing noise any time Jake got near her, and now that he was touching her it was a little softer, almost pleasant, but not quite. Was it because everyone had told her he was her mate? What if she still couldn’t scent anything different after her birthday? Would her wolf accept that or would she keep crushing on him just because he’s hot and interested in her? Ellie and Elsie were sure this chosen soul mate thing was a million times better than dating to find your own partner, but Lia wasn’t so sure. What if the moon goddess had chosen wrong? She hadn’t, after all, seen much of her in the last eighteen years. Not like the other werewolves who went out at night on purpose to see the goddess as often as they could and prayed to her for a good match. What if the moon goddess had actually decided to punish her for not worshiping the moon as werewolves are supposed to? The constant purring noise was making her more angry and edgy rather than calming her the way a cat’s purr was said to do. Was that normal? Should she be this irritated every time her mate was around? Did other werewolves like this sound too? Or maybe it changed once she’d been in her wolf form?

“Who’s your favourite group?” Jake asked over the radio. She ignored him. “When we get your phone maybe you can connect to the truck speakers and we can listen to some of your music instead of the radio.” Not going to happen, she thought to herself. She’d be sure to remember her earbuds. It would be easier to tune him out that way. If they even let her touch her phone. David was supposed to look at it before her, and she knew that he was planning to erase all her contacts and social media before letting her have the device. She’d overheard them talking. Who did they think they were, telling her it would be best not to contact her friends? It had seemed to take them totally by surprise last night when she hadn’t been at all happy with the plans David and Jake had set into motion. She tried to shrink up smaller, crossing her arms and staring down at her knees. Jake reached in front of her and turned the volume down.

“So I hear you’re a pretty good student. What are your favourite subjects?” She kept her eyes on her knees, pretending she hadn’t heard. “Any plans for after graduation?” She flinched away from him. If she’d learned anything yesterday, it was that he considered her plans for the future a thing of the past. If he was really her mate, would her dreams even matter? Would she even be given any say at all? When she didn’t answer, Jake continued in a one-sided conversation. “I left Nova Scotia for a bit and got my degree from UNB, but there are plenty of great universities right near pack land. If your marks are as good as Ellie boasts then it’s just a matter of choosing one with the program you want and sending in your application.” Was he saying she could only go to university if she could still live on pack land while she studied? She’d be a prisoner there then every bit as much as she was now. Was he going to decide everything for her? Who was she kidding, he already did.

He’d had David withdraw her from her high school, without asking or even telling her, and enrolled her in the one where all the students were werewolves. (Selene had David listed as her next of kin, and as she was not yet eighteen, he could do that.) Neither of them had even cared when she told him she didn’t want to change schools. It was done, they said, and she’d soon see it was for the best.

Apparently, as the future Luna, she should go to school with the other werewolves from the pack and get to know them. She should be surrounding herself with werewolves and learning the culture as quickly as she could. It was just like a foreign language they insisted, immersion was the fastest way to learn. They were certain that in a couple of weeks, once she turned eighteen, she’d understand that they were right and be glad they had gotten her started there from the first of the semester.

She refused to believe this mating call to one strange werewolf would be stronger than eighteen years of friendship with everyone else she knew.

The idea of being a werewolf had seemed interesting at first, but she’d soon realized that it just meant she had no life of her own. She didn’t want to be immersed in a group of strangers with fangs and claws. She wanted to finish the classes she was in, say goodbye to her favourite teachers at the end of the year and graduate with her friends. She thought of the plans she and her friends had for prom and ground her teeth at the thought of not being there with them for the party. Nobody seemed to be on her side though. Even Ellie and Elsie wanted her to leave her old life and move into the pack house right away. Not that they were volunteering to join her! No. They would graduate at her old school, with all their friends whom she wasn’t even allowed to talk to anymore and finish the year off just the way they’d been planning on forever. It wasn’t fair.

Everyone was so certain that she would be mated in a couple of weeks and that she’d then be perfectly happy where she was. They insisted it just made sense to get to know the pack members and learn about werewolves before she was Luna. Tears filled her eyes at the thought of never being in her little cottage with Gran again. She blinked them back, but couldn’t keep the sound of them from her voice when she said, “I want a window seat on the way back, you guys take up too much room. I feel caged in.” Both of the large men shifted as much as they could towards their respective doors, giving her just a hair more room.