All Chapters of Embraced By The Pack: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

I looked at him. He looked at me. The house was clean for the most part, but I had a shitload of studying to do... and I still wasn't feeling like myself I bit my lip. "I've got to study." Making up all my missed schoolwork was going to be a nightmare. "Want to go to the gas station to buy an energy drink with me?" I only asked because I doubted I'd be able to walk away from him without the wolf in me taking charge. There was disapproval in his stare. "Those are terrible for you." "Well, they're great for my grades." Honestly, they were more expensive than I could afford, but I couldn’t afford to drink caffeine either. It would affect me too much. Jesse strode to the kitchen. "How about I just make you a pot of coffee?" I made a face. "I've never gotten into drinking that stuff." "Come here." He gestured me toward him. I lifted an eyebrow. "Come on. Unlike my wolf, I don't bite." My fingers went to my hip. I hadn't even thought about looking at the scar there even when I was in t

When we got home, I set up my computer at the kitchen table so Jesse could cook. He volunteered, so I wasn't shooting him down. I felt a bit bad about turning down his request to eat with his buddies, so I vowed to myself that we'd go the next night. I powered through the first exam while Jesse cooked. All three were due at midnight, which didn't give me a lot of time. We ate between tests, and then I jumped into the second one. Jesse grabbed his computer and sat next to me. Not close enough for the proctoring program to pick him up on the camera, but close enough that our legs brushed every time one of us moved. I *may* have moved more than I needed to. When the third test was done, I rubbed my eyes. Jesse set another massive plate of food in front of me. "You're trying to fatten me up," I accused, though my stomach was growling silently. He lifted an eyebrow. "You're a werewolf, Tea. That's not genetically possible anymore. As you eat more, your muscles will fill out and your

With a dramatic sigh, I slid under the blankets and lowered myself to my back on the mattress. There was a good foot of space between Jesse and me something I didn't particularly like but did feel was necessary. I wasn't going to be the kidnapped, mail-ordered, Stockholm-Syndromed bride, after all. "Close your eyes," Jesse instructed. I opened my mouth to argue. "Tea, close your mouth and shut your eyes. You know I'm not going to grab your tits or anything." Did I know that? Yeah, I knew that. He'd been a perfect gentleman, despite his body's obvious reaction to me. My eyes closed. "Where do you see yourself in ten years?" he asked. "Working in a hospital. Living next door to my mom. Buying her the shoes she stares at in the store window and taking her out to eat; shit she never could afford when I was a kid because kids are so expensive," I answered automatically. "What else?" he asked. I opened my eyes, shooting him a frown. "What do you mean, what else?" "What else do you

I strode away and heard footsteps as Jesse followed me. He was silent for the most part, but there was no denying his presence. My mind churned as I struggled to come up with a plan as to what I was going to do next. What was there to do next? I was stuck living at Jesse's house and was the host to a practically-parasitic wolf who could snatch my body any time she wanted. I was constantly starving as I tried to adapt physically to the wolf within me but didn’t have the money to pay for the food I’d need to keep adapting without Jesse. Maybe if I could figure out how to control my wolf, I could get away from Jesse after the mating shit was over. Maybe I could learn how to be a lone wolf or something. Jesse's mom had said it wasn't possible, that our wolves would constantly seek each other out, but why would I trust her? She was as much a monster as the rest of them. The rest of us. We ran into the animal control guys as we exited the forest. Jesse stepped up to my side, his fing

Our conversation replayed in my mind on the way back to Moon Ridge. Ford and Jesse followed close behind in Ford's sports car, but I'd figured they would and it didn't distract me. The words that caught my mind were my own. I'd told Ebony, "I'm happy where I am." That was the phrase that seemed to play on repeat in my mind. I'm happy where I am. I considered it. The words had come out automatically; I hadn't thought of them as a lie. And if they weren't a lie, were they the truth? Was I happier in Moon Ridge than I'd been when I lived in the dorms? I’d been so caught up on being trapped and abducted and whatnot that I hadn’t thought about that. Thinking back to my life, I remembered the simplicity of going to school, studying, working at the sandwich shop, and then repeating it all. I'd only chatted with Ebony a little every day, and I had no other close friends other than my mom. That, compared to a life where I did everything with Jesse, had someone to verbally spar with all the