Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Still, things softened for me. Shifter kids weren’t as outwardly mean to me anymore. I was more familiar. I didn’t seem as out of place in a crowd. But I did stop going to social events. I just didn’t feel comfortable without Cole Muchmore–Bailey’s boyfriend–having my back. No one would bother me when I was under his protection.
I’m still in my room when I hear Logan’s deep voice in the kitchen. “You’re going to go down to talk to Coach Jamison today,” he tells Wilde. “You better tell him what you’ve done and beg him to let you train with the team.”
“I’m not training with high school students.” Scorn laces Wilde’s retort.
I hear a heavy thud of a body being thrown up against a wall. Even though I know this is normal–that shifters show dominance with physicality because no one can truly be harmed–my heart bangs in my chest. I didn’t grow up this way. I haven’t been around a parent who gets physical.
I very much don’t like it.
“Logan.” Apparently, my mom doesn’t like it, either.
“You will get on that field and train every goddamn day if you’re in Wolf Ridge. And you’ll be taking your sister to school from now on.”
“My sister?”
Oh no. Oh, fates no. This is bad. Awful, even.
I want to run out and say it’s not necessary, but I already know I won’t win the argument. Plus, I’m intimidated by Logan.
“Logan, no. I can take her,” my mom says. “Don’t make it a punishment, or they’ll never get along.”
“He needs to pull his weight around here if he’s going to stay.”
No part of me wants to emerge from the bedroom, but I can’t hide in here forever. I pull open the door and go to the kitchen like there’s not a full-scale war going on. I pull out a bowl and pour myself cereal.
“You need to find a job, stay in football shape, keep up with your classes, and take over driving Rayne. Better yet, teach her how to drive, so she can take that burden off everyone.”
Burden. Ouch.
I knew that’s what I was, but it still hurts to hear it spoken out loud.
I hide my face over the bowl of cereal, keeping my back turned to all of them. Instead of sitting at the table, I stand at the counter and look out the window at the incredible view of the mountains.
“My Jeep is still in Durham,” Wilde mutters.
Logan is silent for a moment. “Leslie, give him the keys to your Subaru,” he says. “We’ll talk more when I get home.”
Now I turn to see what my mom will do.
She pauses a moment, shooting me a worried glance, but she’s too dedicated to making this thing with Logan work out. She leaves the kitchen and returns with the keys to her car.
Fuck.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, they did.
Wilde
For someone so little, Rayne is full of sass. Not with my dad–she’s not stupid. But with me.
When it’s time to go to school, she comes and kicks my shoe. “Let’s go.”
No please. No meekness. I don’t even scent fear on her. She’s in baggy shorts and a loose t-shirt, which I hate. She could look so much better. I’ve seen her body. It’s decent. There’s no need to downplay it the way she does.
Her scent invades my senses. I don’t mind it. It’s infinitely better than the scent of a human, even if she is defective. I actually find it pleasant.
I also don’t mind the attitude. I’d probably feel a smidge of remorse if she were a cowering sheep. I like that she gives it back to me. It solidifies my decision to make her life miserable.
Because at some point, I need everyone in this house to realize what a colossal mistake this blended family thing is. I want Rayne and Leslie to go back to their side of town with the new baby.
Except that doesn’t feel right. That kid will be my sibling. It will be my duty to protect him or her, same as it’s my father’s duty to provide for and protect both the pup and its mother.
Fuck.
If only Rayne wasn’t part of this package.
But I shouldn’t get my shorts in a wad over the runt, though. She’s nothing. A nobody.
Once she’s out of high school, she’ll hopefully move out.
It’s just that my name will forever be linked with hers.
Fates, my dad called her my sister.
As if.
Behind all this giant wall of resentment is the knowledge that I really shouldn’t care about any of it. I should be back at Duke on my football scholarship–the one I will certainly lose now–living my best life.
I’m one of the few who got out of Wolf Ridge. Someone who had the potential of really making something of himself. I could’ve been very rich. NFL scouts were already eyeing me. I was literally groomed for that life.