I was going to a dance! With a boy--with a hot boy! With, dare I say, a man. Wasn’t Ben more or less a man? I mean, he was a senior in high school. He was almost eighteen. He lived without parental supervision. Yes, I thought that counted. I was going to a dance with a man, and I was so excited, I could hardly think straight.
By the time we got home from school that
I felt like a princess when I walked down the stairs, wearing my new dress, my new heels, my new accessories, and Ben was standing at the bottom, looking like a movie star, a corsage box in his hand, staring up at me. It really was a moment out of a movie, I think. Maybe Titanic, when Jack is waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Rose, and he kisses her hand and says he’s always wanted to do that. It was kind of like that--but Ben looked so much hotter than Leo, no offense, and I didn’t feel as if we were standing on a sinking ship. No, I felt like we were getting ready to take off and soar through the air, like two birds in flight.
Brice was standing next to my table, wearing a lavender shirt with a purple tie. I had noticed earlier that Starla’s dress was purple. I had absently wondered if that was the color I’d see if she was part of my pack. Raven’s eyes are violet, so I have a shade of purple already in the river, but the color Starla was wearing was different. It was the sort of purple one associates with royalty. And Brice, standing there looking at me expectantly, wearing a similar shade, looked more like a prince than I had ever seen him look like one before.
I wasn’t sure if I should approach Ben or leave him alone, but the longer he stood there, just looking at me, the expression on his face telling me not only was he mad but he was hurt, I knew I had to say something even if I was uncomfortable with confrontation.His blue eyes were glistening in the dim lights cast by the twinkling white lights the party planning comm
It was a quiet night. The heat of summer was gone, fading into fall, and a soft breeze was blowing. As Ben and I drove home, I didn’t hear a single wolf out in the forest around us, which was unusual. But then… it was early, and a lot of the kids were still at the dance.
The forest was alive in ways I hadn’t heard in a while. I didn’t want to compare tonight to my first time with Sam, my first time period, but it was hard not to as Ben and I walked hand in hand between the trees, the flowers puffing out their fragrant glitter, the fireflies twinkling and leading us on, the soft hum of insects and night birds creating a melody softer and more beautiful than anything I’d heard at the dance. Ben walked confidently beside me, no longer frightened of what was about to happen but as committed to it, as committed to me as ever.
I had no idea what time it was. Nor did I know how long we had been lying there. It seemed like forever and no time at all, all at once, but when I heard the sound of a wolf howling frantically in the distance, I sat up at the same time as Ben. It seemed like a familiar, yet pained, howl, and I knew at once it was Sam.
I took in the scene before me as I ran toward Sam, hoping to get there in time. I saw Ben, too, a blur, rushing to Sam’s side. He was backed against the river, in his wolf form, a circle of dark wolves in front of him.It was the Parker boys. I could tell, even though none of them were facing toward me. Sam was outnumbered eight to one. Now that Ben was also there, i
“Are you all right?” Ben asked me, sliding into the driver’s side of his truck as I buckled my seat belt next to him. He took hold of my hand, his fingers warm against mine.“I will be,” I assured him, swiping at my tears. “I just… wasn’t expecting this. At all.”