Wolf Girl

“How do you feel?” Sage asked me as she appraised the brand-new deep blue gown Sawyer had sent over for me.

“Nervous as hell.” I gulped, clutching her hand as our limo driver drove us to the lakeside country club where Sawyer was going to tell the entire selection of girls and their parents that he’d chosen me early.

I’d spent every night this week at Sawyer’s, and the mind talking thing was coming in really handy.

‘I feel like I’m going to puke,’ I told him as the limo pulled up to the country club entrance.

‘Not too late to back out,’ he jived playfully in my head.

‘I mean, I’ve only known you a few months and we are talking about marriage here. This is forever.’

‘I was kidding.’ His voice in my head was unsure. ‘Are you really having second thoughts?’

I laughed and Sage rolled her eyes, fully sick of the imprinting talking thing by now.

‘No, I’m fucking with you. I can’t wait to be your wifey. Hashtag True Mates.’

I could feel relief rush through him. ‘I mean, I know we’re young, and we can totally wait a few years to have kids—’

‘Sawyer, I want to be your wife,’ I assured him. He hadn’t technically asked yet, and there was no bling on my finger, but I gathered that this had to happen first before that could. There seemed to be a protocol with all of these events and I’m sure it was in the bylaws if I took the time to read them. On my to-do list. Really.

The limo came to a stop and the door opened. Sawyer was standing there with his arm out. “Good, because I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”

I grinned, stepping out and then leaning forward to kiss him. He pulled back and appraised me. “Damn, woman.”

“I know I look amazing.” Sage popped her head up beside me and did a twirl.

Sawyer grinned at her and nodded. “That you do, cousin, but I was speaking about my future wife.”

Sage grinned and looked at me. “See. Told you he calls you that.”

I’d never seen Sawyer look happier. There was a lightness to him. His brokenness was gone and I liked to think I had a small part to play in that.

“Sawyer!” an older woman shrieked and he winced.

It was Meredith’s mom. “Alright, I’ll meet you ladies inside. I … gotta deal with this,” he told us, swooping in to kiss my cheek.

Sage and I linked arms and walked into the building as I peered over my shoulder at Sawyer talking to Meredith and her mother. Meredith lifted onto her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, causing my wolf to growl.

Sage noticed. “It’s nothing. He’ll let her down privately before she can hear it publicly in front of everyone. Sawyer is a gentleman like that.”

I still didn’t like it, and Meredith must not have either, because she shot me a death glare before I could turn back around to face forward.

All thoughts of Meredith were temporarily washed from my mind when we stepped into the space.

“Good evening, ladies,” Roland greeted us. I smiled at Sawyer’s butler, whom I remembered meeting from the boat.

“Hello, Roland, good to see you.”

He gave us both a smile and we entered the room.

“Oh wow,” I breathed, taking in the giant crystal chandelier that hung from the middle of the large ballroom. From that, small white twinkling string lights branched out to the corners of the room dripping down the walls. Each chair was covered in silk satin, and the center of the tables held a stunning floral display. If this was just an announcement, I hated to think of how extravagant the wedding would be. I recognized the other girls, and that not just the top twenty were here but all fifty. It must be customary to invite everyone back once you’d chosen your mate.

“You bitch!” a familiar female called from behind me and I froze.

Turning, I saw a red-faced Meredith coming right for me.

Okay, so letting her down gently clearly hadn’t worked.

Sage stepped in front of me to cut her off. “Go out on the patio. I got this,” Sage told me and put her hands out to Meredith. “Don’t make a scene,” I heard her saying as I spun and beelined it for the balcony.

Shit.

I mean, this was Werewolf Bachelor, but I was hoping for a drama-free night. I really wished I’d had time to chug some champagne or something to take the edge off. The cool evening air blew past me as I stepped out onto the balcony. Taking in a few lungfuls, I tried to calm my nerves.

“There you are,” Sawyer’s voice called from behind me and I spun.

“I’m guessing that didn’t go well?” I nodded inside, indicating to Meredith.

He smiled, ignoring my comment. “I missed you.”

Okay, I just saw him like thirty seconds ago but… “I missed you too.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned down to kiss me as I threw my arms up around his neck. His lips came down on mine in a hard, aggressive way that I didn’t expect. His tongue pried its way into my mouth in a hungry and rushed kiss that wasn’t like him.

“What the fuck!” Sawyer screamed as alarm bells went off in my head.

How can he be screaming while he’s kissing me? He pulled away from me and I looked up into the eyes of a man I’d never seen before.

Light blond ashy hair, hard brown eyes and a chiseled jaw.

My hands went to my mouth as shock ripped through me.

What the fuck was happening? Confusion seeped into me as the brown-eyed dude grinned at me and then looked back at Sawyer. Meredith and Sage stood just behind Sawyer, watching me, both with open mouths.

Fuck.

Sawyer lunged for the guy, but he leapt over the patio railing and took off running, leaving me with my hands over my mouth and my heart beating frantically in my chest.

“Demi,” Sawyer’s voice held so much anger. “Who the fuck was that?” I noticed he was wearing a weird necklace he didn’t have on before. It was a blue pendant on a thick chain, not his style…

My hands shook as I pulled them away from my face. “I dunno … I thought it was … you.”

He scoffed. “You fucking played me!” The hurt in his voice gutted me.

“No I didn’t! I’m … confused. I thought it was you.” My fingers went to my lips again as I tried to think of a logical reason for what just happened. “Maybe I was drugged.”

He frowned, suddenly looking concerned. “Do you feel drugged?”

I shook my head. “No, but—”

“Did anyone give you anything to eat or drink here?” he pressed.

“No.”

“Then why the fuck was some random dude’s tongue just down your throat!” he yelled as people in the room started to gather behind him and stare. This wasn’t like him, he wasn’t mean, not to me, not ever.

Tears lined my eyelids. “I … I don’t know.”

Anger washed over his features, before morphing into pain. “I … trusted you … with everything. Is this why you were having second thoughts on the way over? Oh my God, I feel sick.”

He turned to leave and I clung to his jacket. “Sawyer, wait! I’ll figure out what this was, it must have been magic—”

“No.” He looked back at me with stone cold fury. “This was a mistake! I love you but that doesn’t mean anything.”

He lowered his head to look down at me. ‘I have to look out for my family now and what’s best for them. It doesn’t matter that I love you. The curse only breaks if you love me back. I’m sorry, Demi. I can’t risk their lives on a girl who just made out with some random dude at what was supposed to be our engagement party.’

He jerked out of my grasp and burst through the crowd, going inside. It was like he’d smacked me in the face. Each word slammed into me like hot coals being thrown at my skin.

‘Sawyer, don’t do this. I love you! This was magic or something. I didn’t know what I was doing!’ Desperation took hold of me. ‘What about the imprint? True mates?’

I could feel his anguish through our bond, like a hurricane of emotions slamming into me with gale force winds. ‘I want to believe you but … I can’t. That was clearly Paladin magic and I don’t want anything to do with it.’

Pain ripped open inside of me, fresh and hot as my wolf, and I felt the full brunt of his rejection. When he turned the corner, I caught a glimpse of Meredith. She was waiting for him, all sad and dopey eyed. He pulled her into a hug and my wolf reared to the surface, trying to break out and howl in misery, but I pushed her down. When Meredith looked over his shoulder at me, she was grinning.

This can’t be happening.

“Miss Calloway, I’m here to escort you back to your dorm room,” Eugene said behind me in a cold and unforgiving voice. He’d walked up behind the patio and was waiting on the other side to kick me out of my own engagement party.

Fuck.

Sawyer’s voice filtered out onto the balcony from inside the speakers in the room: “Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming. I’ve called you all here because I’ve made my decision early. I know who I’m meant to be with, who loves me more than anything, who has been by my side for years…”

It was like someone reached down my throat and squeezed my heart.

‘Don’t. She doesn’t love you. Please. This was an accident,’ I warned him. His entire family would die if he married Meredith. That, I was sure of.

His cold blue eyes met my gaze through the glass window, and instead of seeing the anger I expected, I just saw more broken pieces, pieces I broke. Pieces I promised Sage I wouldn’t.

“Meredith Pepper is my future wife and mate.”

The crowd erupted into applause as my heart was ripped out of my throat and a sob escaped me. I’d lost him. Lost the one guy who ever fought for me. The only guy I’d ever really trusted when trust in men was in such short supply.

Without waiting for Eugene, I leapt over the balcony, landing on my feet, and took off running. I couldn’t help the soul crushing howl that tore from my throat as my wolf and I mourned the loss of the love of our life.

My feet pounded against the black asphalt as I ran down the road and back to campus, grateful I’d worn my trusty white Converse. I needed to get out of here, like out of campus, out of Wolf City, out of fucking here. When I made it back to my room ten minutes later, chest heaving, tears streaking down my face, I picked up the camera Sawyer had given me. He’d replaced my broken one from my waterfall accident. Grasping it tightly in my hands, I threw it against the wall, smashing it to pieces as I screamed in agony.

Some of the paintings on the walls rattled and I wondered if it was an earthquake until I looked outside and didn’t see any shaking trees.

It’s me.

I’m going to die. This heartbreak is so painful I might actually die from it.

Running into my bedroom, I shoved a few belongings into a backpack and changed quickly into jeans and my converse shoes before slipping out the open window. How could he not believe me? I know it was crazy, but I’d thought that guy was him. He looked and sounded just like him. It had to be some kind of magic or something, although in all my time with the witches of Delphi, I’d never heard of a spell that powerful. Changing eye color or hair color sure, but … he’d looked just like him. Sounded just like him. It was him. But it wasn’t … and now everything was fucked up.

I ran through the trees that lined the campus, unsure where I wanted to go and hating that I was tethered to Sawyer still through our imprint. I could feel his anger, his hurt, his rightness at choosing Meredith, and it cut into me like glass. Night fell over Sterling Hill Academy as I ran harder, the moon lighting my path. I needed to go home. I needed my mom. I needed some fucking alcohol to numb this pain. The problem was I didn’t even know where the Magic Lands were. I’d been blindfolded on my way in, and my parents never spoke of it, just said they were “nearby.” I could still be in Washington state or Idaho for all I knew. Or another freaking world.

Before I could decide how I would get out of here, a blur stepped in front of me, causing an alarmed gasp to rip from my throat as I skidded to a stop. Something bit my wrists and I whimpered when I realized they were cuffs. A half dozen vampires stood before me, all of them holding guns, right at my chest.

“We need you to come with us, dear.” It was the vampire woman from before, the one who attacked us in Sawyer’s apartment. Her long glossy black hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders. It was in such stark contrast to the ugly look on her face.

My heart beat frantically in my ribcage as my mind tried to calculate what to do. Without my wolf, or my powers, I was pretty useless.

‘Sawyer, there are six vampires at the southeast woods off campus. They’ve got me—’ Pain laced up the cuffs as they sensed my mental talking with Sawyer as magic, and electrocuted me.

‘That’s pretty pathetic,’ Sawyer said in my head, and a tear rolled down my cheek. ‘It’s over, Demi. Just … leave me alone. You’re just like your mother.’

His words crashed into me, ripping what might have been left of my heart into a thousand pieces… And then that fucking necklace flashed into my mind. Meredith. Did she give it to him outside when he spoke to her and her mom? Was he spelled too?

Realizing Sawyer was a lost cause, I turned to run, a scream ripping from my throat, before cutting off mid yell as something cracked the back of my head and everything went black.