Pack Challenge

Chapter Ten

TOC

Sara forced her eyes open. At first she wasn’t quite sure where she was. But quickly she realized that it was her bedroom, in her house. With one large arm thrown possessively over her waist.

Tell me I didn’t. But she knew she had. It all came flooding back to her. The club. The bar fight. That bitch Casey. And the best sex she’d ever had in her life.

Well, at least when she lost it, she really lost it.

She looked over her shoulder at Zach. He was out cold, his dark brown hair falling across his face. But she could still see the bruises and cuts from the bar fight.

Sara couldn’t believe that was her last night. She had been completely out of control. Although, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she hadn’t been out of control—at least not in the usual sense. In fact, she’d been completely aware of every move she had made. Almost hyper-aware.

She glanced over at the clock on her night table. She still had a couple of hours before she had to be into work, but she just couldn’t face Zach when he woke up. He would, naturally, think her a big ol’ slut. Probably want to pass her around to his friends. And she couldn’t really blame him. She hadn’t merely thrown herself at the guy. She’d practically tackled him. The thought made her cheeks burn.

She slowly slipped out from under his arm and off the bed. She threw on some clothes she had left lying on the floor and quietly escaped her own house.

Zach knew the minute she was awake. He felt her whole body tense up. She slid out of bed, grabbed some clothes, and was gone.

Part of him wanted to stop her. Grab her fine ass and drag her back to bed; he wasn’t near being done with that body. But he was too busy kicking himself in the ass. She was his. Even if she had no intention of letting him near her again, no other woman would ever get close to him. He wouldn’t let them. He was bound to her for the rest of his life, which didn’t make him happy. Forget that he never wanted this in the first place. Forget that he was convinced she was possibly clinically insane. The bottom line was, she ran. She didn’t kiss him awake or make him breakfast. She didn’t even stop to shower. She woke up, saw Zach lying next to her, and took to the hills. Not a good sign when one was just starting out on a relationship.

Zach turned over with a sigh and looked up at the ceiling. “You are an idiot, Sheridan.”

Sara unlocked Miki’s apartment door with her key. They each had a set of the others keys for safety reasons. Theory was it was for emergencies only. Otherwise, you knocked. But Sara was convinced this was an emergency.

She found Angelina asleep on Miki’s incredibly comfy couch and Miki asleep in her recliner. They didn’t move when she walked in, so she slammed the door shut. Angelina didn’t move, but one eye opened and focused on Sara. Miki, however, flew out of the recliner, the book she still had in her hand raised as a weapon.

Sara looked at her two closest friends, “Well, I’m a whore.”

“Oh, please.” Angelina turned over and closed her eyes again.

Miki looked equally unimpressed. “Not again.” Miki threw her book on the old coffee table. “Give us a break. What the fuck happened last night anyway? We leave you alone for two minutes and you up and disappear on us.”

“We were worried sick,” Angelina added from the couch. Her voice muffled because she had buried her head into the cushions.

“I just went for a walk. Then things spun out of control!” She yelled the last sentence.

“Skelly called last night. He’s unbelievably pissed at you. And he said to tell you that you are going to pay for the repairs.”

Sara didn’t blame the man, she felt like the whole thing was her fault.

“So are you going to tell us what happened or not?” This from muffled-Angelina.

“I need a shower first.”

Miki took a step back, “You haven’t showered? You’re still covered in his DNA, aren’t you?”

Sara started to say something, and then thought better of it. She needed her friends right now. Instead she stalked off to the bathroom, while Miki and Angelina burst out laughing.

“And throw out the soap when you’re done!”

Once she was clean enough for Miki’s standards, she changed into sweats that she had left over at Miki’s and filled her two friends in on the last 16 hours, while they ate bacon and eggs cooked by Angelina. Although she was once again extremely sketchy on the fuck-of-a-lifetime details.

“So basically,” Angelina analyzed, “You were the bone and they were the dogs fighting over it… uh… you.”

“I am really starting to hate your analogies.”

“Whatever. And his cock was huge?”

“So don’t need to hear that.” Miki choked out past a piece of toast.

“Enormous.” Sara held her hands up to give an approximate length.

“Rock on.” Angelina gave the thumbs up and pushed herself off the couch, “I need coffee. Anyone else?”

Both Sara and Miki nodded and Angelina moved off to the tiny kitchen that was right next to the tiny living room.

“Still hungry?” Miki asked quietly as Sara sopped up the last of the egg yolk with her toast. Sara shrugged. She could eat a ton of bacon and never get full. She loved bacon. Miki’s eyes narrowed as she looked at her friend, “Perhaps you’d like a steak? Rare?”

Sara put her plate down on the coffee table. “Uh… no. Why?”

Miki shook her head, “No reason.”

“Okay.” Sara knew that tone. Years and years of experience. “What’s going on?”

“Well, we have a theory.”

“No.” Angelina called from the kitchen. “We do not have a theory. You have a theory.”

“Whatever,” Miki snapped back. “It’s just that I’ve been analyzing the situation. Uh-oh. “And based on your recent body change…”

“Body change?”

“Increased muscle mass, tone, and strength.”

Sara looked down at herself. She had liked the shape of her abs this morning when she was showering.

“And increased senses.”

“Senses?”

“We practically had to leave the apartment to have a discussion you couldn’t hear.”

“You mean when you went into the bedroom? No. I heard you clear as crystal and my feet are not inordinately big.”

“Not if you’re a man.” Angelina called from the kitchen.

“Shut up!”

“Mhhm. Interesting. You could hear us.” Sara could see Miki was clicking off some checklist that was firmly planted in her head.

“Increased aggression.”

“I’m not aggressive.”

“Maybe we should ask Casey about that.” Wow, Miki could be smug. How did she never notice that before?

“She looked at me funny.”

“Uh-huh.” Check. “Increased sexual drive.” Sara opened her mouth to protest that one, but Miki cut her off, “When I asked you how you felt yesterday, your response to me was ‘Horny. Very, very horny.’”

“Oh. Yeah. I did say that, didn’t I?” Check. “And what does all that prove?”

Miki folded her arms in front of her chest. All she needed was the lab coat. “Werewolf.”

Sara burst out laughing. She couldn’t help herself. “Have you lost your mind?”

“I have proof.”

“What proof?”

Miki handed her the book she’d thrown on the coffee table earlier that morning. Sara read the title out loud. “The Truth About Werewolves?”

“Really good book. Factual. It’s all in there.”

“That’s your proof?” Sara threw the book down, “All right No more reading for you.”

Sara went into the kitchen. She grabbed several more pieces of bacon and hopped on to the counter, again using only her legs. Angelina looked at her from the corner of her eye, “That’s new.”

“Cool, huh? Must be my new super powers.”

“You keep joking, stretch. But wait until the next full moon.”

Sara looked at Angelina, “Full moon?”

“Don’t worry.” Angelina pulled coffee mugs out of the cabinet, “You’ve got a good three weeks before that happens.”

“Okay, when your body starts morphing at the full of the moon. Don’t call me.” Miki disappeared into her bathroom.

“We’ve got to get her out of that bookstore.”

“Wouldn’t help.” Angelina pulled milk from the refrigerator and set everything up on the counter beside Sara. They both waited for the coffee like it was elixir from the gods. “Are you still going to work today?”

“Yeah. Why?” Sara knew where this conversation was going.

“Just wondering…” Sara waited for it. She wasn’t disappointed, “…if you’ll be seeing Zach.”

“I don’t know. I doubt it. I don’t know.” Christ, she sounded like an idiot.

Angelina smiled softly, “He loves you, you know.” That wasn’t what Sara expected. Not by a long shot.

She burst out laughing, “Oh, my god. You’re crazier than Miki is.”

“But you know I’m right.” Angelina pulled the glass pot out of the coffee maker and poured two mugs full of the steaming brew. She handed one to Sara.

“Look. He came over, he fucked me. I’m pretty confident that’s the extent of our relationship.”

Angelina shook her head, “He didn’t ‘come over.’ Skelly told us everything. He came there to get you. He was looking for you, he heard that blond guy on the phone with him. And he protected you from that girl Casey. He fought for you, Sara.”

Sara stared down at her mug of coffee. “I can’t believe that right now.” She put the untouched coffee down on the counter and slipped off.

“Why not?”

Sara headed to the front door, snatching up her backpack on the way, “Because when he leaves, it’ll kill me.” She opened the door, but looked back once at her friend, “And you said it yourself. He will leave.”

Sara had gotten down the stairs of the apartment complex when she heard Angelina’s voice from above her. “Sara.” Sara stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to look back at her friend, “You’re right. He’s going to leave. But whoever said he’d leave without you?”

Without waiting for Sara to answer, Angelina turned and went back into Miki’s apartment.