The Pack (The Pack 1)

Dad was distracted as he drove me to school and I was grateful. Conversation would have been difficult since my thoughts churned, unwillingly consumed by the mystery of the Pack. I wondered if they would be waiting. If Dominic would shrug off the ‘preferential’ treatment warning or send Caleb. Most likely, they’d send Anna, I decided. She was the least intimidating and made a great mole.

“I’m going to get you a phone today,” Dad said, interrupting my thoughts. “I meant to yesterday, but it took longer than I expected at the lawyer’s office. You need a phone though.” He shook his head in distress. “I still can’t believe your mom would take your phone like that. It’s a matter of safety. What if she wanted to get in touch with you?”

I didn’t have an answer for him, at least not one he’d believe. Dad had blinders where Mom was concerned and it didn’t matter how often she’d abused him, he still believed the best of her. I could only hope he’d wise up eventually.

“I don’t know, Dad. She was upset,” I finally offered.

“Yeah, I guess so. It would break my heart to see you leave,” Dad concluded, patting my hand. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was more likely she had been infuriated I’d left, choosing him over her, an action she’d never once considered I’d do.

“Well, you’ve got a few months before that happens,” I joked, trying to lighten the suddenly somber mood. “You can be like all the other dads crying as they drop their kids off at college. Maybe they have a support group.”

“Eh, maybe. We’ll worry about that when it happens.”

I shook my head at his classic response. Dad didn’t worry about anything until he had too. Probably one of the reasons he’d been blindsided by the divorce.

“I love you, Dad,” I said affectionately, glad I’d made the decision to come, even with the weirdness around here. I glanced out the window to see Anna and a few others hanging around the steps to the school, no doubt waiting for me to arrive. “You picking me up today?” I mock frowned at him. “Walking home from school is not going to become a habit is it?”

Dad chuckled as he came to a stop at the bottom of the steps. “I thought you were used to walking?” He teased and my frown deepened. “Not quite what you’re used to?” I shook my head, one hand wrapping around my arm protectively. This place was nothing like I was used to. “No worries, Bunny. I’ll be here with bells on.”

I gave him a dry stare.

“You can leave the bells at home, and it’s Jess!”

“Jess, of course.” He smiled and I rolled my eyes at his attempt to humor me. “Have a good day at school.”

I hopped out of the car, snagging my heavy ass backpack as I went. My first stop was going to be my locker so I could unload some of my books. I wrestled the straps on my shoulder as I steeled myself to walk past Anna.

“Hey!” Her soft voice was almost lost in the crowd and I felt my steps falter for a half of a second. Giving her the cold shoulder felt wrong. I shoved the feeling aside, not glancing over as I heard, “Jess?”

I practically ran up the steps, wheezing from the weight of my backpack only to slam to a stop at the sight of Caleb. His disappointed stare told me he’d seen me ignore Anna and the tiny wrinkle above his eyes was enough to flood me with guilt. Caleb was a good guy, and Anna had been nothing but kind to me and it wasn’t right how I was treating them.

I lowered my eyes and shoved past him, not stopping until I’d reached my locker. I rested my head on the locker door for a second before spinning the combination. I shuffled the books around in the narrow space, trying to make them fit as I ignored the guilt churning inside of me.

“I said I was sorry,” he rumbled in lieu of an actual greeting, his immense size shielding me from view. “You ignored Anna? And Caleb?”

“Hello to you too,” I muttered under my breath, or what I thought was under my breath.

“Hello,” he replied, sarcasm thick in his voice.

I growled impotently, feeling him against my back and knew I wasn’t going anywhere till he’d said his piece. The helpless feeling that accompanied that knowledge had me going on the offense.

“Do you have some weird telepathy going on? Is that what makes you different? Because there’s no way you already know what happened outside two minutes ago.”

“Ever heard of text messages? Caleb types faster than most girls,” Dominic answered instantly and as much sense as it made, it felt like an automatic response, like this wasn’t the first time he had to defend himself against knowing impossible information.