Wolf Bonded (Wolfish 1)

Because instead, Jess just laughs.

“Seriously,” Jess says. “I had this boyfriend once who named his car Hilga and would flip out anytime I tried to get in without taking my shoes off first.”

“I hope you dumped him,” Aimee says as she wraps her lips around the straw sticking out from the top of her soda bottle. “All guys are the same deep down, even the unbelievably gorgeous ones.”

She takes a long pull, her own eyes flickering over to the three pairs of bowed heads across the cafeteria.

Unlike me, the boys seem able to keep their conversations private.

“Maybe their weirdness has something to do with their religion,” Tom says. Up until now, he’s been unusually quiet.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Oh, give it a rest,” Jess says, but no one’s paying her any attention.

Aimee leans her whole body across the table, arms outstretched as she drops her voice conspiratorially.

“I heard they’re Pagans,” she whispers, tossing her hair over her shoulder a moment and glancing over at their table again, this time in a show of dramatics she isn’t trying to hide. “But that’s just the rumor.”

Tom scoffs. “Every rumor has a bit of truth.”

“Says the boy who everyone was convinced was gay until, what was it, last semester?”

Tom’s face goes red.

“That’s different,” he snaps, his eyes flickering over to me, and then just as quickly away. Though not fast enough to go unnoticed. “That wasn’t fair. Go to drama camp once and no one believes you.”

While the rest of the conversation drifts away, my mind keeps turning over what my new friends said about the Gray family. Sure, they’re strange … but Pagans? It sounds more like the kids at school are just stoking a wildfire of theories and half-baked ideas to appease their imaginations.

That’s coming from someone who’s something of an expert in that area herself.

Aside from the bombardment of thoughts in my head, the rest my day turns out uneventful and fades into an equally uneventful night. I use the break to prep myself to Rory again, this time determined to come out sounding like a little less of an idiot. For the sake of the project, of course.

The only problem with that is that Rory isn’t at school the next day.

In fact, none of the boys are.

I ask around a bit, but it turns out no one’s seen any of them in class. Seems like the whole family is absent from school today.

I remember what Jess and the others told me that first day. They’ll be here for a few weeks, and then they’ll be gone again.

Best then if I don’t hold out hope for a quick return.

An unusual cloud settles over me in class over the next few days.

Rory does not return. Neither does Marlowe or Kaleb.

The table where they sat remains empty for a couple days, as if the whole school is holding its breath—waiting to see if this time they come back. I find myself glancing over at Rory’s empty seat in class more often than I should. As much as he seems to hate me, I have to admit I feel his absence now that he’s gone.

He’s left a mark on me. Just as the other two have.

With the boys gone, that unsettled feeling returns.

Everyone around me seems determined to tell me there are no wolves here, but that doesn’t stop me from hearing their howls at night. Especially when I’m home alone for long stretches thanks to the hours at my mom’s new job.

She doesn’t complain, so neither do I.

By Thursday, I have no choice but to start the Civilizations project on my own, and for lack of a better idea, I settle on something that hits close to home.