Wolf Broken (Wolfish 2)

I get one text and that girl gets a night of inherent and carnal running through the woods with the three guys that are supposed to be in love with me. Me. Not her. I start to lose my grip over my emotions, my thoughts spinning wildly out of control until I feel myself shaking under the sheets.

I want to be one of them so badly.

The fact that I can’t is a painful tease.

I don’t dream at all. My sleep is just as empty as my day was without them, and I’m not sure which is worse—being tormented by the thoughts of what they could be out there doing, or being tormented by the nothingness of not being part of it.

When the boys aren’t at school again the following day, I’m literally close to the point of boiling over. I hear some of the kids that I don’t even know whisper in the hallway when they see me walk past.

Apparently Rory, Marlowe, and Kaleb haven’t entirely disappeared … because they were spotted last night.

With her.

More exactly … and this I learn from a mousy-haired girl with a skirt way too short for the size of her ass … they were seen with a gorgeous girl from out of town. A girl with long legs, dark hair, and little do my classmates know it, more shared DNA with the boys I love than anyone else here. Including me.

It hurts all the more since before now, I’ve never spoken to this short-skirted girl in my life.

This is what really happens in small towns.

I know they’re just rumors spread out of boredom, but I don’t plan on sticking around long enough to see the look of pity on Jess or Aimee’s faces. I won’t give Jess the satisfaction of being right.

Not until I know for sure whether or not she actually is.

I don’t expect anyone here to understand my relationship with Kaleb, Rory, and Marlowe. I already know it isn’t exactly normal to be in love with three guys at once, but then again, the boys themselves aren’t normal. If anyone knew what they really were, a love trifecta would probably seem like the most normal thing about all of it.

Regardless, I’ve had enough. Between the non-responsiveness to my texts, the sound of increasingly more wolves howling in the woods at night the past couple of nights, and now the rumors of this girl hanging out with them; I’m done with waiting.

I ignore the rest of the whispers in the hall as I gather my things and walk straight down the hallway and out the front doors of the school.

First period hasn’t even started yet but I couldn’t care less.

Let them call my mom. If she even bothers to answer, I’d like to see her try to talk to me about where I’ve been.

Just let her try.

I drop my bookbag on the front porch of the cabin as I pass it, but I don’t head inside. I won’t lose my nerve. I won’t convince myself to wait, to give the boys a chance to explain themselves. They’ve already had that chance.

I thought they were finished leaving me in the dark. I guess I was wrong.

I continue to storm right up the hill toward the mansion. Of course, I’m nervous about what I’ll find once I get there, but I don’t care.

I have to know what’s going on.

When I get there, I bang on the door a little too loudly. I only realize this when Lydia opens the door and I feel a sudden rush of nerves at the way she smiles at me.

Innocent. Inviting.

The rage in me wanes for a moment. Maybe I’m being rash after all.

I stand on the doorstep awkwardly, not sure what to say. It feels like the first time I came to the house, a guest on Romulus’ hundred and fourth birthday.

That was the day I was first told I could never be with the boys. And it’s that memory that gives me the courage to ask to come inside.

“Of course,” Lydia says, one of her famous smiles spreading across her face as she pulls the door open further. “I was surprised we didn’t see you back sooner.”

“That so?”

Nothing quite like that to make my temper flare again.