Flamingsquirrel5

Chapter Ten "No! Absolutely not!" "Mom, seriously," I groaned, falling backwards onto the couch. "I—" "Don't you 'Mom, seriously,' me, young lady," she snapped, walking around the couch to wag her finger in my face. She's lucky she was my mom, or I might not have resisted the wolfish urge to bite her finger off. "You are not leaving this house." I threw my hands up in the air. "I can't believe you're doing this again!" I yelled back. "Because it worked out so well last time, right?" "This isn't up for discussion, Amber," she said, stamping her foot for emphasis. "You're not going anywhere. Nobody is!" Stifling a yawn, I sat up and glared at her through dark-ringed eyes. I hadn't slept a wink last night. As brave as I was trying to act around my mom, I was just as terrified as she was. Maybe even more so. Still, this whole situation had helped me realize that there was one thing me and my wolf side could agree on wholeheartedly: even if Becky was out prowling the woods around Stark's

Chapter Nine I sat there in the front yard, heedless of the snow melting and soaking into my jeans, as a hurricane of emotions stormed inside my chest. I was scared for Kimberly, scared for my mom, scared even for myself, but also angry at Majestic, Edgar, Victor, Hendricks... and at myself for not being strong enough to handle things. I reflected on what I had been thinking just before Victor showed up, about how strong I had become, and almost laughed. Who was I kidding? Saying I'm stronger now than I used to be is like saying dry toilet paper is stronger than wet toilet paper, and... And now I'm comparing myself to toilet paper. How's that for self-esteem? It felt like a pretty accurate comparison at the moment, though, I thought as I picked myself up from the snow and finally made my way to the door. Amber Pace, Silverblood werewolf, as strong as toilet paper and just about as useful. I paused with my hand an inch from the doorknob, that last thought bringing an unexpectedly

Chapter Eight Out of all the prayers the education gods could have listened to, for some reason they chose to answer my lone plea to go to school the next day. The roads were plowed, the buses were on time, and by a quarter past eight we were handing in the half finished assignments everyone had assumed we would have at least another day to complete. Amidst the choruses of groans and complaints, I was probably the only one who was actually happy to be there. Of course, that happiness only lasted so long as I could distract myself from the literal wiz kid who, by no suspicious means at all, somehow ended up with the exact same class schedule I had. I spent the entire day sitting with my back rigid, adamantly refusing to glance in his direction. That didn't stop Ed from looking at me, of course, and I could feel his prepubescent little eyes crawling all over me so much that I wanted to chuck a dictionary at him during English class. He never came and tried to talk to me, which was a

Chapter Seven I stayed in my room for the rest of the evening, even ignoring my mom's calls to come to dinner when she got home. I could hear Kimberly romping around in the hallway, nails painted, full of sugar, and a hundred times happier than I had ever made her. I briefly considered going to check on her, but decided against it. Her little face would light up like a Christmas tree when I told her she could see her parents again, and... well, I didn't trust myself to keep my mouth shut around her. Even though Stark had ordered me to wait, I was tired of being the bad guy around her. I wanted to be the reason Kimberly was smiling for once. But I couldn't, so I planted myself in the beanbag chair Stark had bought for me and tried to read the chapter my history teacher had given us for homework. The hours drifted by slowly, and the sun had long since sank below the horizon when I finally realized I'd been reading the same paragraph over and over again, and slapped the book shut.

Chapter Six Ed's words echoed infuriatingly in my mind as I got off the bus that afternoon. My comments about going to a stupid Larp had staved of Stacey's questions for the rest of the day, but what the little twerp had said haunted me anyway. Majestic was still watching us just in case Dr. Lacken needed a new pincushion. If I wasn't there when they came, they would take Kimberly instead. Those aren't the kinds of threats you just push to the back of your mind and worry about later. Which was why I was surprised when I found myself doing exactly that. Sure, I was still scared for me and Kimberly. As if Hendricks wasn't enough to worry about, now I had the Terrible Trio to bug me again. Well, I thought as I tramped through the snow towards Stark's cabin, I guess they were the Terrible Two now that Hendricks had thrown Victor under a truck... and then blown that truck up on top of him. Unless Majestic had already replaced him, which wouldn't surprise me. But despite all that, the only

Chapter Five Ed didn't move for a good thirty seconds, and his face slowly turned as pale as Hendricks'. "Oh, hey, Amber," he finally said. "What's up?" He started to sink below the table, and I leaned in closer so that we never broke eye contact while I glared daggers at him. "You heard me," I growled. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought Majestic was done with me!" By now, Ed had slid so low that the back of his head was resting on the seat of his chair. "Well, I, uh," he stammered. The little twerp's eyes were so huge now that I actually started to feel a little bad for scaring him like this— until remembered who he worked for. "Get up here, you idiot!" I snarled, grabbing him by the collar and hauling him upright. With my strength, it was like picking up a doll, and I sat him firmly down in his chair the right way. I took the seat opposite him. "Answer my question." "Did you see the news this morning?" he finally asked. "Your—" "My old pack house got burned down, I know.

Chapter Four Most people would think that two unscheduled months out of school would be awesome, and to be fair, they'd be right. While I wouldn't exactly call my time spent with the Swag Pag fun, what people don't realize is that after all that time going back to school can be freaking exhausting. That's why, after eight hours of sitting, socializing, and learning, I slogged my way back to Stark's cabin, collapsed in bed and slept all night long. When I woke up the next morning, the tension was so thick in the air I almost choked on it. My skin was already crawling when I got out of bed and slipped my house shoes on. Something was very wrong. The wolf part of me could sense the mood of my packmates. While I couldn't exactly read their minds, it was still strong enough for me to feel it all the way on the other side of the house. I found Stark and my mom in the living room with the TV on. They were both sitting on the same couch. Stark was leaning heavily on the armrest, and Mom was

Chapter Three The snow crunched satisfyingly under my boots as I led Kimberly up the hill toward the bus stop. A chilly breeze caressed my face, making my hair feel hot and itchy inside the beanie I had stuffed it inside. "Your bus will get here first," I said, turning around to look at Kimberly, who was dawdling behind me. "You'll probably get back before me too, so Stark or my mom will be here to pick you up, okay?" Silence. "Kimberly," I said, "answer me." "Fine." I frowned, but left her alone. I had thought that going back to school might improve her mood, but it looked like she was determined to prove me wrong. She kept her stony eyes trained on the snow in front of her, pointedly not stepping in my bigger footprints. I tried to think of something to say that would cheer her up, just like I did every time we were together, but nothing came to me. How did you cheer up a little girl who'd lost everything? We arrived at the road where the busses would come, and waited. Stark's cabin

Chapter Two If I fall asleep right now, I'll get five hours and twenty three minutes of sleep before I have to go to get up for school. I pulled the covers up to my chin and fluffed my pillow a little, but my brain was still too wired to let me relax. I stared up at the ceiling, trying to coax myself into falling asleep, but my eyes kept being drawn to the digital clock on my dresser. Half past midnight. At first, Stark's decision to send Kimberly and me back to school had been a welcome one. As much as I liked being in the Silverpack, especially compared to my last pack, that didn't mean I wanted to spend the rest of my life cooped up in his cabin. Admittedly, he didn't force us to stay here, and he gave us free range of the woods his property contained. Still, without school or any kind of job, cabin fever had begun to sink its teeth in. As weird as it sounded, I was actually looking forward to going back to school. The mind numbing routine would provide a sense of normalcy in my

Chapter One The forest whispered to me, and I howled in reply. Leaning my head back, my voice echoed through the moonlit forest. It was a long, mournful note that belied the energy that was coursing through my veins. A cold wind struck me, spraying a flurry of snow into my face, and I shook it off. I felt so alive. I wanted to hunt! Glancing back at the smaller wolf behind me, I jerked my head forward and took off into the night. My four paws practically flew through the woods. I threw snow into the air with every step, hardly worth being called an obstacle. I couldn't even feel the cold through the fire burning inside me. Tonight, I was letting go. I let myself be an animal, with nothing to distract myself from the pure, uninhibited passion my instincts brought me. The smaller wolf had trouble keeping up with me, so I slowed my pace. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I made myself do it anyway. The brown wolf, hardly more than a pup, wasn't able to plow through the snow like