In Heat - Jenlisa

Chapter 75 - Entertain

When Lisa first sets foot outside the car, she is bowled over by the familiar smell of her woods. It's too early in the season for the crab apple trees to be flowering, but she remembers the tartness of their fruit exploding over her tongue, and can picture exactly how her skin used to pinken in the late summer sun as she trampled around barefoot in the forest. Scent has the strongest correlation with memory, Lisa recalls. It's certainly doing a number on her now.

This place was her home, once upon a time, even if it never welcomed her presence. As soon as Lisa presented as a rare submissive, her parents leapt into action and shoved her in front of the Pack Leader's son. Hugo had been the type of kid to rip the wings off of butterflies for his own personal enjoyment, so it's safe to say it wasn't love at first sight.

On one memorable occasion, Hugo made a point of telling eight-year-old Lisa in graphic detail what the older kids were planning to do with the frogs they'd raised for biology class at the local school. The very next night, Lisa was caught attempting to release the frogs from captivity and summarily punished in front of all her peers. It hadn't occurred to Lisa until much later than Hugo had set her up to be caught, knowing she'd have her knuckles caned by the school headmaster for stealing. Lisa never forgave him for that.

Thankfully, Hugo decided to attend a higher school for misfits approximately two thousand miles away from YG, so Lisa was only subjected to him during breaks. In truth, he mostly left her alone; there were much more entertaining targets than her to play with.

The Manobal's ploy to elevate Lisa's mating prospects by thrusting her at Hugo worked wonders. She's pretty sure Hugo only entertained her parents' hopes of a match because he knew how much it bothered Lisa to have anyone assume they would eventually court. The sad reality is that Hugo's perceived interest in her as a mate, however artificial, helped keep the dominant wolves of YG at a distance. Lisa can't stomach being grateful to him, but she can live with the fact that his blatant manipulation inadvertently did her a favor. Due to her association with Hugo, most YG wolves believed a regular warrior wouldn't stand a chance with a submissive wolf of her caliber.

As a result, Lisa was largely safe from all but those rare dominant wolves on par with Hugo's status, which were few and far between. East Coast packs have entirely different social structures, so those wolves weren't interested in her, and northern California boasts only two other packs besides her own: the group run by Pack Leader Davis to the west and the northernmost settlement headed by Pack Leader Montgomery.

Mercifully, Pack Leader Davis is still too young to have seeded any sons. There had been talk of Lisa meeting Pack Leader Montgomery's son, but that was before Jennie. Pack Leader Montgomery will undoubtedly have heard about Lisa's collaring from her parents and called off any plans to match her with his son.

After all, the act of collaring is akin to proposing marriage. Not even the most liberal, new-age wolves would deny such a widely acknowledged display of commitment. According to their traditions, the only way to sever such a bond would be for a rival dominant wolf to slaughter her intended and claim Lisa for himself. Fortunately for her, Hugo is the last person on earth to lift a finger for Lisa. He'd set up a video camera to live stream the carnage if she caught on fire.

Even as adults, Lisa and Hugo had gotten along about as well as Seulgi and Jennie during that first semester at YG—which is to say, not at all. It was mutual dislike at first reconnection when their parents shoved them together. Hugo had spent that entire date trying to convince Lisa to run away, knowing perfectly well that a wolf who voluntarily abandons the pack becomes free rein for rival packs to punish as they please.

Lisa would have been happy never to lay eyes on his face again, neither him nor his twitchy best friend, Jordan Clifford, but fate seems to have conspired against her yet again. She spots both boys lurking beyond the boundary.