The Good Wolves

Chapter 16

Having confined myself to Gerald's house all of Sunday, I was more than ready to go to school on Monday morning, and to find out when I would be watching the wolf we had captured.

I saw Dominic in the front, and my eyes lingered on him. He was looking at his phone.

Mim wasn't there, forcing me to sit alone. The drive to school seemed endless as I watched friends talking, and I was by myself.

I let the rest of the day pass on until lunch, when I would find out what Calvin's schedule looked like.

As the bell rang after fourth hour, I sprinted out the door and started speed walking to the cafeteria. Sophie followed me hurriedly.

"Why are you walking so fast?" She asked, trying to keep in pace with me.

"I'm excited for lunch," I answered monotonously, pushing through the herd of students.

Upon entering the cafeteria, I grabbed a food tray and filled it rapidly with my lunch. Sophie struggled to keep up as I walked to the table, plopping down next to Amelia. Dominic and Luke sat on the other side.

"No Calvin or Mim?" I asked.

"Calvin's watching that guy and Mim was, well, impaled," Luke said.

"Did Calvin make that schedule?"

"Yeah," Luke said, taking a bite out of his apple. "You wanna see?"

I nodded my head and he pulled out his phone, handing it to me. I stared at it. It read: Calvin, Sophie, Dominic, Amelia, Luke. And then it just said 'repeat as needed'.

"Where am I?" I asked in disbelief.

"Big guy didn't want you on it," Luke chewed on the apple and patted Dominic on the chest.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"You're a human," Dominic said. "I don't think you can handle it."

"He's tied up, isn't he?" I asked. "I want to do this."

Dominic put his fist on the table. "You don't get to decide whether or not you want to do it. I'm the Alpha. I'm the one who gets to tell people what to do, and you and Mim aren't involved."

"Pulling the Alpha card?" I gritted my teeth. "You said it yourself. I'm a human. I don't have to obey your stupid rules. And I do have a say in what people do. I get to decide whether or not you die."

Dominic leaned back in his chair, annoyed. He looked around the table, but his pack was silent. Amelia pretended to be busy with her homework, Sophie stuffed a corn dog up her mouth, and Luke just raised an amused eyebrow.

"Fine," Dominic said, though clearly not happy. "You'll switch with Sophie."

"That's tomorrow," I told him.

"Are you not ready?"

"I'm ready."

Amelia, Sophie and Luke looked around at each other. Dominic and I refused to break eye contact. I noticed something about him that I had somehow missed before. His eyes were hardly brown. One of them was completely blue, and the other was half brown and half blue.

"Okay," Amelia said awkwardly. "I think I'm going to go to class early."

"I'll go with you," Sophie said quickly, jumping out of her seat.

"I'd better go too," Luke added.

Dominic and I looked away from one another to watch them leave.

"Weird," Dominic mumbled.

I turned my lips inwardly and looked at the ground. It wasn't often I was alone with him. I felt like asking him what his opinion on me was, but I knew that was awkward.

"So," he said. "Have you decided whether or not you're going to kill me after all this?"

"Not yet," I smiled a little, and he smirked back.

Silence fell over us for another few seconds before he spoke again.

"I heard you like Luke."

I spit my milk all over the table and started choking. He gave me a confused look as I hit my chest. I must have been coughing for five minutes.

"Shit," he said when I finished. "That was really something."

"I don't like Luke," I said, clearing my throat. "I told Amelia that when I stumbled. You know, when I acted suspicious about hunting. I just wanted to throw you guys off my trail."

"Oh," he seemed a little relieved. "If you did have something you wanted to keep secret, I wouldn't advise telling Amelia. She has good intentions, but she just can't help herself."

"Yeah. She told Luke, too," I told him. "Oh, God. I think Luke still thinks I'm in love with him."

Dominic laughed. "I can't believe that telling everyone you liked him was your first idea. You hardly even messed up. Mim was the only one who found it suspicious."

"Yeah, and she tried to kill me," I laughed.

"Fond memories," he smiled gorgeously. I smiled back; it was contagious.

I thought about my family back home, and my smile instantly dropped. His did too, and he looked at me, but didn't say anything.

"I should go," I stood up suddenly.

"Yeah, me too," he sighed.

I dumped my tray in the trash, and Dominic did the same. As I bent down to pick up my backpack, he grabbed my arm.

"Be careful tomorrow," he warned.

"I will."

Dominic pursed his lips, and turned around. I watched him walk in the other direction, and then went my own way.