The Turn of a Page

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

            It was good to be back home, after everything that had passed during the last two weeks. I slumped down into the familiar sofa and took the can that was waved in front of my face by Baz.

            ‘You need it.’ And he dropped down beside me, putting his arm around my shoulders and swigging down his own can. ‘We still have a week to spare ‘til term starts,’ he pointed out. ‘How do you want to spend it?’

            ‘I don’t know.’ I leaned over to him, with softly narrowed eyes. ‘Surprise me.’

            ‘I’ll do my best,’ he said and pulled me closer into his side.

            The first few days passed by uneventfully; Baz touched on meeting everyone else in our supposed large pack but I didn’t hear much more on the matter.

            The following Thursday, however, Baz offered to drive my car with Charlie and Toby in the back; where our two other housemates were I didn’t know. Baz drove us in the general direction of the school and this is where he pulled up.

            ‘Erm, Baz. Why are we here?’ I asked, looking around when he had stopped the car and handed me the keys and saw there were a fair few cars parked up in the other spaces.

            ‘This is where we’re meeting them all,’ he simply replied. ‘Come on, don’t be nervous.’ And he exited the driver’s seat; I followed close behind after locking the car.

            He walked us around the buildings but before we rounded the last corner to be on the field, he stopped and I walked straight into his back.

            ‘Why have we stopped?’ Toby asked.

            ‘Because I want us to go there as wolves. I don’t want them to know what you are yet,’ he said to me and he brushed a strand of hair out of my face. ‘Please? For me?’ He pouted his lips and gave me his puppy eyes look.

            Rolling my own eyes, I couldn’t resist. ‘Alright, but if they ask who I am? Can I tell them?’

            He smiled. ‘Of course.’

   We all changed, one at a time, and then bounded on to the field.

            When the grassy expanse came into view, I paused to take in the amount of wolves that sat around on the ground. There must have been near to the twenty that were at the pool party. Someone nudged my left flank and I turned to see it was Charlie, edging me to walk on with him to where Baz now sat.

            Some of the pack, or group, watched as I took my place by his side. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, which was for Baz to be asserting himself among the group; but I was happy that he was more laid back than what I had been thinking. There was still so much I had to learn but I had to take it all in my stride. I mean, from what I knew about wild wolves an alpha always had the first and last words and made nearly every decision; whereas here, now, I would never have guessed that Baz was in charge of all these. If you looked really closely then maybe he was a little broader and scruffier around the neck but that was about it.

            I curled up, but my attempt at a small nap was disturbed from a wolfish cough to my right. My right ear turned towards the noise, and then I opened my eyes and lifted my head. ‘Yes?’ I asked, trying to cover my voice.