The Lupine Necklace

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Ian's POV

I was only half way through my first hour of my first day when the phone rang. The teacher answered it and when he hung up simply said, "Ian, the principal needs to see you."

I was shocked to say the least. I hadn't done anything wrong. The morning had been exceedingly amazing. Kissing Layla before first hour was amazing. So amazing that she didn't even talk afterwards. I was proud of myself for that. Hmm, maybe the school has a PDA rule and that's what the principal wants to see me for.

As I stood, there was a low "ooooh" that went around the classroom. Everyone was probably wondering what the new kid did to get into trouble so fast. I smirked. I could tell them that I kissed my amazing girlfriend senseless before first hour. I bet they'd love that.

I didn't do that, however. Instead, I calmly left the classroom and headed in the direction that the office was.

Layla? I questioned. I wanted to ask her if there was a PDA rule, but I didn't get anything back from her. She must have been concentrating pretty hard in her archery class.

I smiled as I remembered how excited she was for that class the past week. She's just so dang adorable, I don't even have words to describe her. Being kicked out of my old pack was the best thing to ever happen to me.

I got to the office and Ms. Landon looked really nervous and worried as she directed me into the principal's office. I wondered what was wrong. Maybe something happened in her family. For some reason I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I walked into the office and found the principal pacing behind his desk, and another man sitting in a chair in front of the desk with his head in his hands. They both looked up when they saw me.

"Um, you wanted to see me?" I asked of the principal, starting to wonder what was going on.

"Yes, please sit, Ian. Jason's on his way and we've sent for Nate and Lee as well."

My eyes widened. "What exactly is going on, Sir?" I asked of him, my tone deep and worried. Something was going on and I didn't like it.

The man in the chair next to me said, "I left Xena and Layla outside and told them to get familiar with the bows so they could help me teach the class when they were finished training. When I brought the class back outside, Layla and Xena were nowhere to be seen."

I stared at him in horror and started shaking my head. Derek couldn't have gotten to them. School was supposed to be safe. This couldn't be happening. They had to be pulling some sick joke on the new kid.

"The shovel I use to dig in the targets was on the ground with some blood on it and there was some blood and gouges in the grass as well," the teacher continued.

I was about to explode. If Layla was injured, I was going to kill Derek as slowly and painfully as possible. I was shaking in anger and the principal came over and rested a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, son. After we talk to Jason, we'll call the police. They'll find them."

Them. Xena was with her. Oh this is so bad. I got up, shaking off the principal's hand and started pacing the office. The door opened and I spun around to see Nate and Lee standing in the doorway.

"What's going on?" Nate asked.

I growled angrily. "He got Layla. And Xena."

I didn't have to say anything else. They knew exactly what I meant and they were also shaking in rage, doing their best not to shift in front of the two humans.

"How did it happen?" Lee asked in a deep, rumble voice.

The teacher walked us through it again and when he finished, Lee turned around and punched a hole right through the wall of the principal's office.

The principal was shocked. "Mr. Sampson!" he exclaimed. "I know this is stressful, but damaging property will not solve this problem."

"It sure helped my problem," Lee murmured too low for the principal to hear. His voice was back to normal and I know the release of anger helped push his wolf back a bit.

Nate seemed to be in shock and was just standing in the doorway, a look of horror on his face. "School was supposed to be safe," he mumbled. "We weren't worried about them here."

"This was a problem before today?" the principal questioned suspiciously.

I looked up, thinking quickly. "Oh, no, but we do worry about the girls. They're beautiful and we always worry about someone trying to take advantage of them."

He seemed to buy my story, thank heavens. We couldn't exactly tell the police that Layla and Xena had been kidnapped by werewolves and oh, by the way, they're werewolves too and so are we. Yeah, that would go really well.

We all sat in the office for a few minutes in silence while we waited for Jason to arrive. When he walked in he was tense and worried. He knew something was wrong. When he saw my face, he knew.

"How did it happen?" he asked.

That teacher had to go through the tale for probably the fourth time now, and Jason was wound tighter and tighter as the story continued.

"We'll take care of this," he told the principal. "I'll call the police when I get home, and if they want to talk to you, I'll send them over. Kids, get up, we're going home." He looked at the principal. "They probably won't be at school for a while. Just mail their assignments to my address."

The principal nodded, seemingly shocked by Jason's decisiveness, but the power in his voice didn't leave any room for arguments, not even for humans. We followed him out of the school and back home.

When we got there, Jason shifted and howled angrily before running into the woods. I didn't think he'd be back for a while, so I went inside to tell everyone else what had happened.

I called Alice and Jeremy to the kitchen and sat them down at the table.

"What's going on, Ian?" Alice asked. "Why are you kids home early and where is Jason?"

I sighed, the sound full of stress. "Jason went for a run. There's no easy way to say this, but Derek got Layla and Xena."

I took them through the story that the archery teacher had told us, and both of them were very angry. Jeremy had the same reaction as Jason, but with less control. He shifted in the house and took off out the back door. Alice stood and made her way to the office to start making some calls.

Jason and Jeremy came back in shortly after they left. "We're going to make some calls. You kids stay together, in the living room, and come tell us when Layla contacts you."

When they went into the office, Alice came back out, looking worried and preoccupied. "They said to make lunch," she mumbled. "What am I supposed to make for lunch?" she wandered into the kitchen, still talking to herself.

I hung my head and walked into the living room with Nate and Lee. Collapsing on a couch I began to worry. If Layla was fine, she would have contacted me by now, at least to tell me she was okay.

I still couldn't feel anything through our link. She had to be unconscious and I didn't want to think about what they had done to her to get her to stay unconscious for this long with her fast healing.

We sat in the living room, completely silent and worrying like crazy for three and half hours. Then, I heard the most amazing sound I'd ever heard in my life.

Layla was awake. Ian? I heard through our link and I rejoiced. She was okay!

I told the guys and ran to Jason's office to tell them. She told me to make a plan before coming to get her, and I was surprised at the strength in her voice. She even cussed at me!

I knew that I couldn't risk the pack for a failed rescue attempt, but I really didn't want anything to happen to her. I would give up anything to have her back here and at my side.