It might have been Saturday, but I’d be damned if I stayed in my pajamas for another day. I grabbed some clothes from my closet and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day, leaving wolf-Dastien sleeping in my bed.
When I got out, he was gone. I peeked into Meredith’s room. “Have you seen Dastien?”
“He’s grabbing his stuff. Thought you’d like a day out.”
A silly grin spread across my face. “A day out? Does that mean I’ve been cleared for my regularly scheduled life to resume?”
“You’ve been a good little patient.” She patted my head, and I knocked her hand away. “But you’re now free to leave the confines of your room. Dr. Gonzales checked on you last night and cleared you.”
This was amazing news. “I’m seriously in for something normal.”
Dastien came in with car keys in hand. “Ready?”
“Totally.”
We walked to the parking lot and then I stopped. Adrian, Chris and Shannon were leaning against a Porsche. The SUV kind, but still. “Seriously?”
“You don’t like my car?” Dastien said.
I pointed to it. “That’s not a car. It’s a Car.”
“Graduation present.”
Meredith elbowed me in the side. “Yeah right. Didn’t you know he was loaded?”
“I guess it never came up,” I said.
“You can call home on the way.” Dastien held out a phone as he opened the door for me. “If you want, we can stop by.”
I snatched it from him as I jumped in, and quickly dialed Mom. She answered on the first ring. Dad was home and she said she’d get Axel to drive down for dinner if we all wanted to come eat. I told her we’d be by in a couple hours and to think each wolf was like ten humans. She laughed and said she’d go buy burgers in bulk.
I was still processing everything. Somehow the witch thing was easier to deal with than the shifting. Hopefully. I still hadn’t gone furry, but I knew that it’d happen soon. When it did, I’d deal with it. Just like I’d dealt with everything else.
Dastien held my hand as he drove. The spark that went between us was strong. I felt more connected to him than ever before. He glanced at me. He was happy, content. And thanks to our bond, I knew that he liked the feel of his hand in mine.
He gave it a squeeze and I knew he could feel what I was feeling. It was nice to be on the same page with someone. We still had some stuff to work out, but I didn’t doubt that it would. When we had to face the tribunal, we’d do it together. As a team.
My friends were laughing and talking in the back seat. Shannon hadn’t said anything to me, but I had hopes. She’d get over Dastien eventually. There wasn’t another option for her. Or for me. Dastien was mine.
The laughing stopped as we walked toward the mall. “Norms. Ten o’clock,” Adrian said.
Rosalyn, Carlos, and a few others whose names I couldn’t remember were walking toward us. It felt like forever since the party, but it’d only been little more than three weeks. So much had happened.
I stopped walking. Dastien looked from me to them. He gave my arm a little tug and strode straight toward them. As soon as Rosalyn saw me, she stopped talking to Carlos.
I cleared my throat. “Hi.”
“Hi,” she dropped her gaze to the ground. That was weird. She wouldn’t meet my gaze? I scanned the group. They were all staring at the pavement. One girl in the back started to stink. Like fear. It made my wolf want to play. I peeked up at Dastien.
He brought my hand to his lips, and gave a mischievous smirk. “Good to see you, Rosalyn. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry I had to turn you down for that date, but I’m sure you understand.”
What a total hypocrite. She’d tried to get Dastien? A growl slipped from me. Meredith and Adrian started laughing like a pair of hyenas.
“Come on you guys. I need ice cream.” The Cedar Ridge High crowd parted as Shannon walked through them.
I waited a second until Rosalyn looked up. “See you around.” Her face lost all color. She was totally afraid of me.
Maybe this werewolf thing wasn’t so bad after all. I had a boyfriend—mate—whatever, that I was figuring things out with. A kickass girl friend, which was a first. Sure, there was the whole tribunal thing, the witch thing, the whole Imogene thing and Mr. Hoel still being on the run. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but I’d be ready for whatever came my way.
I had a feeling that my life was going to start being a whole lot of fun, and I didn’t need a vision to tell me that I was right.