Page 42

“Hey!” I shout as I reach for the computer to get it back. It won’t work because my reflexes aren’t as good as his. He grins at me and easily gets out of my reach.
“Come on, let’s do something fun! You don’t have any more classes today, and my best friend has been a zombie for the past week. Ooh! I know!” Skyler slaps his hands together and rubs them together in a creepy way. He smirks at me, and the evil glint in his eyes shines bright. No way.
“We’re going to prank Jaxon,” he says, and then he starts to laugh as he pulls me up the stairs. I try to pull my hand away from his, but either Skyler doesn’t see me trying or he doesn’t care.
We go into a room on the second floor with cream-colored walls and a white duvet on the queen-sized bed. The room itself screams Skyler with its fashionable decor and attention to detail. There is a white faux fur rug on the floor, and the bed is covered in pillows that are blue to purple and have textured patterns on them. The furniture is all light, and the room is very open and clean.
He takes me to the bed and leaves me there while he looks through his dresser drawer. He takes out a two-inch binder and then shuts the drawer again. He sits down next to me and opens it up, flipping through the pages. I can only see bits and pieces because he is flipping through the binder so quickly, but when I realize what it is, my jaw drops—it’s his prank book.
There are pictures on every page that show the pranks he’s pulled on other people. One picture shows Ezra glaring at the camera with what looks like pink paint all over him. There is also a picture of Jaxon’s car covered in sticky notes. I remember that story from dinner the other night.
“What the…” I stammer, unable to find the right words. Skyler stops flipping through the binder when he finds a section with ideas for pranks. He quickly looks over the plans before stopping and smiling at me.
“Hey, what do you think of this one?”
I take the binder from his hands with some hesitation and quickly read through the notes. I read through the whole outline—yes, outline—Skyler made for how to prank Jaxon, and I can’t stop laughing. I try to stop by putting my hands over my mouth, but I can’t. I finally understand why Skyler loves these jokes so much. Just thinking about how funny he’ll look when we pull this off makes me feel more alive.
I let myself fall back onto the bed, and the soft mattress cushioned my fall. I kept laughing like I was in an asylum. Skyler slams the book shut and smiles at me with hope.
“Are you in?”
I smile back at him and wipe the tears from my eyes.
“I’m in.”
Skyler grins and throws me onto the bed. He hugs me and says he’s never had a partner in crime before and can’t wait to prank Jaxon. I hug him back, and all of a sudden, I feel grateful. I’ve never felt like I belonged before, but staying at the pack house with Jaxon, planning pranks with Skyler, and seeing how the other wolves protect me when I’m in danger all make me feel wanted.
I’ve read a lot of books, but I’ve never felt the way the characters do in them. When you read a lot of fiction, you start to wonder what’s real and what’s not. You just have to stop reading to find love and true friendship.
I start to cry as I remember all the times I’ve grown emotionally. Skyler stiffens and lets go of me right away to see how I’m doing. When he sees the tears in my eyes, his eyes get big.
“Shit, shit, SHIT! Why are you upset? F**k! Jaxon is going to kill me!” Skyler sits me up on the edge of the bed and rubs my arms up and down to try to stop my tears. He keeps trying to shush me, and the look of fear in his eyes makes me laugh.
“Why are you laughing? I don’t get girls!”
I smile at him after wiping away my tears. “I’ve never had a friend like you before, and I’m so glad to have you as a friend.”
His shoulders relax as he stops panicking. He lets out a breath and runs his fingers through his messy brown curls. “Don’t cry anymore if you want to stay friends with me. Goddess, that was scary. Can you imagine if Jaxon walked in here and saw you crying? You’d be planning my funeral!”
“Stop being so dramatic.” I gently push him on the shoulder, but because he is a gay icon, he falls off the bed and pretends that I’ve hurt him.
“Ow! I’m hurt!” he yells loudly, but luckily no one in the house seems to hear or believe him.
Finally, he gets up from the floor and lies down on the bed with his body spread out.
“Just wait until Jaxon marks you. When he can feel your emotions and see that you’re crying, you’d better have a good reason for why I’m going to be minced meat.”
I stop and look up from the white blanket. I don’t know what that word means. Once he marks me? What does that even mean?
Skyler’s jaw drops as he sits up and looks at me in shock. My face must be like an open book.
“You don’t know what marking is?”
I shake my head no. I’m interested now. Skyler looks shocked that I don’t know what the word means. He gets out of bed and runs to the door, where he opens it. He looks to the left, then to the right, and then back to the left again to see if anyone is eavesdropping on us. He shuts the door and sits back down on the bed when he’s sure no one is around.
“How come Jaxon didn’t tell you? It’s really f*****g important.”
“What is it? Is it bad?” I start to feel a little anxious. Skyler is making a big deal out of this idea of “marking,” which makes me very nervous.
“No! No, it’s not a bad thing at all! It’s just an important thing between wolves when they find their soulmate. It’s an… intimate thing that you guys are probably ready for.” Skyler lets out a big sigh and mumbles, “Jaxon’s gonna kill me.”
I lean forward and shake him a little by putting my hands on his shoulders. I keep staring at him hard until he tells me.
“I’m only telling you because you know I can’t keep secrets well, and he should have told you weeks ago.” He clears his throat and starts. “Basically, there are three main parts to a werewolf relationship. The first is the meeting, when you look each other in the eye and form the first mate bond. The second is marking, and the third is mating.
“Marking is when a werewolf bites the neck of the other werewolf to seal the bond and claim their mate for life. In your and Jaxon’s case, it’s just him.”
I’m up and stumbling out of bed before Skyler can even finish the sentence. BITE? Jaxon is supposed to BITE MY NECK? Oh no, no, no, NO! He has sharp teeth! I’ll probably die from blood loss if his teeth don’t break my neck first! Has Skyler seen how big Jaxon is? He could crush me like a bug in two seconds! I don’t need anyone biting me like a vampire! I pace back and forth across Skyler’s bedroom as I freak out, both inside and out.
“This is exactly why Jaxon hasn’t told you; I know it is!” He’s scared of how you’ll respond. It’s a big part of werewolf culture. See, Ezra did this to me.”Skyler tilts his head to the side and points to the crook of his neck. At first, I can’t see anything, but then I gasp and run my finger along the light silver scar. It’s a huge bite mark that takes up a lot of his neck!”
Skyler pulls away from my touch and bites his lip.
“Sorry! Is it painful?”I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t do anything to hurt him. The bite must have hurt a lot. Why would he let Ezra do that to him?
“It doesn’t hurt. Actually, the opposite. Skyler’s face turns bright red when the mark is brought up, and that’s when I get confused.
“What do you mean?”
He shakes his head and puts his hands over his face as he breathes out loudly.
“I shouldn’t be the one to explain this. “Man, this is so f*****g awkward.” He takes his hands away from his face and looks at me. Pointing right at my face, he says, “You can’t laugh.” Okay, everything I’m telling you about werewolves is true.”
I nod my head to tell him to keep going.
“Okay. The marking or biting of the neck feels good. At first, it hurts a little, but after a few seconds, it feels good. It’s because it’s connecting your mind to your partner’s mind. It lets your feelings mix with each other. Ezra and I can feel each other’s feelings all the time. “If you kept touching my mark…”
My jaw drops as the pieces come together. Does he get excited when he touches the mark? That’s such a weird place to-.
I put my hand on my face when I realized that Jaxon had been kissing my neck and rubbing his face against it since I met him. I thought he just liked it, but maybe it’s his werewolf side that wants to mark me! Oh my god!
My heart starts to race as I breathe heavily. If I let Jaxon mark me, he’ll always know how I feel. I’ll be able to read his emotions! But he’s always angry, so does that mean I’ll feel that? How would that even work? And since I’m human, would it even be the same for us?
Wow, I can’t believe I’m even thinking about letting his teeth get close to my neck! Am I crazy? I trust Jaxon, but can I also trust his werewolf side?
“I can tell that you’re freaking out. Breathe deeply. You just need to bring it up with Jaxon in a calm way and talk about it. He probably hasn’t told you yet because he doesn’t want to force you to do it. He’s been really needy lately, hasn’t he?”
I nod my head in response to Skyler’s questions while my eyes move around the room as I think. He has been wanting to check on me all day. He didn’t want me to study alone with Skyler, so he came to see us a few times while we were reading Psychology notes in the kitchen.
Skyler goes on to say, “The clingy nature is him being too protective and wanting to mark you.” Calla, you almost died. He needs to feel close to you in a way that makes him feel good. I’m shocked he didn’t bother you at all. Something like that happened to me before Ezra marked me, and he didn’t react as well as Jaxon did. Skyler smiles as she remembers the time.