Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl, #1)(39)
Fuck my life.
Sage was so confused, kept asking me why Sawyer would do that and pried for more information, but I was too depressed to tell her everything. If this was my life now, caged inside my body, I’d better get used to it and there was no sense in telling her now.
Sawyer had sent approximately one giant bouquet of flowers per day since he cuffed me, and it was getting to the point where I couldn’t walk around my apartment. He’d even been commenting all these cute apologetic things on my Instagram photos. Sage was ignoring her cousin in solidarity on my behalf, and I was turning down date requests from him daily. Let him go out with the other nineteen girls; I couldn’t be with a man who wanted to see me imprisoned, even if it was because he thought he was protecting me. This was no way to live, especially after getting my taste of freedom.
Yesterday I’d found out that I made the top twenty.
Yay. Cue sarcasm.
“I’ve got a surprise for you tonight.” Sage turned to me as I pushed my eggs around my plate. Sawyer was eating breakfast with Meredith and Priya, while not so casually sneaking glances back at me. Today I was wearing a custom t-shirt Raven had made me that said Feeling Stabby with a little wolf cartoon holding a knife.
It perfectly displayed my mood. Raven and my parents sent weekly care packages with human candy I didn’t get in Werewolf City, and we talked often, but I was starting to feel lonely and homesick.
“I hate surprises,” I informed her as I watched Sawyer take a drink of his orange juice. Even his jawline was attractive.
Asshole.
Sage waved her hand in front of me. “Hello.”
My gaze snapped to hers. “What?”
“You’re going to like this surprise. Trust me.” She grinned. She was such a good friend, doing her best to take my mind off of the fact that I was a prisoner in my own body.
Giving her a weak smile, I stood. “Okay. Thanks. I gotta run. See you later.”
She frowned. “Yeah … later, Demi.”
When I got to class, I immediately threw myself into my art. Taking pictures was the only thing keeping me sane right now. I’d talked Sage into letting me do a series of four shots of her a few weeks ago and they all turned out amazing. Her vibrant red hair against the muted background I’d chosen was perfect.
“These are impressive, Miss Calloway,” Professor Woods spoke from behind me as I laid the prints out on my desk.
“Thanks. I was thinking of doing a nature series next.”
He nodded. “Well, you might just get your wish, because today we are all going on a field trip with Professor Hines’ class after lunch.”
Excitement thrummed through me. “Where are we going?”
Please say something cool like to snap pictures of a cemetery or something.
“The Dark Forest.” He winked and moved on to the next student.
It sounded ominous, but I had no idea what the Dark Forest was.
“Holy shit,” Chris whisper-screamed from behind me. “The Dark Forest? I wonder how the alpha approved that?”
I spun, stepping over to his and James’ shared table as I fiddled with my wide-angle lens. “What do you mean? Is it haunted or something?” I whispered back.
Chris chuckled. “Yeah, by wolf rebels and hybrids that want to cut our throats out.”
I froze, looking up at him. “What?”
Chris and James shared a look that said “Aww, the cute blond is an idiot,” before leaning back into me. “Seriously? Your parents didn’t tell you about the Paladin family? Or the Ithaki?”
The whati? Hadn’t Sage mentioned the Paladins at the welcome dinner?
I shook my head. “Who are the Paladins?” Sounded like some made up fantasy stuff to me.
Chris chortled. “The original alpha royals. Before the Hudson family stole the crown.”
James slapped him on the chest. “That’s not true, they weren’t royal, just badass. Back when you became alpha by fighting, and not by bloodline.”
My eyes bugged. “And they are still alive?”
James nodded. “They live in the woods like animals. I heard they don’t even have plumbing or toilets. They attack us every once in a while, but obviously our army is stronger.”
Holy crap. Between the vampires and these … Paladin’s, Wolf City was way more dangerous than I thought.
“And the other group? The Itakie?”
Chris laughed. “Ithaki. They’re worse than the Paladins, they—”
“Okay, class!”
Before I could respond, Professor Woods called our attention to the front and I pushed what James had said to the back of my mind.
“Please finish up any work you have in the darkroom today and post your final pieces in the display cases out in the hall. The staff will be voting on who should be showcased in the end-of-year exhibit.”
We scurried to get our work together, James running into the darkroom and Chris mounting his photos to the blackboard. I snatched up my prints of Sage and slipped out into the hall to tack them up into the cases. I decided to keep them raw with no border or anything fancy, let Sage be the beautiful part of the piece.
Reaching the first case, I flipped the lock and opened it up, pulling some of the pins out and sticking them on the corners of the photo. I was halfway through my second photo when I smelled him.