CHAPTER SEVEN

 

Carrie opened the door and let in another stream of her classmates. She greeted them with a smile. “So glad you could come to my party. Make yourself at home.”

She was surprised at how many people had shown up already, and the night was still young. She’d been pretty sure that the party would be a success, but she’d also been worried. After all, just a few weeks ago, she’d been invisible to the rest of the senior class.

Now there were people filling up the rooms of her house. There was beer overflowing from the refrigerator, music blaring from the living room, and clusters of teenagers everywhere—laughing and talking. She was having a party. A real party. In her house.

Mick appeared at the top of the steps. “Carrie, what the hell is going on?”

Right. She’d never actually told Mick about this party. She didn’t see why she needed to. It wasn’t as if he was her boss or something. He was just some guy who’d taken up residence in her life. Without her permission, no less. She didn’t have to tell him anything.

She grinned up at him. “It’s a party, Mick. Can’t you tell? Or don’t you do anything fun?”

He motioned for her. “Come here. We need to talk.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “No.”

Mick made a pained expression.

And then suddenly, she felt an urge to go to him. Something rooted deep inside her, something connected to the wolf. Mick, Mick, Mick, it whispered inside her skull. She was climbing the steps before she knew it.

She stopped two steps below him. “What was that?”

“I’m your alpha,” he said. “You come when I call.”

Shit. That was bad. She didn’t like that at all. What else could Mick do since he was her alpha wolf? Was she going to find all of those things out just as unpleasantly as she’d found out this one?

“Why didn’t you talk to me about this party?” he said.

“I didn’t figure it was any of your business.” Thank goodness that she could still be defiant with him. Whatever alpha mojo he had over her didn’t override her own will.

“Why not? I’m here during this party, aren’t I? I’ll have to deal with its noise and its mess. I would think you’d let me know, at least to be courteous.”

“Like you would have been okay with it. You’d just have found some way to stop it.”

“I’m not going to stop it,” he said. “You’re going to stop it. You’re going to tell all your friends to leave now.”

“I am not.” She glared at him. “You can’t make me do that.”

“If you don’t,” said Mick, his voice lowering to a growl, “I’m going to shift into a wolf, and I’m going to eat all your little friends up.”

She drew back. “You wouldn’t.”

He smiled, baring his teeth. “Wouldn’t I?”

“But they’re just here to have fun. Why would you kill them?”

“I won’t if you get rid of them. I’m really not in the mood for a bunch of noisy teenagers tonight.”

She bit down on her lip. She hated Mick. And she was frightened of him. There was something about him that she never quite trusted. Even though she lived with him, and she felt as if he would never hurt her, she wasn’t sure that he was actually, well, safe. So, to keep her friends safe from him, she was going to have to shut down this party.

Except that wasn’t fair. She’d been waiting years for this party. She’d never been able to have one. And Mick didn’t have the right to take it away from her.

He’d been good to be around the past couple weeks anyway. He’d been giving her driving lessons, making awesome food, and had promised to take her to get her driver’s test soon. He’d seemed to genuinely like her and to want her to be happy.

She cocked her head at him. “Mick,” she said, softening her voice, “I really want to have this party.”

“I know that,” said Mick. “But that doesn’t change anything. I’m sorry.”

“But it really makes me happy. This is important to me.” She leaned close to him. He claimed that he didn’t like it when she touched him, but he always seemed to react when she did. He might not want to be attracted to her, but he was, and Carrie realized that she relished having that power over him.

He already looked flustered. “Little fael, this party is not a good idea.”

“Please, Mick?” She ran her fingers over his shoulder. “Please, let me do this. Don’t make me send everyone home.”

He sighed. “It’s really that important to you?”

She nodded. “I’ve never been to a high school party before. I want to have this experience.”

He shut his eyes. “All right, all right. But I don’t want this to get too out of hand, you got it?”

She grinned. “Thank you.”

“And you’re cleaning everything up on your own.”

She giggled, throwing her arms around Mick’s neck. “You’re the best, Mick. Thank you so much.”

“It’s nothing.” His voice was gruff.

She planted a kiss on his cheek.

He extricated himself from her grasp. “I’ll be checking up on things. If I don’t like what I see, then I’ll have to stop things.”

She eyed him. She kind of doubted that. Mick was actually easier to manipulate than she had first thought.

* * *

Holden arrived at the party at Carrie’s house and began to wonder if Mel hadn’t been right. It was crowded. He didn’t think he’d been to a party that was so well-attended all year. It seemed like the entire senior class was there. Everyone was curious about Carrie Beckett. She’d been weird and uninteresting, but then she’d transitioned into someone pretty and mysterious. Now everyone was intrigued by her, and they all wondered why they had never gotten to know her before.

Holden had been eating lunch with her off and on for the past couple of weeks.

She never seemed to try to impress him, and—for some reason—that impressed him. She’d simply talk to him like he was anyone else. She’d stuff her face in front of him—she always seemed to be hungry. She’d tell him why she hated her biology teacher—and he wasn’t bored out his skull. He actually cared. He couldn’t get enough of this girl. He wanted to really talk to her, just the two of them, one-on-one.

He wouldn’t try to push her. Mel had said the girls he hooked up with only did it because they wanted to please him, not because they really wanted to do it. Mel said that girls weren’t as interested in sex as boys, at least not in high school. So, Holden had determined to wait when it came to Carrie. He wanted them to talk instead. To get to know each other and be friends. Maybe they could kiss, but they wouldn’t jump into anything. Usually, thinking like that would have disappointed him, but he was strangely excited by the idea.

However, he couldn’t find her anywhere at the party. He wandered through all of the rooms—the living room, the den, the kitchen. He even waited to see if she was in the downstairs bathroom.

Upstairs was apparently off-limits. If anyone tried to go up there, Carrie’s weird uncle stopped them, and everyone said he was pretty scary. The funny thing was, Holden thought Carrie’s uncle looked a lot like the guy who’d been running the Ferris Wheel at the carnival.

Anyway, he couldn’t find Carrie anywhere, and he realized that seeing her was the real reason he’d come to this party. He didn’t care about getting drunk, hanging with his friends, or scamming on girls, which were the reasons he usually went to a party. This time, he only wanted to see Carrie.

He wasn’t sure what it was about the girl, but she was special. She was alive and free and confident. And she was beautiful. She was tall and lithe and willowy. She was tiny, but she also radiated strength. Her skin was creamy. Sometimes, it almost seemed to glow. And she had dark, deep eyes. When he looked into them, he felt like he was being blown on the wind into the night air.

He wanted to touch her. He wanted to be near her. She was all he could think about.

He only had one place left to check, and that was the deck behind the kitchen. He saw a few clusters of people out there, the glowing red tips of cigarettes. He slid open the glass door and stepped outside.

But she wasn’t out there. He went from group to group, checking each of them to see.

No Carrie.

But when he entered the kitchen again, he saw her standing in front of the open refrigerator, selecting a beer.

“Carrie,” he said.

She turned. When she saw him, her face lit up. “Holden! I was starting to wonder if you were coming or not.”

He walked over to her, smiling. “I’ve been looking for you. I’ve been looking everywhere.”

“I’m glad you found me.” She stopped next to the counter, setting down her beer.

He stepped close, so that there were only inches between their bodies. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to find you.”

She peered up at him. “Well, you did.”

“You don’t understand. The only reason I’m here is to see you.” Jesus, had he just said that out loud? What was she going to think of him?

She smiled. “The only reason?”

He swallowed. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

She shut her eyes, as if savoring the moment. “I never thought you’d say that about me.”

So, she liked that? Good, because he wasn’t sure if she even liked him at all. Sometimes, he really thought she did, but then other times, she seemed so aloof, he wasn’t sure.

God, he wanted to touch her. He wanted to reach out and run his fingers over her creamy skin, touch her soft cheek. But Mel had said not to push, so he just looked at her. He kept his hands to himself.

“I want to get to know you, Carrie Beckett,” he said.

She giggled. “You know me, Holden Rane.”

“No, I don’t know—”

She put her finger against his lips, silencing him.

He was stunned at the sensation of her finger against his lip. He hadn’t expected to feel it as intensely as he did. It was only a finger, only his mouth. But it seemed to go all the way through him. He sucked in breath through his nose.

She dragged her finger down over his chin. She seized it. And then she tugged him down to kiss her.

Meeting her lips was an avalanche of sweetness. He gathered her into his arms, pulling her against his body. Her mouth opened beneath his, and their tongues touched. It was dizzyingly good. He clung to her, feeling as if he’d been swept away to paradise, never wanting to let her go.

Well, he thought. So much for talking.