Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 12

~~Sadie’s PoV~~

As Micah walks away, I spin back to Ava. “Well?” If Micah’s not going to tell me, then Ava’s going to have to.

She pulls another face. “When we get home, we’ll talk to my mom, ok? I promise she’ll answer all your questions.”

Not good enough. I’m tired of being put off, so I turn and start walking towards the exit, but Ava calls after me.

“Wait, you can’t go outside, Sadie. It might not be safe yet.”

My frustration boils over. “Why the hell not?! Give me a straight answer, Ava, or I’m walking out of here right now.”

She grimaces again and hesitates, and that’s it. I head for the door. As I push it open, a rush of cold wind hits me, making me shiver. I forgot it’s still winter and I left my coat in the classroom. Too late, though, I’m not going back. I rush out into the chilly air anyway and head down the steps, then look from left to right.

I still don’t really know my way around this town, but I think there’s a park to the right, somewhere it will be quiet with no one else around, so I head that way with my hands shoved in my pocket to keep them warm.

I replace the park and as I hoped, there’s no one else around, so I sink down onto one of the empty benches, looking down at the ground as all my thoughts race around my head. Why won’t anyone just tell me what’s going on? There was no shooter today, I’m sure of it, but there was something in that school, and something tells me it’s not the first time it’s happened.

Then suddenly I remember last night and what I overheard between Aaron and Laurel. They were talking about wolves! Was the thing in the school a wolf? Why are there wild wolves running around the town? It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s the first connection I’ve made between all the strange things so I cling onto it.

The wind hits me again and I shiver, and suddenly there’s a voice from behind me, making me nearly jump out of my skin.

“You doing okay?”

The voice is strong and deep and immediately I feel a bit warmer as I turn around to see Logan standing there.

“How did you replace me?” I ask, confused. I haven’t seen him since the cafeteria. Was he looking for me, or did he just randomly come here too?

He gives a casual shrug. “I’m good at tracking. Mind if I sit down?”

I shuffle over on the bench a bit to make more room for him and he comes around to sit beside me. I shiver again, though this time it’s not just from the cold, but he frowns as he sees me do it.

“Where’s your coat?”

I shrug. “I was in a hurry, I didn’t grab it.”

Without asking, he pulls the zipper of his coat down and shrugs it off before handing it to me. “Here.”

I want to take it, but I feel bad too. “What about you?”

One corner of his mouth goes up, just a little. “I’ll be fine.”

I’m too cold to argue so I take the coat from him and slip it over my shoulders. It’s warm, not just because of the material but because he was just wearing it, some of his body heat lingers. It smells good too, like fresh pine needles, and I try not to inhale too deeply. That would just look weird.

“So what brings you out here?” he asks, gesturing to the empty park.

I answer his question with one of my own. “What just happened in the school?”

It’s a challenge. I want to know if he’ll tell me the truth or if he’ll lie to me like everyone else.

But to his credit, he replies straight away. “There was an intruder. I don’t know all the details yet, but someone broke in, looking for something. He’s been captured and they’ll be questioning him soon.”

He? But what about the animal I heard?

I decide to ask. “Did he bring some kind of animal with him? I heard growling.”

Logan nods. “Yeah. He had a wolf with him.”

Well, that’s something. I’m not going totally crazy then.

“Who has a pet wolf?” I can’t help asking.

Logan smiles again, just that small, barely there smile, almost like his mouth has forgotten how to do it but is trying to remember. “Actually, it’s pretty common around here.”

I think back to what I heard Aaron and Laurel discussing, about talking to wolves. “Why?”

Logan takes a breath before looking me straight in the eye. His eyes are a rather startling shade of green, and this close up, they’re nearly mesmerizing. “I don’t know if you should hear this from me, but in some ways, maybe it’s better that it’s someone you don’t really know. At least you know I’ve got no reason to lie to you.”

I frown as I try to make sense of what he’s saying. “Lie to me about what?”

“About what we are. Me and everyone else in this town. There’s something different about us than the people you used to live with, Sadie.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I grumble, and again, he almost smiles.

“I’m trying to. You’ve heard about supernatural creatures, right? Vampires, mermaids, demons, that sort of thing?”

My frown gets deeper. What the hell does this have to do with anything? “Sure. I read books.”

He nods. “Well, those writers didn’t completely make everything up. They get a lot of stuff wrong, but those species all really exist, and there are other ones too.”

He’s got to be kidding me. Is this some kind of prank on the new girl? But as I look into his green eyes, there’s no hint of a joke. He looks completely serious.

“There’s a whole species known as shifters. They look like humans for the most part, but they can change their form into different animals. There are dragons, lions, bears, anything big and scary you might think of. And wolves too.”

Wolves? So we were back to that. “You mean like werewolves?” I ask, trying to follow his train of thought.

His face brightens a little. “Yeah, exactly. What do you know about werewolves?”

I try to think. “I mean, I’ve seen Twilight. But that’s about it.”

He winces. “That f*****g movie…” he mutters under his breath before shaking his head. “Okay, forget everything you know then. But Sadie, what I need to tell you is that werewolves are real. The animal you heard in the school, that was a wolf, but it was also a man, a man who was in his wolf form. He can change back and forth between the two. And so can just about everyone in this town.”

My mind blanks as I try to take in what he’s saying. It has to be some kind of joke. This makes no sense at all.

“We’re all werewolves,” he says, looking somehow apologetic and proud at the same time. “Including me.”

Is he crazy? Just when I thought I had met someone really interesting, he has to go and turn out to be insane?

And then he says something even crazier.

“And most importantly, Sadie, you’re one too.”