My Wolf's Bane

  By Veronica Blade

  My Wolf’s Bane

  Copyright © 2013 by Veronica Blade. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  Crush Publishing, Inc

  Sunland, CA 91040

  Crush Publishing, Inc name and logo are trademarks of Crush Publishing, Inc and are used only with its permission.

  The places, characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by author.

  ISBN 978-0-9853434-5-3

  FOR ALLIETo give you life after Twilight

  Immediately following the end of this story, please scroll to the next page for sneak peeks of other books by Veronica Blade.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Scooping up my backpack, I abandoned my geriatric car and forged through the double doors of the school. The patter of my sandals echoed through the hallway as I smiled at a group of classmates passing by.

  My nose detected the bathroom before my eyes did, filling with the smell of disinfectant and… paint? Whatever. I’d take the toxic fumes over my former home school days, where my parents had kept me trapped without a social life.

  Inside the empty restroom, I rummaged through my backpack for my makeup bag. I set it on the edge of the sink, then surveyed the damage. At least I’d had time to do my hair before I’d stormed out of the house. Long, dark brown hair cascaded over my shoulders in thick waves. My face was a different story though. Evidence of sleep deprivation circled my eyes and my normally olive skin was pale.

  As I stared at my reflection, I wondered how to handle my very dead car without involving my mom or dad. After the bomb they’d dropped last night — that we’d be moving again in just a few weeks — I didn’t want to speak to either of them. I mean, what kind of parents uproot their kid two to three times a year? There had to be a way to convince them to stay a few weeks more, until I turned eighteen. Then I could make my own choices.

  The restroom door swung open behind me, letting in the dull roar of voices and banging lockers, and a younger girl disappeared into a stall. Was it time for my first class already? I checked the time on my cell and realized I’d been holding the mascara brush for several minutes, yet my lashes were still naked. Crap.

  I tossed the makeup bag into my backpack, slung it over my shoulder and whipped open the door. Barreling out of the bathroom, I slammed into what felt like a walking boulder. I ricocheted off the human rock and my backpack hit the wall behind me, throwing me off balance and pitching me forward into the hard, linoleum tile.

  My palms cushioned my fall, but I winced as pain spiked up my wrists. On all fours, I lifted my chin and peeked through my curtain of dark hair.

  He wore a black tee that molded to his wide, muscular shoulders and jeans that fit over powerful legs. Wow. I’d thought my soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend was cute, but this guy…

  “You okay?” the hottie asked in a sexy, gravelly voice, stretching a hand toward me. His hand wrapped around mine and effortlessly pulled me up, as if I weighed no more than my calculus book. Maybe it was the throbbing in my limbs or the warmth of his hands on my elbows. Or maybe it was his earthy scent invading my senses, but a wave of dizziness hit me and I tipped forward.

  His hands shot to my hips to steady me. “Easy there.”

  I stared into his deep, green eyes as my palms rested on his hard biceps for support. Lord, he smelled good, like the forest after rain.

  My breath hitched.

  The scuffling of feet and rustling clothes seemed quieter than it should’ve been. I glanced over my shoulder to see what was up. Nearly everyone in the hallway had their eyes fixed on me. No doubt, most of them had witnessed me doing the Humpty-Dumpty and, by the end of the day, the incident would be all over school. Probably even caught on video and uploaded to YouTube, me with no makeup and totally un-cute. Ugh.

  Hot Guy may have been standing right in front of the bathroom in my way, but I shouldn’t have been speeding. I opened my mouth to apologize when I recognized Daniel’s voice.

  “That’s my girl you’re touching, freak.” Daniel sneered, flicked his long, dirty-blond hair over his shoulder and clamped onto my wrist. “Hands off.”

  Hot Guy nudged me aside and stepped forward until he almost butted chests with Daniel. “You need to learn some manners.”

  “Oh, yeah? You gonna try to teach me, girly boy?”

  Though I knew Daniel was acting like an idiot, the school gossip mill didn’t need any more material on me today. I was more than finished with Daniel, but I didn’t necessarily want him to get a public smack-down — even though he probably deserved it. Wedging myself between them, I twisted to meet Daniel’s gaze. “Let’s just go.”

  “Good idea.” Daniel gave Hot Guy another scalding look before grabbing my hand and jerking me away. I breathed a sigh of relief that I wouldn’t have to referee a brawl.

  “Ass hat,” Hot Guy muttered.

  Daniel kept walking, practically dragging me along. He couldn’t have heard the insult or he would’ve stopped and turned on Hot Guy. But I had heard it so clearly. Weird.

  “Hang on and I’ll walk you to class.” Daniel paused at his locker and spun the combination lock.

  “Sure,” I said absently. I glanced over my shoulder to Hot Guy, who was leaning against a locker fiddling with his cell phone. The least I could do was give him an apologetic smile and mime, “Sorry.”

  I didn’t get a chance. His gaze met mine, his mouth twisting as he raised one brow. Okay, so this wasn’t going to be an easy fix. Hot Guy seemed too old to be in high school anyway. Probably a college student dropping off his younger sibling, which meant I’d never see him again.

  I wanted to keep staring at his perfectly sculpted nose, angular cheekbones and deep brown hair that fell haphazardly over his forehead, but he spun and strolled off in the opposite direction. A tug of my hand drew my focus back to my future ex-boyfriend.

  “Hold up,” I said. The warning bell sounded, but I barely heard it as I yanked my hand from his. “Why’d you have to act like such a psycho?”

  Daniel shrugged, as though the answer was obvious. “He was touching you.”

  I laughed. “Seriously?”

  “You’re mine, Autumn. No other guy can ever touch you again.” He said it like he couldn’t believe I’d even question him.

  “I’m no one’s property,” I hissed. “Besides, I tripped and he was just helping me up.”

  “Why are you defending that loser?” His voice rose and his face flushed.

  My hands balled into fists. “Because I don’t like how you treat people.”

  “What are you talking about?” He gave me a look that said it all — I was insane. I opened my mouth to start in on him, but his eyes swept the corridor before he said, “We’re gonna be late for class.”

  Daniel was right. The hall was deserted. A stream of mild curses spewed from my mouth as I sprinted to homeroom with only seconds to spare.

  † † †

  Just before lunch, I scribbled notes in my textbook and tried to concentrate on the current assignment, but my mind drifted to Hot Guy. Why had I heard his insult when Daniel obviously hadn’t?

  The bell rang and I gathered my books and headed to the cafeteria. As soon as I entered the corridor, I caught a whiff of cinnamon and orange. John’s signature scent, since he always chewed this weird gum. I glanced around, expecting him to be right next to me.

  A moment later, John stood beside me and that same cinnamon-orange scent heightened. B
ut why had I smelled it before he even got there?

  “Hey.” I flashed him a smile.

  Daniel and my friend Gina didn’t talk to super-geeks like John. I did though, ever since a few weeks ago when I’d watched him get between little Benny Frampton and two big jocks.

  To avoid witnessing carnage, I’d rushed over and flirted with the bullies. John took his cue and got the kid out of their way. Ever since then, I never treated John like a nerd, no matter how much Daniel and Gina protested my friendship with him. To me, he was Brave John, my friend.

  “Heard what happened this morning,” John said as he fell into step with me, “but I see you’re still in one piece.”

  Ah, the gossip mill running fast, as usual. “Yeah. Good as new,” I said, marveling at how my hands and knees weren’t sore at all. First the amazing hearing, then the super-human sense of smell and now the lack of bruises. Weird. Was I sick or something?

  “So you want to see a movie tomorrow?” he asked. “I bet Maya would come.”

  My jeans vibrated. I stopped to juggle books to my other arm and reached into my pocket to read the text. It was from my mom. Coming home directly after school, sweetheart?

  I groaned, answered the text and shoved the phone back in my pocket. “Unfortunately, I can’t go anywhere this weekend.”

  “Oh.” He nodded slowly, frowning. “Grounded again?”

  “Yep.”

  “How much do you owe this time?”

  As we passed other students along the hallway, I flicked the lapel of my new leather jacket and wagged a finger toward my jeans. “These weren’t cheap. I think my latest shopping euphoria gave me amnesia that I still owed my parents.”

  When they gave me an advance, it had to be paid back before leaving the house the following weekend. That was the rule. Paying my debts and keeping my agreements was supposed to teach me discipline. Why couldn’t they just hand over an allowance, with no strings attached, like other parents?

  “Wait.” John took hold of my arm, stopping me in my tracks. “Have you told Daniel yet? He won’t be too thrilled about his girlfriend ditching his party.”

  Daniel had exercised astounding patience over my parents’ rigid rules and nine pm curfews, but missing his party? He’d probably dump me… which would save me the trouble of breaking up with him.

  “True.” I landed a playful punch on John’s bicep as an arm wrapped around my waist, spinning me around and pulling me against a firm chest.

  “Hi, babe,” Daniel said. Always on the alert with him now, I flattened my palms against his stomach, ready to shove him away.

  When we’d first started dating a couple of months ago, Daniel did the sweetest things, like bring me daisies stolen from his mom’s garden. He’d won me over all the way the day he’d changed my flat tire. But in the last few days, Daniel had gone from loving and considerate to demanding and offensive. Worse, he’d become hard of hearing when it came to the word “no,” and I wasn’t in the mood to fend off his pawing. I was so over him, no matter how uber-popular he was.

  “Hey, Daniel,” John said.

  Daniel ignored him. John rolled his eyes, then ambled away.

  “You could try being nice,” I said, moving out of Daniel’s grasp. I wanted to end it with him right then, but a hallway swarming with people wasn’t the best place. “What’d John ever do to you?”

  Daniel snorted. “He annoys me. I don’t know why you give that dork the time of day. C’mon, let’s eat.”

  Dork or not, eating with John and my other best friend, Maya, sounded like much more fun. But Gina still needed to know I couldn’t go with her to Daniel’s party. An A-lister like her wouldn’t have a problem finding someone else, but she’d probably blow the whole thing out of proportion anyway. Maybe she’d even dump me.

  Gina had been my first friend at Verdugo Hills Academy and introduced me to the cool people. She always had my back. At first, hanging with school royalty had been exciting, but being popular wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. It took me three months with Gina to realize I preferred Maya and John, people who were easy to be around.

  Daniel led me to the lunchroom and, after collecting some food, we settled next to each other at our usual table. Gina had beaten us there, stunning in a pink sleeveless blouse with ruffles for straps. Her short, auburn hair had been blown straight, bringing out the natural red highlights. As always, her makeup was flawless, just like her heart-shaped face.

  Which reminded me that I still wasn’t wearing any makeup.

  Her friend Natalie, who’d never warmed up to me, huddled with her. Natalie had potential beauty, but her ever-present scowl and matching mood always overpowered those piercing hazel eyes and short cap of black, curly hair.

  Gina stopped talking mid-sentence and turned to us with a grin. “Hey, guys.”

  “I’ll see you later,” Natalie told her, rising from the bench. She wrinkled her nose at me, then left. I knew Natalie was just jealous that Gina hung out with me more, but knowing Natalie’s reasons didn’t make her any less irritating. Thankfully, once I showed up, she didn’t usually stick around long.

  I returned Gina’s smile, but it faltered in anticipation of her reaction to my house arrest. “How’s it going?”

  “Babe, I’ll be back.” Daniel’s beefy hand darted out for the sandwich on his tray, then he left without waiting for a reply. Relieved to have him gone, I watched him join a couple of his friends.

  “God, who died?” Gina asked.

  “What do you mean?” Oh, crap, was my reluctance to confess that obvious?

  “Look at you.” She quirked a brow. “You’re so junior high without makeup.”

  “Oh, yeah.” I lifted one shoulder. “Ran short on time this morning.”

  Maya appeared at our table, looking amazing even holding a plastic food tray. She was a guy’s embodiment of perfection with her long, wavy blond hair and voluptuous body. She occasionally complained how hard it was to find a bra that fit around her narrow ribcage, but could still hold all she had to offer. Like all that cleavage was such a burden. Poor thing.

  “Hey, Autumn.” Maya turned to Gina, her tone going flat. “Hi.”

  “Nice shirt.” Gina smiled sweetly. “How generous of your brother to go through his clothes for you.”

  My mouth dropped open. Gina had never been nice to Maya, but she usually limited their interaction to giving her the cold shoulder. “Gina, what the hell?” I demanded.

  “Holy Underwear Model.” Gina’s gaze riveted to her right. “Who’s the hottie sitting with Trevor?”

  Following the path of her gaze, I froze. The din of voices, the distant clanging of trays and the smell of grease faded away when I recognized the guy with the dark hair and green eyes I’d gotten lost in.

  My stomach dipped.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Maya glanced behind her. “That’s Zack De Luca.”

  “And?” Gina prompted.

  “Trevor’s cousin.” Maya laid her tray on the table, but remained standing.

  As if he could feel me staring at him, Zack turned his gaze on me. I gave him a welcoming smile, hoping he’d forget I’d bulldozed into him earlier and how my dickhead boyfriend had behaved. No such luck. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

  I instantly deflated. “What’s his deal?”

  “Zack just enrolled. He’s been visiting weekends and summers for years, but now he’s here for good.”

  Maya had crushed on Trevor since grade school and knew everything about him and, it seemed, his relatives. I couldn’t understand why she and Trevor hadn’t already hooked up.

  “Did he fail a couple grades? He looks old enough to be in college.” I surreptitiously checked out the boys again, while I broke off a piece of my grilled cheese sandwich. Trevor’s hair was a little lighter and his features less angular, but both guys excelled in the cute department. Zack more so.

  “Almost the same age as Trevor. He’s a senior like us,” Maya said, glancing back at them. ??
?Though he’s grown about a foot and bulked up since I saw him last.”

  “Steroids?” I asked.

  Maya laughed. “He’s always looked older than Trevor.”

  “He could have that aging disease,” I offered.

  Gina still hadn’t taken her eyes off him. “Who cares? He’s smokin’ hot. You can practically see his six-pack through his T-shirt.”

  Maya rolled her eyes as if Gina were insane to prefer Zack over Trevor. “I could find out more about him, if you want me to.”

  Gina turned to Maya with a sneer. “You’re such a stalker.”

  “Whatever, Gina. It’s called being nice,” Maya said through gritted teeth. “Something you don’t have a lot of experience with.”

  Gina made a face at Maya, then focused on me. “You’ve been hogging the cutest guy in school for weeks. If Zack fell madly in love with me, the hottest guy would be mine. Compared to him, Daniel looks like he’s got chromosome issues.”

  Even if I still liked Daniel, I couldn’t be offended at the absolute truth. Everything about Zack was exactly right. As if feeling my gaze, he turned sharply in my direction again. My dad once wore the same expression when he discovered the decaying remains of a cat under our house.

  My cheeks heated and I dropped my gaze to pluck a potato chip from my plate.

  Maya moved next to me for a better view of the guys. “Must be awkward starting a new school when the year is almost over.”

  Before I could stop myself, my eyes found their way back to Zack.

  “Not when you’re that hot. He’ll be just fine.” Gina’s fork banged onto the plastic tray when she tossed it and stood. “Time to introduce myself.”

  As I watched Zack, the hair on the back of my neck stood at attention. There was something different about him… almost feral. I wanted to caution Gina, but she’d probably call me paranoid.

  Gina sashayed over to Zack, coyly twisting her hair around a finger. Trevor got up, leaving them alone. I eyed them under my lashes as Gina said something. Zack chuckled and she laughed.