*****Edited by krisgee*****

2011 © All Rights Reserved

Chapter 3- Amy

            I walked in the classroom shaking with fury.  Sitting down at my usual seat I ceremoniously dumped my book bag and purse by my desk.  I quickly glanced up at the board and reviewed the day’s assignments before groaning internally.  I covered my head with my hands and dropped them down to the desk.

            Why did I let him get to me like that?  He doesn’t even know me.  Who the hell does he think he is?  Question after question rambled through my brain about the mysterious new student who has conveniently found a first class way to piss me off on the first day of my senior year of high school.  I heard the chair to the desk beside me scratch against the floor and peered above my hands to see my cousin, Tabby grinning like an idiot.

            “Hey, have you seen the new man candy?  Everyone is talking about how hot he is,” she said excitedly.

            I dropped my head and decided to ignore her.  Instead I pulled out my notebook and started to write down the assignments on the board. Tabby was having none of that.  She jumped on my desk and flicked my pony tail to gain my attention. 

            “Aw, come on Amy.  You have to start dating this year.  Who goes all the way through high school without dating at least one boy?  Why not call dibs on the new guy.  You are one of the prettiest    girls in the school and you’re the Alpha’s daughter.  There is no freaking way he could resist you.”  The chatter in the class immediately died and we both turned our head towards the door to see the         new “man candy” walk in the room.

            “Aw, damn”, I muttered.  Tabby turned her head back my way and mouthed, “Wowzers, look at the butt on him”. 

             I rolled my eyes at her before replying.

            “He’s nothing but a stuck up arrogant prick just waiting for all the girls to swoon over him.  Look at them; they need bibs to collect the drool dripping from their mouths”.

            Tabby chuckled at my summation of Mr. Man Candy.  I couldn’t help but secretly admire how good he looked especially in those tight fitting wranglers and leather boots.  The way that shirt stretched just right to show off his broad chest made my stomach do funny flips.  As he approached the desk that I was sitting in I held my breath.  No way would he sit near me after what he had said this morning.  He was now standing right above me and man, he smelled delicious. I turned my gaze to the book on my desk, trying to make myself look busy when I felt his warm breath blow against my ear.  My body automatically tingled with anticipation and I froze.

            His voice, which was smooth as warm honey tickled my senses. 

            “That would be Mr. Stuck Up Arrogant Prick to you, Princess.”  I felt a sharp little love bite on the tip of my ear lobe and squealed in reaction.  My eyes flew up to meet his dark chocolate ones and I gasped at the gall of the boy.  He gave me a confident smirk and then strolled casually to an empty seat in the back of the room.  I slapped my hands down on my desk out of annoyance causing Tabby to jump. 

            “Agghh, he sure has some nerve,” I grumbled right before Mr. Knight walked into the classroom.

            Tabby slid off my desk and sat down in the chair beside me.  I could feel eyes watching me, studying me.  I kept my gaze forward and tried really hard to listen to Mr. Knight’s lecture on the Bill of Rights.  His smell was all that I could focus on.  What was it about him that made me so crazy?  I refused to turn around and look at him.  I would not give him one minute of that simple satisfaction.  The tiny hairs on the back of neck prickled and I knew immediately that he was watching me.  The electricity between us was humming in the air. 

            I peered beside me and Tabby was watching me intently.  I tried to paste a smile on my face but according to her frown, I knew that she wasn’t buying it.  Mr. Knight continued with his lecture but I couldn’t focus on him.  I started to doodle on my paper.  By the end of the class I looked down and sighed at what I had drawn.  Big brown eyes.  Those gorgeous chocolate eyes that belonged to my beautiful stranger.  Abruptly I stood up and crumpled the paper into a tight ball.  I had to stop obsessing over him. 

            Tabby wrapped an arm around my shoulder and started to pull me out of the room.  Unfortunately I made the mistake of looking back and locking eyes with his mysterious brown ones.  A smile curled on his lips causing giddiness to warm deep in my belly.  Against my will, a smile lifted on my lips just before I was rudely pulled into the hall to face none other than my brother, Zach.

            He was leaning against the locker with his hands crossed over his chest and he definitely did not look happy.  His nostrils were flaring and his mouth was set in a grim line.  Tabby took one look at Zach before glancing over to me with a sympathetic smile.

            “Hey, I’ll see you at lunch Aims, okay?” 

            Before I had the chance to respond she was lost in the throngs of the crowd.  I thought to myself, yeah, she knows that look.  “Coward,” I mumbled under my breath as I walked over to Zach.  At first he didn’t say a word.  He just looked down at me, brooding. 

            Suddenly Zach’s head popped up to the classroom door and I watched as his eyes narrowed into thin slits.  He grabbed me roughly by the shoulders and shoved me behind him.  Jack and Leon moved in from out of nowhere and flanked him.   I pushed Zach in the back, wanting him to move so that I could see what he was glaring at.  I heard a low growl rumble and again the sound tickled deep in my belly.  I didn’t need to see who he was looking at because I could sense him.  My skin was sensitive and his smell intoxicated me.  It was Mr. Hunky Brown Eyes. 

            I tried to shove my way through the boys but none of them would budge.  Again, I heard a low growl but this one was familiar.  It was my brother.  In a low voice that only we wolves could here he snarled to my handsome stranger.

            “If I ever find out that you have talked, touched or even looked at my sister again, I will kill you.  You get me boy?”   

            There was a pause in the standoff and I tried to jump over my brother’s shoulder to catch some of the action.  Then I heard it and my heart swelled.  His voice.  His voice that was as smooth as whiskey fired in my senses.

             “You will not tell me what to do and you will not tell my mate what she cannot do.  You have no right to interfere with fate’s match up,” he replied, very calmly.

            The word mate stuck in my head.  Oh boy, he said mate.  That was why I was having so much trouble with how I reacted around him.  Mr. Hunky Brown Eyes was my mate.  I instantly fell back and leaned against the locker.  I was too young for a mate.  I wanted to go to college, maybe start a business.   I was so not ready for this.  The boys continued to argue but I couldn’t make out any of the conversation.  My mind was stuck on that one word; mate.  Finally, I heard my brown eyed stranger yell at Zach.

            “This is not over and you cannot stop a fated match.”  I looked up just in time to see his back retreating down the hall.  A sense of despair washed over me as I watched my mate walk away from me.  I was so doomed.  Zach rounded on me and pushed me up against the locker.  He wasn’t rough this time but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was still majorly pissed. 

            “And you,” he said while pointing his finger into my chest. “What the hell were you thinking?”

            I was at a loss of words for the second time today.  I figure that dumbness must be a side effect of finding your life long mate.  I looked up at my brother and watched as his face softened and shrugged my shoulders.  My eyes started to well up with tears at the look of disappointment on my brother’s face.

            Shakily I asked, “What do you want me to say, Zach?”

            “I want you to tell me that you will never talk to that boy again Amy.  Their family is nothing but       rogues and we can’t trust them.  You have to promise me, Amy,” he said, using his authoritative Alpha voice at the end.    

            I shook my head in denial.  There was no way I could make that kind of a promise to him.  “Zach,” I whispered helplessly to him.  “He’s my mate.”

            “I. Don’t. Care.  You are not to be anywhere near him.  Understood?” he bit out irritably.

            I looked up into the face of my brother and knew instantly that he didn’t understand.  He didn’t understand this undeniable pull I had to my brown eyed stranger.  I closed my eyes and prayed for patience.  Zach shook my shoulders forcing me to look him in the eyes once again. 

            “Amy, please tell me you understand.”

            I couldn’t take it. That look broke my heart.  I tore myself from my brother and ran.  I ran as fast as I could to get myself outside of this school.  I heard him call my name but I needed to be alone for a few minutes and away from the disappointing eyes of my brother and cousins.

            I hit the doors at a dead sprint and ran straight for the woods.  I never looked back once.  I ran until I was well within the tree line and stripped all my clothing.  I let the change take over me and reveled in the call of the wild.  Then I ran some more.  I knew these woods like the back of my hand.  I ran until I exhausted my body and I couldn’t think anymore. 

            I stopped at the river bank and lapped at the cool water.  It quenched my thirst and I felt much better.  Falling on my haunches I rested my head on my paws and listened to the birds chirp.  I loved being outside where nothing really mattered.  I closed my eyes briefly and breathed in the fresh air.  On my third inhaled breath the scent hit me.  A sweet musky smell that had my nerves tingling all over.  My brown eyed stranger.

            I opened my eyes and standing in front of me was a large white wolf with those gorgeous brown eyes that could see clearly into my soul.  He was the most beautiful wolf that I had ever seen.  And he was looking at me with a hunger that I knew neither one of us would be able to deny much longer.