Chapter 71: Chapter 9

HALEY

Winter break comes and goes, and school starts again. Natalie is a mess, but I figure it’s due to the fact that she’s not with her mate.

I watch her closely. Her power is almost palpable. She’s the daughter of the Starlight Sister, it’s so obvious now.

I wonder if anyone else knows about her. She seems to be in control.

I think of her for a moment. I watch as the Starlight Sister wipes a pink palm across her sleeping forehead. She kisses Damon’s cheek then leaves.

I wonder if Natalie knows he’s her mate yet.

“It’s not polite to stare,” Virgil startles me with a voice much deeper than I’m used to.

“I wasn’t staring. I was thinking.” Virgil is almost unrecognizable with how much he’s grown.

He’s been working with Alpha Redd and it definitely shows. He’s grown at least five inches and his cheeks have thinned out. His freckles are faded and his body has become stronger.

“Now you’re definitely staring,” he says with a smirk.

“Sorry, who are you? You almost look like my friend Virgil, but he’s not as tall or…as well built.”

Virgil laughs out loud. “I guess I have changed a little.”

“A little?”

He shrugs. “I’m not the only one. When did you get a figure? You’re even more beautiful than you were a few weeks ago.”

I snort a laugh then look down to my more shapely body. Training has done work on my body as well.

I would blush, but Virgil isn’t checking me out like some piece of meat. “Virgil, why aren’t you dating anyone?”

He shrugs his shoulder. “Because you live so far away and I don’t have a license.”

I ignore his remark, no one wants to be associated with the twin terrors. “You’re almost seventeen…?”

“And you’ll be fifteen next week. Maybe I should take you out for your birthday. Do you think I can get my license in time?”

“You don’t want to take me and my sister out for our birthday.” I roll my eyes. Goddess, why do we have to be so awkward?

“I guess your sister can come too since it is her birthday. You two seem to be a packaged deal. I almost wonder if the two of you will share a mate.”

I scoff at that. “Rude. And that’s gross. I’m not into incest, thank you very much.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was trying to ask you out, just you. I guess it came out wrong.” My mouth drops open. I never thought he actually liked me.

He’s always been respectful.

Jason, on the other hand… He walks up and looks me over then grabs Virgil. “Come on, we gotta go or I’m going to be late for work.” Jason gives me a nod. “Weston twin.”

I roll my eyes. “It’s Summers, Haley Summers in fact. Not Weston.”

“My bad. Virgil, let’s go.” He shoves him along, but Virgil turns to wave.

Glory catches up to me and watches as Jason, Virgil, Natalie, and Abel pile into an old beat-up truck. “He’s even hotter now.”

“Let him go, Glory. He’s not your mate. Your mate will actually be nice to you.”

“You never know. It could be him and Jason is nice. It’s only when I screw up that he gets after me.” Oh, this girl.

“Your mate would never get after you. He’ll give you the respect you deserve.” I tell her as we climb aboard the bus.

I don’t tell Glory about Virgil asking me out. I call him as soon as I get to my room.

“Hey. I’m really sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to be so offensive, I just wasn’t thinking.” He tells me as soon as he answers the phone.

“It’s fine, I just didn’t realize that you were asking me out. But the whole no driving and living hours away thing kind of makes it hard to go out.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’ll just have to see you at school. I have to go to training. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Have fun kicking ass.” Virgil laughs then says goodbye.

Goddess, I’m an idiot. I definitely didn’t see that coming. Virgil is nice and he’s definitely hot, but do I want to date?

I was looking forward to finding my mate, but my conversation with Uncle Ryan squashed that idea.

That night I see our pack being attacked. Uncle Ryan fights alongside his guards, but it’s not enough. Louisa and Edgar get killed then Blaine, but he’s a bit older.

Glory runs from a wolf chasing after her.

“Haley!” I gasp and look up to Uncle Ryan. I look around to the present and my shaking body is picked up.

“Uncle Ryan.” I sob into his shoulder.

“Haley. Please talk to me.”

“Blaine. Louisa. Edgar. The pack.. Glory. They all…”

He holds my head and squeezes me tighter as he shushes me. “What happened to them?”

“They all died. It was awful.”

“Hey, it was only a dream, right.” He pats my back and I pull away from him to look at his face.

I nod. Oh Goddess, what do I do? I can’t tell him that I see the future.

There has to be a way to stop this from happening. I watch until the same night shows up, but we have help on our side from both the Ramirez pack and the Redd Pack.

The intruders are destroyed and only a few are injured.

My eyes clear and I minutely relax. Uncle Ryan just watches me. “Do I need to be concerned about this?”

I shake my head. “No. It was just a bad dream. Like you said.” He gives me a nod and I get back into bed.

“Thank you, Uncle Ryan.” I murmur as he stands.

“Goodnight kiddo.” He tucks me in and kisses my forehead. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” I roll over and close my eyes.

Virgil is leaning against the gate when our bus pulls up. My cheeks warm up when I see him. “Glory. I’ll catch up with you in the cafeteria.”

She gives me a puzzled look but steps off the bus and heads around the corner. Virgil stands straight as I step down. “Hey.”

“Hi. I uh, I was hoping I could walk with you. Are you all right?” I nod and bite my lip as we slowly walk toward the cafeteria.

“Yeah. I just had a rough night.” His concern is touching but I just keep walking.

Virgil lets go of a breath then starts talking. “Haley. I like you. I don’t know if you’re waiting for your mate, but…”

“I’m not,” I cut him off. “I’m actually terrified of finding him.” The words just slipped out.

“Why? I’ve never met anyone afraid to find their mate before.” We stopped walking, and he turned to wait for my answer.

“I have to reject him. I can’t say more than that. I honestly don’t know more, but I do know that I can’t mate. It’s not only my life at stake, but Glory’s too.”

I was unusually talkative today. Damn, he was going to think I was crazy.

“That doesn’t make any sense, but… I do believe you.” I just shrugged my shoulder and looked away.

“What if he doesn’t reject you back?”

I looked back up into his warm brown eyes. “Then I guess we’ll suffer like Alpha Redd and Luna Kya did.”

Virgil took my hand. “I would hate to see you suffer. If I’m around, I’ll kick his ass until he returns the rejection.”

I chuckled slightly, grateful for his consideration. “What about you? Are you waiting for your mate?”

He shrugged his shoulder. “I think it’s a good idea to save myself, but I don’t see anything wrong with dating.” He had yet to let go of my hand.

“Dating…Virgil. You don’t want to get involved with me. I’m a mess.”

Virgil dropped my hand. “You’re no different than the rest of us. We all have issues, but I get it. I was just a little too hopeful.”

“No. Granted you caught me by surprise, but you’re not too hopeful. I do like you, Virgil, but I just…have too much going on.”

His lip twitched up ever so slightly. “If you change your mind, I’ll be around.” I nodded and watched him walk away.

A tear slipped down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away before joining Glory as she tripped over a backpack and dropped her tray. A few people laughed, but one look from Virgil and they stopped immediately.