Chapter Nine: Night Before

Sammy was

sitting at her desk laughing at something Monty had said about their teacher;

when the door opened. She glanced up and her heart skipped a beat. Boone walked

into the room and walked straight to the teacher and handed her a piece of

paper. The teacher pointed to a desk in the front row and Boone took the paperback

from the teacher, then walked over to the chair in front of Sammy, that was

beside Monty. He pointed to the kid who was sitting in it, then pointed to the

front of the room.

The kid

looked at the stern look on the larger kid's face, then picked up his

belongings and scurried to the front of the room.

“What are

you doing here?” Sammy whispered as she leaned forward.

“It

sounded so cool that I had the principle change my schedule.” Boone said as he

pulled his books from his bag.

“Bull.”

Sammy hissed.

Boone

turned and looked at her with that smile, that could melt her insides to mush.

“You said

so yourself Sammy, it’s “cool” for us all to be together. I thought you would

like it if it included me too.”

“I, uh…”

She didn’t know what to say.

He patted

her hand and his hand lingered on hers for a moment, before he pulled it away

and turned to face the front of the room.

Raye

poked Sammy in the elbow. Sammy looked at her and accepted the note she was

trying to shove at her. Sammy opened the note and stared at it, her eyes opening

wide.

He’s jealous, go with it, girl.

Sammy

swallowed past the dryness of her throat as she looked up at the back of

Boone’s head. She could tell he was glaring at Monty. She smiled as she wrote

back to her new best friend. She hasn’t passed notes in ages, she had forgotten

how fun it was.

He’s so damn sexy when he’s jealous,

isn’t he?

She

folded the paper back up and passed it back to Raye. Raye let out a laugh and

gave Sammy a nod in response.

~*~

Boone

stood below Sammy’s windows, as he waited for the first moon cycle to pass.

Tonight is the night before the full moon, and he was going to make sure Sammy

stayed safe, stayed human. Or whatever she is. He felt his phone vibrate and

looked down at it. He had a text from Sammy.

Meet us at the pizza joint, see you

there.

How had

he missed seeing her leave? He looked up at the window one last time, then ran

to the gate and jumped it with ease, then ran to his car around the corner and

rushed to the pizza joint, to meet up with Sammy and Raye.

~*~

Sammy

looked at the intercom in her suite. Someone was at the front gate. She looked

at the clock. Eight-thirty. Not too awfully late.

“Hello?”

She said into the mic.

“Hey,

Sammy.”

Sammy

smiled when she heard Monty’s voice. “Hey Monty, what’s up?”

“I have

your phone, you dropped it on your way home.”

I did? She thought as her

eyebrows furrowed.

She

shrugged her shoulders. She was hungry anyway, maybe he’d like to go out with

them, she’ll call Boone and Raye too.

“I will

be right down.” She said, then rushed out of her suite and down the stairs.

“Going out with friends will be back later.” She called out to her parents, not

caring if they actually heard her or not.

Sammy found

Monty on the other side of the gates, smiling, as he held up her phone.

“Great, I

didn’t even know I had lost it.” Sammy said as she took the phone from him.

“Glad I

saw it and picked it up. I would have brought it to you sooner, but my parents

were driving me nuts.”

Sammy laughed;

she knows all too well about that. She searched through her contacts as she

looked for Boone and Raye.

“I took

the liberty of texting them.” He said when she stopped at a text he had sent

out to Boone.

“Why?”

She asked as she looked up at him.

Monty

shrugged. “Figured that’s where we would head. I’m starving, let’s go.” He said

as he took her by the arm and led her to the woods, on the other side of her

house.

“That’s

not the way to the pizza joint.” She said as she tried to pull from him.

“It’s a

shortcut.” He said as his grip tightened, and he dragged her into the trees.

“I have

lived here all my life, there is no short cut here.” She protested.

“Trust

me.” He said as he led her past the path and into the thick woods.

“Trust

you? It seems I don’t know you well at all.” She cried as she tried to pull

away from him.

“Please.”

He said as he pulled her.

He

sounded almost forlorn, but why?

“Monty.”

She said as he pulled her deeper and deeper into the forest. She tried to pull

away, but his grip was so strong around her arm.

“Please

forgive me.” He whispered.

“Forgive

you?” She asked as she watched the trees go by them. Where’s he taking me?

“Yes. I

love you.” He said on a whimper.

“What?!”

She asked with a squeal.

“Not that

way.” He said with a grumble and a sigh.

“What is

going on, Monty?” She begged as he stopped walking and turned to her.

“Please

don’t scream. It won’t do you any good and you’ll just hurt my ears and make me

angry. I don’t want to do this out of anger, I want to do this out of love.” He

said as he took a step away from her.

“Monty,

you’re scaring me.” She said as she watched him back away from her.

“I’m

sorry. Please forgive me.” He said as he bent over and started to groan.

“Monty?”

She asked in a whisper.

“Forgive

me.” He whispered as his body began to change.

Sammy

whimpered as she watched his body shift and heard bones popping and him

whimpering. What was going on?

“Monty?”

She cried when his face stretched, and a snout popped out. “What the?” She said

as she took a step back.

She

almost screamed when his body popped and crackled, then a large wolf stood in front of her. He had said not to

scream, it would only make him angry, and she believed him. The wolf looked at

her with his golden eyes. His brown fur looked so soft, she wanted to reach out

and touch it. But should she? She had

just watched a boy she thought she knew, turn into a wolf.

She

reached her hand out to touch him and his nose bumped her hand, then his eyes

closed as she rubbed the top of his nose. He looked happy to be touched. She

felt as though this was a normal thing for her to do, though she has never

touched a wolf before, let alone a large wolf that used to be a boy. Couldn’t

be, but they don’t exist. But could she deny what she had just witnessed?

“Werewolf.”

She whispered as she pulled her hand back and stared at him.

Monty

opened his eyes and looked at her with a whimper. He had been enjoying her

touching him. She reached her hand out to touch his soft fur again and watched

as he closed his eyes to her touch.

“Sammy,

no!”

Sammy

turned her head when she heard the shout. Boone was running through the woods,

with Raye close behind him. What were they doing there, and how did he find

her? Then she remembered the word Monty had used the day they had met him.

‘Hunter.’

Sammy

watched Boone pull out a large pistol from behind his back and point it at

Monty. No, she couldn’t let him kill this beautiful creature.

Monty’s

eyes had popped open when Boone had hollered. It was now or never. He bit down

on Sammy’s arm, making sure his teeth sunk into her skin. She screamed as he

tasted her blood in his mouth. He let go of her arm when Boone fired a warning

shot over their heads. He could tell Boone was too afraid he’d hit Sammy. With

a whimper, he took off at a run, away from them as he dodged another bullet

from Boone’s gun.

He could

still hear Sammy screaming and Raye hollering at Boone, asking what to do. He

had to find the clothes he had stashed in the woods and get back to Sammy;

before Boone did something that would ruin everything.

~*~

“Boone,

what is happening? What was that, why do you have a gun, and why is Sammy

convulsing?” Raye asked in a panic.

“Stand

back, it’s not a full moon, I can save her.” Boone said as he knelt beside

Sammy’s convulsing body.

Is this

why he had been drawn to her? Because he had known he would need to save her?

Boone

bent down and took hold of the arm the werewolf had bitten and pressed his lips

to the wound. If he sucked out the poison, before her first change of the full

moon, he had a high chance of stopping all changes.

“No,

Don’t!” Monty screamed as he tackled Boone away from Sammy.

“Monty.”

Raye said with a squeal. Where had he come from?

“Wolf!”

Boone hollered as he shoved Monty off him.

“You

can’t stop her change.” Monty said as he got into a crouch and circled the

hunter.

“She

trusted you.” Boone said with a growl.

“And she

still can. Please believe me.” Monty said as he looked over at Sammy, who was

still crying out in pain.

“You two

need to stop this show of machoness, Sammy needs a doctor!”

“No!”

Monty and Boone said at the same time, as they looked at Raye.

Raye held

her hands up as she backed away from them. “Okay, then what are we doing?”

“Waiting.”

Monty said as he turned back to Boone.

“I’m

saving her!” Boone said with a growl.

“You

won’t be saving her, Boone. Haven’t you felt it? The pull? That has to be why

you had followed her here.”

Boone

stopped and stood up straight. “How did you know?”

“Because

she isn’t human.” Monty said as he stood.

“Isn’t

human?” Raye asked with confusion. “How is she not human?”

“She’s

one of mine.” Monty said as he faced Boone. “One of the good ones.”

“There

are no good Werewolves.” Boone said with a growl.

“Look at

me, Boone. Am I out killing people right now?”

“No,

you’re here trying to change my girlfriend, into one of you…” Boone stopped

talking. His what?

Raye

giggled. “About time you acknowledged it, Boone.”

“She

isn’t what you think.” Monty said as he moved to block Boone; when he tried to

go around him.

“What are

you talking about?” Boone demanded.

“Just

wait.” Monty said with a whisper as he turned to watch Sammy, as her body went

calm.

Boone

moved to stand behind Monty and watched as Sammy’s body stopped moving and just

laid there. There was no helping her now, the poison was in her system. She

will change tomorrow on the full moon.

If his

parents were here, they would tell him to shoot her. Lucky thing they’re off on

some hunt, while he’s here, dealing with the lunacy around him. She should

still be burning with fever; she should be crying out in pain. No one has ever

gotten over the burn so quickly before.

He

watched as the bite marks on her arms healed. He spun Monty around to face him

with fury in his eyes. “You are going to tell me everything that is going on,

and I mean now!”

Monty

looked up at the larger man and shook his head. “We should get Sammy home

first.”

Boone

looked over the man’s head at the girl on the ground, who had long ago stopped

moving and just laid there on the ground.

Monty

turned from Boone and headed towards Sammy.

“Screw

that.” Boone said as he shoved Monty aside and lifted Sammy into his arms.

Monty let

out a laugh. “Look at that, a Hunter caring for a Werewolf. Thought I would

never see the day.”

“You and

me both.” Boone said with a growl as he passed Monty and headed towards Sammy’s

house.