“Okay, okay.” I laughed. “I never tell anyone my favorite sandwich because people think it’s really weird. But I have a guilty pleasure for peanut butter, bacon, and banana sandwiches.”
“Seriously?” Luke stared at me wide-eyed.
“I know, it’s really weird.” I put my hands on my face in mock embarrassment.
“No, it’s just crazy because it’s my favorite sandwich too. I’ve never met anyone else that eats them.”
I laughed. “Wow, that’s a crazy coincidence. I don’t even remember how I came up with it, but I’ve been eating it for years.”
We fell into easy conversation while lively music played in the background, contrasted by the cheerful clamor and howls of partygoers. I’d never really spent any time one-on-one with Luke before but found that we avoided awkward pauses and never stopped having something to talk about. I regretted never being more friendly with him now that I knew we had so much in common.
Luke moved closer to me, and I took a sip from the cup he had brought over. And then...was he? It seemed like he was smelling my neck. I looked over at him and he smiled. He did have a really nice smile that lit up his whole face. He was really quite attractive, with deeply tanned skin, faint freckles dotting his nose, and long lashes that surrounded his vibrant brown eyes.
Being so close to him now, his scent overpowered my senses, filling my nostrils with the most intoxicating and salacious fragrance. As his hand casually touched me in conversation, a relaxed feeling came over my body. The feeling stretched through me, mixing with my buzz. We, again, moved closer, something within us drawing us to each other, his face now only inches from mine. As he spoke, moving his full, rosy lips, I had an illicit thought—I wanted to feel his mouth against mine.
“Hey, guys! Come on, let’s go dance with everyone!” Lucy stirred me from my thoughts, coming over half-dressed, her jeans missing from the lower half of her body, and her underwear exposed. I shook the thoughts from my head, realizing that I was about to commit the ultimate crime against my best friend. But I couldn’t control how I felt—it was at that moment that something rose up from deep within me, a raw desire—I wished that I had been the one that had met Luke first.
Chapter 2
*** Present Day ***
Jasmine
AfterIspentthelast hour putting together dinner that consisted of crispy, oven-baked chicken thighs, twice-baked potatoes, and a garden salad, my parents and I sat down to an early meal. We always ate early on Sundays so that we’d make it in time for the weekly temple service that started at six thirty in the evening. As I was cutting into my chicken, my dad looked over at me and asked, “So, Jasmine, have you given any more thought to your college major?”
It was mid-June, and I had just completed my freshman year of college a month earlier. Although I was quite clearly an adult now, my parents still treated me the same way they had in high school—micromanaging my life.
“Honey, she’s going into biochemistry as we did of course!” my mom jumped in before I could reply. “Then she can work at the pharmaceutical lab just like us. I mean, clearly, there aren’t many career options around here, so this would be perfect for a smart girl like Jasmine.”
“Is that what you’re planning to do, Jasmine?” My dad looked at me.
“We already talked about this,” I replied, annoyed by the repetitive conversation. “I’d have to move onto campus if I go into biochemistry because it requires taking lab classes.”
“That’s okay, right? It’s been years now since, well, you know,” my mom said. She hated the topic just as much as I did. She couldn’t stand anything that made anyone in our family anything less than perfect.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’ll think about it.” Don’t get me wrong, I would have loved to live on campus during the school year. My parents still treated me like a kid, never allowing me to do anything. I honestly thought my dad would never even allow me to get my driver’s license! After begging him for almost three years, he finally agreed to it after I graduated from high school. I was now actively saving to buy a car. Hopefully, that would give me some of the freedom I was currently lacking in my life!
The problem with going to school in person was that we lived in the middle of nowhere northern Vermont, not far from the Canadian border, so I would have to move onto campus. That would require me to be incessantly vigilant at keeping up the ruse of being human, something that wasn’t always possible for me; something I felt so ashamed about but couldn’t control. Most other werewolves had no problem blending in with human society, and many werewolves went away to human colleges. But I had a flaw. Yes, it had been a couple of years since it’d been an issue. Maybe if I could go another year, I’d finally feel comfortable enough to move onto campus and follow in my parents’ footsteps.
For now, it was better that I just stayed a remote student. Yes, it sucked—I was still under my parents’ thumbs as an adult. But it just wasn’t worth the risk.
Werewolves generally preferred to live in sparsely populated regions, and we naturally felt at ease in the cold weather. There were even more werewolf packs up in isolated parts of Canada and Alaska. In fact, my mom’s original pack was in Alaska, although we rarely saw that part of the family—we’d only ever visited them a few times and they never came here. I was much closer with my paternal grandparents since they lived down the street from us and always watched me growing up.
My parents met in college, and, upon graduating, moved back here to my dad’s pack to work at a pharmaceutical research lab owned by the neighboring Autumn Moon Pack. To afford the upkeep, most packs ran large, lucrative businesses. Our pack’s business was the only casino in the state, which was a popular tourist destination for humans, especially during fall foliage and ski season. It was located about twenty miles away, near a human town.
We ate quietly until my mom spoke again. “So, I heard tonight’s service should be more interesting than usual!”
“Why’s that?” my dad asked.
“I heard Alpha James will finally be announcing the transition of title to his son.”
“About time!” my dad exclaimed. “Alpha James is getting up there in age. What’s he now, sixty-five-ish? I think I was around two when he and Beta Alfred took title from their fathers. The whole pack is getting weak now.”
“What was he supposed to do—give his title to one of his illegitimate pups?” My mom snickered. “He’s only got the one legitimate son otherwise.”
“We don’t actually know if the rumors are true,” my dad responded.
“Oh, please. I’ve heard so many stories around the pack about his mistresses that were banished. It’s common with alphas. They don’t want any issues with their title passing to their legitimate heirs. Easy fix, right?”