“Neither of them should worry. They’ll both meet the people they’re meant to be with soon.” She smiled. “I’m hoping once my Lukey comes back to the pack he’ll finally find his mate.”
I nodded, not sure how to respond. After saying goodbye to Robin, I returned to my car. Once again, I started internally questioning why I had such strong feelings about Lucy and Luke’s relationship, especially now that even stronger feelings had emerged for Blake. One would think that I would have forgotten a silly crush that I had two years ago by now. I hadn’t seen Luke in all of that time, but his name still brought a strange yearning to the forefront. I shook my head, forcing myself to stop thinking about him, then shifted into drive to head to my grandparents’ house.
I walked into their house where both my grandparents enveloped me in hugs. “How’s the Jeep?” my grandfather asked.
“It’s great! I love it!” I replied.
“It’s a very nice-looking car,” my grandfather said, looking out the front window of his house.
“Thank you,” I replied, feeling pride for my new car.
“I’m proud of you, doing things the right way. Saving until you had enough to buy it outright instead of living above your means like so many people these days. That’s how people get into financial trouble.”
I may have left out the fact that Blake had cosigned a loan for half the car, making sure all the bills would be sent electronically to me rather than by mail. I smirked to myself thinking about how crazy that would be to explain. Sometimes I imagined telling my parents or grandparents something crazy just to see how they would react. I didn’t have the balls to actually do it, but it often made me laugh to myself.
For example, while eating dinner a few weeks back, my parents asked what I had done that day, that day being the one where I had been at the pond making out with Blake. I secretly considered how they would react if I told them that I’d let the future alpha put his mouth on my bare nipples that day. I could only imagine their shocked faces and the anger that would follow. I ended up just telling them that I had gone to the library and read all day.
After my grandmother handed me the muffins that she had promised me, we said our goodbyes and I went home to start dinner. After everything was prepared and cooking, I checked my phone. I opened the text thread with Blake only to feel disappointed again. He had left my message on read and never replied. I supposed he was busy. It wasn’t like we frequently spent time and texted with each other prior to that message. In fact, my message didn’t require a response, so it really wasn’t strange at all that he hadn’t supplied one. I forced myself to stop overanalyzing and to think of something else.
Next week I’d be going back to school, and I’d finally be able to concentrate on something else. All this idle time was driving me crazy. I had never spent so much time considering my love life. I was ready to go back to the old, practically asexual, me. The me that focused on just my obligations: school, temple choir, keeping up with a training routine, and my job.
Then, I had an epiphany—I no longer wanted to be the old me anymore. The old me was boring. This new me drove a bright blue Jeep Wrangler and thought about doing unthinkable, immoral things with a very sexy man who was not my mate.
Chapter 19
Lucy
Afterworkingafull-dayshift at the end of August, I went home and spent the next few hours baking dozens of cupcakes, cookies, and brownies. I was now the designated family baker. Any time someone had a celebration, I was assigned to make all the desserts. At first, I enjoyed this appointment, feeling like I finally had a place in my family. It would bring me joy to watch as everyone ate my pastries and showered me with compliments. But, before long, it became more of an obligation than anything, my efforts forgotten just as quickly as the devoured cookies.
The next day, my mom helped me package everything up, loading it into the car so we could go to my cousins’ house for a birthday party. I had dozens of cousins, all tall, blonde, and athletic. Everyone in the pack knew of the Owens—mostly positive things, but we also weren’t known for being as devout and religious as others, something that could be alienating. While I was grateful that my parents weren’t as strict and overbearing as Jasmine’s parents, I already felt like I didn’t fit in with my family—and to not fit in with the pack, well, that was just the icing on the cake, and not in a good way.
But I always smiled and held my head high. Fake it until you make it, right? So, maybe I wasn’t perfect. But I could pretend I was. And if they thought I was scandalous or too much, well, I could act like they were the ones who were in the wrong. No, I was enlightened, ahead of my time. Yes, exactly!
But it still always stung deep down that I wasn’t like everyone else—that I didn’t really have my place. As soon as my family arrived at the party, greeting all our extended family (and there were a lot of us Owens!), everyone was already congregating in the backyard, ready to pull together teams for a sports game. Maybe football this time. I sighed and busied myself in the kitchen, unpacking all the desserts.
*** Three and a half years ago ***
Luke and I fell for each other fast. It started out purely physical. I mean, he was the future beta and he was hot! He was much hotter than all the other guys at our school. A lot of that had to do with the fact that he worked out far more than everyone else. While most warriors didn’t begin their training until after they graduated from high school, Luke had started his junior year, in preparation for becoming the future beta.
All the girls at school would stare at me with envy as I’d hold hands with Luke, walking down the hallway and making out with him against his locker. Not only was I the only sophomore to have a senior boyfriend, but he was the friggin’ beta. Pretty much everyone had a crush on him, but I was the one he chose out of everyone at school.
It was a Sunday, the day before my sixteenth birthday. My parents had invited our extended family over to celebrate my sweet sixteen, and I had invited Luke to join us. We had been dating for just over five months at this point. I was sitting with Luke on the couch when my older brother, Kyle, came over.
“Hey, Luke, we’re getting teams together for baseball out back. Do you want to join?” he asked.
“Sure,” he replied, standing up. I sighed. While I loved that Luke got along with my whole family, they never really included me in their games, so I’d probably end up sitting on the sidelines as usual. He surprised me by putting out his hand and saying, “You’re going to play too, right?”
“I’m not any good.” I frowned.
“That’s okay, I’ll help you.” He smiled. “Come on.”
They let Luke and one of my cousins pick the teams. I was further surprised when he picked me first. I’d never gotten picked first for a team in my life. Sure, I usually didn’t get picked last at school because whatever guy was picking usually had a crush on me. But my family always picked me last when I agreed to play. I was literally the only person in my entire extended family that wasn’t athletic.
“Why would you pick me first?” I asked him quietly so no one would hear.
“Because I believe in you,” he said, smiling. “You can be good. You just need someone to show you how.”
While I was waiting in line to bat, Luke handed me a spare bat and taught me how to swing. He stood behind me, helping me position the bat correctly in my hands. “Now, make sure you keep your knees slightly bent, and sink into the balls of your feet. Perfect.” He stepped away. “You look great. Now take a few practice swings.” He watched me as I swung, making corrections as he noticed them. “You’re a quick learner. Much faster than my nephew.”