Forever Wild Collection

Chapter 2

edwardandbella
I woke to Jasper's snores. I tried to slide out of his grip without waking him, but I didn't succeed. His eyes flew open when I started prising his fingers form around my waist.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Nothing, Jas, I was just trying to get up."
"Oh." He released me, and I turned to kiss his forehead before scrambling off the bed.
"Go back to sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you later." Jasper agreed willingly, and was asleep before I was out the door.
I trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Kaden was making coffee.
He looked up when I walked in. "Do you want a cup?" he asked.
"Yes please," I replied gratefully. I hunted in the cupboards for some cereal and a bowl, then raided the fridge for some milk. Grabbing a spoon on the way past, I sat at the kitchen table, where my cup of coffee was waiting for me. As I ate, I decided to start a conversation with Kaden.
"Why are you up so early?" I asked.
"Got an excursion at school," he answered. "Gotta be there early."
"Oh."
A few moments silence.
"Where's Jasper?" Kaden inquired.
"In bed," I replied. "He woke up when I did, but I told him to go back to sleep. Good coffee, by the way."
"Thanks. Have you seen Lilly this morning?"
"Nope," I said. "Speak of the devil, though, and the devil shall appear."
Lilly walked in and had a sip of my coffee.
"Hey guys!" she said brightly. "Did Jas's snores wake you up Mollie?"
"Sort of," I told her.
We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence. When she was finished, Lilly literally bounded out of the room to get ready.
"What I wouldn't give to be a morning person," Kaden grumbled to himself. I grinned.
"I'd better get Jas up," I said, pushing my chair back.
"Okay," Kaden mumbled, obviously still miffed about the morning person thing. I sighed and walked up the stairs.

Poking my head in through the door, I saw that Jasper was still asleep. I got dressed into my school clothes that were in a heap on the floor as quickly as possible, before sliding onto the bed next to the sleeping Jasper.
"Jas," I called, shaking him a little.
"Mollie?" he asked groggily.
"Morning sleepy," I said, smiling. "You have to get up now, unless you want to be late for school." Jas groaned as he sat up.
"You get dressed, I'll make you some brekky," I bargained.
"Okay," he agreed.
I smiled. "Don't go back to sleep." I kissed him quickly before running down the stairs.
Arriving back in the kitchen, I noticed Kaden was still staring at the wall.
"Um, didn't you have to be at school early today?" I asked as I put Jasper's toast in the toaster.
"I got the date's mixed up," he said, not even turning around. "It's tomorrow instead." Suddenly he turned to grin at me as I waited for Jas's toast to cook. "Guess I'll have to get up early two days in a row now." I smiled back. I was glad when Kaden wasn't all.... I couldn't find a word for the way he'd been acting. Luckily, Jasper saved the day by walking into the kitchen and wrapping his arms around my waist. Kaden, expecting a repeat of last night, did a runner. I grinned.
"Do I get to hear the joke?" Jas asked, confused.
"Kaden," I replied, giggling now. Jasper began to laugh as well.
"We'll have to do that again sometime," he said. "The look on Kaden's face was classic."
Our laughter faded away when Lilly entered the room, looking at us strangely. Jas put his head on my shoulder, watching me butter then spread jam on his toast. I twisted in his arms to hand it to him. He sighed and unwillingly released me to take his toast.
"You'd better eat that quickly, Jas. We have to leave in a few minutes," Lilly said. Kaden stuck his head in the door and announced that he was going to wait in the car. Jasper pushed the last bite of toast into his mouth - yes, I know, he can eat extremely fast - and jumped up to follow Kaden, dragging me behind him by the hand.

Because Jas and I were the youngest, we were forced into the back seat. Not that I minded, because in the back seat Jas could wrap his arms around me and I could lean my head on his shoulder.
"So Kaden," Jas began when we were on the road, "did you have any bad dreams last night?"
Kaden turned to glare at him, and Jasper howled with laughter. Lilly and I exchanged a grin in the rear view mirror.
Jasper's laughter only died down at the start of class. Until then, Kaden only had to look at him to bring on a new round of giggles. He even had Lilly and I chuckling by the end.
At recess, Kaden decided to sit with someone else, for reasons none of us could fathom - note the sarcasm. So it was just Lilly, Jas and I at our table. Jas and I sat as close together as possible, our sides pressed together hard.
"We really got him good didn't we, Mollie?" he asked, giving me a nudge as he reached to take some of my fries. I squirted him with my water bottle in response.
"Harsh, harsh," Jas said, shaking hid head. But he couldn't be angry at me for long. When the bell went, he dipped his head to kiss me, quick and soft, before running to his next class.
I stood there, watching his back, until Lilly grabbed me by the hand and pulled me along as she ran, yelling that we were going to be late.
English, then Science, dragged slowly by, even with Lilly to amuse me. It didn't help that these were my two least favourite classes, mostly due to the terrible teachers I had. I jumped up before anyone else had when the bell went and was out the door in a flash, leaving Lilly to run after me.

Our table was empty when I arrived. I tried not to look disappointed and seated myself on the edge on the table, my eyes scanning the crowded canteen for that farmiliar face. I knew I wouldn't see him until he was about three steps away, but that didn't stop me searching.
Lilly caught up to me, saw my expression, sighed, and joined the queue at the canteen. My eyes strayed to her for a second, and when I turned around, he was not even two feet away. I struggled to stay where I was seated, not bothering to conceal the wide grin splitting my face. As soon as it was possible, Jasper's arms were around my waist, and my own were locked around his neck. I pulled him as close as I was able, and he leaned his forehead against mine. We remained in that position, staring into each other's eyes, for a long moment, oblivious to the eyes boring into our backs. Our trance was only broken by the return of Lilly, laden with a tray of food. Jas released me, only to sit down and pull me into his lap, kissing the top of my head when I was settled.
"Did you bring anything for us?" he inquired over my head.
"Of course I did," Lilly said, placing the tray on the table. "I knew you would be otherwise.... engaged when you got here."
She paused to take a bite of pizza and throw Jas a lusty wink. He stuck his finger up at her.
"Anyway," she continued, "you both owe me a couple of dollars." I fished in my pocket for some spare change, but Jas was quicker. He slammed a ten dollar note on the table, mumrmuring at the same time; "For me and Mollie."
I began to protest, but before I even got to the second word, Jasper's hand was on my mouth, silencing me. I scowled underneath it.

The rest of the day passed quickly, having no more classes without Jas. It wasn't until we were in the car, Lilly driving again, that I realised I stil had to face my dad.
"Oh, crap," I whimpered. Jasper, who had been staring absently out the window, turned to face me.
"What?" he asked.
I could see Lilly looking at me in the rear-view mirror, her eyes echoing Jasper's question.
"Dad," I said simply. Jas took one of my hands in his own.
"Don't worry, Mollie," he said. "I'm sure it won't be that bad."
I looked at him pointedly. My dad was a bit prone to overreaction. Actually, he was VERY prone to overreaction.
"Right," Jas said, remembering. He squeezed my hand, and I tried not to think ahead.

Ten minutes later, we pulled up in front of my place, behind my old Toyota. There were a lot of cars around that I didn't recognise. Someone up the road must be having a party.
"See you guys tomorrow night!" Lilly called as Jasper and I climbed out of the car. It was a very subtle reminder of the prom. "Mollie," she added, "I'll pick you up at four!"
I shook my head and waved as they drove away
"Who's Kaden going to prom with?" I asked as we made our way, hand in hand, to my front door.
"Olivia Middleton. Know her?"
I shook my head. "Never heard of her. Lilly?"
Jas grinned at me. "I thought you of all people would know that, Mollie."
"So she's still going with Scott Berinsdale?"
"Yep."
We were silent for a few moments before I spoke. "I hope Kaden gets lucky with Olivia."
Jasper stared at me like I'd grown another leg. "Why on earth would you think that?" he asked.
"So he can gross you out, rather than the other way around."
"He won't gross me out because I'll know what he's feeling."
We stopped in front of the house, and I hardly had time to think before his lips were crushing mine, his arms locked around my waist. I raised my arms slowly, one resting around his shoulders, the other pushing into his hair. I held him to me tightly, raising onto my toes in an attempt to lengthen the kiss. His lips forced mine open, so that I could feel his hot breath in my mouth.
When we released one another, he grinned at me.
"I was going to save that till prom, but now there's a chance of you getting grounded and not going, so I thought I'd do it now." Jas was thoughtful for a minute before adding; "Please try to convince your dad to let you go. It won't be fun without you."
"I'll try," I promised. I reached up to press my lips to Jasper's quickly before winding my fingers through his and opening the door.

When Jas and I entered the living room, it was not was I had expected. The room was swarming with people. I staggered against Jasper with shock. He grinned when he saw my expression.
"I don't think you're about to get grounded!" Jas said, his grin widening. I couldn't help smiling back, but recovered myself quickly. I towed Jas behind me as I searched for Dad. I spotted him by the fireplace, talking to a tall, red-haired man and a blonde teenage boy. He saw me coming and politely ended the coversation.
"Hi Moll, hey Jasper," Dad said.
"Hey Bill," Jas responded, using first name privilages.
"Yeah, hi," I said impatiently. "Why are all these people here?"
Dad eyed Jas carefully. "Does he know?" he asked, still looking at Jasper.
"Yes," I sighed. As if he didn't know that I told Jas everything. And I think that mages are already in on the werewolf thing anyway. But then again, Dad dosen't know Jasper's a mage.
"Well," Dad said, drawing my attention back to him, "I thought you'd like to meet the rest of your pack!"
That didn't shock me as much as I thought it would. In fact, it made a strange kind of sense.
Dad turned around and announced to the crowd of people; "Now that all the pack members are here, I'll ask them to go outside to get aquainted!"

"Are all the werewolves in on the mage thing?" I hissed to Jasper as we trailed out the door.
"Yes. Why?" he hissed back.
"Just in case we have to explain why you're here."
Joining the circle on the grass, I counted the seven other wolves in my pack. I also noticed that I was the only girl. The others noticed that too. They stared as I folded myself onto the grass, leaning against Jas's legs, who preferred to stand.
One of them, I assumed the leader, cleared his throat, preparing to speak. "Okay, so, welcome to the pack I guess. I'm Markus, the Alpha." Markus guestured to the boy on his right, who I recognised as the one Dad had been talking to, and the introductions continued. By the end, there was Markus, Hamish, Seth, Jonah, Dillan, Charlie and Lee. I introduced myself, then Jas.
"And why is this Jasper here?" Markus inquired, and many curious faces turned in my direction.
"He's a mage, so you don't have to worry about the secrecy part, and he's my boyfriend," I said, shrugging.
"Well, he dosen't need to be here," Markus told me.
"Yes he does," I argued hotly, jumping up. "I'm going to tell him everything that happens anyway, and don't you think it would be a good idea to have a mage representative at whatever you do?"
"She has a point there," a brave Jonah said. Markus turned to glare at him, anger blackening his eyes.
"Fine, he can come," Markus snapped, turning to face us again.
He stalked into the trees across the road, the rest of the pack following him. Jas dragged me by the hand after them, telling me to phase when we were deep enough in the forest. I crouched so Jasper could clamber onto my back.
What does it look like? I asked, remembering a mental note I had made last time I phased. It was hard to believe it was only last night.
I assume you're talking about phasing, he said. I simply nodded my head.
Well, it's kinda hard to explain, so bear with me. To be frank, it looks like you're exploding. All the fur shoots out of you like, uh, I don't know, thorns, maybe, but thorns don't grow that fast.
Anyway, you multipy in size and you're suddenly a giant wolf. That's about it. I considered this. I understood what he meant, and I tried to make a picture in my head. I vowed to ask another wolf to demonstrate for me.
Mollie, said a voice in my mind, which I recognised as Markus, we're grouping up at the river. Can you meet us there?
Will do, I replied, pushing on through the forest.

I soon arrived at a deserted river. I studied the picturesque clearing. The river curved around the far edge of the grassy space. The ground sloped down as it met the bend of the river, and a small waterfall gurgled to the side. All in all, a very pretty place for a bunch of werewolves to meet.
Fast runner, Jasper noted. bringing my thoughts hurtling back to him. I grinned as he slid off my back.
Markus and the rest of the pack soon joined us.
Looks like you met me here instead, I remarked. Jas smirked. Markus growled.
Hey now! We're all friends here! I exclaimed.
Hear, hear, thought someone. Seth, I thought. Markus growled again. I let a ferocious snarl rip out of my chest, my lips curling back over my teeth.
That girl has a growl on her, muttered Hamish. Dillan and Lee agreed with him.
Did you know, Charlie began, that's she's supposed to be Alpha? There were a lot of murmured 'really's' among the wolves.
Yeah, Charlie continued, she's got Tom Newman and Leah West's blood in her!