Claiming My Wolf
Chapter 20

~~Sadie’s PoV~~

By the time lunch comes, I’m ready for a break. Micah’s been breathing down my neck all morning and I’m already tired of it.

Ava gives him a glare as he follows me into the cafeteria. “I don’t think you need to be literally two steps behind her,” she says to him.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job,” he snaps back before turning to me. “Do you need help getting lunch?”

What am I, five? “I think I can handle it,” I answer sarcastically. “But I’ll yell if I need you.”

He nods like I was being serious, but thankfully he goes to sit down next to Logan at the table and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Are you surviving?” Ava asks as we go join the line for food.

“It’s actually kind of helpful,” I say and she looks at me in surprise. “If I’m annoyed with him, I can’t be too freaked out about being surrounded by werewolves.”

She laughs at that. “I don’t think you can complain about that when you’re one of us too.”

I keep forgetting that. It still doesn’t feel real to me.

We get our lunch and go and join everyone else at the table. Aaron and Laurel are feeding each other grapes which is almost sickeningly sweet. Logan and Micah are talking to each other quietly while everyone else is making plans for the weekend.

It feels like any other day with any other kids in any other school. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s not.

“How are you doing today, Sadie?” Logan asks, and everyone at the table immediately goes quiet, waiting for my answer.

My cheeks blush a little under all the attention. Or maybe it’s just from the intense way Logan’s looking at me. “I’m okay, thanks. And thank you for talking to me yesterday. I guess I was a bit too stunned to say it then.”

I do appreciate that he told me the truth, even if it was a shock. He seems to respect me enough that he didn’t want to lie to me.

He nods at me now. “Let me give you my number in case you need to talk more.”

There are rather excited murmurs and whispers among the rest of the group as I hand Logan my phone, which only makes me blush more. Why are they being so weird about this? He’s just being friendly.

As if to prove my point, after he puts his number in my phone, he goes back to talking to Micah like the whole thing never happened. I chat with Ava and Blair and Tonya about Ava and Aaron’s party and what everyone’s going to wear. I feel like Blair’s kind of giving me dirty looks, but she’s probably just mad that Micah’s going to be spending time with me. Ava told me they were dating. I want to tell her that it’s not my choice, but I decide it’s better not to mention it unless she says something to me directly.

After school, Micah insists on walking me home. “You’re not going to watch over me as I sleep?” I ask him sarcastically. He’s really taking this a little too far.

He shakes his head. “There’s someone else assigned to watch your house at night.”

There is? Suddenly I feel a bit nervous. Having someone watch out for me at school, I kind of understand, but why do I need to be watched at night too? Couldn’t my aunt and uncle watch out for me? I already know they can turn into wolves, I even saw my aunt do it.

I feel like there’s something they’re not telling me again, and it frustrates me.

“What makes me so special?” I wonder out loud. I don’t know if Micah will even answer that, but he does, his face twisting a little into a sneer.

“You’re not special, Sadie. You’re weak. That’s why you need to be protected. Being half-human makes you a liability to the pack.”

“Well, f**k you too,” I mutter under my breath. I don’t really expect him to hear me, but he does and his face turns red.

“You can’t talk to me like that,” he says, grabbing my arm so I stop walking. He looks down at me with a serious, angry look. “I’m the future Beta of the pack. Maybe you don’t know what that means, so I’ll tell you. It’s the second most important position after the Alpha. Well, and the Luna, I guess, if we still had one. But it means everyone else in the pack has to respect me and do as I say, and that includes you.”

“Well, you’re not Beta yet, are you?” I shoot back. “So I don’t have to do anything. And maybe because I’m half-human, I don’t actually have to do what you guys say at all. Did you ever consider that?”

His nostrils flare in anger, but he lets me go. “You still don’t understand,” he mutters, his eyes dark as he looks down at me.

“That you’re an a*****e?” I can’t help provoking him a little. “Actually, I figured that out on day one. It was the only thing here that wasn’t a mystery to me.”

“Sadie!” Ava’s voice calls out from behind us before Micah can answer and I see his jaw clenching in frustration. “I was looking for you, but you left so fast. You want to go dress shopping for my party?”

I glance over at Micah and he understands my unspoken question. “If you do, then I’m coming too.”

I roll my eyes. “No, thanks,” I tell Ava. “I’ve got stuff I can wear. Let’s just go home.”

We finally get to the front door. Micah goes over to talk to a man standing on the sidewalk, and I guess he’s the one that will be watching the house while I’m at home. This is all so weird. I look back one last time before I close the door behind me and Micah’s still watching me. I shut the door.

The rest of the week goes pretty quickly. I almost get into a routine. Micah gets on my nerves a few times, but we don’t get into any full-on arguments. There’s actually even one or two times that he laughs at something I say, though he quickly tries to pretend like he didn’t. I have to admit he can even be a little funny too when he’s talking to his friends and not just being a jerk to me.

Finally it’s Saturday morning the day of Ava and Aaron’s party, and I’m woken up by a frantic knock on my door.

“Sadie?” Ava’s voice calls through the door. “Emergency! I need your help!”