Wolf Girl (Wolf Girl, #1)(11)

“How sweet of you.” Obvious sarcasm dripped from Sage’s voice. “Brittney is asking for you.”

Meredith gave me one last venomous look and then turned and left with Sage following after her.

Bitch fight averted.

Using my keycard, I slipped into the room, shutting the door behind me as the auto lock clicked into place.

When I looked up at the room, the breath caught in my throat.

I was in a Las Vegas penthouse. At least that’s what this looked like. Travertine floors, fine linens, rich woods, and a huge standing mirror.

“Holy shit,” I whispered as I stepped into the master with an attached bathroom. A huge soaking tub with a rain shower and vanity counter sat along the wall. There was a giant walk-in closet that I would never have enough clothes for. I walked back into the living room and checked out the flat screen TV on the wall in front of a small two-seater couch. This wasn’t a dorm, it was a luxury apartment.

On the coffee table in front of the couch was a small gift basket and note. I picked up the note and scanned it. There was a typed paragraph that was a generic welcome from Sawyer to the mating selection year, but someone had crossed it out with a big X. Along the bottom was written:



I couldn’t let you stay in that place.

Sawyer.



Emotion tightened my throat.

I couldn’t let you stay in that place.

I knew literally nothing about Sawyer, except that he was kind, and I would never forget that. He’d seen a fellow wolf in a bad situation and took pity on me, and I would have to find a nice way to thank him.

In the gift basket was a collection of teas, cookies, and dried fruits. It was sweet, but I couldn’t really focus on it. I needed to call my parents. They were no doubt losing their damn minds.

Holding my phone in my hand … I powered it up.

Sixty-eight missed calls and thirty texts. All the calls were my parents and all the texts were Raven. With a shaky hand, I dialed my mom’s cell.

She picked up on the first ring. “Demi Calloway! Tell me this is a prank.”

I gulped. “No mom. I’m at Sterling Hill—”

“Demi!” my dad yelled—I was clearly on speaker phone. “You left without telling us?”

I was quiet for a moment. I never thought they would be mad … all they ever talked about was how much easier life would be if we were back in Werewolf City. Now I had my chance.

“I had sixty seconds to decide. I thought you would want this for me.”

Two heavy sighs reached through the phone and into my heart.

“We are,” my mom said. “We do, hun.”

“We just never expected it,” my father cut in. “We assumed our banishment extended to you, forever.”

I blew air out through my lips. “Maybe it did … I dunno, but then I met the alpha’s son, Sawyer, at Delphi, and … a few hours later I was being invited here. Now I have a room, and everything is paid for and it’s crazy.”

Silence.

“Mom?”

“I know … I was a mating year girl too. It’s nice, they give you a nice life.” Her voice sounded hollow. Why did she sound sad? OMG did she almost marry Sawyer’s dad?

“What happened?” I asked her. “Did you and the alpha…?”

“No. I never even made the top twenty.” She laughed nervously but it didn’t sound real.

“Mom?”

“Yes, hun?”

“Why did you and dad get banished? You made this place sound awful, but it doesn’t seem so bad.”

I was afraid I was going to hear about it from someone like Meredith, and I wanted to hear it from them instead. I’d asked a handful of times over the past twenty years and always got the same answer.

Silence.

“Tell her.” My father’s voice was low.

“No, dammit,” she growled at my father, and chills ran the length of my arms. It must be worse than I thought; they never argued.

“Mom. I’m twenty, I’m not a kid anymore.” Whatever it was, I deserved to hear it from my own parents.

She sighed. “I can’t. I’m not ready.”

Holy shit … this whole time I’d been told we were banished because of something my father did, but now I wondered if it was in fact my mother.

My hands shook. “Mom, you’re scaring me.”

“I’ll tell you when I’m ready,” she said. “Your father and I are surprised, but happy for you. Even if Sawyer doesn’t pick you, you’ll get a top-notch education, a great job upon graduation, and a nice house in Werewolf City. It’s great news … we’re just shocked is all.”

I knew she was trying to steer things away from talking about her, so I let her. “How many window washers does this place have?” I went for humor and was rewarded with her laughter, followed by my father’s. I’d give her a week or so to settle into the idea that I was here and then I needed to know everything. We made a bit more small talk before we hung up and I promised to call them every day.

When I left the room, I found Sage leaning against the hallway wall tapping on her phone. “Ready to shop until you drop?”

I laughed nervously. “Not really.” The most shopping I ever did was like fifty dollars at the thrift store. It could take hours to get decent thrift store finds, but when you stumbled across a vintage Beatles shirt autographed in silver sharpie … you struck gold. You also never machine washed that shirt in case it washed off the autograph, so instead you drowned it in perfume and hand rinsed it gently, avoiding the pen markings.