Chapter 11
Jade
Excitement thrummed through my veins. I couldn’t believe we were actually going on a vacation. When was the last time I had been to the beach? Two spring breaks ago? I couldn’t wait to escape the snow here. I loved the white fluff that fell from the sky and the random snowball fights but I couldn’t wait to be on the beach with the sand between my toes.
Tracey peeked her head into my bedroom with a suitcase bigger than my own. “Don’t tell me that it’s overkill. I absolutely have to have an outfit for every single day we are gone and then just in case, I have to have an outfit if those don’t work out. Plus all of my swimsuits and nightclothes.”
My suitcase looked like a little baby beside hers. “Okay, I only packed a few things but I can get on board with that. I like to be prepared too.”
Tracey grinned. “I mean, I’m all about ‘the less clothes the better’ but unfortunately the Guardians will be trailing us so we have to be on our best behavior.”
“You aren’t excited to have them with us?” I couldn’t deny that I wasn’t thrilled to have them with us. I was over the moon. We had so much fun that night we went to karaoke, I couldn’t imagine just how much fun we would have on the beach.
Tracey shook her head. “Absolutely not. Knox will try to cock block me and Mav will try to play ref. I could do without them tagging along.”
I nodded my head, unsure of what to say to her. I wanted Rafe there. I wanted us outside of the setting of gloom and doom. We needed sunlight and happiness. I wanted to see how he did outside of his Alpha duties. It was his sentence and roll for a long time, but if we were to be mated, then I wanted to know everything there was to know about him. I didn’t want to be mated to a stranger, even if our wolves thought we were compatible.
“You’re going to have to hang out with the guys sometimes, you know that right?” I chewed on my lip.
Tracey flipped her bouncy curls over her shoulder. “No, they can come wherever we are but I want zero interaction from them. Strangers, do you hear me?”
My shoulders slumped slightly. “Okay, that’s fine by me. We can try our best to have a girl’s trip but I have a feeling Rafe isn’t going to allow that to happen.”
She grinned. “I don’t care if Rafe whisks you away, someone is going to have to keep you busy while I’m getting a booty call.”
I threw a pillow at her. It connected with her head and she let out a loud yelp before the pillow came sailing back to me. I dodged it easily.
Granny’s hands passed over my face with a gentle coolness. She smiled as she changed my features then the rest of us going on the trip. I could hardly believe everything had been planned so quickly but Granny had explained that the longer we planned, the more likely it was that our plans would get out to the big bad wolf waiting for us.
Lucas hugged me tightly around my middle. He lifted me off of my feet briefly before he set me back down. He did the same to Tracey but I could see there was some tension when he touched her. They still hadn’t gotten back to normal and I didn’t feel like it was my place to ask about it.
“Please be careful,” he whispered.
“There’s still time for you to come with us!” I beamed at him. I didn’t want to leave him behind but he had insisted. He wanted to spend time with his parents and Granny without us breathing down their necks. He waggled his eyebrows as he looked at Carden out of the corner of his eyes. A knowing grin stretched across my face. They were both victims and maybe it was easy to care for someone that had gone through something similar to you. They had both been forced to change into wolves, even if Carden had been a human first.
“I’m going to learn everything there is about being a wolf and a witch. It’s so much different now. I don’t feel like myself. I need this.” His words broke and I understood. Tracey watched us with sadness in her eyes. She was envious of my relationship with her brother. She had told me so just a few days prior but she didn’t hate me because of it. She knew that we had needed each other and she was thankful that we had found each other. But she was still sad that she didn’t know if she would ever get to this point with him. I had admitted that I was envious of the fact that she had a brother. I had always wanted a sibling, even if I had liked being alone. Having a sibling would have been nice. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt the need to party as much if I had. But those things didn’t matter now and didn’t change anything.
Lucas pulled me back in for another hug and whispered in my ear. “If you don’t have a good time with your mate, I will be very disappointed in you when you return.” I gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek and pulled away. I could make no promises. Though I had done far more on a first date than what Rafe and I had done lately, I didn’t feel like ruining it for something physical. This felt more important and I didn’t want to screw it up because we couldn’t control ourselves.
The guys piled up in one massive SUV and we got into Tracey’s new Jeep. She sighed behind the wheel. “I have been waiting to take this baby on a trip.”
I rolled my eyes. “You got it two days ago.”
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since.”
Tracey watched the guys pull down the long driveway before we followed behind them. “How much do you want to bet that Rafe or Gabriel will beg to ride with us after a few hours?”
I snickered. Rafe looked tortured in the front seat already. Knox was the one driving and Mav was laying across the backseat with a flourish. He looked like he was ready to take a nap. I didn’t blame him, that was what I loved about road trips when I was little. But I didn’t think I would be getting much sleep with Tracey in the driver’s seat. She cranked up the music and began singing at the top of her lungs.
Granny waved her arms over her head as I watched her in the rearview mirror. She would mask our scents and our vehicles for a few miles. We wouldn’t be tracked as long as we didn’t get out of the car for a few hours. I leaned my head against the back of the seat and zoned out.
