Flight (17 page)

Levi’s wings flapped out behind him, as did Jared and Owen’s. The sheer size of the wings, and the black eyes made for a menacing sight.

“
Stay with Allie and don’t move,” Levi yelled at Hailey. She nodded, leading us back to lean against a wall. I followed her lead shakily.

Several other girls and guys transformed into wolves, and I had to steady myself against the wall from the craziness of it all.

A snarl emanated from the wolf that was C.J. Levi strode up to the wolf, picked him up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him. “Anyone else going to dare to disrespect me?” Levi screamed, hands balled into fists. “You do not touch our women. Do you understand?”

No one said anything.

“
Let’s go!” Levi pulled me to his side and away from Hailey. With his arms around my waist, he jumped off the building.

Releasing me as soon as we reached the ground, Levi spun on Hailey angrily. “What the hell were you thinking? A Were party? What, you slumming it now? And you thought it was acceptable to take Allie with you? Are you dense?”

I expected Owen to tell Levi to back off, but instead he looked at Hailey with the same steely gaze. The fury coming from all three of the guys was terrifying, and it wasn’t even directed at me.

Hailey didn’t falter. “We were having fun until you showed up.”

“
And what would you have done if that punk tried to push things further with Allie?”

“
I would have protected her. I can take care of myself and her.”

“
What, now that you have your full strength you think you’re invincible?” Levi seethed.

“
Get real, Hailey. You might be stronger than a Were but there is nothing you could have done against a whole party of those guys.” Jared entered the lecture.

I knew it was time to jump in. “Stop it! Stop yelling at her. I decided to come with her, so it’s my fault too.”

“
It’s not your fault, but I do wish you had bothered to tell me where you were going.” Levi wrung his hands, looking like he wasn’t sure how much he should say to me.

“
Since when do I have to check in with you every time I go out?”

“
Since you decided to spend time with Weres. You have no idea how dangerous they can be.”

“
Not as dangerous as you.”

“
The difference is I’m not going to hurt you. They would.”

I wanted to keep arguing but I sensed he was right. C.J. hadn’t actually hurt me, but even with his strange style, I knew he was a lot stronger than me, and I wouldn’t last long trying to fight him.

“
Can we just go home?” I pleaded. Hailey now looked completely defeated and I wanted the night to end.

“
Of course, I’ll take you home,” Levi said immediately.

“
Flying?”

“
I have my car.”

“
Is that okay, Hailey?”

“
It’s fine.” She waved me on.

As Levi snaked his arm around my waist and led me away, I heard Owen continuing to lecture his sister. “You can’t talk to him like that! You have to respect him. Mom and Dad would kill you if they heard you talking that way.”

My hunch that Levi was something important to the Pterons was fast becoming impossible to deny, and I was completely prepared to broach the topic with him when he pulled me into a near bone-crunching hug.

“
Are you all right? I didn’t think to ask before.”

“
I’m fine. I have a lot of questions, but I’m fine.”

“
Can the questions wait?” he asked.

“
For tonight, but you can’t put them off forever.”

“
Are you sure about that?”

“
Completely.”

Levi opened the passenger door for me and I slipped inside. He closed my door before walking around to get in.

I turned to him as he pulled away from the curb. “Okay, can I at least ask one question?”

He nodded. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“
How’d you know where we were?”

“
Why, are you worried I’m following you now?”

“
Not exactly, I just need to know.” He wasn’t completely off. As the shock of the transformations wore off, I realized that there was no reason for Levi to have known where we were.

“
It’s nothing that dramatic. Hailey left the email about the party open on her computer. Her mom found it and called Owen to get her.”

“
Oh…” I said.

“
So no more questions for tonight then?”

“
Could I ask one more?”

He glanced over at me as we sat at a red light. He held my hand in my lap. “You’re a hard girl to say no to.”

“
Who are you, Levi? What is it that you’re not telling me?”

He turned away but didn’t drop my hand. “No more questions. It’s late and I need to get you home.”

I could tell by the way that he watched the road with unwavering attention that he wasn’t going to answer my question. I also realized that his unwillingness to answer was just as telling as any explanation he would have given.

Chapter
Thirteen

Despite the fact that I was dating a guy with wings and superhuman powers, things eventually settled down into a routine. Between work all day and spending my nights with Levi and Hailey, the time went by far too quickly.
The one thing we never talked about was the Were party. Everyone else acted like it never happened. Hailey seemed to be getting along with the guys again, and I was afraid to ruin things by bringing it up.

I talked to Jess a few times, but not nearly as much as we usually would. It’s not that it was that awkward, but it felt like we were in different worlds for the first time ever. I hoped she didn’t secretly blame me for what happened with Jared. We had one ridiculous game of phone tag that lasted two weeks. I was relieved when we finally broke it.

She must have been holding her phone because she picked up on the first ring. “Hey, we finally made contact.”

“
Does that win for longest game of phone tag ever?” I laughed.

“
Maybe. But how are you? Are things going well with Levi?”

“
Yeah, they really are. I’ve discovered there’s a lot more to him than I thought.” I smiled to myself realizing just how true that statement was.

“
I told you so.”

“
Yeah, well, I have no idea where it’s going to go, but it’s fun.”

“
Sure. You can’t have changed that much, Allie, but I don’t have time to argue, I actually have to run.” I could tell she had put me on speakerphone and was moving around her room.

“
Any place interesting?”

“
Emmett’s coming over. We’re giving it another try.” I could almost hear her smiling through the phone.

“
That’s awesome, good for you. I always thought you guys were great together.”

She laughed. “I know, you had a harder time with us breaking up than I did.”

“
I’m really happy for you, Jess.”

“
Thanks! And he’s going to Fordham so we’ll be able to see each other all the time even when school starts. He says we’ll have to make next year a re-do of the senior year we never had together.”

“
Ha ha, good plan.”

“
All right, so I’m glad we talked, call me when you get back in town.” She rushed to end the call.

“
Definitely. Tell Emmett I said hi.”

“
Same to Levi.”

“
Okay, bye.”

I sighed with relief as soon as I hung up. It sounded like Jess was doing okay. Something still felt weird with us, but I hoped when I saw her again things would get back to normal.

***

One of the perks of staying at the hotel was that we got to use the pool. I learned pretty early on that a pool was a hot commodity with such intense heat in New Orleans. Hailey and I spent a lot of time laying out on my days off.

“
Can you believe it’s August?” Hailey asked as we lounged by the pool.

“
Not at all. This summer has flown by.”

“
Are you ready?” She didn’t say what for, but I knew she meant college.

“
I guess so, but I’m nervous too. I just want it to be great. You know? Your freshman year of college is supposed to be incredible and I’m scared it’s just going to be some major letdown. What if I mess up my classes, or Toby doesn’t leave me alone, or I have horrible girls on my floor?” Once I started, the worries just spilled out.

“
So I’m not the only one? I can’t tell you how good it is to hear you have the same fears.
Well, aside from the Toby part.” She laughed.

I smiled lightly and thought about the one worry I had left out—Levi. Things with him were heating up and I wasn’t sure I wanted to say goodbye at the end of the summer. Trying to quell thoughts of a long distance relationship, I reminded myself that he probably had no interest in one, and besides who wanted to start college in a relationship?

“
If it makes you feel any better, he doesn’t want you to leave either,” Hailey said as she lathered on some more sunscreen. Her pale skin burned easily, and she was ultra-careful in the sun.

“
How’d you know I was thinking about him?”

“
You always get that the same look when he’s on your mind.”

“
What look?”

“
The love-struck one.” She saw my face and backtracked. “Okay, well the far off one.”

“
Do you really think he cares that I’m leaving?”

“
Umm yeah. He even—” She stopped herself.

“
What? He even what?”

“
I really don’t want to get myself in any more trouble. Levi is already annoyed at me.”

“
Please, you have to tell me. I won’t tell.”

“
Fine,” she said dramatically but I sensed she wanted to say it anyway. “I heard him talking to my brother about whether he could handle something long-distance.”

“
He what?” That was the last thing I expected to hear, and I didn’t know how I felt about it. On the one hand, it terrified me that there could be something real between us, but on the other hand, the same thought thrilled me. This was not what I needed.

“
I’m sure he wasn’t really serious about it. We’ve known from the start whatever this is between us is just for fun.”

“
Whatever you say.” Hailey smiled but dropped it. I loved how she always knew where to draw the line.

***

I woke up to a knock on the door at 10:30 that night. I’d fallen asleep on the couch watching a dumb reality TV show. Hailey had some sort of family obligation and Levi had a meeting with his dad, so I had settled in front of the TV after taking advantage of time to myself to finalize my class schedule.

“
Who is it?” I called, expecting Levi or Hailey to answer.

“
It’s me, honey.”

“
Mom?” I asked as I threw open the door.

We nearly knocked one another over pulling each other into a huge hug. She rolled a bag into the room. “I heard you had an extra room. Your dad tried to talk me into taking my own, but I figured this would be more fun.”

“
Good! But what are you doing here?”

“
Does a mother really need an excuse to visit her daughter?”

“
Come on, Mom.”

“
Okay, you sounded distant the last time we talked and I’d thought I’d check in.”

I sensed there was more to her visit than she let on, but I didn’t press. “Well, I’m glad you’re here, whatever the reason. I was thinking about making popcorn, you want some?”

“
Definitely.” Mom strolled around the suite while I waited for the popcorn to finish. “Nice place your dad set you up in.”

“
Yeah. It’s a little large for just me, but the space was nice when Jess was here.”

“
Have you talked to her?”

“
We’ve talked a few times, but it feels off, like we’re only chatting superficially.”

We took a seat on the couch, munching popcorn.

“
Now that we’re face to face, do you want to tell me what really happened?”

“
What do you mean?”