Wanted by the Wolves

J A S O N ′ S P O V :

“What do you mean, ‘not necessarily’?” To say I was livid was an understatement. What did Charlotte mean by stating that Kara was necessarily human? Was this a smaller part of the big picture I was completely missing?

“I mean, well, she never acts surprised when she sees you guys. I mean, that has to account for something, right?”

I nodded, reflecting on her actions towards me. Only someone high ranking in power would be able to look at me without the sudden weight of my confidence keeping their head down. While most humans - and werewolves, for that matter - showed signs of feeling my power, she only gave me smirks. The only person that would have that response would be someone of Alpha descent... or my mate.

“Preposterous,” I mind-linked Ethan, mentally shaking my head in stupidity. There was 100% no way that Kara was my mate, let alone from Alpha descent. Yes, I guess she could have moments of power, but it had to be something else...witch?

“Do you think she’s immune to our power because she’s a witch?” I asked, looking around the group. Realization covered my friends faces while Charlotte cocked her head to the side.

“You have a witch... in the town?” She asked as if she was choosing her words very carefully.

“Yes, she’s Kara’s aunt.”

“Oh,” was her only response as she looked down. When she looked back up, determination was on her face. “Why haven’t you figured it out already, Jason?”

“Figured what out?” I asked, completely bewildered. Now, what was she going on about?

“That she can hide her scent by using her powers to appear human. I’ll bet you that she is a full-blown witch, and she is using her powers to use you and make you confused on who your mate is.”

“How do you know about that?” I growled, which sent Caleb into taking a protective stance in front of her.

“It isn’t hard to tell what’s going on, not when I know so much about werewolves and all.” Her eyes were glowing with amusement before a serious look spread smoothly over her features. “She likes you, though. I can tell that much from the way she is always looking at you. Oh, and another thing, she really didn’t want Caleb and I getting together. It’s part of the reason I felt betrayed.”

“She likes us!” Ethan cheered in my head, sending a horrid headache that rattled me up.

“Shut up Ethan! It’s not like it means anything!” I quickly blocked him out so that I could continue to hear the rest of the conversation. Once I had cleared the last remains of his yelp through my head, I glanced back at the other three people in the room.

“Do you know why she didn’t want you and Caleb together?”

She shook her head, a distant look in her eye that revealed she was deep in thought. “No, but she most likely did it so she wouldn’t have to hang around high ranking wolves who could easily sniff her out. And it isn’t like the punishment would be taken too lightly, either. She needed to get a new group of friends anyway to avoid you guys.”

I shook my head in disappointment. Did Kara really want to avoid us that much? I couldn’t believe someone would go out of their way to avoid me. I tried to keep my voice from revealing my true emotions, but I failed. “Why would she go out of her way to avoid us that much?”

“Well, she obviously had something to hide. And either she feels the power radiating off of you or has a great understanding of the werewolf world, why else would she try to hide from you?”

Why would she try to hide from me? Ethan cried at the thought, and I mentally scolded him. “We don’t need to get wrapped up in human affairs, get yourself together.”

In response, he sent me a low growl before retreating to the depths of my mind.

“Well, we can’t let her go around if she actually has something to hide. We need to keep close tabs on her.”

Caleb turned to face me. “With all do respect, Jason, how exactly do you propose we do that. We can’t exactly watch a witches house day and night, she could always use spells to block us. Kara would also become suspicious if we suddenly followed her everywhere. So what do you propose is the best way to do this?”

I took a minute to ponder, before responding with a sly grin. “How many friends does she exactly have?” I asked Charlotte as I turned to her.

She shrugged. “I think it’s only that new girl, not that it actually matters that much. I never see her with anyone else.”

“How easily did she trust you?”

A confused look graced her face at the sudden onslaught of questions. “Um.. yeah, I guess. I don’t really know, but thinking back we probably were officially friends on the first or second day of the meeting. I mean, she was new after all.”

“Good.”

Everyone’s faces scrunched in confusion, until Ryder, seemingly reading my thoughts, smiled broadly. Caleb and his mate turned to look between the two of us, seeing as we had an unheard agreement. “What, what is it?” Caleb asked with a puzzled look crossing his features.

Ryder looked at me as if to ask for permission to sound his thoughts. I nodded slightly, and he glanced at the two outsiders in the conversation before speaking my thoughts.

“Jason will just have to get close to Kara and become her friend. That way she’ll have no choice but to trust him and then we will find out what she is hiding.”

Charlotte and Caleb smiled and quickly went over the pros and cons of the plan while I just smiled. For some reason, Ethan was really - and I mean really REALLY - excited about the plan.

“Ethan, it’s just for show. It isn’t like we’ll be actual friends with her.”

I immediately regretted saying it at the tone of his voice when he spoke next. “You are just going to toy with her feelings like she’s worthless. What kind of impression does that give your pack?”

I growled slightly out of frustration. “The pack doesn’t have to know.”

“You may think that, but what happens when they see their Alpha hanging out with a human. Do you really think there will be no questions asked?”

I sighed, knowing he was right.

What had I gotten myself into?