“Shut up.” Jaeden slapped him across the head, incurring a low growl from the back of his throat.
Caia looked thoughtfully back at the shiny machine. “I was actually thinking that if he was going to get me a car he could have gotten me a nice, cheap, old thing.”
“Yeah.” Jaeden laughed, and eyed her meaningfully. “He could have.”
She rolled her eyes. Jaeden had begun making little innuendos about her and Lucien for the past few weeks now. Just because he was being nice to her and trying to make sure she integrated back into the pack without any problems, Jaeden thought his preferential treatment meant something. The only feelings between Caia and him were the private ones emanating from her fantasies, and she was telling no one about those, not even Jaeden. Not that it mattered as she had a feeling Jaeden was aware of her crush. Her perceptiveness could be a little disconcerting sometimes. Besides, Caia thoughts depressed as her eyes fell on Alexa, why would Lucien be interested in the little orphan Annie when he could have the gorgeous Alexa?
“Lucien is being generous,” Dana’s annoying voice cut into her thoughts. “You should be a little more grateful.”
Alexa smirked. “Yeah, Caia. If he could hear you now... tut-tut.”
Caia felt like hissing. The terrible twosome still didn’t like her. “I didn’t say I wasn’t grateful.”
“Back off.” Sebastian sighed, clearly as fed up with their sniping as Caia was. He drew her towards him protectively, a gesture Caia accepted, and she and Jaeden followed him towards the entrance of the school. “You know, I wish they’d get over it already,” he voiced her thoughts. “You haven’t even looked at Mal twice since you got here, so what’s Dana’s problem?”
“She’s a sheep,” Jaeden chimed in. “She does whatever she thinks will make Alexa happy.”
“You know.” Alexa made them tense as she appeared suddenly, striding up to them. “That was kind of rude, Sebastian.” She moved past them gracefully, an ugly twist to her mouth. “But I forgive you. I’ll have to get used to being magnanimous. It’s what a Pack Leader does.”
Jaeden guffawed, “What?!”
“Are you completely psycho?” Sebastian asked incredulously. “You are aware that you’re not Pack Leader?”
Alexa smiled evilly, her eyebrow quirking up as she drew them to a halt. She turned that wicked smile on Caia. “But I will be mate to Pack Leader. The party at Lucien’s will be a perfect opportunity for me to show Lucien what a mistake it’ll be if he chooses differently.” Her eyes narrowed in calculation. “He wouldn’t want to choose someone, say, who would jeopardize the pack by foolish displays of strength in front of ‘them’.”
Caia heaved a sigh. She had hoped Alexa had forgotten that by now. No other weird occurrences had happened since the calculus solution, so Caia was left without explanation for it. She was afraid there would be questions, and trouble, if Alexa did mention it to Lucien.
“You know I didn’t do that, Alexa.”
She snorted. “Oh goddess, are we still on that track?”
The bell rang. Caia shook her head in disbelief. “I actually thought you were off my back. No one here cares about your designs on Lucien.” OK, that was a lie. “Do what you want. Stay out of my way, and I’ll out of yours. OK.”
“You don’t fool me, Caia.”
Sebastian groaned. “Oh come on.” He tugged Caia and Jaeden past the she-devil. “You’re delusional, you know that.”
They had gone only a few steps when Jaeden threw over her shoulder, “In more ways than one. Lucien will never choose you. Don’t you think he would have already?”
“She’s exhausting,” Caia growled, as they walked towards class. “Every time I get into it with her I feel like I’ve stepped into an episode of Gossip Girl.”
“What girl?” The two of them asked in unison.
Caia shook her head. She forgot that because of her long period of isolation from the pack she’d watched a lot more television than they had.
“TV show.”
“Oh, yeah.” Jaeden nodded. “I never watched that one. Is that the one with the annoying girls with so much money they have to resort to cruelty and manipulation out of sheer boredom?”
“Yeah.” Caia snorted, eyeing her suspiciously. “Sure you haven’t watched at least a couple of episodes?”
“We-”
“Don’t let her get to you,” Sebastian said softly, interrupting them, and returning the conversation back to Alexa. His eyes were concerned as he rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. “Ignore her.”
Caia nodded. She’d try.
But that day in English, with the she-devil sitting right beside her, she couldn’t help but have a different kind of day-dream. One in which Alexa was Lucien’s mate, and she kept Caia in a cage as an amusing pet. Lucien would come over to the cage to poke and prod at her with a stick, to the delight of his new bride.