Change of Plans - C.L. Blackwell Page 0,20

no matter how much she wanted to refuse it. Brody stood up to go after her, but I shook my head and stood up myself. This was something you needed a pair for. I slowly took the stairs up to her room.

I’ve never been in her room, and it was not what I expected. There were pictures everywhere, really good pictures of nature and people. With my heightened senses, I could see a box peaking out from under her bed, probably more pictures. I didn’t know Allie was into photography. When I looked up, she was laying on her back in the middle of her bed, looking defeated.

I moved to join her, lying carefully next to her. Her gaze didn’t move from the ceiling above us. I moved to place my hand on her arm, but she quickly twisted her body until it was facing mine. Curious, blue eyes peered at me from inches away. I knew she had tons of questions to ask, and I was ready to answer them all.

“What did Brody mean by you being my pair?” Well, any question but that. I don’t know how to explain that I was madly in love with her, and she was madly in love with me, even if she didn’t know it. It was so much easier to accept the idea of pairs when you are young, but now that I was saying it out loud, I saw how different it was for her.

I reached down and grabbed her hand, needing the distraction. She didn’t pull away for once. “Well, just like in every cheesy, corny movie you’ve ever watched about werewolves, we have pairs. We find out who our pair is around our shift. Usually they are in the same pack, but sometimes not. Pairs are soul mates, in every way. They love, protect and care for one another. They share a bond that humans could never have and love each other unconditionally.

“During the transition, you need your pair. The heightened emotions and temper can be too much to handle on your own, so when it becomes too much, the pair is there to take away. Like in the car yesterday, that shock you felt was your body reacting to me taking away some of your emotions. Even in the hallway with Sierra, without knowing it, you were marking your territory.” Her eyebrows shot up. “That was because of the transition, but once I took away some of the emotions, you calmed down a little. Enough for your thoughts to go from murderous to manipulation. Sierra and her mother are always trying to move up in pack ranks, that’s why she is always with me. She is paired with Brody, and you with me, but she hopes that she and I will end up together.”

She looked a little upset by that, but then her brow creased. “Wait, if you need your pair for the first shift and you’ve already changed, who was there for you?”

I had to look back down at our linked hands, “Nobody, I did it alone.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You shouldn’t have had to go through that alone, I could have been there for you.”

“It wasn’t my place to tell you, and I didn’t know. I’m older than Brody so I shifted before him, and we didn’t expect you two to shift since your mom was human, so no one knew. I thought I was one of the unlucky few who don’t get a pair. We didn’t tell you after Brody shifted because he was hoping that you would get lucky and not change, so he held off on telling you. In the past couple of days, when it became obvious that you would change, he knew he had to tell you.”

She looked upset by Brody keeping it from her, but she understood why. I thought she would ask more questions, but instead, she shifted and laid her head on my chest. It surprised me, but I didn’t hesitate to wrap my arms around her. Her breathing evened out in a peaceful sleep. After laying with her for a couple of minutes, I got up and slowly laid her back down. She shifted and rolled over, but her eyes stayed closed.

Matt was downstairs watching TV when I reached the base of the stairs. I grabbed a glass of orange juice and joined him in watching the morning news. He took another swing of his own side before setting it down. “How’s she taking