Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,165

that, but woke up alone. The scent of bacon made it clear that they hadn't left, though. Thankfully, so long as school was canceled, Ashley didn't expect me in the office. Even better, she said I was still getting paid. I'd have to call her later to make sure she wasn't overrun, but it had been slow lately. So, dragging my butt out of bed, I got dressed and decided that today was going to be better than yesterday.

The pair of men cooking in my kitchen definitely helped. The moment I walked in, Pax headed over to make me a coffee. Trent simply grabbed a plate of food and set it on the bar, making it clear I was supposed to sit down and eat. Evidently, the guys had made breakfast burritos with extra bacon in the eggs, and it honestly smelled good.

"Sit, eat," Trent ordered.

"Caffeinate," Pax added as he set my coffee before me. "And don't look at the clock."

Which meant I did exactly that. It was eleven-thirty! "How did I sleep this late?" I asked.

Pax smiled at me sweetly. "Well, it seems you needed it, hm? Lane said you didn't sleep well after the shooting, so we made sure not to wake you."

"And you won't feel guilty," Trent added. "Laundry's running, Gabby's upstairs talking to someone on the phone, and Ashley said that Henry's helping her with the office."

"Crap," I breathed. "Is it busy?"

"Not at all," Pax promised. "Mostly it's us. People wanting to know if it's safe to go to the store and things like that. Nothing for you to worry about, and not exactly your job."

"Really is," I reminded him. "That whole Alpha Mate situation."

"This is one of those things that is Ian's job," Trent reminded me. "Not yours."

He had a good point. "So what am I supposed to - " The sound of the doorbell cut me off.

Confused, I turned my chair to see the front door, but Gabby was already tromping down the stairs at full speed. "Got it!" she yelled.

Probably one of her friends. Letting her have that, I took another bite while I waited to see who had come over. Olivia? Roman? Yet when the door opened, it was neither one. Samantha stood on the other side with some boy I'd never seen before, and the pair of them looked nervous.

"Hey," Gabby said. "Your mom drop you off?"

"No, Theo has a car," Samantha explained.

"Ok," Gabby said, waving them in. "Let's go upstairs, because Mom's up."

"Nope," I said, cutting her off before that could happen. "Introduce your friends, Gabby."

"It's ok," Samantha told the guy, even as Gabby turned to face me.

"Mom, we're trying to fix things, ok?"

The boy just took a step closer. "I'm Theo Vernon," he said, glancing to both Pax and Trent. "Um, I'm in a few of Roman's classes, and I kinda took the video."

Both Pax and Trent stepped forward, their bodies tensing protectively. "Why?" Pax nearly growled.

The kid's face paled. "I was trying to see if the shooter was coming," he almost squeaked.

"Then why did you post it?" Trent demanded.

"Guys!" Gabby snapped. "Leave him alone. We know how to fix it, ok?"

But Theo wasn't about to back down. "I wanted everyone to see what happened. I wanted them to know what - I mean who - saved us. If Roman hadn't done that..."

"He would be safe now," I countered.

"She's not one," Gabby told him, making it clear the kid knew that Roman wasn't the only werewolf.

But Pax smiled. "We are."

"I don't want to hurt him," Theo insisted. "I wanted to tell him thank you, but he doesn't even know I exist."

Gabby just walked over and turned on the TV. "And he got in touch with Sam because we're fixing this, Mom."

The news immediately took over the screen, along with an image of a Twitter page. The icon looked a lot like a picture of Samantha, and the clip being shown made it clear that the entire situation had just changed. I was half out of my chair even as my eyes read the caption.

I didn't mean to make a hoax. This was my way of coping, and of thanking my friends from Wolf's Run who took over when the shooting started. #dorkmistake #notsupposedtobefamous

"What did you do, Sam?" I asked. "And more importantly, does your mother know?"

"Not yet," she admitted. "I posted that last night, and it's trending now. Like, over a million retweets." She paused to swallow. "Theo saw it, and he messaged me on Facebook, asking me why