Wolf's Call (Wolves Next Door #2) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,25

random disease. It makes you a werewolf, mom. That's it. It makes you stronger and heal faster. It makes good things, so it's not like HIV or something. It's different, ok?"

She did have a point. I could also hear a hint of desperation in her voice when she talked about living without the pack for years. Could she do it? Sure, but she shouldn't have to. Gabby was no longer a human. She was a wolf, and I honestly had no clue how to handle this.

"So what do I do?" I pressed, since she was clearly on a roll.

"You do what you want to for once," she told me. "Mom, if you don't want to be a wolf, then own it. If you do, then stop resisting because you're scared. If you aren't sure, then think about it. Karen, or me, or even the guys - we're not the ones who get to make that decision, ok? I wanted to be a wolf, so I did it. And it was supposed to fix everything, but it kinda didn't work that way, and I'm sorry. But I think there's no way the guys, or Ashley, or Heather, or even Kim will let that bitch attack you."

"Language," I reminded her.

"Mom, she's a bitch. Literally. A female wolf. Not a curse word." And Gabby rolled her eyes. "Just stop overthinking everything, ok? Stop trying to plan out the plans for the plans. Stop being responsible for everyone else, because when it comes to this? Seth says that the most important part of making a transition is to want it. To embrace that this new change is a good thing. He said that the more afraid or hesitant a person is, the harder the change, so don't do it if you don't want to because that is when you won't come back from the wolf."

"Ok," I said, deciding that this argument was not the hill I wanted to die on. "But I'm not as spontaneous as you."

"But try, Mom?" she begged. "I mean, I want you to be happy here. I've even been good in school!"

She had been, too. Better than ever before. Not that Gabby was a bad kid, but she'd never taken her classes seriously. Before we'd moved here, she'd been a consistent B student. Now, she was making A’s, for the most part. She loved her drama class, and I hadn't gotten a single call about her pushing the rules. But I also remembered what we'd talked about the last time.

"How's that Mason kid?" I asked.

She groaned, leaning her head back for added emphasis. "He's such a freak! The guy spits on people. Well, on us. It's almost like he knows, or something."

"Do you think he does?" I asked.

She shook her head. "There's no way. And his dad is just as weird. He comes to pick Mason up after school, right? He's got nothing but guns hanging in the back window of his truck. They're not supposed to let him on the school grounds with a gun, but no one ever stops him. And he's always staring at us."

"Gabby..." I tried.

She waved me off. "Xander says that so long as we stay in a pack and keep to the public areas, he can't do anything. So, we've all kinda been tracking where the cameras are. You know, in the halls and outside the building. And, um, we're using the buddy system, which was Heather's idea." Olivia's mom, which meant Olivia had talked about it to her mom too. "Oh, and all the guys have said they'll handle it. If anyone picks on us, we're supposed to tell them. Chris and Liam are seniors, Matt's a junior, and then Xander and Roman as sophomores - plus the girls. It's fine."

Which meant there were a lot more wolves at her school than I realized. I'd seen the kids waiting for the bus, but the older ones had cars so wouldn't be there. That was one more thing to talk to Ian about. How big was this pack?

And speaking of Ian, I still had to get dressed. "Ok, out, missy," I told Gabby, shooing her toward the door. "I have a hot date with my boyfriend, and I don't want to be fashionably late."

"Too bad," Gabby teased. "Trent's been in the living room for like fifteen minutes. Get dressed and then come show off!"

The moment she was out of my room, I looked at the dresses she'd picked again. The black one was safe,