Wolf Bait (Perry and Jonas)

Chapter 29 “I’ll get another swimsuit,” Dr. Alvarez gets up and is quick to leave me alone again because that worked so well for us the last time. I look around and find a trash bin. I toss my shoes in and my socks This is what I was talking about the King breaks the silence. “Maybe the tag wasn’t big enough. Maybe you should add lights to it or something,” I turn around to face him. “Maybe you can tattoo THE KING’S B****H in big bold letters on my face,” “That was the other option,” he slides his right hand into the pocket of his black slacks and looks down at the floor while I stand here processing what he just said. “Excuse me?” “It’s that or the marks of the King’s s****e,” he says and there’s a hint of shame in his tone. There are rules. Laws and traditions we follow, Little Wolf. I should have explained things better to you. As your friend. I’ve never had to explain myself to anyone. Least of all to- “A s***e,” I nod. “You were hiding it,” was with Dr. Alvarez. Do you see what I’m wearing? This shirt says Little Miss Sunshine on it and has flowers,” I say showing him. “How ridiculous do I look with this thing around my neck!” “It doesn’t matter, Perry,” he sighs and comes up to me. He pulls out from under the ripped fabric. “That was a newly shifted female. Her mother is probably going to come to try to kill you for marking up her face like that,” “Seriously?” I ask looking back at the door we came through. “Yes, Perry. Seriously,” he stares at me as if saying, I f***g told you so. “Like how bad are the marks? I much rather get a sweet tat than this s***t, I hold up the mess of diamonds, “I would never put those marks on you, Pernicious, he growls. It is the ultimate disrespect a Lycan King can do to another being. You are not my s***e, little wolf. But you are mine. This is the least

disrespectful way to claim you,” I can’t hold his gaze because that’s actually really nice of him to say. It’s not enough for me to forgive him for pushing my wolf away like some street dog. Enough to send us into a state of mind sober me couldn’t handle after not feeling it for a few days now. “I think we need to lay down some ground rules. Just so I know what I’m allowed and what I’m not. What you did was humiliating and I’m not talking about the holding me up by my sweater like I’m four. You did that to me on purpose. I feel it you know. Your anger. Your jealousy,” he steps away from me averting his gaze. Lycan King, it only feels like I’m better at this than you because you’re finally getting somewhere,” “You think I’m jealous of your plan?” “Aren’t you? Dude, it was seriously impressive how you were keeping s***t going all while juggling everything else. I’ve seen your press coverage and how you’ve been holding down the scandals. I have still get tagged in the Local L***ic b***it,” “What is the Local L***tic b***it?” he asks. “Here,” I reach for my phone in my back pocket. “It broke, I whisper. “Jake is going to be upset. This is the fifth one,” 1/4 53%會 18:12 Thu, Oct 17 Chapter 29 “Use mine,” he says holding qut four phones. “Pick one,” “What the f***k?” I laugh and take one. “Why do you have so many?” “I have three different jobs,” he presses the side button. “Good choice. That is my personal one. It won’t ring unless it’s my mother or my sister, It’s not even password-protected. What an idiot. I open his QuickHowl up and search for the Local L***ic and type in Red Wood’s zipcode. I hand it back to him when the first video pops up and tap the play option. It’s captioned Local L***ic takes a break.

“Bro, bro. Look it’s her,” a seventeen-year-old kid with a f***g cellphone comes up on screen and then flips the camera. There I am. Sitting near the pretzel stand during my lunch break. Three years ago. “Holy s***it, bro. That’s her. That’s Perry Phurry. The Local L***c, his little buddy laughs. The kid zooms in on me as I take a couple of bites out of my pizza bagel before my phone rings. “Dude, she’s kind of hot. “She can slam me on top of a car all day, the other kid howls. The King laughs and then stares at the phone with disbelief when I nod angrily stand and slam my bagel on the floor before gathering all my s***t. I take my soda cup turn around and throw the cup toward the trash can spraying several dozen people crossing the walkway during rush hour. “Yo, did you see that,” The first kid laughs as he follows my movement while I storm off pi***d as hell. This man steps in front of me. When I sidestep him he follows. I do it again only for him to keep blocking my path I do it a few times and when the guy laughs I pull back and lay him out. I even walk over his chest when I get past him. The other boy comes into the shot laughing so hard he falls off the bench. “There are dozens of those along with the two high-speed chases I was involved in. I went viral for two years straight. Everyone was always out to get a video and s***t got bad because it only made me angrier,” “I am going to watch all of these and probably share them with my sister, he admits with a smirk. “What did he mean when he said he’d let you slam him on a car all day?” “That was the one that started it all. This f****g as***le s***ed my purse and I slammed him on a car. When I lifted him he pulled my shirt down popping all the buttons open. You can see my bra. They called me the ***y Avenger until the kids realize I was just a piece of ***t and I became a meme. They have the Hollaback Girl song to me slamming the guy repeatedly. That one I like,” “You don’t have media control?” “For what? I’m not doing anything special,” I scoff “I am going to have to pull this. If it gets out, you’re not going to like it here,” he says and tries to

give me his phone back. 1 hold my hand up shaking my head. “I can get myself another one. Since you can track me now. I don’t have to be here all the time do I ask. He tenses up and stares back at me. I’m not going to run, Lycan King. Never ever considered it. I’ve got nowhere else to go.” “You have a lot of friends at Lycan Tech,” “When s***t goes south, it’s the people getting something out of you that go first. I’m serious. You have the one person you need to keep me from doing anything *****id to you in your grasp and he just started working for you. What are you so afraid of? You getting ambushed like this and me not being close enough to get to you,” he answers truthfully. 2/4 GG 18:12 Thu, Oct 17 G Chapter 29 53% Π “-And then she was like, why would you use glittery hot pink when I specifically ask for metallic magenta, Andromeda walks in dressed in a bathing suit. There’s another girl with her. The two of them start giggling. The girls stop when they see us. “Hey, guys,” “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” the King asks his sister. “Early day. Got off at noon. Your blood smells amazing. B.T.Dub she points at my foot and smiles. “I agree, the girl next to her nods. This girl is fully dressed. She’s got on tight black pleather leggings. Her black leather ankle boots were redesigned with little skulls and s***s. Her mini dress has black and white layers of tule and her corset is checkered. Perfectly fitted to her body. Her long black hair is styled and fluffed going down her back stopping at her thighs. Her eyes are a shiny ruby red matching the glossy red lipstick. Her makeup isn’t too loud but her lashes are killer. “Did you get your boots from S***k******y Girl on QuickHowl?” I ask her. “Yes,” she beams lifting her leg so I can get a better look at them. I have a collection. I can’t wait for

the summer Manolos she’s designing. You a fan?” “I used to be. I nod. “She was my neighbor when I was in the academy. She designed most of my clothes then too. I created the programming for her 3-D posts,” “Wicked,” she smirks. “My name is Lillies,” “Plural” “Yes, my mother’s name was Lilly and my dad named me after her, my twin sister’s name is Tulips so I think I lucked out,” she laughs. “You guys never wait for me,” a girl in a baby blue sun dress rushes in with a stack of books in her arms. She looks identical to her darker counterpart. Except she’s blonde, big beautiful baby blue eyes, and a flum Ci***on Roll beanie on her head. “Oh, my god. It’s you,” she points at me and drops everything in her arms. “The Local **ic,” “What?” Andromeda looks over at me. “I am such a big fan. I mean hello. You’re like a hero,” she sn***es my hand and starts shaking it wildly. “You are so much prettier in person. I thought you’d be a little bigger, but that was wishful thinking. Good mothermoon, it is an honor to meet you. Your work on programming muscle memory into robotic prosthetics revolutionized medical theo-” I pull my hand out of hers. “I’m sorry. I’ve been told I have a thing about personal space,” she giggles. “Why did you stop? You were supposed to change the world,” Her big blue eyes stare back at me both expectantly and accusingly. Her words ring in my head louder than anything I’ve ever been able to scream at myself and I feel like the world is once again trying to squish me into nothing. Unable to answer or say a single word, I bail. I could hear the King calling after me but it was too much. “You were supposed to change the world,” Seven little words that have haunted me for the past five years. Words that have pushed me-into a hole I doubt I’d ever be able to dig myself out of. Grief is funny like that isn’t it? It takes over everything and it’s the perfect excuse for letting everyone around you down. It just puts its foot on your throat when someone tries to tell you you should be doing more. As if I didn’t know that. That

was a horrible reminder of the person I used to be. Both her super tall goth sister in those glorious heets and the cute little bunny driven by a world that holds so much unknown potential. I never thought I’d never have to see it again. I haven’t been around anyone intellectually stimulating in a very long time and it f****g hurt to have it thrust in my face like that. Thu, Oct