Succubus Happens

Chapter Eight

The anticipation of the basketball games are far greater than I thought they would be. The school just has a completely different energy on Friday nights. I’ve seen my fair share of games, what with my dad having been a coach since I was little, but for some reason, I figured the ones in North Grove wouldn’t be quite as entertaining since the team is literally a pack of wolves playing against humans. How can anyone really stand a chance?

I bring this up to Carter, Friday at lunch and he just stares at me.

“Only you,” he says.

I’m confused. “Only me what?”

“Only you would think to question that.”

“That’s because I’m the only human!”

“Not a human…just human raised.”

“You make it sound unholy.”

“Some people in this town might think so.”

“Bigots.”

Carter just grins at me while Jake, who is sitting across from us, starts laughing. I look over at him.

“What?”

“You guys are seriously cute,” Jake says.

I narrow my eyes and throw a fry at him. Being the wolf he is, he catches it in his mouth.

“Thank you, I’ve been eyeing those,” Jake says.

I push the tray over to Jake. “Have at ‘em,” I tell him.

“Yes! You’re officially the best girlfriend that Carter’s had,” Jake says, basically attacking the fries.

“Dude,” Carter says, glaring at Jake.

“What?”

“I’m the best girlfriend he’s had?” I ask, raising a brow and turning my attention fully to Jake. “What were his other girlfriends like?”

I can feel Carter’s gaze on me and he’s glaring at me. I can’t help but smile.

“Don’t answer that,” Carter growls at his brother.

“Why not?”

Jake leans across the table and lowers his voice. “Probably because some of his ex-girlfriends still live in town.”

I sit up straight, surprised by this piece of news. I don’t know why I never thought about this, but of course Carter’s dated before. And of course, they’d still be living here. Carter did say that no one leaves North Grove because of the fact that it’s safe here. I swallow and turn to look at Carter. I get a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach and I feel like I can’t breathe.

“Please…”

“I never dated Natalie.”

“I’m gonna go,” Jake says, grabbing the rest of the French fries and getting up from the table.

“You don’t have to,” I say quickly.

“You probably want me to.”

“Why would I want that?”

“Because I’m the one who dated Natalie.”

My jaw drops as I stare at Jake. “What?!”

“See ya.”

Jake takes off running out of the cafeteria and it takes me a moment to turn to look at Carter.

“He dated the crazy?”

“He was bored,” Carter says. “It didn’t last long…and he regrets it. But he doesn’t want you look at him the way you’re looking at me.”

“But…”

Carter takes my hand and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “It was a long time ago. Trust me.”

I nod slowly, the shock starting to wear off. “Okay,” I say. “So who did you date?”

Carter raises a brow before shaking his head. “No,” he says. “We’re not having this conversation.”

“Why not?”

“Because it literally doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.”

“It shouldn’t.”

“Why not?”

Carter sighs and tugs on my hand, pulling me basically into his lap. We’re sitting awfully close…though I doubt anyone will say anything, unless my father comes into the cafeteria. At that thought, I want to squirm away from Carter, but he’s got a firm grip on me. “Because I only care about you and our future.”

Future. The word causes my breath to catch in my throat. “We have a future?”

“Hell yeah we do,” he says with that grin of his.

“And what exactly does this future have in store for us?” I ask him, a playful smile on my lips.

“Anything that we want,” he says, brushing his lips against mine. “The world is our oyster.”

“You mean North Grove is our oyster.”

He wrinkles his nose. “You’re not going to let me have anything, are you?”

“You have me,” I tell him. “Isn’t that enough?’

I’m teasing him, obviously, but he still grins. “More than enough.”

☽

I’m sitting with Mom again in the bleachers. This is habit, even though I see Aurelia sitting up in the stands with a freckled blonde with long curly hair. I know she’s not a student because I haven’t seen her in the last couple of weeks. Then it hits me, that must be Kate. She glances over at me, probably because she’s sensed me staring at her or something, and she waves. Like she knows me. I shouldn’t really be surprised given the nature of my relationship with Carter. So I smile and wave back.

“Is that one of your friends?” Mom asks me.

I turn to look at her. “Not yet,” I tell her. “That’s Jake and Carter’s sister, Kate. I’ve heard a lot about her—” Not really “-And she seems really nice.”

“Ah, so she’s Carter’s sister, huh?”

“Yup.”

Mom raises a brow. “You’re getting pretty cozy with the Sinclair’s aren’t you?”

I bite my lip. “Sort of.”

“Sort of?” Mom asks with a slight laugh. “I’ve heard that you’ve been seen canoodling with Carter.”

My eyes widen as I stare at her. “Canoodling?” I repeat. “Oh my god, mom, what planet are you from?”

“Earth, last I checked,” she says with a grin.

“Did you tell dad?” I ask her.

“Who do you think told me?”

Oh no! I turn my gaze to the court where I see my father talking to Carter, and he looks very serious. I wonder if they’re talking about the game or if they’re talking about me. I’m being paranoid. But then again, I’ve never dated a boy on the basketball team before. Why didn’t I think about this?

“Relax, honey,” Mom says, placing her hand on mine. “Your father likes him. He’s heard good things. At least you’re not dating that terrible Alex boy.”

I look at my mother. “You’ve heard the stories about Alex?”

“Of course I have,” she says. “The teachers talk to your father and your father talks to me. This is a small town, Daphne. Everyone knows everything here. I know all of your secrets.”

“All of them, huh?” I highly doubt that. The Supernatural world is the best kept secret in North Grove.

“Well maybe not,” she says. “But mother knows best.”

I snort. “Sure, mom. Whatever you say.”

“Daphne.”

My heart starts racing when I hear his voice. I turn and by the look his face and he can hear it too. “Carter,” I say with a smile.

“Hello Carter,” my mother says, overly happy. You’d think I’d never had a boyfriend in my life, she’s so pleased.

“Ma’am,” Carter nods. “Do you mind if I steal her away for a few moments?”

He’s asking my mother’s permission? Seriously?! I feel my cheeks start to redden and I know that it’s because of the fact that my mother is practically melting on the bleachers because of her adoration with this boy and his Southern charm.

“Go right ahead,” Mom smiles. “I’ll save your seat, honey.”

“Great, mom,” I say, rolling my eyes as I step down onto the court, and slip my hand into his.

“Hey, five minutes, Carter!” My father shouts after us. “And then you’re back here!”

“Yes, sir,” Carter responds before he leads me out of the gym. 

Once we’re outside, I use my free hand to cover my face and groan.

“What’s wrong?” he asks me.

“My parents know we’re dating.”

“So?”

“So? It’s embarrassing!”

Carter looks amused. “Exactly how is it embarrassing?”

“You saw them just now,” I tell him. “It’s like my mother last week telling you not to keep me out too late.”

“What’s wrong about that? They care about you.”

“It’s bad enough the entire town is practically watching our every move, but now my parents? I was hoping to keep it from them.”

“You didn’t want them to know we’re together?” His smile falters slightly.

“No!” I say quickly. “Oh my god, no. That’s not where I’m going with that.”

“Maybe I’m just confused.”

I take a breath. “I was raised outside of North Grove where it’s normal to have your parents embarrass you. It’s normal for them to overreact to their daughter dating a new boy. It’s normal for them to act like this, and it’s normal for me to hate it,” I explain. “Does that make any sense at all?”

Carter pulls me in close. “With all that’s been going on in your life recently, isn’t it nice to have some semblance of a normal life?”

I sigh. “You’re right,” I say. “I’m taking this stuff for granted, aren’t I?”

“Just a bit,” he smiles at me. “But I’ll forgive you.”

I grin. “Oh! Your sister is inside,” I tell him.

“Yes, Kate is dying to meet you,” he says.

“Dying to see the girl who made her brother a kept man?” I ask, teasing.

“Dying to meet the girl who knocked out Alex with a single punch,” Carter corrects me. “She’s far more impressed with that than she is of you and me together. She said she saw that coming.”

That stuns me. “She…saw it coming?”

I hear a whistle coming from inside the gym and Carter curses. “We’ll talk later. About everything. We’ll get together after the game. Okay?”

I nod. “Okay.”

Carter lifted my chin with his fingers and presses a lingering kiss to my lips. I smile against them and it remains long after he pulls away. “Ready to go back in?”

“Not really, but I can fake it,” I say with a shrug.

Carter grins and laces our fingers together before we head back into the gym.

☽

After the game, which the Titans won without a doubt, I meet up with Carter and Jake outside of the locker rooms. Carter comes out after only a few minutes with his hair wet and pulls me into a hug.

“Are you going to congratulate us on our win?”

I raise a brow at him once he sets me on the floor. “Why would I congratulate you?”

He falters. “Because…we won.”

I shake my head. “You guys win every single game you play. Congratulating you for winning is like congratulating Jake for eating.”

“What about eating?” Jake asks, coming out of the locker rooms with a grin. “Are we heading to the Den for food?”

I look at Carter who raises his hands in surrender. “Fine. Point made.”

“Thank you,” I tell him.

Jake looks confused and rubs his stomach. “Uh guys, are we gonna go get food or what?”

Carter and I laugh. “Yes,” Carter replies. He tosses the keys at his brother. “You’re driving.”

“Deal!” Jake takes off in the direction of the parking lot while Carter and I follow behind.

“Is he ever not hungry?” I ask him.

Carter laughs. “We’re wolves. We burn a lot of calories and so we eat a lot of food.”

“Then why aren’t you as hungry as Jake?”

“To be honest, I’m starving,” he admits. “I’m just better at acting like I’m not.”

“I don’t want you to feel like you have to fake anything with me,” I tell him. “If you’re hungry, you tell me and we’ll get you fed.”

“So you’re going to take care of me, huh?” Carter asks, raising a brow at me.

“Yes,” I say, my voice serious. “Always.”

“And here I thought I was the one taking care of you.”

“You take care of me and I’ll take care of you,” I say with a smile.

“So romantically cheesy,” he says. “I like it.”

I laugh as he opens the door of the truck where Jake is tapping the wheel impatiently. “In the car, Carter,” he urges his brother.

“I’m in, I’m in,” Carter says, buckling his seatbelt.

Jake gets to The Den in record time and basically jumps out of the car heading inside. I look over at Carter, suddenly nervous. “Last time I was here…”

“You don’t have to worry about it,” he tells me. “It’s not going to happen again.”

“I know, I just…”

Carter leans in and captures my lips with his. He pulls back after a moment. “I’ve got you,” he says, his voice firm. “Alex is not going to come anywhere near you.”

He sounds sincere, and if I’ve learned anything about Carter in the last two weeks, I know that he’s going to do everything in his power to keep Alex away from me.

“I know.” I place my hand on his cheek. “Let’s go get you some food.”

“Sounds great,” Carter laughs, opening the door and pulling me outside with him.

The second we’re inside, I notice that the vibe is completely different than it was last week when I showed up here on my own. Everyone is laughing and having a good time. It seems like no one is watching me and that no one actually seems to mind that I’m here. Carter tugs on my hand and we join Jake and Knox in a corner booth.

I notice that in the past week Knox and Tyler haven’t been spending as much time with each other and I know that it’s my fault. I’ve created a divide in the pack, and though Carter’s told me not to worry about it, I can’t help but do just that. On my own time, though, I guess.

“Hey, Knox,” I say with a smile. “Great game.”

“They almost had us,” Knox says, his mouth full of a burger.

“Attractive,” a voice says from behind us.

I turn and see Kate, who slides into the booth next to me.

“Kate,” Carter says. “Welcome home.”

Kate ignores her brother and puts her attention fully on me. “You must be Daphne,” she says with a 100 watt grin. And then she pulls me into a hug. Like we know each other. “I’m so excited to meet you!”

“Uhm…”

“Kate, hands off,” Carter tells her.

Kate releases me, but looks confused. “Why?”

“Daphne doesn’t really know about your…gifts,” he says.

“Oh!” Kate laughs. “I’m sorry. I must seem incredibly weird to you.”

“I’ve experience weirder,” I say.

“Right, you are dating my brother,” she grins. I hear a growl from my left and smile.

“So your gift?” I prompt.

“I’m a psychic,” she says. “Well, I’m a witch. I take after Aurelia in that aspect but my specialty is foretelling.”

“You can see the future?” I ask. She said she saw that coming. It’s all starting to make sense now. I look over my shoulder at Carter who shrugs.

“Yup. I also saw you knock out Alex too, but I didn’t want to call Carter and have him get mad about me spying on his little girlfriend.”

“Kate!” Carter groans and drops his head in his hands. I can see the back of his neck getting red.

“What am I not allowed to embarrass you?” Kate asks, sounding confused.

Carter doesn’t answer, so Kate looks back at me. “Anyway, if you’re free this weekend I want to talk to you where we keep the census information from every year so I can give you a crash course on the creatures in North Grove.”

“Oh really?” I ask, surprised. “I would love that.”

“I know,” Kate smiles. “I’ll get your number from Carter and then we’ll set up a time.”

“That sounds great,” I respond.

“Perfect! See ya!” Kate hugs me again before getting up from the table and bounding off in the other direction of the diner.

“She’s gone, Carter,” I tell him.

“Yo bro, you gonna get that nervous every time Kate shows up?” Jake asks, laughing. “Ow!”

I don’t have to look to know that Carter has just kicked Jake under the table. Brothers.

I grab Carter’s hand under the table and lace my fingers with his. “Why are you so embarrassed?”

Carter shakes his head and squeezes my hand. “Later,” he says. He stands up on the seat cushion and climbs over me before jumping onto the floor. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” I reply. “Burger?”

“Done,” he says, leaning in and kissing my cheek. “I’ll be right back.”

I turn to look at Jake and Knox. “I haven’t really talked to you guys much…”

“You’ve been too busy canoodling,” Jake says.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you the one who told  my dad?”

“You dad knew,” Knox says. “Jake just put the word into his head.”

“You wolves are horrible,” I shake my head.

“Actually, we’re awesome,” Knox says. “You better believe it.”

“Hey guys.”

I turn and see Tyler standing at the edge of the table.  Last I really saw of Tyler was that he was on Alex’s side in the whole battle amongst the pack. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Jake and Knox stiffen. They’re on the opposite side of the table as me but if Tyler tried to grab me, they’d move faster than I could possibly blink.

“I wanted to apologize,” Tyler says. “I just…Alex said some things and they sounded pretty believable and I panicked. I chose the wrong side.”

“What made you realize that?” Carter comes up behind Tyler, his expression fierce.

“I just…” Tyler sighs. “I didn’t know anything about you, Daphne. I didn’t know you were…good.”

“Good?” I repeat. “And how do you know that I’m good?”

He pauses and looks across the diner to where Kate is talking with a group of girls. “Kate filled me in.”

“So let me get this straight,” Carter says. “You would have continued to try to cause Daphne trouble if Kate hadn’t told you otherwise?”

Tyler doesn’t answer, which is an answer in and of itself.

“You can go now,” Carter doesn’t make eye contact with Tyler as he starts to walk away. I get up and grab his hand, which apparently shocks everyone in the damn diner as it’s now eerily quiet.

“Thank you,” I tell him. Tyler looks down at my hand and over at Carter, who looks shocked. “Don’t look at him. Look at me.”

Tyler swallows before turning his focus back to me. “Uhm, okay.”

“I’m serious. It takes courage to apologize for your actions. I have seen firsthand how people like Alex and Natalie trick others. And that’s just people like them, Tyler. Humans. Not wolves and Geminis, whatever those damn things are. There are some bad people out there. And yeah, you were duped. I don’t blame you. Why would any of you trust me after hundreds of years of living here? I’m human raised and maybe that’s not good enough for some of you. But I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere,” I take a breath and drop Tyler’s hand. “I don’t know much about this town, but I’m not going to let it get destroyed. I don’t want that. But if you let people like Alex try to turn everyone against each other, it’s not the humans that will destroy this place. It’ll be you.”

I…do not know where that came from. It started out as just wanting to thank Tyler. I didn’t expect a speech. And by the looks I’m getting, no one else did either.

“Sorry,” I say, sliding back into the booth. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

A stunned silence is all that greets me in response to my apology. If I wasn’t a leper before, I sure am now. A few moments pass before the murmurs begin to fill the diner. I can’t pinpoint what they’re saying and I’m too embarrassed to try to listen. A tray of food appears in front of me and I distract myself with eating a fry before I hear my name.

I turn and see one of the red-headed cheerleaders standing in front of me. I’ve seen her in the halls these past two weeks, but I’ve never spoken to her.

“Yes?”

“You’re Daphne Martin right?”

The question is confusing to me, as I just assumed that everyone at this school already knew who I was. “Yes,” I repeat. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

The girl smiles. “My name is Lily Saivani and I just wanted to tell you that what you said just now…it really struck a chord with me. I apologize for not coming to introduce myself to you sooner. You are not like the others we have encountered.”

“Other Succubus?” I ask.

Lily shakes her head. “No, others that have come from humans.”

“Oh.” It’s a race thing. It’s always going to be a race thing, but at this point I can’t really blame them. The past has proved to this town that humans generally cannot be trusted. “Thank you,” I tell her. “It means a lot.”

“You mean a lot to us,” Lily says. “To all of us.”

The word all surprises me and I turn and see everyone in the diner looking at me. I suddenly feel incredibly self-conscious. “Oh…” I say, my breath catching in my throat. I shake my head. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t really have to say anything,” she says. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

I pause. “Uhm…you’re welcome.”

Lily smiles at me before rejoining her table of cheerleaders. And then everything is back to normal. People are talking and laughing and tossing fries at each other.

I turn my attention back to the others and I see Jake and Knox staring at me with incredibly stupid grins on their faces. Carter is leaning against the booth on their side and he looks just as amazed as they do.

“What?” I ask, grabbing my burger and taking a bite.

“Carter…you win,” Jake says, his voice an almost awe-like whisper.

I narrow my eyes at him, not sure what he’s actually talking about, but I’m suddenly so hungry I, for once, don’t care enough to stop eating to ask.

“I definitely do,” Carter says before disappearing again…I think to go grab his food this time.

I swallow. “What does he win?” My curiosity gets the better of me as I reach for my drink.

Jake’s mouth is full of food at this point, but Carter is already sliding into the booth next to me. He answers the question I’ve aimed at his brother. “We had a bet when we were younger…much younger about who would get the best partner.”

“Partner?” I repeat.

“Mate…partner,” Carter shrugs. “I feel weird just calling you my girlfriend. You’re much more than that.”

My cheeks start to heat up. “Really?”

“Especially since wolves mate for life, huh?” Knox says with a grin.

The burger slips through my fingers and hits the basket and I look over at Knox.

“Dude,” Carter says, reaching across the table to slap Knox in the head.

“Dude, yourself,” Knox groans, rubbing his head. “The hell man?”

“Get up,” Jake says, pushing Knox out of the booth. “I’ll explain it to you.”

Once Jake and Knox are gone, I feel Carter turn to look at me. He’s not saying anything, but that’s probably because I haven’t looked at him yet. I feel like my face is on fire. I’m not the only nervous one though…I can feel Carter’s heart pounding.

“Daph?” His voice is quiet and a little shaky. “I wanted to tell you on my own time."

“Wanted to tell me what, exactly?” I ask. “I’m not really sure I understand what Knox just said.”

Carter runs a hand through his hair. “Come outside with me,” he says, getting to his feet and holding a hand out to me.

“What? Why?”

He sighs. “I don’t really want to commit myself to you inside of a diner.”

My eyes widen at the word commit, but I can sense just how serious he is at this point. So I take his hand and follow him outside. There are a few people hanging around the front doors, but Carter leads me away from them and toward his truck. He opens the passenger door and I get inside and wait for him to join me.

“What was Knox talking about, Carter?” I ask, once he shuts the door. “Why did he say wolves mate for life?”

Carter’s wringing his hands together. His heart is still pounding. “Because we do.”

I shake my head. “But you’ve dated in the past,” I say. “You’ve been in relationships before.”

“Yes,” he says. “But none of them lasted.”

My shoulders fall. “Carter, you just met me. That's crazy,” I say. “There’s no way you can know if this is going to last.”

Carter stares at me, his gaze serious and it’s as if he’s started some staring contest that I wasn’t aware of. And I wait…and wait…until he reaches across the truck and pulls me against him, kissing me…well, ravenously. That’s the only word I can think of to describe this kiss. It’s a great kiss. He pulls back after a moment, one hand still tangled in my hair, holding me in place.

“Daphne, I need you to understand something about me,” he says, staring deep into my eyes.

“Okay…” The hesitancy is clear in my voice.

“Shut up,” he says, a slight smirk on his face. “I am crazy about you. And yeah, it’s been less than two weeks since I’ve met you, but I’m not letting you go.”

I swallow. “You’re serious.”

He laughs. “A thousand percent serious.” He kisses me again. “Remember? I give myself willingly to you.”

“You wake, I wake.”

“Yeah,” he says, finally releasing me. “I knew that first day.”

“You knew the day we met that you wanted to be with me?” I ask, surprised.

“Maybe day two,” he says with a wry smile. “But I knew I wanted to talk to you.”

“Because I had turned down Alex.”

He grins. “Because you had turned down Alex.”

“And if I hadn’t?”

Carter’s grin disappears. “Why do you like to ruin these nice moments we have, Daphne?”

I raise my hands in defense. “I’m sorry!” I say. “I didn’t mean to!”

Carter shakes his head. “Until you don’t want me, you have me,” he says. “I’m not going anywhere.”

I bring my hands up and touch his cheeks. I shake my head while I look into his eyes. “Right now I can’t imagine not wanting you, Carter,” I tell him. “Two weeks or not…you’ve changed me.”

“God, we're so dramatic,” he laughs before kissing me again.

I sigh against his lips before pulling back. “Should we head back inside?” 

“Yeah, we’ll probably have to order new food. From the looks of things, Jake’s already eaten it all.”