Fire in the Heir

10.

We arrived home pretty late that night, but you could tell that all of our parents were excited about seeing us. As we exited the bus and unloaded all of our purchases, we all made our way over to our families.

My mom was the first parent to run over and she nearly toppled me over the second my feet hit the ground.

“Taylor, we’re so happy you’re back,” she yelled, and she wrapped me in a huge embrace. I hugged her and kissed her cheek and the second I looked up I could see my dad standing off in the distance with Alpha Riese.

It was a shock to see him here, but I thought that maybe he was here to welcome Monika back maybe.

All of the other parents were greeting their kids and some were already leaving the school yard. My mom let me out of her embrace, but didn’t remove her arm from my waist.

“How was everything? Did you get to see everything you wanted? Did you try any new foods? Did you take a lot of pictures?”

I laughed because she kept asking questions but wasn’t giving me an opportunity to answer even one.

“Mom, if you want to know how it went, you need to give me a second to answer your questions. Jeeze, you sound like Monika already.”

She pinched my side softly, but barked out a laugh. “You’re right. I’m just so excited to hear how it went.”

Right then I remembered the stranger and felt unease. I needed to make sure that I didn’t let her find out about what happened with him.

Kana sensed it and I could feel her curiosity and her annoyance peak. Not annoyance with me, but annoyance at him.

I was happy to be back, and to see how excited everyone around us was. I wanted to bask in it. To hold onto it for as long as I could, but I also knew that I was hiding something from everyone, especially from my parents.

“Everything was great. Yes, I saw everything we had to see and all that I wanted to see. I tried the fried pickles and they were disgusting. Yes, we took tons of pictures, but mostly on Monika’s phone.”

My mom started laughing and gave me another little squeeze. We stood there for a few more minutes talking and I suddenly realized that the only people left were me, my parents, Jace, and Alpha Riese.

I got nervous as I saw Jace standing there talking with my dad and the alpha, but I was hopeful that he wouldn’t say anything about that little incident.

Mom and I started to walk to our car, just as the three of them began to head in the same direction. As we all reached the car at the same moment, Alpha Riese addressed me directly.

“Good evening Taylor, did you have a good time on your trip?”

“Good evening Alpha, yes I did. It was a lot of fun and we all ate so much food. I hope I get to go back soon. There are so many new shops since I was last there that I wasn’t able to visit them all. There was a really cute coffee shop next to an indie book store that I would love to spend some time in.”

I stopped talking as soon as I realized that they were just standing there staring at me with a mixture of different expressions.

Jace looked happy, mom looked sad, dad looked nervous, but Alpha Killian looked angry. I wasn’t sure what Jace had said to them, but I was in a hurry to leave.

I faked a small yawn and tried to make it seem like I was more tired than I really was, but Alpha raised his eyebrows, like he knew I was just trying to get out of this extremely uncomfortable situation.

“Well Taylor, I can see that you are very tired, so I would like you to come to my office tomorrow morning,” Alpha Riese said with a smirk.

Shit! What is going on? I knew Kana could feel my confusion, but for once she didn’t say anything. I stood there just gaping at him for a few seconds, then my dad cleared his throat.

“Yes, Taylor. If you have nothing going on tomorrow, then I will take you to the pack house in the morning to meet with Killian.”

My mom was about to speak, but my dad quickly grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“Jace, please take Taylor home. My wife and I need to speak with Riese and she is very tired, it seems,” my father asked while still looking at me.

“Our course, Beta, it would be my pleasure to get her home for you.” Jace sounded as he crossed his right hand over his chest and bowed to him and Alpha Riese.

I knew it was a sign of respect for their positions, but seriously, could he be more annoying right now?

“Well, goodnight then everyone,” I replied, as I turned towards Jace. We walked towards the bus and I was about to ask if he was gonna use it to drive me home until I saw that we were walking around it.

Right by one of the tables in the courtyard there was a sports bike. I looked towards the bike, then back to Jace, then back to the bike again.

“Is that yours,” I asked stupidly.

“Close your mouth princess, your attracting flies.” I stopped walking and was tempted to kick him in the shin, but I was a little thrown by how friendly he was suddenly being towards me.

“Yes, it’s mine. Have you ever been on a bike before?” I’m sure he knew the answer already, so I responded, “yeah, all the time.”

He laughed. Out loud. It made me smile and laugh a little too. “So you’re not just an escape artist, but a comedian as well.” I stopped again.

“Did you tell them?”

Jace had stopped walking and stood looking at me. I could feel little tingles running up and down my arms as I waited for his dooming answer.

“Yes and no.” He turned and walked the rest of the way to his bike. Yes and no. What the hell does that mean? I wanted to know, but also didn’t.

If he had told them, I am sure my parents would have been yelling at me, but I didn’t have the courage to ask him. How did I call myself a wolf? I was more of a mouse.

Walking over to him slowly, I watched as he threw his leg over the bike and sat on the seat. He started the bike and scooted himself up higher on the seat to give me space to get behind him.

I hesitated for a moment until he turned to look at me over his shoulder, “come on princess. You said that you ride them all the time. Don’t tell me it’s me that scares you.”

He laughed again and I wasn’t sure if this was actually Jace. I drew up my courage, threw my leg over the back tire, and settled myself on the seat behind him. “Put your feet here and here.”

I followed his instructions but didn’t know what to do with my hands. His body was giving off so much heat in the small space between us that I felt like I was starting to sweat.

“I’m not sure how skilled you are on a bike, but most people have to hold on to something when they ride.”

Swallowing hard, I knew that he could hear my heart beating rapidly, so I leaned forward in a quick movement and wrapped my arms around his chest.

I felt his chuckle reverberate through my whole body and was shocked and stunned at how close we were to each other.

Had I ever touched anyone like this besides my parents, Monika, and her little brothers?

“Ready,” he asked. “Yes.” I squeaked out and before I took my next breath, he shot forward so fast that I thought I was going to fly off.

“Eek!” That was all that came out as I held on to him for dear life, and a part of me hoped it hurt him.

As we drove around the bus and down the street towards my house, I saw my mom’s face turn white with what I could only assume was shock, or fear, or, both.

He drove down the street so fast that I could feel Kana’s joy at the speed. Well, it was nice that one of us was enjoying it.

We arrived at my house pretty quickly because of how fast we were going and Jace pulled all the way up to the porch. He turned off the bike and we just sat there for a second.

“Are you still alive?” I released the tension in my arms that I had caged around him, and slowly eased myself off the back of the bike.

“Thanks for the ride.” He looked at me and laughed again, but then gave me a tiny little smirk before he replied, “Anytime princess.”

I slowly walked up the steps and got my keys out of my bag to open the door. He sat there on the bike watching me.

While I didn’t turn to look, I could feel him. As I opened the door, I turned to tell him goodnight, but he was already starting the bike.

I gave him a little wave and he saluted me with two fingers. I laughed and did the same to him.

As I turned to close the door, I could feel my heart beating quickly. I had never spoken so much to Jace in my life, or ever seen him so care free, but it was interesting, and for some reason I really liked it.