I have decided to make this mini-series very mini, with only 4 episodes for those who missed it. I plan to flesh it out into a much longer story to be published on Dreame as a spin-off to the His Series.

For now, here is Episode 2: The Parade

 

QUINN

I am no fan of crowds. Never have been. I can tolerate them for a little while, but I would much rather be with a small group of people I actually know rather than lots of people I do not.

Michael doesn’t think the Pack Founder’s parade will be as bad as I think it will. I am just glad he will be there, too, although he has yet to show up to a single band practice. Each year, Stary Pack celebrates its founding with a parade that leads to the packhouse, then a giant party with lots of food and fireworks to end the night. Of course, the high school marching band is the primary source of musical entertainment for the parade.

Our practices start two weeks before the parade. I have been to every single one but noticed there was a marked lack of upperclassmen. One of the other people in my grade told me that many upperclassmen already know how to march in parade form and have the music memorized, so they just show up on parade day. There was also a lot of grumbling about the Alpha’s son. Unknown to me, he was a member of the band as well. He had a reputation among the girls that led to a different one among the guys.

Michael is also a sax player, but I wasn’t sure if he was in my section or not. He assured me he would be at the parade, so it made the whole thing a little less nerve-wracking. It was nice to have one upperclassman friend because, so far, the ones in my section were not the nicest. My section leader was really annoyed when he realized that not only am I in his section in band, but we are also on the cross country team together. Of course, he is the first varsity runner on the boy’s team, while I am just a swing runner for the girl’s team. That is still over three hours a day that we are forced to spend in the same company. He makes it his mission to call out every little mistake I make, and it’s getting frustrating.

MICHAEL

| ready for tomorrow?

My heart flutters a little bit every time I get a text message from him. After that day at the pool, he somehow convinced me to give him my number before I left. At first, I thought he would never do anything, then he called. We have been hanging out more and more since then. He’s flirty and sometimes crude, but he is also sweet and fun.

ME

| maybe

| still going to be there?

MICHAEL

| wouldn’t miss a chance to see you

ME

| you miss every band practice

MICHAEL

| I told you. I have other stuff going on.

ME

| are you sure Stuart will be nice tomorrow?

I told Michael all about my section leader’s apparent vendetta against me. He knew exactly who he was and assured me that he would back off me instantly when he saw us talking at the parade. I didn’t press him on how because I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

MICHAEL

| don’t you trust me? 🙁

I rolled my eyes and told him I had to go, and I would see him at the parade tomorrow afternoon.

–

I fidgeted with my neckstrap, craning my neck to look for Michael. We had to line up any minute; where was he? I stood near the rest of my section of tenor saxes. There were five of us in total. Stuart, the senior section leader, Sandra, a junior, Mitch, a sophomore, plus me and the other freshman Audrey.

“Looking for someone?” a voice said behind me. I turned around, smiling. Relief swam through me.

“There you are!” I said happily. “I thought you would miss this.”

“Told you I would come,” he said with his charming smile. He had a bari sax hung around his neck, my preferred instrument. I looked like a child when I carried one, but its size suited his frame. The band director told me the bari sax was too big for a freshman my size to march with, so I had to take my second choice.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Sandra blurted out behind me. Michael looked over my shoulder, his smile not faltering.

“Problem?” he said. I turned to look over my shoulder at her face that had a scowl on it. She shook her head and walked away. I realized other people were staring at us.

“Why is everyone looking at us like that?” I asked, turning my attention back to Michael.

Michael shrugged. “Who knows?” he laughed. I think he knew exactly why, so I scowled at him. Before I could pester him further, a whistle blew, telling us to get in position. “I’m back here. See you at the packhouse.”

He turned to head to the back with the tubas. I went to get into my spot too, but I heard him call my name before I got there. “What?” I called back.

“Don’t trip!” he laughed. My cheeks flushed red, and I spun around, purposely not responding. I lined up in my spot between Stuart and Mitch; Stuart gave me an angry glare.

“Seriously?” he hissed at me.

“What?” I asked.

“The school year hasn’t even started. Are you the freshman slut or something?” he said in a low voice. My jaw dropped. I knew he didn’t like me, but where did that come from?

We were called to attention, so all I could do was focus on marching and playing. His words hurt, though, and I wondered if I made a mistake joining the marching band at all.

The parade moved through the pack. We played song after song as pack members cheered from the sidelines. All the little pups seemed the most excited. I remembered coming to the parade with my parents, always enthralled with the musicians. I planned on staying at the party for a short time, only enough to see Michael for a bit and then escape all the commotion. With how my classmates were acting around me after talking to Michael, I wasn’t too excited to stay at all.

When the parade ended, we packed away our instruments to be taken back to the high school. Then we were all released to enjoy the celebration. I was relieved to have made it through without falling, although I did pretend to be playing for a song or two that I couldn’t remember my part. There were lots of murmuring as people walked past me, and it left a heavy feeling in my stomach. Someone grabbed my arm, and I turned to find Michael.

“You didn’t fall!” he joked cheekily.

“No, I didn’t,” I said with a half-smile.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his face falling a little.

I looked around. “I just want to get out of here. I don’t like crowds.” It was true, just not the whole truth.

“Come on,” he said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him. There were some startling gasps as he headed toward the packhouse with me in tow. When we got around to the side away from people, he stopped.

“Why is everyone acting that way?” I asked.

“You really don’t know still?” he asked, coming closer to me. I stepped back involuntarily until I hit the brick of the packhouse.

“Know what?” I asked.

Michael laughed. “God, you’re cute,” he said. He placed his arms on either side of me, caging me in. I looked at him in confusion. His proximity made my heart speed up, but I didn’t feel scared. “Quinn, I am the future Alpha. All those people are whispering and talking because you are hanging out with the future Alpha of the pack.”

My jaw opened in shock. “What?” My mind was spinning. I spent all this time with the Alpha’s son, and I had no idea. “Wait, everyone was saying that you have a reputation… that you get with all the girls.”

He laughed again. “Yea, I guess I do,” he said as he shrugged. “It wasn’t a hard reputation to earn, though.”

“So it’s all true?”

“I’m sure there are bits of truth in all the stories,” he answered.

“Wait, then why are we here?”

“Because, Quinn, I like you. I thought I had made that clear already. I like you, and I have wanted to do this since I met you at the pool,” he said. He leaned down, and I froze. His lips met mine in a soft kiss.

MICHAEL

Heaven. The Moon Goddess definitely made that she-wolf me. Even Eros was happy after kissing her. She ran away too quickly, but I just needed to take my time with her. There was something different about this one, and she had taken up permanent residence in my thoughts since I saw her at the pool.

I walked back through the party at the back of the packhouse, ready to fulfill my duties as Alpha-to-be. I didn’t think anything would bring me down until my cousin Darren found me. “Andi was looking for you,” he said with a shit-eating grin. “She asked me to give this to you. Her parents only let her stay for a half-hour.” He passed me a handwritten note.

“Shit,” I thought.

“How do you think Quinn will feel when she finds out you haven’t dumped Andi yet?” Eros taunted.

“I’m more worried about what Andi will do if she finds out about Quinn…”

“You made your bed,” he taunted.

“I’ll take care of it,” I said.

“Better be careful. Those freshmen will get you in trouble,” Darren laughed before walking away.