I smile anyway.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
One of the girls smirks, and the three guys are looking at me with an expression I can’t make out. Whatever it is, it’s not good.
“Where are you heading to?” One of them asks.
“Oh, just going over to Sawyer’s pack. You know to catch up with Lacey.”
Both girls are smirking now. Why?
“Where are you all headed to?”
I get it now. They’re trying to be rude, or make fun of me, or whatever.
And gee, I wonder why... could it have anything to do with the fact that I don’t turn furry and howl at the moon?
“We’re going to hunt, but you wouldn’t understand anything about that, would you?”
“You probably find it primitive, right?So uncivilized.”
They all start laughing.
I don’t know what humans they’ve come across, but I don’t think I’ve ever even used that word.
But I guess it doesn’t matter when all they want to do is make fun of me.
“I actually don’t think that at all,” I say, eyeing the border behind them. I wassoclose.
“I think hunting is pretty cool. I wish I had the speed and heightened senses that you guys do, but this is the body I was given, unfortunately.”
“Clearly, Jasper likes it.”
“Somehow.”
They laugh again.
Now, this is just getting sad. Sad for me and sad for them.
No wonder Jasper feels he has to resort to something as radical as fake a relationship to make his pack seem more open.
At first, I thought it was working, that he just being with a human was making everyone realize that it’s not a big deal.
But I guess I didn’t know about these shifters. They must have been lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to corner me alone.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at all scared.
“Well, people can fall in love with all different kinds of people, in all different kinds of circumstances, so I know it might seem strange to you all, but it’s possible. If you give me a chance, you might be surprised.”
“Except we don’t want to give you a chance.”
“We had no choice in the matter.”
“And don’t you think he should be with someone of his own kind? Don’t you, as an outsider, realize that that would be better for the pack?”
I don’t dare mention that if Jasper wasn’t with me, then one of them would be marrying a witch, but it’s on the tip of my tongue.
You know what, maybe I should.