"What the hell is that?" Flynn was glaring pointedly at me, his eyes now pitch black, his mouth pulled back in a snarl.
Wait, what? I thought we were here to get back at them—them, meaning the three goons who were frozen where they stood, also staring at me.
Flynn was growling now. He was so angry I almost laughed. "It's called a sports bra."
And then I realized that Mr. Clear Boundaries wasn't mad about the amount of skin I was showing, but about what was on my skin.
As in the temporary tattoos Maria had left on me at school—as in, you know… the bruises and handprint marks, which were now just splotches of multicolored bruises. S***.
Hahahaha… Why was I laughing? Because I was caught in a ridiculous situation. What? Just me? I looked around. No one else in the training hall seemed to think it was funny. Even Dean was giving me a very concerned, almost pitying look.
I frowned at that. I wasn't the one who was getting beat up… Wait, I was—but this was different.
"WHAT—no, WHO did that?" Flynn was beyond angry now.
I couldn't see how all the bruises looked now, but Flynn made them sound pretty bad. The harsh fluorescent lighting in the training hall probably wasn't helping either.
"Nobody you know. Just leave it." I automatically slipped back to alpha mode because that's my default mode when I'm stunned, and right now, I'm seriously just trying to figure out what kind of mess I've gotten into. I had a bad feeling Flynn was going to blow it up in my face.
"What happened, Sam?" Flynn used his trustworthy adult voice.
"I fought with a vampire today." I decided to go with the truth. I guess the trustworthy adult voice worked.
"Don't joke with me, Sam." Flynn growled. Ironically, he didn't believe me.
Actually, given that our pack lands hadn't seen a vampire since the Great War and that most wolves in our pack had never—and would probably never—meet a vampire in their lifetime, I might just as well have said Santa Claus did it.
Except that what I said was actually the truth.
"Sam… I'm waiting." How Flynn could be so angry and patient at the same time was admirable. He growled so I knew he was serious.
And then I realized anything I said at this point would be repeated to the Alpha (by Flynn), repeated to the rest of the pack (by Dean, via his mum), and I bet my front teeth it'd be repeated to our friendly neighbours in the pack next door (by the three goons).
I decided to word the truth very carefully. "You know my school is outside our packlands, right?"
Flynn nodded his head an iota, but didn't add to it. I took it to mean that my schooling away from the pack was general knowledge even if no one knew the specific details.
"So there's an old vampire coven near my school," I explained. I decided not to mention the vampire students because I'm not sure how much of that would implicate the school or my dad who sent me there.
Flynn didn't react as he took it in. So this was new information to him.
One of the goons gasped just a bit, confirming that we truly had an audience.
"I had a fight with one of them today," I explained, without really explaining anything.
Flynn frowned. And in general, everyone looked a lot more concerned than I was comfortable with.
"Don't worry, I won." I was just trying to brush off their concern, but I couldn't help but smile at my victory.
What? Arrogant alpha gloating was in my blood.
And just because I wanted this conversation over, I quickly added, "Shouldn't we get back to training?"
Flynn blinked as if suddenly remembering the training session that was supposed to be his job tonight. "We'll talk about this with your father later."
Okay. I sighed, the tension in my shoulders dropping at the respite. This was all Maria's fault.
"Okay. Back to training! No one is going home till you complete all the exercises!" Flynn was back in his game. The guys groaned.
Suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious about what I imagined to be grotesque marks on my skin, and admittedly a little uncomfortable training in a sports bra with four other guys (should I have counted Flynn?), I looked over at Dean, wondering if I could get my jacket back.
But before I could make a move, Flynn pulled off his t-shirt and plopped it on my head. I watched his bare back move as he passed me to yell at the guys, "Move it, suckers! Time to warm up!"
I held my breath when I pulled on the t-shirt. It was reflex so my nose wouldn't be assaulted by Flynn's scent when I poked my head through. Although the t-shirt had stretched tightly on Flynn, it was oversized on me. It covered most of me, except for the ring of bruises at my elbow where Maria had gripped too hard.
Walking over to the other end of the hall to join the warm-ups, I caught my reflection in the full-length mirrors on that side of the hall.
Actually, I looked pretty good in guys' clothing. I smirked, but the smirk was wiped off immediately when I looked up and saw Evelyn from the mirror's reflection.
I'd forgotten she was still here, sitting on the far side of the hall just like before, except now she was watching me with an indescribable expression. It was the first time I'd seen it at such intensity—if I had to guess the emotion, it would be one word—hate.