The Struggle: Hollow Crest Wolf Pack Book 2 Read online

  “Hey,” I said nervously. “Do you have, like, hoodies and stuff?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, a lot of this stuff is geared towards tweens who are trend-chasing.” She looked me up and down. “You seem more laid back and casual.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “I’m not really stylish or anything.”

  She gave me a bright smile. “Everyone has a style, you just need to figure out what yours is.” She leaned in closer. “And ‘laid back and casual’ is totally a style.”

  I laughed, refreshed to interact with a girl who didn’t hate me.

  “We can pick through here and find a couple things you might like,” she suggested. “But depending on what you’re looking for you might be better off in a couple other stores.”

  “She needs everything,” Corey stated bluntly.

  She laughed again, but not in a mean way. “That’s what I like to hear. You’re the boyfriend?”

  Corey looked at me uncertainly and I gave his hand a squeeze, letting him make the decision. “Yeah,” Corey said softly. “I’m the boyfriend.”

  A smile stretched over my face and we stared into each other’s eyes until I remembered that the sales girl was standing right in front of us. “Uh, sorry,” I apologized. “This is Corey and I’m Lori.”

  She grinned. “No need to apologize for true love. I’m Haley. And also a little jealous. I was hoping you’d tell me he was just your brother so I could try to get your number.”

  I blinked at her in surprise and then blushed. It looked like I was completely out of line worrying that she might have a thing for Corey.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make things awkward. Are you new to the area?”

  I shook my head. “Just passing through.”

  “She lost her luggage,” Corey blurted out.

  Haley raised an eyebrow. “Somehow I think there’s a lot more to this story.”

  Corey and I glanced at each other but didn’t say anything.

  “You don’t have to tell me,” Haley said brightly. “But I’m going to imagine that you are a modern day Romeo and Juliet, running away from your families so that you can be together. You must have left without packing any of your clothes, huh?”

  “Um…” I had no idea how to respond to that.

  “No worries,” Haley assured me. “I get off work in like ten minutes because I came in early to set up new displays. We’ll find a couple things here and then head out to the rest of the mall after I clock out.” She put her arm around me. “You have nothing to worry about. I got you, girl.”

  “Thanks,” I said with a shy smile.

  “Are you okay with this?” Corey asked with the pack bond.

  “Yeah,” I assured him. “You and I kind of suck at this, we could probably use her help.”

  True to her word, Haley led us around the entire mall confidently. I was a little worried that she would want me to dress exactly like her, but she took the time to understand what it was that I liked. And because I wasn’t really sure, she helped me figure it out. She was also cool with the budget that I told her. Because she was friends with a lot of the other sales clerks she found us discounts wherever she could.

  Poor Corey was miserable for most of the trip, relegated to holding bags and piles of clothes while Haley tossed them in his direction. She did make him wait outside while we shopped for lingerie. I wasn’t quite ready to go there with him or any of the other guys just yet.

  “Okay, girl,” Haley said with a grin. “I think we got just about everything you need for now.” Corey grunted under the weight of the bags that he was carrying.

  Haley scribbled something on the back of my latest receipt. “You probably need other girl stuff, too,” she told me with a grin. “If you go to the Ulta in the shopping center across the street, my friend Amy will hook you up with a free makeover.”

  “Oh, cool.” I felt a little overwhelmed with everything that she had just done for me. I wish she lived in Hollow Crest so that I could have another girl to hang out with. All the girls at my school sucked. She gave me a hug when I thanked her profusely and I used it to hide the tears that had started to form in my eyes.

  Going to a mall and shopping for clothes for school should have been something my mom and I did together. She would have had so much fun trying on clothes and relishing the freedom of being able to wear whatever we wanted. I hated that she had missed out on this. That she had missed out on every good part of life that I was now experiencing for the first time.

  I took some of the bags back from Corey after we said goodbye to Haley and walked out to Gray’s SUV. “We can just head back,” I offered to Corey. “I know today was pretty terrible for you.”

  Corey gave me a wry grin. “Seeing you happy was worth it. Let’s go get you a makeover, we’re still within the budget.”

  I shrugged like I didn’t care but inside I was bouncing around a little. Being a girl had been really fun today and I kind of did want to see what it was like to have a makeover and feel pretty. I had come a long way from being a scruffy lone wolf living in a rocky cave in the forest.

  We walked into Ulta and a cute little blond girl skipped up to us. “Hey, you’re Lori?”

  I nodded cautiously. “Amy?”

  “Yeah, Haley told me she was sending you over,” she said with a grin. “I love makeovers!”

  I looked over at Corey in alarm as she let out an excited squeal and pulled me to the back of the store. “We have a full-service salon here,” Amy told me as she led me back to a chair. “So we can start with your hair.”

  Amy chattered away as she let my hair free from my bun. “Ohhh, it’s curly!” She said excitedly. “I love curly hair.”

  “It’s not easy to take care of,” I muttered. “It’s always dry and frizzy so I have to keep it in a braid or a bun all the time.”

  “We’ll fix that,” Amy said with determination.

  I just sighed and let her do what she wanted. I felt Corey walk up as Amy was spraying my hair in the sink and chattering about how much she loved that I kept my natural color. “Hey, Lori, are you okay here if I check out a couple shops next door?”

  I squinted at him through one eye, hoping I wouldn’t get shampoo in it. “Yeah, I’m good.” Corey had been a real trooper today and hadn’t complained at all, but he was probably desperate to get away from girly stuff for a little while.

  “Okay, I’ll be back in an hour?” He looked at Amy in question and she nodded enthusiastically.

  Amy taught me a lot about how to manage my hair and gave me some pointers about what not to do. She scolded me a little for keeping my hair up seven days a week, saying that the hairbands I used were too tight and were going to damage my hair. I took most of her advice, but balked at the ridiculously expensive shampoo she suggested.

  “Do you have anything less…” I started to ask.

  Amy gave me a wink. “Yeah, and we have a twenty percent off promo right now so I can totally hook you up.”

  When Amy was done with everything she whirled me around in the chair and I stared at the girl in the mirror. I knew it was me, obviously, but this girl looked so much prettier than I ever thought I could. Amy had given my eyebrows a delicate arch, had used makeup to make my eyes stand out, and had styled my hair into loose curls that cascaded down my shoulders.

  I didn’t look like a dejected wolf on the run from her pack or a depressed girl hated by the majority of her school. I looked like a regular young teenager that you might see in any school in America. I blinked with the long lashes that Amy had given me with what she claimed was ‘magical’ mascara and decided that it wouldn’t hurt to put some effort into my appearance on occasion.

  I hugged Amy with tears in my eyes and she patted my back. “Guys don’t understand, but sometimes we just need to feel pretty,” she murmured to me.

  I blinked away the tears before they could ruin the great job she did with the natural looking makeup. “You seriously just changed my life.”

  “I know, r
ight?” she chirped cheerfully. “I’m so glad Haley sent you over here. Today would have been so boring.”

  I couldn’t stop smile as she rang up the purchases that I agreed to. Nothing crazy, but I did want a little mascara and some product to be able to wear my hair down.

  I practically skipped out of the shop, sensing Corey nearby. To my surprise, I found him in the music shop next door, strumming on a guitar. “Do you play?” I asked curiously. “I thought that was Wyatt?”

  Corey stilled and looked up at me. “I taught him to play.”

  My eyes widened, sensing some tension there. “That’s cool, that you guys have something in common,” I said tentatively.

  Corey shrugged but I could feel his eyes roaming all over me. “It was cool while we were in the band together. I learned bass so he could have the guitar spot.”

  My eyebrows rose. I was learning all kinds of interesting things about Corey today. “Did you sing in the band?”

  “Backup vocals,” he said quietly. “I don’t like the spotlight and Wyatt needed it.” I watched him as he strummed the cords one last time before setting the guitar aside with a look of regret and standing.

  I instantly felt a rush of guilt. I had been spending our money all day on clothes and shoes and my stupid hair while the guys had given up everything they loved to try and make this business work. What had I been thinking?

  I looked at the price of the guitar and swallowed. “If I take back my coat and boots and maybe a couple other things then-”

  Corey put his hands on my shoulders. “No,” he interrupted. “Wyatt and I both made the choice of what we gave up. We knew what we were doing.” I opened my mouth to argue again but Corey stopped me. “Wyatt wasn’t always the uptight prick that he is now, he used to be cool.” My eyebrows rose, that wasn’t helping his side of the argument. “And I wasn’t always the fucked up asshole that I am now,” he added quietly.

  I chewed on my bottom lip and searched his eyes. “Losing music is part of what’s draining your soul, isn’t it?”

  Corey smiled and touched his forehead to mine. “I don’t need a guitar. I’ll just take you on a long car ride and plug in my phone.”

  I chuckled. “We can do that.”

  “Also, the first thing I wanted to say was wow,” he murmured. “You look gorgeous.”

  I stepped away from him and gave a twirl. “Is the final product worth all the suffering you did today?” I teased him.

  Corey rolled his eyes but I heard him murmur something under his breath. I was pretty sure I heard ‘definitely.’

  We were both quiet on the drive home, which was fine with me. I was feeling a little tired and drained from everything that had happened today. Corey parked the SUV in the parking lot behind the firehouse, but neither of us got out. I wasn’t ready for our day to end and I was a little afraid that this Corey would disappear again and I wouldn’t be able to get him back. I wanted to stay here with him for as long as possible.

  Corey cleared his throat. “Lori, I had a lot of fun today.” My eyebrows rose and he grinned at me. “Parts of it were fun,” he corrected. I loved the look of a grin instead of a scowl on Corey’s face and wondered what I could do to bring this guy back to the pack. “I’d like to spend time with you again,” he murmured.

  Corey leaned forward over the center console and brushed his lips against mine briefly before sitting back and watching me with apprehension. I smiled and I could see the scowl start to form back on his face, but before he could say anything I pulled him back to me and gave him a more substantial kiss. He took that as a green light to put all of himself into our kisses. We both pulled away after a couple minutes to catch our breath and he pressed his forehead against mine and threaded his fingers through my curls. “It scares me how much I need you,” he said gruffly. “But I can’t step back and let you go.”

  “So don’t,” I told him firmly. “Stay with me.” Corey’s stormy grey eyes met mine and I saw the battle waging within. “I’m here whenever you need me,” I promised.

  He nodded and let me go with a sad sigh. “Let’s head in and see what the guys have been up to today.”

  Corey disappeared upstairs, probably because he had already dealt with people for too many hours of the day. Kannon gave me a bright smile and showered me in compliments when he saw my new look. And when I spun around to show off my new skinny jeans and a cute top that Haley had found for me, I was pretty sure I saw both Grayson and Wyatt checking out my butt before their eyes snapped back up to my face.

  Instead of feeling intimidated or fearful of having male eyes on me, I felt empowered. Appearance was something that was so shallow that it shouldn’t matter, but I was discovering that there was a difference between always hiding away and having the confidence to stand tall. I liked to pretend that the insults that the girls at my school always flung at me meant nothing, but it had been slowly digging away at me. I had traded the abuse of the males of my old pack for the harassment of the human girls in this town.

  Later that night when I was laying my head down on my pillow I started to really question why we were still so determined to stay in Hollow Crest. Nothing was going right for us. A good chunk of the townspeople hated us, the sheriff had it out for us, the lamia were using us, and we were drowning in the financial debt of opening a new business.

  From little comments that the guys made I knew that none of them were happy here either. They all saw life here in Hollow Crest as a punishment. But would the lamia ever let us go? Where could we go? I hugged my pillow closer and glanced over at Kannon sleeping over in his bed. I knew that he wouldn’t mind if I slipped under the covers with him, but how would the other guys feel?

  The only time I really and truly slept without nightmares was when I was nestled safely in Kannon’s arms. But sleeping in his bed every night might cause tension with the other guys that I wasn’t ready to deal with. And while Kannon might be okay with just snuggling, what would the other guys think about having me in their bed? I blushed at the thought and tried to make myself go to sleep. It was going to be a long day at school tomorrow. But hopefully, my new look would give the girls less ammo to use against me.

  Chapter 10

  Lori

  Monday morning I made the decision to wear my hair down and put some mascara on to go along with my new clothes. It took me a lot longer to get the hair product in and dry the roots of my curls than it had taken Amy in the hair salon. But practice made perfect.

  I got more than a few stares in my first couple of morning classes, but they seemed less derisive than usual, although it could have just been my wishful thinking. I was about to step through the door into my French class when I felt a hand on my arm. I instantly knew that it wasn’t Kannon and whirled around with a snarl on my face.

  “Whoa,” Noah laughed as he put his hands up. “No touching, got it.”

  I blushed. “Sorry, I’ve been kind of on edge lately.”

  “Well you look good,” Noah told me with a grin.

  I shrugged and made my way into the classroom. “Thanks, I guess.”

  Noah chuckled. “I thought for a second that we had a new student when I saw you from behind. Why don’t you ever wear your hair down?”

  “It’s too hot in the summer,” I lied. “Now that’s it’s fall it’s not as bad.”

  “Huh,” Noah said. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his eyes flick down to my butt when I set my books down on my desk. My new skinny jeans were much more fitted than the baggy thrift store ones I had been wearing before and definitely showed off my figure in a way I wouldn’t have been comfortable with before. I slid into my seat and was surprised when he took the one next to me. We were supposed to have a quiz today, so it was unlikely that Mrs. Gonzalez would have us team up to practice. That was usually the only time that Noah sought me out.

  Mrs. Gonzalez started class only a moment after that, so there was no more time for discussion. When there were only fifteen minutes left in the class she handed o
ut our quizzes and the classroom was silent except for the frantic scribbling of pens. I finished with plenty of time to spare and walked up to the front of the room to put my paper on the desk. Mrs. Gonzalez smiled at me and started grading it before I had even turned around. She was definitely efficient. I guess I couldn’t blame her, why not finish all your grading in class so you didn’t have to take it home?

  When I turned to go back to my seat I caught more than just Noah looking in my direction. I smoothed my top down and wondered if my new makeover had been a mistake. I had done it so that I would fit in better, not to attract more attention. I sighed as I sat. I guess guys checking me out was better than the mean whispers I had been getting before.

  Noah barely finished his quiz before the bell rang and he called out for me to wait before I escape into the crowded hallway. “Lori, thanks for waiting.” He shot me a grin as he caught up to me. “How was your weekend?”

  I stared at him for a moment. He had made me wait here in class so that he could ask about my weekend? His smile faded when it took too long for me to answer and he ran his hand through his hair. “There’s going to be a party Friday night after the game in Woodside, I just wanted to see if you planned on going?”

  “Um…” This was really awkward. I had already told him that I had a boyfriend, was he asking me on a date anyway?

  “Think about it,” he said with a smile as he walked backwards towards the hallway. “I have all week to convince you.” He winked at me and then disappeared out the door.

  I shook my head and went to my locker to exchange my books for my next class. Noah had taken me by surprise today, I’d think about what he said later and try to plan out what I would say if he tried something like that again. I didn’t want to just stand there with my mouth open like an idiot next time.

  I wrinkled my nose when I got to the hallway where my locker was. In addition to the smell of a hundred smelly teenagers, there was the distinct smell of blood and death. My dread only grew when the smell intensified the closer I got to my locker. I reluctantly put my combination in and braced myself before I opened it.