Waking Sarah by Krystal Shannan Page A

stomach had been growling for an hour, but she’d been unwilling to come out of her room. She listened for his voice. Part of her wanted to hear him, and part of her hoped she could grab something for breakfast and disappear back to her room before he noticed she’d been up.
     
    She’d practically thrown herself at him last night, and he’d rejected her. Stupid reasons about her wolf not having a say. Well, the coward had run from her room before she could tell him her wolf had plenty to say about him being her mate.
     
    Mate.
     
    Like she was an animal.
     
    I am not an animal.
     
    Silence filled her head. The voice was gone. It always was when she was awake. Why would it be any different this morning? Did she really want it to be different?
     
    If it meant Chris would accept her feelings...maybe.
     
    She padded barefoot through the dining hall, gazing out the big windows. No wolves out running today. Using her shoulder, she lazily shoved the swinging kitchen door open and ambled inside. Her jaw dropped open, and she stood, stunned to silence.
     
    Her mom and dad both sat at the breakfast bar sipping coffee with Sam, Chase, Scott, and Margaret.
     
    “What is going on? More of deciding my fate without my opinion? Whose wolf are we asking today what’s best for me?”
     
    “Sarah Katherine McLain.” Her father’s voice froze her. “Apologize to your friends. They are just—”
     
    Chase’s voice rumbled through the kitchen. “It’s perfectly fine, Mr. McLain. She has a right to be upset. If I were in her place, I doubt I would be taking it as well as she has.”
     
    “Sarah, we are just trying to protect you,” Margaret added quietly.
     
    “You take your perfect husband and get out of my face,” Sarah hissed. “Every single one of you is trying to tell me how my life is supposed to be. Nobody’s even thought to ask me how I feel. It’s all about the damn animal stuck in my head!”
     
    Her friend’s face darkened with hurt, and Sarah instantly felt guilty, but before anyone else could react, Scott was in her face.
     
    “You don’t get to treat your friends this way. I don’t care what Chase says!” he roared, his eyes mere inches from hers. She watched golden strands swirl in the brown irises. She thought she’d seen glowing eyes last night but had dismissed it as part of the dream. “You should be grateful we’ve gone out of our way to make sure the Council lost track of you and couldn’t get close to your parents either.”
     
    He huffed a scary and not very human sound.
     
    A second later he was knocked away from her and was rolling on the floor with a snarling...Chris!
     
    When the hell had he come in?
     
    Everyone was yelling and screaming, although she thought there were a few giggles mixed in as well. No one was moving to pull the two giant men apart, quite unwilling it seemed to lose a limb to break up the fight.
     
    Scott was easily six inches taller and fifty pounds heavier. Chris couldn’t possibly have a chance. Scott’s fist pounded Chris’s face, and Sarah turned away at the sickening crunch of bone and flesh.
     
    She looked around the room frantically. Moving swiftly, she grabbed a full bucket of mop water from the corner and ran toward the still growling pile of Scott and Chris. She heaved the bucket, and water sloshed straight into their faces. Both men turned, and Scott’s fangs descended from his jaw with an angry roar. Chris’s did the same, and he kicked the bigger man in the face.
     
    “Stop it!” She threw the empty bucket at them, and it bounced off of Scott’s head and rolled across the floor. “Just stop, both of you. What the hell is wrong with you?”
     
    Sam and Margaret both started laughing, and Sarah couldn’t help a small snigger herself. Both men looked terrible. Drowned-rat terrible. Both had bloody noses, and both would have black eyes in a matter of minutes.
     
    “You think this,” she waved her hand at them, “is going to