Free The Wild One by Melinda Metz Page B

up for the first time. Her dark eyes glittered with anger. “Valenti isn’t a fly. He’s dangerous to all of us.” She tuned to Nikolas. “You don’t know him. We do. We know what he’s capable of. You have to listen to what he did to me. He—”
    â€œI don’t listen to insects.”
    Liz’s head snapped back as if she had been slapped. Maria’s face grew pale.
    Nikolas stood up and strode across the quad.
    What a complete and total jerk, Alex thought. At least Isabel got to find out the truth about him right away.
    But Isabel jumped to her feet and followed Nikolas without even glancing at any of them.
    â€œI can’t believe she did that!” Michael burst out. “I cannot believe she just plopped down and said, ‘Oh, hi, this is Nikolas. He’s an alien, too’”
    â€œShe should have come to us first. Alone,” Max agreed. “It’s like it doesn’t even occur to her that this is something that involves all six of us. That guy Nikolas could put us all in danger. What is she thinking?”
    It’s pretty obvious what she’s thinking, Alex answered silently. She’s thinking she wants the brown-haired boy. And I’m guessing that’s much more than okay with him.
    â€œHey, Nikolas, wait up,” Isabel called.
    Stacey walked out of the bathroom in time to see Isabel trotting after Nikolas. Her lips turned up in a smug little smile. “Don’t think you’ve won our bet,” she said softly “I saw you in the quad, and it looked like
you
were holding
his
hand, not the other way around.” She wagged her finger in Isabel’s face. “That doesn’t count.”
    â€œOh, shut up, Stacey,” Isabel muttered. She continued after Nikolas, but she slowed down a little. It was too humiliating to be seen literally chasing a guy That was not her style.
    Nikolas stopped at his locker. Isabel forced herself to walk over to the drinking fountain and take a few sips. Then when she figured she wouldn’t look pathetically eager, she wandered over and leaned against the locker next to Nikolas’s.
    â€œMax worries. He can’t help himself. I think it’s abig-brother thing,” she said. “Michael’s totally protective, too.”
    â€œUs worrying about some sheriff is like a general with a nuclear warhead worrying about a kid with a BB gun,” Nikolas said.
    When Isabel was a little girl, she used to have nightmares where Sheriff Valenti was a big wolf chasing her. He kept getting closer and closer, his long, sharp teeth dripping saliva. Even when she got older, she couldn’t shake the feeling that someday he was going to capture her, lock her away somewhere, and do all kinds of hideous tests on her—ending up with her on some dissecting table.
    â€œI really want you to teach me how to build up my power,” Isabel said. “I want to be able to do what you said—squash Valenti like a fly if I have to.”
    She didn’t care what Max said. Because Nikolas was right. With her power
she
could be the strong one. She would love to give Valenti a few nightmares about her. She would love to stop being careful.
    She would also love having an excuse to spend some time around Nikolas. No, make that
a lot
of time.
    Nikolas slammed his locker shut. “I think I can fit you in,” he told her. His eyes traveled slowly up her body from the tips of her boots to her face and lingered on her lips.
    â€œUm, cool,” Isabel stammered. She tried not to stare at his mouth. But it looked so kissable. When was Nikolas going to kiss her? If he didn’t make his move soon, she’d just have to do it herself.
    â€œWell, we’re all going to a movie tonight. Youshould come,” she added. Isabel didn’t usually ask guys out. In fact, she never asked guys out. She liked to make them work for it a little.
    But Nikolas was new in town. He didn’t