My Hope (Complete)

Chapter 47

Hope

Noah and I enjoyed a beautiful Saturday together. He made breakfast for the whole family. We all went for a run together. I practiced communicating with them while in wolf form. It was getting easier and more natural every day. I could feel my connection with Noah growing, as well as with his family. My wolf already considered them family from the start. She was very in tune with our connection.

The day passed quickly and it was almost time for the dreaded dance. This had to be done to silence the rumors. Zander and I needed to show that we were a real couple. Noah's Mom and mine helped me get ready. Our Mom's were like teenagers when they got together. They were hilarious. I was so glad they rekindled their friendship. Mom needed this. They insisted we take pictures before leaving for the dance.

Zander and Zade looked very nice. But Noah, he took my breath away. He was clean shaven, hair neatly combed back, and in a suit. How I longed to be on his arm tonight instead of Zanders. Before we all left, he took me outside in the backyard. "You look amazing Hope." "You don't look too bad yourself." I told him. He ran the back of his hand gently down the side of my face. "Beautiful." My wolf pushed forward encouraging me to kiss him. I couldn't disappoint her.

I leaned in towards his lips and he met me gladly. I savored the tingles I felt as his touched mine in a gentle kiss that soon deepened and became almost desperate. Noah pulled away first. "Sorry, I got carried away." He said in a deep and gravely voice. "Don't apologize. I love it when you show me how you feel." He put his head to mine and took a deep breath. "It's going to kill me, seeing you dance without me tonight." "You know that it's only your arms I want to be in." I assured him. He placed one chaste kiss on my nose and pulled away.

"Time to go love." He took my hand and walked me to his car. He opened the door to the back seat and let me in. Zander and Zade were already inside. The ride was quiet. "Noah, relax man. Everything will be fine. I will protect her like she's my sister. I won't let anyone else dance with her." Zander said as we pulled up to the school. "You won't let anyone?" I scoffed. "I don't want to dance with any of those idiots!" I emphasized. All three boys laughed. "He's just being protective Hope." Noah informed me before I took any more offence at his comment.

The parking lot was full of students arriving with their dates. Zander helped me out of the car like a gentleman and held my hand as we walked to the multipurpose room. It was beautiful inside. There were twinkle lights and decorations everywhere. You never would have guessed that just yesterday there were a bunch of sweaty teenagers in here. I suppose by the end of the night, it will once again be a bunch of sweaty teenagers.

I noticed how some of the girls looked at Noah. One girl so blatantly stared that I couldn't help but glare at her. "You don't even notice the looks you are receiving." Noah told me in my mind. Guess I wasn't guarding my thoughts. I would need to work on that. "Come on Hope, let's try to have fun." Zander suggested. "You're right, I need to chill." I admitted.

The dance wasn't so bad. All of us actually had a good time. We telepathically made fun of some students trying to look cool while dancing like idiots. Noah's comments were hilarious and kept my mind off of the fact that I couldn't dance with him. The boys and I were out on the dance floor for a while too. But only during the fast songs. Sometimes a guy would try to dance close to me and Zander would step in and block their attempt. I was thankful for his protectiveness.

"You guys will have to do a slow dance." Noah told us towards the end of the evening. I knew we needed to. I just didn't want to hurt Noah. "Don't worry about me." He mind linked to only me. The next slow song came on and I grabbed Zander's hand and pulled him out on the dance floor. "Let's do this." I told him. We danced, but not as close as Noah and I had been last night. He kept his hands in very polite places. It was not uncomfortable at all. I could sense that Noah was fine.

After that I went to the ladies room to freshen up. It was full, as I expected. Girls stood close to the mirrors reapplying make up and fixing their hair. They gossiped obnoxiously. "Did you see Bethanie's dress? I wouldn't be caught dead in that?" "Jessica's date is not cute at all."

Then my ears perked up when I heard his name. "Mr. Kingston looks hot. He's been looking at me all night. He told me he wants my last dance." "Really? Is that allowed?" Her friend asked. I slowly pretended to fix my make up at the other end of the restroom. "Probably not, but what are they going to do, make us stop? He's been flirting with me since he started last year. I'm going to get me some of that. Just watch." She said as she exited the room with her girls following closely behind.

I knew it wasn't true. But it still had me all worked up. I left shortly after them and quietly watched them move towards Noah. I didn't go back over to Zander yet. Him and Zade were near the refreshment table. The girl stealthily made her way closer and closer to where he stood. She and her girls danced right over in front of him. He didn't seem to notice. He was scanning the room with his eyes. Either looking for me or for some other student infraction that he would need to take care of.

I continued to watch out of curiosity. I was hidden behind a column close to the back doors of the room. The girl danced her way over to Noah and pretended to fall into him. He abruptly looked down at her and caught her arm to stop her fall. She made a production of stumbling and grabbed onto his chest supposedly trying to balance herself. This was a pitiful attempt at getting his attention. But at the same time it pissed me off that she was touching him. I had enough of this and decided to go outside for some air. I turned and went out the back doors.

Outside was nice and cool compared to the heat of all the dancing teens inside. I closed my eyes and felt the slight breeze on my skin. I was shocked to feel a hand grab my arm. I opened my eyes to an unfamiliar mans face. Before I could pull my arm away, his other hand came up with a rag that suddenly covered my mouth. The smell was extremely strong.

I started to kick and pull away. But this guy was powerful. He got me in some kind of choke hold. I tried to get out of his grasp. I was using all the tricks Noah taught me in training. But nothing was working. I needed to transform. My wolf could overtake him. But something was very fuzzy in my head. I started to feel dizzy. I could no longer keep my eyes open. I could feel Noah knocking on the door to my mind, trying to get in. But this overwhelming haziness was preventing me from opening up to him. I couldn't even send him a thought through the link. Everything was turning black.