Welcome to my stop on the Pack of Lies Tour! Brought to you today by Innovative Online Tours. What can you find here? You get to read the ENTIRE 1st chapter, and a great giveaway!
Seventeen-year-old
Allison Wright is convinced she’s losing her mind. Uncontrollable mood swings,
hot flashes, and the urge to punch anyone who gets in her way are suddenly
becoming everyday occurrences. Before her erratic behavior gets out of hand,
Allison’s mother finally comes clean about her dark secret. Mom is a werewolf,
and soon Allison and her brother Aiden will suffer the same fate. When Allison
reaches her breaking point, the family leaves their life in Texas to move to
Red Ridge, New Mexico where they rejoin the pack that Allison’s mother left
behind almost 20 years ago.
Unfortunately,
not everyone in Red Ridge is thrilled about Allison’s arrival, especially when
she attracts the attention of the very handsome, very taken, soon-to-be alpha,
Cade Walker. Little does Allison know, her mere presence is causing a rift in a
once unified pack. Not only has Cade been forbidden from being with Allison by
his father, the pack’s alpha, Cade’s girlfriend, Kendall Stuart, will stop at
nothing to get Allison out of the picture. Well on her way to becoming the next
alpha’s mate, Kendall expects to rule the pack by Cade’s side even if it means
teaming up with a rogue werewolf with an agenda of his own. Determined to get
rid of Allison permanently, when Kendall and the rogue join forces, all hell
breaks loose and no one in the pack is safe, especially not Cade and his true
mate.
Chapter 1
ALLISON
“I said break it up, ladies!”
Principal Murphy’s voice barely registered before someone grabbed me and pulled me away
from the little bobble-head who was still swinging. With my vision still narrowed and my fists
clenched, I tried to regain some sense of self-control as I shook off Coach Cole’s grip on my
arm. Coach gave me a sympathetic look and warned, “Not again, Alli! When are you going to
learn?”
Glaring back and forth between us both, Principal Murphy ordered, “Miss Hades, my office,
now! And Miss Wright… well, just go see the counselor again. I will get to you later.”
I could still hear the principal griping at Tiffany as he led her toward the front office. This
was not my fault this time. The wench had it coming.
I had barely taken a step inside the counselor’s office before she laid into me. “Sit down,
Miss Wright. Listen, I know you don’t want to be here; no one wants to be here, but it’s either
me or Officer Daniels and trust me, you’re better off talking to me,” declared Mrs. Parker, the
very young, very inexperienced guidance counselor at South Shore High School.
Definitely preferring to deal with this little pixy-stick rather than the school police officer—
affectionately nicknamed Zero by the student body for his zero tolerance policy—I sat, but not
because I was scared, only because I hoped she might go easy on me if I played nice. This wasn’t
my first visit.
As I watched Mrs. Parker open my file, adjust her reading glasses, and clear her throat; I
found myself wondering when my file became so big that it needed to be held with both hands.
I’m really not a bad kid. Seriously. It was just that lately trouble seemed to be following me
around.
Parker sat back in her chair and huffed as she heaved my file onto her desk. As my
multitude of office referrals spread across the desk and onto the floor, she said, “Really Allison,
three major fights this semester already? It’s barely October. What on earth is going on with
you?”
There it was. The million dollar question. I took a moment, just to make her think that I was
thinking about what on earth was going on with me. I think it’s safe to say that there was a lot going
on with me, but surely she didn’t think I was going to sit here and spill my guts to a guidance
counselor, for Christ’s sake. How pathetic does she think I am?
I counted slowly to ten in my head before I responded, “Nothing, I’m fine,” and went back
to picking at my nails. What exactly did she expect me to say? I could have said a hell of a lot.
Like that every girl in this school suddenly seems to have a problem with me. That I can’t go
anywhere without them giving me dirty looks or making crude comments. And then there’s my
favorite. Apparently, I’m out to steal anyone’s boyfriend that I come across, and therefore, I
must be a slut.
What is with girls and the word “slut” anyway? Knowing I haven’t had much experience
with the opposite sex, I should just let it roll off my back, right? But slut is like the worst thing a
girl can call another girl. And for some reason, the entire female body at South Shore High
seems to be in agreement that I am, in fact, a complete and utter slut.
I wasn’t going to tell Mrs. Parker what it had really been like for me for the past two
months. She could just sit there, take her little notes, and pass my file on to the principal so that
he could give me yet another consequence that I didn’t deserve.
Parker looked at me over the top of her too-trendy reading glasses and admonished, “Look,
Allison, you’re going to have to do better than that. You are well on your way to the alternative
high school, and the only reason you aren’t there already is because you don’t seem to be the
instigator in all of this nonsense. But there has to be some reason why you were involved in
three major fights, and who knows how many other minor altercations that weren’t reported.”
That did it. There was no way I was going to listen to her put this all on me. Yeah, I had
planned to just sit there and listen to her “advice,” but now she was acting like this was all my
fault. So instead, like usual as of lately, I stood up, looked down on the pixy, and snapped,
“Look, I don’t know why, okay. I don’t know why all of a sudden every girl in this school hates
me. I don’t know why guys that I have never even glanced at think that they can grab my ass in
the hallway. I don’t understand how people who I have been friends with for years don’t want to
talk to me or be seen with me in the cafeteria anymore. I have lost everyone, my best friend, my
boyfriend, even the girls I have been friends with since elementary school. And I don’t know
why. Why don’t you tell me? You tell me Mrs. Parker, you’re the expert, right? Tell me why I
don’t have a single friend anymore except my brother.”
I had no idea why or when it started, but tears were rolling down my face, and I was yelling
at this poor lady who looked as shocked by my outburst as I was. So much for playing it cool.
Now, I felt like I needed to apologize for putting that expression on her face. It’s not really her
fault that everything was so screwed up.
I took a deep breath, sat back down, and calmly said, “I’m sorry Mrs. Parker. That was out
of line. I didn’t mean to yell at you like that. It’s just so frustrating. Everything is just kind of
falling apart and I don’t know what to do.”
Mrs. Parker handed me a tissue and walked around her desk to sit in the seat next to me.
She took off her glasses and said, “Honey… it’s okay. And if you don’t mind me being brutally
honest, I will tell you why you have no friends, girlfriends at least.”
Seriously? Wiping my mascara-smeared eyes, I nodded my head ready for her to enlighten
me.
“Now, listen closely ’cause this is a life lesson,” she said scooting a little closer to me.
“Are you listening?” She paused to make sure I was paying close attention. “Females can be
catty, conniving, evil bitches. And for the most part, we don’t like women who are better looking
than we are,” she admitted in hushed tones, as if someone nearby might hear.
I couldn’t help but smile a little at Mrs. Parker, the sweet little guidance counselor saying
“bitches.”
“You may not have noticed or maybe you have, but you are certainly not the same young
woman you were last year. You have changed, and even I have noticed the attention—good and
bad—that you are getting because of it.”
This lady can’t be serious. “I’m sorry Mrs. Parker, but I don’t buy it. My brother and I look just
alike, and he has more friends than he can count. Nobody hates him, or spreads rumors about
him, or starts fights with him. He’s like Mr. Popularity around here.”
“The rules are different for guys like your brother. Let me be honest with you,” she said
sitting back in her chair. “I promised myself I would never say this to a student, or my own
children, for that matter. In fact, it’s one of my pet peeves, but in your case I think it’s actually
true. They’re jealous. All of them. Every girl and probably even a few teachers in this school.
Jealously can do strange things to people.”
I just stared at her like she had lost her mind, she continued, “Alli, you are taller, stronger,
and more beautiful than any other girl in this school, and let’s face it child, you have a killer body
too. And to top it all off, you seem to be a genuinely nice person. Girls really hate people like
you. You are their ultimate competition, and they know they don’t stack up, so instead, they’ve
evidently chosen to make your life miserable.”
Wow, this woman was really nuts. How was I supposed to respond to that? Yes, Mrs. Parker,
I have noticed how hot I am and how great my tits and ass look lately. Jeez! I always thought it would be
great to be that girl, but for the record, it sucks.
“So what am I supposed to do about it?” I asked, hoping she just might have the answer
I’ve been looking for.
“Well, there’s not much you can do, dear. Hmmmm, let’s see. Why don’t we start with not
hitting anybody?” she suggested with sarcasm oozing from her pores.
Yeah, now there’s some advice I could use.
So I guess when some hussy is accusing me of trying to hit on her man, I’m just supposed
to ignore it. Well, that was unlikely to happen any time soon.
Parker’s you-know-I’m-right smirk was starting to piss me off. How could she think it
would be that simple?
“But it’s not my fault. They push me and push me until I can’t take it. I seriously think they
are trying to get me kicked out or something.”
“Well, don’t let them win. I know it sounds cliché Allison, but you need to be the bigger
person and just walk away.”
***
When I wandered out of Parker’s office, the school secretary gave me an unsympathetic
look as she informed me that my mom was here and had just gone in to see Principal Murphy. I
could only imagine how that was going. I just hoped that I was still a student at South Shore
come morning and not a new member of the Creek Alternative Education School.
Not wanting to sit in the office with the school secretary’s opinionated glare, I politely
requested that she let my mom know that I would be waiting in my car. The dismissal bell rang,
and as I walked out to the parking lot, I carefully avoided all eye contact, trying to “be the bigger
person” and all. With my eyes on the ground, I didn’t see anyone coming until I ran right into
the last person I wanted to see. I looked up startled, only to find, Julie, my ex-best friend. Her
eyes shot up from her iPhone, and she said, “Oh… hey.”
“Hey Julie. How ya been?” I asked, hoping she might stop to talk, but instead she just kept
walking and finishing her text. I turned to watch her pass, feeling the familiar sting that still gets
me even after all this time. How could she just forget how close we once were? It was by no
means the first time I had tried to rekindle our friendship, and the outcome has always been the
same.
I got in my car and turned the A/C on full blast. Leaning my head against the window, I
closed my eyes and tried to focus on cooling down. It has been hotter than hell lately,
everywhere I went, which is not entirely unusual in Texas, but it was weird. I didn’t sweat. It was
like I was hot on the inside. A fever maybe?
The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced that I was definitely coming down
with something. It was not just being hot; my vision had been a little funny too. Not blurry or
hazy or anything, just different. And on top of that, I kept getting these waves of nausea from all
these funky smells in the air. I swear some people don’t wear enough deodorant, and if I smell
one more girl with vanilla body spray, I might just have to hurl.
Really… could life get any suckier? Not only was I a social pariah, but a sick one at that.
There should be a rule or something that everything is not allowed to go wrong all at once.
Right?
I was half-way to dreamland when my brother, Aiden, started pounding on the windshield.
“Yo, Balboa! I heard you kicked Tiffany Hades’s ass. When are those dumb broads gonna
learn not to mess with my little sis, huh?”
I opened the car door and got out, glad to see a friendly face, the only friendly face I knew
lately.
“Tiffany is a dumb-ass, and she had it coming,” I replied.
“Well, I can’t exactly argue with that,” he said as he threw his arm over my shoulder, leading
me toward the gym.
“Come on, Al. Walk me to practice.”
We walked in silence for a minute or so, and then with a heavy sigh, Aiden asked, “So, what
are we gonna do about you? You can’t keep beating up all the pretty girls. Who will I take to
prom?”
“That’s not funny, and it’s not my fault. Her loser boyfriend grabbed my ass in the hall, and
she just happened to be standing right there. Apparently, Tiffany saw that as my fault.”
“Thomas? Thomas did what? What an asshat! He should know better than to mess with my
little sis. I may just have to kill him now,” Aiden said with a tough-guy smile.
I couldn’t deny that Aiden had taken pretty good care of me since I went from something to
nothing in no time flat. He was well aware that people talked mess about me constantly and have
written me off the who’s who list, but he didn’t care what they thought. And he certainly didn’t
let anyone bad-mouth me when he was around. Honestly, I didn’t know what I would do
without him. He was the closest friend that I have ever had, and currently my only friend,
though that hadn’t always been the case.
But as close as we are, Aiden and I are polar opposites. He’s funny and outgoing, and of
course, the most popular guy at every high school in the greater Houston area. There was even a
rumor that he was nominated for homecoming king at our rival school, Bay Creek, which I had
no doubt was true. He plays every sport, makes straight As, has more girls after him than he can
handle, and is a good four inches taller than me, and I’m five foot ten. He has green eyes and
dark brown hair instead of my hazel eyes and blonde hair, but we both have an olive
complexion, yet somehow, I’m hated and he is adored.
Again, Aiden took a deep breath and said, “I don’t know what to tell you, Al. Just don’t let
them get to you. Tiffany’s an idiot, and everyone knows it.”
“I know, but…”
“Just do me a favor? Don’t get kicked out of school. Okay?”
He smiled at me, and took off into the locker room before I could tell him that it might be
too late.
I turned around and headed back to my car, just in time to see one very angry mom heading
straight toward me.
*************
Buy NOW! Pack of Lies (Red Ridge Pack)
Both Sara Dailey and Staci
Weber are avid readers, English teachers, friends, wives, and soccer moms. They
have been teaching together for the past eight years, and writing together for
four. Pack of Lies is the second young
adult novel for this duo.
Staci and Sara Online:
Website Address: http://www.saraandstaci.com
Blog Address: http://www.saraandstaci.blogspot.com
Twitter Address: @srdailey80, @WeberStaci
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This is a release day all reviews blog hop. Visit each blog on the hop for interesting reviews on "Pack of Lies" by Sara Dailey & Staci Weber. Follow their book tour for chances to win the book and be sure to leave comments! We LOVE comments.
Thanks for featuring our novel on your blog today! We are hard at work on book 2, so be looking for it in the fall :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post. Loved the excerpt. Thanks for the great giveaway. Both sara and staci are new authors for me. I love to read and always looking for new authors to read.
ReplyDeleteChristinebails@yahoo.com
Thanks for the first Chapter! The book sounds great!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!