Circle of Lies (Red Ridge Pack) Read Online Free PDF Page A

choice of any girl I wanted, and trust me, I took full advantage. But since I got here, it’s been different. Maybe this whole werewolf thing has thrown me off my game. But this level of attention was crazy.
    It started as soon as I got out of the car that morning, and it hadn’t stopped since. On the way to school I’d been feeling a little self-conscious because the bruises and cuts on my face hadn’t healed completely. I was healing faster than a regular human, but I still looked like shit. Interestingly enough, the girls didn’t seem to mind. Especially Becca, one of Kendall Stuart’s old friends and one of the hotter, more popular girls from the werewolf enclave.
    “Omigod! Aiden, your poor face!” she exclaimed as she walked up, interrupting Ashley, who was just about to give me her number—you know, just in case I needed anything. With Nurse Ashley brushed aside, Becca hugged me gently, careful not to hurt my shoulder.
    “It’s not as bad as it looks,” I said.
    “You can’t lie to me, sweetie,” she whispered. “I have a sixth sense about these things.”
    “No, really. I’m doing better. The doc gave me some painkillers, but they aren’t too helpful. So, yeah, I guess it still hurts a little.”
    Becca smiled and took my arm. I didn’t remember offering it, but what the hell, I just went along with her, not sure what else to do. But as we made our way down the school hallway I noticed scowls on the faces of the girls who had flirted with me earlier that morning. Not that I was interested in anyone at the moment, but I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I’m not a total asshole.
    I tried breaking free of Becca, but she wouldn’t have it; the girl literally had a death grip on my arm. Which was strange. Up until this morning she’d just been a friend. I’d been fine with that, and from what I’d been able to tell, so was she. So, I couldn’t help but wonder what had changed her mind. What had she heard or decided over break?
    “This is me,” she said, slowing to a stop and nodding to a science classroom. Then she stood on her toes and whispered in my ear, “Meet me after?” She didn’t wait for a response, either. Turning, she walked into class like what she’d done was the most normal thing in the world, like I was hers for the taking.
    I fought back annoyance. Was this all a way of marking her territory? Becca might as well have peed on my leg. For that matter, all the pack girls were acting strange. Why? What had they heard? The additional attention from them that had previously been kind of cool was now just annoying.
    I didn’t need Becca using me as arm candy, so I decided not to meet her after class and pretty much hid from her for the rest of the morning. She needed to realize that I didn’t belong to anyone, especially not her.
    Just before lunch, Alli tracked me down. “Hey, Ad, how you holding up?” Of course Cade was with her. Like always.
    I was happy for my sister, really. It was just a bit weird. She didn’t date anyone for almost a year, and then at seventeen years old she finds herself the happy victim of a werewolf thing and suddenly “mated for life” to my newly discovered biological half-brother? All of those things just sounded…wrong. Their relationship really messed with my head. I was trying to be supportive and— Well, I was trying at least not to vomit. Alli and Cade weren’t blood-related in any way, but still. No matter how you spun the whole my-sister-is-dating-my-half-brother situation, it still sounded disgustingly incestuous.
    “I hate to admit it,” I told Alli, careful not to draw the attention of any students passing by, “but maybe you and Mom were right. I really want to be at home in bed.”
    Cade kind of chuckled and pulled me aside. He leaned in, making sure no one else could hear as he whispered, “A little overwhelming, isn’t it?”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    “The attention,” he said, looking around. He was