"She might not be, but I am", Xander retorted. "Well why are you complaining when she isn't", Justin fired back. "Because she's mine and you better watch the way you act around her from now on". "You said what now?"
The look of shock on Justin's face, wow, definitely save it and view again sometime later. His mouth was open trying but failing to form words, his eyes open as wide as they possibly could, his brows lost beneath his hair. He was a sight to behold and I couldn't help myself, I started laughing.
Between Xander holding onto me and acting like a caveman and Justin looking like a fish pulled out of the sea, it wasn't something I could hold back. The laugh bubbled from within me uninhibited. They looked a little worried when they heard me laughing like that but I couldn't stop long enough to explain myself.
Nat came running to the door soon enough and just like that the laughter ceased and one little bell dinged in my head like the microwave. She lied to me even when I told her almost everything that was going on with me.
I may have rationalized the entire situation in my head but that doesn't mean she's going to get away freely like that. I at least made an attempt, she never did and that's saying something about our friendship as far as I'm concerned. A simple hint would have been enough for me.
"What has got you guys looking like that?" She asked right away, standing there in her black shorts and blue tank top, her hair in cornrows looking all dapper. When she didn't get a reply she turned to me with her signature smile, "looking good there Ash, wanna come in while these ones sort themselves out."
Without a word, I gently removed my hand from Xander's with a little resistance on his part and walked in with Nat behind me. "Now that you're here", Nat said blithely and hooked her arms in mine. "I can show you around. There's so much to see and I can finally introduce you to my dad".
I was a few seconds away from going off on her when she mentioned her dad. Checking on her pops was important, her screw up and unapologetic-ness about it would be handled later. She pulled me along the rooms on the first floor, from the kitchen where I met so many people whose names I'm sure I don't remember already to the dining area that was a wide hall just right of the kitchen, big enough to house their pack according to Nat.
We also checked out the training area, just outside in the courtyard. I found Jesse and Keith training their warriors there. I did find out that Jesse was the Beta while Keith was the Gamma. Interesting lineup of wolves, and I also found out every single one of them I've been friends with in school except Nat were Lycans.
Later on we took the stairs to the second, third and fourth floors while she explained everything she could. From the rooms for the unmated wolves to the library, the gym, the cinema. The pack house as I've been told was fully equipped with everything anyone would need.
The entire tour was amazing, but I didn't get to enjoy it since I had gradually started seething with rage that Nat was just playing me and the daddy card was just a move of hers to delay the inevitable.
When we finally made it to the last floor, I had just about had enough of her tactics when she said, "And this is the Lycans area". That got me interested right away. She pointed out the Alpha's office, the exclusive library that housed their history, a small dining area for just the lot of them and other guests.
The floor was beautifully designed, a step away from what the other floors looked like, this one was done in white and black themes, with white walls and obsidian floors. Black doors leading to various rooms, there was even a kitchen on this floor too. The number of rooms here though belied the number of lycans I thought they had and if Aunt Maia was correct about the things she'd said about them, then this pack would definitely be formidable.
With the tour finally over, I waited ten seconds for her to come clean, instead she dragged me again and said, "Let's go, we have one more stop". I gave her a look of 'really' and she smiled at me, "my place." I don't know what happened or what went wrong or what could have been wrong with what she said but suddenly I had had enough.
"Okay hold up right there", I halted her movements with mine, furiously dislodging my arm from hers. "I have been waiting patiently for you to address the issue we both know is hanging right in the air above our heads but instead you've stalled and played me since I got here".
"I was…" "Don't even think about it", I cut her off immediately. "I am not a fool and I know you know that. So you didn't think I deserved the truth or some kind of half assed apology from you?" She looked contrite when I said that but I was burning from somewhere I didn't recognize yet and I knew if I didn't put it all out there I would end up doing something worse.
"I told you almost everything that had been going on with me and you just left me in the dark about you?" She tried explaining again, still didn't let her. "I don't care that you might not have been able to say anything because of your laws or whatever, I care that I got here and you have made no move to apologize to me about anything. Not for keeping such a huge secret from me and definitely not for the way you've been trying to play it all off as if it means nothing. As if I mean nothing to you, is that what our friendship is to you?"
I was hurting and uncomfortable now that I had said it all. She sputtered with her reply looking like a deer caught in headlights and I just hated it. "Asha… it's just… I didn't…", she couldn't seem to find the right words that would appease me or make the situation better and I wasn't about to make it easy for her.
"Save it Nat", I said calmly. "I don't want a forced apology or one I had to coerce out of you. Don't do it to make me or you feel better about ourselves, I'd hate it even more". If she felt bad, I didn't see it. If she was hurt by my words, I never noticed.
"Let's just get this over with and go see your dad", I told her digressively. "I might not like you right now but I ain't got any problems with your dad, so lead the way." She hesitated a few seconds before finally moving to lead us to her place.
It was a short distance away from the pack house and I got to see some of the houses that surrounded the pack house on the sides, houses that apparently belonged to the mated wolves in the pack. As funny as it looked, they were all houses with colored picket fences with mailboxes attached and beautiful gardens. It sorta reinforced the feeling of being part of a community and I loved it.
When we finally made it to her house on foot, the tension between us had gotten stronger and I had gotten better with ignoring it. She opened the door to their lovely home and it blew my breath away. On the outside, the house had a green fence with beautiful flowers planted around it making it look like one of those homes in the forest in Disney movies while the interior was beyond beautiful.
With walls painted sky blue and white, hardwood floors and modern furniture, it was a beautiful space and from the portraits I saw hanging on the walls, she had a big family, something I envied a little.
She had informed me earlier while we were in the pack house that Mel didn't live with their parents too, since she was past the age of mutts and had gone through her first shift, which is why I wasn't surprised when I saw a woman who looked exactly like Melissa walk towards us the minute the door opened.
She was a petite woman with shoulder length blonde hair, hazel eyes and a beautiful smile. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was very young but that might be a werewolf thing. "Ahh! You must be Asha", she said with a huge smile as she pulled me into a tight hug. I struggled to breathe for a few seconds but it was worth it. "Good afternoon mam", I responded when she finally let me go.
"Oh please, no mam", she waved with a smile, "call me Layla. Come on in, I've heard a lot about you from both my daughters." When she said both daughters I couldn't help but wonder what Mel may have told her.
She must have seen the look on my face because she smiled reassuringly and said, "All good things, even from Melissa". I couldn't help but smile at that. I loved her already because I had a feeling Melissa might look like her but I'm sure her nastiness came from elsewhere. She walked us to the kitchen where she gave us each a glass of lemonade before directing us to the office where Nat's dad was cooped up. Her exact words.
Natalie's dad I have to say would be good friends with Adam if they should ever meet. He put the goo in goofy. When we had walked into the office after a quick knock, we found him hunched beside his table trying to pick up something under the table only to hit his head with the table when he found it and was hurriedly trying to rise up.
His wounds were better and I have to say for being a werewolf, he definitely didn't exude the overconfidence I had come to expect from most of them or maybe that was just lycans. He was a well-built man with muscles everywhere looking like those gym trainers. He had a few features in common with Nat like her eyes and hair color.
While Nat was average height, her dad was tall, almost as tall as Adam. If he wasn't so goofy and extra nice, I'm sure his demeanor would be super scary to people, most especially if he worked as a bouncer somewhere, but that's all in my head though.
After checking up on her dad and her other step siblings, twin boys Blake and Brandon, we bid goodbye and returned to the pack house so I could start my history lessons with Xander.