Mel and I ran to meet the guards and alpha. As soon as we came into sight, one of the guards told us to stop. Mel hesitated, but I didn't.
"Liz! What are you doing? Be careful!" Alpha Tim yelled to me.
"No, Alpha Tim. It's alright. I know who this is. He won't hurt me."
I kept running and shoved my way through guards to a smaller wolf. I dropped to my knees and hugged him around the neck. He rested his head on my shoulder.
"Hello, Mike." I said happily.
Then I let go and stood up again.
"Alpha Tim." I said, making introductions, "This is Mike. He is a shifter who teaches me in the shifting arts."
I gestured to Alpha Tim. "Mike this is the packs Alpha, Tim."
As Mel walked up to join me, and grabbed one of my arms possessively, I added, "And this is Mel, she's a werewolf and has informed me that I am her mate."
I blushed a bit when I heard Mike let out a wolf yelp of surprise.
"And there are a bunch of other werewolves here, whom I don't know." I finished weakly.
"Well that certainly sounds like a crisis averted." Laughed Alpha Tim. He then dismissed most of the guards to continue their rounds.
"Liz, I'm going to talk with Mike for a while. I suppose we should arrange somewhere for him to live, and he and I need to discuss enrolling you in high school, among other things. When we are done, you and Mel can show him around."
"Alright, Alpha." said Mel.
By the time dinner rolled around, Mike and Alpha Tim had talked things through, and we finished our tour.
"I am really glad to see you, Mike." I said with a smile.
"I am glad to be here. It's a relief to see you are safe and fairly happy too."
Mel gave me a look, which I ignored.
"It took you a while to get here. Are you completely sure that you weren't followed?"
"Yes. I mean, I was followed at the beginning. But I lost them. I made sure to take a very roundabout route. Plus, I went East and then back West before winding my way North."
"How is…" I lowered my voice a bit more, "How is Kyle? Still the same, or worse?"
"No change. He is exactly the same."
"Hmm."
"What day is it today?" Mike asked, "At some point, I lost track of the days."
"Today is Saturday." Mel answered. "I work tomorrow." She added with a shrug.
"Right." Mike said sounding determined. "If you work tomorrow," here he gestured to Mel, "then there is no excuse for you," here he pointed at me, "to not do a refresher session with me tomorrow. I need to access how much you've been slacking off before we continue with your training."
I sighed. 'Same old Mike!' I thought. 'It's good to have him back.'
The next morning, I woke up early. I was excited to get back to work and eager to train. If I was going to help stop rebels, steal a poison and help create an antidote, then I needed to have as many tricks up my sleeve as possible.
I got ready and left the room before Mel was even awake. I stopped at the kitchen and grabbed an apple to eat on my walk. I knew where the werewolf training grounds were. That is where I was to meet Mike this morning.
On the way, I bumped into Mel's brother.
"Hey. What are you doing awake so early?" He asked me.
"I am on my way to the training grounds. I am meeting Mike. He thinks I have just been slacking off. He doesn't know I actually have practiced."
I smiled smugly.
"Well. Alright then. Good luck." Mel's brother said with a chuckle, before branching off in another direction.
A few minutes more, and I spotted Mike. I walked the last bit of the way with him.
"Which books do you have under your arm?" he asked me.
I held the tomes out front of myself and shuffled them from the top of the pile to the bottom to show him which ones I had.
"That's it?" Mike frowned. Then a thought occurred to him. "Did you only bring those four with you?"
"Yes." I admitted.
He groaned like I was killing him.
"Seriously? Now I am going to have to track down copies of already hard to find books? That is it! I am putting those on your tab too."
"Hey! Before you get all grumpy and judgey, let me remind you that I was on the run. It's not like all those books would have been light to carry. Did you think of that?"
Mike sighed. "You are seriously aging me." He ran a hand over his stubble.