"Okay, tonight, we`ll be learning about Mates," Olive announced as she walked into my room.
I looked up from my diary with a frown and turned to face her," Excuse me?"
"You heard me, Mates, since you`re of Age, you need to know about them."
I scratched my head, "Mates? As in best friends? Or is my British horrible?"
Olive gave me half smile as she sat on my bed and gestured for me to turn and give her my full attention.
Just then we heard a knock on my door. I stood and moved to open the door. Standing in my doorway was Ashton, Quin and Elijah. Both of the boys greeted me while Ashton simply gave me a nod. I arched a brow at them and moved so Olive could see who was here. Olive frowned at them," What are you two doing here? Aren`t you supposed to be with the girls? I thought you`d all be heading over for that party the humans are throwing."
"Decided to skip," Ashton said. I frowned but then I stood aside so they could enter before I closed the door. Ashton went over to take a seat on the extra chair in my room while Elijah wrestled with Olive with her for her spot on my bed. Was there something going on between them? Quin, sat on the floor by my bed and tried to dodged Elijah and Olives' failing limbs.
"You could sit on my chair," I offered. I didn`t like that the poor guy was sitting on the floor while everyone else got a higher seat.
"I`m good on the floor," Quin answered with a grin.
Sighing, I then addressed the boys,"So why did you all skip the party?" I decided to ask Olive`s question from earlier as I retook my seat at my desk.
"We didn`t see the point," Ashton answered.
"And by that he means that he is trying to avoid Amy glaring at him, urging him to get together with her BFF," Elijah revealed as he and Olive finally settled down by sitting next to each other.
"Amy?" I asked.
"Amy and Lana, "Olive told me, "You met them at the arcade, remember?"
My mind`s eye brought up the image of my one and only day at the arcade. They were that brunette and raven haired girl who were with the boys. I nodded to show that I did remember them.
Olive continued, "Amy is Ashton`s cousin and she has been trying so hard to get Ashton to mate with her best friend, Lana so she and her can be officially real family,"
"It worked for a while," Quin piped up which made Ashton glare at his friend. Quin simply turned away as Elijah snickered.
I ignored the interaction by asking that if they weren`t the girls who went running with them then who were they? I needed to know who all the teenagers were inside this place before going to school otherwise I might make a reference and the humans would hear me.
"No, that`s Delilah and Maliah," Elijah answered.
"But they`re close with Lana as well," Olive added.
"I heard from my dad that they`re going to be sending you to school on Monday," Ashton remarked.
I turned to him and sighed with a nod," Yeah, apparently I can`t be home schooled and I need to around others to learn how to socialize."
"Is Witch life different from the way we live?" Elijah blurted out. I paused and my shoulders fell.
Olive smacked him head while Quin shook his head," Idiot, don`t be insensitive."
"I was just asking, she`s the first witch who`ll even talk to us, the ones in this town go out of their ways to avoid us," Elijah pointed out. I tried not to feel hurt because honestly, that had been me before. Witches were always avoiding contact unless we came face to face with one of our kind. And even then, it wasn`t always friendly. Or so says Grams. But I wasn`t a witch anymore. I was a werewolf now. Werewolves lived the pack life.
"Still, it's too early to be asking such things," Olive scolded him which brought me out of my funk.
I tried smiling and waved at Olive who back off the poor guy, "It`s fine, Olive," I took a deep breath and began to talk, "I guess, witch life is more isolated. I`ve been homeschooled for as long as I can remember. But I wasn`t lonely, I had Oracle and my parents. Occasionally, I`d chat online with other people so it wasn`t all bad."
Quin leaned forward and asked, "Who`s Oracle?"
"She`s my…," I shook my head," Well, she was my familiar. She`s a cute little kitty cat that comes to me when I need someone to talk to."
Olive smiled, "A talking cat?"
I nodded.
"That is so cool."
"And what about your magic?" Quin asked.
"Well…," Before I could say anything else, everyone in my room stood with frowns. They all looked to Ashton, who growled. I cannot believe he just growled. Like a real dog or wolf. He then marched out with the boys following behind him, Olive moved to grasp my hands," Stay inside and look your windows and door. Don`t come out unless Rachel or I come and see you."
"What`s going on?! Why did you all just stand like that?!" I then gestured to my open door," And why was Ashton growling?!"
Suddenly the sound of multiple howls could be heard and I swear I could hear clothes being shredded. Olive growled before she made me look at her," Stay here."
She then left me in my room. Without a second thought, I moved to locked my room door before running over to bolt my windows shut. I closed the white curtains and wrung my hands. Thinking, I should go the extra mile, I killed all the lights in my room and sat down on the floor, with my back against my closet. Closing my eyes, I tried to call out for Oracle. I just wanted someone to stay with me and tell me what was going on.
I sat in the dark and waited. Outside, the howls were still going on and from outside my door, I could hear people shouting something about Rogues or Outsiders.
"Couldn't Rachel at least come to check up on me?" I whispered to myself and tried to stay calm. Who was I fooling? I was going to start crying again.
"Thalia!"
I heard someone call out for me before my door knob began to rattle," Thalia, it`s me Rachel, are you okay?!"
Standing up, I ran to the door and flew it open. Rachel was in her pajamas, which consisted of a grey suit and her hair was braided. What made me pause were her eyes. They kept flashing yellow.
"Your eyes," I muttered uneasily as I took a step back.
"Sorry, my wolf is antsy, she wants to join the others," Rachel said as she winced and pinched the bridge of her nose. She took a deep breath before opening her eyes. Now it was back to normal," Come with me. We`ll be going to the infirmary. That way I can watch over you and you can see get some werewolf education."
I nodded and followed after her," What`s going? Olive and the others were with me talking and then the next thing I know, they`re all growling and storming off!"
"One of the Pack Warriors sent out a message via Pack link that there were outsiders on our land. A lot of them, hiding out in the forest, everyone was ordered out to hunt them down," Rachel told me.
My head spun," Wait, Pack Link? Outsiders?"
"Marcus thinks it`s the ones that attacked you and turned you,"
My hand quickly flew to my shoulder and I winced at the memory of the pain and the teeth. Rachel ushered me down the hallways till we reached a huge room filled with four beds and a large table. On one corner, I could make out a medicine cabinet and a whole bunch of stuff that looked like they belonged in a medical drama.
"I thought werewolves don`t get sick and heal very fast,"
"We do but there are times when the healing factor isn`t enough," Rachel said as she sat on a chair behind the table.
I took a seat on one of the beds and faced her, "So the Pack link?"
Rachel looked up at me from her desk, "Didn`t Olive talk to you about that?"
I nodded, "She did, she said it`s like a chat room for you all werewolves except its inside your heads and only pack members have access to it."
"Exactly, and you`ll have it when you join our pack," Rachel remarked.
I bit my lower lip, "What if I don`t want to be in your pack?"
Rachel arched brow at me, "You don`t want to be in our pack?"
I ran my hand over the white sheet of the bed and avoided eye contact," No, it`s just that…," I looked up and clasped my hands," My family don`t actually live here. We only came here for my ceremony," Rachel nodded," I know that where your pack is, you`ll live with them so I want to be in a pack that`s close to my family."
'Have you spoken to Marcus about this?" Rachel questioned.
"No," I answered. It was something I thought about after Olive had told me about werewolves living with their packs. That was yesterday afternoon and it had been at the back of my mind since then. I had just never found the time to say something until now and even then, it was Marcus that I needed to talk to not Rachel. But if I told her, she could do it for me, right?
"Then you`d better," Rachel told me as she leaned back in her chair.
"Can`t you do it for me?" I asked slowly.
"Child, you living in a pack or moving to a new pack is your decision, you need to be able to talk to him."
"Will it be easy? Like here?" I had to ask. Was pack life like this everywhere?
"It`s a special circumstance for you because of Marcus` friendship with your dad. That`s why pack life here is more easy and steady here."