*DINGGGG*
I groaned, wincing as my head slipped off my hand and hit the desk at the sound of the last bell of the day. I stayed seated, still a bit unoriented as the rest of my classmates hurried out of the class. A few moments later I finally got up, stretching and grabbing my bag before slowly making my way out the room.
I'm exhausted, not the "I pulled an all nighter" exhausted but still tired nonetheless. I don't understand why I'm so tired when I fell asleep right after that conversation with Ricky; I thought he would have woken me up since the nap was only supposed to be, well, a nap.
I didn't wake up till the morning and was truthfully more than a little confused on how bright it was outside and where Ricky went. But he texted me later on in the morning saying that it looked like I needed the rest so he left me to sleep.
I slept for a whole thirteen hours and yet I still feel just as exhausted as I did before I went to bed; I pretty much slept through every class I had today. "Ready to go?" Eze questioned as I left the class, at first I was just going to ride with Ricky but she really wanted me to ride with her; She even said that Ade wouldn't be the one driving us, not that that's the reason I didn't want to ride with her.
I shrugged as I tiredly followed her out the school, brightening up when I saw a familiar motorcycle parked by the entrance, "Hey puppy." Ricky greeted, leaning off his bike as he made his way towards me and ruffled my hair, ignoring the glare I sent him for the nickname. He smirked at my tired glare, a hint of concern hid behind the teasing smile he gave but he didn't say anything. We broke out our "conversation", (if you can even call it that) by Eze who not so subtly cleared her throat behind me. Ricky furrowed his brows as he looked behind me, finally noticing Ezes' awkward figure, "Hey?" He greeted, causing me to grumble up at him when he used one hand to playfully push me away by my forehead.
Eze glanced at me before looking back at Ricky with a small smile, "Hey.." she greeted back, clearly skeptical by Rickys' seemingly cheerful attitude. I rubbed the part of my head Ricky had pushed as he gave her a big smile. "I'm Ricky." He replied, trying to further the already awkward conversation "So I've heard.." she replied, sounding uninterested despite there being an amused grin on her face.
"You've heard about me?" He questioned, glancing at me "I'm hoping you've only heard good things then." He said, looking back to her with the same amused grin. "Can't say I have..." she trailed off, purposely looking off as if she were thinking when it was very clear she wasn't. Ricky laughed at her teasing causing her to laugh as well, his laugh is unfortunately very contagious.
I glared at the side of Rickys' head the entire time they spoke and I must have been staring hard because at some point he just randomly turned to me, his smile faltering as he saw my tired expression, "Can we go?" I questioned.
Eze looked between the both of us before again clearing her throat, "Uh yeah sorry let's go-" She suddenly cut herself off, her eyes widening as she cursed under her breath. "I think I left my gym bag in the locker room." She revealed, letting out a frustrated sigh as she disappointingly shook her head at herself.
"Y'all go ahead, I'll just meet you there." She said, making her way back towards the schools' doors. "How are you getting back?" Ricky questioned as I just stood by idly, not really caring for what was going on. "I'll just shift and run back, it shouldn't take that long. " She answered, sounding unbothered despite clearly looking upset over the thought of having to shift.
"I mean I could wait here for you and drive you back." I furrowed my brows at Rickys' offer, giving him a 'since when are you this nice?' look as he glanced my way. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble.."
"It's not, we're going the same way anyway." He answered back with a laugh as she smiled in agreement "Alright then I'll be back in like 30 minutes. You can go to the car and start heading to the pack Stefan, we'll meet you there." She shouted as she speed walked back into the school; I sighed once she had fully entered, great now I have to be at the packhouse alone.
"Thanks for all of a sudden wanting to be a decent person." I said sarcastically, glaring as he made his way back to his bike before once again leaning against it. "I've always been a "decent" person." He joked, cutting his laugh short after glancing at my noticeably pissy mood. "Wait, are you actually upset?" He questioned, instantly leaning off his bike and trying to come closer.
"I'll meet you there." I walked past him, successfully avoiding his arms as I made my way to the parked SUV, ignoring him as he called me, telling me to come back; I wanted him here so I wouldn't have to be alone and yet he left me the first chance he got. I'll admit I'm a little jealous, I'm just not used to this. I'm used to having his full undivided attention and care and yet he just put someone else above me like nothing.
I rolled my eyes at my thoughts. I'm acting like a spoiled brat, Ricky has always been this way, he's caring and is always quick to help those who need it; He's probably only acting this way because I said we were friends... Maybe I should've just told the truth? But he'd automatically hate her if he knew she was my asshole of a mates sister. She'd be "guilty by association" and I'd have to sit through a long conversation of him explaining to me why I shouldn't befriend anyone close to my mate, as if I'd ever want to do that.
I quickly hopped in the back seat of the familiar SUV, throwing my bag in the seat beside me before putting my seatbelt on, waiting for whoever it was in the front seat to start driving but they never did. I looked up when I realized we hadn't started moving yet and was shocked to see the driver staring at me in the rearview mirror, a big welcoming smile plastered across his face. "Hallo Luna Stefan, ich bin Zane, Ade's Beta. Es ist schön dich endlich zu treffen. (Hello Luna Stefan, I'm Zane, Ade's Beta. It's nice to finally meet you.)"
I stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth, shocked as he spoke to me in fluent German; It had been years since I've spoken in German to anyone besides my Oma and Rickys' family, for some reason a sense of pride swelled inside me at finding another person who had taken the time to learn my language, even if it wasn't for me. "du sprichst deutsch? (you speak German?)" I questioned, truthfully a little too excited at the fact. I watched as the beta nodded his head with a fond smile, probably picking up on my excitement.
"Ja, ich habe es während meines Sielsökends gelernt. Unter vielen anderen Sprachen. (Yep, I learned it during my sielsoekend. Among many other languages.)" he revealed, turning in his seat. I was quick to look him over once he was actually facing me; I noticed his sharp jawline that held little to no hair, his broad nose, and his big but slightly slanted brown eyes. He had dark skin like Ade and judging by how tall he sat in the seat he seemed to be only an inch or two shorter.
I furrowed my brows as I continued looking at his forever smiling face, "Sielsoekend?" I repeated. That's not a German word and it definitely isn't English either and those are the only two languages I know.
"Du bist nicht schlecht in der Aussprache, wie ich sehe. (You're not bad at pronunciation, I see.)" He complimented, sounding like a proud teacher and I'm ashamed to say that the tone did cause a small smile to appear on my face. "Sielsoekend, means 'soul-searching'." he said, answering my previous question. He laughed when he noticed my still confused face, "Sielsoekend, is a trip every male werewolf takes at the age of eighteen. It's where they travel the world for an entire year, searching."
"For their soulmate?" He nodded with a smile "What other languages did you learn?" I questioned, for the first time, actually interested in something a stranger's telling me. Okay, that sounded a little rude.
"Well besides the obvious German... French, Italian, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, a bit of Korean, European-" He stopped talking as I let out a snort, barely stopping myself from letting out an actual laugh; He arched a brow at me as a smirk broke across his face, "Are you laughing at me?"
"Maybe.." I answered back, finally allowing myself to laugh; He kept the same smirk as he squinted his eyes at me, silently questioning what I found so amusing. "First of all, European isn't a language and most people in Europe speak English." I revealed in a 'duh' tone. "Well, aren't I speaking English right now?" I gave him a pointed look as he started the car, I didn't even notice we hadn't left yet until now.
"That doesn't count." I said watching as we finally left the parking lot, purposefully avoiding looking out the window as we passed Ricky despite knowing he wouldn't be able to see through the tinted glass. The beta, or I think he said his name was Zane, replied with nothing but a laugh. Not at all denying what I said. "So what was that language you spoke before?"
"Could you elaborate?" He questioned, laughing when I huffed under my breath "Sielsoekend?" I repeated the word from before, arching my brow as his mouth made an 'O' shape, finally realizing what I meant.
"Sielsoekend, is a Afrikaans word; Afrikaans is what the majority, if not all of our pack speaks." He revealed, now it was my turn to make the 'O' shape. "I guess you could say it's my native language since it was the only language I grew up speaking, until I turned five."
"What happened when you turned five?" I questioned "Well when Sëenige pups turn five they're required to start learning English. It's an old rule made up by a bunch of even older wolves but no one disobeys it, it's a pretty dumb rule if you ask me." I laughed as he playfully rolled his eyes while recalling the rule.
He laughed as he took another glance at me through the rear view mirror, "Got anymore questions, Bärchen?" He asked, "I'll answer them all." He continued, placing a hand across his chest as if he were pledging his honesty in court.
"Bärchen? (little bear?)" I questioned, repeating what he had just called me. He let out an awkward chuckle as he looked from the road to me and then back to the road again, "Ade might've told me about what happened between y'all the other day." He flashed me a teasing smile as he continued, "Y'know for someone so small, you're really bold when you're angry."
"Thank you?" I giggled, mentally slapping myself as soon as the sound left my mouth; He seemed to notice my reaction and chuckled as I grumbled under my breath.
The rest of the car ride was pretty silent, but a comfortable kind of silence that consisted of the occasional hum from Zane who constantly switched through the stations after a song finished. Only stopping when I started humming to a specific song I vaguely knew the lyrics to. It actually didn't take us long to get to the pack house and I truthfully was a little upset about having to go into the large mansion alone.
"Bye Bärchen." Zane called from the car as I made my way to the door with my bag hung loosely around my shoulder; I gave a small wave back smiling as he backed out the driveway and went through a dirt path to the side of the house.
I let out a deep sigh as I entered the pack house, trying my hardest to rid myself of any unnecessary nerves. I placed my bag down by the door like I had done the last time I was here and then tiptoed my way past the entrance and into the familiar kitchen; I don't know why I'm sneaking, it's pretty obvious based on how faint Ades' scent is that he wasn't here.
Once we reached the kitchen Leon started to speak up from the back of my mind, "We should tour the house." I rolled my eyes, noticing how he didn't even try to hide the excitement in his voice at the thought of touring our mates' home. Despite his excitement being annoying, touring the house didn't actually seem like a bad idea.
I made my way towards the elevator, ignoring the happy little yips he gave in return. Based off how many buttons there are I'm assuming they have seven floors, not counting the basement floors. I decided to start at the top and work my way down; On the top floor were about eight to ten rooms, I'm not really sure because I left as soon as I saw that the floor was reserved only for the alpha and his family.
I quickly took the stairs down to the 6th floor, groaning when I saw this area was reserved for both the beta and gamma as well as their families; This floor had about 12 rooms as well as a kitchen. Every other floor was the same after those two, each floor had a mini kitchen (that was clearly just there for refrigeration and cabinet storage and not really for cooking), at least three bathrooms (not counting any private ones inside the rooms), and twelve to fifteen rooms.
During my "tour" I ran into many of the pack members, most of them paid me no mind but a few did stop to give me a glance, probably confused on how I was allowed into the house. What shocked me the most was that some of them knew I was Ades' mate and even addressed me as Luna; It was uncomfortable but I was too embarrassed to correct them.
I made my way back to the first floor kitchen, already done with the tour, 'Imagine what it would be like to live here.' Leon mewed, practically purring in my head. 'Don't do that' I grumbled back, feeling my mood starting to once again dampen at that thought of my mate.
"You good?" A voice asked just as I was passing the kitchen and trying to head into the nearest sitting room; I flinched at the sudden intrusion, quickly turning around only to come face to face with Ades' younger brother, I think his name was Kyle. Kyle was standing in the middle of the kitchen with a large bowl of trail mix under one arm, using his free hand to grab small handfuls and eat them. He was wearing a gorey looking black Chucky shirt with white shorts and his wavy black hair was messily put into a bun, with only enough out to frame his face and badly cover up the dark circles under his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm okay." I replied, taking a step towards the island as he hummed back, wiping his hand onto his shirt before using the back of the same hand to rub at his tired eyes. This is the first time we've ever spoken, not that that's a surprise, I haven't spoken to many people from this pack.
From what I've learned, through forced conversation initiated by Eze, Kyle is the 2nd oldest of the family, after Ade. He is nineteen, a human and was adopted by the former pack alpha and luna, aka their parents, Koje and Esther. She didn't go into how they got him and at the time I wasn't really interested to know so I didn't bother to ask.
"Well imma go play some games." He said walking out the kitchen just as he put another handful of trail mix into his mouth, "You can come with if you want." I tapped my fingers on the side of my thigh, considering his invitation to "play some games" before tilting my head with a grin.
"I'll come if you have COD." I replied, earning a playful grin back as he let out a tired breath of a laugh "Well you're in luck, that's actually what I'm playing right now." I grinned back as he nodded his head towards the stairs, signaling for me to follow him up; I followed him to the 7th floor, the alphas' quarters.
He took a left and I followed him till we were in front of the last door on the right, "Could you get the door for me?" He asked, grabbing another handful of the mix, he's starting to remind me of Ricky. I held the door open for him, shutting it once we were both inside, "thanks." He said, flopping down on the carpeted floor with his bowl placed securely inside his crossed legs.
Kyles' room was huge, which was surprising; I expected the rooms to be small because there are so many of them but I guess I was wrong. He has a queen sized bed against his wall with a large bed frame and about three tall shelves full of games, three different consoles which he kept neatly placed on small shelves above the large dresser, a huge flat screen tv that was mounted onto the wall, and two other doors which I assume is the closet and bathroom.
His room was dark and decorated with different posters of bands and horror movies, there were also some drawings painted on to the wall obviously painted by him. I stared in awe at the room, I've never been able to decorate a room because we were either renting where we lived or I didn't have a room so this was my first time seeing such a heavily decorated room, I loved it.
"Here" Kyle said, breaking me out of my daze. He handed me a ps5 controller, it was larger than the controllers I'm used to playing with since Ricky refuses to get rid of his ps4 and get a ps5; He has the money, he's just in love with that specific gaming console. I grabbed the controller sitting down on a black bean bag that he had scooted to the middle of the room.
We played a type of modded COD that allowed both of us to play zombies campaign together, stopping every now and then for restroom breaks or to refill the bowl. "Damn." Kyle groaned when we finally finished the campaign, stretching from his spot on the floor before placing the bowl beside him flopping straight on to his back.
I let out a small laugh as I set the controller down, taking my time to stretch as well; We were sitting down in the same position for way too long. "So what's up with you and Ade?" He questioned after moments of silence.
I squinted my eyes at him, shocked at how easily he asked that question and with no hesitation. He chuckled as he turned to me, seeing the shock on my face, "Sorry, I tend to be a bit blunt sometimes. Especially when I'm tired." He closed his eyes at the last part, opening them up several seconds later to look back up at me "So?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing really, he wants to reject me but I'm assuming no one's letting him so he can't." My heart hurt even mentioning the rejection but I kept going as if it meant nothing, ignoring the sharp pain that grew as I talked more, "He'll end up rejecting me soon though, I don't think anyone can change his mind."
"Why don't you leave then?" He questioned, causing me to glance at him with furrowed brows and 'really?' look on my face. He laughed "I'm serious, why not leave? I mean it's what I would do."
"I can't." I answered truthfully "At least not until another six months." He nodded his head, visibly confused by my answer but not saying anything anymore. "Shouldn't you be trying to convince me to stay?" I teased snickering as he let out an annoyed breath.
"Just because he's my brother doesn't mean I have to be on his side. Plus, if he really doesn't wanna be with you wouldn't I be doing him a favor?" He questioned.
I nodded my head with a hum "And what if he actually does want to be with me?" I questioned back.
"Then wouldn't it be his loss?" I looked down at him as he looked up at me, his lips slowly turn upright into a grin that matched my own before we both started laughing.
"Stefan!" I flinched as I heard my name being called, turning towards the door just as Exe made her way through, "There you are, we've been looking for you everywhere!" She exclaims as she enters deeper into the room, revealing Ricky who was calmly leaning on the door from. He glanced at Kyle, staring hard before looking back at me; I shook my head no and he nodded his head before leaving the room. "Are you ready to go?" Eze asked just ask I looked away from the door and to her, I glanced at Kyle before nodding my head and getting up from my seat.
I followed Eze to the door, stopping right before I left and turning around to see Kyle already up from the ground and looking at me, "I'll think about your advice, alright." He snorted as he went to sit on his bed.
He grinned, "Alright."