Natalia’s P. O. V
My phone vibrated in my pocket, signalling a call. I held my hand up as I answered it.
“Hello?”
“Good morning. This is Kelly from Palace Homes. I’m calling to inform you that your appointment is due for noon today.” It was voice of the brunette from the reception. That was fast.
“Thank you. I’ll be there.” I replied and hung up then checked my watch – eight forty-three. I had time.
I turned back to Kirstin. “Sorry for the interruption. You were saying?”
“What are you gonna do during the years I’ll be collecting information?” She asked.
”Isn’t it obvious? I’ll be in college.” She didn’t say anything and stared at me with surprise like it was the last thing she expected me to say. “What?”
She shook her head, “Nothing. It’s just that, werewolves never go to school after they graduate high school.”
It made sense. Werewolves usually made money from careers that didn’t require a third level of education and it was common to find Alphas taxing their members for supply funds and, a surprising number of times, their pockets.
I shrugged, “I did tell Harry and Kylie that I’d make something out of myself.”
She smirked, “I know. Your letter to Kylie was practically bleeding your hatred.”
I raised a brow, “You read that?”
“Of course I did. I needed to be sure that if you were alive, you’d be on board with revenge against her.”
Now that she mentioned it, how did she know?
“How did you know I was alive?” I asked.
She stiffened at the question and I could see the internal battle she was having. Maybe she was consulting her wolf the way I did most of the time.
“I’magiftedwerewolf.” She blurted suddenly, too fast for me to make out the words.
“Come again?”
She took a deep breath, “I’m a gifted werewolf. If I connect enough with anything, I can see its past. I connected with the forest where you were said to have died and asked it to show me the last female werewolf who didn’t shift. That’s how I found out you were alive. No one knows about it cause I was going to tell my mate first but…” she trailed off.
I knew what she meant without her having to say it. “That’s a useful skill, especially for our purpose. It’s a good thing nobody else knows about it. You can use it on the targets and the former and current higher ups”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” She murmured to herself.
“Tell me any useful information you have on the targets at the moment since you’re in their circle of friendship.”
She thought for a moment, “Harry cheats on Kylie with human girls at school and a few of the loners in the pack at least three times a week and I’m not counting the rounds for each time. He even has a jar labelled ‘booty calls’ full of phone numbers that he keeps in Andrea’s room for when Kylie’s out and he’s ‘bored’”
I shook my head, “Given his nature, that doesn’t surprise me. Anything else on him?”
She thought for a moment, “He did mention something about drug dealing during a party. He was completely wasted so I don’t think it’s very accurate. Other than that, I don’t know any information on him that can be useful to us.”
That piqued my interest, “If it is true, that can prove very useful since drug dealing is also illegal in werewolf society. Look into it. What about the others?”
“Brittany has a not-so-secret secret troop of guys that she meets with at least once on a normal day. She can be gone for hours on end. Kylie has had an affair with five teachers for better grades and the times she was supposed to be at swimming club after school, she was actually with those teachers. Three of which are mated werewolves. Kylie’s family wants her to mate with Harry to keep the connections and lineage strong. Same thing with Harry’s dad. Callum is sort of a mystery. The only times he’s been with other girls was before he was dating Brittany and I don’t know if it’s his family pushing him to mate with Brittany. Everyone but him knows that Brittany is cheating on him. He should have accepted you; at least you’d be faithful.”
I ignored the compliment. While she was right, she didn’t know me and had no grounds to assume anything about me.
‘I wonder if his family is forcing him to mate with Brittany – not that it changes anything. If that’s the case then he’s a coward for not thinking for himself.’ Candy said.
I agreed, ‘True. I don’t want a coward for a mate. He must be either blind or really stupid and inattentive if he’s oblivious to what Brittany’s doing.’
“While what you have is great, we need something deeper to make a real impact and go down in werewolf history. Can you do that?”
She nodded and perked up suddenly, “I have something on the pack’s methods for climbing to the top.”
I knew from overhearing conversations that the pack’s methods for success weren’t exactly legitimate. I’d half-heartedly fished around but it seemed like only the previous generation higher ups knew about it but they stayed in a different pack house so I’d given up.
“Go on.”
“The higher ups go to visit some of their allies and secretly siphon money and plant seeds of distrust and hate between the members. Every pack that has been targeted have disbanded or fallen way down the ranks.”
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“This is great! Write down the list of packs that have been targeted.” She grabbed a paper and pencil from the vanity table and scribbled them down and handed it to me.
I scanned the writing, there were at least three dozen pack names.
“Is this all of them?”
She nodded.
“I’ll need you to get evidence of the process for each of these packs and the future ones as well. Don’t let anyone find you or your connection to me out. As far as you are concerned when you’re with the pack, I’m dead. You’re gonna need to hide your findings somewhere nobody will look.”
“I’ll hide them in your old room – nobody goes there.”
“Okay. There’s a loose floorboard that you can raise and put them in. It’s two feet directly in front of the door. Document everything and put the backups there. We’ll meet at this hotel every six months. Keep the information on a flash drive as well and bring it when we meet, is that all right for you?”
She nodded again. I smiled and got up then walked to the door. I paused before opening it and spoke without looking back at her, “I hope you’re not trying to trick me in any way.”
I could hear the nervousness in her voice, “N-no, I would never. They hurt me too.”
I turned my head to the side, peering at her in my peripheral, “Good. Otherwise, they won’t be the only people I’ll destroy.”
I exited the room and shut the door behind me before she could reply.
**********
After getting the address from a puzzled looking receptionist, I strolled out and checked my watch – three minutes past nine. Judging from the amount of traffic at this time, it’d probably take me all of three hours to get to Palace Homes. I hailed a cab and told the driver to take me there.
About an hour later, Candy spoke up, ‘Nat?’
‘Yes Candy?’ I replied while gazing out the window.
‘What are we gonna do about a mate?’ She asked.
This wasn’t like her. She normally didn’t care much about Callum, ‘Where is this coming from, Candy?’
‘When Kirstin mentioned Callum, it just reminded me that we’ve found our mate but we’re not mated. And remember, a werewolf that’s found its mate but has been rejected can’t survive for more than five years without finding a compatible partner – werewolf or not.’
I remembered reading about it, ‘We have five whole years to worry about it plus we haven’t shifted so I’m not sure it even applies to us. I don’t want to think about that now.’
‘But, we need a mate.’ She insisted.
‘Drop it, Candy.’
‘Our survival depends on it.’
‘Drop it, Candy.’ I repeated.
‘But-’
‘I SAID DROP IT, CANDICE! I DO NOT NEED ANYONE TO SURVIVE, ESPECIALLY NOT SOME HORNY BASTARD THAT WON’T EVEN LOVE ME AND WILL END UP EITHER LEAVING ME OR LETTING ME DOWN!’ I yelled in my head, almost shouting it out loud.
I didn’t need to depend on anyone for my wellbeing. I had Candy and could always make friends. That was more than enough for me.
I spent the rest of the ride in silence. I arrived at Palace Homes at with three minutes to spare and walked in.
The brunette turned to a middle aged lady when she spotted me, “Right on time. She’s here.”
The lady extended her hand and I shook it, “My name’s Margret Fiorn. I’m going to show you a couple of houses that match your requirements. If you’ll follow me to the car.” She led me out to a red car in the front lot. I got into the passenger seat as she sat in the driver’s seat and pulled out.
“If I may,” the lady began after some minutes, “aren’t you rather… young to be buying a house?” She glanced at me briefly and focused back on the road.
I smiled, “I get that a lot. I’m actually eighteen.” I lied smoothly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. You look barely sixteen.”
“It’s alright, ma’am.”
She took me to three houses. Each one was extravagant and beautiful. Each one was in a secure area. Each one was distinct. None of them stood out to me. On our drive to the fourth and final house for the day, I remembered the college I was supposed to go to.
“Do you know the address of Killdrain Puncturial University?”
She glanced at me for a second, “I’m pretty sure everyone knows. It’s ranked among the top five most prestigious colleges in the world along with Harvard and Oxford. To get in, you have to either be a genius or ridiculously rich. Or in the rare case, both. It’s been around for close to four centuries now and it has five different campuses in this state but the main one is here in New York.”
It definitely sounded like a really good college.
“This next house isn’t too far from it, actually.” She added while pulling up into the driveway.
I stepped out of the car and gasped.
The front of the house was based on a Greek temple style with white pillars holding up a triangular bit that jutted out from the roof. The big French double doors revealed a wide landing that led to elegant spiral stairs. To my left was a wide living room with a huge fireplace and arch windows letting light in. The living room was connected to a mildly extravagant dining room with a chandelier in the middle of its ceiling. The window in the dining looked out onto a sizeable pool and garden with a variety of colour coordinated flowers from the warmest colours to the coolest, looking like a rainbow with a lot more stripes. On the right side seemed to be a drawing room of sorts, that led out to a small ballroom with a grand piano sitting in the corner near a locked door.
Mrs Margret led me up the stairs, showing me all nine rooms, each with their own bathroom plus an extra one behind the stairs. The master bedroom was massive and had both a big walk in closet, with a mirror at the end of rows upon rows of shelves and racks, and balcony that looked out onto the garden, which I could tell delighted Candy, regardless of her silence. The master bedroom’s bathroom was pristine and huge with a shower, bathtub, toilet, sink, Jacuzzi and mini changing room plus a door that led directly to the walk in closet.
She took me down to the kitchen, passing the study that housed enough books to be considered a library. She showed me the layout of the kitchen and the walk in freezer and storage room.
After exiting through the backdoor and walking down a very natural looking stone pathway to the front of the house where the car was parked, she turned to me, “So, what do you think? I know you wanted three bedrooms and four bathrooms, but this meets everything else. There is also a basement with a cellar and some extra space.”
“It’s amazing,” I gushed, “it meets all the requirement and exceeds them. I’ll take it.”
She smiled, “That’s wonderful to hear. Let’s go back to the office for you to sign some paperwork.”
We drove back to Palace Homes and she led me to her office.
As I looked over the payment schedule, I noticed it wasn’t for rent, “This payment is for complete and total ownership. Doesn’t your policy say it’s supposed to be for rent? And I couldn’t help but notice that the house is already furnished.” Not that I minded, the furniture was beautiful to me. I just needed to replace the blues with red.
She nodded, “Yes, it does. Our houses usually have to be rented for a year before you can choose to pay for full ownership or continue renting. That house isn’t actually ours though. It was built and owned by someone else but almost nineteen years ago, the owner left us in charge of the house on the condition that only a respectful person could buy it after eighteen years had passed and that if her child wishes to buy it, we must release it for free, regardless of if it is owned at the time.”
“What was her name? What did she look like?”
She thought for a moment, “Aquina Syrenlina. She was a beautiful lady with green eyes that reminded me of the sea and black hair with blonde around the roots. Now that I think about it, you look almost exactly like her. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was your…” She trailed off, staring intently at me.
“Mom.” I whispered.