Natalia’s P. O. V

Not long after we left the guards’ scope of perception, I noted Kaesha’s switch in scent, having probably dropped the spell. Soon after, we got back to the house. Once we crossed the porch, she engaged Timothy in a tirade of irritation, something he was all to happy to contribute to after being compliant for so long.

Choosing not to listen, I opened the folded paper in my hand.

‘Mrs Burton wasn’t joking about that whole ‘attractive to males’ thing.’ Candy stated when I saw what I assumed was Robert’s number hastily scribbled in a lower corner.

I made a sound of agreement. Then finally returned Hailey’s gaze. She hastily looked away, before appearing to rethink it and look back at me.

She’d been curiously staring at me at random intervals for most of the outing. Sometimes, I felt like she was checking to make sure I was still present. Other times, like she was pondering something. Especially so for the latter on our way back, after receiving our passwords and such.

I gestured for her to follow me. We left the all too real, fake siblings bantering in the living room as we moved to my room.

Closing the door behind us while she sat on the chair, I raised a brow at her and settled on the bed.

“Hailey, you’ve been watching me all day.”

She took a breath, fidgeting with her hair, “I didn’t realise I was looking at you so much. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

“Not really. What’s on your mind?”

“I know it sounds stupid, but…” She started, averting her gaze, “it just felt like you sort of… disappeared, like, for anyone who wasn’t paying attention to you. And when they did notice you, they seemed completely hypnotised. I know it sounds absolutely crazy, but it got me thinking about Trev and Greg on the way back, how they seem to think of you so much -when they aren’t, y’know, being tricked into thinking of you as a kidnapper. And they took to you so quickly…”

She paused, shrugging, “I don’t even know where I’m going with this, to be honest. I mean, you’re so beautiful and chill so it could just be that. I’m right, it does sound crazy. Sorry for all this madness, Ari. For your sake, I hope the crazy doesn’t come from our father’s side.”

I didn’t know about the disappearing part, but I couldn’t tell her about how my Syren side was responsible for the… transfixion…? Allure?

I didn’t even know what to call it.

But I also didn’t want to leave her believing she was crazy because of my secret heritage.

“You’re not crazy, Hailey. I mean, I never noticed anyone take an interest in me before I left Lightwood, so maybe the better environment has me… radiating pheromones or something. Goddess knows, I could’ve used it.”

She gave a half laugh, “Maybe that’s it.”

“Just trust keep trusting your instincts. You’re not crazy, okay.” I grinned, “Even if you are, I’m sure we both got it from the sperm donor.”

She returned the grin with a snort.

“Now, I have a question of my own.”

My grin widened as the look of apprehension crossed her face. Her eyes darted to the door.

“You’re not going anywhere. Not till you tell me whatever you left out about what happened between you and Timothy last night.”

Long silence. I didn’t budge as she shifted uneasily. I watched her contemplate making a run for it several times and decide against it each time.

Finally, she mumbled, “Ithinkwesortakindaalmostbutdidn’tkiss.”

I blinked, paused, then nodded and smirked, “So you had a heated moment. This was after he went from jerk to hand nurse?”

Red bled into her face, “After. And I wouldn’t call it that… we just got really close and he smelled so good…” She trailed off, lost in the memory.

I cleared my throat, bemused.

She snapped back, face going redder and eyes looking everywhere but at me, “This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you! I’m supposed to be your reliable big sister helping you with your hunt for revenge, not getting distracted by the very first guy we bring onto the team. We both know I don’t even offer anything besides being the driver and now I’m doing stuff as silly as having moments with our team mate. It’s probably for the best that he’s been ignoring me all day.”

“First of all, you have way more to offer than you give yourself credit for. This isn’t going to make me think any less of you. Plus, ignoring someone should never be considered a good thing. Secondly, have you at all considered that he might be your mate?”

I watched her expressions as she processed the idea. A blank face, then confusion. Sceptism, debate and disbelief. Assimilation, then consideration and disbelief again. And finally, realisation.

“I…”

Hailey’s P. O. V

“I…”

I had no idea what to say.

Tim was my mate?

How?

I mean, sure, I’d been vaguely aware of the fact that I’d get one, what with how prevalent the concept was in mainstream werewolf novels, and then Ari confirmed the fact. But I never had any serious idea of what it was supposed to feel like till just a few days ago.

‘He’s our mate…?’ Opelene mused.

Great.

I was so bad at being a werewolf that I couldn’t even identify my own mate.

My eyes snapped up to meet Ari’s, “If that’s true, that means he knows…”

She shrugged, “I get why you wouldn’t realise it, but he most likely would have noticed the moment you met.”

I remained silent at this. In my mind, I replayed every emotion I’d felt since we met. And every reaction he’d shown. From the get go, he’d been taken with Kaesha. They were close enough to flirt and bicker with each other, evident from the sound of their voices from the living room. And I could tell that he, at the very least, respected Ari. Otherwise, I doubted he’d go along so unproblematically with her plan, with daggers poised at his back.

But, besides the one moment of… closeness, he’d been nothing short of mean. And now, it looked so very intentional.

Whatever the case was, one thing was certain: we were obviously not in love. For whatever reason, he didn’t seem to want to be and I wasn’t gonna push it.

“I guess your theory was right. I don’t think either of us were conditioned to fall for our mates.”

She observed me silently, in that way I was beginning to attribute to her.

Eventually, she nodded and got to her feet, “Just know, Hailey… if you two don’t end up together, it would be best to leave things as they are till you find other partners. Once a wolf is rejected, they’ve got five years to mate with someone else, or things could go pretty badly.”

I blinked at her. Was that a real thing?

I offered a sceptical shrug, “So… if a rejected werewolf doesn’t sleep with someone else in five years, they, what? Die?”

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

She nodded.

For a bit, I blankly stared at her. Then my eyes widened and I shot out of the seat, “But that means you could die in five years!”

She smiled warmly, “Come on, I’ll go round up the pseudo twins. I’ll let you research a good place to eat. Let’s go for lunch.”

Lunch? How could she be thinking of getting us food right now?

She grabbed her wallet off the table and left, giving no opening for me to object. Grumbling, I did a quick search for a good place before following her out to let the others know.

I busied myself with finding the keys and making sure I had my purse while the others retrieved their stuff. The next ten minutes were filled with appropriate cheerfulness and bickering about where exactly we were going, Ari joining in like she didn’t have the cloud of a foreseeable death hanging over her head.

“We’re going to a restaurant of Hailey’s choice.” Ari eventually stated after several minutes of debate.

“What’s the place called?” Kaesha, sitting shotgun next to me, asked.

“El Ranchero. I hope you’re in the mood for mexican. We should be there in about five minutes.”

Within the next ten minutes, we’d arrived at the restaurant and had ordered. The place was colourfully decorated and the waitress that attended to us was punctual and cheerful. After a brief gig in waitressing, I could really appreciate the effort it took to maintain a demeanour of hospitality while on the job and the skill it took to manage all the orders in a timely fashion.

“So, what are your plans for the full moon shifts,” Kaesha asked.

I usually just locked myself up in my basement, so being able to run free in a forest was a novel and exciting thought for both Opelene and myself.

“My wolf gets kinda aggressive on some shifts,” Tim stated, sipping some water in his place opposite Ari, “so I’ll probably be deeper in the forest. He won’t approach the pack though.”

“And you, Hailey?”

I shrugged, “I always shift in my basement so Opelene is pretty docile at this point. But this’ll be new. Maybe she’ll just run around a bit.”

“I can stay at the edge of the forest, make sure you don’t enter the village. Keep you from attacking the locals.” Kaesha offered, elbowing Tim lightly.

He scoffed, returning the jab with a poke that she swatted away.

Our food arrived and their banter fell into a lull as we ate. Ten minutes into our meal we’d eaten enough to balance the food with conversation.

Tim gestured to Ari, “What about you, oh fearless leader? What’s your wolf gonna be up to this full moon?”

Kaesha and I nearly shared a look but I avoided meeting her eyes. God knew how paranoid he was and a look like that wouldn’t be doing any of us favours.

Ari, on the other hand, didn’t miss a beat with her response, “My wolf was mostly restricted to a small area back at the Pack, so she’ll be used to maintaining control. I want to try working with her to watch the Pine River Pack members from a distance. A long one. I don’t want to risk angering their Alpha before we get a chance to help.”

The lie was so smooth that I nearly believed her, before remembering the truth. The idea that a wolf wasn’t able to shift after the age of thirteen didn’t even occur to Tim and the conversion moved to the topic of where he would stay once we returned to the city.

As they spoke, I found my mind wandering back to the afternoon’s conversation. The idea of a predestined partner was never something that had really held my interest, but it was a romantic concept nonetheless. Someone picked out specifically for you from all the people on the globe, destined to cross paths. And, the moment you meet, you just know that they’re the one. It definitely gets rid of the stress and heartbreak involved with serial dating.

But, for werewolves at least, it didn’t seem to be about romance. It was about sex and authority. I didn’t particularly care about the former and, even though I was alpha born, I most definitely wasn’t going to find myself in a leadership position anytime in the future, so the latter was of no consequence to me.

I didn’t need him.

Soon after, we were done eating and left. On the ride back to the house, the others were less animated and Kaesha ended up dozing off a few times.

Once we arrived in the house, everyone dispersed, off to occupy themselves in different ways. Kaesha went to take a nap, Ari wandered out the door and Tim, judging by the sounds of creaking wood, went off to flex his gift.

Not exactly tired, I returned to my room and retrieved my notebook and the book of Werewolf Hierarchy and Traditions then resumed my reading and summary. Maybe I could offer it to Kaesha, since she was going to joining us officially, at some point.

With that thought, I decided to focus on making my notes more understandable and got to work.

Natalia’s P. O. V

Once we’d returned, I beelined to the door. Since the full moon was tomorrow night, obviously, some reconnaissance was in order. The fib I’d told Timothy wasn’t entirely false; I really did intend to monitor the Pine River members.

Just not in wolf form.

But, to do that undetected, I needed pre-planned vantage points and direct routes there. With the heightened instincts brought by the full moon, I couldn’t afford getting caught by one of the shifted wolves. And I’d need to make sure to avoid Timothy altogether.

Silently, I scoped out the area around the Pine River territory. A werewolf can usually tell just before entering another territory. I really hoped that they didn’t have patrols, otherwise, their paranoia would morph into full on hostility if they found one of the visiting Lone wolves stalking around their territory.

The forest was rather serene, without the threat of apprehensive werewolves at my back. Not much disturbed the crescendo of animals and plants simply living and surviving. Once in a while, I would spot treefrogs and deer milling about but my focus was mostly on finding some good, sturdy trees that I could move around in.

After about an hour of careful inspection, I came across a river, almost opposite the side of the territory we’d been brought in from earlier.

The scent of two werewolves drifted lazily in the wind. Both of them were familiar from our visit today. Light on my feet, I scaled the nearest tree and buried myself amidst its thickest cluster of leaves. The sound of one’s chattering voice reached me long before they did.

“I know, I know- she’s way out of my league, probably out of my stratosphere, to be honest, but you should have seen her.” The voice belonged Robert.

Shifting slightly, I saw Robert, still fidgeting with his oversized glasses, walking beside a blonde lady, both carrying two buckets. She smelled just like the silvery wolf that had initially ordered the guards to stand down and led the way to the pack. Even from the way she carried herself and how her gaze was steady and alert as she listened, I could tell that she held a substantial position.

Perhaps a Battle General?

“Even if you like her that much, she still isn’t a member of this pack and will probably move on after the full moon.” She finally responded in an even voice.

The very logical, very easily discernable point sent him into a pout.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. No need to bother pining away at her…” He mumbled, eyes no longer starry.

She spared him a single glance, “Lift your head, Robbie. You still have your mate out there. And, who knows, she might be the one. If it’s meant to be, it will find a way. Now go, it’s your turn.” She ordered then turned away.

Robert murmured his agreement and got out of his clothes.

Averting my gaze, I listened to his form shift. A splash sounded and I turned to find his wolf wading through the river. For such a lanky person, his wolf was pretty decent. Still smaller than both Hailey’s and Timothy’s, but a good size for a normal member.

His wolf moved adeptly in the water, limbs carrying him nimbly. Swiftly and sharply, he nabbed several bass, pickerel and catfish, among other species and threw them to the blonde lady, who then stuck them in a bucket.

This went on for over an hour. My limbs were tired and numb from maintaining the same perch in the tree. In about a half hour, they would probably start quaking. But I daren’t move, lest Robert sense me in his wolf form. It was already a miracle that the wind hadn’t changed direction and sent my scent his way, occupied as he was.

Eventually, the buckets were filled and Robert shifted back. The blonde lady congratulated him on his catches and they walked back into their territory and out of sight. I didn’t relax till they were completely out of range.

Lightly, I dropped to the ground and stretched. Resting a while, I continued my escapade, coming across several vantage points and hiding spots, and committed each of them and their routes to memory.

I didn’t return to the house till the sun had vacated the sky for the moon. Kaesha and Hailey were already asleep so I decided to wish Timothy a quick goodnight.

“Come in.” He called at my knock.

I opened the door, but remained at it’s frame, “The others are sleeping but I just wanted to say goodnight.”

He looked up from the small figurine he’d been focused on, a scowl settling on his face, “Where were you?”

“The forest.”

He rolled his eyes, “Obviously. What were you doing out there?”

“Looking for good spots for tomorrow night.” Not a lie.

His eyes narrowed, “Must’ve been some thorough scouting you were up to, since you were gone for almost five hours.”

I leaned on the door frame and crossed my arms, “I wasn’t ratting you out to the Lightwood Pack, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Silently, we regarded each other.

Somewhat placated, he nodded, “Goodnight, Ari.”

Easing, I offered him a smile, “Goodnight, Timothy. Sweet dreams.” And I meant it.

Closing the door behind me, I left to take a quick shower and returned to my bed.

‘Why didn’t you tell him that we can’t shift?’ Candy asked, breaking her silence.

‘I don’t think telling him so early will do anything to boost his confidence in our likelihood of taking those bastards down. I need him to see me as capable before I share something like that.’

‘So, why did you tell Hailey and Kesha?’

I shrugged and shifted, looking for comfort in the stone mattress. I’d really gotten used to my bed back home.

‘Hailey’s my sister and we’ve always liked each other, and Kaesha just feels right on a deep level. They both already have faith in me to some degree. Timothy doesn’t.’

She made a sound of agreement.

‘Night, Candy.’

‘Goodnight, Nat.’