Under The Skin

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© Amber Kalkes 2015

Song: "Delilah" By Florence And The Machine

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The tension has been building for days.

Rae can feel it as well as the rest of the shifters in the pack. Another one of their young ones is about to shift. There's an electric hum to the air on days like this one and Rae isn't one to miss it. In fact, she even knows who it is. Shifting her eyes down the dinner table, Rae looks down at her fifteen year old sister, Poppy.

She's hunched over her plate, her dark blonde hair unwashed for a few days and her fork stabbing aggressively at her vegetables. It's Sunday and as has been custom since Rae was a kid, Sunday night means dinner together as a family. This is a habit she's been able to keep even up to now.

Of course it's changed a bit over the years. They've added people, mates and the younger girl's friends on occasion. Not tonight though. Tonight it's just the core family sitting around, quiet as church mice and eyeing up Poppy like she's a time bomb.

"What," Poppy snaps, looking over the rim of her glasses to look at Rae, "What are you all looking at?"

Rae keeps her cool and picks up her glass of water while keeping a hand balanced on her pregnant belly, "I don't know what you mean."

Poppy drops her fork and glares at her older sister, "I'm not stupid."

"I didn't say you were."

"Then why are you lying?"

Rae simply smiles serenely at her, "I'm not. We're not looking at you. Just finish up your dinner. I'm sure you have homework to do."

Poppy narrows her eyes at Rae in a challenging way before picking up her fork again and stabbing at her food again. Everyone relaxes but Rae isn't fooled. It's going to happen soon. If it doesn't happen tonight than definitely tomorrow sometime it'll happen. Rae's been seeing the hints since Poppy was nine years old but over the past few months it's becoming more clear.

She's gotten aggressive, particularly with Cassidy and territorial. Poppy came to her just last weekend and demanded to be put in a different room than Cassidy. It was something Rae was expecting but the reason wasn't exactly what she's thought it'd be. Poppy complained that Cassidy's smell was everywhere and it was tainting her stuff. Eventually, Rae got Poppy her own room but its only made her more anti-social.

Most would say it was just puberty and hormones but Rae knows better. Her wolf can sense the rising a new wolf and it's been making her edgy. Something about Poppy's wolf makes Rae's wolf think that it could be challenging her for her position. It's ridiculous of course. Rae has now been Alpha female for a year now and nothing can uproot her from her position but animals are very skittish. It does make Rae curious though about why her wolf would feel that way.

"I'm done," Poppy announces, pushing away from the table, "Can I go now?"

Rae assesses her quickly before nodding once, "You may."

Poppy wraps her arms around her stomach and quickly walks away from the table and out of sight. Cleo is about to speak but Rae puts a finger up and waits to hear Poppy slam her door shut before dropping it. Cleo rolls her eyes but does relax back in her chair as soon as she knows Poppy is out of hearing range.

"That girl is scary," Cleo mutters before sticking a piece of grilled chicken in her mouth, "I wasn't even that bad."

"That's debatable," Jace smirks, receiving a middle finger for his two cents, "What? You may not remember what monster you were but I do."