Monsters In The Woods

chapter 22

Lana's POV

i froze as the words i had been dreading left jacob's mouth. i opened my mouth, ready to tell him, when i paused. i took a deep breath and tried again, "jacob, tiffany, she... lost her parents during the rogue attack, she had to go live with her aunt."

"she left already? without saying goodbye?" he asked me, he sounded so hurt, almost broken and my heart clenched at the sound. 

i nodded my head shakily and went towards him wich seemed to spur himself into action. he sprang forward and latched himself to my midsection. i hugged him to me and ran my hands through his hair. i started whispering soothing things in his ear when i noticed he had begun to cry. small, silent tears leaked from his eyes as he clung to me. i sat down on the floor leaning against the side of the bed and pulled him onto my lap. i started singing the lullaby that mum had sung to us during our childhood. the soft lulling words came from my parted lips as i rocked my baby brother back and forth. 

eventually his tears stopped, reduced to small ocasional hiccups. "come on, honey, let's go make pancakes." i murmured to him in russian. back home, whenever anyone in our family was sad, we always made pancakes. onetime, when Sasha was really sad because a girl he had liked hadn't accepted when he had asked her to be his girlfriend, we made enough pancakes for the whole village.

Jacob nodded his small head and stood up. i copied his motion and took his hand in mine. i looked to andrew and saw that he had been sitting on the bed directly behind us. i motioned for him to follow us and said, "now we make pancakes."

he briskly nodded his head and in a business like fashion, ushered us out the door he held open. we all paraded down the stairs and into the kitchen. it was almost ten o'clock and everyone was bustling around the pack house. we paid them no mind as they stared at us and gave jacob glances filled with pity.

when we entered the kitchen, i immediately started out looking for a pan. i told jacob to start finding ingredients while i looked for mixing things. Andrew looked confused as i hadn't spoken much english to jacob today. i walked up to him and pressed a chaste kiss to his forehead, "do you know where the spatula is?" i questioned him.

he smiled ruefully at my attempt to include him and pointed to the counter where i had already laid out two spatulas beside two bowls and two pans. "oops," i muttered as i felt my cheeks redden.

andrew just laughed and sat at one of the bar stools saying he would just watch instead. i went back to jacob and started measuring out the ingredients we needed. he cracked a few eggs into each bowl as well as the other wet ingredients and i added all of the dry ones. we both picked up a spatula and began to stir the mixture. i placed both pans on the stove top and we poured in the batter. each of our pancakes took up the bottom of the pan so we could only cook one at a time. after we checked to see the bottom a golden brown colour, we both grasped the handle of the pan. i took mine off the burner and quickly and precisely flipped the half cooked pancake into the air, catching it in the pan as it came down again. making sure the golden brown sign was on top, i placed the pan back on the stove. as i did so, i heard a few people clap. i looked up to see a few other teenagers my age standing in the open doorway. i smiled at them and motioned for jacob to flip his. we both repeated this process until we each had a stack of about thirteen pancakes and wide grins stretched across our faces. 

i grabbed both plates and sat them on the stools next to andrew. i went around the counter and sat on the stool closest to him. he had a plate infront of him and i moved a few from my plate onto his, i smiled up at him and forked a piece into my mouth. andrew chuckled and did the same. i turned to jacob and saw he was staring at me and andrew with a confused look on his face. "why are you two acting like that?" he asked me.

"andrew is my prince charming. just like papa was mum's prince charming. one day you'll be someone's prince charming." i told him.

"i already found my princess." jacob whispered sadly. i pulled him into a hug as i heard someone sniffle and awe at jacob and my interaction.

i turned to find the people from earlier standing on the other side of the counter staring at us. a girl seemed to be the source of the sounds because she was the only one looking at us, the males standing with her were looking at andrew as if they were having a silent conversation. they must be doing that weird mind communication thing andrew had explained. suddenly they all smiled at my mate and gave him congratulations.

Andrew's POV

i watched as my beautiful little mate gave me pancakes from her plate. she smiled at me and kissed my cheek. shelby, benjamin and luke came towards us after watching jacob and lana's pancake making show from the doorway. Benjamin and luke look at me with a raised eyebrow. 'who's the chick?' Benjamin asks through the pack link.

i growled at te appreciative tone of his voice. 'that is my mate and your luna, you will respect her.' my voice rumbled back to him. 

'congrats man!' luke says.

'how come we're only finding out about this now?' Benjamin asks sounding almost hurt.

'she's new to the country, i didn't want to overwhelm her.' i explained, looking over fondly at lana hugging her brother, she's so perfect i muttered to myself. 

Benjamin and luke smirked back at me and i realized that i had said that through the pack link. both boys smiled and offered me congratulations. 

Lana's POV

i looked over to andrew, confusion marring my face. i felt my head tilt to the side. andrew turned to me and started making introductions. "this is luke," he said, motioning to the sandy haired boy, "this is shelby, luke's mate" he motioned to the girl who was wrapped in luke's arm.

"and finally, the best for last, Benjamin!" the second boy said dramatically. 

i giggled at his antics and muttered a quiet "hallo" and looked down at my hands on my lap.

"we are going to be besties, luna!" Benjamin said loudly as he hugged me from the side.

i giggled and turned to andrew, confused again, "besties?"

andrew was scowling at Benjamin's arms around me and growled at him. this confused me more. he pried the other boy's arms away from me and stared coldly at him. "andrew?" i asked him softly, "what does bestie mean? is it an american or werewolf word?"

shelby giggled at me and muttered to luke, "she's so cute."

andrew smiled at him and explained to me, "american, it's short for best friend." 

i smiled and turned to the brown haired boy beside me, "you are going to be my best friend?" 

Benjamin nodded and smiled widely at me. andrew growled and said, very gruffly, "no he isn't! your best friend will be a girl."

i felt my eyebrows scrunch together, "why?"

"he's just jealous." luke explained to me.

"why?" i asked them, "he is my prince charming. i don't have another so why would he be jealous?"

all three of them awed at me and andrew just smiled widely at me and pulled me onto his lap and into a hug.

"which of you is going to be my bestie?" asked jacob curiously.

i know this is a weird way to end a chapter but i wanted to update to make up for lost time and i'm going to try and update again soon, i promise. 

this chapter is dedicated to danidecember for adding my story to danidecember's reading list! thank you!