The New Guy in Town

Chapter 16

"Cora? What happened?"

I chuckle before answering. "That's what we're trying to figure out."

"We?" I see his eyes begin to focus on the rest of the room, realizing Steel is behind him still in a defensive stance, Delilah and Irene standing by the desk and Colin standing behind me with his arms crossed over his chest. "Who are you?" he asks, looking directly at Colin.

"You don't remember anything after coming through the front door?"

"I remember coming to the door of this room, but after that, no. Should I?"

His confused eyes continue to look around the room before landing on my bandaged hand. "What happened?!" he asks, lightly taking hold of it. "I didn't...did I?"

"No, you didn't hurt her." Colin speaks up. "Glad to see you are back to normal. A little while ago you almost broke her wrist."

"What?!"

With Steel still standing at guard, we all explained to him what happened when he came into the room. Colin formally introduced himself to Jasper, saying the same thing as before but with a completely different reaction from Jasper.

"You're right, we don't know much. We haven't exactly been taught by anyone since we've been on the run."

"Which is completely understandable." Irene speaks up before Colin can, giving him a look that dared him to challenge her. "We're just glad we were finally able to meet you both."

"Jasper," Delilah speaks up, "Do you remember anything about your encounter with Jeff? Did you help him more than once? Did his blood taste funny?"

"Besides his house smelling awful? Yea, he mumbled in his sleep a lot, I didn't understand what he was saying though. Now that you mention it, his blood did taste off; I thought it was just the alcohol in his blood but it didn't taste like the other drunks."

"Great. He wasn't asleep, he was fully aware of what was happening. Now that I know he's a warlock, I highly doubt he actually was a drunk. That was likely a cover so no one suspected him for his smell. That's why no one could tell he is a warlock, the alcohol covered the stench. He probably has been watching you as long as I have to see what you know and figured you'd be meeting Alpha soon so he put a plan into action. He saw you helped drunks who pass out in the streets and help yourself to their blood so he prepped his own blood ahead of time. Since he already feels the hate towards Alpha, the spell took no effect on him, but you drank his blood which had the potion in it, transferring the spell to you."

"So, if I drink someone's blood who has a potion in them, I'll get that potion in mine?"

"Yep."

"How do I know if they do?"

"Yea," I speak up, "rather not have an incident like this happen again."

"Unfortunately, you don't. I can't tell you how to avoid it, but I can teach Cora how to counteract it if she wants."

"Become a witch?"

"No, not become a witch; just learn some simple witchcraft that anyone can do. You won't be able to work spells like I do," she sparks some blue in her fingers as an example, "but you will be able to know what herbs do what and in the right combination, heal or revive someone or something. That is, if Alpha allows the two of you to stay on our land now that you know the rules of etiquette a bit better."

"I think it's a wonderful idea!" Irene says excited. "You won't have to stay in that dingy old apartment, we have plenty of empty rooms here."

"Irene." Colin says firmly.

"What? Think of it as an opportunity for everyone. We can teach him the ways of the supernatural world while Cora learns some witchcraft and our pack can learn a bit about vampires. You saw how everyone reacted when they showed up, they're weary. The only vampires we've had cross our land caused trouble; with the exception of that strange one."

He sighs before agreeing with his mate. "I guess you're right. We could use the knowledge on handling vampires, not that you'll cause any trouble. Just as you are lacking information on everything supernatural, we lack the knowledge of vampires. We are secluded, as I'm sure you've noticed, so we really only know what has been handed down in our collection of books and by word of mouth."

I look at Jasper. "It makes sense, we all benefit and we won't have to live in that crappy apartment anymore."

"Hey! You said you loved it there."

"No, I said I loved being with you there, I hate the apartment." I laugh.

"Ok, yea it sucks."

"So we are in agreement?" Colin asks.

I look at Jasper again and we communicate without words like we always do. "Yea, I guess we do."

"Great!" Irene says, "Since it's so late and no one wants to be driving right now, I'm sure we can find you a room you might like for tonight and see if you want to make it permanent; like I said we have plenty of extra rooms so the choice is yours. In the morning we can send you back with a few of our pack mates to help you pack up and move into the room you want. Once you all are settled tomorrow we'll introduce you to the pack. That sound good Colin?"

"Your plans always do." He says and squeezes her close.

"Ugh, yuck the mushiness." Delilah fake gags. "Come on you two, I'll show you to a room. Steel, I'll meet you in ours in a bit." He gives her a quick kiss outside the door and heads in the opposite direction of us.

"Are you not big on pda?" I ask, grabbing Jasper's hand myself.

"No, even though we're mates Steel and I save our affection for the bedroom." She says, turning to wiggle her eyebrows at me.

"Oh geez, really? I so don't want to know that."

She laughs. "Werewolves are very open about love and sex; they are animals after all."

We reach a door with a carving of a wolf on it; the other doors have carvings but of different symbols and animals, sometimes more than one.

"Here's your room for tonight. Alpha and Luna are right at the end of this hall, the very last door with the moon on it. Steel and I are down the other hall near the office in the room with the celtic knots on it. You'll know what one I mean. If you need anything, feel free to ask."

She starts to walk away when I stop her. "Why is the house so empty if it's so big?"

"This is the pack house, mainly used for meetings and celebrations. The Alpha and Luna live here because it is there house, everyone knows where to find them. Steel and I live here because an Alpha needs his Beta close and in case anyone ever needs the healer, they know where to find me. Families live together in their houses that you see around the place and usually unmated lone wolves live in the small apartments you saw until they find their mate. The other rooms here are mainly reserved for guests like yourself and injured or pregnant wolves who need my attention during the night."

"That makes sense." Jasper says.

"Well, thank you Delilah for everything. We'll see you in the morning."

She tells us goodnight and Jasper and I are left alone in the hall. I reach forward and trace the carving of the wolf.

"Why don't we go in and get some sleep? It's gonna be a long day tomorrow." Jasper suggested.

I nod and open the door. Inside is a simple room with a king sized bed in the middle back wall and a dresser on each side. Everything is made of wood and beautifully carved. We remove our shoes and crawl into the bed and it's as soft as it looks. Just as I'm starting to fall asleep, Jasper speaks up.

"Cora? Do you really trust them?"

I turn in his arms to face him. "I trust Delilah, and if she trusts them then I do."

"Hopefully our trust doesn't get us screwed over again." He says as he closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep.

Sleep is a long time coming for me as I mull over his words in my head.

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