Rose Thorns

Chapter 26

Maeve's eyebrows furrowed. "Yes, who hasn't? What does he have to do with this?"

"Well, he came to my room back home and attacked me." Athena recited the whole story. From Jake returning home, to leaving on Friday. She decided to leave out the part about Dakota. From what Ryan had told her, werewolves were pretty scared of hellhounds. Maeve listened intently to the whole story, gasping where necessary.

"So, yeah. That's what happened. That's why I'm here and why I'm hidden. You have to promise, swear on your own life, that you will not tell a soul about this. No-one. Not the other girls, not your mate. Promise." Athena stared intently at her friend, not realising Maeve beginning to cower away and lower her eyes in submission as her friend leant over her. Athena reeled back, blinking.

"Sorry, I-. Sorry." Athena looked down guiltily. She didn't mean to use her aura on Maeve, but it was important that she understood. Out of all of Athena's new friends, she found Maeve the most trustworthy.

"Well, I guess none of us have been completely honest with each other then." Maeve smiled, laughing gently. Her eyes were still cast downwards in respect, causing Athena to frown.

"Please don't."

"Don't what?" Maeve looked up, confused.

"Please don't act like I am superior to you now. I never meant to use my authority against you. This is the reason why I didn't have normal friends back home, they were always too scared to act normally around me." Athena laughed gently, a memory of her childhood had surfaced.

"Except for Jake it seems." Maeve's statement brought the painful reality back to Athena. She and Jake were still not on speaking terms.

Athena was about to respond before the door to the bathroom opened. A group of girls were talking, not paying attention to who else were with them. With incredible speed, Athena dragged Maeve into one of the cubicles with her- quickly locking the door behind them.

"I'm telling you, it was terrifying. This huge wolf just jumped out of nowhere. I thought I was going to die." Athena immediately recognised the cheerleader's voice. Ashley. She was telling her friends about their encounter in the forest, when Athena had protected her from the two men and... Jake. She quickly held her finger to her lips when Maeve was about to whisper something, silencing her.

"No way! I knew those woods were dangerous. Why were you even there Ashley?" One of her friends, Wendy, questioned.

"I-I was taking a walk! But I got lost." Ashley was fumbling with her words. So none of her friends knew what she had done. Maeve started to whisper again, causing Athena to pull them together and slap a hand over her friend's mouth.

"You got lost? How? You grew up here." Wendy pressed further.

"Yes I got lost, okay?" She snapped back to her friend. "The wolf, it was big and pure white. Luckily it ran off. I couldn't bring myself to tell my dad though. He would have been furious. You know how protective he is of his little princess." They began to disperse from the bathroom, leaving Athena and Maeve alone once again.

Athena released her hand from around Maeve's mouth, exiting the cubicle.

"A wolf? I have to call my brother. The humans cannot know about us. What kind of idiotic, irresponsible, son of a bitch would-"

"It was me!" Athena hushed her friend quickly.

"What? Why on earth would you show yourself to a human Athena? You are so stupid!" Maeve was becoming panicked. Athena frowned at the insult.

"I was out running. She was being attacked by-" It suddenly clicked. Athena stared at her friend again. "Didn't you say she stole some money from someone? What was his name?"

"Rick Wilder, why? What does this have to do with you revealing yourself to a human? You idiot." Athena growled lowly at the insult again, her eyes flashing gold. Maeve lowered her eyes once again, muttering an apology.

Athena remembered where she had heard his name before. Ryan had talked about how they were nothing but trouble. "When I found her, she was being attacked by three people. I think two of them were Rick Wilder's goons. He is the Alpha of the Dark Waters pack, correct? They were saying about how she stole from them. I think they took her to the forest to kill her." Maeve's eyes widened.

"You said there were three people. What about the other one? How do you know he wasn't part of Wilder's pack?" She stepped towards Athena curiously.

"I-I just don't think he was with them." Maeve narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Wait, surely they would have know they were trespassing on your pack land?" Her narrowed gaze suddenly dropped. With averted eyes, Maeve stayed quiet.

"Maeve," Athena knew she wouldn't be able to resist her command. Her wolf wouldn't allow it. "Maeve tell me. Now, please." She could see Maeve having an internal battle with herself, before her wolf got the better of her and she was forced to reply.

"Okay fine. Our pack doesn't actually exist. We were supposed to have been eradicated during a war, but a new Alpha stepped up. Now, we stay hidden from the rest of the supernatural world." Athena was shocked. She did not expect that. "You keep my secret, and I'll keep yours."

Maeve looked hopefully into Athena's eyes.
"Deal."