It's not that school was more or less a pain for me, it just that there was no real necessity for me to be there.
My education didn't matter, I was the daughter of an alpha it was either I became the next Sol, who's position was already given to the oldest child, or I reigned under the Sol as loyal family members. Even if I wanted to walk down another path like being a medic, or a warrior, or a teacher, I couldn't because of my status in our pride. It wasn't allowed.
My school had a uniform, not because we were a private school and it cost families tens of thousands of dollars a year for the children's education. But because we as students were a representation of my father's sophisticated community, a future generation of the pride. Although that wasn't necessarily upheld in the uniform itself.
Due to the climate here in the pride, uniforms only came in one variety, a "summer uniform" was curated to allow students comfortability in the weather. The material was breathable but presentable.
It was my father's decision to push uniforms as an expectation due to frequent excursions in and out of the territory, wanting to boost its own self image through a presentable academy of education for the future members of your pride.
But I hated the uniform.
And as I trudged my way to school I held my skirt down so it wouldn't bellow in the oncoming wind, tights weren't a part of the dress code unfortunately.
But I didn't miss how all eyes became trained on me when I entered the school building, the busy hallway seemed to slow down it's pace as students halted their conversations to glance at me. It wasn't unusual for me to get looks from other students, I was the Alpha's daughter after all. But today the atmosphere felt different, like they weren't just looking at me, they were judging me.
I decided it was best to ignore it, act as though I didn't notice the attention and it didn't bother me. Who were they to judge someone like me?
"Hi Madeline, it's good to see you back here in one piece." My friend, Robert, greeted me as he came up to my side to walk with me.
I wouldn't say Robert was necessarily my friend, more so one of the jocks that insisted they had a crush on me, but he was smart and we had a few classes together so it wasn't like I didn't enjoy his company. To be honest, if I hadn't convinced myself he was only trying to get in my pants all these years, I probably would have let him take me out, we could have been an item.
But that was like dust in the wind now that Demetrius was here, and the idea of Robert approaching me as he did almost every school morning rubbed me entirely the wrong way as I no longer viewed Robert as a friendly acquaintance but rather a threat to my bond with Demetrius.
I giggled and tugged at the straps of my backpack. "Why do you say that?"
"Well there were rumours you were kidnapped."
I suppressed the chortle that threatened to slip out, either he was talking about my brief time in the Werewolf pack or my near miss with the fairies. Neither of which I was comfortable discussing at school. "And you believed them?" I teased.
I glanced at Robert next to me and I saw his eyes divert to the floor instantly. "Well not necessarily, you'd have to be stupid to kidnap a Falkov."
If that was supposed to be a compliment I wasn't flattered in the slightest.
"Look so now that you're back, there's a lot of homework you missed out on, and I can come over after school to help you with it if you'd like." He offered, changing the subject completely. We arrived at my locker and I sighed, slinging my bag off my shoulder and opened my locker door which were filled with the remains of my text books the day I was told about the trip to meet Cressida. I prayed to the goddess that she was safe at the moment.
"Fat chance." I bit back. There was no way I was going to have Robert in my home, and possibly in my room to help with my homework, which I was more than capable of doing on my own. "The library is probably quieter." I excused.
Robert shook his head as he leant his weight against the locker next to me. "I'm banned from the library, remember?"
An image of Robert scoring a touchdown as he crushed one of the tables in the school library last year replayed in my head, when he was with his friends he could really be an asshole.
"Can you let the girl breathe? You're all up in her personal space like some kind of fly, shoo." My best friend, Ayla, interrupted before I could get a word out, she came to stand between us by my locker as she grimaced at Robert, he pushed his weight off the locker and snarled at my best friend before walking away.
"Thanks." I murmured as I organised my locker, she took his place leaning against the locker next to me, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. "What did he want this time?"
I giggled. "To come over and help me with my homework."
Ayla rolled her eyes. "Boys getting desperate at this point." She joked.
Ayla had been my best friend right from the get-go, while we were at the nursery our Mother's say we were inseparable. They thought it would die off when we got to school, but fortunately they were wrong. Ayla was a sister to me in my eyes, part of the family.
Her mother was my father's commander, she was in charge of our warriors and training in self defence against all kinds of threats. Becuase of this, Ayla was in shape and constantly pressured me to eat better. And worse, she was the next commander in line. I say this because Ayla wasn't one to take serious nature seriously, she was comedic and immature, unlike her mother.
"So I woke up today and my mother has supposedly gone off on another mission set out by your father, can you tell him to stop doing that so often because I still don't know how to cook." She exclaimed suddenly.
This made sense, my father wouldn't just send off his valued warriors, he'd send his best so he wouldn't waste the resources, and the best was Ayla's mum for a reason.
"Yeah I wanted to go too but father would never allow it." I admitted.
Ayla scoffed. "And neither would I, I'm sorry Maddie but you just aren't built for that kind of lifestyle."
I slapped her shoulder with one of my textbooks. "What's that supposed to mean."
Ayla hesitated for a moment, a smile creeping up on her face. "You're more designed to make werecats, not protect them." She explained.
I blushed, not at her comment but as my mind realised that one day I would indeed be a mother to Demetrius' children.
Should I tell Ayla about Demetrius? About the bond, about the mission? I mean her mother was there right now with Demetrius, she deserved to know this information.
I leant in a little closer so what I was about to tell her was solely between us. "I have a soulmate." I whispered.
I watched as Ayla's eyes narrowed in on me and her brows furrowed in confusion, then slowly, they began to relax as she took in the information. "What do you mean?" She whispered back.
"Alpha Demetrius Renwick, the king of Werewolves - is my soulmate. And he's on the mission with your mother right now to retrieve women stolen by fairies."
Only then did I realise how insane I sounded, and this reflected in the bewildered expression on her face as she struggled to believe me.
I didn't blame her, everything that had transpired the last few days felt like it'd come right out of a bad dream, like it was made up and unrealistic even for our world.
"I know you don't believe me, my family didn't at first either, I didn't even want to believe it. But I swear Ayla, it's very real-"
"Last night I had a dream you were covered in blood accompanied by a large man, who shifted into a large wolf right in front of my eyes. I thought I was being crazy, they're our natural enemies Madeline." Ayla interrupted.
"He's not my enemy."
****
I was seated on the staircase as my brother Michael said goodbye to his girlfriend, they kissed momentarily before he wrapped her tightly in a hug by the front door. I was envious. Most of what Demetrius and I did was in privacy.
My father entered the foyer as Michael shut the large oak door, his face coming up to look at me sitting on the staircase, his brows furrowed. "You should be catching up on that missed school work."
I rolled my eyes. "Why? It's not like I'll do anything useful with my education."
My father lowered his head so that he could look at me through his natural vision instead of reading glasses. "That's not an excuse, you represent this family at that school, I expect you to stay on top of your classes."
"Calm down dad, I flunked high school and you didn't even care." Michael defended, coming up the staircase banister and resting his arm against it as he joined us. My brother sent me knowing look as if to say, I got your back little sister.
"Yes well that was because Mitchell made up for your slacking. And lucky for me there aren't two Madeline's running around, I would have to retire early from the embarrassment." My father bit back.
My head dropped, not wanting my father to see how his words affected me. My father's intolerance only continued to grow as the days went by, I'm sure he blamed me for many of the inconveniences since the trip. But it's wasn't my fault any of it happened. "You should have retired a decade ago." I muttered under my breath.
But my father heard me, and as he growled under his breath there was a bright flash of blue light that caused me to shield my eyes with my arm, and the atmosphere became clouded with dark blue smoke that ignited with jolts of electric current when I gained the strength to open my eyes at the scene.
My father had fallen onto the staircase from the strength of the flash, my brother now at his side trying to help him up, but that's not what my eyes were focused on.
As the smoke dispersed, three figures stood in the foyer of our home and my heart jolted a little inside as if it had been struck by one of the electric currents.
Calla, Ayla's mother, and Demetrius all stood in the foyer, looking over their environment.
Demetrius' eyes landed on me and they glinted. But I'd already found myself pushing up from my seat on the staircases and pacing down the rest of the steps, as I journeyed towards my mate.
"Madeline." I heard my father hiss but I ignored him as Demetrius opened his arms from me to run into, my mate was back and in one piece.
I know he was worried this was a trick, that they weren't really here. But I knew my mate when I saw him, I could feel it from the bond.
As I collided with Demetrius' body I was enveloped in warmth, as he wrapped his large arms around me in response, physically relaxing against me, but only momentarily.
"What is the meaning of this?" My father yelled.
"Is everything alright?" I heard my mother's voice but I didn't turn around to see her join us in the foyer, she must have heard the commotion.
"I apologise but Jordan needed to get back here as quick as possible." Calla explained.
I broke free from Demetrius enough to turn around and face everyone, my mother wore a worrisome expression on her face, my father on the other hand wasn't pleased in the slightest. He was under the impression the last he would hear of the situation would have been this morning when he watched them all leave.
"Jordan." My mother cooed as she approached her long time friend, and they embraced as they both wore worried looks. "What happened?"
"We reached the serpent kingdom in no time thanks to the wizard, but one of our guards killed one of theirs, and it was taken as an act of war. The serpent king has sent his warriors here to attack."
"So we had Calla teleport us back to aid in this oncoming fight." Demetrius finished for Ayla's mother.
There was going to be a fight? Surely the serpent king was more understanding of the situation than that, why would he do something so foolish?
"So you just left your troupe there?" My father raised his voice, finally approaching his commander in a manner that only sent off the message that my father was angered by all this information.
"Alpha, my job is to protect the pride, not my own warriors." Jordan argued calmly. She made a very good point, as commander she was to lead in all fights, and to leave her post somewhere else to do so. Warriors were perishable, that's what they signed up for. But a commander had the responsibility of insuring the safety of all members in the pride.
Knowing my father had been proven wrong, he decided to turn his anger into someone else, and of course it was Demetrius. "That doesn't explain why you're back here." He hissed.
I felt Demetrius straighten his back. "Madeline's safety is my responsibility." Was all he said, my heart fluttered as I heard the words.
"I'm not staying." Calla finally spoke up. "I have my own group of people to protect back at the camp, but here." He said as he brought out his hand towards Jordan, she opened her palm and a pearl was dropped into it. "When you two are done fighting, break the pearl and you'll be brought back to my location. But make sure you have physical contact otherwise only the person touching the pearl will be brought back." He finished.
Jordan nodded and Calla turned his head to face my father. "I'm not Cressida, I can't see into the future. But if you continue on this path of hostility and arrogance, you won't be alpha much longer." He bit coldly.
And I knew the tone had left my father shocked from the sound. Calla was always so light hearted and enduring if my father's behaviour. But even now he was telling him that enough is enough.
Without another word, Calla made movements with his fingers that began to form the same familiar blue smoking filled with cracking electric current. He muttered a few words under his breath and suddenly, as the blue smoke enveloped his entire figure, there was another blue flash and Calla was gone.
The entire atmosphere of the room was heavy as we stood in silence for a moment. My father's bewildered eyes closed tinged to stare in the place Calla stood just moments ago, and my mother caressed the side of Jordan's face comfortingly.
There was a pressure a top of my head as Demetrius kissed me, I blushed and turned to face him. He really deserted the mission just to protect me? "You look like you need to shower." I whispered as I noticed how dirty his face looked and his tussled hair was now unkept and knotted in some places.
"Darren, take a breather. I'll sort this out." My mother ordered, and reluctantly my father turned his back to the scene and stomped away, like a child.
I watched my mother as she approached Michael and whispered something in his ear, which caused him to run off in the direction my father had just gone in, she then turned for face us three.
"Would you like anything to eat?" She asked, and I watched as Jordan shook her head curtly. "Thanks Helena, but I'm going to go home and see my daughter."
Suddenly a thought became apparent to me, and I spoke up without thinking it over. "How long do we have until the fight?" This statement caused Demetrius' arms to twitch as they tightened slightly around me.
"I'd say we have until tomorrow afternoon, at the latest. It's only six o'clock, I can still prep our warriors tonight and get some last minute training in tomorrow." Jordan explained. And without any hesitation she leant forward and kissed my mother on the cheek before departed towards the front door, walking out and closing it heavily behind her.
It was just me, my mother, and Demetrius left in the room. She turned to look at us, and smiled softly. "You're welcome to stay with us tonight, Alpha Renwick." She offered.
Demetrius simply nodded and thanked my mother for her generosity before my mother dismissed the conversation and left us alone in the foyer.
Imagine instead of shades of red, they were shades of yellow