Aeriela
When I got back to the pack, I looked around for Ulric. He was by the lake until I arrived and he started walking towards me. I ran over towards him and wrapped my arms around his waist tightly as I hugged him.
"Whoa." he breathed out but his arms went around my shoulders. "I guess you aren't mad Mat brought you back."
"Thank you. Thank you for figuring out I was leaving." I quickly said against his chest.
"Aeriela got herself in a little trouble." Mat said as she came over. She had her arms across her chest but she grinned at us. She looked at Ulric for a moment before she sighed heavily, "Since you realized she was leaving, I'm forgiving you and giving you another chance to stay. That's if you still want to." she said, looking at the both of us before walking away.
Ulric looked down at me confused, "What trouble did you get in now?"
I laughed a little embarrassed as I pulled away and walked towards the lake as he followed me. I told him everything that happened and he was clearly surprised. We sat down by the lake away from the camp site so I could be alone with him.
"Well. . .whoa." Ulric said shocked. "Jeez Aeriela, you're crazier than I thought."
I shrugged, "I guess so but I really learned this time that Mat is my family and I'm never leaving again." I looked up at him as I pushed my hair behind my ears, "Are you. . .are you going to stay?"
He lowered his head and was quiet for a moment. That made me nervous since I guess he was trying to figure out a way to say no. He looked up at me, "Do you want me to stay?" he asked.
I nodded my head quickly, "Yes, I do Ulric. I don't care if you wanna be with me or Harley or anyone just as long as you stay." I quickly added, "But I would like it if you would stay here with me."
He looked amused now as he chuckled. He put his hand behind my head and brought me over to kiss him. He kissed me gently on the mouth at first before I pressed my mouth closer towards him. I couldn't help but smile a little and I felt him smile against my mouth. A moment later he pulled away as he grinned, "So I guess I'm staying." he said, making me smile bigger. "And I'm staying for you. Not for anyone else."
Mat
I was relieve to see Aeriela look so happy. Her face was beaming and her green eyes sparkled as she looked up at Ulric. Her smile was big and bright. Ulric smiled down at her, holding her close to him and I was putting a lot of faith in him to do the right things now.
I turned and walked over to where Killian was. He was a table also watching his cousin and Aeriela. I went over behind him and wrapped my arms around him. I kissed his neck, "Happy I decided to let Ulric stay?"
He brought his hand up to my arms, "Thanks." he said. He pulled me down on the bench as he looked at me with those baby blue eyes of his and held my hand, "I think Ulric will do a better job, I have a feeling."
I nodded, "I think so to. I don't think Aeriela will try to leave again."
"Harley!" we heard Ian and we looked over to see Ian grabbing his little sister. "You are not going over there, you understand me! You will leave them both alone or else."
"It's not fair." Harley said, clearly hurt and pissed. She turned to look at me, "Alpha Mat, please listen to me!" she said, walking towards me. "Ulric made me look like an idiot. He can't stay here—Ian!" she yelled when Ian grabbed her and pulled her away.
"Wait." I said, making them freeze. I got up and walked over towards her, "I do admit what Ulric did was wrong and Killian is punishing his cousin. I promise I won't let your reputation go badly. I will help you find a mate, Harley. You find another boy—a boy you love—and I will agree to the pairing without hesitation."
"But I want Ulric, he's who I want to be with." she said quickly.
I bit the inside of my cheek with frustration and cursed Ulric once again in my mind for hurting poor Harley. She may have bullied Aeriela which I won't forgive her for but she isn't totally the bad guy. Ulric made her think he liked her allot and dragged her along for awhile. "I'm sorry, Harley. But here is one thing I am warning you—do something to hurt Aeriela one more time and you are out of the pack. I'm letting you stay for bullying a pack member because you are Ian sister." I said. She looked upset, her eyes watering up as she lowered her head. "Harley, I'm sorry. You start high school in three weeks at Viper High and you will meet a lot of pack boys from Alpha Nathans pack. Trust me, there's a lot of cute boys in the world than just Ulric. Please behave."
Ian took his sister upper arm gently and pulled her away. He comfort his sister by her tent she shared with Luna and I felt bad but it had to be done. I turned away and walked back over to Killian.
"Hmm, nice." Killian said, making me grin for a moment before it disappeared quickly.
I moved onto his lap and kissed him for a moment, "How long has it been since we actually talked to each other? We've become so distant." I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
"You've been busy." he said. "But I understand, Alphas are busy people."
"I shouldn't be so busy for my mate." I said, brushing some of his dark hair back that was getting longer. I knew Killian had curly hair but now that it was longer it became wavy. "I love you, Killian. I don't want you to think I don't."
He chuckled, "Of course I know you do, Mat. I do understand it's hard for you. You're a new Alpha with a new pack. Aeriela got in a lot of trouble but that's finally over for the meantime." he said, looking annoyed at Aydin promise. "You wanna get us a permanent home. And you have a scientist who is after us. I know you have a lot of pressure on you and you shouldn't be worried about getting married. I know you don't want to, I should just respect that."
I brought my hand over to his cheek, "But I do wanna get married, Killian. I just don't think it's the right time." I said. I grinned a little, "When I went dress shopping with Melinda, she made me try on this wedding dress. Completely gorgeous! Actually made me want to buy it." We both laughed—an actually laugh from the both of us. It felt so good to do. "I wanna get us a permanent home but you know how hard that's gonna be." I hinted and he nodded. Only the guys and Killian know about the plan to kill Lincoln. I didn't want anyone in the pack to know and risk it being exposed. "It will be done though. Also finding this Faulkner guy—which I do believe Cortez knows who is—and getting him to stop doing what he's doing I will be more open to a wedding and everything. I promise."
He reached up and pushed my hair behind my ears, "I know, Mat." he said, kissing me. I brought my hand behind his neck and kissed back. He pulled away chuckled, "I'm sure I'll have a hard time getting a baby so quickly out of you or." he said,grinning widely as he kissed on my neck.
I chuckled as I pushed him away, "Whoa slow down young buck.Letsget hitched before you want to put that baby inside of me."
He chuckled, "Alright, fine. Deal." he said. He rolled his eyes, "And you have been spending way to much time with Nate where his high elders Texan wolves hang out." he said, making us both laugh.
*
Some of the ladies in the pack thought the pack needed some fun time. I didn't know what they were planning until they cooked up a big meal and turned on some music. I laughed and clapped as couples went up dancing to the Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean songs. Devin grabbed Zoe and danced with her. I cheered my brother and his wife good dancing skills.
A slower song came up and Killian took my hand. I chuckled up at him and I put my arms around his neck as he put his hands on my waist. I placed my head against his shoulder and he lowered his head down towards mine as he held me close to him.
Even though there was still a lot of trouble I didn't want anything to ruin this moment. I closed my eyes and danced along to the music with Killian. It felt good to just clear my mind and not worry about anything at the moment than dancing with Killian.
Aeriela
"School is going to be so scary." I told Ulric as we walked around close to the pack. "I don't know what to expect. All I know it's a building where kids go to and learn."
"Oh it's must worse than that." he said, chuckling. "You gotta deals with bad lunch food and clique. And the worst subject in school—math. You think your wolf tutor was hard, imagine a real human teacher. But you'll survive it." he said, throwing his arm around me. "You'll be starting as a sophomore, meaning it'll be the second year of high school. I'll be in third year which is called a junior.
I frowned, "Aw, so we won't be in the same classes?"
He grinned, "You'll be fine, I know you will be. Just gotta ignore the annoying cheerleaders and make sure to tell me if any asshole jock tries hitting on you. Trust me, there area lot more jerks in schools just like me so I have to make sure they know you're taken. I'll try to get us in the same lunch so we can be together for a little."
I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around him and he put his arm around me, "I'll admit, I'm nervous but a little exciting. It's such a normal pack thing to do, so that's what makes me excited."
He kissed my forehead, "I swear you'll do better than me. I'm sure the high school got the report that I accidentally burnt down my last school gymnasium."
"How do you burn down a gym room anyways?" I asked curious.
He shrugged, "Well some friends and I were being idiots messing with matches in the equipment room where they keep all the stuff for gym class. I weirdly like the smell of lit matches and they liked to smoke pot. We heard the coach coming in the gym room and we panicked. I thought I blew out the match but apparently I didn't when I dropped it on a net. Cameras caught us running out of the gymnasium and my ass was dead when Alpha Alton found out. My parents asked Killian if I could come down here and he said he'll look after me."
I tsked as I went in front of him, "You fire starter." I said.
He opened his mouth to speak but there was a cracking sound of a branch. I looked behind Ulric as he quickly turned his head around. Something made a big 'cracking' sound that wasn't a gun and whoosh passed his head and hit the tree a few feet behind me.
"Get down!" Ulric yelled as he pulled me down.
Mat
I quickly turned my head around along with my pack when we heard it. I growled out the instant I felt a threat. I took a few steps away from the pack and sniff the air. Something smells strong I couldn't recognize and it was coming from the east. "Stay here." I said as I started to run but Killian grabbed me arm with concern. I pulled away, "I'm Alpha, I'm going. You stay here." I ordered making him frown but I ran into the woods.
I stopped half a mile out to see a man—Shane—holding a gun to Ulric and Aeriela. Aeriela was scared to death as Ulric had his arms around her as they crouched to the ground. I was so confused since I didn't see anyone around, it was just him. Was he really taking the other day to personal?
"Don't." I told Shane, holding my hands up. "Their just teenagers, they can't turn into wolves yet."
"Exactly, yet." he coldly said. I growled at him without meaning to and he took it a threat. He pointed the gun against Ulric head and my blood went cold.
A hard lump formed my throat and it was hard to swallow it, "Please Shane, their not harmful. Look at them, their scared to death right now."
Shane snorted as he looked down at the scared teenagers before he moved his gun, "Go. Now!" he yelled at them. They quickly got up from the ground and ran over behind me as Shane held his gun up to me.
"Go back to the pack." I told them.
"But Mat—" Aeriela started but I growled at her. She jerked as Ulric took her hand and pulled her away as they ran over towards the pack.
I held my hands out as I talked, "What do you want? I don't have anything to hurt you. I understand if you pissed about the other day but you did—" He pulled the trigger of the gun and something hit my shoulder. I tried to cry out but the cry closed in my throat as I turn my head to see a small needle with something clear in. I quickly started to get dizzy and sleepy. He walked over towards me as I looked up at me and he brought his foot down to my face, knocking me out.
*
When I started to come back to it my vision was a little blurry but as I blinked I realized my vision was fully clear. Okay, at least whatever he shot me with didn't almost blind me again. That would just piss me off more.
I heard a beeping sound and I turned my head to see some machine monitoring my heart beats. I looked down at my arms to see a needle sticking in my arm going up to some tube and clear liquid coming out. My wrists and ankles were being tied down so I couldn't even move. I wasn't even on some doctor bed, I was on some cold metal table with what seem like tissue paper covering my top and bottom.
The door opened and I quickly turned my head to see Cortez walking inside. I growled as my eyes turned amber and sapphire. She stared at me for a moment with a tray in her hand before she walked over, "What beautiful eyes you have." she said.
"My pack?" I questioned. "What happened to my pack!"
"Nothing." she said, sitting the tray down next to me and I saw a bunch of needles that made my heart race. She jabbed me with one with a red plunger and I cried at the sting of it as she pressed down on the red plunger. "Your pack is fine, I only told Shane to bring you."
She jabbed me with yellow one this time but it didn't hurt so much, "Ow, you bitch! You told Shane? He takes orders from you?"
"More like you're the bitch." she said without taking offence and I scoffed. "You are the female dog, that what bitch really stand for."
"Oh really? Well my definition for bitch is a person who tries to kill my pack." I said coldly before she jabbed me with a purple one. That one was cold. "Ow, what the hell are you jabbing me with? What's in them?"
"Something my father created but they don't seem to be working on you. The first one should have made you feel like your on fire. The second one should have made you delusional. And the last one should have made you fall asleep. Well, they are his earlier experiments so they aren't that good. And because it seems like your at higher rate than those other wolves meaning you must be stronger." she said, shrugging. "Just testing."
"Testing? I'm not a lab rat!" I coldly yelled at her. I tried lunging at her but I was strapped down to the table. "Who are you? I thought I heard Shane was working for some guy name Faulkner?"
"He is." she said, grabbing the last needle with a green plunger. My body quickly felt numb after a moment and my eyes felt heavy like I was getting sleepy. "That one seems to work, it's suppose to make you sleep." she said, a big smile appearing on her face as my eyes started to close. "My name is Annaliese Faulkner-Cortez." I heard her say before I fell asleep.