(A/N: HEEEEEY GUYS YOU REACHED 1K!!!!!! Thank you all so freaking much!! Really, thank you for all the support it wouldn't have been possible without you (obviously).
IMPORTANT: I will be on vacation from tomorrow to day 30, so I'm not sure if I'll update on that period. Sorry guys! : /
Anyways I hope you like this new chapter )
Recap:
We restarted walking again, but the atmosphere around us hadn't changed. Although Ian had just asked me to be his girlfriend, and we were now together, an 'item', I felt exactly like before.
I guess maybe it was because from the moment we met, fate had already join us.
April's POV
I woke up at 3pm on the following Saturday, thank god we had chosen Friday to make that dammed dinner. I had a massive headache from not sleeping enough and the nights I had spent doing a movie/TV show marathon definitely didn't help. I held no regrets though.
The first thing on my mind when I woke up was obviously, food. I know, I'm a great friend. I got up despite the pain in my head and walked lazily to the bathroom, practically dragging my feet behind me. After I did what I had to do there and took a 40 minute shower, I wrapped myself around a towel and went to my room, the cold water waking me up just enough so I could walk around without my eyes closing themselves or actually lifting my foot in each steep.
I entered my walk in closet and took some shorts and a black top, grabbing some undergarments, taking them back to my room. I had just started to get dressed when my phone started ringing, making me release a frustrated groan and quickly finish dressing myself before storming towards the phone and answering harshly:
"What?" As you can tell, I was not a morning person. Not that it was morning but that was besides the point. In fact I think every morning person has a special place in hell here the-
"Sister! How have you been?" My brother asked like I had just gave him a warm greeting.
He knew all to well not to wake me up in the morning, but then again, it wasn't exactly morning. I groaned again, this time in annoyance, rolling my eyes as I did so.
"Matthew I just woke up and I've had a rough week so can you please not torture me with your presence?" I asked, taking my phone off the charger and walking towards the kitchen, feeling my stomach's emptiness.
"Well explains your salty mood." He said, pouting like a teenage boy.
"Any expecifical reason for you to call me or you just wanted to brighten my day?" I said, sarcasm dripping from my voice.
Arriving to the kitchen, I opened the fridge's door with my free hand, taking out some leftovers of a burger night I had with Red and Caroline a few days ago.
'Should be eatable.' I thought turning around and closing the door with my foot, pacing the tuperware on the counter, turning around again to retrive a plate from the cabinets.
"Actually I wanted to check up on you." He said causally, but truthfully.
His words catched me of guard and I almost dropped the plate I was holding, setting it on the counter rather clumsily, right next to the leftovers.
"Beg your pardon?" I said almost choking on the chips I had just stuffed my mouth with, using my hand to put the food on the microwave and clicking almost randomly on a few buttons, pressing 'start' on the end.
"Yes dear sister, I called to ask about your wellbeing." He said with a chuckle, but I knew him all to well, and knew that he felt a little hurt. "Don't be so surprised, I already told you that your wellbeing is rather important to me, you just chose not to belive me." I rolled my eyes at him, remembering the conversation we had had a few weeks ago.
I took the food out of the microwave 1 second before the time ended, (yes, I'm that type of person), and started eating my now not so crispy fries one by one. I repressed a sigh and said trying to cointain my annoyance:
"And as I already told, I can't find any particular reason for me to belive you, dear brother." I told in a cold voice.
You can't blame for acting like this. You don't know the whole story. If you did, you would be on my side. And if you are on my side, then probs for you, you are one smart fella and I like you already.
"You haven't even tried!" He said, anger brushing his voice. "You haven't even tried! I know I was a fucked up brother in the past and I'm still no saint but I do care about you! I do worry about you! Especially with all the things that have being happening h-in your town." He said suddenly angered.
"What has been going on on this town?"
I asked suspiciously, trying to figure out how much he knew about my mate situation, which I couldn't say it was good according our last fight after finding Caroline, which I still think it's ridiculous I mean I'm his mate but I don't know him that well, Derek should have told him not me. Although I do remember along Derek not to. Guess it wasn't Derek's fault.
'Maybe he was right.' I thought. 'Eh, who cares?' I said, promising myself that I would apologise to him next time I saw him- if he was deserving of it.
I also didn't have any desire of him knowing about the mate situation with Caroline, since it would just be another reason for him to piss me off.
"Oh, you know, nothing special..." he said slowly, dragging each word and I cursed under my breath, being obvious that he knew something. "I just heard that not only the almighty Alpha had found his mate, which according to my source was a royal pain in the ass, but also someone close to the Alpha is mates with someone close to you." He paused for a few seconds, my face contorted in a cringe.
"It's funny how things work you know, someone close to the Alpha is mates with someone close to you, and the Alpha himself is mates with.... let me take a wild guess. ... you?" He finished, not sure if more amused than angry or the other way around.
I was so screwed.
I let out an awkward chuckle, scratching the back of my neck with my free hand. "Well...you see... I was actually going to tell you but... like... I just didn't think you'd care. I also never thought you cared about mates and stuff so I thought I wouldn't waste your time." I said, proud that I was able to invent those brilliant excuses in time and not studder while saying them.
"Ape, as brilhante as your excuses were, they're bullshit and you know it. I know you all to well, sister." He said exaling deeply in the end.
I could almost see him with a longing small smile, phone on his hand and exaling loudly, like he had done a second ago. Almost. I wasn't sure if I had ever seen my brother with a longing smile. Ever. Maybe I had... I didn't had the energy to think about that on that moment
"It's not a big deal for me. It was for Caroline I belive but I think they'll work it out. She'll be fine." I said honestly, not putting to much care into it.
"Will you?" He asked, concern lacing his voice. "With your mate I mean."
I thought about it for a while.
'Will I?' I asked myself.
I didn't know. I mean I was beyond surprised when I found I had a mate, but I was over that. What I was worried about though was my actual relationship with him. Right now I wasn't sure if we were even on speaking terms, but I knew that I wanted a future with him. Maybe not because he is Ashton Carvery, Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack, but because he is my mate, and I deserve a shot at happiness. Now that I think about it, I also deserve a shot at a normal life, and i know I will find that with him.
When I first got here and found out about my mate and Red, and Ian, I thought my chances of getting a normal life were gone. The thing is, that was a normal life. That was my normal life. Maybe the life I tried to live was a perfect life, an illusion even. I mean, I lived my hole teenage life until now running and looking over my shoulder, but now I had a chance at the life I really wanted. Even better, I had new friends, I had new family, I even had a mate! I mean sure I had a few enemies and not everything was perfect but I don't think I was meant to live a normal life.
But I could do more. About my mate I mean. I had agreed on giving him a chance at being friends, and although I was still true to my morals, I was aware that I wasn't doing my best to make it work. We barely saw each other at school, and when we did, I would barely talk to him, not sure why. I don't know it was just every time we would talk normally I had the instinct of running away, running away from him. I don't know why. I guess maybe I did it because I was afraid. Afraid of getting hurt. Afraid that he could get hurt. Afraid that past would come back to haunt him, us.
...
...
...
'Well that was just awfully dramatic...' I thought to myself with a mental eye roll.
Anyway, I should probably apologise to Ashton, a guess he was right. I should have trusted him enough to tell him about my human part of the family moving here.
'I'll call him when I'm done. And I should probably call Caroline too.' I said making mental notes, promising myself that I would not forget them. Well more like hoping that I wouldn't.
"Ape?" Matt said with a concern voice, bringing me out of my little world.
"Yeah, I will." I said quickly with a ghost smile on my lips.
He was silent for a minutes, I took the opportunity to eat my food, adding ketchup to it and grabbing a coke.
What? I have a fast metabolism, I can whatever I want! Being a fox - a slightly psicopath gold alergic girl- doesn't sound so bad now right? Just imagine all the Cheetos you could eat without feeling the slightest bit guilty!
Mmmmm Cheeeetos....
"You sure?" He said with an amused tone that in reality had little to none amusement.
I grabbed my plate and placed it on the sink, making a mental note to wash it later, took in a deep breath and said with a genuine smile spread across my lips.
"Yeah brother, I will be just fine." I assured him, remembering the conversation I had had with myself a few minutes before, the image of my mate coming to mind, but I pushed it away, focusing on the matter at hand.
"Well sister, you won't have to worry no more, I'll be with you shortly." I fought the urge to send him some sarcastic remark but kept my mouth shut and allowed him to continue.
"And also you won't have to worry about my living arrangements, I'll be sleeping in the Pack House." He said, I could almost feel the smirk he was most likely wearing through his voice.
I on the other hand almost choke on my own spit when he said that, my eyes going wide and my mouth speaking quickly and a little louder than necessary.
"You're going to sleep where? How do you plan on even doing that? You think they'll just let a rogue stay there out of the kindness of their hearts?" I said, the last part with a dry laugh.
He gave me a chuckle and said with his overly confident voice, one that he always used whem he had a plan.
"You see, I met this girl about a year and a half ago, she had ran away from her pack and left her family behind because she wanted to see the world and stuff, and as you can imagine, seeing as we had mutual goals, we teamed up and I have been friends with her ever since. Th-"
"What do you mean friends?" I interrupted right away. "Do you mean friends as in friendship or like friends?" I said knowing he would understand what I was talking about.
There was something about this story that sounded familiar, but I couldn't place where I had heard it or who I had heard it from, so I assumed it was probably history repeating itself and Mattew was repeating something he had done in the past, but with a different victim.
Matthew was always popular among the female population, it had gotten us in trouble a few times, I knew all to well the kind of female friends he had. He never dated them thought, not after Alicia. But that's a story for another time. Poor girl, she probably thinks she's special.
"Hey hey now sister although we have already danced under the sheets a few times, you just know that she has no feelings whatsoever for me and what we did on those adventurous nights was only for pleasurable purposes, or... what do people call it these days... oh, that's right, a booty call." He said amused.
I wasn't entirely convinced by his story, but at least from what he told me the girl had no feelings for him. Thank God. I was going to question him further about his relationship with this new girl but he continued, forcing me to stay silent.
"Anyway, as i was saying, imagine my surprise when I found out that not only she is from the same town that you were going to move to but she was also from the same pack that your mate is and, on top of everything, she's the sister of one of your friends." He said, daring me to ask which one.
'Sister?' I asked myself.
I made a mental list of all my friends: Caroline, Red, Cody and Derek... Derek... Derek! He had a sister! That was why the story seemed so familiar! His sister had ran away from the pack a few months ago! They must had met shortly after she left.
'What was her name? Amy? Lily? Mary? Was it?' I thought to myself, considering it for a while. 'Yes, yes I remember now! Mary! That was her name!' I concluded, a victorious smile on my face.
"Derek's sister. Mary." I said encouraging him to tell me more.
"That's the one." He said, a smug smirk.
"So basically you're planning on coming here out of nowhere and because you slept with the Third in Command's sister, which he's going to be thrilled about, you, a rogue, will get to live in the Pack House? Sure, why not?" I said, sarcasm in my voice.
"Damm sis, I thought you going to school was a complete waste but I can see it now! You are getting smarter!" He said with an equal level of sarcasm.
What can I say? It runs in the family.
I couldn't help but to laugh at his attempt to piss me off. I liked this side of Mattew. It reminded me of the good times we spent together. Yes, there were good times on our years after our father died. Before that we also had great times, but we mostly had times were we would protect each other from our father. This form of conversation however we developed over the years of arguing, fighting, worrying with each other, depending on the way we say it.
Although some people may find our sarcasm quite offensive, to us it's just how we talk to each other. It's how we bond, how we show that we care. We were never an 'I love you' kind of people.
What can I say? It runs in the family.
"Have you met her brother?" I asked him with criticism and concern on my voice.
"Who, Derek? No but Mary told me he's a nice guy so-"
"I meant Ian." I said cutting him off, waiting for his reaction.
"Oh." He said cauth off guard, but quickly recomposed himself. "You mean Caroline's lovey dovey mate? I doubt he'll hurt his mate's dearest cousin." He said smugly, confident that his words were true.
I laugh dryily at his confidence.
"Bother you may be her long lost cousin, but you're also a cocky ass jerk so I'm pretty sure that if she doesn't like you, she won't mind her boyfriend messing up your pretty face." I said with a smirk.
"Well your mate is also a cocky ass jerk and you love him so, since you're related she'll probably like me to. And did you just told me I had a pretty face?" He said with all the cockyness in the world.
I rolled my eyes again and was about to lie about how I didn't love Ashton (I know I know the mate bond sucks for me too), when suddenly the bell rang, making me freeze in my place, and snapping my head to the door, getting more alert.
You may call it paranoia, but after you spend a few decades running, you tend to be a little more cautious.
I furrowed my eyebrows and started making my way to the, the phone still close to my ear.
"Who's there?" Matt said through the phone.
"Shut up stupid!!" I whisper-yelled at him, wanting to be as quiet as possible.
I inhaled deeply, catching an unfamiliar sent that made me even more in alert mode. It smelled slightly familiar, but it was mixed with a lot of expensive colone and... cleaning products? I didnt put much thought to it because the one thing that stood out was not his sent. It was his aura. It was powerfull, it was dangerous, it was just like... mine. He was just like me, a foxspirit. Upon learning this new facts, my heart started racing, and my anxiety levels spiked. That was how much I hated being near people like me.
To make it worse he sounded powerfull, dangerous. He definitely hadn't tamed his fox, like me and my brother. Which wasn't exacly good for me because, although I was a skilled fighter, I wasn't very strong so I could only hope he didn't have any kind of training because with his fox right beside him, he was much stronger than me.
He rang the door bell again making me flinch and I lowered the phone, ignoring my brother's protests and hung up, setting it down on the counter that was still on my reach, and grabbing a silver knife I had hidden under the counter. I knew it wouldn't have the effect it had on foxes but it was much more practical and sharper than a normal kitchen knife.
I slowly walked towards the door until I reached it and grabbed the the door knob, taking a deep breath and gripping my knife tightly behind my back before yanking the door open and glaring at the person in from of me.
"Who are you?" I said coldly.
I took in his figure, as he did mine. He had a perfectly stiled brown hair, similar to my own shade of brown, with beautiful blue eyes that shined with a mischievous and slightly homicidal glint. The was something about him that made me... I don't know. Made my fox itchy, I could feel her stirring in my head. Something was up with this guy, and I wanted to find out what exactly was that.
His face showed curiosity and maybe...pride?, but they were well hiden by a cocky smirk that reminded me of my brother.
'Are all male foxspirits the same?' I thought with a mental eye roll.
He pulled his hand out for me to shake and said with a devious smile:
"My name is Zack. I take it you're April? April Evans?" I shook his hand hesitantly narrowing my eyes at him, after staring at it for a while.
"Yes, I am April Evans. What's it to you?" I asked rather rudely.
He chuckled at my agressive behavior, making me a little bit angrier, and glaced at the ground before fixating his gaze on me the right corner of his lips turning upward into a smirk.
"I just wanted to see for myself the only other fox in this nice little town." I clenched my fist, sensing some kind of threat.
"I was here first, so I would very much appreciate if you got the hell out of my town." I said in a deadly voice.
"Haven't you heard that sharing is caring?" He said amused.
"Haven't you heard that I don't care?" I snapped back.
His smirk widened and he took a step forward, as to make a move on me, expecting me to take a step back, but I didn't. The grip on my knife couldn't possible get any tighter, and the muscles on that hand where starting to hurt, but I stood my ground.
He looked surprised for a moment, but then he smiled in approval at me, before turning on his heels and walking away, shutting the door with a loud bang, leaving me speechless in front of my now closed door.