We finally pulled up to a really modern looking home about an hour away from the original location.
"It's not as close to the beach as I had imagined." I commented.
She sighed heavily as we got out of the car, ""My brother had to give up his loft when when I came to live with him."
"Why'd you come and live with him?"
"Hey!" She sounded upset, "my questions first then I'll answer all of yours."
I didn't like this arrangement but knew I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted answers, "fine."
She unlocked the front door and walked us in, she kicked off her shoes and I copied her actions (not wanting to disrespect her brothers home) before we entered a tidy sitting area...the whole place was just like his car, sleek and expensive.
"Do you want anything to drink?" She asked cordially.
"Water if you have it." I sounded, she nodded. It felt so strange, I could almost sense that the tension was going to rise any minute.
When she returned with two bottles of water I took one and she opened the other, she sat on the sofa opposite the one I sat on and we just looked at each other.
"Well if you're going to ask me something you'd better hurry up...are we alone?" I asked.
"Yes, my brother won't be home until late."
I nodded.
Once again she sighed heavily "let me start off by apologizing."
I wasn't expecting that.
"I know I was a complete bitch to you and H and to be honest it was only because I was going through some shit and I felt like you two were becoming closer and forgetting about me in the process, so instead of being forgotten, I acted on impulse and pushed y'all away...sort of hurt y'all before you could hurt me."
"That doesn't make it alright Mariah."
"I know, " she replied, "it doesn't change or excuse what I've done, I'm only confessing and apologizing so that we can move forward...that being said, I want to talk about some stuff Patrick brought up, and I'm gonna need the truth otherwise you can leave and don't bother coming back."
Now my heart was racing, what in the hell could Patrick have possibly told her that would cause her to run away to California?
"Are you and everyone we grew up with werewolves?"
I took in a deep breath, "Sort of."
She shot me a death glare as a warning and I held my hands up in a sign of peace before I explained.
"What I mean in not EVERY ONE of us are Weres, but a good majority are...Tommy and his boys, Me, My cousin Brax...all the guys you met at the lake house...-"
"And Harper?" She asked.
I could pick up on the hint of sadness now.I knew she was hurting from being left out, Mariah's always had FOMO.I shook my head, "No, H isn't but she knows about us...Brax told her."
"Because they're mates?"
I already knew Patrick and Mariah are mates, so I figured he'd claim her...and in doing so I was glad to hear he'd told her at least about mates...just wasn't sure the full extent.
"Yeah...Brax and Harper are mates, Ok I'll just start at the top okay?"
She nodded and I took a deep breath.
"Okay...Werewolves exist, it's something in our genetic coding that causes us to be born with the ability to shift into Wolves."
"So from the minute you're born you can turn into a wolf?"
I shook my head a little humored now. "No...could you imagine little baby werewolves, growling at their moms for their bottle or something."I laughed and she just gave me a flat look.
"Sorry...uh, no...We Weres don't go through our first shift until we're 17, so from newborn to 17 we're just like you...then 17th birthday comes and we go through an intense physical shift from human to Wolf...and it hurts like hell mind you."
She was all ears now so I continued.
"I guess the main reason it hurts like a son of a bitch is because all of your human bones basically break to morph into the wolf's bone structure and I swear that first shift takes for fucking ever to get over and done with."
Her eyes were wide with shock.
"But it's not all bad...Once you shift you're now a part of the pack so you get to be involved in pack functions like the singles mixers, pool parties, and more importantly now seen as an adult...but the best thing is when you turn 17 you'll be able to start looking for your mate."
I watched as she smiled a little now."Patrick told me I'm his mate."
I smiled and nodded, "I could tell that night...even with all the craziness I was able to notice that."
"What is a mate exactly?" She asked.
"Well what did he tell you?"
"I'm asking right now remember?" She said.
"Fair enough...it would just be easier if I knew what you already know."
She shook her head so I groaned in frustration. "Fine...well a mate is someone who was created specifically for us, they are the yin to our yang...our other half, we would do anything and everything for our mate...think of the love of your life now amplify that by a thousand, we can not properly function without our mates and a pack can't run smoothly without an Alpha and a Luna."
I waited for her to ask something.
"So Patrick said I'm his mate...but I told him I can't be with him, how does that work?"
I felt horrible for him, she had turned him down luckily though, she hadn't rejected him so there was still hope.
"Well like I said, Weres don't do so great with the day to day life if they don't have their mates, but you didn't reject him so that's a good thing...if a mate rejected the other, both of them will be extremely depressed or worse."
"Well I've been sad every since I left."
I wanted to just 'why did you leave?' But I already knew she wouldn't answer me if I didn't answer all of her questions first.
I sighed from frustration, I also hated that I was basically having to give the worlds fastest session on werewolf 101 to a human.
"Even though you're not a Were, when you find your mate, you and him immediately form something called the Mates Pull...imagine an invisible rope tying you two together...the further you two are, the tighter The rope becomes, the stronger the urge to be with the other becomes...now not being together means you can still live your day to day lives and function properly but you're sad and just kinda coasting along with them always on your mind."
She nodded her understanding.
"So when you all turn 17, you just suddenly find your mate?"
"Sometimes." I said. "For me I was lucky and I didn't have to look for my mate because Vance is older than me so when he shifted he found me...and when I shifted he made sure that he was around me so I'd know I was his mate instantly." I smiled.
"Some people spend years looking for their mate...others know they'll come along one day so don't really worry too much about it...you know Vance's brother Tommy?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"He's obviously our age but he hasn't found his mate yet...and you see he's just Tommy, ya know...not too worried about finding his mate, Star football player, smart guy, he's funny and nice but he won't date because he knows she's out there."
"Aww." She sounded.
I nodded, "I know, he's super adorable...and whoever his mate is will be super lucky because he could be one of those guys who just messes around...because trust me, it happens a lot."
"Really?" She sounded, "if I was a Were I wouldn't mess around, I mean why potentially jeopardize a sure thing for instant gratification?"
"Girl you have a new guy like every month." I pointed out.
"Because I've been looking for the one...and I hadn't found him...-"
"Until Patrick came along." I said.
"Did Vance wait for you?" She asked, ignoring my statement all together.
I nodded, "the Cages didn't let their boys date until they were 17...obviously for Vance he found me and once you find your mate and claim them your wolf does t want anyone else...Tommy just wants his relationship to be really special with his mate from what he's told me...of course that's not always the case, take my cousin Brax for instance...he didn't wait for Harper."
Her mouth popped open.
I shook my head, "Yeah...my cousin is 23 and He is the son of an Alpha...and Alpha is our leader...but as the Alpha's child you'll have anyone and everyone throwing themselves at you from trying to be your best friend to trying to be the next Luna...and a Luna is our leaders wife, basically a leader in her own right."
"So the girls who threw themselves at Braxton are basically power hungry sluts."
"Now you're getting it." I laughed.
She sighed "So I know it sucks...but I gotta ask, that night Patrick and I found you, what happened?"
"My mate Vance and I were out on a date, we got attacked by some rogues...rogues are packless Weres that are wild and vicious, turns out they had some sort of vendetta against Brax and took it out on Vance and I since I'm his cousin."
"So they took you two and held you captive but you escaped." She said
I nodded, it wasn't really a question but I knew where she was going with it.
"Apparently there's certain mixtures from plants and oils that effect werewolves, they dosed the rope they had us tied up with and it weakened our wolves so we couldn't fight back...it burned like hell but Vance bravely untied me somehow and I was able to run for help." I filled her in before I held out my scars on my wrists. "Fortunately you and Patrick were in the right place at the right time, I told him about the rogues, he told Braxton and as you know Braxton came to find us and long story short, those rogues aren't around anymore."
"So he just killed them?" She asked baffled, "that's murder Ellie."
I shrugged, "we're Weres, we have our own law."
"This shit is insane." She said as she got up and began pacing. "My friends are all wolves, this guy I hardly know says i'm his mate, there's this community pack thing that's apparently been around me my whole life and everyone seems to be in on it expect for me."
"You know now." I offered with a small smirk. "And because you know and because you're Patrick's mate the pack extends to you now too."
She shook her head, "my life is so fucked up."
"Okay, now it's my turn...what're you doing here Mariah?"