"Two hundred years ago a village in the northern parts of Canada came under attack and all the women and children were killed. The village had a scientist Dr. Gordon van Eck. He was a brilliant man and was working on mutations before the village was attacked. Dr. van Eck was the village doctor as well and after the attack he saw to the injured men in the village. He didn't realize that his experiments had contaminated his medical supplies until it was too late."
"The injured men started to go through changes and only after several months he found out what had happened. The changes were physical and mental. Some were able to handle it and others weren't. A few men were murdered and others committed suicide. Only six men survived the first six months and after the first year since the attack only five men had lived. They didn't know much about what happened and what to expect."
"They had realized early on that losing their tempers sort of changed their appearances, their faces tended to look more like wolves than human." He saw her cringe. "They didn't change into wolves completely, they were still sort of human most of the time."
"As The years went by these five men learned things about themselves. They learned early on that they were not meant to be a pack, if you can call it that so if they weren't related by blood they didn't stay together. After the split there were three packs. Two groups of one later known as the King family and the Ragan family – lifelong friends till this day. Then there was the old man Arthur Morgan and his two sons Chris and Arthur jnr. They tolerated the other packs but decided to make their way down to America and finally settled here. The other two packs stayed close to where they originated. The men married again and their families became bigger."
"With the birth of their children they learned new things about who they were. The daughters didn't have the mutation. If the first born weren't a son the bloodline ended and only in two to three generations after a son would be born who would have some of the mutation but not all. After a girl was born no matter if a boy came before there would be no more boys only girls unless the father took another mate but that wasn't so easy. They found that it was more likely for the daughter to give birth to a son with the mutation if she mated with a man who had the mutation so that caused a lot of inbreeding in the beginning. If the first born was a son there were more sons and or daughters to follow."
"As the packs grew bigger they realized that they could feel when someone was in danger and in that way they were able to protect their other members. They also knew when their death was close and if a man didn't have children and he was the only son to his father the bloodline and family name ended right there."
She looked pale and he decided it was enough for now. "I don't think I should continue. Let's go in and get ready. We have to leave in an hour and I am sure you would like some time to get ready. I will tell you more later."
She looked at the water and ran her hand through it as if she was thinking about it. "Fine but you will tell me the rest?"
"Yes, I cannot deny you anything." He wanted to keep the truth from her but he could have no secrets from her.
Five minutes later Chris entered his bathroom and turned on the shower. He felt her on the other side of the wall where she was now doing the same thing he was. It was his thing to feel other people and how close they were. He also felt what they felt and that was the hardest. She was confused and she had questions. He had the answers but he didn't know if she was ready for that.
He went through the routine of showering and getting dressed and everything in between and while he was doing that he was thinking of the enemy. The enemy who killed his best friend. Chris wanted to avenge the death of his friend and he wanted to take away the one thing his enemy cherished most. He wasn't a blood thirsty killer but he would have to get his hands dirty for this one.
The knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts.
"Chris, I need help with my dress please?"
He opened the door dressed only in his pants and socks. That was how far he got in the thirty five minutes that he has been busy.
Lisa stared at the man in front of her. She did see him without a shirt when they were swimming but now dressed in fancy pants that fit him very well she was in aw. He looked like a man and not like the boy from earlier. "My zipper is stuck and I can't get it to ..."
"Let me look at it." He stared at her naked back. She looked really beautiful in the dark red mini dress that flared out at the waist. Her bare shoulders looked silky soft and he wondered what she would feel like if he touched her.
"Can you fix it?" She said sort of annoyed.
He was thinking about things he shouldn't again. "Yes sorry." He tucked on the zipper and a few tucks later it came loose and he was able to zip it all the way up. "Fixed."
"Thank you." She walked away without looking at him and closed her door behind her. She didn't want to look at him again while he looked so gorgeous. She had her blonde hair up in a stylish bunch of curls and straight strands something she saw when she googled fancy upstyles. She didn't want the people she was dining with to feel that she was out of place. She needed to fit in as best she could.
She saw Chris again when she descended the stairs. He was in the living room on the phone when she saw him. She had to stop for a moment to enjoy the view. He didn't see her and this was her chance to look at him where he was comfortable and unaware of her. He looked handsome in his traditional black and white tuxedo. His body was straight and athletic. She imagined his muscled abdomen area. She suddenly felt out of breath and lightheaded.
"Yes mother we are leaving in the next few minutes. See you there." Chris pressed the end call button on his phone and looked to where he felt her approaching. "You ready to ..." he caught her just in time. "Lisa!" Chris layed her down on the couch and ran to the kitchen to get a wet cloth and some water. He came back and cooled her neck with the cloth. He didn't want to use it on her face cause that would ruin her makeup and he didn't want to make her unhappy. Her eyes fluttered and he brought her up to a sitting position.
"What happened?"
"You feinted. How are you feeling?"
She stood up and moved a little bit away from him. "I Am fine, we should go." She marched toward the door and waited for him to follow.
He saw her now properly and she looked so beautiful. Black shoes rounded off the dress and matched the light coat she held in her hand and the black clutch. "You look really beautiful."
"Thank you your mother helped me, she is good with clothes. I should probably wear what I can cause I will be fat and ugly soon."
"You can never be ugly."
She didn't want him to think she was beautiful. She didn't want him to like her. She didn't need ties to bind her to him or his. "We should really go now."
He led her to the car and minutes later they were turning into the main road that went into the city. His sports car was fast and comfortable. It was a shiny black. She didn't know cars and didn't know what kind this was and she was definitely not going to ask him cause that would just show him how stupid she really was.
Lisa felt like a princess in the clothes and in the car but reality struck when they stopped in front of the big fancy building that was the restaurant. It looked so glamorous, too glamorous for her to go to. Her door opened at the same time Chris's door opened and she was awestruck when a white gloved hand came into view.
"Good evening miss Stone." The friendly man wearing the white glove said as he helped her out of the car.
She heard someone on the other side greeting Chris as mister Morgan. He was a Morgan. Millions of questions sprung to mind but the white gloved man brought her back.
"Miss Stone. Welcome to The Avery."
She looked at the old grey-haired man and smiled. "Hello. Thank you for helping me out of the car."
"My pleasure." He turned to Chris. "Good evening mister Morgan. Mister and misses Morgan is already inside."
"Good evening Tom. Thank you." Chris shook his hand and then placed his other hand in the small of Lisa's back so she could move forward in the direction of the door. He was basically steering her in the direction he wanted her to go.
She felt a tingle where he touched her but tried to ignore it as best she could. If she thought the outside looked impressive she had another thing coming when she got inside. The space was big and round with large columns on the outside of the big circle. The columns created a hallway that went right around the room and hid the doors that led to the kitchens bathrooms and other unimportant places. In the centre of the circle was a dance floor and between the dance floor and the columns were the dining area. From the roof a huge chandelier hang in all its crystal glory. The floor by the dining area and dance area were covered in a white silvery marble and the columns was made from the same marble. The walls were a smooth stone and complimented the black table cloths and crystal glasses on the tables. The domed roof was decorated with beautiful paintings of angels and clouds.
"The painting on the roof is a replica of the one in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican city in Italy."
"It is beautiful."
"I have seen things more beautiful."
"Good evening sir. Your party is this way."
Lisa looked at the man in a black penguin suite that stood next to Chris. She felt grateful to the man because she knew that Chris wasn't going to stop with the compliments soon.
A few seconds later Chris helped her into her chair at the table his parents were seated at. Introductions were done before she sat down and she immediately felt at ease with his father. He looked young and handsome and she knew where Chris got his looks from.
"Well miss Stone. You look absolutely breathtaking." Chris senior said with a huge friendly smile.
"Thank you but all the credit must go to your wife."
"Nonsense the feathers doesn't make the bird." Mrs. Morgan said with a wave of her hand.
The rest of the evening was a blur. Lisa followed Chris's example when it came to manners and cutlery. She didn't know how he made it look so easy when it came to the ten different knives and forks and spoons not even to mention glasses and plates. She should probably ask about that at some point. Luckily the waiter didn't offer her any wine. She was only able to stomach a glass of water and the soup and salad the waiter brought.
Mrs. Morgan sat on her left while Chris sat on her right and his father next to him. "Are you okay Lisa." Mrs. Morgan asked. "You haven't toughed your dinner?"
"I am good thank you. I don't usually eat as much as I already ate. I don't think I can eat anymore."
"Oh that is fine. You don't have to eat anymore if you don't want to."
After dinner Mr. Morgan took his wife to the dance floor and Lisa watched as they dominated the other dancers. "Your parents are really good."
"They have had a lot of practice. They were high school sweethearts. They are celebrating their twenty fifth wedding anniversary next year."
"How old are you?"
"Twenty two next month." He stared into the air. "Do you want to dance?"
"I don't think I will be any good?'
"I am good at leading. My parents taught me well."
"Okay."
Chris led her to the dance floor and suddenly she felt a lot of eyes on them. She caught a few looks from people sitting close to the dance floor. It made her uncomfortable. "Why is everyone staring?"
"Why shouldn't they. I have the most beautiful girl next to me that is in this room."
"Please I can see a lot of girls more beautiful."
"Don't sell yourself short. You are a swan in this pool of ducks."
"That sounded really corny."
"I can be corny if I want to be." He held her in the small of her back with his one hand and her hand in his other. The music changed and he held her closer with their links hands closer to his chest. "I don't know what you were worried about, you a good dancer."
"Probably because you are good at leading." She had to give him some kind of compliment. "I think I was wrong when I said that everyone was looking at me. They were looking at you. You are quite easy on the eyes in your black tux."
"Was that a compliment?"
"Don't get used to it."
An hour later, that was mostly spent on the dance floor, Chris led her out of the restaurant and back to the awaiting sports car. His parents said goodnight and they were off to their own car.
"Thanks for tonight, I had fun."
"It was a pleasure, I didn't think that it would be such a big success when my mother invited us but now I am glad she did. I enjoyed your company very much. We should do it again soon."