Annabel's POV
When I arrive at Austin, Eunice is wide awake now. She dozed off for the majority of the drive here but she was awake to talk my ear off.
She showed me a great area to take cover and shift and my Wolf began to get excited. Apparently, from what she's told me, this part of the mountains people rarely ever came here. When I asked why, she just explained that she never knew why.
I park the vehicle in a park near the trees to shield it, and together we head off on foot. Our feet create loud sounds as we hit the branches laid down and I'm holding in the urge to shift for a few more minutes. I turn to glance at Eunice who's searching the area for any lurking individuals.
Her eyes are closed and I find it amazing how she can walk without crashing into anything. Just in case, I watch out for her.
When we enter a clearing, my mouth drops at the different scenery. "Eunice!" I exclaim. She opens her eyes and looks around. "Can I shift now?" I ask bouncing on the soles of my shoes with excitement.
She checks the clearing once more and nods, her curious brown eyes observing me. I bend over and my Wolf immediately bursts out of me. I land on all fours with Eunice nodding at me in approval. "Nice," she grins. She already saw me shift before but it's as of she has never did.
With a howl, I run around as fast as I can. Eunice sits in the grass with her book in her hands. I run, my Wolf finally feeling free. She's been hollowed up for so long, it feels great to finally be released. My white fur doesn't exactly blend in with the surroundings and I know if there were people around, I'd probably scare them to death. I'm bigger than average Wolves and I'm smaller than a bear. Maybe they'd think I'm a fox?
... A big white fox in the middle of Austin.
I disappear between trees and branches. I howl and let loose, scaring a few animals out of their hiding spots. Birds, mice, and one squirrel scatter away. On instinct, I snatch a mouse and bite down on it, hearing the snapping of broken bones. I swallow it down whole and run away.
Twigs snap under my weight and I don't care how loud it sounds. No one was around besides Eunice and I was glad for this. I find my way back to her and lay my head down in front of her. She is in the same position and is reading from the book she brought with her.
She points to something and I lean closer to get a better look. "This is the tree bark we need," she explains. "Its somewhere out here and it's going to take a while to find it."
I observe the picture on the page. It looks exactly like the trees surrounding us right now. How were we suppose to find this? I look up at Eunice who begins speaking.
"This tree is different from the rest here," she says waving her hands around us. "It's tree bark has circles on them as if they've been carved. You have to look very close."
I nod my Wolf head and take off. The wind blows through the tips of my fur and I love it. I feel at complete peace being here. It reminds me of home.
I dash deep into the trees and begin searching. The tree bark had to be here somewhere. I scour the trees and search for however many minutes or even hours. By the time I'm exhausted, the sun is setting and I wonder how I haven't found it yet. Sighing, I drop my head down and growl. I had to find this for Thaddeus. Saying his name gives me a heartache but at the same time it gives me the reassurance I need.
I find my way back to Eunice and find her packing up. While I was out she must've went back to the car to get more books and such. Shifting, I stand on my feet and stretch. Eunice gives me clothes and I thank her, taking them away from her.
"How are we suppose to find this?" I ask. "Isn't there something you can do to find it in a snap?"
Eunice thinks hard for a minute. She snaps her fingers and looks at me just as my hope rises. "No," she deadpans. My shoulders sag and I sigh. She only giggles.
"Hey," she says her hand on my shoulder. "Don't go breaking the car window again."
I mumble about how that was a one time thing and she only laughs and makes fun of me. "You really should meet my friend Casserole."
Eunice stops laughing and stares at me perplexed. "You have a friend named after food?"
I smile and correct myself. "It's my nickname for her. Her actual name is Cassandra."
"Why should I meet her?"
"You guys are sort of similar," I inform her. "You two have this annoyingly funny side that I see all the time. You're both extremely helpful and caring. Um..."
I trail off wondering what else I could add. I turn to her. "I think you guys would like each other."
Eunice nods and we enter the area where we left the car. I look around and spot it, and head over to the drivers seat. Just as I step forward, I catch a scent attack my nose and I'm on alert. I turn just as Eunice points behind me.
"Annabel!"
I'm knocked down by a strong force and I shift while on the ground. The big Wolf growls and I growl even louder. He wasn't an Alpha or Beta. He wasn't even a third in command. He was bigger than me but I was sure I could take him down. Remember exactly what Jay said. With Jay's words resurfacing to my brain, I focus on the guy in front of me.
He growls and lunges straight at me. I side step and do it a few times. I'm on the defense right now.
Good, stay that way.
Observe.
My eyes notice the way this Wolf moves and I realize he's slow. He isn't taking some precaution into fighting. His style is absolutely sloppy and I can definitely take him down. He has the bigger body, but I have the agility and speed unlike him. When he lunges at me again growling like a rabid beast, I move away and clench down into his hind leg. He howls and I hold onto his leg.
He kicks me off and howls in pain. Moving back, I circle around him when the sound of thumping attracts my attention. The Wolf in front of me isn't making any move to move but I keep my guard on him. Eunice is nearby also aware of the distinct thumping of paws hitting the ground. I tense up and await for the others.
But something feels off.
The group of Wolves, Rogues to be exact, arrive to the aid of the Wolf in front of me. I growl as one advances me but-
The fur. It looked so familiar.
I observe as the Wolf creeps closer and I take note that he doesn't want any trouble. His tail wags back and forth and he doesn't look aggressive at all.
Could it be?
-
The Wolf in front shifts and I'm left dazed on the spot. I don't even remember shifting back into human form.
With my heart racing a mile, I lean forward, my hand outstretched. I slap him across the face and he stumbles holding the side of his face. His two week stubble grazes my palm.
"Anna?"
I'm not about to cry. I repeat this over and over in my brain. I'm not going to cry.
"Anna, it's me," he says.
I break.
Rushing forward with open arms, I wrap him up and he does the same to me. "Mason!"
"I can't believe it," I whisper into his chest. He chuckles, the vibration sending shocks throughout my body. "Mason."
Happy twentieth birthday Anna!
The last words he says echoes through my brain. "Mason," I repeat over and over. He's really here!
We hug for, I don't really know how long to be truthful, but when we pull away, Eunice is standing behind me and the rogues behind Mason. My eyes water and I blink rapidly to make sure I don't start crying in front of everyone.
"Anna you're such a crybaby," he jokes trying to lighten up the mood. I hit him on the side but suddenly I'm aware of the mark on him.
I step forward and observe the horrible gash on the side of his leg. Did he get cut? It looked like it was sliced and had to be the length of my middle finger to my wrist. How did that happen?
I hear him take a deep breath in. "This is just a minor mark. Nothing too serious."
I raise an eyebrow and stare at his dumbass. "A blind man could tell that's a lie Mason, how did it happen?"
"I was fighting earlier," he says simply. "Anyways, what arw you doing here?"
I glance at Eunice for a second and look back at Mason. "We're sort of exploring right now..."
"For?" I shrug my shoulders.
"Never heard of a Luna going on an exploration before," says one of the guys behind Mason.
"Well there's always a first for everything," I respond. Mason crosses his arms across his chest. He eyes me curiously.
"Are you two alone?"
I open my mouth but when Mason raises his eyebrow I know I can't lie to him. It's Eunice who answers. "We're not alone."
"Really?" He says. "Knowing your Mate, he wouldn't let you out of his sight."
He turns to Eunice fully as well. "And she's human," he points out. "Annabel what are you doing here?"
"We'll talk after you seek some help for that," I tell him. "You're bleeding out."
He agrees and we turn to his band of rogues. "Guys this is Anna and-" He turns to Eunice. "What's your name?"
"Eunice," she says.
He turns back. "Eunice."
"We heard dumbass," one of the boys scowl. There are in total of four other boys besides Mason. The one I bit is still on the ground with another observing his wound.
"Hey," I say realizing something. With a dreadful heart, I ask, "Where's Rose?"
He turns to me biting his lip. He scratch's the top of his head, a sign that shows me he was uncomfortable. A moment of silence passes on. "Mason?"
He drops his hand. "Um, she's here."
"Here where?"
"Back at the compound," he says.
"Oh, that's cool," I lamely reply.
A moment of silence passes again. The guy I bit is standing to his feet with help from the guy helping him. The injured guy glares at me while the other only smirks.
"You took a bite out of his leg," he comments. The guy mumbles something but other than that continues glaring at me.
"I can fix that," Eunice says pointing to Masons wound. Mason looks down before shaking his head.
"It's not that bad."
"Mason, shut up and let her clean you up. Don't be a baby," I point out. He rolls his eyes with a small grin and I refrain from slapping him out of habit.
"We can do this back at the compound," someone says.
"We're bringing them with us?" Someone asks. "A human and a Luna?"
"Yes," Mason says. "They're not dangerous."
"She just took a bite out of my leg as if I was a chew tooth," the guy says.
"Because you attacked me first," I point out.
"Just be glad she didn't rip your leg off," says Mason. "Let's head out."
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and we walk to their compound. Apparently, they lived underground. There were about seven others that were with them as well. The rogues had no group leader although, the guy that was helping the injured one was seen as the leader. Apparently, he was born as a rogue, and grown up as one. He was the oldest one in the group at the age of twenty seven. He looked like the youngest one of all to be honest.
When we entered underground, I found Roses scent before seeing her. Her back was facing us but as I stepped closer, I saw her sit up a bit more rigidly. She turned around and I watch as her eyes go wide at the sight of me. Her mouth opens but she has nothing to say.
Mason looks between us for a few moments as if waiting for some grand surprise. I guess he thought I would attack her or something. I wasn't crazy. Even though, she nearly killed my Mate and tried to kill me, I wasn't going to rip her limps off. It was months ago.
My Wolf growls at the back of my mind at the sight of her though. Rose nearly killed innocent kids with the silver in the drinks that one morning, she pretended like she was on the good side but she wasn't. I try to calm down as my hands are clenched into fists now. The rational side of me explains that she only did this because her parents were being held hostage but why couldn't she just tell me? Thaddeus would have likely gotten them back. I nearly growl at the thoughts resurfing now.
Ari, didn't have any reason to betray the pack other than her secret Mate. From what I was told she helped Brayton because she found her Mate in Braytons group. Somehow she met up with them one day and he manipulated her to help them so they could finally be together. I nearly scoffed when I first heard this. They're probably together now seeing as everyone of Braytons followers were slained when they made the foolish decision to try and attack the Dark Moons pack. This pack has a pretty nasty reputation but I see now that it was a result of the curse placed down the Alphas. It made the Alphas more aggressive and demanding. In a way, this was a pattern. For example, in a family when the parents display certain emotions such as anger, the ones they are suppose to protect and guide fall victim to that as well. They begin to behave the same way as their role model.
Anyways, Thaddeus attacked my old pack because we were going to die anyways. It could have been resolved better but in his mindset it was the only way. Rather than have us go there and attack them and leave the pack with no one to care for us, he sent the pack fighters to attack us and keep some of us alive. He gave us the decision to leave as rogues or stay here where we've been safe ever since.
"Anna," she finally gets out. I nearly flinch at the sound of her voice.
"Rosaline," I respond evenly.
The tension is pretty obvious as the guys and Eunice look between us confused whereas Mason looks extremely uncomfortable. I take note that Rose is the only female in the group and I know immediately that Mason probably has some problems keeping the other guys in check when it comes to her.
I glance at Mason who's back to scratching the back of his head. Eunice speaks up breaking the tension. "I should probably take a look at that," she says pointing at his disgusting wound.
"Are you a doctor?" Someone near Rose asks.
"Sort of," Eunice answers. I glance at her. What was she planning to do? Wolves didn't know about the existence of Witches. How was this going to turn out?
As if reading my mind, which she probably did, she shoots me a look as if to tell me to relax and keep quiet. I look down and back up again. Eunice and Mason sit down by the fire near Rose and I awkwardly stand around. As they focus on him, I turn my attention to the other injured guy.
"Hey," I say walking up to him. He scowls at me. I cross my arms across my chest. "I just wanted to say in all honesty, you had that coming."
He continues scowling while the person wrapping his leg, the authority figure, chuckles. "He did," he responds.
"Mind you," I say. "You attacked me first and I simply defended myself. I could have killed you."
"And that's why it hurts his ego right now," the doctor/leader says. He turns to me. "He just doesn't want to admit it."
I grin at him. "My name's Nick," he says outstretching his hand. I reach for it just as the bitten guy pushes us away.
"She's a damn Luna Nick," he says. "We can't trust anyone in a pack remember?"
Nick only nods his head before standing to his full height which was pretty tall. "But a hand shake doesn't hurt anyone," he says reaching outwards. I take it and he grins before releasing.
My Wolf growls at me for touching another male other than Thaddeus or even Mason. When we were hugging she had no problem. Now she's on edge and wanting blood.
"Might not want to do buddy," Mason says from where he is. We look at him. "Her Mates pretty damn aggressive and protective when it comes to her. Like a billion times more than what you see everytime one of you guys want to hit on this one," he nods his head into Roses direction.
Totally knew it. They did hit on her a few times.
"Who is your Mate?" Nick asks curiously.
I ponder lying but that would make me look suspicious in the eyes of Masons and Rose. I'm about to answer when something catches my attention. There are only fourteen people in the room. Why can I hear fifteen heartbeats? I glance around the underground compound. I ask the confused people around me. "Is there someone else down here?"
Nick responds. "It's just us fourteen Wolves," he glances at Eunice. "Minus the human."
She rolls her eyes at the word human before mumbling something none of our Werewolf ears could hear. "No there's someone here."
I walk past each and everyone stopping lastly at Rose. I stare hard at her. What the-
My eyes widen when realization hits me. You've got to be fucking kidding me. I turn to Mason who looks like he got caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar at midnight by his parents. "Are you serious?"
I turn back to Rose, the small bulge on her stomach appearing bigger by the second. She was carrying a pup for goodness sake! I whirl back around to Mason in a wave of disbelief.
"She's pregnant?!"
"Yes," he says.
I turn to her. "You're pregnant?!"
"Yes?" She answers this as a question and I turn back to Mason for verification. His answer is the same.
"How long?"
Mason looks down at his fingers and lists them off silently before returning to my gaze. "Nearly two months now."
My jaw drops wide open. Why is everyone getting pregnant? I turn back to Rose. In nearly three months and a half, she and Mason would be expecting a child.
For us werewolves, we carried babies four months less than what humans do. It took only five months to carry a pup and delivering them wasn't as bad as most would think. The process was similar to the humans except pregnant she wolves gave birth in Wolf form depending on her rank. For me, because I'm Mated to an Alpha, it's recommended that I birth in Wolf form. It would be less painful for me since my body is small than doing it in human form.
"Wow," I can't say anything else. Rose rubs circles into her belly and I look away a bit jealous.
"That actually reminds me now," Mason says as if a lightbulb has gone off on top of his head. "We need to feed the both of you."
I stare at him confused. The both of us? What did he mean? He sees the confused expression dancing on my face. "Rose and our pup," he says quietly. Things just got awkward.
"Yeah I knew that," I lie. He doesn't bother pointing out and I walk over to Eunice and sit beside her. Her hand finds her way onto mine and she squeezes as if to give me reassurance. I wish it helped but it really didn't.
Mason and Rose leave the area and I watch as Mason wraps an arm around Rose keeping her upright. She wasn't extremely big but she wasn't skinny as well. You would probably think that she was just simply eating too much. I wouldn't guess in a million years that she and Mason would be expecting a child.
My Wolf snorts reminding me of those past times I've entered their rooms and find them underneath their covers. It was bound to happen eventually.
But still, to think that Mason would be expecting at age twenty was crazy. He'd make a perfect father though, I think as I watch them turn a corner together. He'd be perfect.
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