Welcome back! This is the second part of chapter 7. I know I cut that chapter a bit short and I am completely sorry, still I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
Thank you for reading!
Dedicated to SukuraOwen - just because I can. :) Awesome person. I Really HOPE that I am doing all this correct Sukura. :) Also please go check out Sukura's work!
1Blossom
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Chapter 8
~Josiph~
The next morning at about eight a.m. Lucas came by to drop the truck off. Looking out the window I had found Lucas standing at the bottom of the steps looking up at the house. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” Lucas said quickly looking directly at me. “I brought back your truck,” he added. I could see his eyes move scoping me out before he adverted his eyes back up at the house. A faint blush rose against his cheeks when he looked away.
“I see that.” I chuckled, with a nod toward the truck that stood on the side of the road. I tried to hold back a smile, but it was kind of hard to do when I knew what he had been doing.
Lucas turned toward the truck. “Yeah, I forgot I’d parked it right in front of your house,” he went on turning back to me with his hand extended out. He smiled a little but tried to cover it when he extended his hand out. I could faintly see the silver of the keys in his hands. “Here are the keys. I’ll just be on my way. We’re in the process of unpacking all of our clothes.”
“Throw 'em,” I called back, and Lucas threw the keys toward me. I caught them gently in my hand with no more than a little twinkle, as the keys rubbed against one another. “How long are you going to take to unpack?” I asked crossing my arms.
“Not too long. Kiana and Steve are already working on unpacking their clothes.”
“Okay. Well, how about we say an hour then?” I suggested. “Derek and I will meet you at your place then, and we’ll show you around the community.”
“Sounds good. I will let Kiana and Steve know when I get back to the house,” he said simply. “See you then.” He waved goodbye, before turning around and walking down the path again. Most Alphas would throw a fit when another member turned their backs on them, but I wasn’t like most Alphas, and instead just let him walk away.
When Lucas was fully out of sight I walked back into the house to find Derek standing in the foyer with his arms crossed. “What?” I asked standing in front of him.
“What the heck was that all about?” he asked. Even though I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, I went along with it.
“A conversation. He dropped off the truck. I told him that we would meet him at his house in an hour to show him around the community. Then he left.”
“And then you let him turn his back on you. I was seriously expecting you to throw a fit for that. Put him in his place. Anything!” Derek said with a laugh. “I mean that’s what you did to me a few years back, but with him…”
I glared and interrupted him before he could say anything else. “There’s no difference between him and you. You are beta, and at the time when I yelled at you it was because you decided to disobey an order in front of the whole pack. I couldn't just stand there and do nothing.”
Derek just rolled his eyes at that. “That's the thing, Josiph. There’s a difference between Lucas and me. He’s your mate.”
“I don't have a mate, Derek.”
“You keep telling yourself that, sir. Maybe someday it will come true.”
“Right. Well, you should go get ready. We have to go meet up with our three visitors in less than half an hour.”
“I’d been ready, actually. You, on the other hand should seriously get some pants on.” He laughed.
I looked down to notice that Derek was right. I wasn’t wearing any pants and instead was only wearing my boxers from last night. “Shit. Why didn't you say anything before!?”
“Eh.” He rolled his shoulders up. “I could have, but then it would ruin everything.”
I cut my eyes at him. “How long were you watching the conversation for?”
“Long enough to know that he blushed when he looked down.” Again he laughed. This time it was one of his throaty laughs. I really hated his throaty laughs because they sounded so loud like a walrus roaring. It was fake too.
“Just shut up.” I laughed with him slapping him on the back. “I’ll be back in a little bit, then we can head out.”
“Right, sir,” Derek said still laughing, but he was calming down a bit, and instead of his walrus laugh he sounded more like a normal human who just chuckled.
Turning away I took the steps two at a time before going into my room. I grabbed a simple pair of black jeans and slipped them on before heading back down the stairs. Derek was at the bottom of the steps waiting for me. He had calmed down fully now, and was just leaning up against the wall facing the door. “Ready to go sir?” he asked. Werewolves had amazing hearing and although I had only been lightly stepping on the floor, Derek was still able to hear me walk.
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied walking down the steps.
“Good,” he replied walking to the front door and pulling it open. “Let’s get moving then.”
“And what, show up at the house early? It hasn't even been an hour yet.” Still I followed him to the front door and left the house.
“I know, but you could be the good Alpha who shows up earlier than he’s supposed to.” Derek laughs.
“Or, in Lucas's head I would be the creepy supposed mate who just shows up to their house.”
“Exactly,” Derek said and I rolled my eyes.
It took only about five minutes to walk down to the house our guests would be staying at, and another minute for one of them to answer the front door.
“Hello,” Kiana said with a smile on her face. She was mostly staring at Derek.
“Good Morning, Kiana,” I said back, before Derek had a chance to say anything to her. She looked at me like she’s noticing me for the first time, before turning back to look at Derek.
“What can I help you with?” she asked.
“Are you guys almost ready to leave?” I asked. I really didn't like it when she acted like I didn't exist. To be honest, I didn't like it when anyone acted as if I didn't exist, but instead of yelling and putting her in her place, I let it go.
“Yeah we are,” she replied.
“Kiana, stop being rude and invite them inside,” I could hear Lucas and Steve say in unison in the background. The two of them were in their separate rooms—I guessed—considering neither of them could be seen, but they could still hear the conversation going on from downstairs.
“Oh yeah, sorry. I forgot,” she said quickly covering up her tracks. “Please come in.” Then she moved to the side allowing Derek and I into the house.
I was the first to enter the living space of the guest house, which soon followed Derek who immediately started to talk to Kiana about random things. He asked about how she was doing, and if she liked the place, before going onto some other conversation about the pack. I, on the other hand just stood in the foyer just looking around the house. From the last time that I had been here everything looked the same, and nothing was out of place.
“Sorry about that. She seems to have forgotten her manners about inviting our alpha into the house when he comes to visit,” a voice said from on the top of the stairs. I looked up and seen Lucas and Steve standing side by side looking down at us. Steve had a smile on his face when he stared down at Kiana who glared at him, and I assumed that he was the one whose voice I heard.
“It’s quite all right.” I replied in as much honesty as I could give. “You two ready to get going? We have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall.”
“Yeah, we are good,” Steve said, heading down the side steps. Lucas followed behind him.
“Okay, cool. Sorry that we’re early, Derek here wanted to leave the house too soon.” I laughed looking at Derek who glared at me.
“At least I wasn't planning on leaving the house half dressed,” Derek said as a comeback.
“You were seriously half dressed this morning?” Kiana asked with a laugh. She was now standing next to Steve who had pushed Derek away from her in an attempt to keep the two of them apart. Thank you, Steve, I thought. I knew and probably everyone else in this house knew that Derek and Kiana weren’t mates and instead were just trying the old trick of getting their wolves to believe they’re mates. Usually it would involve mating, but so long as we kept them apart it wouldn’t work.
“Yeah he was half dressed,” Lucas whispered. He was trying not to be seen but I could have sworn that I’d seen a bit of a blush on his cheeks when he looked down at his shoes.
Both Kiana and Steve looked at Lucas in shock, though Steve was the first to speak. “You were there?”
“I was dropping off the truck because neither of you wanted to take it up,” Lucas said looking up at the two of them with a glare.
“Oh,” Steve said. “Nothing else happened?” Lucas slapped Steve for that comment causing Kiana to giggle. “Defensive much?” Steve asked, rubbing at his arm. Although Steve wasn't really hurt from being slapped by Lucas, it was still a bit funny.
“Head in the gutter much,” Lucas replied back not even looking at him. “Could we get going?” he asked looking up at me.
“Yes, of course.” I smiled quickly, walking out the front door. Everyone followed behind, until all that was left was Steve who closed the door behind himself. “Most of our younger generation is at school at the moment, so you won't be seeing them much this morning. That’s unless we don't stop off at the school. We might though,” I said behind me as I walked down the sidewalk. I could feel Lucas was close behind me, Derek next to him, and both Kiana and Steve taking up behind them.
“Where do they go to school?” Lucas asked.
“Just up the road here actually. We have an actual school set up for our children to teach them our heritage as well as other basics needed for everyday life,” I told him, pointing up ahead of us to an old looking building at the corner of our small little town. A red, two floor building with small windows which decorated the front and sides. There was a flight of steps which led to the front door, and a small tree to the left in a garden that my mother had built years before. “It's not really much of a classroom but we could hold up to ninety children in that building. Of course, we don't have that many children in the pack, so instead we have a different learning center.”
“How many children are there in the pack?” Kiana asked pushing her way up next to me.
“We have seven new born children this season, their mothers take care of them until they feel like their child is ready for school. Nine children are between the ages of three and six. These children are in the same classes. Mostly they draw and learn to spell their name along with how to count and add. Here, is also where we bring in reading and writing. We have ten children that are between the ages of seven and eleven. From this age they learn more about their heritage and what to expect when they start transforming into their own wolf. We teach them at this stage to love their wolf part no matter what.”
I was just about to move onto the older groups of teenagers we have, but Kiana interrupted me. “Why do you teach them that?”
“A few years back we had a young child who despised her wolf. When she turned thirteen and took her first form, she declared that her wolf wasn’t good enough. Sadly, she never saw that her wolf was a beauty. On the night of the first moon she was supposed to change with everyone else, but instead she stayed behind refusing to allow her wolf to run free,” I said taking a breath before going on, “Everyone including my father tried to get her to go into wolf form. They said it was not healthy for her nor her wolf to not be out running wild. My father even used that he’s an Alpha on the poor child, but she resisted even when her wolf whimpered to obey him.” I stopped not wanting to continue on with the story. Kiana though had other plans.
“What happened to her?” she asked softly.
“No one really knows honestly,” I said looking at Derek. Derek and I had grown up with Natalie and it was hard to admit what happened to the young girl. “Every full moon my father tried to convince her to allow her wolf out just once, but she said no every time and that her wolf was not good enough. Then on the night of her sixth full moon she lost control and turned wolf. We couldn't control her, but we could hear her. She was scared to death and didn't know what was going on. My father tried his best to calm her down, but her wolf had gone feral.” Kiana gasped at the word. No wolf had gone feral in centuries. It was a known fact to watch out for a wolf who did because they could be unpredictable, and most of the time never listened to their alpha. Most wolves who did could harm themselves along with other wolves around them. “My father and the old Beta turned wolf and attacked her. They didn't harm her or anything, but instead just pinned her wolf down until they were able to calm her down.”
“Did they calm her down?” Kiana asked.
“At first they thought they had, and allowed her wolf back up, but once she was, she took off at a mad dash into the woods. We never did see her after that, and no one knows where she’s either. My father tried to follow her. He followed her scent to the border of our lands just before going into another pack’s land. He didn’t dare cross the border, but knew that if the other pack found her she was sure to be dead.” I stopped to take another deeper breath so I could finish the story. “Later that night we had a ceremony for Natalie. Everyone in the pack showed up including her parents, and we mourned for her loss.”
“Poor Natalie,” Kiana whispered.
I nodded in agreement. “Her parents honestly still look for her today. I catch them at the border where her scent was, waiting and hoping that one day she’ll show up again. She never has though.” In the back of my head I could hear the whimpers of Natalie's parents. They had been listening in, and had heard the story as it was being told. Derek perked up when he heard their whimpers in his own head. “You should go check on them Derek,” I said softly looking in his direction.
“You sure?”
I nodded for an answer. “It shouldn't take too long, I’ll just be up the road showing them around in the school. You can meet us there.”
Kiana, Lucas and Steve looked at the two of us with confusion, but never did questioned us.
“Okay, I’ll be back shortly then,” Derek said before taking off in a run toward Natalie's parents’ house.
“What was that about?” Steve asked, watching as Derek ran away.
“They heard,” Lucas said as if he too had heard them whimper in grief instead of just listening to my head.
“How? We’re so far away from their house, it seems,” Kiana said. She was still watching in the direction Derek had left even though he had already walked into a small yellow house.
“Having amazing hearing as well as being able to converse in our heads has some advantages, but also has disadvantages,” I explained to Kiana. “Anyways, going back to where I left of. This year we have ten children who are twelve or thirteen years of age. The age when they take form. Some have already had their first transformation, but we’re still waiting on a few from this group who had not. We have one child who’s fourteen and still hasn’t transformed yet. Our doctor has been working with him, and they have been trying to figure out why he hasn’t transformed yet.” I shut my eyes, thinking about Hunter. Lucas saw this, and was about to open his mouth, when I interrupted him.
“Minus him, we have thirteen other students who are between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. Those students, we actually expect the most out of, considering they’re the oldest of our students. They’re there to help the younger students with their first transformation, since the younger ones look up to them. At the age of nineteen the students graduate, and we actually have five this year who will be graduating from our school. I know it’s a rather late age to graduate school, but the students actually don’t mind. They are given freedom at this age to run around in their wolf form with other members of the pack, or even on their own, when before someone had to be with them. It's almost like being twenty-one for humans and being allowed to go out on their own and drink without having the law being against them, or having to carry around a fake ID that says they’re twenty-one when they’re not.”
I stopped in front of the school and looked at the four of them before moving on. “If you all want, we can actually go into the school. Classes are taking place at the moment, but you can see how everything works around the school.”
“That sounds like fun!” Kiana cheered, while both Steve and Lucas just nodded their heads in agreement.
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I know it has been SO long since I have posted the last chapter, and I am SO sorry for that. Still, I hope that you all enjoy, and thank you all for sticking around!