(Keelan looking worried------>)
When Keelan finally decides to speak, I can't believe my ears.
He has to be joking!
I stare jaw dropped as Keelan steadily looks at the floor, he never once looked up during his little speech.
[I don't think he's joking Archie. This is too serious to joke about.]
Riles tries to calm me down, even though he looks like he doesn't believe it either. "Are you absolutely sure about this Keelan?"
He looks up at me with a nasty glare. "You don't believe me!" He accuses us, looking from me to Riles and back again.
"You have to admit that this is quite crazy, even for the Cat Clan's most radical members," Riley says quietly. "But that doesn't mean we don't believe you, this is a lot to take in."
Keelan sighs "I know, but it's really true. All of it. I swear." I had no clue what to say, it's not every day a bomb of that magnitude gets dropped in your lap.
I looked at Riles, in hope that he might know something good or smart to say. Something, anything to make Keelan stop wringing his hand and bounce his leg in a nervous gesture.
"Well... first of all, we need to make sure the information is accurate." Riles said holding up his hands in surrender "And no Keelan, I am not saying that you are lying. It's just if you want to prove anything you need to know who said what and when. Have physical evidence, notes, anything. Anything that will support your claim that the Cat Clan Council is conspiring to overthrow the King."
"Get statements from other Clans about their behaviour. Once that is done, we need to inform the police and pray the Council doesn't have a mole there. After that, we need to fill out several forms to set the police in motion to investigate."
Riles was rattling on as Keelan rand a hand through his dishevelled hair, not looking very pleased. "Are you saying we can't just go to the police and tell them what I told you?" Keelan looked ready to boil over with anger.
Riles snorted "And then what huh, smart ass? If you can't prove your claim they will laugh in your face saying you're nuts!"
I got out of the room since the kettle stopped whistling a while ago, I could use something to drink. "Anybody up for tea?" Both looked at me like I had grown a second head, I shrugged at least they shut up for a while.
[I'll have some green herbal tea love.]
I dropped the green herbal tea bag in Riles cup as I dropped Lyons tea bag in mine. "Do you want anything Keelan?" popped my head around the door frame, looking at him in question. Most weres have distinctive beverage preference, by the beverage you could tell what kind of animal they were. Like me and Riles; we both like the light or dark earthy tastes since our animals come from the rainforest.
"I'll have some soda please." He grumbled picking at something invisible on his pant leg. Very natural choice. Very human. I returned with a tray with drinks and snacks, curling up beside Riles on the couch yet again.
"What are you going to do now you know all this?" I inquired, "Do you even know who this V person is?"
Keelan shook his head "I don't know. I bet he or she is a powerful person. To be able to sway so many people with just a few words." He took a sip of his soda, before putting it back on the table with a scrunched up face.
"Something wrong with the soda?" Keelan licks his lips a few times before shivering.
"No- I- I just-"
I chuckle lightly, "It just doesn't taste the same anymore does it?" I put down my cup of tea, getting up from the couch. "Do you want some lemonade instead?"
Keelan nods his head and still glaring at the offending soda can. I shake my head lightly as I walk back to the kitchen, decided to prepare some earl grey tea for him. Nice and natural.
He drinks it without too much of a fuss, I am guessing it's a good thing. "I guess the first thing I will do is try and find out more about this V person," Keelan announces after some length of silence. "Then I guess I will see where I go from there."
"What about your football?" Riles rightfully asks. It's very common that weres don't play on the same sports teams as humans, seeing that the human can get critically injured. Our school doesn't have a were a sports team.
Keelan just shrugged "I don't know, I guess I will have to talk to the coach about it. Seeing as I haven't shifted yet; I will stay with the team until that happens."
Which might take a while to happen.
I mussed as I cleaned up the dishes later that night. "How long did it take you to shift fully the first time?"
Riles looks at me in surprise, startled by my question. "What do you mean by how long?"
I just shrugged "I mean Keelan has never shifted before right? Well... doesn't someone from the Cat Clan needs to talk about this kind of thing with him? About what he can expect when he does shift?"
Riles shrugged "I guess someone should, but that doesn't mean we need to."
Riles stretched as he placed the plate back in the cupboard, "I am pretty sure they have someone on his case already."
I dried my hands, feeling very uncomfortable. "Then why do I have the feeling this isn't going to end well?"
He frowned and seemed to change his mind, "Because it is not going to end well. For anybody. You know, I think that the Cat Clan thinks he will not shift anyway so why tell him?" Riles sighed as he placed his hands on his hips.
~~~~
Much to my astonishment, Keelan was waiting on me when I finished my class before lunch period. "Can we talk?" He looked quite nervous.
"Sure, what's wrong?" He was silent as we waited in the line, still glancing around. Once I had my lunch, he grabs onto my arm an dragged me away from the table with my friends (I was about to put my tray on the table and sit down)out of the lunchroom.
"Whoa, whoa, Keelan what's the hurry? Where's the fire? " I grumble as I try to find my footing, and balancing my lunch tray as Keelan hastily jerks me around corners and down hallways.
"I can't do this anymore!" Keelan shouts as we arrive at an abandoned classroom. He paces up and down in front of my tugging ferociously at his hair. I set my tray down on a random table as I walk over to Keelan, who is now mumbling to himself under his breath.
"What's wrong Keelan? Is it Dillan again?" I know for sure that Dillan has something to do with Keelan's current state of mind. He looks up to me, finally realizing I am still there.
"Dillan is the least of my problems." He says before resuming his pacing. "The real problem is that V person, he has been cranking up things in the Clan. You know, small things, like disputes between the Wolf Clan and several small prides within the Cat Clan.
Stirring up trouble where usually no trouble is. Things like that. He even spoke to my mom about something and gets to me the most. Where was that freak Dillan when this person came up to my mom and threatened her?" He kept pacing back and forth, giving me a headache.
"Could you please stop pacing? It's giving me a headache." He stopped his mad pacing, instead, he started wringing his hands together and bite the inside of his cheek. "How do you know V is a man? Why did he threaten you mom?"
Keelan sighed as he sat down on the dusty desk "Because she told me. My mom told me a man came by our house and he wanted to talk. She said he was very charismatic, very present in the room; very dominating. She didn't trust him, so she said no, didn't let him in the house or anything. And yet he seemed to be able to terrify her to the core, even though he didn't touch her or anything." My mouth dropped open.
How the hell was that possible? Where the hell was Dillan?
"How can you be sure that this guy is in fact that V person? I mean you never saw him personally did you?"
Keelan shook his head "No I didn't, but I have this horrible gut feeling that this guy is V and he is a lot of trouble."
I frowned "Since when did you of all people have a gut feeling?" Keelan just sneered at me "Don't make fun of me! I am honest! That guy is trouble and bad things will happen soon!" I just stared at him, my arms crossed in front of my chest, not really believing him.
"GAHH!" He shouted, startling me badly. "He said no one would believe me when I told. DAMN IT!" He tugged on his hair again, this time in desperation. To be honest, his current behaviour scared me, I had goosebumps all over my arms as I watched Keelan pace about grumbling under his breath.
"You know what?" I said hoping to calm him down "Why don't I ask Riles if he knows someone like that? He knows most people with that kind of influence." I let out a sigh as Keelan calmed down, looking at me expectantly.
[Babe? Do you know anyone outside the current Cat Clan Council and the previous one with the power and allure that might match V's?]
"What does this guy look like anyway? So Riles has an idea who he might be looking for." I ask Keelan in the meantime as I wait for Riles to get back to me.
[Who would you mean babe? What does he look like?]
I knew he would ask that Keelan better have a good solid description of this guy.
"According to my mom, the guy was at least six foot tall, muscled with short cropped dark hair and very light eyes, so light they almost looked white."
I nodded.
[According to Keelan's mom he was at least six foot, muscled, short cropped dark hair and pale eyes.]
I flinched physically when I heard Riles curse through our link.
[Something wrong babe?]
I was worried, I never heard Riles curse that vividly.
[If it is who I think it is, we are in big trouble. Just let me check the archives okay?]
I nodded before realizing he couldn't see me.
[Yeah okay thanks babe.]
"So? What did he have to say?" Keelan looked curious and a bit fearful. He must have seen me flinch.
"Riles says he has an idea about who this V person might be. He just needs to check some things." Keelan seems to deflate as the words left my mouth, probably happy something is being done about it. His tense shoulders dropped and he smiled a little.
"Thanks for the help, Archie." He brushed past me and left me alone in the classroom with my deserted lunch.
I couldn't focus during my last few classes, mulling over who My guess is that Keelan just needed someone that would make a big deal out of things. Ever since he came by our house to talk, he has been slowly adapting to Pack Life, much to everybody's relief.
Although everybody is also tense around him, unlike Archie Keelan never really knew about the Pack and what it does. Sure he heard rumours and things, but that is not what Pack Life is like. Most of the rumours paint the Pack as a big group of people who can and will turn into bloodthirsty creatures whenever they choose.
Which is quite wrong, the closest thing the Pack is when compared with human civilization is a very close and tight-knit and lipped community. Nobody talks about Pack Life outside the Pack, it's just not done. Only a few chose high ranking humans to know how the Pack works and functions, this is because it's necessary for them because we all live in the same area. You can compare it to having two large rivalling cities in the same county. One is no better than the other, despite what the humans claim.
I wasn't too surprised when the question came from Alpha Jordan to teach Keelan a little more about Pack ways of life. I kind of expected the request to come sooner or later. Archie pouted when I told him about the request, claiming that it would cut back our little time together even further.
"Alpha Jordan asked me to teach you a little more about Pack life if you wanted to." Keelan looked up suspiciously from his phone. The both of us were waiting for Archie to show up, he was being held back by a teacher about one of his projects.
"What do you mean?" The nasty glare he sent me told me he was waiting for a trap to spring.
"Just like I said, do you want to know more about the way of things within the Cat Clan? It can help you avoid unnecessary arguments and such."
He was still glaring at me suspiciously, I just shrugged "If you don't want to, that's fine too." I leaned back against the hood of my car, keeping an eye out for Archie at the double doors.
Keelan was quiet for a moment "if you tell me about it, will it help with all the arguing?" Just as I suspected, his attitude caused a lot of arguing and grumbling.
"It will not help you immediately, but it will give you a much-needed arsenal if you encounter one of the older and stricter members of the Clan." By the look on his face, he had a few run in's with the older and stricter members of the Clan and lost the verbal battle pretty badly.
The oddest thing though was that Keelan still had to meet with the Alpha King to be registered as part of the Pack. For some reason or another, the Cat Clan forgot to register him when they went to register his mother and younger sibling.
"Do you know why you still haven't met the Alpha King so you can be part of the Pack?" Keelan just shrugged uninterested, still fiddling with his phone. It was seriously starting to piss me off. "They said at the office that he was out and would be back until next week." He cursed at his phone; growled low in his throat before putting it away in his pocket.
That's odd, why would they lie about the King not being able to meet with him? He's been back since Tuesday. They must be up to something again.
They might want to introduce him once they have found him a mate, to show that they can take better care of things than the Wolf Clan.
My Panther had a point there, the Cat Clan was all about keeping appearances.
They might learn a thing or two about how the Wolf Clan handles things instead.
[Are you nearly done, babe? We really need to get going soon if you want to be back in time for dinner at your dad's]
It has been thirty minutes already and still no sign of Archie.
[Yeah, I will be right there.]
I let out a sigh of relief when he replied. "I still find it weird that you guys can communicate with each other like that." He must be talking about the fact that Archie and I had our own private link, besides the Pack link.
"Aren't you included in the Pack link? Like the rest of your family?" Keelan shook his head just as Archie came running out of the building "When I asked, the Clan said they wanted to wait for me to develop the Clan link first before the Pack link."
I freaking knew they were up to something!
"What's wrong? What did I miss?" Keelan said nothing as he slipped into the car's backseat.
[What's wrong? Why are you so angry?]
I didn't know how to phrase my unhappiness with the Cat Clan at the moment.
[The Cat Clan is up to something again. I think they want to make Keelan their anti-Pack warrior or something. He told me they want him to have the Clan link before the Pack link.]
Archie nearly face planted as he tripped over his own feet,
[How in the hell are they going to accomplish that?]
Chuckling I shook my head as I opened the passenger door for him, "You need to be more careful and tie your laces properly." Archie huffed as he dropped his backpack to the floor before sitting down and tug at the seat belt.
[I think the more radical Cat Clan members know something about Keelan that we don't.]
[Then we need to find out what that is, so we can help him.]
I nodded my head in consent, before putting the car in gear and started on the way home. We dropped Keelan off at the Clan house, so we had the whole afternoon to ourselves. We were cuddled up on the couch, just enjoying each other's presence, until I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time. I raised and questioning eyebrow at Archie, who blushed and hide his face under my chin.
I leered at Archie as I managed to get him out from under my chin. "You should know better than to try and hide something like that from me, Archie." He wiggled closer in my lap, no longer hiding his obvious erection. I hissed as he nipped at my chin with a mischievous glint in his eyes, clearly having something planned.
"What are you planning?" He didn't answer, just softly pressed his lips against mine. My body relaxed as he began peppering kisses all over my face, enjoying the feeling. My eyes snapped open when I felt Archie nipping at the meaty part of my neck, groaning I rolled my neck to the side, giving him all the access he wanted. His happy sound told me all I needed to know, his hands pressed firmly on my pecs. We had moments like these before, but somehow this one felt different. More sensual.
My hips rocked forward as he started massaging my pecs and kept nibbling on my neck. I am pretty sure I will have a hickey the size of Texas. Archie's hands moved from my pecs to the hem of my shirt, I hissed slightly as I felt sparks dance along the skin where he touched me.
My hands grabbed his ass and pulled him flush against me, squeezing it lightly. Arching his back, Archie managed to tug my shirt up, only to realise my arms were still around his waist. Lifting my arms he ripped it over my head before latching his lips onto my skin.
Somehow and in some mysterious way I ended up lying on the couch half naked, with an equal half naked Archie on top of me. My pants disappeared and then there was a naked Archie rubbing his tight ass on my throbbing erection. Archie groaned as he kept rubbing himself on me, driving me positively insane.
"Archie" I came out as a moan, as Archie wiggled around on my groin. His lips attached to my nipple, nipping and biting it. "Babe, please don't tease me like this. I don't think I can go on for very long." I managed to say between gasps.
How does he know all my sensitive spots? We never really got to that...
I arch as his teeth and nails scrap down my stomach to the edge of my boxers. Archie just smirked at me from the edge of my boxers as he slowly pulled it away with his teeth. I lifted my hips to aid him in the removal of my boxers. Free of its confinement, my erection proudly springs free, right in Archie's face. By the looks of it, he doesn't mind at all.
"I have been waiting for this for a long time." He spoke softly before kissing my leaking tip, dragging his tongue all over to collect all the pre-cum dripping out of it.
Gasping for breath, I watch in amazement as Archie swallows all of me to the back of his throat. My hips buck, and my hand fists itself in his hair, pushing him further down on my straining erection. Which should be impossible since I am already in the back of his throat, and yet he surprises me by going down further until his lips hit my pubic hair.
"GOD! ARCHIE!" My spine tries to bend itself in ways unimaginable even for weres, trying to get further down his throat. Archie just smirks, before hallowing his cheeks as he bobs his head faster up and down.
My head thrashes around, my breath comes and goes in short heavy pants. For the first time in my life my body undulates, and I like it. I gasp throwing my head back as my release rocks through my body, by the slurping sounds I know Archie swallowed it all.
Crawling back up my body, Archie brings our lips together for a soft kiss, "I really love you, Riles. Really, I truly do. No matter what." One hand massages his scalp as he rests his head on my chest, my other one is around his waist, holding us close together.
"I love you too, Archie. For now and forever." I kiss his hair softly, "No matter what happens."
We were lost in our moment until we heard someone clear their throat from the front door. Looking over the armrest I see an uncomfortable Keelan stand there.
[What the hell does he want?]
Archie looks up and groans under his breath, muttering about bad timing. "What do you want Keelan?" I sigh in disappointment as Archie rolls of me in search for his clothing. I growl as he reaches for his pants, wordlessly he reaches for mine before putting them on.
As soon as Archie is decent, I pull on my boxers and Archie's pants. Standing up from the couch I noticed that Keelan is still standing on the threshold, "Do come in man, don't just stand there."
He seemed to hesitate before finally entering the house. His nose scrunched up in distaste, probably smelling sex and our mating bond. He avoids the couch and sits down in one of the armchairs. Looking everywhere but us. "So Keelan" Archie says as he sits down on my lap after returning from the kitchen; probably boiling water and wanting to prepare dinner. "How can we help you?"
[What do you think he has to say?]
I shrugged lightly at Archie's question.
[Must be something big, since he takes quite some time to gather his thoughts.]
We watch silently as Keelan wrings his hands and licks his lips nervously.
[Whatever it is it can't be good. I have never seen him this nervous before. Not ever.]
Shifting restlessly in Riles lap, I get more and more nervous as the minutes stretch on without Keelan speaking. Seemingly refusing to tell us who this V might be. Later Riles told me some time during class he had found someone would be V. According to Riles, he fits the description given by Keelan's mother. He just didn't sound too happy about it. That made me think it must be someone with a lot of influence.
"So who might this V be?" Riles looked uncomfortable as both I and Keelan look at him expectantly. Riles sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He rummaged in a folder and pulled out a photograph.
He showed it to Keelan's mother "Is this the man who came to your door, Mrs Hamilton?"
The horrified gasp gave her away "Yes, that's him! Who is he?"
Riles expression turned dark as he answered her "The Alpha King's older brother Vincent."