Chapter 2

• The car screeched to a halt in the darkness. Angelique had ruined almost every school year for me by doing something terrible to me. She was five feet and nine inches of leggy blonde evil incarnate and she happened to be my cousin on my father’s side. Tobias and Jillian knew how I felt about her. She even denied the fact that we were cousins at school but was sickly sweet to me outside of school at family gatherings.
• I got out and stepped into the darkness, hugging myself tightly. The wind howled like a wolf at the full moon. The mountain road was lonely. It winded all the way down. We were going to the Valley for the party.
• “Star, Star come on!” Called Toby.
• “Get back in the car, Star!” Said Jillian. “Star!” She shrieked.
• I continued to stumble over some rocks by the mountain side. I froze when I saw it. A huge snow-white wolf crouching in the darkness. It almost glowed. It had huge yellow eyes which it turned upon me. I slowly backed away. It was massive. I could tell even from yards away. I got back into the car slowly.
• “Drive,” I said softly, not wanting to make any sudden movements in case the wolf launched itself at the car.
• “What’s gotten into you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” mumbled Toby, starting the car and driving away. I breathed a sigh of relief.
• “There was a huge wolf back there,” I explained to them.
• They glanced at each other. “We’re just glad you’ve decided to come. You sure it wasn’t one of us, a werewolf.”
• “Either it was just a huge regular wolf or a rogue. I didn’t recognise its smell,” I said,
• “We’re here!” Squealed Jillian.
• We pulled into the gated community. The guard made a call to someone and let us continue on. We reached the last house on the street. House was an understatement. We reached the last sprawling mansion on the street. The driveway was filled with cars. We spotted people partying, dancing and laughing and drinking even on the porch with the loud music emanating from inside. We went around the pack. There were a couple people in a massive jacuzzi. There was a huge pool but it was devoid of people in this cold weather. I spotted my darling cousin Angelique making out with Jonah in the hot tub and I felt a pang of jealousy. Where had that come from? My inner wolf was growling. She was furious. What was with her? The huge tub contained all four Quads and four girls including Angelique. About two dozen teenagers were on the back porch, some playing beer pong and others surrounding the hot tub to fawn over the Glossy people, the shiny rich pretty people with their ugly interiors. Angelique’s interior was the ugliest.
• I felt a pair of eyes on me. Noah. The Quad who had helped me with my luggage earlier. Strangely I was able to pick him out, deciphering him from the other three. He smiled slightly at me. I smiled and waved. Jillian and Tobias tried to drag me inside to do shots but I refused. I stayed on the back porch and edged a little close to the jacuzzi. Angelique broke apart from Jonah and spotted me. She smirked.
• I felt a pair of eyes on me. Noah. The Quad who had helped me with my luggage earlier. Strangely I was able to pick him out, deciphering him from the other three. He smiled slightly at me. I smiled and waved. Jillian and Tobias tried to drag me inside to do shots but I refused. I stayed on the back porch and edged a little close to the jacuzzi. Angelique broke apart from Jonah and spotted me. She smirked.
• “Hey there, uh, Moon?” She asked. She knew exactly what my name was. My father and her mother were brother and sister. Jonah snickered and felt sick for some reason.
• I refused to correct her. “Hi, Angelique,” I said politely. My eyes were on Noah. Angelique caught this. She placed a manicured hand on his bare wet shoulder.
• “What brings you here, Cloud?” She said, making Jonah laugh again. Ugh. I glared at Jonah and his eyes widened as if worried he’d upset me. He quickly recovered his haughty expression. Noah had been glaring at him too but he was now focused on me.
• “Tobias insisted I come,” I murmured.
• “Ohhh, yeah, Toby,” she said chuckling. “You must be thrilled, huh, to get to see how the other half lives?” She asked snidely.
• I frowned and chose to ignore her. “Hey, Noah, thanks for the other day,” I said smiling.
• “What happened the other day?” Asked Angelique quickly.
• Why was she acting like she owned the Quads. Identical multiples were technically one fertilised egg that was split into parts for example, two for twins, three for triplets and four for quadruplets. Each part essentially becomes a whole new person, identical, a naturally occurring clone. Thus, they usually shared a single mate. The Quads despite being eighteen hadn’t found their mate yet. Multiples usually didn’t share girlfriends prior to the mate-bond so it was weird for Angelique to be possessive of Noah when she had been making out furiously with Jonah a few minutes ago.
• “He…” I began.
• “Nothing!” Said Noah quickly. A sharp lancing pain sliced through me. That stung! Was Noah ashamed of me? I thought I actually looked nice tonight. I was on scholarship though. Maybe he only wanted to rub shoulders with his fellow elites. I frowned at him sadly. I saw him wince a little at my expression before I walked away, heading inside the house. The party raged on and I spotted all the Quads towel drying their hair, dressed in grey sweatpants and grey tee shirts now. I averted my eyes.
• “Hey, Hannah!” Said a familiar voice. Noah.
• “Yeah,” I mumbled.
• “Let’s keep our business to ourselves. It’s no one else’s concern,” he said simply.
• I took that to mean “don’t tell people I associate myself with the likes of you.” I nodded and began to walk away but he grasped my arm. Jonah noticed and came over.
• “I thought you didn’t know her, little bro,” said Jonah.
• The Quads in birth order were Jonah, Noah, Elijah and Isaiah.
• “I don’t,” insisted Noah, relinquishing my arm as if it had electrocuted him.
• “I was just telling her to keep her distance,” Noah said. I felt like he had splashed ice-cold water in my face. My jaw dropped.
• “Run along ok, Cloud,” said Jonah. “You weren’t invited.”
• Elijah and Isaiah had sauntered over to us. They just stared at me blankly. All eight eyes were on me. My brain was foggy.
• “I told you to go,” said Noah, waving his hand in my face. I stood rooted to the spot as though transfixed. My wolf was purring. How could she be happy around these monsters?
• “Hey!” Snapped Isaiah. “The eldest Alpha told you to f**k off!”
• I winced at him swearing at me like that. Jonah, Elijah and Isaiah laughed at my expense.
• “Seriously, bye,” sneered Elijah.
• I looked at Noah, knowing full well that my eyes were glassy, shimmering with tears. I bit my lip, not wanting to cry in front of the Quads.
• “Are you seriously about to cry?” Asked Isaiah incredulously. Noah stiffened. Jonah stopped laughing. Elijah took a step closer to me and I instinctively took a step back. I gulped and took a deep breath.
• “No,” I said softly and walked away.