Chapter 3

• Arabella
• The next day, I left the house early to avoid any discussions about mates, I went on a jog to the small lake on the east perimeter. It’s one of my favorite places to go, it’s quiet and gives me a free open space to think.
• “As crazy as they sound, they may be right.”
• I sour my face at Maya, “Please don’t tell me you agree with them too?”
• “No of course not, I don’t want to see Aurora’s mate get rejected but I don’t think Alpha Zeke will have any control over Apollo if he’s rejected, you saw how he was when we sparred yesterday.”
• I sigh at her words, “Yeah I know, Apollo took control a little too easily.”
• I take my shoes off and stick my feet in the water as I sit down and lay back on the soft grass and close my eyes, “I don’t know what to do.”
• “And I’m not sure that we could kill Apollo in an enraged state.”
• Her words make my stomach turn slightly, “I don’t think I could bring myself to do that anyway, Alpha Zeke he’s…he was my friend and he’s a good person.”
• “Was…is the key word Ari.”
• I let out a deep exhale, “Would you want me to reject him?”
• She seems hesitant to answer me, “I…I don’t know.”
• “So we seem to be in a potentially dangerous predicament.”
• She silently agrees with me then her ears perk up just as an unfamiliar scent hits me, “What’s that smell?”
• I sit up and look around and I feel Maya on full alert, but I don’t see anyone, “I don’t know but I swear I heard the faintest heartbeat, what did it smell like to you?”
• I stick my nose up slightly and take a deep inhale trying to see if the scent is still there, but it’s gone, “It smelled like pine after a rainstorm.”
• “I think we should head back.”
• I silently agree with her and pull my feet out of the water and put my shoes back on, I start walking back to the house but turn around and smell the air one more time, but nothing is there except all the familiar smells. I keep walking but keep my senses heightened and I figure I should tell Alpha Zeke just in case, so I try to mind link with him.
• “What is it Ari?”
• He sounds grumpy but I shake it off, “I was just out by the lake on the east perimeter and smelled something different and Maya thought she heard a heartbeat.”
• “I’ll send someone out to patrol it, are you on your way back?”
• “Yes, I’m almost back to the packhouse.”
• “Okay.”
• Then he cuts the link, “I wonder what crawled up his ass?”
• I laugh at Maya, “Probably us, I bet that’s what him and dad were talking about yesterday.”
• I feel her grimace at something, “What?”
• “I don’t think you want to know.”
• I roll my eyes at her, “Oh come on just tell me.”
• She snorts slightly at my begging voice, “I was thinking that he’s probably grumpy because of his un-released pent up testosterone from him and Apollo.”
• I shiver at her words, “Ew why on earth are you thinking about stuff like that?”
• “I don’t know maybe it’s because it’s normal to think about that kind of thing with your birthday getting closer.”
• I roll my eyes at her again, “I understand that but I just don’t want images of Alpha Zeke in my head.”
• We get back to the packhouse and I was going to see if dad was here but I think that I just want to go home and avoid Alpha Zeke. I get back home and go to my room avoiding my mom and any further questions she might have and lay down on my bed and I feel my mind wander. What was that smell? I kind of want to smell it again, maybe I should have investigated it myself instead of telling Alpha Zeke.
• The next thing I know I’m waking up and my stomach is screaming at me, “I think we slept through dinner.”
• Maya sounds groggy so she’s still waking up too, “How on earth did we sleep through dinner?”
• I sit up in bed and stretch slightly, “I don’t know, I’ve never been that tired before, it was as if something just washed over.”
• “I was thinking the same thing, the last thing I remember was thinking about that smell.”
• I walk to the bathroom and wash my face and Maya speaks up again, “I kind of want to smell it again, do you think Alpha Zeke would get mad if we went back?”
• I laugh at her as I dry my face, “When did you become so defiant?”
• “I don’t know, but breaking the rules sounds like fun.”
• I roll my eyes at her, “I think you’re bored and looking for trouble.”
• She scoffs at me and I feel her ignoring me so I let it go and go back to my room to get dressed. I go downstairs and take a small breath to try and brace myself for anymore pressuring questions and comments, I smell breakfast which makes my stomach growl even more.
• “Morning mom.”
• She looks over her shoulder from the sink where she is washing some dishes, “Good morning Ari, you slept through dinner last night.”
• I grab a plate and pile on food, “I know, I guess I was just really tired.”
• I sit down and don’t waste time and give my stomach the sustenance it is so desperately craving, then I hear my dad come downstairs, “Morning Ari, you slept through dinner.”
• I have a mouth full of food as he walk in the kitchen, so I just nod at him, and he just laughs at me then goes to my mom and kisses her neck and grabs a plate. Maybe if I keep my mouth full of food they won’t ask me any questions, my dad sits down across from me after giving me a cup of coffee so I just smile at him.
• “Alpha Zeke will be out of town today, so I’ll be taking the new group out for most of the day into the evening to show them the patrol run.”
• I nod my head at him and Maya perks up, “Alpha will be gone so it works out perfectly to go back.”
• “You are just dead set on being defiant aren’t you?”
• She sighs at my comment, “To be fair he never said to not go back so is it really being defiant?”
• Dad gets up after he finishes eating and kisses my mom and I on the head and leaves, “Okay we can go, but let’s do it tonight so we can slip away from the pack run.”
• “Now who’s being defiant?”
• I roll my eyes at her and push her aside, “Thanks for breakfast mom, I’m going to go up to the packhouse and see if Mathias is up for some grappling practice.”
• She smiles at me, “Your dad used to always look for more training chances too.”
• I smile back at her after I rinse my plate off, “It definitely clears the head.”
• Her smile fades slightly and she looks down in her lap, “Mom? What’s wrong?”
• I pull a chair out and sit down in front of her and hold her hands, “It’s…it’s just hard around this time of year, I’m usually able to push it aside but I think that because you both would be nineteen it hurts a little bit more this year.”
• Oh. My stomach knots slightly as she wipes a tear away from her cheek and I lean forward to hug her, “I know mom.”
• She squeezes me while I feel guilt overcoming me, “Sometimes I imagine what it would have been like if you had each other to grow up with.”
• I’ve never had the heart to tell her what happened that night, I don’t know if it was because I was scared how they would view me or if it would break her heart even more than it already did when she lost my twin sister. I hold her a little longer then she gently pushes me away and smiles at me, a smile that I don’t ever feel deserving of.
• “Go on, I’ll be alright.”
• I hesitate slightly but give her a small smile and head towards the door to leave for the packhouse.
• “It’s not your fault you know.”
• Maya is trying to reassure me, “Sometimes it feels like that.”
• I get lost in my thoughts as I reach the packhouse and I see my dad talking with the new group of fighters, my dad sees me and nods at me to which I just smile. There’s a couple of girls that give me a side eye which makes Maya furrow up slightly, but I push her down, so she doesn’t force me to say something to them. They are probably just pissed that they got put in their place the other day and don’t have the Alpha’s favor, not that I do either, but he does treat me slightly differently than other she-wolves in the pack.
• They won’t stop staring as I walk past them, so I point two fingers to my eyes and then back at my dad who stopped talking when he realized that they weren’t paying attention to him and when they look back he has a cross look on his face directed at them and I have to choke down the laugh as I hear my dad scold them. I’ve always been taller than most of the girls in the pack, my mom says that was a gift from the moon goddess but really it’s because I have two wolves when everyone else only has one like normal werewolves. I think even though most everyone isn’t judgmental of my situation I can’t help but think that there are repressed assumptions and criticisms that some pack members have of me, especially young ones who in Maya’s words are cocky little shits.