Chapter 8

POV Lilly

"We're going to class. We shouldn't skip all of them on the first day" Jasmine announced and we turned to go to our lockers.

Griffin and his group surprisingly let us go.

"We are so fucked" I lamented and Jasmine nodded.

"Let's just concentrate on one thing at a time. First we need to figure out the other group." She replied as we opened our lockers and found our way to our next class.

Of course, Griffin and his crew were already there, waiting for us. Of course, there were two seats open between Griffin and Dolph and of course, there were no other places with two seats available.

I looked at Jasmine. We could split up or sit together in between them.

"We can't split up" Jasmine whispered and I nodded.

I continued to look around and saw Axel with empty seats on either side of him and I got an idea. I sauntered over to him with Jasmine.

"Hi, Axel, right?" I began and he smiled at me. I could already hear Griffin growling but I ignored it.

"Would you mind sliding over so Jasmine and I could sit together by you?" I asked sweetly.

"Of course not" he grinned back and hurried to move.

I sat next to him and Jasmine sat on the other side of me.

"Thanks, Axel." I batted my eyes.

I jumped when Griffin slammed his fist down on his desk and stood up. His crew followed him over to us.

"Move, Axel." he spat but Axel shook his head.

"Nope" Axel replied and I looked at him in surprise.

Axel grinned at me as Nik grabbed Griffin's arm. Further confirming that Axel and the Red Spiders were not human.

"Not here, boss" she whispered to Griffin and he calmed.

Instead of going back to his desk, his eyes glassed over and the people in the row behind us hurried to get up and move to other desks. Again, I was stuck with Axel next to me and Griffin behind me for the whole class.

The teacher lectured up to the bell  and we all rushed to get our stuff together and get to our lockers.

Griffin and Dolph followed us to our lockers this time and I sighed as Griffin leaned up against the locker next to mine. He smirked as he watched me put my books away.

"What are you doing?" I asked him after I slammed the locker shut.

"Dolph and I are just making sure that you and Jasmine get to all your classes. We wouldn't want you to get lost and end up in a closet again" he joked.

I rolled my eyes and Jasmine took my arm. Griffin walked next to me and Dolph walked behind us. Griffin looked at our linked arms and frowned.

"Why do you two always do that?" he asked gesturing toward our arms.

I looked at Jasmine and she shrugged.

"Jasmine and I have traveled a lot. We've been at a lot of schools so this was a way for us not to get split up." I explained. He frowned in concern as I spoke.

Jasmine looked at him, "Lilly and I are a matching set. Always" she added.

Griffin smirked.

"Good to know" was his only reply.

He opened the door for us when we got to class and hurried after us. The room was almost deserted so we sat in a corner. Of course Griffin sat next to me. Dolph sat behind Jasmine. Theo and Nik appeared a moment later. Nik sat behind me and Theo sat next to her.

"This is cozy" I mumbled and Jasmine giggled.

"What was that?" Griffin asked and I shook my head.

"Nothing" I hummed and he frowned.

The teacher came in then and began class. Class was thankfully, uneventful and we hurried out after the bell for lunch. Jasmine and I dropped off our books in our lockers and this time, Theo and Nik came with.

"You know that this is ridiculous, right?" I said to Nik as Theo and Jasmine chatted about Lance.  She smiled.

"Sorry, I have to follow orders" she replied and I sighed.

"So, Ember huh?" I began and she dropped her smile.

"Yeah, so?" she asked, guarded.

"You two look like a cute couple" I rushed to say and she relaxed.

"Yeah. Ember is great. She's so smart and strong" Nik gushed as we walked to the cafeteria.

We all got into line to buy lunch together and by the time we were through it, we were all chatting happily together.

"Have you always lived in Hudsonville and been part of the Pack?" I asked and she nodded.

"Yep. Born and raised here" she replied.

"When did you first shift?" I inquired. I liked to learn all I could. I had some werewolf friends but I knew that everyone shifted into a wolf for the first time at a different age.

Nik smiled, "I was 14" she replied and I looked surprised.

"That's young" I responded and she nodded.

"Not as young as some, Griffin shifted at 13. Dolph shifted at 15 though and Theo was over 16 before he did" She explained and I nodded.

 Nik and Theo led us to a table where Lance was already sitting. I looked at Jasmine to see if she was okay with sitting here but she was too busy laughing at something Theo had said. We sat next to each other.

"You don't sit with Ember?" I asked Nik.

She shook her head sadly.

"No, she has to sit with her group and I'm more comfortable with mine" she explained. I frowned.

"I'm sorry, Nik." I replied and she smiled at me.

"It's no big thing. It's just lunch." she waved her hand but I could tell that it was more than that.

I looked over as Ember and the Red Spiders walked in. I noticed both Cedric and Ember look over at our table, longingly. Cedric looked at Jasmine while Ember focused on Nik. Still they walked past and sat at the table across the room. 

I sighed and started eating. Suddenly, I smelled something off. I glanced over at Jasmine but she didn't seem to notice anything amiss. I looked around wildly for the source of the copper scent. Griffin slid in between Nik and I on the bench and leaned in.

"You smell it, don't you?" he whispered in my ear.

I looked at him in a panic and his face softened. He straddled the bench and pulled me in between his legs.

"Don't freak out. It's okay" he continued to whisper as he softly rubbed my back.

"Okay? It's blood. A shit ton of blood." I whispered and he nodded over to the Red Spider table.

As I watched, they all drank from matching metal bottles and I realized what was happening.  I turned to look at Griffin and he watched my face with a smirk.

"Fuck!" I said and he chuckled. 

I grabbed Jasmine and she snapped out of her conversation to look at me. My face gave away my horror and she looked at me in alarm.

"Lilly? What's wrong?" she asked and I shook my head.

I almost blurted out everything but then I remembered that we were surrounded by creatures that had advanced hearing. Creatures that would kill us in a heartbeat if they thought that we were a threat to their way of life. I pulled out my phone and typed one word and sent it to Jasmine. She frowned and pulled out her phone. She paled when she saw what I wrote.

Lilly: Vampires

"Fuck!" she snapped and looked around.

At that, Griffin chuckled again.

"So now you know our secrets. It's time to tell us yours." he said, lowly.

"What secrets?" Jasmine tried but Griffin shook his head.

"Everyone in here can tell that neither of you are human. We can tell by your scents." He snarled and I sighed.

"Really. What else can our scents tell you?" Jasmine replied as she and I grabbed each others hands.

"We can tell that you are related. You scents are similar but not close enough to be whole sisters. Lilly has something else in her that you don't, Jasmine." He responded without hesitation.

Jasmine and I looked at each other in confusion. I had something else in me? What did that mean?

He leaned in to whisper, "I can also tell that Lilly is my mate."

At that, my stomach dropped. I had already known that I was his mate but hearing him say it wiped out any doubts or hopes that it wasn't true. Jasmine recovered before I could.

"That may be true, but I meant what I said before, Griffin. Lilly and I are a set. She's mine and I'm hers. Good luck taking her." Jasmine snapped and put a possessive arm around me.

I braced myself for the growling and rage from Griffin but instead heard him laugh.

"Oh, Jasmine. I would never dream of splitting you two up. I may have made a bad impression earlier but I want Lilly to be happy. Just seeing you two together this morning, I know that she would never be happy without you. Just like I could never leave my pack, she could never leave you" he replied, surprising both Jasmine and myself.

"What I don't understand, is why you were apart last year" he continued.

We ignored his question and turned to each other.

"I wonder why Iris didn't tell us?" I asked Jasmine, careful not to bring up my mom or the fact that Iris was my aunt.

"I don't know but I'm going to kill her later" Jasmine answered and I heard Griffin chuckle.

"Don't be too hard on her, non werewolves can't tell others about our pack" he cut in and we both turned to stare at him.

"That's not true. People can tell each other about werewolves" I snapped and he looked at me curiously.

I knew for a fact that wasn't true, I had been told about werewolves by others before and besides, it wasn't in any of our books on them. Trust me we had a ton of books about them. Many about Vampires too.

"Werewolves, yes but not our pack or our members." he replied and I looked at him in confusion.

"My grandfather had a witch make a powerful spell to protect our secret. That's why we told almost all the humans in Hudsonville. We know that they can't tell anyone else" he explained and I looked at Jasmine.

She looked back at me and I sighed. I wanted to ask more about this witch but I knew that it would tip my hand if I did so I stayed silent. Whoever this witch was, she had to be extremely strong to pull off such a spell. I had a sneaking suspicion who it was.

"Now, how do you know so much about werewolves?" he asked and I shrugged.

"You aren't the first ones that I've met." I replied and he growled.

"WHO?! What pack? When?" he demanded and I shrugged again.

"It was a while ago. Don't worry about it." I dismissed, avoiding the fact that some of them became our friends and we still kept in touch. 

The bell rang and Jasmine and I packed up and cleaned up. Griffin and the rest followed us to the next class. I sighed and turned to Griffin as we walked in.

"Are you guys going to be in all our classes?" I demanded and he shrugged.

"I don't know, princess. Let me see your schedule" he replied and I handed the sheet to him.

He pulled out his and looked at it.

"Well, look at that. We have all the same classes" He smirked and I glared as I snatched back my sheet.

I sat down and Jasmine sat next to me. We were surrounded by the Savages as usual. The teacher actually began on time and I listened to her welcoming lecture. She gave us a sheet to fill out after she finished. I was working on mine when I felt Griffin's breath on my ear.

"Hey, princess. Why don't we go somewhere after school?" he whispered.

I shook my head.

"Sorry. I can't. Jasmine and I have to get home." I replied and he frowned.

"Why don't I come over then?" he tried but I shook my head.

"Nope. We have a family thing to do" I added and turned back to my sheet.

I felt him stare at me for a while longer until he finally went back to work.  Finally class ended and I checked my schedule to see what we had next.

Gym, great.

Gym class with a bunch of werewolves and vampires. What could go wrong?