Meeting Paige

It didn't take long to get back. Keska dropped my stuff at camp and took off through the forest to find herself a more filling dinner. When she gave me back control it was dark and I was naked by my bag, with a surprisingly large squirrel at my feet.

I slipped into my night shirt and started a fire. I found myself staring into those orange/red flames, listening to the wood crackling, as I watched my squirrel cook. The meat smelled amazing. I knew it was done but I realized I wasn't really hungry. I guess I was too nervous to eat. In school they taught us how pups were made, grown, and born so I knew what sex was. I was just scared that it would hurt, they said it could. Or that I wouldn't know how to do it, even though they said to reply on instinct.

Although birth scared me the most, they say it's the most natural thing in the world but I've seen the dangers of it. I've never forgotten that our Alpha didn't survive because of it, the strongest wolf I'd ever known. So how was I ever expected to survive it?

Kya wasn't scared, at least not from how she acted, she just wanted a healthy baby. Maybe that's what I should focus on. Deep breaths. One step at a time. Find a mating partner before my heat kicks in and I get desperate. It's only a two or three day heat at most. I still have a few days before it starts but I need to find someone so I can get more comfortable with the idea of having my first time with him.

I decided to let my wolf eat the squirrel for herself so we could be full and get some rest before I really start trying not to be awkward tomorrow. I scanned my surroundings and stripped out of the shirt and shifted. Keska eats her fill and curls up to sleep. I feel safe in the back of my mind with Keska in control, she will know if anything that poses a threat to us comes near. With that thought I shut my brain off and fall into a very deep sleep.

DREAM: I'm walking through the woods. I feel like I'm not alone. Is someone following me? I turn in circles over and over again. It's so dark. I can't see a thing. I stop spinning. Off to the right I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. I turn lightning fast, my heart pounding so hard it's all I can hear in my ears. I lock onto those eyes. The brown is like warm melted chocolate, green flecks swimming in it. The right eye looked like the pupil was bleeding green from the bottom right side of it.

I jolted awake. My wolf's head shot up, with her ears standing at attention, she scanned our camp. We were safe, everything was okay, it was just a dream.

I quickly shift back to go clean up in town at the local gym. Avenix told Kya about how she joined the gym, paying cash and that each pack member could take the key card during their week in the city to use the showers. Humans didn't notice or even check that it was only the person whose name was on the card, that was using it. I dragged on my workout clothes and headed into the city, to the gym. Might as well get a workout and shower in since my brain was wide awake so early.

The gym was pretty empty this time of day. I only saw one guy, who seemed to be in the cool down on his treadmill. I decided on bench pressing with one hundred pounds all together, that seemed like an inconspicuous weight for a human my size. Then maybe a brisk jog by human standards. By the time I got ten minutes into my jog on the treadmill, people started coming in, I assume for a class like yoga or something. Well it was definitely time for me to hit the showers before anyone else might need them.

I made it outside with my hair dripping wet before I realized I should probably put on my jacket. I slipped it on as I headed to Ann's. Yesterday was embarrassing but I decided Ann made great coffee and deserved my business.

"You're back! Am I right in assuming you enjoyed your drink yesterday?" Ann addressed me as I came in the door to the tiny coffee shop with yellow walls and a cozy, homey feel to it.

"It was great." I replied. "Any other recommendations?"

I ended up leaving Ann's with a hot moca. It smelled like chocolate, I hoped it would be as good as the last one. Ann seemed sure it was a good choice. I hope that she knows I genuinely liked the coffee from yesterday, my awkwardness sometimes hides how much I appreciate things.

Before I knew where I was going, I was looking up at a sign that read "Used Books". I'd seen it on my way to the clothing store yesterday, it was right down the street from Ann's. As I was walking in I heard another obnoxious bell. Why does everyone have these bells on their business doors?! The whole space was floor to ceiling bookshelves. I took a big breath in through my nose, the smell of old books filled the air. This was heaven. Reading was my only escape from pack life. Pack life was for the most part, easy, predictable. But the human world had so much to offer, including books.

I've read the werewolf books that humans write, about the multiple packs around the world that communicate with each other and form connections. I guess we used to be like that before the male shifters were taken. Now we all keep to ourselves, only working to keep our own numbers high enough to survive a rogue attack. Rogues are shifters who were kicked out of a pack for extreme behaviors. Like killing. human, or a shifter for that matter. Fighting was only tolerated in self defense. But of course each offense didn't have an exact punishment, it was up to the Alpha's judgement whether you stayed or left. Rogues eventually go mad without a pack. Being kicked out is different from leaving of your own free will. Banishment severs your connection to other shifters, without that connection your wolf goes almost feral at times, it also has no discipline without an alpha.

My mother was killed in a rogue attack on our pack when I was thirteen. Sometimes rogues team up to take what it is they require to become a pack again and form that connection, an alpha pup, which is what happened in our pack. Alpha Avenix was pregnant with Lina when they attacked. I guess the plan was to take her during her pregnancy, when she was most vulnerable, so they would have the pup from birth. But we weren't as unprepared as they thought we would be.

My mother, Faera, was the Alpha's guard. She did her job and fended them off, killing two of the six, until the rest of the guard responded to her call through the pack bond. The guard made quick work of the four remaining rogues. But my mother's injuries were just too severe to survive that level of blood loss. Avenix always blamed herself but we all knew she couldn't shift without risking her unborn baby, our future Alpha.

My mother was a hero to our pack, Ave wouldn't be here without her and who knows where Lina would be now if those rogues had actually gotten her. Kya and I were devastated. I'll always feel that pain but my pride in her sacrifice covers that pain like a band-aid most days.

I've never understood how anyone could turn into a rogue like that, suddenly you'd kill to take a baby that isn't your own. What could they have done in their own pack to put them in a position so desperate that they needed to do something like that. Shouldn't there be a better system to deal with pack members, besides banishing them so that they become feral and desperate?

I've never known our pack to banish anyone like that. We are like a really big family. I haven't met another pack before, never even heard of one so I'm not sure how things are run, if they are a family like ours. But if shifters were more like the ones in these books, life would be a little more exciting in a pack.

I wander around the bookstore until I found the fantasy section. Mystery and romance are nice but I like a good fight scene or two. I like my main character to be a badass or at least trained into being a badass. I read through a few s descriptions and decided on the perfect one. I headed up to the counter to make my purchase. The cashier had a bright smile and was very bubbly in the way she talked.

"Hi! Did you find what you were looking for?" She gestured to the book.

"Yeah, I think I found just the one."

"Oh I love this one! I read it when it first came out. Thay was actually my copy. I brought it to the store so someone else could enjoy it too. You'll have to tell me what you think of it the next time you're in." She was so happy and nice and her appearance reflected her personality.

Her bleach blonde hair, flawless completion, and skinny figure could easily have made her a model but her thick glasses proved not every part of her was perfect, at least not her eyesight. Also her nails looked chewed down to the nubs, like something else in her life wasn't perfect either. Her nails were painted a dark blue, which matched her eyes.

"I'd like to discuss it when I finish the book. Will you be here in a couple days?"

"I'm here everyday, stop in anytime we're open and I'll be here."

I stuck out my hand, "Amora."

She said, "Paige" ,as she shook it.

"Thanks Paige!" I said, giving a small wave to her as I left the store.

The park would be a good place to read. When I got there I thought I'd sit under my now favorite tree but for some reason my body brought me to the bleachers by the basketball court, which was empty. So I took a seat and dug into my new book.

I don't know how long later but the group from yesterday started to wander back on to the court. I see the same guy and girl from yesterday, the guy from the coffee shop, they are standing on the side of the court talking and drinking waters. The guy says something to her that she must have enjoyed because she smiled, laughed, and then high fived him. I'd never even met them but from how they acted together I was sure I'd like them.

They were on the same team again. I watched this game from the start, my book long forgotten. The girl was good, like really good, the guy however may have been the worst player I'd ever seen. That may not mean much coming from me seeing as how I've only played shifters and this team was the only humans I'd ever seen play. But still he was really struggling. His stance when he shot was all wrong. He was too ridged, not even jumping a little as he threw it into the net, which missed every single time.

They lost so bad it made me cringe by the end of the game. I felt terrible for him and his team, who looked exhausted, but they didn't seem to care that they'd lost. They were laughing and joking between gulps on water from their bottles. They were simply enjoying themselves, which completely baffled me, shifters were competitive. I guess humans were more laid back. Both teams cleared out until only the guy from outside of Ann's was left. He stared at the hoop for a couple minutes. Then he started relentlessly shooting the ball, over and over at the basket, getting more and more frustrated.

Before I realized what I was doing I had walked out into the court, right in front of him. I held up my hands, doing the only thing I could think of.

"Ball."