I sat at the edge of the bed resting my head in my palms. My hands were trembling from the anger I was in. I stood up and paced the bedroom, massaging my temples.
I sighed when a soft knock came from the door and I threw it open. John looked up and smiled at me, which didn’t quite reach his eyes.
“You okay?”he asked, his voice laced with concern.
“No”, I snapped, ” No I’m not okay. I’m pissed. And you want to know why? Guys you guys literally dragged me out of my college campus. And why? Because of a slashed tire. For all you know, it could be a student pulling a prank on someone or a girlfriend getting her revenge”, I went off on one and ranted, took a deep breath when I finished.
“It could be a prank. It could also be a rogue. Just to be on the safer side, Bella”, he tried to wind it down, reasoning with me. I huffed.
“Fine. Just this one time, I would let him get away with this. If there is a next time, he better sleep with one eye open”, I glowered at him, shaking a threatening finger in the air.
He held his hands up in surrender, the corner of his mouth twitching as he tried to suppress his smile.
“If you are free, why don’t you come with me and help me with some paperwork”.
I followed him downstairs, my eyes scanning for a certain arrogant someone who was nowhere in sight. John led me down a hall and into a room. A large mahogany desk took up most of the space but disappeared under an even more larger pile of papers.
He smiled sheepishly. “I got busy with the birthday party preparations”, he said, getting a chair for me.
“What are these?”, I asked, eyeing the papers.
“Request forms for joining the pack, resumes for pack guard posts, new trainees, you name it”, he pushed a pile in front of me and said, “I just want you to go through this and make some notes. Is that okay?”.
I nodded getting to work. We fell silent and he disappeared somewhere behind the mountain of papers. There were people listing for new positions in the pack, requesting to join the pack.
“Hey?”, he looked up from his laptop, raising his brows in question, waiting for me to continue.
“People can just join your pack by filling out a form?”
“Yes. But not everyone gets accepted. People, even if they are werewolves, move for jobs and stuff all the time. If they are getting settled in the territory of another pack, it’s just normal for them to affiliate themselves to that pack. For safety reasons, for jobs. They list their reasons, we do a background check and if they seem legit, they will become a pack member”
I nodded, deep in thoughts. I was still amazed that an entirely different system exists among us and they still manage to blend well with human society.
“Am I a part of your pack?”, I blurted out. He smiled at me, his eyes soft.
“Yeah. Not officially yet but yes. You have been, ever since you walked into this house two weeks ago”. I smiled back. He went back to his work and I to mine and soon, it was evening and I was craving for some snacks.
I stretched my tired limbs and stood up.
“Okay, I’m done. I’m going to grab some snacks. Do you want anything?”
“I’m good. No thanks”, he shook his head, not looking up from his laptop.
I walked out of his study into the main hallway when the familiar white car pulled up in front of the main doorway.
Alice walked out from the driver’s side, waving at me. She and Jimmy stayed behind in college.
“Where’s Jimmy?”, I asked her, looking over her shoulder as he didn’t come through the door.
“Said he had a few errands to run. He gave me his car key and skipped classes. He is acting weird nowadays, Bella. And by the way I heard what happened. I’m sorry”
“Yeah, that”, I pursed my lips, still pissed that it happened.
“Anyway, what did you do all day?”
“I helped John with his paperwork. And by the way, you are spoiling him. He has a ton of work pending because he was busy picking dresses for you”. She laughed.
“What can I say? He is in love and I’m not complaining”, she shrugged walking away, sounds of her laughing receding into the distance. I shook my head, smiling and walked into the kitchen.
The smell of freshly baked muffins filled the huge space along with the sounds of pans and cutleries put against the marble countertop. I slowly walked through, careful not to get in the way of the pack members who were running around, cooking up a storm to feed the whole pack house. I helped a plate of muffins and walked out to get a quick shower.
I changed into a hoodie and sweats and walked through the hallways, looking for empty rooms. But it turned out that Ryan was indeed telling the truth. Not a single room was left unoccupied except a few rooms which were, as I was told, meant for the visiting other pack Alphas.
Alice and John went out to visit his parents, Jimmy was nowhere to be found. Left to my own devices, I wandered around the house.
The hallway opened into a cozy balcony sitting area. The night air was cool but humid. The dark sky was dotted with millions of stars, some shining brighter than the other but beautiful nonetheless.
The vast ink blue sky stretching for infinity brought back old, but happy memories. Growing up, stargazing was something my dad and I shared common interests in. He had this really advanced telescope mounted in the balcony. We would lie on our lawn, in nights like these and would trace constellations.
There was this small part of a bigger constellation, called the Orion belt, a group of three stars in a straight line, always appearing together ever since the ancient times. That was my favorite one.
I looked up and easily spotted them, twinkling just like the way they used to do when I watched it with my dad.
It was times like these I missed them the most. The small little things. Time never did it job to lessen the pain for me. It just the blurred the memory and numbed the pain.
Closing my eyes, I took in a lungful of the cool the October air, wishing the biting cold would numb the ever present aching inside me.