Octavian hadn't mentioned the werewolf thing again. At least, not directly to me.
Half of me was relaxed and calmed, knowing that he was trying to give me space and, bring the subject up would be a constant reminder that I didn't need. The other half of me was freaking out, believing that he had made up the whole thing and it was with the purpose of driving me crazy. I could still catch some glimpses about it, that could either relax me or drive me crazy.
For example, a few days later, Octavian showed me a timetable with some courses that he would have to attend, now that I'm almost completely healed and Reyna walks with me to all my classes. Reyna looked between jealous and impressed while I looked surprised. 'Inner Meditation' and 'Auto Healing' didn't sound like typical classes. Octavian said the first one was more like a yoga class than anything and the seconds one was auto applied first aids.
Sounded more like Wolverine was teaching them how to regenerate wounds.
I couldn't even express my opinion about it, because everyone- minus Leo, Reyna and myself -was excited and telling Octavian about the things they learnt there. I also noticed that they didn't mention anything about wolves, but they made mentions like 'bites', 'crouch' and 'long hair'.
I think I hated that the most.
Octavian neither corrected them nor agreed. He simply listened, as if he had known all this before and I was growing worried that he had been making this an elaborate prank and everyone was involved. I excused myself from lunch and asked Reyna if she wanted to start with those Biology diagrams for the test. Reyna agreed, Leo butting in and saying he had made a human body automaton out of scraps to learn.
Not even Jason, Leo's best friend, wanted to see the bloody thing. I agreed, for two reasons, the main one being that I had to study. The second one was that I wanted to be out of the talk that always seem to ignore me. I wanted Octavian to come with me, but I knew that he had other things to do and I couldn't keep him away from that, no matter how frustrating it was.
So, I hugged him and kissed his cheek.
"Let's go for a walk when you're done..." I proposed to him, in low voice that I knew he'd hear. He nodded and kissed my forehead, before I left with Leo and Reyna, while the former wouldn't stop talking about his robot and all the cool functions it had. Reyna looked at me, clearly not going to enjoy this time. I smiled shyly at her, realizing it was my fault.
Reyna could pout and complain all she wanted, but she cannot lie to me and say she didn't learn anything about Biology.
True, Leo was a little bonkers sometimes, but he was also a genius. His robot, at scale, was perfect and moved just like a human being. Of course, he had some features that made him look like a crazy and bad hybrid werewolf. Its nose looked more like a snout and its nails were longer than any world record human have.
Leo's explanation was that he liked wolves and he wishes he was one. Subtle, buddy...
When Octavian came to get me for our walk, he didn't look extremely excited about it. I frowned and guided him, a bit away from the school, so anyone with super hearing won't be able to listen. Or at least, not listen without paying attention.
"What's wrong?" I looked at him, serious. He shook his head at me, but I was having none of that. "Octavian, if you want me to be your girlfriend, heck if you want me to be your mate, you have to start by don't keeping secrets from me..." Low blow, I admit that, but he wasn't cooperating. He raised an eyebrow, but I stood firm. He finally sighed.
"There's a few things..." He finally admitted, sitting down on the grass. True, Autumn was on us, but it wasn't that chill yet.
"Let's start with the simplest one and go up..." I suggested to him, sitting down and linking our arms together. He grabbed my hand and nodded.
"Alright... I know you don't have anything going on with Valdez, but please refrain from accepting invitations to 'see my robot-automaton' in a near future..." It was my turn to raise an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. "I mean, yeah... Reyna was there, but he shouldn't have said that either way-"
"Octavian, let me ask you a question." I interrupted him, gently. "It is common to ignore or even out down wolves that haven't found their mate yet?" He seemed to be thinking something bad, because he nodded without looking at me. "Is an instinctive thing or not?" He shrugged and I realized it was a community mentality. I sighed and lifted his head. "Octavian, you know I'm not like the rest of you, which is why I won't apologize for spending some time with a friend."
"Rachel, my wolf and I, we both know Valdez is just a friend to you." He explianed, stroking my cheek. "Heck, you could even invite Jackson and Grace to a hunting session and I wouldn't care about it!"
"Drastic much?"
"The point is that mated couples only interact like you see in lunch. They sit together, talk and back to their mate." I frowned, not liking it one bit.
"That's lonely and, sorry to say this, boring at some point. While I understand not wanting to live apart, do they grow individually?" He shook his head and I had to refrain from yelling at him. "You mean to say I should do exactly what you do whenever you do it?" I asked, with fake sugarcoat and he got it in one that I wasn't going to be a puppet.
"The rest of the pack thinks like that. That doesn't mean I do!" He added quickly, before I shouted at him. "I've been in Reyna and Valdez' places, Rachel. I know what it means being ostracize from your own peers, which is why I don't stop you from spending time with them. The pack would never understand the views from an outsider-"
"Wait, what happens when a wolf gets a human mate like you?" His eyes turned a bit dark and I knew I wasn't going to like the answer.
"The wolf, even with his or her mate, turns lone. They're forced out of the pack and have forbidden to join or start a new one." I gasped. That was insane! He was going to be kicked out no matter what I do! "Which is why everyone is looking at you, to see if you do something that would force them to report back and kick me out once you finish school..." I frowned, not mad at him.
"Well, if you're going to be kicked out either way, why not make it worthy?" An idea was forming in my head, smirking at him. "We have three years until I graduate, why not to change some thoughts on the way...?" I could see the gears in his brain and he was smiling too.
"I knew there was a reason why I chose you."
We had woken up at dawn, to make sure everything was ready to go.
Since Octavian was part of the faculty, he had the keys for the amphitheater's prop storage. We got in and started to pull out the biggest pieces and dragged them towards the cafeteria, hoping to make the minimum noise. Once there, we started to place them in some form of cage, with doors and several seats inside. I knew this was going to be taken down, but it worked for the moment.
Octavian did most of the heavy work, claiming I was still in recovering and I couldn't life heavy weight. I watched him and he lifted things around and I smiled. No one would believe he's the same dude that was lurking these hallways, always gloom and making students hate him. I liked him. I wouldn't go that far as saying the other L-word yet, but we're working on that.
When we were done, breakfast was about to be served. The women of the cafeteria looked at us, as if we were insane.
No doubt some would think that.
A couple walked in first and got a big surprise when they saw the division there. I smiled at them and grabbed the girl's arms.
"Hi! We haven't introduced before. I'm Rachel, would you like to sit with me today?" Don't giving her time to reply, I dragged her to the side that was labeled 'women', while Octavian dragged the guy to the other side, to the 'men'. So, we starting doing that: intercepting couples and dragging them apart for breakfast.
When Leo and Reyna arrived, Leo started laughing and helped out, separating couples with his lame jokes and stuff. Reyna looked incredulous, but I saw a smile in her lips when I greeted her with a hug. She then, struck a conversation with a girl named Leila and other one called Gwen. After a while, I sat down with the girls, to talk about nonsense things, like make up and hair care.
I found it funny that, when Thalia and Mr. Castellan arrived for breakfast, she pushed him towards the boys' side, screaming 'Finally! Mingle with them!' before sitting next to us, looking without a care in the world. The other girls looked slightly scared, but they relaxed when I told them that their mates were on the other side of the fake wall. They just needed a little reassurement.
I knew drama would unfold at some point, but I imagined it would less dramatic.
When the couple arrived, it was as normal as the rest. Shocked. When I placed my hand on the girl's shoulder, inviting her to have breakfast with us, his mate didn't have it. He not only frowned, but glared at me and growled. Not only me, but the girl looked surprised he had done such a thing.
"Damien, it's just breakfast-"
"Shut up, Chiara!" He snarled at her. It was obvious that she was hurt by it and they would have to work it later, but the problem was now with me. "Walk away and put those walls down!" I swallowed, a bit scared, but didn't back down.
"I'm not trying to steal it from you, if that's what you're thinking." i quickly added before replying. "And, no. I won't-"
"DO. IT. NOW!" He screamed at me, getting the attention of everyone. I was trembling like a leaf, but I wasn't going to back down. "This is what we get when we let people like you contaminate our school... You try to change us into little obedient lap dogs for your society-"
"Damien!" Someone shouted at him, coming from the guys' side. "It's just a seat at breakfast! This will be down by lunch, I don't see your problem-"
"It's obvious you don't have a mate, Fletcher!" I glared at him, how could he treat them like that! "You just probably have one of this weak things and be out in two seconds flat!"
"Stop taking your anger with them!" I made him focus on me, even though I could see Octavian's terrified look. This Damien guy stared at me, between confusion and hate. "Your problem is with me and what I am! No wonder your little colony is so backwards if you have no contact with normal people! You have the manners of an animal more than a man! You don't even deserve to be call 'man'. You're just a little boy doing a tantrum because things aren't going your way..." I knew I was going far, but I wanted him to focus on me and not on the ones who had agreed with me.
"You're just right in one thing... I'm no man." He smirked at me and, what I'd forever call my biggest fear from now on, started to happen.
His eyes turned gold-red from his original brown and his clothes began to make cracking noises, but not to breaking point. Everyone started to walk back and I even heard some people rushing towards the door. My eyes widen, not because of what I was seeing, but because I thought the cafeteria was a free-transformation zone! Damien's face was soon covered in thick long black hair and his nose turned into a snout. His nails turned into claws and were dangerous.
He was no man. But he was no wolf either.
I was paralyzed in my place, not even moving when Reyna was trying to take me with her. Damien's shape had me in trance, and not a good one. He was snarling at me and, when it was a few inches close, I did something I later congratulated myself.
I sprayed him with pepper-spray.
Damien was forced back, whining and trying to scratch his eyes without hurting himself. When he turned around, I took the chance to jump on his back and grabbed him by the neck, in a poor attempt to choke him. He trashed around wildly, but I had rode a mechanic bull for ten minutes as a dare once and I didn't fall down. Damien was just a mechanic bull.
The surprise was that, I had forgotten a small pendant I was wearing around my neck. The necklace was made of platinum and the pendant, a small sun, pure silver. When I wrapped my arms around Damien-beast, my necklace was laid on his back and I could hear him howling in pain. When I finally realized what was happening, I looked down at the pendant and saw it was making a burning pattern on his back.
When I pulled it back, Damien collapsed down on the floor, still with me on his back. With the adrenaline going on in my body, I checked his pulse and saw he was only unconscious. He was quickly turning back to human and I was out of his back in a flash. In the same speed, I was out of the cafeteria and had locked myself in my former door-room.
Only one thought was running through my head.
Werewolves were very real.
Hello, my lovely readers!
Today, in this rainy day (at least down here in Argentina), I come to bring you some joy in the shape of three lovely chapters of my stories! If you have a sunny or even a cloudy day, it's also welcome!
Mortals, Meet... the In-Laws: one chapter!
Character, Meet... Character: one chapter!
Mate?! Ain't Australian, Buddy!: one chapter!
I apologize if this author's note is slightly short, but frankly I have no big news this weekend... Maybe, next one would be different, who knows.
As always, comment, request and critic (with moderation and aware people has feelings) as much as you want.
xoxo, SilverHuntresses