Hello, everyone! Welcome back to another chapter of Heart of a Wolf. Sorry for the delay. Let's get started!

Chapter 7

Annie woke up, feeling like death. She sat up on the bed and groaned. "Son of a bitch." she said, sounding congested. She flopped back on the bed, pulling the covers over her face. Annie had been sick before, but she stated that it sucks multiple times as she finally got the strength to get out of bed.

Annie walked out into the living room and smelled something wonderful and familiar through her only working nostril. She followed the smell to the kitchen and found Armin standing in front of the coffee pot.

"Oh thank God." she breathed. "You made coffee."

Armin looked at Annie. She was still wearing the clothes he gave her last night and she had a small blanket around her shoulders. He smiled. "Want some?" he asked. Annie nodded and Armin got her a mug from the cupboard. "I take it you've got a cold, huh?" Armin asked, pouring coffee into Annie's mug.

"Yeah. Guess you were right about sleeping in the rain." she said, taking the cup of coffee from Armin when he handed to her. "But, I'll be fine in a few hours."

"Because you heal quickly?"

Annie nodded as she sipped her coffee. "I'll tell you more when I'm better." she said.

"Alright." said Armin. "Oh! By the way, my cousin and her fiance are coming over. I don't know how you are with groups, so-"

"It's fine." said Annie, waving him off. "So, long as they don't know."

"They don't." said Armin.

There was an awkward silence between them for a few minutes as they both sipped their coffee.

Up until the phone rang.

Armin took no time to answer it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Armin. It's Mikasa."

"Oh, hey Mikasa. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Krista called me and Eren and invited us over to your house around three. With it being YOUR house and all, I just wanted to make sure that it was alright with you."

Armin sighed. "Sure. Why not? I already have one guest."

"Oh? Someone we know?" Armin could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Sort of. You'll see when you get here." After saying goodbye, Armin hung up the phone.

"More people are coming over?" Annie asked.

"Yeah, there goes my quiet day off." Armin sighed. "Still, it would be nice to catch up with them."

"Seems like it would be."

Another moment of awkward silence was found between the two. Armin sighed and set down his coffee mug. "So," he began, deciding to change the subject. "Do you have any family?"

Annie looked down at her coffee mug with what looked like a depressed look on her face. Armin immediately knew that he had brought up something he wasn't meant to.

Just before he was about to ask a different question, Annie spoke up.

"My father was the alpha of the pack I was born into. He was killed in a pack war before I was born." she said. "My mother had to raise me along with leading the rest of the pack in my father's place. It wasn't easy for her, and to this day, I still don't know how she managed it."

"Mothers always know what to do." said Armin. "Even when it seems overwhelming to some people."

Annie gave a slight smile. "She was the best mother anyone could've asked for." Her smile faded. "Then, she contracted a disease that was unknown to my kind and died a few weeks later. After that, the pack was split up and I was alone."

Armin was speechless. How could someone go through one day of what this girl's been through? Without warning, he wrapped Annie in a light hug. The shorter blonde was surprised to say the least.

"Umm, Armin?" she said. "While I appreciate what you're doing, I would ask that you let go of me, please."

Armin let go and looked down towards his feet. "Sorry 'bout that." said he said, mentally kicking himself.

"It's fine. Just don't do it again."

"Noted."

Yet another awkward silence is found. Annie sipped the last of her coffee and set her mug down on the counter. "Hey."

Armin looked up. "Yeah?"

"What time are your friends coming?"

Armin looked at the clock above the microwave. It was only 10:00. "In a couple of hours." he said. 'Why?"

"I need clothes." said Annie. "I think your friends would find it suspicious if they see me in your clothing."

Armin thought for a second then nodded. "Alright," he said.

2 hours later...

"Are you girls done yet?" Armin was now standing in the middle of the women's clothing section, leaning against the cart full of jeans and shirts while Annie looked through clothes. After an hour of waiting, Armin had called Mikasa back and asked her to help Annie choose. Now, waiting with Eren, he thought that that wasn't such a good idea.

"Patience is virtue, boys." said Mikasa, holding up a shirt for Annie to see.

"I think I'm almost out of virtue." Eren mumbled.

"I heard that." Mikasa looked at Eren. Eren looked away, not wanting to meet her glare.

"Never knew humans needed so many clothes." said Annie, sounding a lot less congested than she did earlier. "I usually had one pair of clothing and stayed morphed when I wasn't wearing them."

"Well," said Mikasa. "Now you have all that you need."

"We might want to go pay for all of this." said Armin, looking at his phone. "Krista says that she's on her way."

Annie gave him a confused look as Armin put his phone back in his pocket. "How do you know?" she asked.

"She sent me a text."

Annie grew even more confused. "What's a text?"

Armin mentally kicked himself, remembering that Annie was not familiar with human technology.

Eren was happy to explain. "It's a message that one person send to another through their cell phones." he said, taking out his and showing it to her.

"Oh." Armin thought that Annie looked more confused than intrigued.

"Come on, guys." Mikasa said. "Let's go before Krista has Ymir breaks down the door."

"Armin!" Armin was greeted by his cousin a few minutes after they got back.

"Hey, Krista." Armin hugged his younger cousin as she walked into the house with Ymir.

"What's up, blondie?" said Ymir, pounding fists with Armin's free hand.

"Nothing much. Have a tiny octopus crushing me at the moment." Armin smirked as Krista playfully punched his arm as she let go of him.

"Shut up." she said.

"Well, come on in, guys. The others are in the living room."

"Nice house." said Ymir, walking into the living room with Krista.

"You say that every time you come over here." Mikasa said, sitting on the couch alongside Eren and Annie.

"Well, I haven't been here in about two year. I don't know if he changed anything." Ymir sat down in a chair next to Krista and Armin. She immediately noticed Annie, sitting on the couch, looking bored out of her mind.

"So, who's the new face?" Ymir asked Armin.

"That's Annie." said Armin.

"Annie Leonhardt." Annie said, extending her hand for Ymir to shake.

Ymir gave her a firm handshake. "Ymir Reiss." she said.

"Oh, you're taking Krista's last name?" said Eren.

Ymir chuckled. "Yeah, she won that game of rock, paper, scissors. Plus, there's the fact that I just love her last name." Ymir smiled lovingly at Krista. Krista smiled and blushed lightly at the comment.

"S-shut up." she said.

I'm gonna stop it there for right now. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. See you on the flip side! Peace!