Sorry it's been so long guys, but my computer is dying, and I haven't been able to get a new one yet. So, I've really only been able to write at work, and if my laptop decides to cooperate long enough I can post.
Ch.3 It's Different Than You Know
(FITZ)
I watch Clare run off, releasing a heavy sigh when she's out of sight. I allowed her to push me back because I saw how frightened and confused she was. Had I wanted to I could have easily stopped her, but I don't want her to be afraid of me. I start walking with my head hung a little, Dallas and Owen join me after a couple of moments, I'm sure they tracked my scent.
"Guess it didn't go too well?" Dallas comments as the three of us lean against the bank of lockers we're standing at.
"She's scared and confused. There's so much to tell her, but I don't know how. I can't just come out and tell her everything she'll think I'm nuts. If I just show her, she's going to freak. She'll start feeling the changes soon, it'll be easier to explain when she starts feeling it." I'm really hoping this is true because I keep trying to convince myself and the rest of the pack that it is.
"Don't wait too long, if she starts feeling them with no explanation, no one there…" Owen starts to argue but I quickly cut him off.
"I'll be there with her, if I have to watch her every minute until it happens."
Neither of them says anything or try to argue with me. Dallas pats my back, and we go outside for the rest of our spare. Bianca is the only one of us with a class this period and next is lunch, so we stay outside, and Bianca easily finds us.
"I'm glad we came here, I found my mate," Bianca smiles as we begin eating.
"Here?" Owen questions.
"Yeah, I would have found him if I'd gone with you to the woods," she tells us which means it's one of the three boys that was with Clare.
"Which one?" Dallas asks.
"Drew," she grins elatedly, "it was exactly like I've always heard. I caught his scent, and I just knew. My heart skipped a beat and then sped up, I saw him in my mind, painted by his scent before I ever laid eyes on him."
"You never want anyone but him? You have glimpses of your future together and you know he's it, the only one you could ever stand to kiss again?" I question.
"Yeah, and when he looked at me and our eyes met, I felt my life change, I felt me change," Bianca nods. I can see her eyes dazzle just at thoughts of Drew.
"Yep, he's yours," Dallas agrees.
"You found him, mate for life, feels good, doesn't it?" I ask with a smile.
"Amazing," Bianca replies with a huge grin lighting her face.
"I haven't found mine," Owen grumbles, "a few appealing scents at this school, but not my mate."
"This summer is the gathering of clans, maybe you'll find her there," I tell him with an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
Every ten years all clans from the world gather in one place. The meeting place rotates, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, South or Central America, the U.S., and Canada and then it goes back to Europe. The only thing that may move the meeting place is if there's a war going on, or political upheaval to the point it could cause a problem, or if a natural disaster hit. We always meet somewhere fairly remote with lots of open spaces, wolves need open space.
At these meetings wolves often find their mates from different packs, which ensures diversity in the bloodlines. These meetings have been going on for centuries, though the America's and Pacific Islands, Australasia and other distant places didn't attend until air travel was accessible. There is also a formal council to discuss any political matters, take care of rogue wolves and other things. These meetings keep all the clans from getting too isolated, individual packs are very territorial and solitary, these gatherings help to keep all the packs together.
"So, how are you going to approach it with Drew?" I ask Bianca.
"Slowly and carefully. I can't say, "Hi, we're mated for life," he'd probably never talk to me again. I have to find a way to spend time with him."
"You could go to his house to do homework, get to know him a little," Owen suggests.
"Good idea," Banca smiles.
We finish eating and go into the school, Bianca leaves us to use the girl's washroom while we go to the guy's. We all meet up again at our lockers and walk to world history together as we all have it for third period. Apparently, so does Drew as he walks into class just as we're all sitting down. Bianca sees him and smiles, perking up just at the sight of him.
"Hey Drew," she calls.
"Hey Bianca," he replies with a goofy grin.
"You want to do homework together after school?" She asks him batting her eyelashes a bit.
"Sure, you'll have to come to my house though, Mom wants me home right after school," Drew replies.
"That's good, because my house wouldn't be ideal," Bianca replies. What she really means is she doesn't want to bring him home for the whole pack to see yet. Though news that she found her mate and he's human will likely be known by the entire pack within a day or two.
"Cool, meet me near the front doors after school," Drew grins before sitting at a desk in front of us.
Bianca smiles, she's excited about spending time with Drew. She starts wriggling in her seat thinking of being with him this afternoon. The teacher comes in and introduces himself as Mr. Perino, and then looks at Bianca because she's squirming.
"Calm down, you're attracting attention to yourself," I scold her through the link.
"Sorry, if this is how you've felt with Clare since the first time you caught her scent, I applaud you for waiting until you did to bite her."
"Just put Drew to the back of your mind and concentrate on now. If all you can think about is being with Drew, you'll never be able to get through school."
Bianca takes a deep breath and calms down, she's able to make it through the rest of class. When the bell rings we all walk out together. Dallas is the only one with a different class this period. Bianca, Owen, and I all have broadcast and print production this period. Apparently, so does Drew as we follow him to the classroom, Bianca grins when she sees he's going to the same class as we are. I grin when I see Clare in the classroom, she's sitting in the front with Adam who, it seems, ia also in this class. The four of us sit in the back row, including Drew. I spend all of class watching her, thinking about how to get close without scaring her, and thinking about when I can kiss her and have her in my arms again.
(CLARE)
"He's watching you again," Adam comments.
School just let out and we're putting books into our lockers. Fitz and two of his friends are in our last period class, so is Drew but we already knew that. As soon as the class was done, I hurried out to my locker and Adam followed me. Somehow, I'm not surprised Fitz followed us. I follow Adam's eyes to see not only Fitz at the end of the hall, but he's flanked by his friends, and they all seem to be watching us.
"I think transferring to the school to keep an eye on you and having three of his friends transfer counts as stalking," Adam adds moving a bit closer to me.
"It is weird, but so is everything else, I don't think he wants to hurt me. There's something about him, I can't explain, I don't understand it. I want to stay away, but I also want to know more about him. He's…I don't know," I sigh in desperate and confused frustration. Before Adam can ask or I can explain more Drew comes over.
"Hey Little bro, Bianca, one of the new kids that came with the guy the Clare slept with, is coming over to do homework," Drew informs us.
"Cool, uh Clare's coming over too," Adam says. We never talked about me coming over, and I shoot Adam a glance. Drew just shrugs, he either didn't catch me throwing Adam a look or didn't care. Adam and I close our lockers as Drew tuns and begins walking toward Fitz and his cronies.
"Why am I coming over?" I whisper to Adam, falling a few more paces behind Drew to make sure he doesn't hear me.
"Bianca is one of Fitz's friends, you can ask her about him," Adam whispers back.
"Good idea," I smile getting out my phone. I make sure to look down at my phone as we approach Fitz and his group. I text Jake to tell him I'm going home with Adam to do homework and I should be able to get a ride home. They were supposed to go home tonight but Jake found me at lunch to say he and his dad would be staying the rest of the week and moving in slowly.
"Ready?" Drew asks Bianca.
"Yep," Bianca replies popping her P.
I don't look up from my phone until we're past Fitz and his group. We get in Drew's car, Adam and I sit in back. Bianca asks Drew about football while Adam and I talk about Jake and Glen moving in for the short drive to the Torres house. We go into the basement and set our backpacks down.
"I'm going to get a snack; I know Adam's hungry. You girls hungry?" Drew asks.
"I could eat," Bianca replies.
"Yeah, I'm a little hungry," I say.
"I'll help you," Adam remarks following his brother up the stairs and leaving Bianca and I alone together.
"You're friends with Fitz," I remark. It really wasn't a question they all came to school together.
"Very close friends," Bianca nods.
"Why did you all transfer to DeGrassi at the same time?"
"Fitz wanted to stay close to you, he couldn't transfer alone," Bianca replies. I already knew he wanted to keep an eye on me, but the rest of her answer is fairly cryptic.
"That doesn't make any sense."
"Not now, but it will," Bianca responds sitting on the sofa.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I question sitting down as well, but a few seats away from her.
"There are things that just won't make sense, not right now. They will, but if I try to explain them now, you'll just think I'm crazy," Bianca replies picking up her history book.
I sigh and pick up my science book. Bianca isn't helping me understand Fitz any better, her answers are only confusing me more. I decide to change my line of questioning, I'm determined to learn something about Fitz this afternoon.
"You all live in that gated community he took me to?"
"Yes."
"How many people live there?"
"Twelve families now, well," Bianca says looking up from her book, twelve occupied houses but some of them are the same families or families that blended. If you want a tour, I'm sure that Fitz would be happy to show you around."
I'm pretty sure going back there is a bad idea, but I don't want to say that. Her answers still are not very helpful. I decide once again to change my line of questioning.
"What's your interest in Drew?"
"That would be another hard thing to explain, suffice it to say my interest is more than friendly," Bianca replies. Again, with the cryptic answers, and it makes me a little afraid for Drew. Suddenly, I remember something Fitz said about me, that he marked me.
"Are you going to mark him?" I ask inadvertently rubbing my inner thigh where the mark is.
"Eventually," Bianca says with a smile before looking back at her book.
I don't really like that answer but the boys return downstairs, so I don't want to ask any other questions. We begin on our homework, Drew and Bianca work on history and their parenting homework. Adam and I work on science and history homework.
"I should get home," Bianca says when she and Drew have finished their parenting homework.
"Okay, would you like to have lunch at The Dot tomorrow?" Drew asks.
"I'd love to," Bianca smiles.
"Great, can I drive you home?"
"No," Bianca says quickly and Drew's face falls quickly. I think it's because she's not ready for him to see where she lives yet. "I mean, you'll be eating dinner soon and I'll get a ride," Bianca recovers quickly and Drew smiles a little again. "You want a lift home Clare? Fitz will come get me and I'm sure he'd be happy to drop you off."
"Is that alright with you Clare?" Adam asks while I bite my lip. I'm a little nervous but I do have questions and Bianca was no help, so maybe Fitz can answer some of my questions.
"Yeah, that would be good. Bianca's right no reason for you two to leave now, and I am on their way."
"Cool," Bianca smiles. Her eyes seem to cloud over a moment, then she shakes her head as though she changed her mind about something and gets out her phone. She unlocks it, presses a couple buttons, and holds it to her ear.
"Hey, I need to be picked up and Clare needs a lift home…see you soon," Bianca says and hangs up. "Fitz says he'll be here in twenty," she tells me with what looks like a mysterious smile.
(FITZ)
I pull up to the Torres house and text Bianca that I'm here. A moment later she and Clare get in the car, Bianca takes the back, so Clare has to sit up front with me. Clare gives me a quick smile when she gets in the car, before quickly buckling her seatbelt and looking out the passenger side window.
"How was homework?" I question.
"Good, got most of mine done. Drew and I are having lunch at The Dot tomorrow," Bianca says. I can hear the grin of excitement on her lips at the mere thought of spending more time with Drew. When a couple silent minutes go by Bianca speaks up again. "Clare was asking questions about the community."
I glance at Clare to see her cheeks go a little red.
"I was just curious," she sort of half mumbles while still staring out the passenger side window.
"I'll show you around the entire community any time you like," I offer with a grin.
"Mmm, that's okay, I saw it that night," Clare replies. She's still half mumbling and staring out the passenger window so she doesn't have to look at me. "Oh, you need to turn right…here," Clare says as I turn down her street.
"I know where you live," I smile.
"I don't want to know how you know that," she replies slowly.
"I'm going to walk Clare to her door," I tell Bianca as I park in front of Clare's house. Clare gets out of the car, and I walk her to the door. "Look, I know you're confused right now, and things seem a little odd, but I'd like to take you on a date tomorrow. You can ask me any questions you like."
She bites her lip and looks considerate for a moment before finally nodding. "Okay, but right after school," she stipulates. She almost seems to be afraid to be alone with me at night.
"Right after school," I smile, "goodnight Clare." I want to kiss her so very badly, but I don't want to push so I resist the urge to kiss her. She says a quick goodnight and disappears into her house.
"So, you got a date with her tomorrow?" Bianca questions when I get back in the car. She moved to the front while I was with Clare, so I know she heard our conversation. Though she could have heard it even without getting out of the car.
"Yeah, I'll drive myself to school tomorrow and I'll need to make the date something special," I reply as I begin driving again.
"You might have to stop Owen and Dallas or some of the others from following you. They don't trust her and after what happened with your mom you can't blame them." Bianca states.
"I'll order them not to follow me, they won't disobey a direct order and if they do, they'll be severely punished. Clare is not my mom, and I'm not doing anything like my father did."
Bianca doesn't respond, but she knows as well as I do that, they would not risk disobeying an order from their Alpha. Bianca is silent for the rest of the drive, and I drop her at home. When I get home, I heat the dinner that Mrs. Dallas made for me. My homework is done so while I eat, I think about what to do with Clare tomorrow. By the time I've taken care of my dishes I believe I have plan. I make a few arrangements before watching TV and going to bed. I have wonderful dreams of the one thing to fill my mind these last several days: Clare.
Waking Tuesday morning I hop in the shower and carefully pick out my clothes. I send out a few texts while I'm eating breakfast to be sure everything will be ready for me. As I'm putting my dishes in the sink Owen links with me.
"Be there in a minute."
"I'm driving myself today. I have a date with Clare right after school and need my car."
Owen doesn't reply but is in his SUV outside of my house when I open the garage. Bianca and Dallas are with him, but Dallas is leaning on the SUV.
"I'll ride with you, and they'll follow us," Dallas tells me.
I just shrug and get in my car; Dallas gets in the passenger seat and when I pull out of the driveway Owen follows. It's one of the things about this life that I'm still trying to get used to. The whole community looks after each other which is great, but as Alpha and especially with the rest of my family dead, I'm nearly always guarded. Growing up with my mom, stepdad, and stepbrother no one gave a shit about me or what I did. So, coming to a place and family where everyone wanted to know everything I did and worried over it was a major change. Even though I'm Alpha and I'm strongest I still have bodyguards with me if I go too far. For example, transferring to DeGrassi, no one liked the idea of me going alone so Bianca, Owen and Dallas transferred with me. As irritating as it can sometimes be I always appreciate it. When you grow up with people telling you you're worthless and you'll never be anything, having so many people care about you is amazing.
"So, date with your mate tonight?" Dallas asks.
"Well, this afternoon, right after school but it's a start."
"You going to tell her?"
"I'll try, I don't want to scare her or push her away. Vanessa was already one of us, you have no idea how hard it is to hold someone close and not too tight at the same time."
"She must be feeling something already or she wouldn't have agreed to go out with you."
"I hope so. I'm hoping to discover some of that on our date."
We're silent for the rest of the drive and when I park at DeGrassi Owen parks next to me. The four of us get out of the two cars and walk as a group into school. Bianca sniffs the air and then looks disappointed; Drew and Adam must not be here yet. I sniff the air too, and I know Clare is here, on instinct I follow her scent. I find her easily, but she's talking to that Eli boy, and they are awfully close together. Too close together I don't like how close he's standing to her at I all. I clench my fists; a growl begins emanating from my chest and I take a step forward ready to storm over and rip him away from her. Owen and Dallas grab my shoulders holding tight.
"I don't think marching over there and saying she's yours is going to do anything but piss her off and possibly give Eli a reason to punch you. She's not one of us, not yet, and neither is he," Owen advises.
I force out a breath, forcing myself to calm down. I know he's right but it's not making it any easier to watch her and Eli so close. Her back is to me, and Eli is only looking at Clare. I watch them for a while, but the longer I watch the more I want to go over and rip him away from her. I decide the best thing to do, short of tearing Eli's head off, is to not watch them. I have to force myself to turn around and begin walking to my locker, but I manage it and the others follow me.
During second period when we both have a spare I track Clare's scent, but she's avoiding me by hiding in the student council office with Sav. I'm not worried about him; he's not standing close to her and I know he's Alli's older brother. So, I don't see Clare again until lunch, she's eating with Adam and some other friends. I'm eating with Dallas and Owen; Bianca is having lunch with Drew at The Dot. I see her again in fourth period of course and as soon as class is over, I go over to her.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah," she nods before looking at Adam, "see you tomorrow."
"Bye Clare, have fun," Adam smiles.
We go out to my car, the others are close, but I asked them to give us a few minutes. If they insisted on following us from the school to not be obvious about it. I also forbade them from following us on the actual date.
"Are we having this date at your house?" Clare asks when our community gates come into view.
"Close to it, but the best way to get there is to walk from my house. I can still take you on a tour of the community, introduce you around to everyone that's home," I offer.
Clare looks nervous and shakes her head. I park in the driveway and get out taking Clare's hand. Vanessa and Paige have set everything up in the spot I asked for and I gave a strict order that we were not to be disturbed during the date. It's on our property so no one needed to worry about us being attacked or anything. From my home it's a short walk through the woods to an open glade near the creek. A picnic blanket is laid out with flowers, a picnic basket, a small cooler, and pillows.
"It's beautiful here," Clare smiles.
"One of my favorite places, and we're still on our property so we won't be disturbed," I reply guiding her to sit on the blanket. "Would you like something to drink? We have lemonade or sparkling juice?"
"Juice please," she requests leaning back and looking around.
I take a bottle of sparkling juice from the cooler, open it and hand it to her. I take a bottle for myself as well and get out the cutting board Paige included for us to set our drinks on. Then I begin taking out the variety of snacks they packed for us. Some savory and some sweet. It was going to be too early for dinner, so I wanted to go light. Clare looks over the options and I hand her a paper plate. For a while we sit in silence, eating, sipping the juice, and enjoying our peaceful surroundings. She's the first to break the silence after she's done eating.
"Tell me about your family? Where's your mom?" Clare requests.
"It's not important, and there's really nothing to tell. The community is my family," I reply. Trying to talk about my mom, why she left or even my dad and grandparents would just be too complicated right now. I want to tell her everything, and I will, when I think she's ready. "What about your family? You and Jake seem to get along pretty well."
"Jake and I get along fine, that was never a problem. A couple nights after you and I…met," she says slowly. "Jake, Drew, Adam, and I went up to Jake and Glen's cabin and Jake and I talked. Neither of us are very sure about this wedding still, but our parents seem happy. We can only hope that our parents aren't making a mistake, but it will be nice to have a family. Tell me about the community, you said they're your family and Bianca said there are twelve families, but I've only seen you, Owen, Bianca, and Dallas at the school."
"Yeah, although I don't know that I count as a family since it's just me. The DeSousa's consist of Bianca and her grandparents. Her grandfather is retired but her grandmother teaches at the school. There's the Michalchuks; Jeff and his wife Rose, they have two children a son Dylan and a daughter Paige. Paige is engaged to Sean Cameron, they're getting married in the spring, and have the house next to her parents. Sean's older brother Tracker lives here with his wife Amelia and their two kids. Ted and Mary Hogart live with their son Jay, he and Sean own Prime Auto Repair you may have seen the shop on the drive. Phil and Vicky DiMarco live with their sons Aaron and Johnny, both of which attend local colleges. Evelyn Valieri has two children, her son Lucas is married to Mia and they have a four year old daughter Isabelle. Evelyn lives with them, next door to them is Evelyn's daughter Jane, she married J.T. a couple of years ago. Owen lives with his parents Chet and Bethany and his younger brother Tristan. Michael Dallas senior is Dallas' father, and lives with his wife Anna. Junior prefers to go by Dallas, and he lives down the street from his parents with his wife Vanessa and their two year old son. They live next to Vanessa's parents; Curtis and Dana LaMarr."
"Dallas is already married with a two-year-old and they live in their own house? It doesn't sound like anyone ever leaves this community."
"What are your interests?" I ask her avoiding the question. How do I answer that without explaining a life mate? How do I explain a life mate without telling her that we're werewolves?
"I like writing, all forms of it, I guess that's my main interest. I love reading, always have. I started reading at age 3 my sister was five and hated that I could read better than she could. My love of reading sparked my love of writing. Reading about Wonderland, Looking Glass Land, Middle Earth, Narnia and so many more, I wanted to create my own worlds. I love science, art, ancient cultures, astronomy. Just about anything academic really, I'm awful at sports but I love dancing. What about you?"
My instinct is to say that she's my main interest, but that would sound very creepy and stalkerish. I have to think a minute though, she sounds like she has so many interests and they're decently varied. I on the other hand spent over half my life as a bully or terrified at home, and now I lead a whole pack of werewolves, exploring my true interests hasn't really been something I've had a lot of time for.
"I don't have that many interests I guess, I like sports okay, but I've only done wrestling and football. I don't know that much about art, and I'm not much of a writer. I do like to read, though I mostly watch TV. I like the outdoors, gardening, and hiking and all that. I don't think I can dance," I tell her slowly realizing how terrible it sounds, "guess I'm pretty boring."
"I don't think so," Clare replies with a soft smile and lightly shaking her head, "and everyone can dance."
"I don't even think I have the coordination to do the hand jive," I argue.
"Wrestling and football take coordination if you can do those you can dance. Like I said everyone can dance," she replies and we fall into silence again. It isn't broken until her phone alerts her to a text, she picks it up and sighs. "It's wonderful here and I wish I could stay longer but Mom wants me home for dinner. You should probably take me back to school so I can get my car. Anyway, we still have all our homework and you probably have more than I do considering you're probably catching up."
"Actually, we were ahead, except for the electives. It won't take me too long to do homework. Seeing as your mom wants you home though, I should get you back to your car," I reply. I stand up and offer her my hand, she allows me to help her up.
"Shouldn't we pack up or something?" Clare asks looking back at the picnic blanket as we leave it behind.
"No, someone else will come and get it," I tell her before linking with Paige. "The date was perfect and the food wonderful thanks to you and Vanessa. I'm taking Clare back to her car at the school, could you make sure everything is packed up and put away?"
"I'm glad you had a good time. We'll take care of it," Paige replies.
We walk back to my car, and I drive back to DeGrassi, I notice that Clare looks at Sean and Jay's garage as we pass it. When we arrive back at the school there's still a few cars in the parking lot, but there's an empty spot next to Clare's car and that's where I park.
"Before you jump out of the car can I have your phone number?"
"Okay," Clare nods. I get out my phone, she gives me her number and I text her.
"There's my number. Look Clare, I know there's a lot that doesn't make sense right now, and I can't explain everything. I can tell you that you're going to start feeling different, if you haven't already and when you do, when you start to feel the changes, you have to tell me. Do you understand Clare?"
"Not at all," she shakes her head with her brow furrowed in confusion.
"I can't tell you anymore than that, not right now. I don't know what you'll feel first. Your senses will likely sharpen first, but it could be something else. When you feel the changes beginning you have to tell me Clare, it's very important," I implore her.
"Okay, I'll tell you," she says with apprehension in her voice. I'm afraid I scared her, but I had to tell her something. I may not be around when she first starts to feel it. She gets out of my car quickly and nearly runs to hers. I watch her get in and follow her home, it's also the way back to my home so hopefully seeing me behind her isn't too concerning.
"When you're back you can come to my house for dinner and we can do homework," Owen links with me just as I see the gate come into view.
"Thanks, be there in a few," I reply. I park in my garage and send Owen, Bianca, and Dallas' numbers to Clare. I tell her she should have them just to be safe. She doesn't reply but she could be eating dinner. I leave my house and walk down three houses to the Milligan house.
"Hi Fitz," Tris smiles at me. Owen's younger brother is gay, so is Dylan Michalchuk, as the only two gay wolves in the community it was thought for a while that they would be mates. If they were though they would have felt it long ago.
"So, how was the date?" Owen asks when I step into the living room.
"It went really well; I just hope I didn't scare her at the end."