Chapter 2 continuation

“I thought about finding the city and then catching a bus. What about you guys?” I asked them.

“We were about to leave this town and go to Greenrock pack,” January told me calmly.

I froze on the spot in horror. She started laughing at my reaction, and I quickly understood that it was a joke. A very bad one I must say.

“Chill, we already passed that territory yesterday and we have no intentions to return there,” she said and gave me a wink.

“You can come with us,” June suggested. I didn’t know how to reply to that, so I stood in my spot with my mouth gaping open.

January squealed excitedly and hugged me tightly. I didn’t know what to say or do about that either. These two complete strangers, who I have only just met, are already accepting me as one of their own. I hugged January back slowly and June joined us for a group hug. It felt like we were long-lost friends.

After parting from our group hug we all searched for my bag pack that I had dropped. January continued to ask me every question possible about my old pack. Yes, definitely my old pack now. I’m officially a member of the “awesome threesome” pack now. A certain January Haley Newman held the position as the Alpha, Templar Sarah Wayne as the Beta, and June Nicolette Newman was the third-in-command.

Even without having to ask I was told everything about June and January. January was 15 and June was 19. They worked in different jobs to survive. They even told me information like their wolf colour; which by the way was black for the both of them.

The colours of wolves were often black, brown, red, grey... “And White”, June told us.

“Oh, come on June, it’s a stupid myth,” January said, looking at her sister in disbelief.

“No. The White wolf will arrive soon. When the time is right,” June replied looking ahead.

“Only the ancestor of that Firelight pack’s Alpha was a white wolf,” January replied in irritation.

“You’ll see soon,” June replied wryly. She bent down and picked up my backpack from the sand at her feet. Had it been lying there all this time?

“Let’s go to the motel and gather our belongings. Let’s leave this territory ASAP,” June commanded strictly.

“Hey, I’m your Alpha,” January snapped.

I walked towards the water and looked at the moon still present in the morning sky. If this was what the Moon Goddess had chosen for me, then I was more than content.

“Not again!” January yelled and pulled me away from the water before I could jump back in like she thought I would.

SIX MONTHS LATER

“Here’s your change mam,” I told the elderly lady politely and handed her, her change. She smiled at me sincerely and I returned it.

It’s been six months now. Six months since I met June and January and joined them in a pack of three. Both were the best thing I could have ever asked for. I loved my life now. Of course, we used to have to constantly change locations and territories so none of the Packs caught us, but after reaching the Lockwood pack’s territory we were able to stop and settle down in the one place, and we’ve been for the last three months. It is far enough away from both the territories of the Greenrock and Waterwave packs, so we all felt safe staying here. We had all grown tired of running. June asked the Alpha of the Lockwood pack permission to stay in his pack territory and he granted it. We’ve been here ever since.

Jan and I were studying in the local convent school that offered free education to girls. After school I work in a diner waiting tables, while Jan worked at a local photo studio. With how great of a photographer she is, I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she owned her own studio. June, both our legal guardian, worked at a petrol station to earn money.

Like I said earlier, I loved my life. There were financial problems, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying everything else I now had. We had to live in a place worse than the garage I used to be forced to live in, in my old pack, but it was still a home.

June was very protective of me. She kept telling me that she knew one day I would shift and even started training me for it. We were more than a pack, we were family.

January was the baby of our little family. Apparently, she found my name too big to pronounce and gave me the nickname “Tem”. She gave herself the nickname “Jan”.

Suddenly, the whole diner went silent. I wondered what was going on for a moment, until I saw a guy standing in the doorway. He wore dark jeans, a black shirt, and a black thick leather jacket over it that matched his jet black hair.

He entered the now quiet diner, taking only three steps before pausing and quickly looking around. Everyone in the diner was looking at him with curious eyes, and he was staring at one person after the other. It was like he was searching for someone. His stare was very intimidating.

When his eyes met mine, I saw that his eyes were a nice olive green. He was really handsome to look at and I roved over his toned body appreciatively. He eyed me critically, studying for something, but I had no idea what. I really didn’t appreciate something in his stare and lowered by gaze, looking anywhere but him. The way he looked at me was setting off every danger signal in my head and putting them on high alert. Okay, he was really handsome, but I knew he was dangerous too. Very dangerous.

I could feel him still staring at me and I didn’t like it. I got irritated by his stare and raised my lashes, staring right back. I didn’t want to back down as soon as I met his gaze. I started to grit my teeth when he didn’t look away and I noticed him clench his jaw. I was angry and felt my whole body shaking with it. I wasn’t going to back down and neither was he. I have no idea where this sudden courage I felt came from, but I was going to make sure I used it effectively.

Suddenly he looked away and turned his back on me, quickly leaving the diner. Once he was out of sight the alarms in my head turned off and I was able to relax. I didn’t know who this ‘dangerous guy’ was, but I definitely didn’t like or trust him.

Checking my watch I saw that it was 7pm. It was around the time Jan would come and meet me here. That was our routine; both June and Jan came to the diner at night for dinner, then we would go back to our single room flat from here. June arrived after Jan at around 7:30.

I waited ten minutes for Jan to show, then gave up waiting and headed towards her studio. I stood frozen in place when I saw two men holding Jan and trying to force her into a car.

After a moment my mind got over the shock and I started running towards her, shouting in fear, “Jan!”

One of the men noticed me and he looked up. His eyes were pitch black; the colour of a shifter. He gave me a wicked smirk and hurried to sit inside the car after Jan and his buddy.

They were gone before I could reach them and save her. I turned on my heel and raced to the nearby payphone on the side of the road to call June. I looked up and saw that she was running towards the studio with speed that was not humanly possible.

“June!” I called out to her.

She looked to me, and then she was standing in front of me a moment later. “Which way did they go?” she asked, not even out of breath from her run. It didn’t take me much to realise that June knew what had happened from Jan communicating through the pack link to her.

I pointed in the direction the car had driven off in and she gave a nod. “The time has come. Let’s go. I need to take you there with me,” she said firmly.

I didn’t understand what she meant, but before I could ask her to explain, she grabbed my hands and started running towards the woods, dragging me along with her.

When we were far enough away from the road that no one would be able to see us, she stripped down and handed me her clothes. She shifted into her black wolf a moment later. I climbed onto her back and she started running with her supernatural speed towards the north. It occurred to me not long after we started north, that to reach the Waterwave pack we would have to cross through Greenrock’s territory. That had me scared and worried.