4. Rain
An old alarm clock that I keep on the coffee table usually wakes me up around 5 AM. I am so used to getting up so early that sometimes I wake up before the alarm goes off. Today is one of those days. There are a few minutes left until it is 5 in the morning, and I lay awake on the mattress listening to the rain falling outside. It is funny how my name is also Rain. I don’t even know if it was raining when I was born or if my mother or father liked how it sounded and decided to name me that. It is kinda ironic; I’ve never liked the rain, not since I am the one that has to spend the entire day on my knees, cleaning the floors. Sure, there are mops, but the one I had broke months ago, and a new one is yet to be purchased.
When the alarm lets me know it is time to get up, I reluctantly turn it off. For once, I want to stay longer in bed and read or draw. Soon I will be able to do that and much more. There are only three weeks left until my birthday, and I am counting down the days.
I kick the quilt to the side and get up. Since my room is basically the old laundry room, some water pipes are along the walls, and I use them to hang my clothes. I grab a towel and clean clothes and head to the half bathroom I was given to use.
Since half bathroom don’t have showers, I had to improvise when it comes to getting clean so I’ve installed a hose to the sink. The water is cold, most of the time. If I am extra lucky, it can be lukewarm, but not today. I grit my teeth and take a quick cold-as-the-North Pole shower before I get dressed, tie my hair in a ponytail, and head to the kitchen.
The Packhouse is quiet at this time in the morning. Well, not really, since werewolves have better hearing than humans, and I can hear babies crying, shushings, or… the squeak of beds…. A pack rarely has secrets. Over time, I learned how to tune it out, and now I can barely hear the sounds made by the others.
After I leave the kitchen and the dining room ready for breakfast, I start cleaning the floors. Rain always brings mud, and children that run outside or jump into puddles.
It is past noon when the grey clouds finally disappear, giving way to a bright July sun. I am on the first floor, cleaning the windows, when someone stops behind me. I don’t need to smell his scent to know who he is—Jordan. By now, I probably recognize everyone by the sound of their steps.
“What is it?” I ask.
Tomorrow is a big day for him, I guess. He turns twenty-two, an age at which many Alphas are already mated. Maybe he wants the Packhouse spotless for when the unmated females arrive. I really hope one of them carries the scent that will make his wolf want to court her. It is the first sign that lets a male know his mate is close, but only when they touch, skin on skin, will they know for sure if the Goddess linked their souls for eternity. There are times when, if the male had been looking for his mate for years, the wolf would pick a scent that he liked in the hopes that they would find the one. Jordan hasn’t been waiting for that long, but the pack’s current Luna—Jordan’s mom—is sick, and the pressure on him to find his mate is immense.
Sometimes when a mate dies, the Goddess will give them another mate. Rejected mates are rare, and they are almost never granted another mate, as the link that ties their souls together almost never disappears. It is only weakened.
I think it is like a slap in the face, to the Goddess, to refuse the one she made for you.
“To have a word with you,” Jordan tells me.
He… what?
Jordan doesn’t speak; he… demands.
I turn around to face him. My sketchbook is in his hands, a scowl on his face—or at least that’s what Safia lets me know. A cigarette is behind his right ear, and I bet it won’t take long before he lights it and starts smoking.
“I have looked at your drawings,” he starts saying after a few moments of silence. “They are not bad, but neither are they good. The one of Titan is terrible though, so I threw it where it belongs, in the garbage.”
Does this asshole have any idea how much work I put into drawing Titan? Not only did I had to spy on him one night when he was running, I also had to remember all the details perfectly. While I can’t see human faces, I have no problem with animals.
I don’t understand Safia’s crazy obsession with Titan. I really wish she would have chosen another wolf. Not someone from this pack. Apart from Jordan’s bullying and the way everyone treats me… there are other things that have… happened to me.
“May I have them back?” I ask, hoping I can go back to cleaning the windows. I still have a thousand things to do, today. “And my backpack?”
Jordan puts the cigarette in his mouth, takes a lighter, and lights it. He takes a few puffs while looking at me. At least, that’s what I think he is doing. Safia is watching him attentively. Is she obsessed with him now too? I hope not.
After letting ashes fall on the freshly scrubbed floor, Jordan says, “Meet me by the waterfall at 9 PM.”
The waterfall is in the forest, about twenty minutes away from the pack. Jordan knows I can’t possibly make it on time.
“Where Elly usually goes to dance?” I ask, wanting to be sure we are talking about the same place.