James Khöller's Story

Adrian thought he had made it through undetected, before the new boy crashed into his legs. He had, of course, been aware of the boy's presence, but hadn't expected him to come wandering out of the library so blithely.

"Woah easy there champ," he chuckled, grinning down at Ares, "pretty early to be in the library. Find anything interesting in there? Help yourself anytime, goodness knows I wish some of the others would take an interest. There's quite a few old volumes on the pack's record if you're interested, we've been here a few generations. If it takes your fancy, I'll introduce you to my dad sometime. He was one hell of an alpha in his day. Fought off the most dangerous pack of rogues the town's ever seen. It's a great story, all the guys and gals here have heard it."

He shook his head at the way Area flinched. But even so, there was something different about the boy. Slowly but surely he seemed to be coming out of his shell. Adrian decided not to point it out or make a big thing of it. Just be casual. Especially when James turned up.

"Good man." he said to his son, "Why don't you take Ares for breakfast, I think at least one person's already been in there...Kathy I think."

He ruffled Ares' hair and then continued towards the safe-room.

Ares looked up as the beating didn't come and he quickly grasped the book and held it in front of his chest protectively. He gave the Alpha a quick apologize and a deep bow then left with James and walked into the kitchen. There, he saw the girl he had angered yesterday and he looked at her fearfully, unsure of how to act. But she didn't seem mad, she had even apologized to him yesterday. But it was all his fault. Ares guessed he had to come and apologize for not shaking hands with her, too. There was also another girl there. Hesitantly, he took a step forward and stuttered "...I-I..."

He took a deep, shaky breath and tried again, this time managed to speak a full sentence without stuttering "...I'm sorry for yesterday..." He looked at his hand, unsure if he should offer his hand to her but he had promised himself yesterday that he wouldn't be such a weakling anymore. Taking another deep breath, Ares mentally counted '...1...2...3...4...' and when he seemed to calm down again, Ares pressed his eyes tightly shut and thrust his hand forward "...IamAresItisapleasuretomeetyou..." He said as quickly as he could and then blushed bright red as he realized he just spoke in a none-exist language. He fidgeted uncomfortably and waited for her answer, his eyes darted back and forth between James' form, the other girl's form and Ray's form.

Gavin walked in the front door, taking a passive notice that Jac's motorcycle wasn't outside yet. Good. It gave him time to change. He came in and shut the heavy door behind him. Excitement rippled through his spine, it often did before a party. It was intensified by the moon nearing its fullest glory. Oddly, this was the best time to be out at a party. To Gavin, while transforming was painful, there was something liberating about it. To be such a... powerful being. And while the urge to let his wolf free danced at the surface of his skin as something falsely rapturous, Gavin never let himself get passed the point of truly poor judgement around the humans. Never.

He wandered up the stairs to his bedroom, his mind swimming in anticipation of the bonfire. He opened his backpack and stared at the rose in his backpack. It had already started to wilt, and its scent was only faint, having absorbed the other scents of its holder. Gavin hated the rose. It told him without words the reality he did not want to face. Ever. He thought about setting the damn thing on fire. Then decided against it, and shoved it under his pillow instead.

Tonight was, quite possibly, his last night of freedom. Of true freedom. The next party wouldn't be until next week, and by then surely whoever he was meant to be with would inform him. Just to get her stupid wolf. Then she'd put him on a leash and probably never let him have any fun again. While he never let himself indulge in who his mate could be, Gavin did so now. He mentally sorted through each girl in the pack- Lyra, Reina, Kathy, Anya, Dante- (he wouldn't let himself think of Jac). Lyra would be the most difficult to swallow. He admired her- his wolf admired her. She was a fine young woman, with passionate drive... But she was too much into controlling and leadership. He liked her, but could he love her? Reina, a trouble maker for sure, and still more liberating. Probably more tolerant of his frowned-upon behavior. He could be content with her. Kathy was pretty, and he thought her clumsiness was cute. Though he felt like if he was with her, he'd always have to be around. Anya would be fine, she deflected his mother with ease-so did Jac- which would make holidays more tolerable. She was, no doubt, a fine young woman- they all were.

Dante. Gavin's insides seared. There was no possible way it would be Dante. If it was Dante, he'd... he'd...

Gavin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his freckled nose. He decided he was thinking about this too much. Tonight was supposed to be fun, and he was already going downhill. Instead he let himself think that it was Jac- even if just for tonight. His anger suddenly vanished and he quickly changed into a pair of shorts and one of his band tees- tonight was an Escape the Fate kind of night. He snickered at the irony.

Backpack ready, Gavin shut his door and headed downstairs to the porch to meet Jac. Between the time he got to the house and was in his little mental turmoil, Jac had come home. A big grin that couldn't be repressed spread over his face when he saw her standing there out on the porch. He swung the door open and stepped out.

"Hey, you ready?"

Reina strolled leisurely in up to the pack house. Waving goodbye to her friends she took the steps two at a time and burst into the house. Ray bounced into the kitchen and began to dig through the fridge. Shifting aside the celery and apples Ray found a jar of peanut butter lurking at the back of the fridge. Ray grabbed a spoon and started to eat it straight from the jar.

Reina had ditched school for the second half of the day after showing up late in the morning. She had absolutely no doubt that she was going get detention tomorrow. But Ray was always in trouble for one reason or another so it didn’t bother her. Reina spotted Dante and James and strolled over, peanut butter jar in hand. She had yet to actually talk to Dante. Ray wasn't quite sure of what to make of her. On the one hand she already had one enemy in the pack,and Ray disliked anyone who was mean to people in her pack. But Ray didn't know the whole story and if Dante was going to be in the house for a while Ray figured she should get to know her.

Ray grinned as she approached the two, “Hey guys, what you up to?” Ray knew that the full moon was coming up. She couldn’t help but wonder if some of the older girls had figured out their mates. After all, a few people had been spending a lot of time together. It would be nice to have a few girl werewolves in the house for a change.

"Hold on a second." Gavin said, and turned to Dante, sitting across from James on the porch. Now that he knew more about... what had happened, he felt a little more like he understood Dante's pain. Though he'd never say it like that to her, that was a recipe for disaster. He shared a quick glance with James before clearing his throat and looking at Dante.

Damn, her and Jac really did look alike...

"I'm sorry, Dante, for being unnecessarily rude to you since you arrived." His eyes didn't leave her. "That is all." He wanted to say more, but wasn't sure what would cause an uproar, so he settled on this simple apology. Without really giving her time to respond, Gavin smiled in that boyish way of his and left to follow Jac into the house.

"If I remember correctly, it's a formal dress code, right?" He asked, looking down at his beach wear. "I don't want to stand out too much. And you might want to change, too."

Jac hesitated at the top of the stairs. She knew she looked good in her little black dress that hugged her every curve in all the right places with her heels that made her legs look longer than the miles they already seemed….but what if he didn’t think she was pretty? What if he thought that she was trying too hard for him? Doubt riddled her confidence with holes, an unpleasant feeling for someone like her. She was complete confidence….she was Jacquelyn Marie, she feared nothing….not even rejection from her---her mind snapped off the thought as if it was a trap to think about….to hope for. She stepped down the stairs just after Lyra—and just in time to watch Gavin make an escape from her. She frowned and felt a strange feeling, fear, well in her chest. She bit her lip and steeled herself. She smiled at people along the way, greeting Kiyoshi, and Ares with grins. She winked at Lyra and patted Ares on the head as she passed by.

She stepped into the kitchen only to see Gavin make yet another escape….right to a beautiful new comer. She watched as Gavin greeted her in a friendly way….and it was more than she could handle. A wall of emotions rose in her. Fury, Jealously, Fear, disbelief, and Sorrow—she clamped down on it and turned away, back towards the living room. Time to give her gift to the birthday girl. She sighed and used all her will power to flush thoughts of Gavin from her mind.
She focused on the gift she had gotten her young friend. The Complete Guide of Pranks. All the most famous gags in one book. She knew she’s love it.
She smiled happily and was glad she had thought ahead…

Dante and James where on their way back from the store, a huge box in the back of her car, and in that box a box and in that box a box and so on….until you hit the very middle which held a small silver necklace with ‘Reina’ on it. Dante sincerely hoped she liked it. They had searched several stores in hopes of finding the right necklace and finally they had. They pulled into the driveway of the house and she got out, before getting the large, yet very light, box out of the back. It was wrapped in bright red paper with a pale gold bow. She smiled in excitement and waited forJjames to get out of the car and follow her in.

Kathy chewed her lip only somewhat satisfied by Tai’s reply. It was difficult to believe there was no smoke without fire, and the thought of rogues in particular made her feel extremely nervous. She had wondered before what would happen if a full scale attack on the house did take place. Sure there were a lot of wolves in the pack, but a majority of them didn’t even have their wolves yet. How much use could they be?

She was greatful that Tai took over bringing in the food, and smiled as she walked across to the dining room. The party seemed to be well underway, and music was already playing. Dancing was one thing Kathy wouldn’t be trying out, she had nineteen left feet! Even so, it felt good and she tapped her foot as people milled around. Adrian ran out to get the door when the bell went and she wondered who it could be, remembering that it could potentially be a teacher from the school. Best find somebody to hide behind.

She saw James giving Reina her present and scooted over towards him. “Hi James,” she said, “were you with the new girl? How is she getting on? Seemed to be a little tense with her and Jac last night.”

Ray turned as James approached her" Happy birthday Ray," he said as he walked over to her, "I'll give you your present a bit later, once everything's cooled down a bit." She nodded appreciatively, in the midst of all that was happening there was no way she’d be able to properly thank him or enjoy her present.

Ray had just responded, “Sounds good, Thanks.” When Kathy walked up. “Hi James,” she said, “were you with the new girl? How is she getting on? Seemed to be a little tense with her and Jac last night.”

Ray snorted and couldn’t help but remark, “ A little tense? Try killing-each-other-with-their-eyes intense.” There was so much drama in the pack house now. Ray couldn’t help but smile, she’d known it was coming. They were, after all, a house full of werewolves.

Ray turned towards James, anxiously awaiting his answer. She had a million and one questions about recent events, and no answers. Hopefully James could solve one mystery for her.

However, her thought process was interrupted when her teacher, Mr.Dean, arrived in a Panda suit. As he walked in Adrian shouted, ” "Here comes the entertainment!" Ray let out a cackle that probably would have made most people worry about her sanity and the state of her moral compass.

"Evening everyone." he said, trying to act as if people might not notice he was dressed as a panda. "Happy birthday Reina." Ray was still grinning. At least her costume party ploy had worked with one person, and at least that person had been her teacher.

Ray strolled up to Mr.Dean with her hands behind her back, looking as innocent as someone who has just pranked their teacher can look. Ray smiled as she walked up to Adrian and Mr.Dean, “Hi Adrian, hi Mr.Dean.”

Ray paused a second before adding, “You know, I must say Mr.Dean, your outfit this evening is stunning.”

Ares stiffened as he heard his name was mentioned in the conversation between Kiyoshi and Lyra and he looked up from his plate. Slowly, he swallowed his food and chewed his lips when he looked at their interactions. Suddenly, he felt really uncomfortable . He lowered his head and ate in silence, his bottom lip quivered slightly as he imaged himself as a third wheel between them. The tension between him and them raised but they didn't seem to notice as they were too busy showing their affections toward each other. Ares sighed. He didn't want to become a burden nor did he want to get between them in their private moment.

Pushing the half-finished plate away, Ares stood up abruptly and stuttered softly underneath his breath, the tension still was still visible on his face as his movements were stiffed and robotic "I-I-I n-n-need t-to g-go..." He bowed his head, his hair hid his eyes as he felt them began to water but he refused to let his tears fall. He was not weak! He had promised himself not to cry over such pathetic reasons anymore. And he definitely didn't feel like he was being left out.

He bit his bottom lip hard enough to shed some blood and he took a deep breath to stop himself from shaking. He repeated, his voice became steadier "I n-need to g-go to my r-room...I-I d-don't f-feel so g-good..." He didn't even want to wait for their responds as he pushed his chair away and nearly ran through the door. He ran passed several persons, including Ray, the Alpha, James and Kathy but didn't acknowledge any of them. He just continued to push his feet to walk faster and didn't even bother to watch where he was going.

Ironically, his feet leaded him to the wood and Ares sat down immediately, like a puppet with its strings being cut. He hugged his knees in a protecting position and he thought bitterly 'What's wrong with me? I should have felt happy for them. . . I. . . I shouldn't have felt so jealous like this. . . am I turning into a bad person? I shouldn't have been jealous of Lyra...she has accepted me, too and so has Kiyoshi...why am I being so selfish?...' His gripped his shirt, no...Kiyoshi's shirt tightly and began to rock back and forth 'I...I just can't stand it...in their picture...there is no room for me...' He grasped his hair and buried his face into his lap. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't cry over silly things like this. There was just dust in his eyes, that's all. Yeah, there's dust in his eyes right now. He clenched his teeth and mumbled "I'm a-a s-selfish b-b-bastard..."

Kathy looked between Reina and James, as the two of them clearly knew more about the situation with Jac and Dante than she did. It was also a little ominous that neither of them were around. She was going to probe with further questions, when Mr Dean walked in in his ridiculous costume. Kathy covered her mouth and fell into uncontrollable chuckles. She looked across at Reina.

"You got Mr Dean?" she laughed, "You nearly got Anya too didn't you. Sorry I might have blown the whistle with her."

She said it quietly and kept her head down. She didn't want Mr Dean to notice how much she was laughing. She also had a sudden realisation. "Ray, anyone else you think might be coming in costume unwittingly?"

“You think we should leave?” she asked just out of curiosity.

“It isn’t just MY choice…for fear of quoting a very bad movie…we are in this together. Now and, hopefully, forever.” Jac said her mind going back to Dante for a moment. Dante had tried to let her explain and she blew it…but she was tired of feeling like everything was her fault when it took two to start the war they were in.

“I wont make you leave if you don’t want to” she said meaning every word.

Dante watched everything in silence. She thought about maybe….following her sisters idea, and just ditching, but then she thought about James. Despite her past she liked him….and he seemed to like her….if only as a friend. She didn’t want to leave now, even if people didn’t like her, she didn’t want to leave yet….

Jeff smirked down at the small girl and shook his head with an expression that accepted his humiliation with good humour, but also assured her that he would be the wiser to her pranks in the future. Besides, more people were yet to arrive; there was still hope he wouldn't be the only one.

He heard the doorbell go again, and in the background Adrian groaned and went off to answer it, as he would no doubt be doing intermittently most of the night. Just like his father before him, Adrian liked to make a habit of greeting his guests personally...although he did it perhaps somewhat less graciously than his father had.

"Well you know Ray," he said good-naturedly, "sixteen is an important age in the life of a young wolf, so it's essential we all pay tribute in our own way. And perhaps it can be a reminder to all of us that no matter how old you get...you never stop learning things."

He grinned and looked around the room, noticing quite a few people seemed to have hurried off, and suppressing a small chuckle when he saw Duncan - whom he knew as usually a very serious guy - 'busting a few moves'. At the same time a couple more adults from town walked in with birthday cards and hand, and started saying hello and mingling. Lastly he laid his eyes on James, and gave him a friendly wave of his hand.

"Good to see you James," he said. "How you finding things lately? It's funny I remember when your father was your age. You're nothing like he was then." He added with a chuckle, "And believe me I mean that in a good way."

Jeff smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he doubted himself plenty in his time, but things have a way of falling into place. But part of Adrian's success was that he wasn't afraid to let the pack see him in his weak moments. There's something to be said for that. Remember, you don't have to be the best of the best all the time."

He patted his hand on James' shoulder and looked over at Duncan, who had been one of the first young wolves he'd taught at the community school after becoming a teacher. It had been fairly clear he'd always be a ripe candidate for beta. He walked over to him, snatching up a breaded cheese-stick on the way and dipping it in some guacamole.

"Hi Duncan," he said, "you well? How is your father doing these days?"

-------

The doorbell went again, only this time Adrian was busy laying out some more food to put in the oven, having just heard that a few more people were on their way, and noting that Tai was busy. He leaned out of the door and looked across the hallway for anybody who looked available.

"Anya!" he said, recognising the blonde and red, "Could you do us a favour and get the door? Just this once. Thanks!"

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Tai raised an eyebrow at Dante. Jac had left? Sure, the girl was...passionate, but would she really just pack her things and go? Or was this just a spat? She chewed her lip a moment, balancing the need to reassure Dante and to find out if Jac running off was anything to worry about seriously.

"Don't worry Dante," she said as calmly as she could, "I'm sure this is very new for both of you. People don't always act rationally when things change and nothing is more emotionally charged than family. Did she say where she might go?"

--------

Outside on the doorstep Tabby buried her hands in her pockets and stepped away from the door, having just rung the bell. The house really was quite impressive; how many people lived here? She didn't know if it looked much like the big house on the edge of her home town which had a similar sort of arrangement, but a part of her felt that coming here might feel a bit like fulfilling her lifelong wish of seeing inside that house back home. It just seemed so uncanny that there would be such a similar set-up.

She wasn't too worried about the people. That girl Lyra had seemed really nice, and the blonde one too who's name she couldn't remember or hadn't caught at the time. From outside she could hear music so the party was clearly underway, and she'd seen some people going in as she'd walked up the driveway. The only doubt in her mind was that she hadn't really been able to change into anything suitable for a party; she was just wearing skinny jeans, a black vest top under a black denim button-shirt. Hopefully people would cut her some slack for difficult circumstances.

Whatever happened, this would be more interesting than another evening having a greasy restaurant meal with Lance and pretending that she wasn't pissed off with him for taking her on this wild goose chase.

"Hey Ray." James said calmly, "Come with me later today." Ray thought for a second, it didn’t sound like he cared too much weather or not she came (Of course, he was James, he didn’t do caring), also she had told Kathy...

"We can go pick up your present." He added. Ray debated between presents and pranks for a few seconds before settling on presents. She and Kathy could prank Calvin another time, plus it seemed like Kathy was getting some beauty sleep. Presents only came once in a while.

“All right, then you have a deal.” Teasingly she added, “But know this, I am doing this for the present alone, so it better be pretty darn good.” She smiled to let him know she was kidding.

Standing up she stretched out her back before picking up her empty breakfast bowl and walking over to the kitchen sink. Ray was about to leave her bowl in the sink and move on when she heard Aziel talk, "Gavins sister eh?" He spoke lazily holding the cigarette between his forefingers "So are you his half-sister on his mums side or dads side? Cos to be honest the fact one of them cheated as a mated pair is kind of rare. S'not something most wolves tend to do after all, makes you a rare comoditty I suppose"

Ray let a smile slip before quickly hiding it behind a disinterested expression. Yes! This was exactly what she’d hoped for, he’d mentioned wolves and mates, Tabby would piece it together, and Tai was getting the situation under control…

Tabby had fixated on the implied cheating, not the whole mates and wolves thing, and it looked like Tai was getting Aziel out of the kitchen as quick as she could. It was that moment That Gavin, Jac, and Evon entered the kitchen. She internally groaned to hear Evon would be staying. That was more good news.

But her smile returned as she listened closely as Aziel blundered on unknowingly, "She not your mum then? You don't look like you know her" Well, it wasn’t what she’d hoped for, but maybe it could lead to a bit of clearing up on what was going on with Tabby and Gavin.

Ray began to wash out her bowl slowly while she secretly listened to hear what happened next. Tabby seemed almost forlorn at the site of Evon as she said, "No," she said weakly, "she's not my mum. I guess you're Gavin's...step-mother?"

Knowing it wasn’t like her to wash dishes, and Tai would no doubt see right through that charade, Ray turned to James. Perhaps if she acted like she was washing her dishes to talk to him…

“So, where are we going?” She asked, her eyes flitting over to where Tabby sat to see the girl’s reaction.
As Ray asked James Tai began to take charge of the situation, “Alright guys," she said pro-actively, "Aziel, please finish your cigarette outside. Evon, come with me and we'll get some breakfast put on and see which room you'll be staying in." She indicated for Gavin and Evon to follow her through to the dining room.

Ray ground her teeth, momentarily distracted from talking to James. Sometimes she loved that Tai was such a good Alpha’s mate, sometimes it was a pain in the Arse.

Ray caught Tabby looking at her, the girl looked like she could use some reassurance. She smiled at her and cheerily remarked, “Don’t worry Tab, it’s not always this crazy around the house, especially not in the morning.”