V Y X E N

15.

"He's here!" Crystal squealed, jumping on the ball of her feet, she grinned stupidly at Arisa and Olivia who stood beside her at the deserted bus stop, Olivia rolled her eyes, yawning, her eyes still puffy and droopy from her rude awakening earlier that morning.

It had been a week since the odd event of Olivia collapsing right before Arisa's eyes, no one made mention of it and Arisa wasn't sure if she was relieved or anxious.

"Ugh, Lydia stop with the excessive jumping" Olivia growled in irritation, holding her head, Lydia pouted folding her arms "buzz kill"

Olivia grumbled under her breath before slipping unto the seats available at the bus stop, Arisa followed a few seconds later, holding Olivia's hand, she released a sigh of relief when Olivia didn't flinch at the contact.

The day afterward when she had woken up Arisa couldn't even walk two feet from her without Olivia flinching, her brother had taken her to see the people she had helped. she tried to look for her Mother but she had locked herself away. refusing to see Arisa.

Crystal grumbled to herself, holding her phone above her head in hopes of gaining better service, she stomped her foot, heading further away from the girls, Arisa pulled her sweater closer to herself, wishing the sun was out to warm the chilly atmosphere, she had always had mixed emotions about Winter, often times it made her feel lonely and depressed and other times it was like she was in a completely different world, and every fresh coating of snow was a promise of new adventures.

She didn't know how she felt about her Autumn being cut short, she loved that about Berbease, the lengthy autumn, and very short winter, it seemed to be the exact opposite here.

The trees were just beginning to lose their leaves, she sighed, cupping her hands, the mist from the early morning dew moistening her hands with small sprinkles of water.

A van rolled up, just beside the bus stop, the front door of the grey pickup truck opened with a creek and she heard heavy boots hitting the pavement, she felt Olivia stir beside her and she watched as a frown made its way across her features, she stood slowly and Arisa sat in confusion noticing the man had halted and he too stared at Olivia, his brown eyes widening slightly when they rested on Olivia's still form. Arisa felt the air spark with electric charges and immediately she felt slightly off, as if something inside her was dreading this. . . them, she frowned about to stand when a distant squeal caught her attention before Arisa could so much as turn a flash of pink raced past her vision and Crystal was wrapped around the new comer's chest, she couldn't help but roll her eyes, a soft smile playing on her lip.

She felt Olivia grab her arm in a vice-like grip and squeezed painfully, Arisa squealed in pain and Olivia released her slowly, Arisa held the offended hand and glared at Olivia but it quickly turned into a worried frown when she registered her pale-faced best friend.

"Liv are you-" before she could finish her sentence Olivia's hand flew to her mouth and she gagged "Oh God!" Arisa breathed, rubbing Olivia's back as she dry heaved.

Crystal untangled herself from the man's torso and ran towards Olivia "Livvy!"

"I'm fine" Olivia snapped quickly. Before shaking her head "I'm sorry, I just need to leave" she muttered, walking towards Crystal''s moms car, "We can't leave Crys-"

"She's fine, he has a van" she snapped sliding into the driver seat, Arisa rolled her eyes and slipped into the passenger side and immediately Olivia began the engines.

Arisa turned to see Crystal and the newcomer kissing passionately, she shook her head and returned her attention to the inside of the car only to see Olivia gripping the steering wheel tightly, her knuckles ghastly white.

"Liv?"

"Let's not Arisa!."

Arisa lay in Crystal''s bed three hours later, watching the afternoon sun blaze in the sky, she sighed. She didn't know where Olivia had taken off to the minute her feet touched the asphalt driveway of Crystal's home, their temporary residence as per the Alpha's request.

Crystal hadn't returned and Arisa had expected to be bored beyond comprehension but her mind had not given her the liberty of just enjoying a lazy afternoon.

Another sigh tore through her lips as she turned away from the window, Olivia's break down a few days prior was still a mystery to them, and Arisa kept mulling over the events, trying to figure out exactly what happened, she had asked a simple question, 'why did Olivia react that way?' she thought aloud.

She remembered the way the Alpha stared at her as if he was accusing her of something . . then how quickly he dismissed her.

Feeling her heart beat quicken she huffed in annoyance, he had pushed her, teased her and bossed her around in the few days she had been in his presence yet just a little over a week without seeing him and all she could think about was his eyes, the way he made her lose herself in their dark depths.

She groaned loudly, using a pillow to cover her face, there was a knock on the door and she sat up quickly, blowing her Afro from her face, a few seconds later the door opened and Rojjana, Crystal's mother poked her head through, she smiled at Arisa "I'm about to head to the restaurant, seems the girls have abandoned you, would you like to help me out, I'm short today?"

Arisa smiled nodding, quickly detangling herself from the sheet, glad to finally have something to do.

Arisa slipped into the passenger seat beside Rojjana after saying goodbye to David, Crystal's Father, he was a quiet man and had simply quirked an eyebrow from his place behind the bushes when Arisa had waved, she definitely knew where Crystal didn't get her personality from.

Rojjana turned the radio down "Today's Thursday so I'm bringing donations to the children's center, the orphanage and women's crisis center" she cleared her throat.

"I use to visit the asylum, but found it best to just transfer funds to their account"

"wow, that's amazing!"

She smiled, shrugging "I am the chairman of the community board, it's mostly about charity, taking care of the families of those we've lost to-" she cleared her throat, shaking her head.

Parking in the parking lot Rojjana cut the engine "Lost them to what?" Arisa asked softly, Rojjana smiled warmly at her "You wouldn't understand Arisa"

Arisa walked slowly through the corridor, her mind going over Rojjana's words. She felt as if there was something there, lurking just below the surface and if she figured out just what it was she'd finally understand what everyone was skirting around.

this place isn't for you.

Her Mothers words rang in her head and for the hundredth time she wondered why she didn't just listen to them and keep her head down, she sighed reaching for an apron when Olivia's voice stopped her.

"you need to tell her" Olivia snapped in irritation, Arisa watched through the narrow end of the door as Olivia poked Crystal's boyfriend in the chest with a finger that she quickly withdrew upon impact.

"how am I suppose to tell her!" he countered, running his finger through his sleek dark hair. "I never wanted this Olivia" he sighed, sagging his shoulder, "What do you mean by you don't want this?" she asked in disbelief taking a step back.

"Crystal understands me Olivia, I don't want pack life Okay?, this race is dying and I don't want to be a part of it!"

"You're a coward that's what you are!" Olivia growled, Arisa heard the crack in her voice and gripped the wall to remain where she was and not run to comfort her friend, from her position behind the door she could see the flash of yellow that illuminated Olivia's black eyes.

"A coward that'll be alive at the end of all of this" he snarled, storming through the opposite door, Arisa held her breath when Olivia turned towards the door, a few seconds passed of her just staring at the wall at the far end of the room before she released a frustrated groan and began marching towards the door, Arisa ducked into the nearest room which turned out to be the pastry section of Rojjana's massive kitchen.

She stared into the eyes of the baker as he gave her a suspicious stare, he was still hunched over the massive oven, baking sheet filled with patties, she gave the baker a toothy grin and took the apron from a hanger right above his head with her grin still in place she took the tray of croissants with her as she headed to the front of the restaurant, When she finally arrived at the front desk she released a breath, sagging in relief, somehow it felt as if she shouldn't have heard that, and even though she did, she couldn't make heads nor tail it.