High Moon Academy

Chapter 12 - POV Charlie - Unexpected Feelings

As we got our food and sat at a table in what seemed like the middle of the cafeteria, that smug little smile came across Martins' face again. Oh how I want to knock that smile off his face while simultaneously melting away from it. What is wrong with me? UGH.

“So, you must be the Charlie that everyone has been talking about. To be honest, I thought you’d be bigger. I can’t say I’m upset by what I’m seeing though.” He winked and let his eyes linger up and down for a moment.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, and if you want this conversation to go any further, I suggest you keep your eyes at eye level.” I saw him laugh at this and though I did enjoy his attention, I’m not letting any man think he too can use me as eye candy, I’m way to bad*ss for that!

“Okay, okay, I’m only joking. I’m just referring to the run in you had when getting here. Everyone’s heard about how you had to fight off the rogues, and the guards took their sweet time showing up. The way the guards made your fighting skills sound I almost expected a Lycan, but you, my dear, are way too cute and tiny to be any kind of Lycan.” Rolled my eyes at that. Here he goes again with his little and tiny comments, though part of me is happy he thinks I’m cute.

Interesting that apparently everyone knows I was attacked by rogues, but no one mentions Mr. Creepy. Even that day, the head guard didn’t mention him. Did I make him up, no, I couldn't have. Though why did no one mention him?

‘He had a weird sense about him, Charlie. If we hadn’t been working together I don’t think we would have sensed him either.’ Agree.

Just then I was thankful when I saw Marissa and Jasmine both had trays of food and were headed towards our table. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep up my banter with Martin for too long, without bringing up Mr. Creepy. I’m not sure if I’m ready to share those kinds of details with anyone yet. Also, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep my hands off this guy. As cocky as he is, he’s also super hot and fit . How did Naylee make it seem so easy in tree hill?

‘Easy, it was all scripted. Just calm down and concentrate. We are awesome, any wolf would be lucky to be seen with us, and leave thoughts of Mr. Creepy alone for now.’ Geeze wished I had my wolf's confidence. I laughed in my head.

“Hey guys, can we join you?” Marissa smiled knowingly at me.

“Of course. Hi I’m Charlie, you’re Jasmine, right?” I held out my hand to Marissa's friend, as they sat down.

“Oh hi, yeah that's me. I wanted to say I loved watching you fight today. You're pretty rugged out there. I haven't seen many people be able to fend off ole Martin here like that in a while. Well, no one besides our future Alpha that is.” Her compliment was pleasantly appreciated, she was so sweet and honest. Maybe having more girlfriends wouldn’t be so awful or hard after all. I also took note that, apparently, Martin and Jasmine must be in the same pack as well. Actually, now that I’m looking at them, they kind of look similar too.

“Hey now Jasmine, don't be spilling all my secrets to the girl on the first day. I need my edge to keep ahead of her.” He laughed and I felt this sense of comfort wash over me in his presence.

“Don’t worry about it Jasmine, I don’t need any help to eventually take down this one. He’s got a bunch of tells.” I smiled smugly and saw Martin's jaw drop. He reached over and tried to tickle me.

“Hey, stop, don't you dare!” I screamed out. Eventually, I playfully punched him in the arm and he stopped. I looked around the table at our group and I could tell by the smiles on my Marissa and Jasmines' faces that they knew I enjoyed Martin's attention a little more than normal.

“Alright, alright, but Jasmine's right. You’re awesome. Where did you learn to fight?” I turned to look at him and smirked.

“I’ve been training with my brother and the warriors in our pack for as long as I can remember. My dad thought I could still learn a thing or two and sent me here, to eventually pummel all you trainees into the ground.” I winked, and laughed.

.

“I wouldn’t doubt that for a moment. What pack are you from anyways?” He moved a little closer to me and our legs touched and my breath hitched. He looked me in the eyes and smiled and I felt my heart beat speed up. Dang it, we’re wolves. He will be able to hear what he’s doing to me. Telling by his smile, I can see that he knows exactly what he’s doing. I’m so flushed I can barely think.

“We are from the Silver Moon Pack, I’m the Gamma's daughter. Charlie here is our future Beta, her twin brother is our future Alpha, what about you two?” I mindlinked Marissa to tell her how thankful I am for her answer. She clearly saw my distress. She slyly winked and responded by saying what friends are for.

“Oh wow that's really cool! I’ve never heard of a future beta without a mate.” Internally rolled my eyes. Here comes the macho response of a girl can’t be a beta s**t.

“You’ll make an awesome Beta!” I looked at him and smiled, like a real smile, eyes crinkled, teeth showing. I’ve known this guy all of five minutes and he already thinks I’d make an awesome Beta. I have to try and stop myself from throwing my arms around him and kissing him right now. Wo, where did that image come from?

‘I don't know, but I didn’t mind the visual’ my wolf is so hot for Martin. Why wouldn't she be, he's hot, a good fighter, funny, and we are wolves, we are s****l creatures and, being we haven't found our mate yet, we have needs. Needs that I’m sure Martin would have no problem fulfilling.

“Martin here is actually my brother, we are from the Shadow Moon Pack, we are the current Betas kids.” On hearing that I instantly stop. I never really thought about the fact I could meet people from my mother's old pack. They seemed so familiar. I wonder if that's because our packs are still slightly connected or maybe I met them when I was younger.

“Oh wow I didn’t know any of the Shadow Moon pack kids came here. My mother was a former pack member, Isabelle Woods. Does your current Alpha attend here?” I have this need to find out just which family took over for my mom. I’m not sure why. Maybe it's because the idea that they will just choose a new family if the current Alpha and their descendants refuse the Alpha seat confuses me still, or just my own curiosity.

“Oh that's so wonderful, everyone speaks so highly of your family. We are so sorry for what happened to your grandparents. Actually, that's why our future Alpha isn't here. He’s in his second year at the academy but he had to go home for a bit to help deal with a rogue problem. His dad was getting on in years and Max wanted to help him secure the borders before coming back. He should be back by the next mating ball if not sooner.”

Max, hmmm that name feels almost familiar to me. I enjoy how it rolls off my lips. I wonder if we had met when we were kids before the untimely demise of my grandparents. It’s not unusual for packs to have rogue problems but I hope my mothers old pack isn’t under constant siege or anything.

‘Ug why am I so concerned about Shadow Moon, I haven't even been there in sixteen years.’

‘It’s still a part of you, and it's easy to care about something that used to be a part of you. Especially when you know that people might get hurt by rogues. Our instincts always want to help out those in need. It's what will make us a good beta someday.

Clearly, everyone just continued talking while I had this internal dialogue with my wolf. When I came back to the conversation, Marissa had apparently decided we were all going out to some club on campus called Wolf City on Friday. I haven't been dancing without guys before, so this could be interesting. I take the chance to smile up at Martin and he smiles back, my stomach flips a bit. Though something else deep inside me feels like I'm betraying something by feeling this way. Martin grabs my hand and squeezes it. I smile and we continue talking until the bell rings to go to the next class.