The Wolf, The Bird and The Siren

THREE

Ava

“No way Jada!! You two are not doing that! Sounds like bad news” Noah’s words were pointless, we all knew Jada would do whatever the heck she wanted. 

“I don’t get why you are getting all flustered. You have been nagging at me to take responsibility and now I find a job and you give me crap”

“You didn’t find a job, Jada! The man basically dumped it on you by paying that money. How are you going to travel to the bar in the city, almost an hour away, every night, and go to school at the same time? Plus you are not 21, you can’t even be a bartender.” Noah raises his arms exasperated. The four of us stand outside of the two large buildings that make up our group home, though we liked to call it home-sweet-hellhole. The boys’ side was on the left and the girls on the right, though it was a poor deterrent for a bunch of supernatural horny teenagers. 

“I may not be 21 but I am 18 and I can take care of myself. I have my wolf and school is over in a month. I will only be serving drinks, not making them. Besides Noah, this is an exclusive bar for supernaturals, it's a great opportunity to find a pack that would take us. And I am legally an adult little baby brother!” Jada pinches Noah’s cheeks and he swats her hand away, me and Emi try to hide our smiles at their exchange.

“Don’t call me that. I am only 6 months younger and I ain’t joining no pack thank you. How are you getting there though?” That was a good question, there were no trains or subway that could take them to D.C from our small suburb town. 

“Cleis is sending a car until we graduate” Jada said almost defiantly, and Noah only shakes his head. He turns to Emi.

“What about you Emi? Are you sure about this?” We all look at Emi. She crosses her arms, uncomfortable to have all of us stare at the same time. We are all overprotective of her. She had a horrible childhood, well we all did. That’s why we were here. But her nightmare had somehow managed to be worse and it didn’t stop when she arrived here. She had been relentlessly bullied until Jada befriended her. Jada and Noah had become her bodyguards and me, her source of encouragement. 

“I am sure. My Omega wolf might not be as strong as Jada’s Beta but I enjoy her company and advice” Emi looks to the floor and Jada uses two fingers to lift her chin. Jada smiles at her and I am sure Emi is remembering Jada’s advice to ‘hold yourself high’. She smiles hesitantly.

“Fine. But you have to tell Ms. Davidson” Noah looks at Jada again and I have a feeling he is trying to challenge her. 

“Oh, I already did. Well, Cleis did. He sent me a DM on our way back here and told me she approved.”

Jada puckers her lips at Noah and he just raises his eyebrows suspiciously. It looks like he wants to say something but he lets it go and turns to me. 

“Come on chickadee, let’s umm go”. Noah sounds nervous again and I remember the big mystery from earlier today.

“Go where? What’s so funny Ava?” Jada looks at Noah skeptically and I roll my eyes

“He is just being silly, some big secret he wants to tell me? Something about his new girlfriend I am sure” Only Emi smiles at my joke, Jada just looks at Noah, suddenly... angry?

“Oh I am sure that’s what it is about right Noah? But there are so many that I lost count.” Jada’s eyes darken and she becomes agitated. What on earth is going on!?

“You know what chickadee, I will tell you later. I am pretty exhausted after having to save Jada one more time. Goodnight guys” He turns around towards the boys’ area and Jada raises her voice in response

“Yea Noah go to sleep!”

“Okay...that was strange. Umm, what was that about?” Jada shakes her head at my question and side-hugs me and Emi, wrapping her arms around our shoulders. 

“Nah. It’s nothing babe. Just ignore him. He is nervous he’ll be turning 18 and not sure what will happen when he finds a mate since we are technically rogues.”

Jada says the word ‘rogues’ with more pride than she intends. We all know she really wants to join a pack. I just mumble an ‘mmmhmm’ and we make our way to our rooms. My room is closest to the entrance 

“Good night guys” I try to enter my room but Jada holds me captive under her strong arm. 

“Nope. not goodnight. We are going out. It's Friday and a car is coming for us in one hour. Put on your sexiest dress babe”

“What where? We have curfew Jada and we don’t have a permission slip for tonight. And you know I don’t have any sexy dresses” I look around the hallway and a few girls walk past us, some wave, and others just stare in an unfriendly way. Teenage girls are the worst. 

“Don’t worry about it. Just be ready in one hour, you smell like Noah. Gross. I’ll bring a dress”

…

“You didn’t tell Noah did you?” I say more than ask as I try to pull down on the really short bodycon dress that I borrowed from Jada. Since my legs are slightly longer the dress rides up.

“Of course not. He will either act as a petty bodyguard or disappear with a random girl all night. Not worth the effort babe. We gotta have fun tonight.” 

Maybe Jada is right. I certainly don’t want to witness Noah’s hormones on display for the second time today. 

“Emi, are you sure about this?” she smiles faintly at my question and her eyelids wiggle nervously.

“Umm yeah I think this will--”

“Of course she is sure Ava! She needs practice for tomorrow and to have fun. Maybe meet a hot guy at the bar and go hide with him in a dark corner” Jada side-hugs Emi and winks, Emi’s cheeks become slightly pink at the suggestion. A flashy car that I know nothing about makes its way to where we stand and stops. 

“What a ride! Ladies your carriage has arrived” Jada extends her arm in an exaggerated manner towards the car as a window rolls down. I unconsciously take a step back when I see the gorilla-I mean man, in the driver's seat. 

“I’m John. Cleis sent me for you” the man’s raspy voice matches his rough appearance. He is bigger than all three of us put together. He has a young-looking face except for the frown lines adorning his forehead. His eyes seem to be hiding some sort of threat and now I am not so sure about this. Sensing my apprehension, and clearly Emi’s since she is hiding behind us, Jada grabs our hands and whispers

“Calm down guys. He is one of Cleis’ bodyguards. That’s why he looks like that, I mean his job is to look scary” Jada waves at the man and he nods impatiently. She practically drags us to the car. Once we get in the back seat Jada chooses the front. 

The hour-long ride is loud with music but no one talks. Jada sings along and Emi joins in at times. I altogether avoid singing. My phone vibrates and I open up the DM right away. 

Hey Chickadee. I changed my mind. Can we talk now?

Does Noah still want to talk? I hate to lie but I don’t want Noah to be angry with Jada again. Plus it would be nice if for once I didn’t have to witness his player role on display, I know he will come looking for us. I send an apologetic text back after reading his text a hundred times.

So sorry Noah. I am in bed. Can we talk tomorrow? 

I stare at my phone screen for a response and it doesn’t take long to come

Sure. Goodnight 

I read the message and lock my phone. Ugh, why do I feel guilty? It’s not like I owe him anything. No it's not that. It's the lying. But who cares right? Everyone lies at some point...I try to convince myself it’s not a big deal but it’s not working. The car stops and I pull out my phone from the tiny purse Jada gave me. I step out of the car after Emi and begin to type a text.

Noah, actually we are at--

“Why are you obsessed with your screen babe” Jada snatches my phone and reads the screen. She raises her head again and looks at me tilting her head and clicking her tongue.

“I knew it!! Ava, you can’t tell him we are here. He will raise hell. He will not let anyone near us, especially you and Emi. Meanwhile, he will still find a way to hook up with someone. No!! This is supposed to be fun. I am keeping your phone”. She puts my phone in her coat pocket and raises an eyebrow, daring me. I give up and cross my arms.

We walk on the narrow sidewalk and pass restaurants, shops, and all kinds of bars. The night-life noises of downtown surround us as people laugh and talk to one another everywhere I look. I turn to Emi and notice she is looking around too

“You okay Emi? We can go if you want to.”

“No, no. I am great. I am glad we came, I look pretty today” She looks down at her silver dress. It makes her long black hair and tan skin pop. 

“You are always pretty Emi”

“Thanks, Ava. You are too”

I smile at her and notice the long line of people waiting to enter a particular bar. I look up to search for a name and find a black-and-gold sign that says Golden Apple. This must be it. Gorilla-John walks past the line and we follow along. People in line eye us either hatefully or with... thirst? Hard to describe. John whispers something to gorilla number two who stands by the door and he lets us in. The place is packed with people either sitting at the bar or gathered around odd-looking pieces of furniture. I start to feel a bit overwhelmed with the number of people around us in such a small space. I remember why I hate bars, not that I have been to many except for the one time Jada took me to one when I turned 17. Nearly a year ago, and of course, using a fake ID. This time there were no ID questions thanks to gorilla-John. I look behind me and search for the exit.

“Ava are you alright?” I follow Emi’s concerned voice and realize I am breathing harder than normal. My eyes widen and I try to speak but I can’t. 

“Jada! Jada! Ava is going to have an episode” Jada turns around and locks her gaze on me for a split second before she grabs my hand and pushes past a ton of people and gets closer to gorilla-John

“Jada what are you doing? We need to get out of here, not get in deeper!” Emi’s protest is lost in the commotion 

“Trust me Emi. I know what will help. John we need to hurry, my friend is claustrophobic” Gorilla John grunts something and pushes people away, we come to a set of stairs where another gorilla-man stands. The steps are narrow and I begin to back away. No way I am going there.

“Hey, babe trust me okay! Please, you didn’t think I forgot last year’s fiasco, did you? Just breathe”

We hurry up three sets of stairs and I feel myself sweating and panic slowly build up. Anxiety is a b***h but we go up the steps so fast that it's all a blur. Finally, on the third floor, I look up and see the night sky. I breathe in and relief washes over me like an amazing bucket of ice-cold water on a hot summer day. 

“Wow, this is amazing!” I hear Emi say with awe

“Yep. See, I told you to trust me. Rooftop bar, this is the VIP section only for supernaturals ladies. When Cleis insisted for all of us to come, I told him you couldn’t because of, you know, what just happened… so he put us in the list for his most exclusive, and most open bar in the city! No issues right babe?”

I looked at Jada and nodded with a huge smile, glad she thought of me. John disappeared somewhere and we walked around admiring the place. It seemed like everything was made of glass and vibrant color, especially gold. The bar stretched along the inner wall and rows of chairs lined up to face it all the way to the end. More chairs lined the balcony and tall fire pits stood all around us pleasantly warming the cool breeze. Beautiful girls in black dresses walked around carrying drinks for people sitting far from the bar. I leaned on the balcony in awe of the view. 

“The view is stunning!” I spoke to no one in particular and turned around, noticing I had lost Jada to a handsome stranger and Emi seemed to be ordering something at the bar. Supernaturals were considered full adults at 18.

“I’m happy to hear that”. I follow the smooth voice and swallow hard when I find a handsome face that seems to be so perfectly carved in stone staring at me.