Whispers

Chapter thirteen

I look at Angel and Bane, who are both now standing beside me on either side as if they are going to defend me. I take this chance to give the girl--Ray--a good look over. 

She's the typical type of beautiful--Tall, perfect skin, muscled in all the right places, with long, straight, jet black hair. Her teeth are white and as pin straight as her hair, and here eyes are a dark shade of brown with bright purple spots. The clothes she wore hugs her body in all the right places, and, most of all, her confidence radiated off of her in waves. 

She makes me feel small, but my face is set. Something surges inside of me, making me stand up straighter to look her right in the eye as she stares me down. 

"I mean, look at her," She crosses her arms and makes her way to me, her soft steps making almost no sound on the grass, "she looks like she's 12." 

"Maybe she is 12, Ray," Someone else says, their tone laced with laughter. Ray giggles and looks back. 

I look at the person who spoke, and realized that, in this whole group of 6 people--not counting Angel, Bane and I--Ray and I were the only females. 

"Back off, Ray," Angel gets in front of me, blocking me from Ray as she continued to get closer to me. I push past him to get back into the circle. Whatever these people had to say, I want them to say it to my face so it won't come as a surprise later when they talk behind my back. 

"Why are you even defending her, Angel? Can she not defend herself?" Ray asks, her voice dripping venom. 

"I'm positive she can, but that doesn't mean she has to," Angel looks down at me, as if to make sure that I am okay. I look up and nod at him, telling him wordlessly that I am okay. I look back at Ray, who rolls her eyes and settles her eyes on me again.

"Well--," 

"I don't need to hear anymore from you or anyone else here, nor do I care what your opinion of me is, so you can just shove it back down your throat where it belongs," I say, interrupting her, much to her surprise. She steps back a couple of paces, with her hand on her chest to fake surprise.

"Well, well, baby girl's got a voice!" She laughs and claps. She looks to the others who are all looking at me like I just made the biggest mistake of my life, "Too bad I'm now going to have to rip out your throat for disrespecting me," Her laugh stops as she looks at me with a deadly look. 

"Yeah, doubt that's going to happen," I roll my eyes, my body going into fight mode. I don't want to fight her, but I will if I have to. Especially if she starts it. "Also, I've heard my own parent threaten me with worse, so please, come up with a better threat." 

"Do you even know who I am, you little b***h?" 

"No, and I don't care, so back off," my voice raises as I step away from Bane and Angel, who were now frozen behind me. I stand my ground for what seemed like eternity, when I hear Jason's voice say, "What the hell is going on here?" 

Ray snaps out of her murderous gaze and sets it on Jason. The second her eyes settle on him they soften and submit, "Jason she was threatening me! You brought her here and she's trying to run the whole show! I'm just trying to--," 

"Yeah, I don't buy that, Ray. I heard everything," Jason steps into the circle of people and stands beside me, "Do I need to tell Dom about this?" 

Ray's face freezes, "Jason--," 

"Do. I. Need. To. Tell. Dom. About. This," He said, his voice becoming angrier as he spoke. Ray shrinks back and looks down, suddenly looking small in the presence of Jason.

"No, sir," Ray looks up at him through her eyelashes, not daring to look over at me. 

"Good, because you know what happened last time. You don't want to ruin this chance for yourself, right Ray?" 

"Right, sir," She sighs, finally lifting her head to look at him straight on.

"Good. Now, either suddenly grow a heart and a brain or walk away," Jason looks to the other 5 males in the group, who looked away from Jason, afraid to get the same conversation and embarrassment, "I better not see this happen again," He says, teeth clenched. The rest of the guys mutter a, "yes, sir," before turning and walking to other groups. Ray is the last to do so, walking away to another group full of males. 

I breathe a sigh of relief and look up at Jason, who had turned to Angel and Bane, "What the hell was that? You two couldn't say a single word in Gill's defense? You just stand there like useless lumps, watching as a possible fight almost goes down. It's a good thing I stepped in--," 

"Like it would have stopped her from making threats. Besides she wouldn't do anything, not after what happened last time--," 

"Did you not read her body language and hear the way she was speaking? A blind and deaf person could have told you in a second that she was going to attack. She has zero impulse control, and Dom won't kick her out, he just uses that as a fear tactic because it's the only thing that keeps her in line," Jason rubs his face and sighs before looking at me.

I never realized how tall everyone here is, but Jason and the rest of, well, everyone tower over me. The shortest person here, other than me, had to be at least 5'8", while I stand a good 5'5". I feel small next to everyone, but try to push it aside. 

"Are you okay?" Jason asks, closing off the circle of conversation between the four of us.

"I'm fine, and I'm sorry--," 

Jason puts his hand up to stop me, "No, I should have warned you that some people are less than friendly. No one told you what to expect, and you walked into this completely blind," 

"Still, I could have walked away--," 

"Yeah, there's no walking away from Ray. She would have followed you. She's a very combative and confrontational person," Bane said, finally snapping out of his silence. I sigh, flashes of memories from my old high school playing across my vision. 

"Well, not the first time I've dealt with this, didn't think it was going to be the last. Have to say though, I was hoping I wouldn't have to," I shrug and smile slightly, "Who is she anyway?"

"She's Dom's niece. Her parents were killed about five years ago and she had nowhere to go. Her parent's worked for the Council, and Dom also works for them so they asked him if he would take her, and Dom can't say no," Jason says with an annoyed sigh, "She's a piece of work, and has been for the last 5 years." 

"She is deadly though--Her parent's trained her really well. It's one of the reasons she's one of the trainers for hand to hand combat." Bane says, earning an annoyed look from Jason. 

"Doesn't give her a right to act like she runs the place," Jason looks back at me, "Dom won't send her away. She would have to do something as stupid as last time--,"

"What did she do last time?" I ask, earning unsurprised but worried stares from the 3 guys. 

"She went after someone who pissed her off, kind of like she did to you, and almost killed her. Council told Dom to either move the girl who was almost killed or move Ray. Dom chose the girl because she already wanted to leave and had a place to go," Angel says, looking down at the ground. I take a deep breath, and nod. 

"So," I clap my hands together and clasp them, "Stay away from Ray," 

"Yeah, stay away from Ray. She should leave you alone, physically. She won't be your combat trainer as she only trains people who are at the end of their training, so you don't have to worry about that," Jason says with a shrug, "Have you been introduced to anyone else?" He asks, changing the subject. 

I shake my head, and am motioned to follow Jason to the other couple of groups of people gathered to be introduced. There is no way I would remember any of their names, but I said hi to everyone and got along with the others with relative ease and without any further issues. Something nags at me that I won't have many friends outside of Jason, Angel and Bane, but I am okay with that. 

We are standing with a group, making casual conversation, when a loud ringing makes everyone fall silent and look towards the sound. Dom and Kitty stand at the railing of the porch with a smile, "It's so great to see everyone gathered here today to welcome the new member of our pack," Dom looks around until his gaze settles on me, "Gillian, could you come up here?" 

Everyone's eyes avert to me, some friendly and encouraging, while others are blank and clearly don't care. I make my way up to Dom and Kitty slowly, being sure to skirt around Ray and her little group because I had a feeling she would try to trip me in order to humiliate me. I make it up to the porch, my heart pounding and leg aching slightly--I haven't moved this much in a while. I spot Doc in the crowd, who looks up at me with a smile. 

"In case you haven't been introduced to her yet, this is Gill! I expect everyone to give her a warm and happy welcome, and to treat her as you treat your fellow members--with respect and kindness. Gill," Dom looks down at me, "Would you like to say anything?" 

I feel my eyes grow in fear, and shake my head quickly, "I think you said everything worth saying," I say with a gasp. Dom nods, and directs everyone over to the side of the yard, where a tent and tables were set up for everyone to eat at. 

We all make our way to the tables, where there is a buffet of food waiting. Angel and Bane caught up to me and tell me that I am welcome to sit with them as they fall behind me to get food. I get something small, as I was still full from earlier, and then wait for Bane and Angel to get theirs before following them to an empty table. I look around, trying to work up the hunger I thought I had before sitting down, and see Jason walking up with Dom and Kitty, the three of them in deep conversation. 

Suddenly, Jason looks in my direction, and our eyes make contact for half a second before I force myself to look away. I was staring at him again; Why did I keep staring at him. I pick up my fork and start to eat, enjoying the comfortable silence that held Angel, Bane and I together. 

I am almost finished eating when Jason joins us at the table, looking tired and slightly annoyed, "Dom wanted me to tell you that you'll start school this coming Monday and you'll more than likely start training after next week because he wants to make sure you are able to fully participate without hurting yourself," 

"Didn't Doc release me to train?" I ask, pushing around the little but of food left on my plate, trying not to look at Jason. I could feel his soft gaze on me as I said it, and I wanted to look at him, but I held my eyes on the stray piece of pasta on my plate. 

I've already been caught staring twice, I am not going to be caught staring again. 

"I don't know, I'll have to talk to Doc. I don't think Dom it going to budge though. Apparently he said you limped when you went on the porch earlier--he just wants you to be safe and take it slow. We also don't know what your ability is, so we are limited on what we can do with you." 

"Well, good luck finding that out. As far as I know all I'm good for is beating people until their almost dead," I mumble. 

"So she has a physical ability then. She would be in Bane's group," Angel said around a mouthful of food. 

"I don't think it's a physical ability. Yeah, she was able to overpower, but I remember you talking about pushing people against trees with your thoughts right?" Jason asks. I nod at him. 

"So, mental ability then. She would be in Angel's group?" Jason shrugs at Bane. 

"This is why we can't put her with a group yet. For all we know she can be a combination," Jason stabs some of his pasta salad and then pushes it around on his plate, suddenly uninterested. 

"Yeah, but those are rare, and we don't have a trainer for someone with those abilities," Jason scoffed at Bane, who continued to push food into his mouth. 

"Yeah. Dom said to accurately identify what ability she has would take time and a Council meeting or two," I groan at that, earning a sly smile from Jason. 

"Last thing I want is to be put in front of the Council like some kind of test monkey. Chances are I'm going to have to see them away to deal with my family and my old pack," I sit back in the chair with a sigh, suddenly exhausted and ready to collapse in my bed and sleep for the rest of the night. 

"It'll be okay, we'll figure it all out," Jason leans down at the table and stares at his half empty plate, "The coming weeks will probably be the worst of Council questioning and intervention, but after that everything should mull over and settle. We'll take it as it comes until then," I smile at Jason, who was looking at me--this time--before I started looking at him. 

Heat rose in my face and I did everything in my power to push it down into the deepest hole available. Jason is just being nice and reassuring me that everything is going to be okay. No need to get worked up. 

"But seriously, I can't even run?" The guys look at me confused. 

"No, running would put too much stress on your leg. Well, I mean that's kind of up to Doc, but still." Jason says. 

"Not even as a wolf?" The table goes silent, "What?" I ask, looking for an explanation to the weird stares I had earned.

"You can shift?" Jason asks, looking surprised and questioning. I blink at him and nod slowly. What does he mean? Couldn't they shift? We were all werewolves right?" 

"That's odd," Angel says, looking at me closer. 

"Okay, will someone tell me why you guys are looking at me like I'm some weird science experiment?" I look to Bane for help, but he just stares at me. 

"No one here can shift, Gill. It's a side effect of the mutant gene--even those born to full blooded werewolves are unable to shift," Jason explains, looking at me in amazement. 

Wait, "What?" I whisper, astonished. My hands go numb at his words and I feel myself pale. 

"Yeah, all of us either come from packs. The reason we were found out to have the mutant gene was because we never shifted at puberty. As far as the any of us are concerned, we don't even have a wolf. Everything else, like accelerated healing, amazing eyesight and hearing, and the ability to find our mates, sure. Shifting? No. It further pushes the idea that we are different--mutants." Bane says, looking down at his plate, his face masked in an emotion I can't see. 

I look at the three guys, who were now staring at me harder and with more questions, and feel my heart race faster. 

"Great," I say, breathless, "I'm a mutant among mutants." I slump against the back of the chair, unsure of what I am supposed to say or think. 

"It's not a bad thing--,"

"No, it's not a bad thing to be completely different from everyone, essentially giving them ammo against you to make your life utterly miserable," I look at Angel, who stops speaking and closes his mouth. He sighs and looks down at his plate, which is now empty. 

"No one's going to use this against you," I look over at Jason, who is now looking ahead with his face set, "We aren't going to let that happen," He motions to Bane and Angel, who both nod in response. 

I look down at the table with a sigh, slightly thankful, but with more questions than ever, "Should I tell someone about this? Like Dom or something? Would they know what to do?" 

"There's nothing to do. You shift, there's no stopping that," Bane says, putting his plate on top of Jason's. 

"I don't want it stopped, I want to understand why I can but no one else can. I feel so lost in all of this, I just want to understand what is going on," I say, rubbing my face in exhaustion. Everyone is quiet, contemplating what to say next, but instead of waiting for it I get up and make my way into the house. I had a feeling the party was over, and I want nothing more than to go to sleep. 

I walk down the hallway, looking for my specific hallway, and feel a jump of joy when I find it without a problem. I walk down to the room, open the door and close it quickly behind me. I think about locking it, my mind going back to my dad's house and how it was always locked from the outside, but I stop myself. I don't have to lock my door anymore. 

I quickly get out of the dress I am wearing and hang it back up. I can't justify, to myself, throwing it in the hamper with the dirty clothes--I wore it for three hours, max, and I was clean before I put it on. I sigh and grab something comfortable to wear to bed. I flop down on the bed and push down the covers so I can shimmy my legs underneath before pulling the blanket up to my chin. The warmth came around me like a hug, and lulled me into a light sleep. 

I'm not sure how long I was asleep before Bane came into the room, talking to someone behind him. 

"We should have known better, Angel. Plain and simple," He says, earning a sigh of Angel and another from someone else. 

"Will you keep it down, she's sleeping," Jason's voice echoes through the room and sends a shockwave down my spine. I roll over in the bed to face the wall, causing the three guys to go silent. 

When they were satisfied I was settled in and fully asleep again, I hear, "Says the guy who almost woke her up," The soft movement of fabric and whine of springs told me that one of them sat down on Bane's bed. They are silent for a minute, the weight of contemplation sitting on all four of us like a pile of bricks. 

"I'm sorry I snapped earlier. I don't know what came over me," Jason's soft footsteps stop at the foot of my bed. 

"You literally saved the girls life, it's not weird that you're a tad protective and concerned for her safety, Jace. And like Bane said, we should have known better," Angel says his voice soft. I adjust my body again, this time to lay on my back, and start to feel the mattress pull me into a deeper sleep. I hear nothing else as I fall asleep. 

But I'm back at the river bank, sitting with my feet in the water. The river flows down as I look to the other side, waiting for Luke. He couldn't see me last time, and I'm not even sure if he is going to show this time. The small bond that we had before I came here barely exists now--I don't feel sad or broken being away from him. In fact, I feel normal. 

Even in the absence of feeling the bond, I can't help but think of Luke and how he is doing. When I left, his father was furious with the both of us because we lied about being mates, but he didn't care--He was going to turn me into the Council regardless, and, probably, do everything in his power to get me away from Luke. Either way, I feel now that this--being separated--is something that was going to happen no matter what I did. 

I close my eyes and take in a deep breath. For the first time in weeks, I feel calm and I am able to think clearly. It feels good. 

"Gill?" I whip my head around at the sound of my name. 

"Jason?" I stand up, not taking my eyes off of him. No one else should be able to get into my head with my mind link broken. How is Jason here?

"Where are we?" He looks around, walking closer to me. I feel my body freeze and words become difficult to come by. I watch as Jason looks to the other side of the river, "I've been here before," 

"I've met my mate here before," I say with a sigh, "I don't try to come here, it just happens," 

"Could be your bond with him," Jason says, looking at me. I turn around and put my gaze on the other bank. 

There is part of me that hopes that I will see Luke and hear his voice from the other side, but there is a nagging feeling in my gut that tells me that isn't going to happen. I shrug at Jason, "He's not coming," I look down at the water, "I didn't expect him to," 

I feel Jason's gaze on me, questioning why I felt this way, as I bend to sit back down on the bank to put my feet back in. 

"He's your mate, why wouldn't he come?" He asks, his gaze stills settled on me. 

I scoff, "Because our bond wasn't strong to begin with. Before he could even claim me as his mate he claimed another, and when he came to me acting sorry for his mistake, saying that he didn't know when he did, I rejected him," I kick my feet back in forth in the water, enjoying the sensation the cool water brought me.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," the feel of Jason's eyes on me went away as we sat in silence. 

"There's something I don't understand," I say, looking at the boy sitting next to me. 

He is very much dressed like me--in loose, white pants with a white shirt, barefoot against the earth. He leans back with a sigh, "What's that," 

"My mind link is broken," Jason's eyes meet mine. 

"How can your mind link be broken?" I shrug. "That's impossible, no one's mind link can be broken." 

"Well mine is, has been since I was a kid. I've never been able to communicate with anyone via mind link. The only person who was ever able to get in was Luke. Well," I look away, "Luke and you." Jason stares at me, contemplating what I just said. 

We sit in silence for a second before Jason says, "But Luke is your mate," 

"Was my mate. There's no bond there anymore. I can't feel it--the pull of it anyway," I swipe my hair away from my face, "There's nothing there," I chuckle softly and look down at my hands, "What does any of this mean? I can shift despite being a mutant, and I can't use my mind link." 

"Well, there has to be a way to fix it, right? Your link I mean," I shrug and shake my head. 

"I feel like it's hopeless, but it's worth a shot," I look out into the woods and sigh, "I don't even know where I would start." 

Before Jason can say another word, I am jerked out of my sleep by the sound of Bane's alarm. I sit straight up, my heart pounding in sync with my head and groan. Bane groans along with me and slaps the alarm before falling back to sleep. I rub my eyes and lay back down on the bed, trying to figure out if it was worth falling back to sleep. 

I close my eyes and just begin to drift back into sleep when the alarm goes off again, causing Bane to slap it again before groaning and rolling onto his back, "I hate mornings," He groans rubbing his eyes, "Why can't they have training at a later time? 8 AM in the morning is pushing for someone to get murdered," Bane pulls the covers back from his body with a whine and sits up. His eyes meet mine, still full of sleep and contempt for having to get out of bed. 

"Do I have to get up for training?" I asked, unsure if I should be getting up and ready alongside Bane. 

He shakes his head at me, "Nah. Remember what Jason said yesterday? You probably won't train for another week," Bane pushes himself off the bed and pulls the blankets back to where they were to make it look like he, at least tried, to make it. 

"I forgot about that," I put my head back on the pillow, "Not sure if I can go back to sleep now though," There was too much on my mind, and the blaring of the alarm woke me up thoroughly. I stretch, my limbs happy for the movement, as Bane moved around the room. 

"You're not trapped to this room, you're more than welcome to explore. I'm sure if you find Kitty or Dom they would be more than happy to show you around and get you acquainted with everything before you do start," Bane finishes up getting ready, disappearing into the bathroom to brush his teeth and change into shorts. 

Finally, he sits down on the bed and pulls on his shoes before looking over at me, "Do try to rest as much as you can though, because once you start, there's no going back." Bane stands and smiles before leaving the room to go to training. 

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, before deciding that fresh air and a nice walk around might serve me some good. I get up, my leg sore but functional, and pull on a pair of leggings and then my socks and shoes before carefully making my bed and leaving the room. 

Finding the back door was easy, way easier than I thought. I walk out the back door to see everyone walking towards the woods--there might be a trail back there that they run, but I'm not sure. 

In the cool morning breeze, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Even if I wasn't training yet, the feeling of being outside and not being trapped inside a room or to a house felt more than liberating. 

"Ah, Gill, there you are," I turn around to see Dom, who is standing the the door way I just came out of. 

"Hey, I was actually going to look for you. If you're not busy, would you mind showing me around? It doesn't have to be right now but--," 

"I actually have to talk to about something, but I would be more than happy to show you around after we talk real quick," I feel my heart race increase. 

"Okay, what happened?" I swallow, feeling my body going tense. 

"Your old pack has petitioned the Council to have you go back on the grounds that you are the upcoming Luna to the upcoming Alpha. They want to meet with everyone to discuss it, at the Council hall, on Monday morning." 

I feel my heart stop for a minute as the world spins around me--why would they want me back? They didn't even like me. Luke didn't want me as his Luna, he chose someone else. I feel the breath seize in my chest, making it hard for me to breathe. 

I didn't notice Dom walk up to me and put his hands on my shoulders, "Gill," I look up at him, but his voice is far away, "We aren't going to let them take you. Not after everything you have been through. But this is your time to tell them everything," 

I feel the wind pick up around me, and underneath me the ground began to shake slightly. I feel like, in this moment, that the crust of the Earth is going to open and I would be delivered to hell on a silver platter. 

"It's going to be okay, Gill. I promise," I feel tears brimming around my eyes, and I almost let them fall, but I suck them in and take a shaky breath. 

There is nothing I can do now, but wait.