More than Secrets

Mate

DANI'S P. O. V.

"El's still not talking to you?" I ask Jane as we make our way to school.

She shakes her head in reply and slumps back against her seat. "I don't want her to hate me forever. It's not like I asked to be kissed. Liam's the one to blame in all of this."

I nod in agreement and sigh. Liam should never have kissed Jane while he was still dating El. He should be the one El's mad at, not Jane.

Jane is Liam's mate. Felix told me himself, the voice in my head says.

Mate? There's that word again. I don't particularly want to reply to this mysterious "Juno", but curiosity always gets the best of me. Who's Felix? I ask the voice.

Liam's wolf, she replies.

What the hell. There are more werewolves?

You can communicate with other wolves? I ask Juno.

Yes, all of us can communicate with one another.

I shake my head. I'm so confused. How does this voice in my head know all of this?

I pull up in the school's parking lot. Almost as soon as I get out of the car I notice that there are more eyes on me than usual. Some of the kids are giving me strange looks as I pass them on my way into the building. What the hell is going on?

I make my way to the cafeteria as quickly as possible and breathe a sigh of relief that my friends are already sitting there. Waiting for me, no doubt.

"Okay, so today has turned out to be the weirdest birthday ever," I say as I drop my backpack on the floor next to my usual seat at our table.

Lee and Brie had been talking in hushed tones to one another, but turn to me with huge smiles on their faces now.

"Happy birthday!" they scream together while Lee pulls a huge cappuccino and choc-chip muffin out from under the table and Brie, simultaneously, lights the number "18" candle that's perched on top of it with her hot pink lighter.

I can't help the tears that well up in my eyes. These girls mean everything to me.

"Happy birthday to YOU! You live in a SHOE! You look like a MONKEY and... you smell like one TOO!" they sing loudly and Brie does a little monkey dance, scratching her head and side while making monkey sounds. She finishes off by crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out at me. Classy.

I'm laughing through the tears now and my sides hurt so badly, and just like that, my weird day is spectacular once more.

"Isn't the line: 'you live in a zoo' not a shoe?" I ask them, still shaking from laughter and wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"Meh," Brie shrugs in reply, "a shoe stinks more."

"Yeah, your shoes would definitely stink more than a zoo," I retort and Lee splutters and almost chokes on her coffee.

We both roll on the floor and hug our tummies from the laughing fit we're having while Brie just glares at us in mock anger.

"Bitches," she mutters and smacks Lee upside the head.

"Ouch," Lee whines and rubs her head. That must have hurt because I know how hard Brie can slap. Even a playful slap from her leaves a bruise. "How come I'm the one getting slapped when Dani's the one who dissed you?"

"It's Dani's birthday so she gets a free pass on the slaps today which means..." she wiggles her eyebrows maliciously at Lee, "you get double the slaps today."

Lee is scooting along the floor on her bottom trying to back away from Brie. Her eyes are wide with fear and I can already see this ending up in a full on slap war right in the middle of the cafeteria.

So before I have to spend the rest of my birthday in the principal's office I quickly stand up and get in between them, putting my hands palms up in a gesture to get them to stop.

"Alright you two, let's not get physical in the wrong way today. I still haven't gotten my birthday sandwich yet, remember?"

They both smile and wrap their arms around me, squishing me in our traditional "birthday sandwich" hug.

Suddenly they both tense up and push me away. Brie c***s her head at me and gives me a questioning look.

Her and Lee give each other knowing looks and I'm starting to feel uncomfortable. Like I'm missing something... Something that maybe I should already know.

"You guys are acting weird." I say with a nervous laugh, shifting my weight from one foot to the other.

"Dani, did Tyler-" Lee starts, but Brie gives her a look that shuts her up."Er, nevermind."

I look at my best friends who seem to be looking everywhere except at me. What the heck is wrong with them?

Brie sighs and throws her hands up in exasperation. "It's just that you... Well, you... you sort of smell... different," she says uncomfortably and looks at her feet as if they're suddenly the most interesting things in the world.

I smell different? What? I gently pull a tendril of my hair up to my nose and sniff it. It smells like my usual strawberries and cream shampoo.

Oh God, what if they mean I "smell different", but not in a good way? I self-consciously dip my head to my right armpit and sniff that too, but I really don't smell sweaty at all.

Lee takes a step closer to me and gently rubs my shoulders and down my arms in a reassuring gesture. "No, hun, we're not saying that you stink... Just that you smell different to... well, how you smelt before."

I shake my head at them in confusion. I don't understand, I smell exactly the same as I did yesterday. Don't I?

Then it hits me... they smell different too. And not just them either. My sense of smell is suddenly heightened.

I can smell the cappuccino muffin and the choc-chips separately? And the plastic of the cafeteria table. And the linoleum-tiled floor with hints of bleach mixed together with leftover food... What is going on?

Your wolf senses are finally kicking in, Juno says with exasperation in her voice.

My wolf? I have a wolf? What!?

Yes. Your wolf, Juno. That's me, dumb, dumb.

Why do I get the feeling she's rolling her eyes at me?

My body starts to tingle as I get a whiff of the most mouth-watering scent indeed.

I whip my head in the direction of the cafeteria doors as they swing open and a very God-like boy stares back at me. A sinfully-delicious scent of rich, black coffee and cool pine trees after an evening of rain floods my nostrils as I take in his sharp jaw and glorious, emerald-green eyes.

Tyler Black is the owner of those eyes and it takes everything in me not to pounce on him and smash his luscious, full lips to mine.

Mate! Juno squeals in pure delight.

"Mine!" I yell the word before it even registers with my brain.

Tyler has the biggest smile on his face.

Oh my Goddess, he's delicious! Juno almost purrs.

Shut your dirty mouth. He's mine! I yell at her.

Okay, now I know she's rolling her eyes at me. He's ours. "OUR" mate, Dani.

What the hell is a mate!?