Changing Lines

2. Strange Things

The next morning Edan joined her in walking to school, some of the warriors were already at school and her Dad and Aaron insisted that she always had to have someone walking with her, something about her Mom being attacked close to the school when she was younger.

Not that it was a problem, she and Edan did most things together; he was her best friend and they had so much in common. He also knew about her insecurity about being the only human between her siblings. And though he didn’t know what it felt like, since he was both a werewolf and a druid, he understood that it was difficult for her to be less than the norm in her family and pack.

But the moment he joined her this morning he sniffed the air and then leaned in and sniffed near her neck too. River leaned back and waved her hand in front of his face as if shooing a fly away. “What are you doing? That’s weird!” She protested indignantly.

“I’m sorry, it’s just…” He took another deep whiff. “You smell different; sweeter…Did you use a different body wash or shampoo?”

“No, still the same herbal mixture my mom always uses for her soap making.” She answered, sniffing at her own skin, but she smelled the same to her.

“By the way, what did your dad say about your clothes this morning?” Edan asked with a grin of amusement.

“Why?” She asked; glancing down at her denim shorts, purple T-shirt with wolf paws on her chest with ‘team wolf’ written underneath and black and purple striped knee-high socks.

“Just curious…”

“He was staring at mom like a lovesick puppy, so he wasn’t paying much attention…” She answered with a confused frown at her grinning friend.

Luckily she and Edan had all the same classes, so they made their way to their first class and despite every Supernatural sniffing with interest when she walked by, nothing really happened out of the ordinary.

Edan spent the afternoon after school with her in the library, while they finished their homework and she looked for a new book to read, since she’d finished her previous book in two days. She was looking for another good adventure. She and her mother shared their love for books and she had already gone through her mother’s stash. She supposed she would have to build up her own selection or convince her father to start a pack library.

But reading didn’t seem to be a big thing between wolves; it was as if they couldn’t sit still long enough to enjoy a good adventure. She supposed she would probably agree if she could shift into an animal and run around in the wild without having to have someone guard her constantly. She just didn’t go out much because it felt like she was intruding on others’ time when they have to follow her everywhere once she left the pack house.

Even just going to her favorite spot, she now had to have a guard. The increase in Wendigo and Vampire sightings so close to town had everyone on edge and she was annoyed with having to have someone constantly guard her as the weakest member of the pack. And no one would budge on it since they didn’t want to go against her father. His reputation as Rip meant that the whole pack followed his orders to the letter.

Apparently, when he lost control of Rip it was a really big problem. She’d heard stories, but her Dad seemed so calm these days and it was hard to think that they were talking about the same wolf. She couldn’t combine the stories with her father that seemed to melt whenever her mother was around.

When they finally started their walk home, Edan noticed a vampire from school loitering near the side gate they always used towards the woods and his eyes glazed for a moment, before he stared at the guy. They knew him from school, so she wasn’t sure what the problem was.

“Jamison, what are you doing here?” Edan asked in a cold voice.

“This is still school property, so I’m allowed to be here.” Jamison countered coolly. “Run along, Mutt.”

“Hey!” River said angrily at his snobby retort.

Jamison turned his gaze to her and smiled sweetly. “Sorry, cutie. Is he your boyfriend?”

River was confused; Jamison never talked to her before, but suddenly now she was ‘cutie’? What was going on? First everyone seemed to breathe deeply when she passed and now Jamison, the renowned goth playboy was calling her ‘cutie’.

He was only in the group of goths to assist with hiding his true identity, of course, it did help that he also chose a more classic style of dressing as most vampires seemed to prefer in this area. Maybe it had something to do with this specific coven, but they rarely or never wore jeans and T-shirts like other high school kids.

“What I am is none of your business.” Edan retorted before she could answer.

“I see, you want to be more than friends, but cutie here isn’t budging…” Jamison mused, never taking his eyes from her.

“We’re both waiting for our mates, Jamison. Not that you’d know what loyalty is.” Edan retorted angrily.

River watched the two of them for a moment. They didn’t really mix with vampires but they had a treaty with the coven Jamison came from, so she didn’t really understand the animosity.

“Just tasting the delicacies this world has to offer…” Jamison smiled sweetly at her.

Edan stepped in front of her at that moment. “Well, River is not one of those you will be tasting.”

He had barely finished that sentence before she was suddenly surrounded by the jocks from the football team. Some were still sweaty from training and she wrinkled her nose at their ripe smell. Of course, they completely cut off her view of Jamison before she was all but surrounded on the walk home, feeling like she was being squished between the large boys surrounding her.

It sucked being so small…

River shook her head as she walked into the pack house. She had no idea what happened to put everyone so on edge, but she shrugged it off when she dropped her backpack off in her room and rushed down the stairs to join everyone for dinner. They usually ate together; everyone that lived in the pack house.

She was approaching the dining room and she already heard her father talking. “…we’ve just got word back with the messenger we sent out this morning.”

“What did they say?” Aaron asked with interest, when she stepped into the dining room and her father glanced up and smiled at her in greeting.

But then his eyes lowered to her clothes and he scowled. “What are you wearing?” He demanded almost angrily. He had seemed fine a moment ago, until he saw her clothes; what was wrong with her clothes? It was the same type she always wore.

River glanced down at her clothes and then up at her father in confusion. “The same I wore this morning.”

“No!” Her father snarled. “Go upstairs and change.”

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” She asked in confusion. This was what she normally wore; it was not like she was trying to outstrip any of the she-wolves that wore more revealing outfits than she did. In fact, some of them had teasingly asked her if she wanted a lollipop with her little girl outfit.

“No! That shirt….those paws are right…just no!” Her dad stuttered and turned red in the face. She wasn’t sure but he seemed a little embarrassed on top of his anger.

Her mom was cracking up with amusement, folding over in her laughter and Camden was trying hard not to do the same while Aaron’s face turned red, like her father’s.

Paw-Paw seemed just as embarrassed and Grandma Margaret was also trying to contain her laughter, while River stood in a state of confusion. Grandpa Henry and Grandma Emerald came in at that point and she turned around in an attempt to ask them what was wrong with her clothes.

Grandpa Henry’s eyes widened in shock and he almost seemed to choke on his tongue. Grandma Emerald smiled at her. “That is one way to accentuate your beautiful assets, River!” She complimented with a grin of amusement.

“It’s like all my other clothes, Grandma.” She answered in confusion.

“Except for the strategically placed paws that draws the attention right to your bosom.” She grinned and River glanced down to see that the paws were actually well placed.

Surely, it didn’t draw that much attention…?

“You were saying about the answer that came with the messenger…” Her mother tried to turn the conversation back with barely contained amusement at her father and brothers who seemed unable to look up from the table until she sat down.

“Yeah…uhm…the messenger…where was I…?” Her father started stuttering in clear confusion.

“The messenger returned with a reply?” Her mother helped him on, winking at her with her clear amusement.

River didn’t think her shirt was a problem before, was that maybe why Jamison was suddenly friendly with her? The shirt certainly seemed to bother every man in her family for some reason…

Her dad seemed to gather his thoughts and cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah…They agreed to a meeting to discuss a treaty. They mentioned wanting to speak with the head of the Hunters as well, since they had heard we have ties.”

Grandpa Henry seemed thoughtful for a moment. “When do you intend to have this meeting and where? I can see if I can join you at the first meeting. There must be a reason why they want me involved.”

“What if it’s a trap?” Aaron demanded in annoyance.

“It would be stupid trying to lead the famous Rip and the infamous Hunter Jenkins into a trap. Our allies alone would decimate their pack.” Camden answered calmly.

“You know they are famed for fighting Vampires and Wendigo one on one, right?” Aaron answered in return, his tone challenging.

“But our allies with our pack outnumber them by far, if our research is correct. They might be fierce, but they don’t have the numbers because they did not mix with other packs for so long, I’m sure their birth and death rate are about equal at this point. They need us as much as we need them.” Camden countered calmly, making Aaron huff at the realization that his younger brother had a good point.

“I think they might have a hard time winning mates, even if they find them. They are known for outdated and savage methods in their pack. They are fierce in battle and from what I heard from my father, they do not take kindly to being opposed. Their training alone has to be brutal if they can take on a wendigo one on one. We need three warriors to take one down and even so, we’re not completely sure how to kill them faster.” Paw-Paw answered.

“Maybe they’re misunderstood. You know how gossip grows with every retelling.” Her mom answered casually, causing everyone to stare at her for long moments. “What?” She asked casually.

“Pixie, you can’t believe that…You know what we face with wendigo trying to move closer to town. Do you really think those hunting them are not complete savages? We have to consider our options with them. I’m not going to take them on face value.”

“I think you are making it worse than it is. Those poor wolves have been cut off from everyone, stuck in that valley between the mountains and facing such enemies alone obviously had to make them strong. But just because they are different does not make them savage.”

Thinking about it, River kind of agreed with her mother. She felt her heart go out to them; how lonely they had to be living there alone with no chance of help. “I agree, Mom. How would we be if we didn’t have our allies to rely on? They had to face all those enemies on their own, with no one to call in for help. Maybe they need us to be a little more compassionate.”

Rip growled out. “My Pixie and Minnow will not go with us to the meeting until we’ve seen what we’re dealing with.” He growled in his angry voice, his eyes black with his domination.

“Relax, Rip. We never said we’d be going; we just want you to go in there with an open mind. Sometimes necessity causes someone to have to change to survive. We need their help and maybe they need ours, too.” Her mom cupped her dad’s face and smiled sweetly into Rip’s black eyes.

River watched as her father calmed down, soothed by her mother’s touch and words, but Rip was still in control. He gave a deep guttural growl a moment before he stood and picked up her mother. “Treehouse, Pixie…” He ordered and her Mom giggled before they disappeared.

River glanced away in embarrassment and caught her brothers looking just as uncomfortable as she felt about seeing that level of intimacy. It was too much.

“Now, don’t look so embarrassed, Aaron. We heard about your escapades with some of our allies’ she-wolves.” Paw-Paw teased, earning a smack on the shoulder from Grandma Margaret.

Camden snickered at their brother’s embarrassment and River blushed. She’d heard some of the stories too, and those were the tame ones. Camden had insisted he’d wait for his mate, but Aaron had had no such compunctions and he had not exactly been as discreet as he thought he was…well, he might have been discreet, but the she-wolves certainly were not. She’d heard quite a few of their allies’ kids in school gossip about her older brother and his talents. It was more than she’d ever wanted to know.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “Anyway, they suggested a meeting on Thursday. Since dad seemed to have forgotten to share all the news. He said he’d confirm with you Grandpa Henry, before he agreed to it. It would be the four of us with four warriors, while Paw-Paw keeps an eye on the pack. Emerson is going to stay back to guard Mom and Edan has school with River.”

“Is that your way of saying he’s been ordered to guard me?” River asked with a raised eyebrow.

“We heard about the vampire’s attention; don’t pretend you don’t need it.”

River rolled her eyes. “Do you know what it feels like being sandwiched between the whole unwashed football team all the way home? Because I do…and it smelled and it was humid and…gosh it smelled. Even without heightened senses!” River retorted, causing everyone to chuckle in amusement.