Under the Hill

Chapter 3

Renlian:

I have been trying my best to play the awkward human who has no idea what was going on. I think I might win an Oscar for this. I can act more confident once I have 'gotten used to' the supernatural. It's not that I want to keep the truth from my mate, it is just dangerous if the wrong person finds out. For now I have to hide it.

I was brought into the kitchen where I met Mrs. Hardy she was sweet but once she heard I was Kaylen's mate she got way to friendly. I don’t mind it I just wasn’t expecting it. Kaylen pulled a chair out for me at one of the tables and I took a seat. He sat in the chair next to me clearly nervous.

"So." he said.

"So." I returned.

"Sorry, it's been so long I had resigned myself to never finding my mate. Now that your hear I don't really know what to say. If you were a wolf this wouldn’t be as awkward."

"Sorry."

"No no, don’t apologize. If anything I should be the one apologizing. This must be a lot."

I just nodded and we sat there awkwardly in silence. Everyone else at the table was watching us out of the corner of their eyes. Luckily Mrs. Hardy came out with a bunch of food. She came out with a bunch of little sandwiches, a big salad, some potato salad, and a pasta salad.

I didn’t want to be the first one to dig in so I waited for everyone else to start. They all looked at me expectantly.

Ian piped up, "Hey love, we are absolute savages and will devour every ounce of food in front of us. Grab your fill now before there is nothing left."

Makes sense. I grabbed a couple sandwiches and spoonful of each of the sides. Once I filled my plate I looked at them and said, "May the odds be ever in your favor." A couple of the guys chuckled and everyone started tearing into the food in a frenzy. I nibbled on the sandwiches and then took a bite of the salad making an audible groaning sound. The table froze.

"Sorry, the vegetables just taste so fresh I couldn’t help myself."

"Our Luna likes fresh vegetables. Dually noted." Max said.

Kaylen next to me was gripping the table tight. Clearly the sound I just made riled Hades. I grabbed one of the sandwiches and stuffed it in his mouth. He looked at me in surprise.

"Calm down wolf boy. Eat something maybe it'll help calm that damn appetite of yours." He looked at me in disbelief. The table broke out laughing. Kaylen pulled the sandwich from his mouth and took a bite out of it properly.

"Well that shut Hades up real quick."

I just scoffed. I was relaxing more to the situation but I knew I couldn’t act too calm or they may suspect something was up.

We finished eating and Kaylen had to take off. Some pack business. Max took charge of giving me a tour of the pack house. I tried to memorize the halls. There was the pack dining area where we just were. There was a massive library that I was going to have a field day in. And then there was a rec room on the first floor. On the second level were several guest rooms for when members of neighboring packs come to stay. The upper floor was split into two wings. The right wing was the Alpha's Office, the Luna's Office and the Alpha and Luna's rooms. I was pleased to know I would have my own room for the time being.

The west wing was where the Beta and his mate resided. Max informed me his mate position remained vacant but he was hopeful.

Max left me to explore the Luna's quarters while he took a shower. The room was big but not obnoxiously so. The furniture was white with gray accents. The bed set was a grey and black combination. In all the room had a very modern look It was feminine but not overly so. The bathroom had a standing shower and a separate bathtub. There was a vanity and several rolling carts. It was built with plenty of storage. The closet was a walk-in with various shelving units. It looked straight out of an IKEA magazine.

For the time being everything was empty. It reminded me that I didn’t have any of my belongings with me which was annoying. I would have loved to take a shower too but I didn’t have anything to change into. It was still the afternoon so maybe I could convince them to escort me to my apartment to pack some things?

I heard footsteps coming down the hallway and glanced out the door to see Max heading my direction.

"Perfect timing, my cell phone is in my backpack that is still out in that field. Do you have a phone I can use?"

"Yah sure. And sorry, I will send someone to fetch your stuff. We all kind of bolted out of their in a hurry." he handed me his cell phone.

I quickly typed in the phone number. The phone rang twice before it was answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Grandpa, its Renlian."

"Oh hello my dear, I didn’t recognize the number."

"I am borrowing a friends phone. I left mine somewhere and need to go retrieve it. It looks like I am going to be moving and will be packing up my stuff. Do you still have Grandma's antique mirror she left me?" I knew my Grandfather would understand the meaning of my question.

"Of course, I was keeping it safe for you." he replied.

"I wanted to bring it with me to my new place. Could you drop it off before I get home tomorrow to pack my stuff?"

"Of course, you can count on me."

"Thanks Grandpa." the call ended. My grandfather new clearly what I was asking of him. We had developed a system over the years for when I needed something done discreetly. He was going to pack away the things I didn’t want outsiders finding in discreet hiding places so nothing would seem out of the ordinary as I was packing. And of course he really was going to be leaving me a mirror, it just wasn’t my grandmothers.

I handed the phone back to Max. "Thanks."

"Anytime. And yah if we are going to be moving you in here we should go get your stuff. I will talk with Kaylen and see what we can arrange for tomorrow. Until then was there anything I can get you in the mean time?

"Now that you ask, I hadnt packed anything ith me as I was just on a hike when you found me. I would love to shower and get out of my hiking clothes but I don’t have anything to change into. Would there be anyone who would have something I could borrow?"

"This sounds like a job for my sister." he grabbed his phone again and dialed a number. "Hey sis, long story short Kay found his mate but we kind of abducted her and she doesn’t have anything to wear until we can go pack up her stuff can you help out?"

All I hear is a loud "YES!" from the phone and then she hung up.

"I think that means she's coming. I will warn you, my sister is a lot. But she is beta blood and will most likely serve as one of your right hands so now is a good as time as any for you to meet."

"Heh. This will be interesting."

"Damn she got here fast." Max said before I hear quick feet running up the stairs.

A girl maybe 5'9" with long brown hair comes running towards me. Her and Max do look strikingly alike. She came pummeling towards me sniffed the air, paused and went, "Human mate, interesting."

She then barreled into me pulling me into a big hug then pulled back. "I am Katheryn but you can just call me Ryn! We are gonna be best friends I can already tell!"

"Uh, Nice to meet you too." I replied.

Max started backing away and said, "I am going to leave you two to it. Don’t go taking her around other pack members yet until we make an official announcement."

"Got it!" Ryn replied and Max took off. She turned back to me. "So what's your name?"

"Oh, I am Renlian nice to meet you."

"OOH I love it! I can call you ren and we will be Ryn and Ren!"

"that almost sounds like yin and yang maybe that will be our friendship symbol."

"Yesssss! I love it! It's settled! Ok, come on." she said before dragging me off and down the staircase. We exited the Pack House and she pulled me off to the first row of houses from the pack house. "These houses are reserved for high-ranking members so we are closer to the Alpha."

She pulled me along to grey, two-story home. We went inside and no one was home. She pulled me up the staircase into what I assume is her room. It was far more girly than the Luna room and seemed to fit Ryn's personality to a T. "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable while I see what I have that will fit you."

I took a seat on her bed while she dug through her dresser. She pulled out a pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt and a sports bra and handed them to me. "You might have to go commando but you can wear this for now and it can double as casual wear and pajama's which is perfect."

"Thank you."

"Of course! And if you want, you can go ahead and take a shower here. I bet the Luna bathroom isn't stocked with anything and if it was it would probably be cheap generic shampoo."

"Thank you! I was wondering how I was going to wash my hair without higher quality products. My hair has a mind of its own."

"Girl for real."

I went off and took a shower. It was the first time I was truly alone since I ran into the pack earlier. It allowed me plenty of time to think. Humans have varying levels of processing. I already showed I was more accepting than average human earlier, so if I sleep on it tonight and wake up in the morning and realize it isn't a dream, then I can pass off as completely accepting. I asked Ian all of those questions in the car but I already knew the answers to them. If I hadn't asked anything then it would have seemed more suspicious.

I finished the shower and got dressed in the clothes Ryn gave me. She was lying on her bed scrolling through her phone. She perked up as soon as she saw me come back in the room. "Do you have a brush I can borrow?"

"Of course!" she grabbed her brush off of the dresser and I began working on my hair. She watched after me then said, "How are you holding up? I know today must have been a lot."

"Truthfully, it feels surreal." which was true. "I have been going alone with the flow but it doesn’t feel real yet."

"That makes sense. You are a human after all. You haven't been a part of this world, so it must all seem like a lot to you."

"Yah." I finished brushing my hair and sat next to her on the bed.

"So what do you think of Kay?"

"Kay? Is that Kaylan's nickname?"

"Oh yah, sorry. We have all been friends since we were little. Max was always meant to be his beta so we all hang around each other a lot. My parents were hoping I would end up being his mate but after we both turned 18 we found out that wasn’t true. And not to sound like I don’t like Kay, but I was happy. I never thought of Kay as more than a brother and I am far too spirited to perform Luna duties."

"Understandable. And I don’t know how I feel about him. Everything kind of happened so fast and we haven't really talked at all."

"I can imagine it has been crazy. If you ever need someone to talk to you can come to me."

"Thank you." we talked for a while longer before she escorted me back to the pack house. I hadn't realized how exhausted I was. I went to lay in my bed to relax and fell right to sleep.