Lola’s pov,
“No, I do not accept,” Lola said.
She might have to stay here for a while to get her million dollars but that did not mean she had to become some guy’s property. Certainly not to become a breeding machine like this crazy bird lady just said.
“I have no interest in becoming someone’s breeding whore. I am sure this comes as a shock to you because you all seem to be so deep in Noah his ass that you can smell the shit. So please find some other girl to suck on his toes and be his breeding machine because it is not me.”
Lola saw everyone stare at her with shocked faces and the crazy bird lady gave her a distasteful look, “Watch your tongue young lady. Firstly, it is Alpha Grey for you and not Noah. Secondly, you should be on the floor with gratitude because you were blessed with such an outstanding match.”
“Yeah, yeah on my knees on the floor and suck his dick while I am at it right?”
The crazy bird lady became red with anger, but Noah stepped in between them and said loudly, “YOU ALL HAVE TO FORGIVE LOLA. SHE GREW UP WITH HUMANS SO SHE IS NOT ACCUSTOMED TO OUR WAYS YET.”
Crazy bird lady gritted her teeth, “You better teach her some manners quickly Alpha Grey.”
He squeezed her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry I will teach her some manners.”
After that, the crazy bird lady stormed away to go talk to some other matches made in heaven.
Noah towered over Lola, and she had a hard time concentrating with his bare chest so close to her face. She had to admit his shoulders and abs were impressive. He whispered in her ear, “You can keep playing your little game all you want. We both know that by the end of this month the only thing you want is my hands on your body. Tasting your sensitive spots, begging me for more.”
Lola felt annoyed that she could not control her breathing quickening.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snarled at Noah.
He smiled, “You can barely concentrate as it is.”
Then he stepped away and his smile disappeared, “You need to be educated in werewolf ways and generally appropriate behavior. So, from now on, you will get daily lessons from Deborah.”
Lola saw a head with blond hair enthusiastically storming toward her and all she could think was. Oh god, not her.
Noah walked away and left Lola alone with Deborah who took her hand and guided her outside.
“My god, what were you thinking speaking to the high priestess and Alpha grey like that? You are lucky he did not punish you. If I talked like that to Dan, he would publicly pull my guts out.”
She stared at Lola who was still just wearing Noah his shirt, “We should get you to your house quickly before anyone else sees you looking this indecent. Why did you come to the party wearing only your underwear? Is that normal amongst humans?”
Lola chuckled, “Only at the interesting parties.”
“Well, the fact that you grew up with humans explains your strange behavior but don’t worry we will fix you in no time. I will give you daily lessons on werewolf history, beliefs, traditions, and etiquette. With hard work, we can make you worthy of being the leading Luna.”
Lola sighed, “Look Deborah I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I have no intention of becoming a Luna. I do not need to be fixed. I am fine the way I am and if people cannot accept that then fuck them.”
Deborah just gave her a radiant smile and completely ignored what she just said, “I am truly blessed and honored that Alpha Grey chose me to guide you. I will see you tomorrow at 8.”
She walked Lola to a secluded cabin made of big logs. It looked big enough to house an entire family and there were beautiful symbols carved into the wood. Lola walked inside and admired the huge fireplace, open kitchen, and large windows looking into the woods. She might have ended up in some sort of community with weirdos but at least she had this beautiful cabin all to herself. She jumped up when a voice came from the darkness of the kitchen.
“Satisfied with your new home?”
Lola saw Noah standing over the kitchen island with his big hand in a jar of cookies.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Well, I was hungry,” he said while he put 5 cookies in his mouth at the same time.
“I mean what are you doing in this house?”
He looked at her amused, “Well this is my house so.”
“Wait, we are living together?”
“Yes, it is tradition for the newly matched mates to live together and explore their connection before the official ceremony.”
Lola frowned, “I am not going to sleep in the same bed as you.”
He rolled his eyes, “Don’t worry your highness you can have your own bedroom. I am not a creep.”
Lola just looked at him standing there in the darkness watching her with his mouth covered in cookie crumbs, “Could have fooled me.”
He grinned and she was tempted to smile back because he looked kind of funny standing there like some big puppy. But she did not want him to think that she liked sharing a house with him, so she said, “I better not find you in my room at night staring at me while I sleep. And then when I wake up you just give me some lame excuse that it is a mating tradition to connect on a psycho level.”
He grabbed another cookie and walked past her, “Don’t flatter yourself I am not that desperate. Good night your highness.”
Lola smirked against his back when he walked away, at least he was quick and witty with his responses. Most guys couldn’t handle or appreciate her rude banter. Like her foster parents said, her foul mouth was like listening to the gates of hell. She had to admit Noah Grey was a better roommate than the ones she had before. He certainly was better looking.
She went to her bedroom which was cozy and simple. There was a big wooden bed, a desk, and a closet filled with clothes for her. She took a long hot shower before crawling into bed. She tucked herself in like a caterpillar and sighed happily. It had been a long day and she knew there would be plenty of challenges ahead. But right now, she felt safe and warm which was a luxury for someone who had a childhood like hers. She enjoyed the feeling and not long after sleep caught up with her.
Noah’s pov,
Noah was wide awake staring at the ceiling. “I am not that desperate,” he said to Lola. Well, fuck he was that desperate. All he wanted to do was run to her room, take her in his arms and kiss her. The image of her walking around in his shirt burned in his mind. He turned and twisted for hours before exhaustion finally caught up with him.
The next morning, he took a shower and draped a towel over his hips when he was done. He walked out of the bathroom and bumped into Lola. He had to wrap his arms around her to make sure she wouldn’t fall. She was pressed against his bare chest which was still burning hot from the shower. She quickly pushed him away with red cheeks and said, “Watch where you are going.”
He noticed she was still wearing his shirt, “Sorry Lola. I see you became rather attached to my shirt.”
She looked down and her face became even more red, “It was just comfortable to sleep in, okay?”
She pulled the shirt over her head and threw it at him. She was now standing in front of him in a dark blue hipster and bralette. He swallowed and tried to think straight, “You can keep it if you ..” but before he could finish his sentence all his blood went below and his towel was levitating.
Lola stared at his towel with big eyes and then started laughing. Noah felt embarrassed but also started laughing from awkwardness which made her laugh even harder. She was still chuckling when she went into the bathroom and shut the door. Noah rubbed his face and wondered why he behaved like such an idiot when she was around.
He had some breakfast and then went out because he needed to visit some other packs today for business. He came back later in the afternoon when it was time for his pack to do a wolf run together. They had certain days when the whole pack transformed, and they ran together. It was good for the unity of the pack. Noah looked forward to it today because he really needed Achak to let off some steam. It had been hard dealing with his wolf since Lola was around.
His heart skipped a beat the moment he saw Lola was there to watch the wolf run. She truly was beautiful with her long black hair blowing in the wind and her caramel eyes glittering from the sunlight. He had a hard time looking away from her, but it was time to behave like an Alpha now in front of his pack. They all waited till he transformed so they could follow him. He breathed in the fresh air and let Achak take over before storming into the forest. Dan followed him barking and soon he heard barking and howling from all directions.
Achak was a glimpse of grey fur sprinting through the forest. Running through fields covered with flowers going faster and faster until they reached the mountains. He climbed and ran until his lungs could take no more and then howled to let them know it was time to turn back. All the wolves turned around and enthusiastically started to run again. Everything was great until right at the end he heard some commotion in the form of growling and angry barks. They came back at the starting point, and everyone started to change back to human form. Noah scanned all his pack members to see if anyone was hurt when Dan marched out of the forest with one of the lower-ranked pack members over his shoulder. The omega his name was Peter and Noah knew him as shy, so he wondered what he had done to piss off Dan.
Dan threw Peter in front of Noah and growled, “This low life dared to run past me.”
Peter was trembling, “I am sorry I did not mean to I just got too enthusiastic.”
Dan spat at his face, “You need to be reminded of your place.”
Tristan spoke up, “Come on Dan, he said it was an accident I am sure he will not let it happen again.”
Dan his eyes became dark with anger, and he turned to Tristan, “How dare you talk to me like that?”
Noah felt annoyed why did Dan always have to behave like an aggressive toddler? Once again, this forced Noah to behave in a way that disgusted him. He let his voice become low and full of authority, “Tristan it is not your place to speak up against a Beta. As for you Peter you know the punishment for forgetting the pack order during our runs.”
Tristan bowed his head and Peter started trembling even more because he knew what that meant. Dan had a wicked smile on his face when he grabbed Peter his arm and snapped his wrist.
“That will remind you to stay behind next time,” he whispered.
Peter cried out from pain when Dan broke his bone and Noah heard Lola scream. She tried to run to Peter so Noah commanded Fenna and Deborah to take her home. When he looked into her eyes, he saw the same disgust and anger reflected that he felt inside him. He sighed and ordered some other wolves to bring Peter to the healers. Dan wanted to talk to him after that, but Noah went for another walk until he reached the lake. He needed some time to be alone and think. He did not know how much longer he could keep playing this cruel role. Especially now he found his mate and she just thought he was an asshole. To be fair he could not blame her.
He returned hours later and secretly visited Peter at the healers. Peter was sitting on one of the beds with his wrist in a cast. He would not be able to transform for a while which was torture for a werewolf. “You okay Peter?” he asked.
Peter did not dare look at him and whimpered, “Yes Alpha Grey.”
He was just sitting there waiting in fear of whether there would be more punishment. Noah hated that everyone was just scared of him, but it was necessary. The only thing he could do was ease Peter his pain, so he told the healers to give him some pain-relieving herbs before he went home.
As soon as he walked through the door of his house Lola came at him like an angry firecracker. She started hitting him in his stomach which of course did not hurt him physically. Her eyes were dark with anger, and she shouted, “What the fuck is wrong with you? How could you do that to him? You just stood there and let that maniac break his arms like it was nothing. And for what? Because he ran past him? Seriously, I have never heard something more fucked up.”
Her nostrils went wide with every breath like she was breathing fire before she continued, “I don’t get you are you bipolar or schizophrenic? How can you go from some overgrown puppy stuffing himself with cookies to this cruel monster in just a day?”
Noah sighed and softly pushed her to the side, “I can’t do this right now Lola.”
He walked past her to his bedroom and slammed the door.
Lola’s pov,
Lola was still fuming with anger after Noah left. If there was anything she hated, then it was picking on the weak. That boy did absolutely nothing wrong. Who cares that he ran past Dan? She really did not understand these werewolves at all. She also had no idea what to make of Noah. One moment he seemed witty and nice and the other moment he acted like some Alpha male that had to act mean to make up for his tiny dick.
One thing she did love was seeing everyone transform into their wolf form. They all looked careless and free; she couldn’t wait to transform herself. Luckily Noah had arranged for her to go to some transformation class tomorrow. Which was also good because it meant less time with Deborah who was boring her to death. Today she made Lola do some kind of roleplay where Deborah played the Alpha and Lola had to give respectful responses. She had felt like she ended up in some goody-two-shoes girl novel by Jane Austen. Soon she would be able to star in the next season of Bridgeton. She could already imagine the scene. “Ow, my Alpha Grey don’t you know that I burn for you?”
He would rip off her clothes and growl at her, making her tremble with fear and desire, “Yes tame me, Alpha. Show me what it means to be desired by a beast.”
When he would take off his pants, she would stare at his manhood and say, “Alpha Grey it is so enormous and anatomically exact. The moon goddess has truly blessed me.”
She chuckled at her stupid fantasy and felt relieved that her anger had cooled a bit. At least she would be able to sleep now. When she woke up Noah was already gone again, and Deborah was already at the door.
Today she let Lola write down the pack orders of different packs all morning before it was finally time for her werewolf transformation class. She was happy to see that the class was given by Tristan. At least she didn’t have to listen to another nutjob again. She sat down next to a girl with dark brown curls. The girl looked up at her and smiled, she had the same color eyes as Noah. She held out her hand, “Hi, my name is Laela.”
Lola shook her hand and said, “Lola. You look a lot like the Alpha of this pack. Are you related?”
“I am his little sister.”
“Ow, he never told me he had a sister.”
Laela gave her a wise look and responded, “Well did you ask?”
Lola her cheeks flushed because she realized she had not asked Noah anything. The only thing she had done was fight with him and laugh at him. She scraped her throat, “No, I guess not.”
Before she could say more Tristan whistled to let everyone know the class was about to start.
“Welcome everyone. You are here today because you will turn 21 this year. At the age of 21 everyone is developed enough to transform into wolf form. For some, it will automatically happen on their birthday. For others, it takes some more effort. Sometimes exercises like meditation can help to find your inner wolf and on rare occasions, a traumatic event is needed. It can happen that the wolf needs to be triggered because of a traumatic event in the past. But no need to worry about that because only 5 percent of the wolves have problems transforming. Today we will talk about the transformation itself. What you can expect and how it will feel.”
Lola listened carefully to the rest of the lecture. She wanted to remember everything Tristan said because the only cool thing from this experiment so far was the transformation. Of course, that was just the one thing that did not seem to be working. Tristan told them to make a drawing of what they thought their wolf would look like. Lola talked with Laela during the assessment, and she had to admit that Grey his little sister was actually good company. She was funny, clever, and seemed to be able to think for herself unlike most of the people in this pack.
“I don’t understand how you can be related to Noah. You are so different.”
Laela gave her a sad smile, “He is not that different from me you know. I was just lucky that I did not have the obligation of becoming Alpha. It is a bigger burden than you probably realize.”
Tristan whistled again which meant it was time for the wolves to go to their next class. Laela stood up and said, “Was nice to meet you, Lola. Hope you can give my brother a chance. Maybe he will surprise you.”
Lola watched Laela walk away and felt a bit confused. Maybe she should do some digging into Noah his background. Talking to Laela made her feel that there was something going on that no one wanted to talk about. She jumped up when Tristan touched her shoulder.
“Sorry, Lola did not mean to scare you. Just wanted to let you know that we can try some of the things I talked about in the class to find your wolf. If you want, I can talk to Alpha Grey and schedule it?”
“That sounds great. Thank you, Tristan.”
She went for a walk after that before she returned to the house determined to talk to Noah. She found him in the kitchen where he had just made dinner. He pointed at a plate and said, “That one is for you.”
Before she could say anything back, he walked away with his own plate. She heard him close the door of his bedroom. Apparently, he still had no desire to be around her after yesterday. She went to the kitchen and looked at the plate. It was filled with beef, red wine sauce, roasted potatoes, and asparagus. “Mmm, seems like mister beast can cook,” she thought.
She took a bite and the meat melted in her mouth. Her mood immediately improved when she tasted the delicious food. She took the food and went to the couch. She turned on the tv and enjoyed her meal while watching a comedy show. Before she knew it, she drank 3 glasses of wine and she felt properly sleepy.
It was probably best to call it a day and go to bed. Thanks to the wine she drifted off to sleep quickly but today her dreams were not calm and joyful. It was always the same nightmare that haunted her. She was chased by something through a village that was burning. The shadow came closer and closer until she was suddenly stuck in something, and she was surrounded by water. Filling her lungs more and more until she could breathe no longer. She woke up screaming loudly with her body full of adrenaline and her heart pounding in her chest.
In just a couple of seconds, Noah stormed into her room and asked her if she was all right. She could not respond only cry and tremble. He took her into his arms and folded the blankets around them. He softly stroked her hair while he held her tight. “shhh, It is okay Lola. I am here. No one can hurt you.”
Lola slowly started to calm down while she enjoyed the feeling of his strong arms around her. Sleep caught up with her and before she knew it, she woke up from the sun shining on her face. Her head was resting on Noah his chest and she looked up at his face. He gazed deep into her eyes, looking at her with a kindness she had not seen before. His grey eyes shifted to her mouth and then back to her eyes. Lola held her breath while she felt electricity take up the air between them.
