He's your Mate.

He's your Beta.

What does this mean? He appears human. He even smells human. 

I know. I can't work it out either, but Travis is one of us!

Yeah but that's because he was bitten. He said there were no signs before the attack of his Werewolf blood manifesting and being activated. We don't even know how potent the blood was in him.

Maybe they have more of the blood than we thought, but James doesn't seem to know what he is.

We'll work this out. I think the first step will have to be telling James about what we are. . .

I know but not today. Let today be about him and his brother.

Ok. I'll see you soon. I can feel your close.

Yeah, we're almost there. Everything's sorted for your enrollment. You'll be coming to school with me and James.

Thanks sis. love you.

love you too.

I signed off with Alex and went back to staring out the window at the scenery flying by as Travis drove us back to the house and James.

It had only been about twenty minutes since I saw him but I was already missing him and wanting to see his face. The bond was too new and I needed physical contact with him to reassure myself of the reality of this. 

I also wanted to talk to him, face to face. I had the urge to know everything about him. His likes and dislikes, his past and future aspirations, his ups and his downs.

I already knew some of his past from Travis, namely about what happened to his dad. I was a little worried about that. Their dad had died 12 years ago. He was killed by wolves. That fact had made it difficult for Travis to accept his Werewolf nature. He had nightmares that it was other Werewolves that killed his father and that he had become the very thing that caused their family so much grief. I hope that James won't feel the same.

I'm pulled from my thoughts as I notice the car is pulling into the garage. 

I say garage but it's more like an underground parking lot on the ground floor of the house. It has parking space for over thirty cars and even disabled and service parking too. 

The reason, the previous owner ran a club out of the ground floor of the building, which Joel intends to keep going, with some changes of course. Instead of the rich gentleman's club which the previous owner ran, Joel intended for this to be a Werewolf club with only those with the blood being allowed to enter. Father of course completely supports this, calling it an opportunity to create positive relations with any other potential pack members and to sniff out any competition from already established packs in the area. He doesn't see Joel's prejudice against non-wolves as the awful thing it is. Even though Joel's the second youngest and despite his temper, he's still dad's top choice for next Alpha, what with Dillan's stupidity and Chris' complete lack of interest in anything but knowledge and proving himself right.

But if what we think just happened between Alex and James is correct then it looks like Alex is next Alpha. . . 

That thought brought me up short. It's never happened before that the youngest is to be the next Alpha. It's always the oldest or the Beta. Never anything else, but dad doesn't have a Beta. The last Beta died and dad refuses to take another.

Speaking of Beta's. I want to go see James. . .

I undid my seatbelt and jumped out of the car. Motioning for Travis to follow I race out of the garage and head towards the back of the house where James, his mother, and Alex are waiting in one of the sitting rooms. I stop just outside the door and just listen for a while. The three of them appeared to be talking warmly of Travis and some of what's happened over the past ten years as well as a little idol chit chat. I heard James' voice rise up above the others for a moment and a feeling of need washed over me. I took a deep breath and gripped the door handle before turning it and swinging the door open to step inside.

Alex is sitting on one couch facing away from me and towards the large french doors and the many windows leading outside to the garden. Sitting across from him are James and his mother who is gripping her son's arm to her side, tear streaks stain her face and she's shaking a little. James had his free hand covering his mothers and was gripping her just as hard back. He looked shook up but he was staying strong for his mother, being her rock in the storm. Just at that moment, he turned and our eyes locked. I was again overcome with the sense of wanting and need. Need to be with him, to touch him and talk to him and assure myself he's alright. I quickly hurried into the room and over to where the three of them were sitting, Travis hot on my heels.

As soon as Mrs Grey saw us coming towards her she stood up like a shot and practically threw herself at her eldest son. He caught her around the middle and held her close to his chest squeezing her tightly and a single tear slipped out and slid down his cheek.

"I'm sorry mum. I've missed you." He says berrying his face in her hair.

"I just want to know why? Why did you leave?" She asks her voice trembling.

"It's a long story. Why don't we sit down?" He replies pulling back from her just enough to look at her face.

"I think that's our cue to leave." Says Alex coming up and standing beside me.

"No! No please stay!" Exclaims Travis.

"Don't you want to be alone with your family? We don't want to intrude on your reunion any more than we already have." I tell them. I don't want to leave but I won't stay unless they tell me I can.

"Laiela you two are as much my family as they are and there's no way I'd be able to get through this conversation without you." He replied then sent over the Pack Bonds;

I'm gonna need you to help me out here. I'm not sure how much of the truth I can tell them. If it wasn't them I would just make something up or just not tell them anything but this is my family and I owe them an explanation.

I understand. Eventually, we will tell them the truth, but not yet. Let them assimilate the fact that you're back.

"Of course. Let's sit down." I reply out loud

We all sat down on the two couches. James, Travis and their mum on one and me and Alex on the other. After a moment of silence, Travis took a deep breath and started his story.

"I was out on the town with some friends. Earlier that day me and mum and been arguing over James going out in the forest by himself and I had stormed out of the house. I had been so angry that I just wanted to drink and forget and my friends had been willing to go along with me.

We were on our way to The Club from some bar we had found down a side ally. We were completely plastered so when we saw some guys ruffing up some girls we knew from school we jumped in without thought. Nevermind that the guys outnumbered us and were much bigger and older. We just wanted to fight and look cool in front of the girls, . . . but something happened . . . I hurt somepeople and would have hurt others if one of the girls hadn't stopped me . . . I . . . I didn't know what to do . . . I couldn't face you guys, so I ran . . . Stayed with friends for a while before catching a plane to France. Hitch-hiked around Europe for a couple years going from job to job until I found the Volkov's.

They were vacationing in Stockholm where I was working at the time. Laiela here was out walking around with Alex when she fell off a bridge into a river. I saw it happen from the banks and jumped in to save her. The water was freezing because it was winter and she had hit her head on something. She was unconscious and had swallowed some water before I could get to her, I pulled her out and performed CPR until the ambulance showed up. The Volkov's wanted to thank me for saving her and I needed a more permanent place to stay so they offered me a job as a live-in bodyguard and the rest is history." He finished.

Mrs Grey was crying continuously now and clutching her sons to her like they might disappear. Travis was looking down so I couldn't see his face but he was holding his mother back just as hard. James was smiling sadly at his brother and his eyes looked suspiciously red. It wasn't the whole story, but it was as close to the truth as he could get without mentioning Werewolves. . .

The night he got into the fight one of the guys had been a Werewolf and had turned during the fight and bitten Travis. Travis had then turned and killed all the attackers. He would have killed his friends too but one of the girls was a witch and she used her magic to bring him back to his senses and erase the other's memories of what happened. He left half out of shame and half out of fear he would lose it and hurt James or their mum.

When I fell into the river I turned because I'm a better swimmer in my wolf form, but then I hit my head and got knocked out, turning back to human. Travis saw the whole thing so knew I was like him. When my parents asked what he wanted as a reward he asked to know about Werewolves and our history and culture. When he found out that we live in Packs he asked to join ours. Father accepted him and he became a Protector Wolf.

"I know why you did it. I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same at that age, but that doesn't make it any less of a stupid decision. You're here now though and that's all that matters." Said Mrs Grey, breaking the companionable silence that had settled over the room as everyone sat with their own thoughts.

Travis snorted and turned to his mother berrying his face in her hair again.

"I love you too mum." he mumbled against her shoulder.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sharing stories of the past ten years. I told them of the time Alex got his hair stuck in a tree while we had been climbing it and Travis had had to climb up after us to try and get him unstuck only to fall out of the tree himself. Mrs Grey then told us about the time she thought James had gotten lost in the forest only to find him asleep under a tree 50 feet from the back of the house. We talked about what it was like moving all the time and living all over the world, sometimes staying for a month, sometimes several years and sometimes no more than a week. Mrs Grey talked about her job and the state of the crime rate and all the things that came with being chief of police and James talked about school and what it would be like for us joining halfway through the term like this. We just talked and talked, only pausing momentarily to eat when Bruno brought us in some dinner the staff had prepared. Before we knew it the sun had set and it was time for James and Mrs Grey to go home.

"Laiela can I talk to you for a second?" asked James just as I got up to follow Travis and Mrs Grey who had already left the room and were heading for the front door.

"Sure James."

"I'll leave you two alone for a little." said Alex as he walked out the door.

"Okay. Tell the others we'll only be a minute." I shout after him.

I turned back to James and we stood there for a moment just taking each other in.

"Thank you for tonight." He began. "I never thought I would see Travis again. Thank you for looking after him." 

"Of course. Like he said earlier, we're family."

He smiled sadly at that before looking down at his hands.

"What's wrong?" I asked bending down to see his face.

"Nothing. I had fun tonight. More fun than I've had in a while. I just wish it could have gone on longer."

"That can be arranged." I smile conspiringly.

He looked up at that and smiled back. That smile, that genuinely happy and warm smile had my breath catching and my heart skipping a beat. He just seemed to glow like the sun coming out after a storm. I could get addicted to that smile.

"Oh really?" He asked a mischievous note entering his voice. "Then how about tomorrow after school you and me go for a walk and I can show you around town?" He asked.

My heart soared at the thought of going out with James, of him showing me his home territory and of being able to walk hand in hand with him down the street, but then I remembered something and all my hopes and fantasies came crashing down.

"I'd love to, but I'm still grounded," I reply physically deflating a little.

"Oh, right. I'd forgotten about that." He says scratching the back of his neck. "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait till your ungrounded if that's ok with you?" He asks shyly, his confidence having gone out the window.

"Definitely! Come on I'll walk you to the door." I say offering him my hand. He takes it and we head down the hall towards the front of the house.

I was practically floating on air as we headed down the hall. James was holding my hand and it felt so right. Like we were meant to be touching. There was so much warmth and electricity that I felt like a flower that was starved of precious sunlight and James was my own personal ray of sunshine. Just as we were passing the hall to the Library and Christopher's rooms James suddenly tensed up and I felt a wave of anger and fear flow over me from our bond which up until a moment ago had been humming happily. I opened my mouth to ask what was wrong when I saw Dillan, Joel and Chris all standing in a circle staring daggers at James and fully alert.