Chapter 4

Storm

I though that it was crazy that I had been here in Ireland for a week already, but I had to admit, I had found that I had seemed to be finding my feet alright.

Since I had been here, I had taken to working out extensively in the university's gym at all hours of the day and night and running for hours along the assorted paths of an evening and between classes. It hadn't taken me long to settle into my classes and honestly; I was finding university life extremely enjoyable.

Logan and I had taken to calling each other every Tuesday and Friday night. This was so we could keep in touch easier. I enjoyed talking to him about what we had both been doing throughout the week. It was great that we were able to let each other know we were okay. I found I had peace of mind knowing he was okay, and I am sure he felt the same way.

The girls and I had been spending time together outside of classes, and it surprised me at how well we were all getting along. Since the four of us were studying different subjects, we had no classes together. Leah was studying to become a paediatric surgeon. Lilly was studying psychology and Julie was studying to become a physical therapist. They were incredibly smart people and I just knew they were going to excel in their chosen fields.

When I had found out what the girls were studying, I had been sure to tell them right from the start that I would not be their guinea pig, so everything they learned in their classes was not going to be getting tested out on me. Although I had been serious when I had told them that, my statement had earned me a laugh from each of them. Yeah, I had allowed them to laugh at me at the time. All I had to say on the matter was, they might think I was joking, but I wasn't!

I was getting into a routine since I had been living in the dorm, and I had to admit, I was enjoying the carefree life of a university student. I couldn't remember the last time I had felt this free, it had to have been before my mother died. It was refreshing for me, being able to go through my day without looking over my shoulder or feeling the never-ending fear I had felt for so long.

However, as much as I was loving living in Ireland and my new found freedom, there were things that moving to Ireland hadn't been able to change. Like the issues I now lived with because of my father and brother. There were a few things I had to contend with, and I hoped that in time, I would overcome them. Because of the years of abuse, I had endured, I now lived with anxiety; so large groups of people, strangers and unfamiliar places left me feeling incredibly anxious. A novelty for me since moving to Ireland, was that I could now sleep through the night without the fear of someone busting into my bedroom to beat me.

However, despite how safe I felt being away from my pack, I still slept in my wolf form every night. I had become used to doing that as a security measure after what I had gone through when I was living through Mason's and my father's abuse and I had kept doing it when everything had changed within the pack following my father's death. It had become a habit from my first day here, to have my shower of an evening right before bed, I would clean my teeth while I was in the shower, then instead of getting dressed, I would just shift into wolf form after I had dried off and make my way into mine and Lilly's room.

I will admit, it had surprised the girls that I did that, but they asked no questions, they just let me know that they wouldn't question me about it, but that they were there if I ever wanted to talk to them about anything. The girls and I were growing closer day by day. Our friendships were strong even though we had only just met. It was crazy how you could meet someone and feel like you had known them forever.

The girls had accepted me into their little family group, and I was thankful for their kindness and acceptance. But despite our growing friendships, I was still hiding everything from them. I had to admit, I felt dreadful about it, however; it was a necessity, my very life depended on my secrets being kept. No matter how much I enjoyed spending time with the girls, or how close we got. I had to be mindful that I was playing a very dangerous game where one false move could mean certain death. Not just for me, but for any one I was close to as well. And the closer I got to the girls, if I foolishly trusted them with my secrets, I knew I would just be signing their death warrants.

Every time the girls and I spent time together outside of the classroom, we always went to places that other university students frequented. I had to admit; I was having so much fun here in Ireland; I was enjoying the opportunity to experience new things as I engrossed myself within Ireland's culture and vast beauty. The one thing I was having to get used too, was the vast change in the environment. Out here, there wasn't constant sunshine, the days were crisp and overcast, and as for the rain, I had never seen so much rain in my life. But the countryside was lovely, everything was green. So, so green. I had never thought I would ever live to see so much green grass!

I had never been one for frigid climates. My entire life I had always objected to going to places I knew were going to be cold. But I had to admit, I was falling in love with Ireland. There was just something special about this place that drew me in and made me feel like I belonged here. To be honest, I think the main reason that Logan thought me moving to a cold climate was a good idea was because no one would expect me to do it. I had to agree, coming here to Ireland was a great idea, because Mason wouldn't expect me to go somewhere where the climate was as cold as it was here. But with Ireland, I loved it! Even though I had to wear numerous layers of clothing just to go outside and enjoy myself, as far as I was concerned, it was worth it. When we were out of our classes, the girls showed me around the town and took me to their favorite stores.

I found that the girls loved to shop and spend money every chance they got. It was as if shopping was their favorite pass time. Hell, I think if shopping were an Olympic sport, these girls would take the gold medal.

I will admit that it shocked me when I saw how expensive things were in Ireland. It was so different to America. Seeing the girls as they were on our various shopping trips, spending money almost like it was going out of fashion, along with the way they dressed in their expensive brand-named clothing. I could see that the girls, like me, came from money.

We had gotten so close in such a short time that it had made losing Logan seem a tad more bearable for me. I still missed Logan like crazy but having the girls' friendships made the heartache just a little easier for me to bear. By now, I felt as if I had known the girls forever. I was so comfortable around them, which surprised me because apart from Kat and Logan and my grandparents; I wasn't comfortable around anyone.

Leah

My sisters and I had fallen into a comfortable friendship with Lena since she had arrived at the university campus. Yes, she was a rogue, but she didn't behave in the usual manner of any rogue I had ever met. Not that I had met many. In all honesty, I had never met a rogue before. But I had been told stories about rogues from my dad and my Uncle Sean and my Aunt Siobhan. I had heard about how they were merciless and blood thirsty killers. But hearing those things about rogues, and seeing Lena in the flesh, had left me torn on my opinion of rogues.

How many rogues had been perceived to be dangerous people when they weren't actually dangerous at all? How many good people just like Lena, had been brutally killed simply for being rogues?

Every day I rang my dad and kept him apprised of the situation regarding Lena. I clarified that he had nothing to worry about. I told him that Lena was harmless, and that she was just a student who wanted to complete her schooling and get her degree just like the rest of us. Lena had never once said or did anything to hint at being a problem for my sisters and I or for my pack.

In fact, she was the opposite of a problem, truth be told. Whenever there was any tension among my siblings and myself, Lena would go out of her way to make a few jokes and get us laughing, then she would play the part of mediator and get the problem resolved.

Every time I spoke to my father regarding Lena, I could tell it relieved him that she was not creating any problems for us. But I knew my father well enough to know he was not happy with the situation of Lena being here. In the time that Lena had been living here in the dorm with us, she was always helping us out, and doing little things for us and taking care of us just like a mother would do. It was odd.

If she were doing a load of washing, she would throw our dirty laundry into the machine too. She went out of her way to buy groceries for us whenever she went into town. She even cooked meals for us, and she cleaned the dorm room without asking for any help from us. I felt lousy that she was doing so much, but she never complained. It seemed like she was just a thoughtful person. But despite her thoughtfulness, I couldn't shake the feeling that Lena hadn't had the easiest life. Being a rogue had to be a tough life to live. Rogues were hated and hunted by other packs across the globe. I had never once mentioned it to my sisters or my father, but I had occasionally heard Lena crying in the shower, and on one occasion I had heard her singing song lyrics one day when I had gotten back to our dorm room after one of my classes had let out early. The lyrics she had been singing that day had left me with tears in my eyes. The pain that she had expressed in those lyrics, could only be portrayed the way she had projected it, by someone who had lived through it.

The one thing that worried me about Lena, was that she always slept in her wolf form. I will admit the first couple of times it had terrified me that Lilly was right, and Lena was going to kill us in our sleep. But now, I could see it was because she was afraid. When I had come to that realization, I had felt so ashamed that I had thought badly of Lena. It made me realize that maybe Lena feared the three of us. I mean it was possible; it wasn't as if we had stopped to think of that possibility when she had first arrived here. But maybe Lena was as scared of us as we were of her!

Storm

I was running along the same path I had been running on each morning since I had arrived in Ireland. It was still dark, and the rain was falling, I had my headphones in as I ran. I was listening to the same song that I listened to every morning when I ran along this path. Ruelle's "Game of Survival."

I had the song on a loop. I loved the beat. There was something about this song that helped me to free my mind. I pushed myself harder as I ran along the path, loving the power that I felt contained within my body. Since I had gotten here, I could feel myself growing stronger physically. Now I just had to work on getting myself stronger mentally! As I followed the path, through the pouring rain, my thoughts turned to a problem I had picked up on recently. I had become a little protective over the girls I shared a room with. The girls and I had been spending more and more time together since my arrival in Ireland. Whenever we went off campus during our free time, I had noticed that a lot of people approached the girls whenever they saw us. Whenever these strangers approached our group, well they were strangers to me, the girls seemed to know quite a few of them. My wolf became tense, she felt protective of the girls in a way that she had not felt towards anyone else before.

I had also noticed that there was one group of boys who were always hanging around the girls whenever we were away from the campus. The boys were werewolves as well, but there was something that just looked off about them. They were not rogues as far as I could tell. But I could tell they were dangerous just the same. I had asked Leah what the deal was with that group of boys and she had told me that those boys had only been hanging around them for a week or two before I had arrived at the university. She assured me that the boys were not from her pack and that she wasn't even sure if they attended the university or not, because they never appeared to take any classes.

Something else I had noticed was that the boys were always wary whenever they were around me. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out why that was. I had to admit it was this suspicious behavior on their part that had me wary of them. Although I couldn't explain it, I knew that they were up to something with the girls, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

My wolf made it clear to me, that she could just sense that they were evil. Their mere presence had my wolf on edge, and I didn't appreciate the constant feeling of being on edge that they brought about. I had decided that I was going to take it upon myself to watch out for the girls and make sure they were safe while they were away from their pack. As an Alpha blooded wolf, ensuring they were safe was the least I could do.

Lilly

We had finished our classes for the day, and we were making our way to the path we had chosen to run along of an evening. Ever since Lena had moved into the dorm with us, she had been working out like she was possessed. A week ago, she had announced at breakfast that she was going to get us girls into the routine of running and exercising every day to build up our fitness levels.

I had to say, I enjoyed the time we spent exercising with Lena. Lena pushed us to challenge ourselves, and it felt good to know what I could do. The thing I liked most when it came to exercising with Lena was that I had learned I was much stronger than I had first thought I was.

The first few times we had exercised with her, my sisters and I had felt as though we were going to die the next day. But we still looked forward to our afternoon exercise sessions. What surprised me was how much energy Lena had. She ran three times a day and worked out in the gym morning and night. I honestly didn't know where she got all her energy from.

As we slowly made our way to the point along the path where we usually started our afternoon run from. I was amped up and ready to go, but my heart sank when we reached our starting point and I saw the group of guys who had been hanging around my sisters and me. I didn't think much of them, and I didn't trust them. They were incredibly sleazy.

As soon as we arrived at our starting point for our afternoon run, the group of boys came over to us. They were trying to flirt with us, but as far as I was concerned the drivel coming out of their mouths was just filthy, sleazy, vomit. Whenever they were around, I tended to stick by Lena because I knew that the boys didn't mess with her. I was getting the impression that these boys were afraid of her.

"Hey, lovely ladies, how are we this evening?" one guy called out as the group made their way over to us. When we didn't answer them, the boys continued to call out, trying to get our attention. But we just stayed quiet. To stay away from them, I hid behind Lena. I don't know how I knew it, but I just knew that if I needed her too, Lena would protect me from them.

"Oh, I love a lady who plays hard to get," one guy said looking right at me. This remark earned him a hard glare from Lena, which had him shrinking back away from us. I noticed that his friends were now watching Lena, as if they expected her to wolf out and attack them at any second. Smiling at the fact I knew I had been right about Lena; I began to warm up for my run.

Leah

We had just arrived at the spot we had been using for our evening runs with Lena. It was a four-mile path around the university campus that we took. We averaged the whole four miles in less than an hour which Lena was very happy with, considering that my sisters and I were not athletic in our human form. Sure, we were slim, but if you took a moment to look around, it would soon be obvious to you that slim didn't always mean fit.

As I looked around at the group of guys vying for our attention, I noticed that Lilly was uncomfortable around the guys and she was hiding behind Lena. They had been hanging around us for the past few weeks and I could not for the life of me understand why. If it was so they could flirt with us, then they were wasting their time. We could not have made it clearer that we weren't interested in them. Lilly had always been a quiet person, and she stuck to Lena like glue whenever these guys were around. I had noticed that the guys always steered clear of Lena. The guys were obviously scared of her. Maybe they feared her because she was a rogue. Maybe it was something else. Whatever the reason for their fear, their fear of Lena made me appreciate how much safer my sisters and I were around her. If those guys were that scared of her, they had a reason to be afraid. Funnily enough though, their fear of Lena only made me feel safer around her!