BODIE POV

Agnes had a spring in her step when she headed out the front door. There were kids laughing and screeching in the front yard, holding various types of food. That sound will get old fast, but I will savor it for now.

I went in the general direction of where my bedroom was the last time. I hoped it was still an actual room. But I didn't need to hope, the room was almost exactly the same. The fact that it was still familiar gave me comfort.

The bathroom was new, an en suite. Someone had brought my bags inside and left them near the dens doorway. I never had many clothes, and now wasn't any different, but the closet was big enough to fit one of everything from a department store.

<i>'They don't seem so bad.'</i> Caine was quiet the whole time we were talking to the rogues.

<i>'You're not just letting me do my own thing like your last counterpart?'</i>

<i>'No. There are some rogues that do not live up to the reputation, but my point still remains, we have to be careful when bringing people into our den. You were right too… we want to be different, and growing the pack is just as important to that safety.'</i>

<i>'I don't believe that they will be a danger to us. The two quiet ones were just kids, and they need our protection. If you every feel the slightest thing off, I will take your advice.'</i>

Caine didn't answer, but I felt his acquiescence.

I went into the bathroom with a clean version of the same clothes I have on and turned on the shower. I was tempted to lay in there for a while and let the water wash over me, but they would be expecting me at the bon fire. I watched the water shoot out from all the jets 'Fuck it.'. I took off all my clothes and laid down in the shower, water came at me from all sides and I relaxed. This was as close to living underwater as I would get. I shut my eyes.

<i>'BODIEEEEE! Where you at? Did you drown?' </i>Quests voice shocked me out of a dead sleep. The water was still running and I struggled for breath at first.

<i>'I fell asleep in the shower. Did you guys start already?'</i> I was coughing up moisture I had sucked in when I jolted awake.

<i>'We're all here. Agnes made a heaping plate for you.'</i>

<i>'I'll be out in a minute.'</i> I fell asleep in the shower. At least now I'm rested. I put on the clothes I had dumped on the bed and decided to go barefoot to the beach.

Leaving my room, I decided to go to the den to check if there were any changes to Nina. When I got there, all the guys were sitting in chairs, freshly dressed, watching over Nina.

"You guys can come out and join the bonfire." I looked at the boys, neither one looked at me.

"Ms. Evangeline gave us some clothes and brought some more food to eat. We don't want her to wake up alone."

"All right. Well, holler if you need something." I walked out of the room and to the front door. It was quiet out, but I heard the music and chatter coming from the direction of the beach. I walked passed the new houses - the lights on in a few of them - various toys littered in the grass.

I got to the top of the hill where the sand started and saw the whole pack milling around. Passing drink and plate piled high with food. There was an elderly woman sitting in a lawn chair next to a fire, staring at the water into the distance. She was nursing a beer and holding a lit cigarette.

I went closer, intending on asking for one. A vice I gave up long ago, but I needed to loosen up. When I got within a few inches of her, I smelled the weed. I laughed a little and she looked up at me.

"Mind if I get a hit?" She smiled and held it out to me. I took a drag and held it back out to her. "Shouldn't you be telling us that this stuff is bad?"

"After 400 years, I think I have a good handle on what's good and bad for me." Evangeline winked at me when she said that.

"400 years?!" I squatted down in front of her when she held it out to me again.

"Yes, we live up to about 500 years. Barring any defects or complications. This won't do anything but what it needs to do to me."

"I can respect that."

"I brought one plant with me. I wasn't sure if we would be able to get any seeds once we got here." We kept passing the joint back and forth until it was almost done.

"Well, if you do need some, I know a person who will be able to get them." She placed her hand on my cheek and smiled. Like I imagined a mother would smile at me.

"You are too sweet Bodie."

"That he is! I brought you some food Alpha. Agnes had it over there until you came out." Laurel came up next to us and held out the plate. I took it from her and thanked her.

"Where did you get all this food?" There was more than enough here, Parker couldn't have brought all this food.

"Your friend must have thought you were coming here with a small army, because every single house has a ton of food in it." Quest came up behind me with a lawn chair and two beers. He set the chair down directly behind my legs and plopped in the sand in front of Evangeline and I.

I sat down tentatively, I didn't want anyone else to think I wouldn't want to speak to them. But they looked like they were all having a good time talking amongst each other. I tasted the corn that I hadn't been able to stop thinking about since I saw Stephen with some. My stomach let out a fierce growl in that same second.

Evangeline and Laurel giggled and Quest almost popped a blood vessel with his laughter.

"There's more where that came from, we didn't eat it all." Laurel said.

"Yeah, yeah. So, both of you are pretty young, were you going to school? Do werewolves have special schools?" Every time I tried to make progress, another question presented itself.

"Alpha Korbin shut down the schools about two years ago. My parents were going to try to send me to school with the humans." Laurel's earlier easy going persona was dimming a little.

"I didn't know that. But I can't say I'm surprised, he was pulling money from everywhere. I was in college, living on campus. I came home about a year ago when my parents never paid that semesters tuition, when I got on pack lands, I was given an assignment and was told that I couldn't ask questions about it." Quest said.

"What assignment?" I picked at my chicken while he talked, I didn't expect this to become so heavy.

"I was to keep tabs on the neighboring pack and show up for training everyday. They didn't tell us why we needed to train. Not until it happened."

"Well I think we should keep up with training. Everyone should know how to defend themselves, but I will never make you fight."

"Even the girls?" Laurel said from her hunched position staring into the fire.

"Yeah, why not the girls?"

"Well, some Alphas don't believe that girls should have fighting capabilities. Korbin only started training us about a month before the battle."

"That's bullshit. But we're here now, and if you want to put your energy into that, then I will support you." Ms. Evangeline was looking at me, pausing as she removed another joint from her cigarette box.

"You must have a lot of support." She said, putting the joint between her lips and leaning forward a touch near to the fire. It looked like an ember jumped out to meet the end of the joint.

<i>'What the fuck was that?'</i>

She caught me staring at the fire. "My great great great whatever was a witch. I can't do nearly as much as the full bloods can, but I can do the most for my plants."

<i>'I never knew. There's definitely some interspecies breeding in there.'</i> Caine supplied. It did nothing.

'What do you mean?'

<i>'Typically we would be able to sense the witch in her, no matter how small. My only guess would be that there's more in there to muddle her bloodline… Cool!'</i>

"So you don't stay separate, then."

"Oh nooo. My father was human, died when I was a little girl, and well before we joined Korbins pack. But times were different then. A good population of the humans even knew we existed."

I was starting to get an ache in my forehead from how high my eyebrows are. I made an effort to smooth my face.

Evangeline seemed lost to her thoughts and Laurel stood and walked away.

"She'll be fine," said Quest. "I think she likes the water. She's been standing at the edge, just staring out every few minutes since we got here." He scooted closer to me and held out the bottle of beer. "I wanted to ask if you would train me actually."