Chapter 2 : The Guest

Faith rushed through the process of drying herself and changing into warm clothes. Although werewolves did not get sick easily, they were not completely immune to all kinds of sickness. And Faith had a special dislike for colds. She hated when her nose was runny and her eyes got blurry from rubbing on them as they got red. 

She wanted to avoid having a cold at all costs. She used a hair dryer. It not only fried up her hair pretty quickly but also warmed up her scalp which provided a lot of comfort. In the mirror, Faith had a full view of her light pink hair and lightest shade of blue eyes. 

Of course her hair was coloured. It had been that way since she was eighteen and now if someone asked faith what colour her origin hair was, she could barely explain. 

She loved her hair though. But her appearance always questioned her being a part of her family. Her appearance did not match with any of her brothers and sisters or parents. Her eyes weren't blue or black, neither was her hair the darkest shade of brown of the lightest black. 

Huffing away a strand of pink cotton candy hair away from her face, Faith tried to brush it gently. Carefully avoiding the area that Dea had hit. 

The bruise was gone of course. But it was still a little bit sore and swollen. Faith did not want to add on to her problems by being careless. She made her soft hair into a pretty loose braid and pinned up her baby hair with a snowflake bobypin. 

Once she was satisfied with her how her hair looked, Faith decided to wear her favourite dress of all time. She didn't know what was going on but she did know that Dea told her to look her best. She pulled out the pink dress from her wardrobe and changed into it without thinking. It wasn't the pink colour that made this dress her favourite but the intricate lace patterns drawn over it! 

Faith remembered how she had fallen in love with the dress at first sight. But as soon as Dea saw the price, she refused to her it for her. Faith did not work back then and her allowance wasn't as high as her other siblings so it was not an option for her to buy it on her own. 

After a lot of begging, Dea had agreed to buy it for her bout on a condition that Faith's monthly allowance be cut in half for the next four months. The dress was definitely worth the cut on her allowance. She wore it on special occasions only so that she doesn't ruin it. 

Whenever Faith wore the dress, she was showered with compliments by others and told that she looked the prettiest in it. Changed and hair done, faith moved on to the footwear. Choosing the right footware was as simple as choosing the dress. The only good shoes that she owned were the crystal studded while flats that Faith had brought with her first paycheck. 

After the dress incident, it was only fair that Faith started working to earn some money. Dea wouldn't buy her a lot of things without making her beg for it or straight out refusing. So faith took up a job at the ice rink where she trained small kids how to ice skate! 

Ice skating was her favourite sport and since she was so good at it, she decided that it was a good job for her. And the payment they gave her was quiet decent so it was a win win for Faith!

Dressed up, Faith was about to leave her room when the door of her room crashed open, making Faith gasp in shock. She relaxed when she was it was none other than Caren, her sister. Caren seemed to have been born with a scowl permanently drawn on her lips. Or maybe it was because faith only saw her with that expression when she was around Caren. 

"How much time do you need to get dressed? Mom is already pissed off at you, don't make her mad by being late! You are making the guest wait!" Caren hissed into Faith's face and turned to leave. Caren's sharp black hair slapped on Faith's face and pricked her eye. Rubbing the corners of her eye softly she followed after Caren. 

Faith had a happy bounce in her steps as she descended the stairs. A small smile played on her soft pink lips, her tongue curled to hum a tune only use knew. Her cheeks were tinted with a colour of pink roses. She was happy to go down and spend time with the guest. 

Usually faith wasn't invited to be downstairs when a guest came. She would either be told to stay up in her room or ignored during the gatherings by ger family as the guest gave ger attention. But today was a different evening! She was not only told to attend to the guest but also she was called twice! She was given importance today! 

Faith's wolf, Peony, was as silent as night breeze inside her.  

That was nothing new to Faith. Peony and Faith had to be different in many ways than one. While Faith in liked to be talkative and expressive, even though she had no to express her thoughts to other than Peony, her wolf liked to keep it to herself in a corner of her mind and stag as if she did not exist. Peony was harmless, she rarely showed herself until Faith called her out. Which did not happen in the whole twenty two years of faith's life. 

The only thing which seemed common between Faith and Peony, was that both were scared of Dea and were treated differently. 

A werewolf usually shifts when they are thirteen years of age and after shifting they have to keep shifting often so that the body could adapt the change. However, Dea did not let Faith shift the required amount of times. She would stop the shifting and make her do soem other work instead while her other siblings got their own chance at it. 

As a result Faith had trouble shifting into her wolf even at the age of twenty two. 

Shaking away the gloomy memories Faith skipped down the stairs and into the hallway where all of her family was already present, making the fairly large living room to appear congested. 

At the far corner on the couch was Brandon, the eldest sibling of the Sundre household. He was also the beta of their pack which was huge honour for the whole family. Faith passed him a small smile to which he grunted in reply. 

On a recliner chair Faith saw Ollien, the second sibling. She was already mated to the delta of the pack and rarely stayed with them. On her lap was her sleeping one year old son Ken. 

Next to Brandon were Caren and Winter, the twins sisters and the third and fourth in the line of siblings. Although they look the same, there would not be more difference in their lives and personality. While Caren was extremely open in her show of opinion and often liked to degrade faith, Winter was a silent suspector and kept it to herself. That did not mean Winter was any good to Faith, she just fine show it like Caren did. 

Caren had already found her mate a year ago at the same time as Winter did. While Winter's mate soon passed away due to a fatal illness, Caren's mate was a well known playboy in the pack. Caren and her mate did not have their mating ceremony yet, which was very odd for a couple as they preferred having it done within a year of meeting. 

Dave and Sol were hunched over in a love seat at the opposite side of Brandon. Dave was somewhat like Winter. He stayed by the sidelines and watched Faith get bullied. He sometimes called her names or shouted at her but nothing that faith already wasn't used to. Faith offered him a smile as well, which he rolled his eyes to. 

Sol was ignored by faith. He was not at all guilty for what he did to faith and he made it clear when he smirked at her from his seat. 

Faith's father, Joseph, and Dea were also present there. It was extremely rare for Joseph to show up at all as he was always working holed up in his study. If he was here then jt must have been a very important guest indeed. 

"Faith! What took you so long?" Dea smiled a fake smile, "Come and say hello to our guest. He has come here especially for you!" 

As Faith's gaze landed upon the said guest, all her excitement evaporated into a misty cloud. She blinked hard but the person before her remained the same. His light smirk send chill up her spine. 

She knew him very well. His face was unforgettable for anyone in the pack, for he was the Alpha. His smirk widen fraction of an inch, as if he knew what Faith was thinking about. 

Faith gulped a little and bowed slightly to him. Wondering why was he here for her.