Chapter Two

Lizzie took my hand and pulled me towards the bonfire.  The pack town was beautiful.  There were many houses – the pack was rather large. The town itself had many shops, restaurants, a café, and other types of businesses. The pack land was expansive and many of the stores and businesses in the neighboring human town were also owned by Alpha Callan and the pack. I had only ventured into the pack town a few times since coming to stay with Lizzie.  Most of the time, I just went school and came back home. With just a few days left in school, I was just hoping to finish without any more problems. 

The large field located behind the pack house was the perfect place for the bonfire. The setting was beautiful.  The clearing was surrounded by trees on three sides and a steep hill on the fourth side. I had never come to the pack house so I didn’t realize how much forest surrounded this part of the town. Lizzie’s house was on the far other end of town and opened more to fields.  I kicked myself for not coming this way sooner.  Lela would love to go for a run. The trees seemed to offer plenty of cover.

There were many more people in attendance than I had expected.  The Red Moon Pack was large, and it seemed like half the pack was here.  I could smell food cooking and despite having eaten dinner, my stomach growled. 

Lizzie squealed as a handsome young wolf approached us. “Raina, this is my boyfriend, Alex.”

I smiled politely and waved at Alex. “Hi, nice to meet you”. Despite having lived with Lizzie for a few months, I have not yet her boyfriend. I had wanted to me him,  but Lizzie understood that I needed time to adjust and try to finish school. I was also convinced that they were just together to have sex. Never confirmed, but it was just my hunch based on things Lizzie had said to me. While I didn’t care, I didn’t enjoy the snarky comments Lela always had when Lizzie talked about her relationship with Alex.

Alex smiled back and then turned to Lizzie. “Come here you” he said as he picked her up, pulling her close in to kiss her. 

Turning away to leave the two lovebirds have some time together, I head over to the food tables. I grabbed a cookie from the table and headed towards the drinks.  As werewolves, we can consume alcohol in quite large quantities and not get drunk.  We could definitely feel tipsy but getting drunk was almost unheard of because of the amount of alcohol one would have to drink. Seeing as this was my first time meeting most of the pack, I decided that a beer would probably help calm my nerves. 

I wandered off to the side and just observed everyone. People watching has always been a hobby of mine. I learned a lot about human behavior that way. There were many traditions in the human world that were not as common in the wolf pack. Understanding this made it easier to fit in with humans, especially when you work and go to school with them. 

Several people came up and introduced themselves. I enjoyed small talk and met some very nice people. A girl by the name of Joy had stayed longer than others and talked, a lot.  Joy was friendly and it was enjoyable to talk with her. Joy was filling me in on different aspects of the pack and different people in the pack, including who was good to possibly date and who to avoid.  She also told me about Alpha Callan. He was gone currently, visiting another pack but was supposed to return in a few days. Her description of him was pretty similar to what Lizzie had told me earlier. 

“That tall blonde over there is Joseph. I would avoid him.  He tends to go through girlfriends quickly. I speak from experience.” She shook her head as she spoke, clearly still feeling the effects of the relationship gone bad with Joseph.  

I finished off my beer and grabbed another one and another cookie and headed back over to Joy. She nodded over to a guy who looked to be about my age standing off to the side. 

“That guy is Nathan. Him and his family left the pack when his grandparents became ill to help take care of them.  They never left the pack so when they came back four months ago, Alpha Callan gladly welcomed them back.”

I look over at Nathan. “I doubt he is our mate but he is good to look at.” Lela chimed in. I smirked at her comment, happy that she might be coming around a bit to the idea of dating.

“Lela, really? I thought you were all about waiting for our mate?” I berate her kiddingly.

“I know. I know. But damn Raina! Look at him! How is he just standing there all by himself when he looks like that!” 

Lela wasn’t wrong. While this pack seemed to have more than a few good-looking guys and girls, Nathan seemed to exude sexy.  His chestnut brown hair was short on the sides but a bit longer on top. His hard jaw line and steel gray eyes gave him a firm but mysterious look. His short sleeve shirt was tight and revealed nearly every muscle in his biceps and chest. 

I found myself getting lost looking at him when Joy snapped me from my trance.  “Raina, Nathan is coming over here!” She whispered yelled to me and I pulled myself out of my fantasy. 

“Hi Joy.  Who is your friend here? I haven’t seen her around before.” His voice was deep and soothing. 

“I’m Raina. And you are?”

“Nathan.  I haven’t seen you at any of the bonfires before.” He looks at me intently, almost to the point of making me feel uncomfortable with his stare.  While he was gorgeous, I could not pinpoint exactly what, but something made me slightly uneasy.  Perhaps him being so forward?

“I have been here about two months.  Just trying to make up for missing the first part of the school year so I can finish up and graduate this year. I don’t really get out much.” I shrugged. Determined to not be intimidated by another guy, I maintained eye contact. In my old pack, whenever I did date, I always felt a bit timid around guys. I wasn’t shy, but I felt easily overwhelmed whenever a guy would hit on me. I wanted this new pack to be a fresh start for me. “What about you? Joy mentioned that you and your family just came back to the pack”.

He seemed a bit surprised by my question, judging by his reaction. “My family moved back here a few months ago.  My grandfather was sick, so we went out to take care of him and my grandmother. We were gone a few years. After my grandfather died, we decided to move back here with my grandmother”. He appeared somber as he spoke.

“I am sorry to hear about your grandfather”. Sympathy poured through me, as I understood the significant emotions that came from losing a close family member.

 Being a bit bold, and wanting to show my sympathy,  I put my hand on his arm as I spoke to him. His skin was warm to touch and I could feel the muscles, even in his forearm. I pulled my hand away before I let it linger too long and show how truly awkward I could be. I wanted to convey caring, not appear to be some socially inept wolf.

Nathan seemed to shiver slightly at my touch. “What about you? Where did you come from?”

Wanting to avoid the long, painful discussion, I gave him the abbreviated version of events that happened. “A large group of rogues attacked my old pack last year. My mom and dad were killed. My brother was lost. I tried to stay and help rebuild but too many lives here lost. I came here about two months ago to live with Lizzie and her family. Lizzie’s mom was my mom’s best friend.” I cut myself off to avoid becoming too upset by the conversation.

“Wow, I am sorry Raina. That is terrible.  Did they ever figure out why the rogues attacked? I have never heard of such a large group of rogues attacking.” Nathan had moved closer to me as he spoke.  He looked intently into my eyes, making me feel as if he truly cared about what I had to say.  Or maybe I was just reading too much in to it.

“Our Alpha survived and tried to find out the reason behind the attack. Another pack sent out trackers and was able to track down one of the rogues involved in the attack. The only information they could obtain was that they were after something.  They would have been paid well if they brought it back.  But they never were able to find out what that was.” I shivered slightly as I spoke.  The night air had turned a bit cool and recounting the events from a year ago added to the shiver. 

“Here, take my sweatshirt.” Nathan said as he handed me his zip up sweatshirt. 

I pulled it on and inhaled his scent.  The scent was earthy, an oak and citrus combination. It gave me a comforting feeling. “Thanks” I stammer out, after I realized that I probably looked like an idiot smelling his sweatshirt. 

“No problem.  So, I was wondering…” but before Nathan could finish, he was cut off. 

“Raina, I am Beta Jack. Alpha Callan wanted me to reach out to you.  He is currently away visiting another pack, but he would like to meet with you when he returns.  He has been very patient with allowing you to visit, but if you are going to stay, he would like to discuss you joining the pack. He is expected back later tomorrow evening.  Please plan on visiting him Sunday afternoon around 1.”  The Beta looked serious - all business.  I wondered if he is always like that. His chestnut skin magnified his golden color eyes. His eyes were so intriguing.  I had never seen a color of eyes like that. 

“Sure, thanks Beta.  I will be there.” I stumbled out the words and looked down.  The man was beyond intimidating.  If this was the Beta, I hated to see what meeting the Alpha was going to be like!

I looked over at Joy and Nathan. “I should probably get going.  I am getting tired and I still have to find Lizzie before heading home.” 

Joy pulled me in for a hug. “I loved meeting you, Raina.  Call me this weekend and we will get together again”.  She bounded away quickly, leaving just me and Nathan standing together.

“I can walk you home if you would like. I think I saw Lizzie and her boyfriend heading to the woods about a half hour ago. There is no telling how long they will be.” Nathan shrugged as he spoke. He had a sweet look on his face and I decided to let him walk me home.  

“And maybe if we are lucky, we will get a kiss at the end of the walk,” I say to Lela. 

“Hmmm, maybe. But not sex until mate.” Lela states firmly.

“We already had this conversation a hundred times. I know how you feel. You know how I feel. My virginity is staying safely in place until we meet our mate. But in the meantime, you and I both know that there are a lot of other fun things to do besides that.”

“That there are,” Lela purrs in my head. When I turned 16, I developed a pretty strong sexual desire. While I never did anything with just anyone, I did enjoy my time or two with a boyfriend.  Not having one for so long had definitely left me with many desires. My mom said that this was probably due to my red wolf.  What is known about red wolves is mostly legend. My mom always told me that I may get some sort of “magical” power, but outside of feeling nearly all emotions intensely, I wasn’t sure I had anything “magical”.  I hated that I hadn’t learned more about that before she died. Everything was secretive about the red wolf and I felt like I should know more than I did.

“Sure, let’s go,” I said to Nathan. 

He put his hand on the small of my back and led me through the crowd.  A deep growl came from somewhere in the crowd, but I was unable to find where it came from. No one else seemed to notice. 

‘Any idea what that was?’ I reach out to Lela.

‘I think it came from a she-wolf, but I can’t pick out which one.’ Lela appeared as befuddled as I was about where the growl came from. ‘But I definitely feel like it was directed at us’

I decided to leave it and kept walking with Nathan.

We walked in silence for some time. As we walked, I felt Nathan move his hand up my arm, and he put his arm around my shoulders. Deciding to avoid my natural instinct of pulling away, I placed my head against his chest as we walked. It had been so long since anyone had really touched me.  Lizzie hugged me all the time, but hers were either when she was excited or when she was comforting me. 

The touch from Nathan was different. I enjoyed it. It made me feel close to someone in a different way, like I wanted him to touch more of me. I couldn’t tell if that feeling came from the fact that it had been so long since a boy touched me or if it was something else. It spiked some waves of desire in me and I savored the feeling.

As we came upon Lizzie’s house, I could see that Anne had left the front porch light on for us. I didn’t know when Lizzie would be home, but I appreciated it being left on, as it was already well past 10 and it was quite dark out. 

Several feet from the front door and still in the shadows of darkness, Nathan pulled me to face him. 

“I enjoyed spending time with you tonight, Raina.  I hope that we can see each other again.” He looked me in the eyes as he said it, and I could see specks of black swirling in his eyes as he spoke. The grey color of his eyes with the black specks was a beautiful combination.

He started to pull me in for a hug but I wanted more.  I look up at him and pulled him in for a kiss. I clearly took him by surprise, as his mouth was somewhat rigid at first. Determined to get more than just rigid lips from the kiss, I let the kiss linger until his mouth relaxed and he kissed me back. I toyed with the idea of pushing my tongue into his mouth, but determined that could wait for another day.  The last thing I needed to do was to move too fast too quickly.

“Why don’t you stop by tomorrow?” I said to Nathan as I stepped back. He clearly wasn’t expecting the kiss, but the look on his face indicated that he enjoyed it. 

“Sure, that sounds great.” Nathan stammered a bit as he spoke and I could sense the sexual excitation coming off of him.

I headed in the house and close the door.  Did I really just do that?