Chapter Three: Back at Storm Academy
Monday Afternoon
Emerald's POV:
Our pack lands were very vast; over generations, the current reigning Alpha would dissolve more miniature packs into ours, thus making us the largest today. The grounds were beautiful, with many forests where we could run in our wolf form for miles on end, lakes, and a breathtaking waterfall not too far off where our territory line ends. Elijah and I are on our way to Storm Academy. Elijah, who we call Eli for short, is my boyfriend. We have been dating for about two years now, and we are convinced we’re mates.
After driving for an hour, passing the small localities and green scenery situated on our pack lands, I can finally see the ginormous castle looming over us. You would think that being on top of a mountain the Elders would have built the academy smaller, but, no, there it stands in all its glory; the prestigious Storm Academy, where wolves from all over the wolf multiverse wish to study. To me, it's my own personal jail.
"Em, what's wrong? You've been awfully quiet the whole drive. Is everything okay?" asked Elijah.
Elijah has always been such a sweetheart, and I know he loves me, but I don't know why I've had this lingering feeling since last night that, what if we're not mates?
Will I be able to handle that?
Will we still be friends if that's the case?
I know it’s a possibility, but I hoped we were mates. I feel so safe with him. Despite being together for quite some time, he has never pushed me into something I’ve never wanted. Because of that, we promised one another that we would only have sex once we were of age, so we couldn’t forget our first time as we marked each other and became one soul.
"Eli, have you ever thought what if we're not mates? Would you still want me in your life? Or would you completely cut me off?” I don't know why, but I could feel my heartbreak when I asked that.
I suddenly felt the car stop, and the next second Eli scooped me up in his lap and held my face in his large hands. Looking into my eyes, he said,
"Em, even if we aren't mates, which I highly doubt. You'll always have a special place in my heart. We'll always be part of one another’s lives. I promise you that! If I'm not that lucky bastard that gets to be with you, then whoever it may be should thank the Moon Goddess for blessing him with you,” saying the last part with his goofy smile, which I love so much.
I stayed in his lap, snuggled in his arms with my head nestled in his warm chest. This is why I love him and want him to be my mate. He always knows what to say to make me feel better, not only by his words but also by his actions.
When I'm sated enough, I break away from his warm chest and go to open the door to start unloading. Before I can pull the handle, Eli pulls me back and pecks my lips and says,
"Always remember, Em, I will always love you, whether a lover or a best friend. I don't want to see you sad, ever, it breaks my heart! You're such a strong girl and have been through so much, so this defeated look you have going on right now is a turn off,” he chuckled while he said the last part.
I just huffed and slapped his arm, jumping out of the car while trying to contain my smile that was about to be let loose. Eli follows after helping me carry my luggage to my assigned quarters for the year.
I can't help but notice a lot of classmates in senior years sporting their silvery marks. Looks like a fair share of people found their mates this year.
My eyes automatically go back to Elijah, and I silently pray to the Moon Goddess that this chunk of a hunk, six foot two of a man, will be mine tomorrow. Before he turns his head to look at me, I quickly divert my eyes. I hear him chuckle. We walk in comfortable silence the rest of the way up to our quarters, walking hand in hand with our fingers interlaced.
As soon as I enter our quarters, I see Hannah on Luca's lap, just a bra and panties away from joining the nudist colony.
Ugh!
Not on the couch!
I close my eyes and clear my throat, I think that's got their attention since I hear rustling of clothes.
"I get it, you guys just found each other, but seriously, the couch you two! I sleep there at times. Is it safe to open my eyes now?"
I asked as I peeked from one opened eye, and saw Hannah trying to stifle her laugh while Luca looks angry that I showed up before he got down to the actual deed.
Oh well, I don't care. They could've always used Hannah's room.
"Can you blame me, Em? Have you seen this Adonis here? It's hard not to soak my panties around him and not get some. Where's Eli by the way?" Hannah asked.
"I honestly do not want to know about your sex life. My ears just recovered from your last very detailed description. Elijah left to go to his quarters, he said he'll meet us at the pub tonight to ring in his birthday,” I said.
Luca was nice and had been fine towards me, unlike the quadruplets, who probably don't know I even exist anymore. I wouldn't say we were friends, but he had been better than the rest, and asked how I was from time to time. Since he and Hannah mated, we've become quite close after that. Hannah practically has glued me, Ela, Leah, and Luca to her every moment she gets.
"Well, I'll let you guys settle in. By the way, Em, knock next time unless you wanna see us bone live and give your critics after,” said Luca, smirking.
Which left me baffled with my mouth hanging open and face beet red. Hannah was literally snorting with laughter on the floor, tears running down her cheeks.
"Bye, babe. Gotta help your brothers with the upcoming ceremony and Alpha accession meeting. I'll try making it tonight,” Luca purrs while his nose is in Hannah's neck. He nuzzles her, gives her a peck and leaves, but not before ruffling my hair into a bird's nest.
UGHH!!! I hate when he does that.
"You look so cute when your feathers are all ruffled up,” said Hannah while snickering.
"Oh! You think I'm cute when I'm mad. I'm about to become f*****g gorgeous then,” I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster up. Hannah pounced on me at werewolf speed when I finished talking and started tickling me.
Not even five minutes into our tickle war, Ela and Leah came in, and pounced on us both, and we were all tickling one another. I think I had my fingers up Hannah's nose, someone's toe was almost up my butt, and my toe was sandwiched between two soft bulges of fat, which I was guessing were Leah's thighs.
After ten minutes of playing twister-tickling we broke apart, covering our armpits with our hands and clamping our legs, just in case someone decided to go for round two. We broke into a fit of laughter and giggles and tackled one another into a group hug.
As we were about to break apart, our four clowns: Axel, Jer, Ian and Eli decided to join, and squish into our hug as well. I felt Leah stiffen and smell the air, shrugging it off as maybe because of the guy's strong cologne smell or something.
This was my heaven, right here. But, I know coming tomorrow, I'll be invisible to everyone in the academy again, and even bullied when I won't have my friends around to protect me. But I didn’t care as long as my little circle remained smiling like this.
"Alright, my four chipmunks, suit up! It's party time! And, oh, Em, remember to wear something sexy. Our boy Eli here will be mating and marking a certain chipmunk with silver hair and blue eyes tonight,” said Axel with a smirk playing on his lips.
My face was beet red and I looked everywhere other than Eli, who I knew for sure would be beaming. I caught a glimpse of him from the side of my eye and saw him smirking and giving me a wink.
Ughh, Goddess!
These guys live to embarrass me.
"Okay! Get out of here now. We want to have some girl time while getting ready for Eli's birthday. We'll meet you at the pub by nine,” said Hannah, while she and Ela pushed them out.
Eli gave a look in my direction before Hannah shut the door in their faces. I don't know why, but that look he just gave felt like it wasn't for me, but for someone else. I looked behind me and saw Leah looking at the door with an expression of love and longing in her eyes.
Wait! Did that mean they could be ma….
No! I'm just overthinking it. Leah turned eighteen two months ago, and if Eli was her mate, she would have said something by now, especially when his wolf is hours away from waking up. She would've picked up his scent.
"Leah, are you okay? You seem far away,” said Ela, waving her hands like a mad man in her face.
Leah snapped out of her daze and blushed a little and said,
“Yeah, all good, Ela. Just remembered something that I need to do tomorrow,” she sounded so weak and heartbroken. I just couldn't shake the feeling that maybe I had something to do with it.
Before turning around and going into her room, she gave me a somewhat apologetic look, but she masked her face in a split second. Was that my imagination or something? Hannah and Ela were busy on the side deciding what dress to wear tonight, so I'm pretty sure they didn't see Leah's reaction.
After that, we huddled up in Hannah's room to do each other's makeup and hair. I kept glancing at Leah, she was laughing and trying to be the clown she was around us, but I could tell it was all a front and something was really bothering her. Whenever I tried talking to her about it, she brushed it away with schoolwork and training.
After the second time I tried asking what was wrong, I let her be. I hope she was okay. I hate seeing any of my friends sad. They've always protected me throughout my time at the academy. I still got bullied when they weren't around, but no one tried anything when any one of them was there, so whenever I could try and help I jumped at the chance, since I didn't have much to offer them other than my love and friendship.
After another hour of arguing about who will wear what and what colour, we were all standing in the living room; with Ela wearing a bottle green mini tube dress, with black wedge heels, and her black hair up in a messy updo, with nude lipstick, cat eyeliner, and defined highlighted cheekbones. Ela was a beautiful she-wolf. She was tall, standing at 5 feet 6 inches. Leah looked attractive in her short, shocking pink dress with a sweetheart neckline, and five-inch white heels, despite looking far away in her thoughts. Her dress flared around the waist and stopped a couple of inches above her knees. She had nude lipstick on, her high cheekbones highlighted to perfection, and long black hair ran down her back. Hannah was in the corner talking to Luca, reassuring him that she wouldn't drink much or talk to any unmated wolves that weren't her friends.
The higher the ranking male, the more possessive they were, and Luca could atone for that statement as a future Beta. The dude hardly let Hannah out where he thought there would be too many unmated males to his liking. He checked her dressing when she went out to the club, and even checked her phone to ensure she kept talking to unmated wolfs to a minimum, which was extra as hell.
In her strapless, knee-length, body-hugging white dress, Hannah looked gorgeous, defining her slim figure. Her blonde hair was done in a waterfall braid. She had red lip-gloss on and highlighted every curve of her face. She looked like a goddess, no wonder Luca was always this possessive horndog around her. I snickered, thinking about what I had walked into earlier.
According to Hannah and Ela, I needed to look like a minx today for Eli. So they made me wear sexy blood red lingerie underneath my body-hugging, dark brown ruffled dress. It had a square neckline, with long sleeves. My long silvery hair was curled and let down on my back. Ela highlighted my cheekbones with her bronzer, and gave me cat-eyes with a large amount of mascara to curl my already long lashes higher. She finished my look off with a combination of pink and dark brown lip-gloss.
Unlike my friends, I was a short she-wolf, barely making five foot two inches. Thus, they tortured me by pushing me to wear five inch stilettos. No doubt I looked gorgeous. I wasn't used to seeing myself like this, as I tended to wear loose joggers and crop tops. But they didn't have my wardrobe choices today. Both Ela and Hannah were gushing about how sexy I looked.
"Oh honey, trust me, you aren't the one that will be wetting their panties. That's gonna be Eli!” said Ela.
"Maybe I should bring a pair just in case, you know, I don't want Eli embarrassing himself in front of his future mate!” said Hannah, feigning innocence while trying hard to control her fits of laughter.
"I do not even want to dignify that with an answer," I said, walking away with my face as red as a tomato, Ela and Hannah followed, and just as I turned my eyes to the side, I caught Leah wiping off a tear that ran down her cheek.
"Hey, guys! You guys go ahead in the car. I need to grab something with Leah." The moment I said that, I saw Leah stiffen a little. If I wasn't sure before that her distressed mood was because of me, now I was sure it had something to do with me.
"Be quick!” said Hannah and Ela in unison.
I closed the door and turned, I saw Leah fidgeting in her spot, trying to control her tears, so I quickly went to hug her.
"Leah! Shh shh! Are you okay? What's wrong? Maybe I can help?" I said, still while holding onto her.
We slowly crouched down and stayed there for five minutes until she calmed down and broke out of my hold. She went to the nearby mirror to fix her makeup. She came back to me, held my hand, and brought me to the couch, she wanted to say something, but it was like she couldn't. With her eyes downcast and grip on my hand increasing by the minute she said,
"Em, I think Eli is my mate……..