Chapter 21: Chapter 21

~Ariana's POV~

After two hours or so in the gym, with the door shut this time, I headed back to my room to take a shower, once I was out, I threw on an oversized shirt and jean shorts before heading down to the ground floor with my back pack, it'd been two days since the day I was in Jay's office and four since I'd moved here, the past two days had been quite busy for me, leaving early for school and coming in late, I hadn't really had time to hang out much or actually work on my reason for being here, I didn't have a class today but I had a heap of school work, a project and a presentation to work on, my hands were currently full and I was really stressed out.

Getting there, I headed to the kitchen, making a quick fruit salad, once I was done with that, I took it with me to the huge living room, currently occupied by Grey, Cain, Talon, a guy I now knew as Luca, Kayla and Leo, I sighed plopping down on a couch and I could see them laughing at my expense as I pulled out my laptop and school materials, I threw them a dirty look before powering my laptop and trying to get some work done.

I ate slowly as I researched on my project for my psychology class,  I made short notes with my glitter pens, after getting some pointers, I moved to my Microsoft word and began typing, discussing the topic from my point of view as the question requested, looking up I turned to Leo,

"when I'm done with this can you please get it printed for me, I obviously didn't move my printer and I wanna conclude it today, they're all due in a week time but I need a lot of time to work on my presentation, so I really want to get most of this done early." I said, Leo nodded, giving me a sympathetic look,

"of course.", he replied,

"is there anything I can help you with?" Talon asked and I smiled nodding,

"I already finished the one for chemistry 101 but I haven't typed it yet." I said, he nodded standing up,

"I'll go get my laptop." he said and left, I went back to what I was doing, when he got back, I patted the spot beside me and he sat as I handed him my work,

"it's already edited so just type it as it is, the required font is written there, any confusions, just ask." I said with a grateful smile, he smiled back taking the notes and starting work.

I went back to my work while Kay considerately turned down the volume of the TV a bit, she tended to act cold and aloof with everyone but Jay, however she couldn't cover up little unconscious acts like this that showed she cared, we hadn't really talked much but we had something akin to a silent understanding now and perhaps a budding friendship, tuning everyone out, I focused on my work so I didn't waste too much time on it, I didn't notice Jaylen's entrance till I felt hands lightly massaging my shoulders, I looked up at him and smiled,

"you seem really stressed." he assessed worriedly and I shrugged,

"I don't like it." he complained and I laughed softly,

"don't worry Jay, I can handle it." I assured him, he sighed but didn't move, continuing his work on my shoulders and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling, he was good with his hands.

"You like?" He asked,

"uh-huh." was my brilliant reply and he chuckled, adding a bit more pressure, I sighed in bliss, before patting the space on my other side and gesturing for him to seat, he did as I asked and I adjusted my position so my back was leaning up against his chest and my feet were on Talons lap, behind his laptop, he gave me a small smile before going back to what he was doing and I did the same, adjusting my laptop on my lap and continuing my work.

I didn't know how long we stayed like that, Talon had finished a while ago and moved his laptop aside, positioning my feet properly on his lap and rubbing softly, I had also long concluded psychology and switched to the next work twice, I was on my final paper now, it had taken the longest time and I was about concluding it when a loud excited shout shocked me out of my concentration,

"Happy birth month Ana!!" The twins shouted excitedly as they came in, they had left really early for classes today and were supposed to have classes till 12pm

"we're in may? and I thought you guys had classes till noon." I asked confused, Dan laughed,

"what era are you living in Ana, of course we're in may and it's 12:30 woman." he said, I turned to Talon and he nodded

"you've been so engrossed in that, it's understandable you didn't notice but yeah, it's 12:30." he informed me, I sighed rubbing my temples

"it's your birthday this month?" Jay questioned and I nodded,

"yeah, on the 20th, it honestly skipped my mind.", Mia handed me a huge box of chocolates and I chuckled, giving her a hug,

"thanks dear, you could've waited till my birthday though." I said, she rolled her eyes,

"you know it's a tradition between us three to gift the celebrant on the first day of the birth month and then on the actual day." she said strictly and I laughed,

"yeah, yeah, I know.", I opened the box of chocolate and popped one star shaped chocolate into my mouth, almost moaning at the taste.

Dan reached a hand towards the box and I slapped the hand away, glaring menacingly at him,

"life is beautiful right Dan?" I asked him and he nodded confused, I also nodded in agreement,

"yeah, it is, but lay a hand on my stuff and yours won't be any longer." I promised, he took a step back immediately and I nodded in approval as everyone laughed, Leo gave me a look before walking out and I excused myself following him.

"Today is the official first day of the one month bet we made with my parents, what's the plan?" He asked and I laughed, pondering for a while,

"is there any place they both loved and visited together frequently?" I asked, referring to Jaylen and Talon, he thought about it before nodding,

"yes there's this lake, about an hour's run through the woods north of here in our animal form, it'd take four hours for humans to walk there." he said,

"is there no detour, maybe a drive through the city to shorten the distance before cutting into the woods?" I asked, his grinned nodding and said,

"a 30 minutes drive to the mall and a twenty minutes walk through the woods there would get us to the lake." and I smiled,

"I'll go inform them and you can pack up some food for a picnic." I said, he nodded, "sounds like a plan".

"Hey guys." I said walking into the living room, they all looked up at me,

"so...I was thinking, since I'm done with what I have scheduled for the day and y'all are obviously not doing anything, how about we go for a picnic or something?" I asked and Mia and Dan agreed instantly, after a little coercing, the rest gave in as well, so me, Talon, Jaylen,Dan, Mia, Cain, Grey, Luca, Kayla and Leo were going, we all headed to our rooms to get ready.

Getting to my room, I was done packing up what I'd need, including a swim suit since we'd be at a lake, my phone rang and I picked it up,

"Hey, it's me, Jake." I heard from the other end, I smiled,

"yeah, I know, been a while, what's up?" I asked,

"I feared it'd seem like I was bothering so I didn't call, but now, I really need your help, I have this presentation and I urgently need a good guitarist, could you please help me out, I haven't seen someone that plays as good as you, I do understand if you're busy though..." He ranted, I chuckled cutting him off,

"of course I'll play for you Jake, as long as your presentation isn't on the 19, cos I have mine that day." I said

"Yeah, I know, your representing the third year medical majors at the Doctor's conference, mine is on the 17th." he assured me,

"alright then, give me a date we can begin practice and I'll see if I can work with it." I replied,

"uhmm, I was thinking.. maybe today, please Ana, I haven't really done anything, I wanted your opinion on the song to pick as well." he pleaded and I sighed,

"fine, I'm going out with some friends for a picnic but I'm sure they wouldn't mind the musical entertainment, can you make it to the mall in 30 minutes?" I asked,

"yeah, yeah, sure, I'll be there, thanks a million Ana.",

"you're welcome" I replied before hanging up.

Heading out to the garage, everyone was already there, we were taking three trucks, Dan, Mia, Caine and Leo in one, Kayla, Grey and Luca in the second and the final was obviously for me and the Alpha and the pride leader, this arrangement was courtesy of Grey, laughing at everyone's expression, I got into the third truck, with my guitar case, occupying the back seat.

Talon was about getting in with me but I shut the door, pointing to the passengers seat, he groaned but got in and I smirked,

"where are we even going?" Jay asked getting into the drivers side and I shrugged,

"just a lake in the woods I'm really fond of, I already gave Leo directions, so we just have to follow his truck." I informed, he nodded and pulled out into the driveway.

Getting to the mall, we parked in the parking lot and Dan, Luca, Grey and Leo went in to get some stuffs we'd need, I pulled out my phone dialling Jake's number,

"hey where are you?" I asked,

"across the street." he replied, I excused myself from Jay and Talon, telling them that my friend that'd be joining us had arrived and that I'd be across the street, before jogging across the street, I spotted him right in front of the forest and I walked towards him,

"hey." he said smiling and I laughed,

"my friends will be here after getting some stuff from the mall.", he nodded before we engaged in light conversation.

We had been talking and laughing for some minutes and Jake unconsciously placed a hand on my shoulder, not to long after we heard three loud growls, I looked up to see three angry shifters storming towards us, Talon, Jaylen and....Grey? ,

I was puzzled as they came to a stop right before us, but grateful this area was devoid of people, before either Talon or Jaylen could say anything Grey walked right up to us, pulling Jake's hand from my shoulder, before glaring at me angrily,

"get away from my mate." he said growling threateningly and my eyes widened.

I looked between him and Jake for a moment before understanding dawned and I sensibly took a huge step back, raising my hands in surrender,

"he's all yours Grey, jeez, calm down a sec." I said rolling my eyes as I moved to my angry mates who were currently more shocked at the turn of events than angry, I watched the show with raised brows as Grey hugged Jake, placing his head on his shoulder and inhaling his scent, the poor guy was frozen in spot.

After Grey finally moved back, Jake was still motionless and his face seemed to be turning blue, Grey panicked, and I rushed to Jake but still kept a safe distance,

"Jake?, Can you hear me?, breath Jake, please breath." I pleaded and finally he snapped out of it, taking the much needed oxygen into his lungs in large quantities, he coughed and I winced, patting his back lightly only to freeze at the sound of a low growl from Grey, I frowned angrily turning to him.

"Would you cut that shit out, stop fucking growling at me jerk, I'm not gonna take your mate or something, I fucking have my mates, jeez, you should be thanking me, if I hadn't fucking asked him to meet here you wouldn't have met him, so spare me that growling crap and keep those teeth away from me." I said angrily, before shoving him out of the way and walking up to my friend.

"you okay Jake?" I asked, he nodded, probably still shocked,

"well, I know this situation might be a bit weird...." I began but he cut me off with a smile,

"it's not." he replied and I raised a brow,

"it's not cause I'm a shifter too." he completed, my jaws dropped open in shock before my features reformed into a glare

"so what the heck was up with that reaction?" I asked angrily, he shrugged,

"just surprised." he said,

"surprised?, so you decided it'd be fun to stop breathing, even I didn't react like that and Im fucking human, you know what, I'm done with this episode, congratulations to you both and I wish you a happy mated life, now I'm fucking hungry." I snapped only to be growled at by Grey,

I glared crossly at him, taking of my guitar case from my back and holding it out threateningly in front of me,

"growl at me one more time Grey Donovan Hunt and I swear to God you'll loose those teeth." I said seriously, everyone burst out laughing, Grey stared at my weapon funnily for a bit before stepping back,

"Good choice." I said angrily, before turning and stomping into the woods.

I had been angrily marching ahead for five minutes, I was fucking hungry, having eaten only a fruit salad since morning, I was shocked at the turn of events, Grey's growling pissed me off and Jake's near death reaction fucking scared me, only to find out he's actually a shifter, and he said he was just surprised, what kind of surprise is that, and what the hell had them all cracking up, I huffed angrily kicking a branch out of my way.

"Calm down love." I heard Jay's voice behind me and I ignored him,

"Ana." Talon tried and I stopped, turning to glare at them before lifting my eyes to an amused Leo,

"wipe that grin of your face would you?, and in what direction did you say that lake was from here?" I asked, he laughed,

"east." He said, pointing in the direction, I turned without a word, hanging my case across my back, I broke out into a full sprint, heading east.

I couldn't help smiling at the feeling of the wind whipping past my face, I loved running, it was one of my major outlets, it always helped me calm down, I knew my anger was a tad bit irrational but in my defense I was hungry and a hungry Ana was an angry Ana, after running for a while, a huge white furry animal whipped past me and I huffed angrily, cheat, getting to the lake, I wasn't surprised to see a huge white Lion, sitting on his haunches, waiting for me.

"Cheating is against the law, you know." I said and the beast tilted it's head, giving me a grin, I couldn't help but grin back, my anger forgotten, I rushed to him excitedly, he was so huge, coming a little above my height in his current position, the beast lay down, probably attempting to reduce it's size and I smiled, squatting and staring at him in awe, I was drawn to his beautiful eyes again and I studied them closely,

"you're beautiful." I breathed out and the beast grinned again at my words.

I reached a hand out, running it through his snow white fur, so soft, he hummed, a look of pleasure taking over his features, I smiled before wrapping my arms around his huge head and hugging him tightly, he shut his eyes but snapped them open later and I felt eyes on me, turning around I saw Talon walk into the clearing, his eyes on me and Jaylen, a look of longing and desire overtook his features but he forced it away, I tilted my head in confusion, why was Talon fighting his feelings so hard, he turned his eyes away from us, examining the place and frowning, probably in recognition, he leaned against a tree as the others came into the clearing.

Standing up, I headed to the lake, taking off the huge shirt and shorts I had on, leaving my swim shorts and top I had worn beneath, I kicked off my sneakers before getting into the lake, once the water was up to my chest, I dove underneath, swimming to the bottom, I smiled, waving at the little fishes who dashed away at the sight of me, I scoffed, how rude and overdramatic, realizing my need for oxygen, I swam up to the surface, taking a huge breath in.

Dan and Mia had spread the blanket, both glaring at Jake and Grey who had immediately occupied it, sitting impossibly close to each other, they didn't seem to notice the twins though, seemingly lost in each other, I wasn't the only one staring at the couple, Caine and Leo were giving them subtle looks and the twins had looks of longing and hope on their faces, Kayla was doing her own thing, Talon and Jaylen were too busy staring at me to care and Luca, he stared at the couple as well but not with the same look the others had, no, his expression was clouded with pain.