Chapter 96 - Show Me Your Fur - Part 1

Rory's bus was running late.

Everyone was impatient, so they met at the bus stop ten minutes earlier than planned, and that made their wait longer than expected. No one complained though, and they passed the time talking about nothing.

Lost in conversation, they almost didn't notice the bus approaching, but in the end, it was Ryan who stood up first, interrupting the conversation, and immediately everyone was lining up to see their friend.

Rory was obviously just as impatient as they were, for he was standing by the door and the moment the bus stopped, he ran towards them with a travel bag slung over his shoulder.

Nobody was really surprised when the first person Rory put his arms around was Ryan. The ink-haired boy hugged him back, laughing, and Evan watched them with a smile on his lips, surprised that his wolf hadn't decided to protest.

"Okay, okay, now it's my turn." Surprisingly, it was Josh who interrupted them, and Rory hugged each of them (Even Michael didn't avoid it, although his hug lasted the shortest), leaving Evan for last.

It wasn't until Evan had his arms around him that he realised how much he really missed his friend. Rory was the first person he told his secret to and accepted him for who he was, so he would always have a special place in his heart.

"Hi, future soulmate," Rory greeted him in a whisper so only he could hear him, and Evan immediately understood what he was getting at. Not even all these days had convinced him of the opposite, and his best friend was still convinced that he wanted to strengthen their bond. It looked as if Evan was going to give part of his soul after all.

"Hi. I missed you," he replied in the same volume, though it was no secret.

Rory giggled and pulled away from him, getting a view of all his friends present, causing a bright smile to linger on his face.

"I hope you're ready for the best weekend of your life," Josh informed him, unable to hide the excitement in his voice. Even Michael looked remarkably relaxed and in a better mood than usual. He obviously couldn't help himself when he was surrounded by so much happiness.

"I can't wait," he replied, his smile betraying the sincerity of his words.

Surprisingly, Michael didn't protest as they all piled into his car, even quickly resolving their dispute over who would sit in the front by explaining that they were going to Josh's house so he should give him directions. Josh, of course, was more than happy that he didn't have to squeeze in the back, and he didn't wipe that provocative smile off his face.

The drive to his place took only a few minutes, so their ordeal did not last long. Josh's parents were away for the weekend, so they had the whole house to themselves. So they put Rory's things in Josh's room first and then gathered around the kitchen table as the host had promised them refreshments.

They all ended up with a glass of cola in hand and two packets of crisps and decided to sit in the garden together, as it was still relatively warm outside and they had nothing better to do.

"OK, we've waited long enough. What's new, Ro?" Evan asked, sitting next to him of course, although they were all more or less in a semicircle so they could see each other.

"Don't even ask," Rory sighed, his smile fading slightly. "I don't even know where to begin. I swear Alex is driving me crazy."

"I thought you liked him," Kieran noted.

"Oh, right." Rory obviously realised that now he could say more than he had done before, so he didn't hesitate to explain. "Alexander is a warlock, and apparently I'm his soulmate. That's why I liked him."

"Warlock? As in a witch?" Josh looked somewhere between confusion and disbelief.

"Yeah," Rory confirmed, and Evan decided to add, "There are werewolves, witches and vampires."

"Vampires?" Josh obviously couldn't believe his ears and his expression would be almost comical if his supernatural friends couldn't empathise with his situation.

"We're getting off-topic," Kieran interrupted his panic, waving his hand to draw attention to himself. "Not that I don't want to hear more, but first I want to know more about Rory's life." He shrugged his shoulders as if it were a matter of course.

"My life," Rory laughed briefly. "I can assure you, it's the most complicated thing you've heard in a long time."

"I should have taken the popcorn," Josh commented humorously, lifting his spirits at least a little.

"Lots of popcorn," Rory said, exaggerating to draw a laugh. He succeeded, but still, all the attention was on him and everyone was waiting to see what he would say next.

"OK, OK, no more stalling. Alex still hasn't told me that he's a witch or that we're soulmates," he began his explanation before quickly turning to Josh and Kieran to fill them in on all the information, "Ryan and Evan helped me find a way to verify it, as before we only had it as a potential theory, but now I know for sure that I'm Alexander's weave, which is actually the same thing as being a werewolf mate."

"What would you call a vampire soulmate?" Josh asked, going off topic again, but that was to be expected with all the information he was getting.

"A bound," Ryan answered him briefly. Josh nodded and remained silent, giving Rory a chance to continue.

"Alex still didn't tell me anything, so I started looking for more details on my own, and I honestly don't think any of my new friends are human. It's quite nerve-wracking, I won't lie. None of them have told me the truth, but at the same time, they are not very careful when they do something magical in front of me. Especially Alex. So you have no idea how much I was looking forward to getting out of there, at least for a while," he explained with a sigh at the end.

No one said anything for a while and just as Evan looked at Ryan, Josh looked at Kieran, knowing that if anyone was going to give an honest but still thoughtful answer, it would be the two of them.

"I still think you should confront him. What he's doing is stupid, and I honestly think he trusts you too much. You could easily expose his secret to the world or tell him he's crazy and thus destroy his chances of being with you, even though he obviously wants it," Ryan finally spoke and then quickly added, "Trust is probably too strong a word given the situation, but you get the picture."

"I think now is the time for Josh's questions," Kieran chimed in. "I honestly have no idea how a relationship between a supernatural being and a human is supposed to work, so I have no idea what to tell you," he admitted.

"I only know what Ryan and Evan have told me, so..." Rory trailed off and the eyes of the three humans shifted to the three werewolves present.

"It's complicated," Ryan said first. "In the case of wolves, relationships with humans are rare, in the case of vampires and witches, not so much. Most vampires drink the blood of their bounds, and I think witches also draw some kind of energy from their weaves, but I have no idea how exactly it works."

"I wasn't even sure that witches and vampires existed until Ryan confirmed it for me, so I'm not really able to answer your questions." Evan held up his hands defensively. If he admitted something like that to the wolves, they'd probably laugh at him for his lack of interest in the supernatural world. With his friends, however, that wasn't a threat, and not just because he still knew more than they did.

"One thing is still the same, though. People who are meant to be with supernatural beings always learn the truth in the end," Michael interjected.

"That's true," Ryan confirmed. "I don't know exactly what the protocol is, since we don't have a human in the family, but I know it's not something you can say right off the bat. You have to build trust with the human first since you're risking potentially exposing the whole supernatural world."

"Uh-huh, so Evan syndrome," Josh joked with a teasing grin, and Evan immediately reached over to jab him in the shoulder, though he was also amused. Of course, their playful exchange made everyone snicker and soon they couldn't hold back their laughter.

"Next time I won't tell you anything," Evan promised, and Josh stared at him in disbelief, not believing a word he said.

"I have a feeling you've already said all of it. At least to me," Rory interjected, forcing Evan to think for real about everything he'd already revealed.

His musing, however, was interrupted by Michael. "I doubt it."

"Why?" Kieran asked this time, obviously wanting answers too, but too polite to question.

"Evan only knows what he wants," the black-haired boy explained simply, shrugging.

"That's kinda true," Ryan admitted, and Evan turned to look at him in surprise. Apparently, his gaze wasn't exactly warm, as Ryan immediately threw up his hands defensively and added, "I don't mean that in a bad way. You're just more interested in the magical stuff and not the organisational stuff."

"Organisational stuff like...?" Josh immediately tried to elaborate on the subject.

Ryan pulled Evan closer to him, who of course didn't protest and leaned his shoulder against his before replying to the brunette, "Every pack is like its own society or village. It has its parts that are necessary for it to function as a whole."

"Like alpha, beta, and stuff?" Josh tried, and Ryan confirmed it for him. "Exactly."

"But you're none of those things, are you?" His question was directed at all three werewolves, who shook their heads in simultaneous disagreement.

"We're just basic bitches," Evan joked, earning laughter from everyone.

"What about the colour of your fur?" Josh asked, and as curious glances curled up at him, he elaborated on his question. "Yeah... I was curious and looked things up on the internet. I read somewhere that omegas have white fur, alphas have mostly black fur and shit like that." He shrugged. He tried to act like it was no big deal, but his eagerness was impossible to overlook.

"First things first, don't look up information in fan fiction or you'll be unnecessarily disappointed and traumatised to boot," Evan warned him with a laugh.

Before he could say more, however, Michael spoke up. "Oh, God. Please tell me you haven't found any bullshit about guys being able to get pregnant."

By Josh's innocent look, he did find it.

"Seriously? What are you, a fourteen-year-old schoolgirl looking for love stories on the Internet?" Evan teased him.

"I was trying to be a good friend and not bother you with questions, but if that's how you see it..." Josh looked offended and put a hand to his chest in a hurt way, but it was obvious it was all an act.

They all shared a laugh, and though Josh tried to keep a serious, or rather hurt face, he eventually couldn't hold it in and broke into laughter as well. They calmed down after a while, and Ryan quickly turned the conversation back to an informative one. "And by the way, the thing with fur colors is not true. I'm definitely not an alpha, but I do have black fur."

His words quickly earned curious looks, and Evan just waited to see who would dare to speak first. It wasn't surprising that it was Josh. "Can we see?"

Ryan glanced around quickly to make sure they couldn't be seen from either side over the tall fence, then shrugged and rose to his feet. "Why not." He moved away from them so he could shift. He needed to be naked for this, after all.

"Does that mean your fur colour depends on the colour of your hair? Do you have black fur too?" Josh's questions were directed at Michael. He obviously wasn't happy about them, so he just nodded in agreement. Josh didn't have time to be disappointed by his lack of response, however, as the black wolf appeared in front of him, his eyes widening as much as possible in surprise.

"Oh, God," fell out of Josh, apparently involuntarily, and then his eyes moved over the wolf's back to meet Evan's. "Can I pet your boyfriend?"

Evan laughed at the wording of his question and decided to remind him of their recent conversation before nodding in agreement. "I told you he'd be an exception."

Josh just rolled his eyes at his words and then immediately shifted his attention back to the wolf in front of him, who had managed to come closer to the human party and sat down so that Rory, Josh, and Kieran could all see him.