Chapter 33

A/N: Welcome our newest Silver Bullets pack members, the winners of the Your Name in My Books raffle - Jizelle, Mira and Ivan!

To those of you who didn't win: don't worry; you'll get another chance! Once I set up my facebook readers group - a place where all of you awesome people who join will get exclusive content - I will organize fun games, raffles and competitions with a variety of prizes :)

*****

The most contented sigh left my lips when I woke up into Rhys' arms and snuggled further into his embrace, fully intent on staying there until the sun climbed further up in the sky.

"Good morning," he murmured into my ear and kissed my nape. I turned around to face him with a smile.

"A very good morning, following a very, very good night." I grinned, placing my cheek on his chest. He sighed.

"What's wrong?" I tilted my head back so I could see his eyes.

"I have to get up to supervise the morning exercises for the youngsters. I'll only be gone about fifty minutes to an hour; the workout is short because the kids have to get ready for school."

"What's the problem?"

"I don't want to leave you on your own," he replied, his thumb caressing my jaw.

"Why don't I come with you?" I offered. "If it's not against the Bullets' rules."

He laughed.

"Of course not; after all, at some point you will be moving in with me. But wouldn't you rather sleep a little longer?"

"Nope." I shook my head and pecked him on the lips. "I'd rather be with you."

"Let's go then!"

*****

"Morning, Rhys!"

"Hi, Rhys!"

"Hey, Riley!"

People kept greeting my boyfriend and every now and then me as we walked towards the nearby woods; many of the youngsters ran past us without even waiting for a reply. Perhaps the dim light from the early morning sun was enough for the shifters to find their way amongst the trees, but I walked with great difficulty, stumbling on several occasions; Rhys had to catch me twice so that I would not fall.

"Don't worry, you'll see better when we get to the clearing and the branches aren't obstructing the rays," he reassured me after my second close call to kissing the ground.

"How do you know no one will see you during the workout?"

"Well..."

"Is Kennedy at the clearing yet?" A pretty girl in her early teens inquired as she caught up with us.

"I don't know, Mira; I slept at my own house," my boyfriend answered.

"Oh." Her eyes flickered my way and she tried to hide a grin. "I see."

She then looked ahead and shouting 'Jizelle, wait up,' ran towards a brown-haired girl, leaving both Rhys and I rose-cheeked.

"Do you think she knows what we've been doing?" I asked quietly and we commenced walking.

"Not exactly, but..." Rhys cleared his throat. "So, the clearing is a piece of land we bought with the funds we gathered from the pack members. The first generation that moved into Woodbury initially couldn't afford it, but it was one of the things they purchased as soon as they could. Now that it is a private land, it is less likely for someone to see us train, especially with the patrols marching around."

"Riley, did you slept over?" The person who fell into pace with us this time was a familiar face.

"Yeah." I felt my cheeks heat up again at the memory of lat night and even though I wasn't looking at Rhys, I was sure his had gotten red as well.

"So are you moving in?" The boy asked in a friendly tone.

"Jared." Rhys' voice was a bit louder than usual, but lacking hostility.

"Well, he is your mate." This time the newcomer addressed my boyfriend. "It will happen sooner or later; you two are absolutely in lo..."

"Jared!" This time Rhys' inflection held a warning.

"Alright, alright." The boy raised his hands in surrender before putting them in the pockets of his slacks. "It's just so obvious," he couldn't help but mutter.

"Do boys and girls train together?" I asked as something new came to my mind. Both werewolves nodded. "But you take your clothes off before you shift; doesn't that make things awkward?"

"Accidents are prone to happen; every now and then you take a glimpse at someone's naked flesh," Jared began to explain, "but people usually change in the privacy of their homes and then go to the training grounds."

"The morning workout is in human form," Rhys supplemented and I covered my face with my hand as sunlight blinded me when we stepped into the clearing.

The round meadow before us was definitely not a natural occurrence. I could tell by its perfect shape that at some point people had removed a large amount of trees to create it. It was also obvious that the place was visited often; there was almost no grass and the soil was beaten by many feet over time.

I saw Kennedy at the center of a small crowd of shifters his age, blond Mira and dark-haired Jizelle amongst others. They were all laughing at something the youngest Flemings was saying while flinging his arms left and right and up in the air to emphasize his point. He paused his tale temporarily to wave at us, but quickly got back to his story.

"I better join my group," Jasper said and jogged off to a bunch of werewolves in their late teens, passing by Carter and who - given how she'd clutched herself to the boy's right arm - I assumed was Melanie.

"Everyone get in line," Anthony commanded, coming from in between the trees with Everett in tow. The kids and teen - all thirty or so of them - ceased their chit-chat and settled into four neat rows, the shortest ones at the front. "Let's start with something simple. Routine number two."

The trainees assumed position and began doing jumping jacks.

"Aren't you supposed to give the orders?" I asked, turning to Rhys; he nodded for me to follow him and we commenced walking at the edges of the circle.

"Being the Beta and all," I added.

"Being Beta actually reduced my time with the kids due to my other duties. Anthony is a wonderful trainer, very disciplined, so we made him our Head Trainer. This is his turf, so to say, and even though I'm the Beta, during workouts and on this field we have almost the same amount of authority."

"Stop flapping your arms, Horace!" Another observer shouted, his eyes trained on a brow-haired boy jumping next to Kennedy. "And straighten your back, boy!"

"Somebody's cheerful today," I noted under my breath and Rhys shook his head.

"Not just today," he contradicted quietly. "Jasper is always very demanding of his son."

"Is he preparing him for becoming the next Alpha?" I kept my voice low. It wasn't surprising that Rhys replied with another nod; after all, the father had coveted that position for himself when the previous leader of the Bullets had passed away.

"Very good, Ivan; keep up that pace." Rhys praised a sturdy boy as we stepped by one of the older groups. Some of the teens had moved to the next exercise in their routine. They stood with their heels about two feet apart, periodically leaning down to touch their left toe with their right hand, get back up and lean forward once more, this time touching their right toe with their left arm.

"Do you do this every morning?"

"From Monday to Friday; there are more intense workouts over the weekend."

The exercising didn't last very long. About half an hour later, Anthony dismissed the children and they ran home to take a shower before heading to school.

"Rhys, I have to talk to you about something."

I tried not to frown at the sound of his voice. Throughout the training, Jasper had continued to shout at his son, correcting even the slightest mistakes with harsh berating. I was truly amazed how Horace kept a straight face; I would've cracked under such a demanding reproach. It was scary to think that the reason the boy had not started crying or looked completely humiliated was because he was probably used to his father's behavior.

"Of course." Given Rhys' slightly clenched jaw, I was sure he wasn't happy about spending time with this particular member of his pack.

"Alone." Jasper glanced at me and I realized the antipathy was reciprocated. "It's important."

"Riley, will you excuse us?" I gave Rhys a nod. "Don't go anywhere; I'll be right back," he insisted, planting a kiss on my forehead before allowing the other man to lead him away.

My gaze followed them until they were hidden by the trees, then I searched the meadow for someone I knew only to figure out I was the sole person left in the clearing; all the children and their adult observers were gone.

I found it frightening being alone in the woods, even though I had faith Rhys wouldn't stray far from me. Besides, he'd said that there were shifters patrolling the area; what could possibly harm me on the Silver Bullets' territory?

A nearby bush quaked and I took a step back; was there something there?

When the movement did not repeat, I cautiously moved towards the shrub, but kept some distance between me and the plant.

The first thing I noticed when I squinted were the eyes peeking at me between the branches - two pale orbs that unwillingly made me shiver. I knew that the Bullets wouldn't hurt me, so why did this member make me tremble?

Perhaps it was his or her gaze; I didn't catch the shifter blinking even once for the minute or so that we stared at each other.

The animal walked past the bush and stood a few feet before me.

It was a gorgeous creature. A thick, yet silky white coat was covering the torso and paws. It appeared somewhat different from the wolves I'd seen so far, a bit more slender - was it a female? - and slightly more... angular; both Rhys and Jared had had a certain sturdy roundness in their non-human forms.

The white wolf tilted its head to the side, studying me.

"Hello," I greeted, my voice shaking for some reason. "My name is Riley; I'm with Rhys."

One side of its mouth moved back, forming what if the shifter was in human form, I'd call a smirk.

"He'll be right back," I said, aware it was an attempt to assure myself and warn the stranger off. "He just went to talk with Jasper. Shouldn't be long now..."

The wolf grinned. It appeared unnatural in an animal and to see his two sets of long and no doubt sharp teeth was more than a little unnerving.

"Maybe I should go find him," I continued what was becoming a monologue, but before I'd fully swirled around, I decided I didn't want to let the unknown shifter out of my sight; whoever they were, they scared me too much to do that. I couldn't walk away backwards ether; what if I offended them?

That was definitely one more reason for worry.

"Or I could just wait here." I licked my lips. "As I said, he should be..."

The wolf jerked its head up, its ears perking and tilting towards me. Its body straightened and just like that - without a word or a howl or any parting gesture - it turned around and walked deeper into the woods.

"Riley." I jumped and swirled one-eighty. Rhys was only a few feet away from me; I had not heard him approach.

"What's wrong?" He took the final steps to me with a frown on his face. "Did something happen while I was away?"

"Nothing." I shook my head and lowered my eyes. I didn't want Rhys to know how shamefully intimidated I'd been by a member of his pack, one that had not actually done anything to me at that.

"Riley." He lifted my chin up and a single look into my eyes was enough for me to open up.

"One of the Bullets scared me," I confessed quietly.

"What did they do?" His tone was harsh.

"Nothing, nothing," I tried to assure him, backing away from him. "They stood silently, they didn't attempt to attack me, they didn't growl at me..."

"Than what scared you?" His face morphed into one of confusion.

"I don't know," I admitted. "He - or she; they were really slender - just had this unnerving presence, that's it. Or maybe it was the pale eyes; they went well with the white fur though..."

"What did you say?" He grabbed me above the elbow, startling me for a second time in less than five minutes.

"I said, they had an unnerving presence," I repeated, pulling my arm lightly, but he didn't let go.

"White fur, you said they had white fur?" His grip tightened.

"Yes. Why are you..."

"Where did they go?"

I indicated with my free hand to the spot where the wolf had disappeared.

"Come on." He started tugging me towards the Silver Bullets' residential area, inverting his head every few seconds.

"Rhys, what is..."

"Anthony! Everett!" He cut me off again - this time by shouting - when he saw his brother and their friend. The shifters he'd summoned ran towards us.

"Riley saw a white wolf," Rhys filled them in on whatever he was keeping me out of. "South of here." He pointed the way for good measure.

"I'm on it." Anthony had already begun to take his clothes when my boyfriend addressed his brother:

"Everett, you go too; I don't want him alone. I'll notify Keri and tell the patrols to join you; we'll send you backup when we make sure the youngsters and old are in the pub."

His brother nodded and began to strip; Anthony's body had already began to quiver and change.

"Come on, Riley," Rhys bid me again, dragging me in the opposite direction of where the two Bullets - now in wolf forms - darted to.

"Wait!" My heels dug into the soil as I did my best to make my boyfriend halt. This time my struggles had effect and he stopped and turned towards me.

"What's going on, Rhys? What is the big deal with that wolf? Who are they?"

His eyes seemed to darken before he gave me his reply:

"I don't know, Riley. There are no white wolves in the Silver Bullets pack."

*****

A/N: ANY IDEAS WHO THE WHITE WOLF IS AND WHY THEY ARE ON THE SILVER BULLETS' TERRITORY? What could they want from our beloved pack?

Okay, okay, sorry for the capital letters, but I'm kind of excited about this.

So what do you think?

Please support the chapter with a VOTE if you enjoyed it and once again congrats to the winners!