Chapter 5

A/N: KMyung and Hazel_Tree interviewed me; you can read their questions and my replies on my blog. The link will be in the comments and given as external link.

Thank you for doing this, K and Hazel!

*****

Heart beating like crazy, throat tight and the desire to growl - would I be in this state each time I was away from my mate?

Riley.

The name sent shivers through me.

Riley.

It made me want to close my eyes and repeat it over and over again... But I had to concentrate on the road and traffic; I had to pick up my two younger siblings.

I drove the car in the school parking lot and shut down the engine. Daisy and Cindy - two young women from my pack had stopped their car nearby, waiting for the daughter of the former who was also the niece of the latter; they gave me a wave and I nodded in reply.

The passenger door opened and a backpack was thrown at the back of my car.

"So? Did you go? Did you see him?" Kennedy shot out before his butt made it to the seat.

I didn't mind though. I couldn't wait to talk about my mate and I didn't care if I had to repeat myself to each member of my family and to Keri; I had no doubt she'd ask.

"Yes, I went, yes, he was there - he is the barista, and his name is Riley." The last word left my mouth through a sigh.

"Finally, we know his name!" He threw his hands in the air. "What's he like?"

"He's a bit shy, I think - he blushed a couple of times while we talked, and he's really nice and polite, somewhat childish, and he's an artist." I reached in my pocket for my phone.

"Does he draw, carve, sculpt...?"

"He does this." I tilted the screen with the photo I'd taken towards his face. He took the device from me, angled it to see better and whistled.

"Coffee art? That's pretty cool. And he seems to be good at it."

"He is, he is," I kept nodding as he handed me my mobile back and I gazed at the photo of the cream wolf before I pocketed it again.

"So, what did you two talk about?" My youngest sibling inquired, leaning in his seat, the ankle of his left leg over the knee of his right one.

"Coffee, his art... I told him I went to the café to make sure he wasn't stressed from his run in with Alec."

Kennedy grimaced.

"Any news from that... jerk? What?" He blinked at me with all the innocence in the world or at least all the innocence this mischievous devil could muster. "I was going to use 'jerk' in the first place, I swear."

We hadn't seen our nephew from the night I'd first met Riley. He'd disappeared without telling anyone where he was going, when he would be back or what he was planning to do. Everett had tried to get a hold on him by the phone, but Alec had not picked up; to be honest, it had surprised me the boy had not blocked his father's number.

"No, but apparently Riley hasn't seen him either."

"That doesn't mean Alec hasn't seen Riley," Kennedy noted just as the Carter opened the backseat door and let his mate Melanie in before he climbed in after her.

As soon as they sat, the girl started showing him pictures on her mobile.

"How did it go?" Carter asked, his eyes on his girlfriend's phone.

"Good, I think." I brought the engine to life and got out of the parking lot; Daisy and Cindy were a few cars ahead of me. "I think he isn't as scared of me as he used to."

"You sound so doubtful," Melanie commented and I saw in the back view mirror her fingers swiping over her screen. "It must suck so much having a mate who cannot recognize you; who would've thought that the Beta would bond with a human? I mean, it's so weird."

"Shut up, Mel." Kennedy didn't even bother to look at her.

"Don't talk to my mate like that!" Carter snarled, narrowing his eyes at our sibling; the younger boy smirked.

"Or you'll do what?" He challenged, focusing his bright gaze on our brother.

Carter fell silent, pursing his lips and clenching his fists. He knew that even though he was older and bigger, Kennedy was a much more skilled fighter - not only was he faster and more agile, but he was better trained and didn't fear getting hurt. Carter on the other hand had basic level fighting skills, worse coordination and very low pain tolerance.

"Oh, my, God!" Melanie unwrapped herself from her boyfriend's embrace. "You are not going to defend me against this brat? You should fight for me no matter what; you should die for me, if that's what it takes!"

"Mel, baby..."

"Enough." The three of them turned to me. "Kennedy, stop challenging your brother and Melanie, don't you ever call Kennedy a brat. Also," we had stopped at a red light so I could take my eyes off the road and look at her, "don't you ever make Carter enter a pointless fight just to prove his love to you; if your vanity is more important than his safety, then you are not the right mate for him or for anyone."

She gaped at me with brown eyes rounded, then frowned, her glossy lips puckering.

"I won't sit here and be insulted like that!" She crossed her arms over her chest, expecting an apology.

"Then get out. You have time; the light is still red." I nodded towards the shiny circle that had made us stop.

"And walk all the way home on heels?"

I kept a straight face. She might be my future sister-in-law, but that didn't mean I had to like or pamper her.

"Fine." She opened the door and got out. "Carter, call me a cab."

"Sure, baby." His phone was on his ear before he made it outside the car. The thud of the door closing came just as the light changed to yellow. The two teens were waiting for their ride when the light turn green and I drove off.

"This ride just got a whole lot better." Kennedy grinned at me, his bright blue eyes inherited on our father's side of the family sparkling. "Now that we got rid of the annoyances, let's get back to the fun stuff."

"Riley?" I asked, the corners of my lips turning up.

"Riley." He nodded.

*****

"I think I'll like him, Rhys," Keri commented, wiping sweat from her forehead as she kept her pace on the treadmill next to mine.

"And he's an artist. Did I show you..."

"The photo of your coffee. Yes, like a hundred times." Her cousin Kelly giggled, rolling the pedals on her stationary bicycle. Even though she had exercise equipment at her home - partially to keep in shape for her police job, partially to aid her husband's rehab - she still was a regular at the Silver Bullets' community gym so she could keep up with what was going on in the pack.

"I can't wait to meet him," Keri added.

"Maybe we should wait," Anthony put in his two cents. He was standing by Everett, ready to help out if the latter lost his grip on the weights. "We all want to get to know the boy, but we should be careful; he's human after all."

I sighed.

I didn't need people to remind me that; I was aware of the problems that came with the difference in species.

"I said to meet him, not to transform in front of him and play fetch." Keri rolled her eyes.

Her brother frowned, but nodded, keeping his eyes on Everett and the weight machine.

"You guys got carried away again?" Daisy walked in, a towel in her hand.

"It's almost our group's turn for the gym," her twin Cindy reminded. As much as we would've liked to have equipment for everyone in the pack, we couldn't afford neither it, nor the space to hold it so we had to share and take turns.

"Almost done," Keri assured them.

"We saw our niece getting home with a cab today," Cindy stopped in front of my treadmill. "What was that about?"

"Yeah, I thought you were picking her and Carter up today," Daisy added, standing by her sister.

Two pairs of brown eyes stared at me. The twins were very much alike. With wavy brown hair the same color as their eyes and Daisy being just a couple of inches taller while Cindy having a just slightly broader shoulders, I'd still confuse them from a distance.

"Melanie was being rude and I told her that I would not tolerate that. She didn't appreciate me reprimanding her so she got out of the car and made Carter call her a cab; I think she couldn't walk in her heels," I explained and both shook their heads from left to right.

"It's her mom's fault," Daisy sighed.

"Yeah, she thinks that just because Melanie is pretty, she should be queen bee and have everything she wants," Cindy added.

"Don't worry, we'll talk to out sister-in-law about Mel," Daisy assured me.

A few more members from their gym group came in and I slowed down, gradually stopping and stepping off the treadmill. I leaned down and picked a few wet tissues from my gym bag to wipe the handles of the equipment before anyone else used it; Keri and Kelly were doing the same to their machines and my brother and Anthony had already hit the showers.

"Congrats, by the way." Cindy's voice made me turn to her; she and her sister were stretching, getting ready for their workout.

"We heard you finally went to see your mate today," Daisy clarified when I raised my eyebrow at her twin.

"Does everyone know?" I asked and got two simultaneous 'of course' in reply.

"We might be a big pack, but you are the Beta." Daisy laughed.

"And finding a mate is a big thing," Cindy piped up.

"And it's not like you haven't bragged about it ever since you came back," Keri chimed in, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I won't be surprised if you print out that coffee photo and place it next to the picture of the Sacred Tree."

The hazel tree was our pack's sacred tree. Not that hazel held a special meaning to wolf shifters; it was just that when our ancestors moved to Woodbury, they held a ceremony to celebrate the new pack and planted a hazel tree, cleansing it through a ritual. It was a gathering place in weddings and mating ceremonies amongst other occasions and everyone had a picture of it - be it a photo, a painting or a carving - in their home. I still lived with my parents and we had a very beautiful replica of the first painting of the Sacred Tree on our mantel, complete with four wolves under it: an old wolf, sitting and resting after a life of guarding the pack - his job was not over yet though as now he'd advice our young - a pup to symbolize our youngest, its mother to symbolize family bonds and a young wolf on watch - the pack's new guard.

"I might." I shrugged, half-joking. Okay, perhaps I wouldn't put it on our mantle, but I might print it out and put it in my wallet.

I'm going to need a bigger walled, I thought, knowing that each time I visited the café, I'd take a picture of the coffee my mate made me.

And I planned to visit... a lot.

*****

A/N: So what do you think of the Silver Bullets pack's crest?

And what of the chapter? Any comments on the new (or not so new) characters?

Please VOTE if you enjoyed it!

Did you know that... The Silver Bullets' sacred tree is hazel because one of my biggest wattpad supporters who keeps reading, voting and commenting is @Hazel_Tree?

This little trivia was shared in the interview along with some other interesting stuff so check it out!