Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I wake up to a nice steady drizzle happening outside. I try and stretch out in the bed, but realize that it's impossible for me to do that. I glance down and see that both dogs have got me pinned down on either side of me. I wiggly free of the dogs and head to the closet to get a change of clothes. Sweats and a hoodie are great clothing to wear during a cold rainy day.

I glance towards the couch and see a peaceful looking Aiden passed out there. There are worry wrinkles formed on his forehead. I go over to him and smooth out the wrinkles. Noticing how cute his face looks now. I get a pair of clean clothes from the closet and head to the bathroom. I get ready for the day and then head next door to the boy's room to see that they are up.

I knock on the door and wait for a couple of minutes to see the door open a crack. I see a bed head Mikey poke his head out with a grumble on his face.

'You're not up yet?' I ask him.

'What time is it?' He asks, while rubbing his eyes.

'It's 9 o'clock. Where's JJ?' I ask him.

'I'm surprised you are up at this hour. JJ went downstairs to eat breakfast.' Mikey says, with a big yawn.

'I don't know, I guess I had a nice sleep last night. Oliver and I are going to go down to find JJ and get breakfast. We will see you when you are done getting ready.' I say him, while opening up Aiden's door and snapping fingers to get Oliver and Baloo.

I head down the four flights of staircases and walk to where the barns are located with Oliver and Baloo in tow. *I swear, you sure can get your workout done every day. What with walking up and down multiple flights of staircases. And then trying to find your way to the room you are seeking out. By the end of this event, I feel like you'll be in great shape. Haha. *

I get to the barns and one I of them has all the food located in them. The other barn has a bunch of tables and chairs, set up like a school cafeteria. I look for JJ, but I don't see him any where. I go back to the first barn and load up my plate then head to the second barn to find a table.

I didn't recognize anyone at the tables to sit with. I am enjoying my meal when I see a pair of legs on the opposite side of the table. I glance up and see that it's Kennedy.

'You mind if I join you?' Kennedy signs to me.

'Not at all, go right ahead.' I nod towards the empty seat across from me.

I feel a presence in my mind, so I open up my mind. I realize it's Kennedy that wants to mind link with me.

(I feel this is a lot easier to communicate to you.) Kennedy comments. I nod my head.

(So, how's it going? Anything new happening with you? Did you shift yet?) I try and make small talk with Kennedy.

(I shifted at the beginning of this year. I turned 18 in January. Nothing new with me. These events are the same old same old. I only like the food part. I love eating food. I sometimes go to the kitchens and ask the cooks to teach me things.) Kennedy says.

(Oh, that sounds like fun. Have you made something that you like the most?) I ask Kennedy.

(I've gotten my hands on making dessert shooters. I love a lot of desserts, but the portion sizing are so big that you aren't able to finish them sometimes. So why not make smaller versions of them.) Kennedy explains, all excited.

(Those sound fun. If you ever need a taste tester, I'll do it for you. Haha) I point to myself and wink at him while laughing.

( So, have you found your mate yet?) I ask him. (I haven't found mine yet, but I haven't given up hope.)

(It's complicated, let's just leave it at that.) He says sharply, then closes the mind link quickly.

I don't ask about it anymore. But I do peer into his heart and see what color his string is. His string color is a magenta color, so I followed where it led.

I saw that it led to a guy that was sitting on the opposite side of the barn. They guy looked like Kid Flash from The Flash. I realized why Kennedy didn't want to talk about and I wasn't going to force it out of him when he wasn't ready.

I was concentrating hard on locating Kennedy's mate, that I didn't realize my brother's sat down next to us. JJ waves his hand in front of my face, which startled me.

'Good morning Sis, what were you spacing out about?' JJ signs to me, when I glanced over to them.

'I'll tell you guy's later.' I say to them. I give them a pointed look and they understood what I was going to say to them.

As we were finishing up breakfast, I was looking around at the people. I noticed that there weren't many singles left. Most of the people were able to find them this week. The rest must be waiting until the humans come tomorrow. That's fine with me, I don't want to get bombarded with idiots thinking that they are my mate.

I saw that the twins showed up while I was looking around. They were talking to Mikey about something, I don't know what.

'So, what are your guy's plans for the rest of the day?' I ask them around me.

'The twin's and are going to play video games.' Mikey says, while nodding to the twins.

'I'm going to be in the library. If you'll excuse me.' Kennedy says, while getting up from the table.

I noticed a few minutes later, the guy that was Kennedy's mate went and followed after him. "Hmmm….interesting."

'Want to check out the gym with me and spar a bit? I can also show the rooms in detail along the way. Seeing as you haven't been able to explore the castle since we got here. And I know you love looking into rooms and seeing what other people have in them. Haha.' JJ snickers at me.

I shove him in the shoulder with his comment. But he is right about how I love to looking into other people's homes and see how they have decorated them.

'I need to change before we hit the gym.' I tell JJ, getting up to take care of my plate.

'Well if you are finished, we can head upstairs and change. We can take the scenic route and I'll show you in more detail of the castle.' JJ says, while getting up as well.

'Where did Oliver go?' I ask them, looking around for him.

'He must be with the other dogs.' Mikey says. 'He loves hanging out with them. I'll see you guy's at dinner time.'

JJ starts the tour of the gigantic castle. He leads me to the basketball court that was next to the barns.

(This is the basketball court, obviously. It also turns into a tennis court, a volleyball court, and an ice hockey arena. Over there in the fields you have: a golf course, a baseball diamond, a soccer field, that also converts into field hockey and lacrosse.) He says through mind link.

I just keep getting impressed with what this place holds. We walk inside and pass the conference rooms and pass the grand stair case.

(Down here you know about the dining room and there are a few more bathrooms this way as well.)

We pass the bathroom that I used at the beginning of the week and he shows me into a room.

(This is the game and arcade room.)

There are all sorts of game consoles that you can imagine located in here. A couple of giant flat screen TV's hooked up to the game consoles then you have a couple of arcade machines in here. As well as a few pool tables, air hockey, table tennis, darts, and foosball tables. This room had quite a lot of people in here.

We head out of the room and head back up the stairs. We get to our rooms and change into gym clothes. Then JJ leads the way to the gym, which seems to be located on the second floor with all the rooms everyone are staying in. JJ explained to me that the rooms have just two bed's and a closet. There are communal areas that they share for bathrooms. When they find their mate, they decide which room they stay in for the rest of the duration that they are here. And the people that have yet to find their mates, are placed in the rooms that are empty.

We walk into the gym and let me tell, it's wow. You have every gym equipment known to man in here. You have a wrestling mate and a boxing area. You have all types of martial arts equipment and fencing equipment. They even had equipment that you see on American Ninja Warrior. I look around and notice that there are more guys in here than girls.

(I'll race through the obstacle course like they have on American Ninja Warrior. Smoke you in my dust.) I say with a wink at JJ.

(Puh-leez, I think you got it the other way around sista' haha.) JJ chuckles.

We were deciding on who should go first when JJ whips his head to look behind him. I turn and look as well to see who has his attention. I see Tristan Reynolds and Kaden Jones standing behind us. They played on the lacrosse and hockey team with JJ. I would say that they didn't pick on me, but they also didn't stop the bullying. Thy would turn the other cheek if they saw what was going on.

Tristan looks like the guy off of Shawdowhunters as Alec Lightwood. I think he might have been the one who got JJ, if the bullying got real bad.

How Debbie and her gang would drag me off behind the bleachers and start pummeling me. They would do it while JJ was at practice. A teacher never caught them, because they believed that they were precious angel's. And if they ever did get caught, they would blame it on me for instigating it and that they were just defending their selves.

It's not like I went willingly. I did put a fight up, but if you have 2 football players holding down your arms and another 2 holding down your legs. You are out of luck to try and fight back. Debbie and her gang have ganged up on me for as long as I could remember.

It started when we were first homeless and didn't have a place to a shower. So sure we went to school a little stinky. And that's when the torment happened to us. JJ got tormented as well at the young age, but when he hit puberty, everything changed for him. As for me, not so much. Puberty hits and did the opposite for me and the torment and bullying only got worse.

Then you have Kaden Jones who looks like Aren Buchholz. Those two are inseparable, always together. Kaden is the shy kind of guy. While you have Tristan in a brooding look. I knew those two were mates at a young age. I guess they finally figured it out this week. I'm not going to say anything though, in case they don't want to tell people yet. I have been able to see who's soulmate is to whom's even when I was in elementary school.

'So you guy's are going to do this obstacle course? Let's see how well you guy's get through it. We'll race against you guy's as well.' JJ signs to me while Tristan is talking.

(You know, this is the most that Tristan has ever said to me. Yeah, we were on the same team, a decent guy. But he and Kaden kept to themselves and never talked much.) JJ says through mind link.

(Tristan seems different, that he has more power now.) I comment to JJ. JJ nods his head in agreement.

'So, who's going first? Rock, paper, scissors?' I say to the boy's. They all nod in agreement. I of course get stuck for last. But hey, how does that saying going, "save the best for last."

Kaden goes first, he gets hung up on the warped wall. It takes him like 5 times to finally get up it. He gets to the to the salmon ladder and he lets go after trying to figure out how to come back down. His time was 40mins, but he didn't finish the obstacle course. JJ goes next and he was able to finish the course, his time was 35mins. Next, Tristan went, we were holding our breathes because we thought he was going to beat JJ, but at the last possible second, he got stuck on the salmon ladder. So he had to finagle his way in order to get unstuck and that's how JJ was still in the lead.

It was finally my turn and I noticed a crowd that started to forum around us. I saw Mikey and even got a glimpse of Aiden amongst the people. Mikey gave me a thumbs up and said that I should show the boy's. I glanced at Aiden and he had that weird curiosity look on his face like he's had since I've met him.

Turning back to the obstacle course, I shake my head a bit and roll my neck to focus on the task at hand. JJ, counts me down of when I can start. I start with the quintuple steps, they were pretty slippery, I almost lost my footing on the last step. The rope swing came next and I sailed through that quickly. Then came the pipe slider, by this point my arms were getting tired and my palms were sweaty so it was hard for me to get a good grip on it, but somehow I managed to get through it. The second to the last obstacle was the warped wall. It only took me two tries to get up the wall. I think during the transformation of changing into a werewolf, I also had a bit of a growth spurt as well as having a better eyesight. The last obstacle was upon me and it was the salmon ladder, the one the boy's were having difficulty on. I step up to it and start to climb up it, realizing that this was a piece of cake. I got through the whole thing without a hitch and then just collapsed on the ground. I was exhausted, having to do that obstacle course. It's been a while since I exerted that much physical demand on my body.

I get the wind knocked out of me because next thing I know Mikey has tackled me into a giant bear hug. Making it kind of difficult to breath, seeing as I was already trying to catch my breath after the obstacle course I just went through.

(Congratulations sis, you beat us.) JJ says, while prying Mikey off of me. (Your score was 33mins.) 'Come on bro, let her breath.' JJ signs to Mikey and yanking him off of me.

I see a hand held out in front of me and I glance up at who's hand it belongs to. It belongs to none others than Tristan's. I feel this pressure in my mind and I open it up, since I figured Tristan wanted to communicate through mind link.

(Well, congratulations MacKenna you were a worth opponent. I am honored to be serving as your Beta. I didn't expect this sort of outcome to happen. So yeah, I sort of tested you two to see how worthy you guy's would be to be taking the Alpha position.) I just stare at him mind boggled, I glance at JJ and he has the same reaction as I have on my face. Tristan must have mind linked with JJ and was communicating at the same time with us.

Then a notice a hand waving around in front of my face and glance to see it's Mikey's.

'I wanna know what you guy's are talking it about. It's not fair that you guy's get to mind link with everyone and I'm deaf to what's going on. Haha, no offense MacKenna, but I now know how you feel.' Mikey signs to us.

I shake my head at Mikey with a smirk on my face. 'It's a little complicated, we can't really tell you out in the open. When we are alone, we'll get you up to speed.' I inform Mikey.

(Or, don't mind my intrusion we could go to a private room and you guy's can talk freely there and not have anyone over hear you guy's.) I glance over to Aiden, realizing that he was still here and that he was the one to mention the room. I nod my head towards him and indicate with my hand for him to lead the way.

'Aiden is going to take us to a more private room so we can speak freely.' I sign to my brothers and JJ tells Tristan and Kaden.

So the 5 of us all go and follow Aiden to where ever he is taking us. We stop in our tracks and I look up and see that we have stopped in front of the intricate doors that lead into the Queen's office. Aiden knocks on the door and then starts to open it. I guess the Queen must have said it was okay to enter.

We enter and see the Queen sitting behind her desk and the sliding glass doors are wide open. The Queen glances up and starts talking. I see a surprised look on her face and read her lips that say Aiden!. I glance at Aiden and he has a stiff posture and barley moves his lips when he says, Mother.

*Dang, there is some major tension between those two. Well I don't blame him, the Queen stopped him from going to Sarah.*

I glance at Mikey and he's signing to me what they are talking about.

'We've come to see if we can use your office so Tristan can explain his self to the Wilson's.' Aiden says to the Queen. *Hmmm, should I say the Queen or his mother. Hard to know when to say what.*

'Oh right, let meet close these doors to no one around is eavesdropping. Please everyone, take a seat.' The Queen says, while getting up and closing the doors that are behind her desk.

We all take our seats in the comfy couches. I somehow end up sitting next Aiden, which I found was peculiar. I sat in my spot so I could be across from Mikey and read what is going on. There was a seat right next to Mikey and the other couches weren't filled yet. So, Aiden had plenty of other choices and didn't necessarily need to sit next to me. Jj sits next to Mikey and gives me a raised eyebrow in question with why Aiden was sitting next to me and I just shrug my shoulders. I catch a glimpse of the Queens face and she has this knowing look on her face with a small smile when she sees Aiden sitting next to me. She catches me looking at her and nods her head a little with the smile still on her face. I give her a confused look, but she has looked the other way.

*Huh, I wonder what that is all about. Weird.*

'I'm assuming your going to announce the Wilson's as Alpha's at the ball and you still want to keep everything hush hush.' Aiden says

'Yes, you are right, I would like to announce them at the ball. As well as who would be the Alpha.'

We all turn to the Queen and look at her with confused looks on our faces.

'What do you mean who's the Alpha? We are not going to have to fight each other to the death or something to get the spot, right?' JJ, asks with a confused look on his face.

'Oh no, nothing like how we did it in the olden day's. Where siblings that were twins fought to the death in order to see who would be the Alpha. I'm kidding.' The Queen reassures us when we all have the look of horror showing on our faces.

'We aren't barbarians, my god.' The Queen chuckles at us. 'No, who ever was born first would be the Alpha.'

*So, that means I'm Alpha. What? I don't know anything about being an Alpha. Let alone who's gonna listen to me? The nerd and deaf girl? Is this universe cruel or something. JJ is a lot more fit to be Alpha than me.*

While I'm having this panic attack happening with inside of me, I feel someone trying to communicate with inside my mind.

(MacKenna, just breath. You need to just breath. You're getting yourself worked up and you're having a panic attack. Just listen to my voice and take a deep breath through your nose and then slowly let it out through your mouth.)

I slowly pay attention to the voice inside my head and do what I'm told to do from the voice inside my head. I take a deep breath through my nose and then slowly let it out through my mouth.

(Nice, now do it a couple of more times.) The voice inside my head says to me.

I do the breathing thing a couple of more times. Slowly getting my breathing back to normal. Realizing that the voice that was talking to me through my mind was Aiden's. I glance down at my hand and hadn't even noticed him putting his hand in my hand. I don't even mind that I'm holding hands with Aiden, now that I've calmed down a bit.

(Thank you for helping me get my breathing back. You don't need to hold my hand now.) I say to Aiden while raising my eyebrow at him and looking pointedly at our hands still intertwined.

(What, I kind of like holding your hand, I think I'm gonna leave it like this until we leave.) Aiden says with his eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. Like he's daring to have me make the move and remove my hand first from his. I squint my eyes at him and my mouth forms a thin line.

*It's not like I don't not like holding his hand. But I also don't want to show him that I like holding his hand. What to do, what to do.*

(Well, if you guy's are done flirting with each other, can we get back to the matter at hand?) We hear JJ in our minds, which makes it so we jump a bit and we retract our hands from each other. My face becomes beet red when JJ interrupts us. We both glance at JJ with looks on our faces that we got caught with our hands in the cookie jar.

I glance at everyone with an apologetic look on my face, forgetting that they were still in the room with us. JJ looked annoyed, Mikey had a smirk on his face and the Queen had that knowing look on her face again.

'As I was saying, yes, MacKenna would be the Alpha. You must dear don't have anything to worry about, it's not like we would throw you to the wolves or anything. Haha, no pun intended. I will be by your side, and train you, until you are ready to be on your own. I'm sure Tristan would help you as well, seeing as he is your Beta. And it seems to me that Aiden will stand by you as well.'

With that last sentence said, I look at the Queen with a raised eyebrow and a questioning look on my face. But the Queen wasn't looking at me, she turned her head and was looking at Tristan.

'Tristan, why don't you tell us about yourself and your role you have already started taking.' The Queen says to Tristan.

'Well, hello, my name is Tristan I'm your Beta and this is Kaden who is my mate.' Tristan says while singing to us. 'Yes, I know sign language I started learning it when I found out I was going to become Beta and who the Alpha would become.'

I just looked at Tristan like head had a second head or something. What he has said so far, made me have so many other questions. I must have had a questionable look on my face, because Tristan continues.

'Let me explain everything. My father was your dad's best friend. They were like brothers to each other. They grew up together and were even each other's best man to each other's weddings. At a very young age, my parents told me what their roles were in the pack and what my role would be when I turned 18. They told me who the Alpha is and who would be the next one in line.

My parents told me about your Uncle and how he was trying to always become Alpha. Your parents were gonna tell you guy's everything when you were a little bit older. But then the accident happened and they weren't able to tell you. My parents told me not to tell you guy's anything after the accident. Especially since your lives were in danger and they didn't want to expose your where abouts of where you guy's were living. They told me to keep on eye on you guy's and only help out if things turned bad.

I'm so sorry for everything that Debbie has done to you MacKenna. I didn't want to expose myself to you guy's and knowing who you guy's were. You see, when you guy's were kids, your parents never took you to meetings or had a whole bunch of pack members coming to your house. They wanted you guy's to have a normal childhood before getting thrown into all the chaos. That's why a lot of the pack don't really know what you guy's look like. Everyone knows that the Alpha has kids, but they don't know what you look like.' Tristan finishes talking and it was dead silent in the room.

*Wow, so much keeps getting thrown at us this week. I don't know if I can take anymore suprises.*

'Why don't you guy's all get cleaned up and then head down to get a nice dinner. I'm sure you all have a lot to process as well as most you guy's are very ripe smelling and my office needs a good Febreze and airing out.' The Queen says, while ushering all us out of her office.

*Wow, I can't believe it's already dinner time, no wonder my stomach is rumbling. Wow, that's a lot to process. I wonder where Oliver is. I should go look for him after I get done getting cleaned up.*

I must have been wrapped up in my mind that I didn't even realize that I was standing in Aiden's room. I glance outside and realized it was getting dark outside and it was heavily pouring outside now. I grab the clothes that I had on this morning before I changed into my gym clothes and headed on into the bathroom.

I get into the shower and once the water hit me, all the stuff that happened has so far, has left me completely drained and exhausted. I get out of the shower and walk back into the bedroom to find Oliver and Baloo on the bed. It looked very inviting to go and climb into bed with them and that's what I just did. Once my head hit the pillow, I just passed out curled up with each dog on both sides of me.