𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖓

It's been two weeks since I've first shown up in the woods and was saved by Antonio, and since then, August and I've began to fall into a comfortable pattern.

August often leaves before I wake up in the morning to go do his Alpha duties around the pack.

Then, later in the day, August would come back and we would spend some time together before bed.

This morning, I woke up to the sound of my bedroom door opening.

"August?" I asked, sleep still hazing my mind.

"Guess again!" A feminine voice yelled.

Rubbing my eyes, I looked over to see Tara.

Of course, she was wearing yet another outrageous outfit consisting of a large rainbow-striped turtleneck sweater, a solid colored schoolgirl skirt, and a cute pair of purple heels.

"Rise and shine sleepy head!" Tara shouted, snatching my blankets from around my body.

"I'm up," I groaned, surrendering to Tara's early morning enthusiasm.

I sat up in the bed, slowly crawling out of the warm comforter.

I made my way groggily over to my closet, which only held a few items that Tara had given me over the past two weeks.

"Actually," Tara said, dramatically swinging the bag she had on her shoulder, "I brought a super cute outfit for you."

I frowned, glancing over to the large black sweatshirt that I had planned on wearing.

"Why do I need to look good?" I complained.

"August figure it was probably time to take you on a tour of the territory," Tara explained, haphazardly pulling clothes out of her bag, "And you wanna make a good first impression if we run into any pack members."

"Oh," I responded unsurely.

Meeting pack members?

What if they don't like me? What if I'm not good enough to lead them beside August?

I shook my head, pushing the negative thoughts away.

"Here!" Tara announced, shoving a pile of clothes into my arms.

I took the crumpled garments, going into the conjoined bathroom.

Once the door was closed, I took a look at what she had given me to wear.

There was a thick cropped grey sweater with a turtle neck, and a plaid-patterned yellow and grey skirt that reached just above mid thigh.

I slipped on the outfit, admiring it in the mirror.

"Hurry up slowpoke!" Tara yelled from the other room.

Taking one last glance in the mirror, I made my way back into my bedroom.

"Ooo girl!" Tara exclaimed, as I gave a dramatic twirl, "August better watch out for those unmated wolves."

I laughed off her comment, making my way down the stairs and into the kitchen, Tara in tow.

While grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table, I noticed a note sitting idly beside it.

After Tara takes you on a tour of the territory, have her take you shopping to the nearby mall for some clothes.

I'll be having another pack member come along as a bodyguard. He'll meet you back at the house when you're ready to leave.

-A

Looking next to the note, I saw August's credit card sitting beside it.

Huffing our a sigh, I placed the card in the black leather purse that Tara had lent me, and turned over to my friend, who was currently digging through the fridge.

"Looks like August wants us to go shopping after the tour," I said, drawing her attention away from the food.

"Yay!" she squealed, clapping her hands, "I'm always up for shopping!"

I smiled over at her. I was excited to finally get some clothes of my own.

I know I could go back to my old house to get some of my clothes, but I barely had any in the first place. Not to mention it makes me sick to my stomach thinking about going back to that horribly depressing home.

Shaking off the memories, Tara led the way out of the house.

Stepping out of the house and into the sunlight, I tried to relax my nerves at the thought of meeting pack members.

"Let's get this over with," Tara said, dragging me along a worn down path through the woods, "I wanna go shopping!"

After a few more minutes of walking, and Tara's constant babbling, the path gave way into a large clearing.

Two small cabins sat on opposite sides of the space, leaving a large yard separating them.

A few people were milling around the area, walking in and out of the buildings, or simply stopping to chat to each other.

As soon as I stepped out of the trees, several heads tilted up towards me, as if sensing that I was there before seeing me.

A strange silence, followed by quiet murmuring met my ears. I felt eyes follow me as Tara pulled me further into the clearing.

"They can tell you're human," Tara explained, pulling me to the building on the far left of the area, "They're just confused and curious to see why you're here."

I nodded my head, still looking nervously around at the eyes watching me.

"Anyways," Tara announced, gesturing to the small cabin, "This is the infirmary, and that other building over there is an extra cabin used for visiting guests from other packs."

"Where does everyone else stay?" I questioned, looking around the large area.

"Most of the other pack members have houses spread around this area of the woods. They all live pretty close by."

We continued to walk across the area, Tara continuing to ramble on explanations of how the pack worked.

"And over here is the training grounds..." Tara spoke, but I tuned her out, instead focusing in on the people who had now began to go about their day again, but not without the occasional glance in my direction.

As I let my eyes wander over them, I noticed two women making their way boldly over to where Tara and I were standing.

The girls appeared to be slightly older than me. One of them was tall and model-like, with pale skin, which complimented her chestnut hair and light brown eyes.

The other was much shorter, with deep black hair and feline-like charcoal eyes that swarmed her with a sense of mystery.

They both had faint scowls written on their faces, the tall brunette's being much more prominent than the other girl's.

"Tara," the tall girl addressed, looking down on her as if she was a pest.

Tara, being her abnormally friendly self, simply smiled at the girl's snobby attitude, "Oh, hi Maria!"

Glancing towards the other girl, Tara also greeted, "Nice to see you, Lina."

The short girl, Lina, nodded her head politely, while the tall girl, Maria, completely ignored Tara's greeting.

"Why do you have a human walking around our territory?" Maria cut in, her piercing chestnut eyes boring into me.

I tried smiling at her, no matter how much I wanted to punch her in the face, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"It's not my place to tell," Tara answered vaguely, grabbing my arm in an attempt to pull me away from the girls.

Maria simply rolled her eyes as Lina looked on at the exchange curiously.

"If you don't tell me, I'll have to report this to the Alpha," Maria answered in her snarky voice. It showed a n her smug face that she thought that she thoroughly scared us with the threat.

I looked over towards Tara at her words, and I could tell that she was struggling to keep a straight face.

I could tell that the humor of it was glimmering in my eyes as well.

"Well, good luck with that," Tara snorted dragging me away.

"It was nice meeting you guys!" I yelled over my shoulder, trying to hold the distaste out of my voice, but with little success.

"Come on," Tara said, pulling me back onto the path that we had originally taken to get to the clearing, "I think that that was enough interaction for a day."

"Sounds good to me," I answered, mentally exhausted from the piercing stares and rude girls that I had to deal with today.

As we neared closer to August's house, Tara's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Shopping time!"