Word Count: 5213

Martha, the older lady who owned the shop gently led Celie over to the sinks to wash her hair, effectively cutting off her conversation with Lorelai, much to the relief of everyone in the room.

," Harper mind linked Celie while she was getting her hair washed.

Celie retorted

Harper sighed

Celie asked, glancing over at Harper before Martha scolded her to keep her head still.

Celie sat still and closed her eyes and focused on Matt's image in her mind and then sent out her call.

Celie sent out a mind link and felt a strange pulse of surprise.

Came Matt's startled reply in her mind.

Celie snickered.

Matt asked.

Harper said since Celie had included her in the link.

Matt replied.

Celie asked.

Matt replied, making Celie send a smirk in Harper's direction as Martha helped her sit up as she squeezed the water out of Celie's hair.

Celie laughed.

Matt replied.

Celie snapped.

Matt laughed.

Celie said.

Harper said.

Celie responded.

Matt couldn't help but snort and shake his head at her response and earned a look from the other men in the conference room, but he just smiled a little sheepishly and the meeting went on.

Celie linked Harper, and when Harper turned to her, Celie stuck her tongue out at her, earning her a chuckle.

"Put me in the chair next to Lorelai," Celie said, when Martha tried to steer her to a chair across the room. "I want to talk to her, she's new and I want to know all about her."

Martha exchanged a look with Harper who just shrugged.

"There's no stopping her when she's in a drunken mood, Martha, might as well let her talk or she'll just throw a little hissy fit and then talk anyway," Harper grinned.

"Hey, don't talk shit about me when I'm right here," Celie laughed. "Yes, I get a little bossy and pushy and nosy when I drink. So what? I'm totally fun too!"

"I'll second that!" Tosha said and clinked her glass with Celie's.

"Get Lorelai a drink!" Celie turned to Lorelai who was watching all this with a raised brow.

"I'm only eighteen," Lorelai said.

"So what?" Celie said. "You're a werewolf, it's only half a potent for you as a human, and it wears off in a couple of hours. Besides we're on pack lands, no one is driving anywhere, and pretty much everyone over the age of sixteen will be drinking tonight. It's a party!"

"If you say so," Lorelai said and accepted the drink that Tosha had mixed for her.

"So, let's play the questions game," Celie said. "We'll each ask a question and all of us will answer so we can get to know each other. Nothing bad though, I totally don't want to know anything bad or terrible right now, this is supposed to be fun. So Tosh, don't talk about your ex-boyfriend, he was a complete douche canoe and doesn't deserve any talking time."

Tosha narrowed her eyes at Celie and Harper snickered.

"He totally was, Tosh," Harper agreed. "And none of us want to hear you rant about him."

"Ok, so here we go," Celie said excitedly. "What kind of music do you like? I like hard rock and metal music."

"R&B" Tosha said.

"Hard rock," Harper said.

"I am fond of whale song," Ara commented with a smile.

"I like classical music," Mica said from the other side of the room, surprising them a little, but they knew many sirens had spent time on land, so it was not unheard of.

"I like the sounds Celie plays, though I'm not sure what many of them are called," Eden said.

"I like all kinds of music, but I like rock the best," Lorelai said.

"Favorite color?" Celie asked. "Mine is pink."

"Blue," Harper and Mica said.

"Green," Ara said.

"Black," Tosha told them.

"Red," Lorelai said.

"What is the color of your eyes called?" Eden asked Celie. "Because that is my favorite color."

There was a chorus of 'aawwww's around the room and Celie's smile was so bright it could outshine the sun.

They soon learned Lorelai's favorite band, movie, clothes, food, place, and hobbies. After having her cup filled a second time and listening to Celie's hilarious commentary for nearly an hour Lorelai had completely loosened up. She was talking and laughing and even started asking questions of her own.

"Where did you all meet?" Lorelai asked. "You seem so close."

"Well, Harp and I have known each other since birth!" Celie told her. "We were born on the same day, in the same hospital! I was born a few hours before her, because I had to make my grand entrance first!"

They all had a good laugh at that remark.

"Don't listen to her, she was as shy as can be when we were young, we both were," Harper said.

"Well, it takes time to grow into this much awesomeness," Celie said, making everyone laugh again. "We did everything together since we were babies! We had most of our classes together until high school, Harp of course got straight A's and ended up in all AP classes, while I skated by with B's because she did half my homework for me. We were practically attached at the hip our whole lives! We even got rejected together on our birthday!"

The salon instantly went silent.

"Oh, sorry," Celie flushed. "Didn't mean to bring the whole room down with that comment."

"You were rejected? Why?" Lorelai asked, her face deadly serious. "Who would reject females like you?"

Harper blew out a big sigh.

"Let me take this one Cel," Harper said. "In a nutshell, Cel and I were the pack outcasts. Mostly me because the Alpha's son and my brother hated me for some reason, but Cel because she was my friend and refused to drop me. They bullied us like crazy and we were rejected just for being who we are. My mate was the alpha's son, hers was his best friend. They rejected us, and we left the pack that day and came to Miami. I went to medical school, Cel built up her art career and I met my second chance mate and Cel met Eden, so it all worked out for the best."

"They beat Harper up all the time," Celie said sadly, her face drawn in pain. "It was horrible. But we got away from them and made a great life for ourselves as lone wolves. We got close to the Everglades pack, Porter especially, he adopted us as his big sisters, and he finally convinced us join the pack officially a few days ago, so here we are."

Lorelai looked Harper over closely.

"You are a strong female, I don't see how you could have been defeated easily," Lorelai said.

"Well it started when I was 11, so I was little and had no wolf, by the time I got stronger I was too afraid to try and stand up to them, plus it was literally everyone jumping on me every day. I could have fought off a couple, but when it's a dozen to one, half of them males, you just learn to take it. I trained on my own at night and fought rogues with the older warriors, but I didn't fight back against the bullies because it wouldn't have done any good, it would just have put a bigger target on my back." Harper said with a shrug. "We both started training super hard after we got here because we knew we had no one but each other to look out for us, so we're definitely tougher now than we used to be. But I always knew I'd get rejected, I always planned on leaving, I just got out of there and never looked back."

Lorelai shook her head sadly, a look of distaste on her face.

"I understand you; I expect to be rejected as well," Lorelai said, and everyone stopped and stared at her.

"Why in the world would you expect that?" Celie gasped. "You're a beautiful, strong, smart girl, any wolf would be blessed to have you for a mate! And you know what? If some asshat tries that shit, you just tell me who he is, and I'll kick his ass up to his ears!"

Everyone burst out laughing at Celie's words and fierce look.

"Seriously though," Tosha said, looking at Lorelai. "Why do you think you'll get rejected? You're gorgeous and you seem really nice, I can't see any reason you should think that."

"I'm scarred and different from most females, and I have a very dominant wolf," Lorelai said, then smiled a little. "I doubt there are many, besides you, who would call me nice."

"That's not always a bad thing, girl. Everyone thinks I'm nice and it's really hard to get people to take me seriously because of that. They all think I'm the mouse that roars." Celie said, pointing at Eden. "Don't deny it! I heard you and Porter talk about how I was cute like a puppy when I got mad!"

Eden had the grace to look away, while the others chuckled at his blush.

"Besides why be like everyone else?" Celie went on, turning back to Lorelai. "That's boring as hell! And as far as scars go, your ink covers them, they're barely noticeable at all. If you have other ones, I can work with a skin artist to come up with something to cover them too. With the right color and angles they'll disappear."

Everyone stopped and stared at Celie.

"What?" Celie asked, looking around.

"I didn't realize her tattoos were covering scars," Harper said slowly. "How did you see that? I didn't even notice them."

"I'm an artist," Celie rolled her eyes. "Of course I paid closer attention to the work than you did. And the artist who did this was a !"

Celie tried to scoot her chair closer but was struggling with only one hand and Eden jumped up and dragged the chair close. But instead of moving aside he sat in her chair and pulled her into his lap with a grin and soft kiss on her smiling lips.

Lorelei watched Harper, Tosha, and Ara all exchange grins and fist bumps at the affectionate displays between the cute couple.

"It really is beautiful work," Tosha told Lorelai. "I was so busy admiring how great they were that I didn't notice anything else."

"Do you mind if I take a closer look?" Celie asked, reaching for Lorelei's arm.

"Of course not," Lorelai said, extending her left arm first, as everyone else leaned closer to get a better look.

"So you had a few knife wounds, looks like defensive, yes?" Celie commented and ran her finger up a few of the stems of the flowers. "Then I see here a couple of claw gouges? Yes? The flower cup covers those well, and the butterfly wing covers that claw mark really well. You're artist was amazing! Was it a man or woman?"

"It was a girl in a neighboring town," Lorelai answered watching Celie closely, she wasn't used to someone admiring her scars.

"Let me see the other arm, ooh the phoenix is so beautiful, the heart of it has the outline of a woman flying, what does the wording say? 'And still I rise'. I love that! What an affirmation! That is so perfect!" Celie gushed, then turned Lorelai around a little so she could see the back of her shoulder, which appeared to just be calligraphy script that said 'You never know how strong you are, until being strong is the only choice you have.'

"I love them, Lorelai, they are just so you!" Celie said, smiling brightly at her. "Are these the only ones? If you have others you can show me when no men are around."

"I have a few others, one on my side, and several on my back and thighs," Lorelai admitted.

"Oh, I can't wait!" Celie said. "If you decide you want more, just talk to me and I can help draw something up, I've created tattoo designs before on request. I just love skin art, but I'm so afraid to get any for myself, I'm too flighty and they are too permanent. I know me, I'd want to change them every week and be disappointed I can't wash it off to get something that matches my new outfit."

"Yes," Lorelai chuckled. "I can imagine you having that problem."

"Anyway, I'm so excited for you to be here with us! You'll love it here, the weather is great, and everyone in this pack is amazing!" Celie gushed to Lorelai. "Well, almost everyone, there are a couple of assholes, but I think it's impossible to get away from all assholes all the time."

"I know that's right," Tosha snorted. "But Cel is right, there are only a few assholes in this pack so don't worry too much about them."

"The main asshole, just so you know, is a girl name Jocelyn, then there are a few other assholes that serve as her posse of mean girls," Celie told Lorelai.

"And her brothers are dickheads too," Harper said.

"They don't bother us, of course, because we're older and don't put up with that shit. But Porter is always having to step in to put a stop to her shit and she's always hitting on him. She's really rude and mean to the kids your age...speaking of which, where the hell is Finn? Why isn't he here hanging with us?" Celie asked, confusion in her eyes.

"Oh," Tosha suddenly looked uncomfortable and glanced around the room. "Um...that's kinda, personal, I'm not sure if I should say."

"What do you mean? Is Finn alright?" Harper asked, leaning forward concerned. Finn and Harper were nearly as close as Celie and Porter.

"He's..." Tosha paused a second, then let out a deep breath. "He's in seclusion."

Celie's mouth dropped open, and Harper gasped, her eyes going wide.

"He met his mate?" Celie asked softly.

Tosha nodded slowly, her brows creased, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Who was it?" Harper asked, her voice cracked.

"Thomas, Jocelyn's twin brother," Tosha said. "So you can imagine how that went."

Harper put her hands over her face and leaned forward, obviously fighting back tears.

"Oh my god! I'm going to kick that fuckers ass!" Harper exploded, slamming her fists into the arms of the chair after a few seconds to compose herself. "If I see Thomas tonight, I'm going to beat him and his goddamn sorry ass sister within an inch of their lives! Porter better keep those bastards away from us or I'm going to lose my shit."

"If my shoulder wasn't hurting, I'd help you!" Celie growled. "Poor Finney, he's going through rejection and heat alone and he's the only breeder in the pack."

"What does this mean?" Eden asked, watching their expressions.

"Finn was rejected by his mate, who was his main tormentor's brother, so he was probably humiliated in the process," Celie said softly. "Now he's in seclusion because he's an omega breeder and went into heat when he met his mate."

"What is an omega breeder?" Ara asked, prompting Lorelai's eyes to sharpen as she looked around the room at the others who looked confused.

"Omegas are the lowest ranked and weakest form of werewolf," Celie started explaining. "They're usually very small and unable to fight, which is not highly regarded in wolf packs. But some male omegas are what we call breeders, they actually have the ability to conceive and bear young."

"Your males can have babies?" Mica asked, shocked.

"Only a rare few," Harper said. "They don't normally survive long in most packs."

"What do you mean 'your males'?" Lorelai asked slowly.

Everyone stared around the room at each other silently trying to determine who should speak up.

"Ok, so apparently we've come to the truth portion of the evening," Celie said and tossed back the remaining alcohol in her glass before handing it to Tosha to refill before turning to Lorelai. "So this is going to be the extreme nutshell version of what's been going on here recently. No one told you yet because they wanted to talk to the elder guy first, but everyone else in the pack is aware."

Tosha handed Celie her full glass and she took a gulp before taking another deep breath.

"Werewolves are not the only supernatural species, there are others, they are what we would call mermen and mermaids, but they call themselves sirens and tritons. They are like the difference between regular werewolves and feral rogues basically. Sirens are the good guys; tritons are the bad guys. Harper's mate Matt is a siren, he told she and I about himself when they got serious with their relationship and she told him about us. It's been a big secret since, we didn't share his species with our kind, he didn't share our species with his kind until a little over two weeks ago. That's when tritons decided to start attacking left and right and we needed backup, so Matt called Eden and the other sirens, and we came here and talked to the pack. Porter's been staying at our house running patrols and helping us fight them."

Lorelai stared at Celie for a few seconds, then glanced around the rest of the room.

"Are you playing a joke on me?" Lorelai asked, her brows coming together and a slightly annoyed expression settling on her face. She had been expecting some jokes and pranks to be played on her, but she had let her guard down.

"No, we are not," Eden sighed. "If there were a pool or pond around here, I could show you, but I don't think there is a place for me to change into my marine form."

"Oooh, I know, just change your hands and stuff and not your tail," Celie said.