“She’s always trying to get one of the boys,” Tress growls.
"Call her tonight and tell her that you only want to hang out away from us and see what she says," he replies, lifting one side of his mouth trying to soften the blow.
"I'll do that. Thank you for being honest with me, Spence," I reply, bumping his shoulder with mine.
"Anytime, Killer," he grins as we pull up in front of Jack's house.
Vance and Reid arrive directly behind us. I run up to the front door for it to open as I reach for it. Jack gives me a strange look I can't decipher and then drops his eyebrows as he takes in the guys.
"I was going to see what you wanted me to order, but maybe we should eat out," he says, sounding a bit overwhelmed.
"No need, Dom went to go get cookware, and we'll make dinner here. If you'll excuse me, I need to get cleaned up," I say as I push my way around him and make a beeline to my room. I grab yoga pants and a t-shirt and pop in the bathroom for a quick shower.
Chapter 9
When I come back into the living room the guys are cooking already, Jack included.
"Wow! I figured I was going to be the one cooking for you guys!" I exclaim, shocked at the sight.
"When you get to be this hungry you learn to cook quickly. Except for Jack, he's the weird one," Reid replies, elbowing Jack in the ribs while he speaks.
"Hey now. I can cook; I just don't like to," Jack says defensively, clutching his chest dramatically.
"What are we eating?" I ask thinking I smell tomato sauce.
"Spaghetti. It's the only thing that will feed a group of cats this large," Dom answers as if it’s obvious.
"Set the table, dinners almost ready," Jack orders just as the sauce bubbles and pops all over his shirt.
"Aye, aye captain," I reply while laughing.
He leaves to go change his shirt, and I get plates out for everyone. I find myself searching for a chair, since the table only seats six and we have seven people. While I'm busy trying to figure out what to do, Jack comes back with an extra bar stool.
"It would have been nice to know you had an extra seat," I tease him; the corners of my mouth turned up in a slight smile.
"Dig in," Reid calls from the kitchen.
I grab a plate and dart to the food to get mine first. I remember Dom's warning at the pond and don't want to take any chances.
"Looks like she learned your numbers fast, boys," Jack grabs his sides laughing.
We sit down and eat huge plates of spaghetti and garlic bread while the guys regale me of stories from when they were younger. It's apparent that this group is super close and have been for a long time. I have mixed feelings right now. Glad that they're including me but also like I'm standing on the outside looking in.
"Quit looking so serious, Jet," Reid bumps me with his shoulder, bringing me out of my thoughts.
"Sorry, just thinking of school starting up," I reply, giving a half truth.
"It's going to be crazy. Cats from all over the world are required to come here for those years. I mean you know, that's why you're staying with Jack," Kenton speaks animatedly, his face lighting up with excitement.
"That's what makes me a bit nervous. You've all known each other forever, and I'm starting out new," I reply biting my lower lip nervously.
"You have us now, Kitten," Dom replies, staring at me like he can see in my soul.
"That makes me luckier than most," I reply with a small smile, still nervous they'll ditch me as soon as school starts.
"It does. Now, let's get this mess cleaned up," Jack says clapping his hands together for emphasis.
I start to pick my plate up, but it's grabbed in a whirlwind of action before I have time to say a word about it. I sit and watch the guys clean up like a well oiled machine, without even saying a word to each other.
"We need to get going, but it was fun hanging out. Can we exchange numbers?" Kenton asks, grinning like the cat that got the milk.
"Sure? Vance already has my number," I reply, taking my phone out and unlocking it.
Reid plucks it from my hand and starts programing phone numbers in, while Vance texts my number to the rest of them. He hands me my phone back and we say our goodbyes.
Once everyone leaves, I sit on the couch and start playing on my phone. I look at the contacts and start giggling. Reid had named them all silly things, so I don't have a clue who is who. I look at my previous text messages and find out Vance is Wannabe Farm Boy. Now I need to figure out who Teen Spirit, Ungodly Handsome, Eeyore, and Bush are. I'm pretty sure I know who each is, but I'll wait til tomorrow to start asking.
"So you made fast friends with an interesting bunch," Jack speaks up beside me. I forgot he was sitting there so I jump and grab my chest.
"Is that a bad thing? I'm trying to fit in and make the most of things," I say challenging him to contradict me.
"Not saying it's a bad thing, just strange. Those boys have been a tight knit group since they met when they were tiny. They don't let people in easily is all. I'm friends with Kenton's brother so they've been underfoot as long as I can remember," he explains, trying to calm my raised hackles.
"Oh, I forgot I need to text Krissy!" I exclaim, changing the subject.
“I don’t know why you bother. Cat’s don’t lie,” Kylah bites out.
I walk off to my bedroom texting her on the way.
Me: Sorry you didn't want to go swimming. Maybe we can hang out tomorrow.
Krissy: You hanging out with the guys again?
Me: No, I thought it could just be you and me.
Krissy: Oh, no, sorry. I'm busy.
Me: Ok. Let me know when you'd want to hang out then. I know the guys don't really want to hang out with all of us, but I'd like to hang out with you still.
I waited for about ten minutes and never received a response. Looks like Spence was right. I try not to let it bother me, but I get pissed off that she tried to be my friend to use me. I hate fake people. There's a knock on my door.
"Come in," I call out.
"I meant to tell you, your school uniforms were delivered today," Jack says, coming in and sitting on my bed.
"Why are girls so hard to understand," I huff, drawing my knees up to my chest, pulling my eyes open wide trying to prevent the hot tears from escaping.
"I guess Krissy wasn't interested in you at all?" Jack asks, awkwardly patting my back. "Look, I don't know how to do this emotional stuff, but I'm glad someone clued you in about her sooner than later."
"I know. I'm more mad than sad. I just don't like being new and not knowing things, and I don't like people trying to use me," I growl between clenched teeth; the tears falling despite my attempt at holding them back.
"Look, those guys aren't going to mess with you. What you see is what you get, though I'm shocked Dom wasn't scowling at you. If you're on his good side, they'll have your back," Jack explains giving me a tentative smile.
"I hope that's true. They've been a great bunch of guys so far," I sigh, standing up to go check out the uniforms.
I open the closet and on the side that was previously empty is a collection of black and grey dresses, tops, skirts and pants.
"No color allowed?" I ask, turning my nose up.
"They have an image to maintain," Jack shrugs. "You can add color with accessories and makeup. That's why your haircut is brilliant.
"I'm glad I took the risk. I need clippers to keep it short though," I reply while going through the closet, shaking my head at the lack of color.
"There's an open house tomorrow. We can go up and you can see your room and leave anything you won't need the next few days there," Jack mentions, wringing his hands together while he speaks.
"Sounds good. It'll be nice to have an idea of where to go when I get there officially," I respond, relieved that I had the chance to get the lay of the land ahead of time.
"You can see if the guys want to come along," Jack suggests as he stands up and leaves the room.
I ge
t my phone out and text Vance.
Me: Jack is taking me up to Nightfall for orientation, you guys wanna come?
Vance: Sure, let me add the others in a group text.
Me: Can they say their names so I can change them in my phone?
Ungodly Handsome: Don't you like the nicknames?
Me: I would better if I knew who was who to start with.
Bush: What's my nickname, this is Spence.
Me: Bush, lol.
Spence: Butthead.
Teen Spirit: This is Kenton, should I even ask?
Me: Teen Spirit
Kenton: Why?
Ungodly Handsome: because it sounded fun at the time.
Eeyore: This is Dom, and what did Reid make his own?
Me: You are Eeyore and Reid called himself Ungodly Handsome.
Kenton: Reid, why confuse the poor girl, now was there a reason for this chat besides figuring out who we are?
Vance: Oh yeah! Lia invited us to go to orientation with her tomorrow.
Reid: I'm down.
Dom: See you then.
Spence: You don't even have to ask, Killer.
Kenton: Meet you at Jack's. Text us the time.
Me: See you guys tomorrow.
I put the phone down and smile ear to ear. Maybe this new life won't be so bad after all. I get my luggage out and start packing the school uniforms and other things I think I can go without. When I finish, I lay down without bothering to change clothes.
Knock. Knock. Knock,
"What!" I snap, wanting to go back to sleep.
"There are five boys in the living room that woke me up knocking, so you're getting your butt out of bed too!" Jack growls, looking as tired as I feel.
I crawl out of bed and follow him to the living room, and they're all sitting there looking sheepish.
"You never told us what time, so we picked one," Reid grins, while shrugging his shoulders.
"Next time call first," I growl, but soften it with my eyes. "Since you're here, do you want to go for a run?"
"In human form," Jack barks, giving a stern look to everyone.
"That's what I meant," I reply giving him a strange look.
“He’s no fun. I tried to get him to let us run as cats,” Kylah sighs.
The guys start laughing, so I figure they had other plans like my panther.
"I'm not allowed to shift until after we go through Nightfall either," Kenton whispers in my ear. "My lion has a strong personality."
"I can relate," I smile shyly, not sure how much I should share. I pull my sneakers on and head towards the door. "You guys coming?"
The guys slowly start to follow as Jack puts on his shoes. "Guess I could do with a run."
"You don't trust us?" Spence asks, gasping, dropping his jaw, and holding his chest in mock defense.
"Not in the slightest," Jack replies, winking at me.
We take off down a trail in the back of the house, but in a different way than we had ran previously. It feels good to let my muscles loose and just run, but Kylah is prowling under the surface threatening to break free. The pressure builds and builds, so I stop running.
“Sorry, but I need to run, sister,” she says then runs towards the surface.
"Jack..." I start to say as my panther explodes out.
"I was afraid of this," he sighs and lets Jace free.
Almost as if it's a chain reaction the guys all shift as well. I see that Kenton is a gorgeous lion with a vibrant mane and that has the power backing of an alpha. He's huge next to the rest of us. Spence is a tiger shifter with vibrant stripes and still twice the size of me, but he doesn't feel dominant at all. Vance is a tiger as well, but not as big or vibrant as Spence. Dom is a cheetah shifter who's smaller than me and a bit funny to look at through my panther eyes. Finally, Reid is a black panther like me, only he has a white toe on his front paw.
Jack herds us back the way we came, and we run the trail that I ran shifted. Kylah is content to run and let me stay in control with this many cats around which makes it freeing. When we arrive in the grove, she is insistent we climb and Reid chases us up the closest tree. Kylah really likes all of the guys and their cats so she feels comfortable enough to let her guard down and play.
We chase each other back and forth until she is exhausted and content. I shift back without meaning to.
"I'm going back to the house. See you all there!" I exclaim and take off running, butt naked back to the house.
Dom and Jack pass me in cat form so I glance over my shoulder and the other guys have shifted back as well. I'm not supposed to have issues with nudity in shifter society, but for the first time I feel self-conscious. I run harder and head straight to my room when I arrive at the house. I grab clothes, jump in the shower and get ready for the day.
Once I'm dressed with my hair done and makeup in place, I feel ready to face the guys again. I hated the thought of the routine when it was given to me, but now it's oddly comforting. I walk out to the living room and the guys are all dressed like nothing ever happened.
"Let's go out and get breakfast," Jack suggests, staring at me hard like he's afraid of a reaction.
"Sounds great to me! I'm hungry," I reply excited to eat.
"Before we go, I have a question," Kenton speaks up, wringing his hands nervously. "Where's your white spot, Trouble?"
"That's a bit rude don't you think?" Jack interrupts before I'm able to answer.
"No, I think if we are bringing her into our circle then secrets don't make friends. What's wrong, you suddenly don't trust us?" Kenton pushes out his chest his face turning red, and his eyes narrowing.
"I trust you, but you’re asking her to trust you with her very life the day after she met you," Jack meets him with an equally aggressive stance staring him in the eye.
“We can trust them. I’ll tell Jack to back off,” Kylah says, her tail flicking in irritation.
"Don't fight. If I have to shift at school, people are going to figure it out anyways. I didn't know I had to fabricate a hard to see white spot. I don't have one Kenton, just like you noticed," I replied, staring him in the eye, daring him to make a big deal out of it.
"Don't worry, we'll help you keep your secret. I know you don't know us and have no reason to trust us, but we'll help you come up with some white hair somewhere," Spence grabs my hands and kneels while vowing this.
"Either way, it's easier to get this conversation out of the way now and not at school. Can we go eat now?" I ask grinning, trying to diffuse the suddenly awkward tension in the room.
"Trouble's riding with me since I caused this mess!" Kenton shouts out and grabs my hand and pulls me towards his car.
I giggle and follow so not to trip and hop in the passenger seat.
"I'm sorry Lia, I should have thought that through before I just blurted it out," he says once he shuts the car door.
"You would have found out eventually," I shrug, playing it off like it didn't bother me.
He gives me a strange look from the side of his eye then opens his mouth like he's going to say something but closes it again. Instead, he just starts the car and we return to the cafe we ate at yesterday. I jump out as soon as the wheels stop turning and go straight inside, my stomach leading the way.
"Ok, this awkward crap has got to stop. I don't care about how things went down. If you can look past it, I can too," I clap my hands together, causing half the table to jump.
"Alright, Killer. We'll behave," Spence nudges me in the ribs while grinning.
After that everyone starts chatting until the food arrives, then they’re so busy stuffing their faces there's no room for talking. When we finish eating, we go back to Jack's house. I ride with Kenton again, but we're quiet the entire way. We all meet again in the living room.
"I think now is the time to really explain what is going on so everyone knows the real stakes," Jack announces staring at me with concern in his eyes.
"I take it there's more that you haven't told me?" I ask, che
wing on my lip.
"So, I told you about what happened to my brother?" he asks, and I nod my head. "The reason there are royal panther girls hidden is because of a prophecy. There's a group that wanted to kill all the female panthers born around your age. Even some that had minimal white on them."
"So, there might still be people out there that want to kill me?" I ask clenching my fists so tight my nails are leaving marks on my palms. I file the prophecy away for later and make a note to ask him about it when I grasp the rest of this.
"We don't know. The last reported activity from that group was right after my brother..." Jack trails off his eyes glazing over, lost in thought. "On any account, if any of you decide to out her, you are possibly putting a bounty on her head."
"I won't do anything to hurt you, Trouble."
"Me either, Killer."
"You can count on me, Kitten."
"What's with all these nicknames?" Jack asks raising one eyebrow.
"They seem to fit her. Isn't that right, Jet?" Reid teases me.
"Sorry Lia, I haven't thought of one," Vance shrugs. "Is it time to go to orientation and forget all this serious crap?"
"Sounds good to me, let me grab my bag," I reply quickly ready to avoid thinking about the bomb Jack just dropped. I'll question him later to get the full story, but I'm not ready for that yet.
Chapter 10
"Let's take two cars," Jack tells the guys as I leave the room.
I arrive back with my bag, and they had separated in two groups already.
"You're with me," Jack waves his hand over and takes my bag.
"Why is the school so secluded?" I ask as we walk out to the car.
"I'm honestly not sure," Jack answers as he places my bag in the trunk.
Vance and Dom follow behind, placing their bags with mine. I sit in the front while they scrunch in the back. We take off, Kenton follows with Reid and Spence in tow.
"Have either of you ever been to the Academy before?" I ask the guys in the backseat.
"Nope; no one is allowed to go until orientation day," Vance explains.
"That's strange don't you think?" I ask, puzzled on why all the strange rules.
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