Zeke
I have never heard a sound so beautiful and so hurt at the same time. It didn’t register to me that the sound was coming from Callyn. I had looked out the window trying to spot the bird, but then I realized the sound was too close to be coming from outside. I look over to see Graydon covering Callyn’s mouth with his hand; the sound halting. My eyes widen, that sound was coming from her.
“Holy shit, Callie,” Max exclaims.
Graydon slowly removes his hand. “I-I-I-I don’t know...Oh god…” Callie slaps her own hand over her mouth. Her eyes are wide with shock and confusion. She gets up and bolts out the classroom door.
“Ms. Silvers,” Ms. Neal calls after her. “Ms. Silvers,” she calls again from the doorway, looking down the hall where Callyn ran.
I didn’t even think about it, I just grabbed my stuff and ran after her. “Mr. Montgomery,” the teacher screeched after me.
It doesn’t take long before the rest of the guys were following behind me. Luckily, Max grabbed Callie’s things. It doesn’t take me long to catch up to her. “Callie, wait.” She stops and looks back at me. Tears stream down her face. She starts to shake her head no. “Callie, we have to talk about this,” I say as I slowly approach and stop in front of her. When she doesn't back away, I take that as a good sign. Callie looks up into my eyes, right before she launches herself at me. “It’ll be alright, Callie. I promise. We’ll figure this out.” I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close and hugging her as tight as I dared.
“I don’t know what happened back there. I just got so angry. I didn’t even realize that it was me making that noise. That’s never happened before. I’m scared.”
“I know, sweetheart. How about we ask Lucian what he thinks, and if he doesn’t know, there is always Elder Harris.”
Max moves forward and stands next to me. “Come on, angel, let's blow this popsicle stand.”
Callie moves away from me to stand in front of Max. “Don't. You. Dare. Maximus Anderson.” She pokes him in the chest with each word.
“Shit, she used your full name. What the hell did you do?” Graydon asks.
“I don’t know. I swear I didn’t do anything…this time,” he says holding his hands up in front of him.
“Oh, really. You are supposed to be mine. You are my mate. Don’t think I can’t smell that female on you. How could you?”
“I swear, Callie, I didn’t.”
“I can smell her on you.”
“No, no, no. The only girl I was near recently was helping me look for you. I asked her to go in the girls’ restroom to see if you were in there. I swear angel; I wouldn’t; I couldn’t. You’re my P.I.C., my one. You’re the peanut butter to my jelly.”
“Did she touch you?”
“Yeah. She brushed against me when she passed me to go into the restroom. I didn’t touch her. I swear on my hair.”
Well, at least we know he’s serious. I shake my head. I take a step toward her and start to run my hand up and down Callyn’s back, trying to soothe her. “Sweetheart, I believe him. You know how he is with his hair. But he is right, let’s get out of here. We have some things to talk about.” I grab her hand and start to pull her out the front door. We’re all going to get in trouble tomorrow, but Callie needs us right now, and I’m not about to let her down.
Lucian
“Let’s go to my house. I’ll take you home later. We can talk on the way there,” I say. We head out to Zeke’s car since he drove today. After everyone is situated, I pull out my phone and send a quick text to my grandfather. Hopefully, he will be able to help us. I think I have an idea, but I would like a second opinion. “First, let’s make sure the mess with Max is cleared up. Then, we’ll figure out what happened in study hall with Callyn. After that, we’ll try to figure out what happened with Kelsey and what that could possibly mean.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Zeke agreed.
“Callie, can you tell me what you were feeling right before you left class?” I question.
“I was fine until Max sat down. I noticed that my sense of smell has been getting better. When he sat down and the air around him shifted, I got a whiff of perfume. I got so angry. I didn’t know that was me until Graydon put his hand over my mouth. The thought of someone else touching what is mine, drove me crazy. At first, I didn’t know what was setting me off, until Max opened his mouth in the hallway. I’m starting to feel new things, and I don’t know how to deal with them.”
I reach over the seat and place a hand on Callyn’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. She turns and looks back at me. I can see the confusion and uncertainty in her brown eyes. Zeke pulls into my drive. I get out and open Callyn’s door. I take her hand and lead her up my sidewalk. After we enter my house, we all head straight for the living room, dropping our bookbags on the floor by the couch. We all take up various spots around the living room before I pick up where we left off.
“We all have traits of our animals that show up in human form. Max and Zeke growl like a wolf. Graydon can roar like his bear. I can purr like my fox. There are more things we can show, but this is just to give you an idea.” Callyn nods her head. “The sound I heard started off like a song, but slowly changed into a screech. A sound that a bird would make. You are the descendant of the Alpha Queen. The royal line are said to be phoenix shifters. Now, no one alive today knows what they sound like. My guess would be that you are starting to take on the traits of your animal.”
“What does the phoenix say,” Max interjects. All of us glare at him. “Okay, not the right time to make a joke. Just trying to lighten the tension.”
“I think you’ve done enough, Maximus,” Callyn hissed. Max winces at the sound of her voice.
“Anyway, I believe that this is what is happening to you. I think that you are showing traits of a phoenix. I’ve never heard one, so I’m just speculating. I would take this as a good sign. If you are showing traits of your animal, chances are you will be able to shift eventually.”
“Oh great, something else to worry about. Am I going to spontaneously shift? Will I know it’s coming?”
“You’ll know when it’s going to happen. You’ll get a tingling sensation all over your body. I will warn you, the first shift is usually the hardest, and the one that hurts the most.”
“Grreeaatt.”
“You’ll be okay, baby. We’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Maximus
Mondays blow like an asthmatic hooker, and this Monday has been blowing me hard. I think this is the first time that I’m seeing Callyn angry. I mean, I’ve seen her mad before. Graydon makes her mad on the daily, but this was different. It even felt different. She was angry. Honestly, she’s still pissed. I can’t blame her. I probably would have done the same. Hell, we have at the mall and that was just a guy looking at her. Can you image what we would do if some dude touches her? Ugh, I have to make this right. I was testing the waters with that joke, and she didn’t find it the least bit funny.
Leave it to a five foot one girl to bring me down a peg or two. So now, I sit here like a good little boy waiting for Lucian to finish. What he’s saying does make sense. As much as she needs to know this information, I can’t help but want him to hurry up because I need to fix my problem with my mate. She is not leaving this house until then.
“Okay, so we have an idea of what is going on with me, but what about Kelsey?”
Wait, Kelsey? What did I miss about her? “Someone want to fill me in because I clearly missed something. I didn’t know Kelsey was an issue today.”
“Well, maybe you would have if you weren’t letting some chick feel you up in the girls’ restroom,” Callyn seethed.
“Okay, that’s enough. You two are going to fix this shit now. Everyone else out. Maybe, when they’re done we can actually get somewhere,” Graydon growled.
Everyone but Callyn and I left the living room. Neither of us said anything. Callyn sat on the couch with her arms crossed and a scowl her face, looking everywhere but at me. She even angled her body away from mine. I can’t take my eyes off of her. I watch her every move all the time. Way to sound like a stalker Max. I sigh. She is not going to budge, so it looks like it will have to be me.
“Angel,” she whips her gaze to me. “I don’t know what happened between you and Kelsey earlier, but when you didn’t show up for class, we got worried. We tried to text your phone, and you didn’t answer. We talked about it and thought maybe something was wrong. You always show up to class, it’s not like you to be late. We decided it would be me to go out looking for you. I was hoping to run into you in the hallway, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I saw another girl coming out of the restroom and rushed to see if you were in there. She told me no. I used some of my charm,” Callyn snorted at that, “on her to see if she would help me look for you by going into the other girls’ restrooms.
“We were on the second floor, stopped in front of the restroom door, when she brushed her body against mine as she passed by me. I hated her touch, and I hate her scent on me even more. I would have done something about it, but finding you and making sure you were alright came first. So, I let it slide. I promise, I won’t let it happen again.”
As I was explaining myself, Callyn shifted in her seat toward me, her face lost the scowl, and she unfolded her arms. I got up from the chair I was sitting in and sat on the couch next to her. I tentatively reach for her hand. I’m relieved when she doesn’t pull away.
“I know, Max.” Yes, we’re back to Max. “I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never felt so possessive before. I wanted to go and peck the shit out the damn girl, still do honestly.” I laugh. Callyn narrows her eyes at me. “This isn’t funny.”
“I know, but do you remember when we were walking around the mall and that guy stopped to stare at you? Graydon basically told him to back off. Well, the possessiveness you feel now, is the same way all of us felt that day. We have been feeling this way since day one. You are just now starting to understand what we have been going through. The possessiveness should ease once we are mated.”
“Should?”
I shrug my shoulders. “That’s my guess. It will probably always be there, just not to this degree.”
Callyn sighs. “Can you promise, actually I need all of you to promise me that you will try to not let any girl touch you. I know that it will not always be avoidable, but just until I can control my random bird outburst. I will be mindful of how often guys touch me. Which I don’t think will be a problem with all of you glaring and being around me constantly.”
“Aww, you make that sound like a bad thing.” I chuckle. “Are we okay, angel? I hate the thought of you being mad at me.”
“We’re okay. I should have given you a chance to tell me what happened, and I probably would have, but when I screeched like that, I freaked. I’m still freaked about it. I’m worried about it happening again.”
“If it does, we’ll help. We have all been through this. Don’t think that just because we grew up knowing what we were that it came easy for us. We all had to learn how to control our animal sides.”
“That makes me feel better.”
“Good.” I reach over and pull her into a hug. I press my nose to the crown of her head and inhale. Mmm. “Plus, I can tell you embarrassing stories about all of the guys when they were trying to learn. Like this one time when Graydon,” I get cut off because Graydon comes rushing into the room. Callyn pulls back to look at Graydon.
“Don’t you dare. Remember we have just as many embarrassing stories about you,” he says.
“Eh, she’s going to find out eventually.”
“Oh, now I really want to know,” Callyn states.
I lean over and stage whisper, “I will when we have less ears around and when we have a better chance of not getting interrupted.”
Graydon growls, and Callyn laughs. “Deal.”