The shock from seeing Griffin,River,Luis and Maddison in her living room was slowly dwindling now that Lana was preoccupied in the kitchen.She excused herself to make some tea for the unexpected guests.She saw that as the only way she could escape from them to fully calm herself down.Lana gathered all the mugs she could find from the cabinet and placed them on the counter.They were in a variety of colours and shapes but it was better than nothing.She went to the kettle just as it started to whistle.
"Hey Lana,"A voice called out to her from behind.She peaked over her shoulder to see Luis sheepishly standing by the entrance of the kitchen."Do you need any help?"he offered.
Lana smiled at him as she took the kettle off the fire."Sure.Could you help with the teabags?"
Luis nodded as he went towards the packet of unopened teabags she left on the counter.Lana watched Luis silently,studying his features now that he was standing barely a feet away from her.His wavy brown hair covered his eyes slightly.He was as tall as River way,but much slimmer.His amber eyes stared directly at the teabags as he slowly plopped them into the empty mugs with much care.
"How are you feeling?"Luis suddenly asked.Lana turned her attention back to the kettle as she carefully moved it to the counter.
"What do you mean?"
"Well…it's not every day that you find out that there's werewolves living among the townspeople,right?" "…yeah but it's rather exciting as well."She confessed as she started pouring boiling water into the mugs.
"Exciting?"Luis chuckled.
Lana shrugged."What can I say?I'm a curious soul."She beamed.
"I came over to check up on you because I thought you might be overwhelmed,but it seems like you are coping just fine."He smiled.
"Maybe you should check on me again after the'talk'."She smiled back,half-joking.
Luis noticed and was about to say something but they were interrupted when someone walked up towards them.
"Oi."A familiar voice called out.Lana didn't even bother to look up at him as she stared intently at the steam emitting from the boiling water."Griffin's asking for you."River said as he glanced between the two.
Lana sighed,placing the kettle back at its designated spot."You know I have a name right?"she pressed. "Yeah I do,what about it?"he frowned.
Lana glared up into River's eyes."How long are you planning on calling me'oi'then?"
River smirked."Does that bother you?"
Lana laughed sarcastically."Are those ears and eyes only for decoration?What part of this conversation don't you understand?"
"Haha,aren't you being funny—"
"Ahem!"Luis cleared his throat causing both River and Lana to turn to him."We shouldn't keep Griffin and Ray waiting for too long."He said with a sympathetic smile as he grabbed hold of two mugs and walked back to the living room.
Lana sighed as she reached to grab two of the closest mugs but River snatched them in a blink of an eye.He gave her a smug look before following Luis out.Lana silently prayed to the heavens above that River would stay silent for the entirety of the talk because she knew that it was inevitable for them to argue.He was like a pest,constantly there just to get on her nerves.
It seemed to be a normal occurrence now and Lana couldn't remember when was the last time the two had a proper conversation without any hostility.But something about his overall personality and tonality just pisses Lana off.
She made her way back to the living room and placed the mugs on the coffee table with the other mugs.She took one for herself,appreciating the warm sensation against her cold hands.
Everyone was already seated when Lana appeared,Griffin,Maddison and Luis sat on the couch and Ray sat at his usual spot on his favourite armchair.The only seat that was available for her was one of the two wooden chairs they had to bring from the dining table.But Lana's biggest issue was that River occupied the other chair.She made a face at the thought of sitting beside him.
"Is everything okay,Lana?"Griffin asked as he reached for a mug.
"Yup,"she said as she hesitantly reached out for the chair.River noticed her hesitation and nudged the empty chair further away from him with his leg.It went flying towards where Lana was.She grabbed it before it could topple over to the ground,her sudden action almost caused her to spill the hot liquid that she was carrying.She let out a small sigh before plopping down onto the chair,not wanting to cause a scene since no one else noticed.She silently cursed at River in her mind.
"If everyone's ready,let's start."Griffin announced."But first things first,you must be confused as to why the four of us are even here,right?Seeing your surprised face earlier made me think that maybe Ray didn't inform you that we were coming?"he gave Ray a sideways glance.
"Right,that's on me since I forgot to mention it to her."Ray confessed.
Lana sipped her tea,thinking that Ray would not have forgotten to mention such an important detail if he wasn't too busy avoiding her back at the station.She decided to hold her tongue and nodded at Griffin instead.
"Well,there's no easy way to say this but all of us here are werewolves and we have the ability to transform into either our wolf form or human form.I'm the current pack leader of the Rosecliff pack."Griffin said.
Griffin continued talking but Lana's mind started to wander and soon she found herself silently panicking.Neither of them knew that Lana knew everything about werewolves from River.She glanced towards him,wondering if he was going to tell Griffin that he told her but he stayed silent instead.
"I know you must be shocked to learn about this but—"
"She doesn't look shocked."Maddison chimed in,causing Griffin to turn to Lana.
Lana felt the panic rise up to her throat.She gulped."Um…well I know the gist of it already."
"Oh?Did Ray tell you?"Griffin asked.
Ray shook his head."I haven't mentioned anything to her yet…"
"Well…"Lana stalled,trying to come up with a plan to explain the situation but she was in a blank.Should she even mention River's name?Would he be mad at her if she did? "I did.I told her everything."River finally spoke.Lana let out a sigh of relief as she allowed herself to calm down.But that didn't last very long when she noticed Maddison's fierce glare.
"Why?"Maddison hissed.
River lazily stretched out his hands and rested them on his thighs."That night during the bear attack when I got injured,she found me.I accidentally transformed into my human form when I woke up.She saw everything."
Lana felt her face heat up as the memories of that night appeared in her mind.
"The wolf you brought home was River?!"Ray exclaimed.
Lana let out a nervous laugh."Yes…"Lana felt guilty when she saw Ray's gutted expression.She wanted to apologize but then she remembered,just like Ray,Lana had her own secrets as well.
"After that,I told her everything about what we are,what we do,just the general stuff."River continued with a straight face. "I see."Griffin muttered."I'm disappointed you kept that from me,River."He said.
Lana noticed how River flinched from Griffin's stern voice.She thought she would pay good money to see the almighty River get reprimanded by an authority figure like Griffin but all she felt was overwhelming guilt.
"It's…it's not his fault.I was pestering him about it so if you want to scold anybody,you should scold me…"Lana said as she stared down at her tea with her grip tightening around it.
River turned to her,surprised that she would even back him up like this.He wanted to say something but through his awe he seemingly forgot his words.
There was a long pause followed by Griffin's booming laugh.Lana looked up in shock."I'm not going to scold anyone.Now that you already know the basics,this would make it easier for us to explain the important details to you youngsters."
"Important details like how Lana can hear us speaking through our mind link?"Luis added. "What's a mind link?"Lana asked.
"It's basically like telepathy and that's how we communicate when we are in our wolf forms."Luis explained.
"So why can I hear it too?"Lana pressed,looking at Griffin hoping that he had proper answers to offer.
"Well…"Griffin started as he slowly turned to Ray."Maybe you should take over,Ray."
"Right…"Ray sighed.He then took a deep breath and stared directly into Lana's eyes."I'm sorry this is the way that you are finding out about this,Lana.I was planning to tell you everything eventually but I guess I can't keep hiding this from you.Your father,Aldric,was a werewolf just like us."Ray revealed.
Lana was surprised by this sudden fact but she was more surprised to see Luis,Maddison and River's reaction instead.Their expressions were crumpled with confusion as they tried to make sense of the words Ray was uttering.
"That's—"River started.
"Impossible."Luis and Maddison said in unison. "Um…why are the three of you more surprised than I am?"Lana pouted,feeling somewhat left out,as though they knew an important piece of the information and she did not.
"Aldric was the pack leader before Griffin!"Maddison said,clearly annoyed."But he never had a kid!He was always with that human lady after all."
"Claire.Claire Danley was that human and she was Lana's mother."Ray said.
"Wait…hold on,are you telling me that they successfully conceived?"Luis asked with his brows furrowed.
Lana frowned at his weird and rather embarrassing question but then she remembered what River said about how some werewolves wanted to be with humans.The fact that the three of them were surprised that Lana was conceived by a werewolf and human meant that…
"Lana's a miracle.Making her the first known hybrid child from a werewolf and a human.We never knew it was possible until she was born."Griffin added. "So the reason why she can hear us during the mind links and her smell…it all makes sense now."Luis mumbled as he nodded to himself.
"Smell?What do you mean?"Lana tensed.
"Aldric was a very strong and respected alpha and since you have his blood in you,you have the smell of an alpha."Ray explained.Lana unconsciously brought her arm close to her nose and sniffed.What kind of smell was Ray talking about?She pondered.
A loud thud made Lana flinch from shock.She looked up at Maddison,who was standing now with her hands firmly placed on the table.
"This is ridiculous.Explain why you two thought it was a good idea to keep this from us?From the pack?Especially after what happened to River during middle school!"Maddison yelled.
"Shut up,Maddison!"River snapped with his arms across his chest defensively.
"Why should I?We've been wondering why she smells the way she does ever since that day and every time you and Ray would brush it off and claim that she's human when she clearly isn't!Why couldn't you just tell us that she's just some freak accident?!"
Lana was speechless.She always knew Maddison had a vile temper and that she had the ability to make a grown man cry from her ruthless remarks.But she was never on the receiving end until today.She could not decide whether she was upset by Maddison's words or just confused over the talks of events that she was not aware of.Whatever happened in middle school,River clearly did not want to talk about it. "Enough!"Griffin's voice boomed.His authoritative voice alone was enough to make Maddison sit back on the couch and physically shy away,as though she was trying to get away from Griffin's wrath by hiding behind Luis.Lana pondered if she had just witnessed the power of an alpha."Ray and I are the only ones who know this secret in our pack.And now the three of you are expected to keep this secret as well."
"…but why is it a secret?Is it because I'm the only wolf-human child in existence or something?"Lana dared to question.
"You are the only hybrid child we know of,yes.We are not sure if others like you even exist at this time since for centuries werewolves could only reproduce with other werewolves.But I assure you that all this secrecy is for your own safety."Ray said with a grim expression.