Two Worlds; The Collision

Chapter 13

Rhys Pov

I woke up the next morning to Jules shaking me awake. She had her baby pink silk pajamas on, a matching fuzzy mask thing that she said she had to have to sleep at night. It was tangled in her long black hair as she tried to pull it out with one hand, and shake me awake with the other. “Come here Jules, I’ll help you,” I said, snickering at her as she stared at me in exasperation, tears of pain from pulling at her hair pooling in the corners of her eyes. “Is this why you woke me up?” I asked gently. She turned her back to me and sat down in between my legs on my bed, curled up against me as I started to pull the strands out of the band attached to the mask.

She shook her head no, squeaking quietly in pain as she realized I still had her hair in my hands. “No, mama said the meeting is starting soon and to get you up.” She said, sniffling slightly. For a little while, Jules's birth mother did try to be part of her life when she was a baby, but then she met someone new and decided to move to another pack completely without warning one day, completely crushing Jules small little self. After that, my mom did everything she could to make her feel loved and wanted, and while Jules knows that my parents are really her older brother and sister-in-law, she still calls them mom and dad because they raised her.

Once I finished fixing her hair, I handed her the mask and stood up, stretching. “Okay, I’ll be out in a minute, I need to get dressed,” I said, shooing her out the room. I frowned, staring down at my dresser. I wasn’t really looking forward to this meeting, mostly because I knew it was just going to be the same repeat as all the others. Colette used to be able to teleport thousands of people back and forth without problems, but ever since the final battle, all of the Protectors lost their overpowering powers, and that was Colette’s. She could do about ten or twelve by herself now, and while that was better than what any other witch could do by themselves, it still made it go slow. I think if she still had her massive teleportation powers, the idea of moving the Snow Moon Pack would be easier for them to come to terms with, but because she didn’t have it anymore, this was just pointless, but I understand why they wanted it. The Snow Moon Pack originally ended up forming an alliance with the Blood Moon pack because they needed to share our town. In the town they used to go to for school, the school was burned down. Because they were sharing the schools, they formed the alliance, and from there, our families just became completely woven together like a string. It was hard for Alarick and Lyell to have one of their daughters and their granddaughter so far away, just like it was hard for Grayson when he wanted to see his parents more. The idea of joining the packs, bringing the Snow Moon Pack to come to live in the large empty land in between the pack and the vampires' mountain, was a good idea. It was just the whole moving process that was hard, especially Sabine’s horses. Horses are gentle creatures, and it took a while to get used to the werewolves they were already living near. To move them to another pack, with more werewolves and vampires, we weren’t really sure how they’d respond to it.

I grabbed a fairly simple outfit, ripped black jeans, some boxers, a dark red shirt with no sleeves, and a black hoodie with the band ‘I Prevail’ name on it. I gathered all of it up and went to take a quick shower, feeling the dread building inside me from last night. There was something about the stars falling that kept bugging me, giving me nightmares all night long. I kept seeing little girls inside the stars, dancing, and dancing. The faster they fell to earth, the faster they danced, until they crashed into the Earth and everything was engulfed in fire, the little girls screaming, and the earth burning, and everyone and everything was destroyed in the process. I wasn’t really sure what it meant, if it meant anything, but I had to admit when I woke up to see Jules's face I wanted to wrap my arms around her and thank the empty moon for her safety. Of course, I didn’t because it would freak her out and make her ask questions. I wasn’t sure if I knew the answer to it. To try and explain my dream, my worries, and the feeling that something was coming. I had no idea how to explain any of it.

Before I went downstairs, I grabbed my guitar, leaving it in the case and slinging it over my shoulder. Normally, I didn’t take it everywhere with me, but the idea of the meeting exhausted me before I even stepped foot outside the door, and I knew if I started playing a soft melody then the bickering would stop, and most everyone would start singing and dancing. That was usually how the meetings ended. When I went downstairs, mom and dad were already gone, and Jules was sitting in the middle of the kitchen table with her legs crossed, a blanket wrapped around her body and a bowl of cereal in front of her. “Why must you eat on top of the table? Every morning, Jules,” I said, shaking my head at her lovingly.

She shrugged, a frown on her face as she gave me this look that spoke more volumes than words. “Don’t try me before I get a bowl of cereal in my belly, otherwise I’ll eat you instead.” She nearly growled at me. I smirked, laughing at her as I grabbed some pop tarts out of the cabinet. I had grabbed my backpack earlier and emptied it out now that school was over and started packing snacks inside it. A box of pop tarts, the good kind with chocolate chips in them. I grabbed some cheez-its, breakfast bars, and whatever else I could find, shoving all of it into my bag with a couple of sodas until it was heavy, slinging it on my back as I dug into my pop tart. “Running away?” Jules asked, raising her eyebrow at me.

I looked up at her, since she was always sitting on top of the damn table, and shrugged. “I might think about it if these damn meetings could result in something.” I threatened with a chuckle. I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to tug out the tangles I didn’t care enough to brush through earlier, before pulling my hood over my head. “Nah, these meets just always last forever and they’re boring. Like watching a bunch of sheep bicker with each other. I always grab food so I can sit there and eat while they talk. Plus I have to get a lot, otherwise, Zain and Ulric will eat everything.” I said.

My phone went off and I pulled it out, noticing the text from my dad giving a thirty-minute warning. I wasn’t as concerned, mostly because the meetings always took place in our conference building. How the layout of the Blood Moon pack was, the shifters' kingdom was closer to the Snow Moon pack, if even by only half an hour, but that seemed to be enough of an incentive for us to have the meetings here instead of at the werewolf conference room in the main packhouse. I waved at Jules and left, not trying to rush to the meeting though knowing it was inevitable. I left my car behind and just decided to walk instead. It wasn’t really far anyway and the walk would be good at preparing me for the stuffy room. I stared up at the sun and frowned, feeling like something was off today. Something was…coming, but I didn’t really know what it was. I shuddered, opened the door to the conference building, and sighed. Might as well get it over with. “Hey, children,” I said, sitting down in my chair. It was havoc, as usual, but in a fun way. My family was big and loud. Zain and my dad had their shirts off and were comparing muscles, even though it was kind of obvious Zain was bigger, and then Ulric took off his shirt along with Alarick and Lyell and the group of them were standing in a circle talking about how much they lift, how many reps they can do, trying to pretend like they were ten times better than everyone else. Grayson was sitting with my mom and Emmett. The three of them had their heads bent together over the actual plans we were here to discuss, while Colette sat with her feet in Axel’s lap, drawing his side profile in her sketchbook. Adaline was calmly playing a game of cards with Colt, Tate, and Julien, Lucie, and Jasper, while Jade was on the phone yelling at someone. It sounded like Dani, to be honest, something about accidentally blowing up a potion. Caileen and Alice were teasing Brandos to try and join the other guys with their strange shirtless showoff competition, and all I could do was sit here and chuckle. The only ones not really doing anything were Cammie and Teddy, but they were bent together muttering something that made Cammie’s cheeks light up, so I could only imagine what that would be.

Most of the quiet calmed down as I sat down, and the flock of half-naked men started to search for their shirts, half of them giving up and not caring, as everyone started to sink into their usual chairs at the table. “Well, we all know why we’re here,” Colt said, earning quite a few chuckles and groans at the same time.

I sighed, keeping my bag tightly on my back, knowing if I tried to move it right now Zain would somehow smell it and start trying to steal it. He was already looking at me licking his lips, knowing I usually brought something as his stomach started to growl. “What’d you bring?” he asked, eyeballing me.

I rolled my eyes, grinning at him. “Maybe it’s a chicken,” I said, teasing him.

Zain laughed, lifting his hand and moving it around Grayson’s body, rapping his knuckles against my dad’s head. “We have enough chickens in the room already,” he said as Grayson laughed, snuggling closer to his husband.

“Don’t make me bite your hand,” My dad threatened, c*****g an eyebrow at Zain.

Colt started to bang on the table, looking like he was ready to shift into his wolf and bite people. “Guys, this is serious! We need to get this handled!” he said, exasperated.

“Well, maybe if someone didn’t lose her fancy teleportation powers,” Jade grumbled, batting her shoulder against Colette’s.

Jade messed up one of the lines Colette was drawing and Colette turned to glare at her, her eyes dancing a purple shine. “At least I can still do more than one person without needing potions or other witches to help me, your majesty,” She said, exaggerating the word majesty to make it sound more like an insult than a compliment.

Before the twins could start bickering, Julien and Axel stood, shoving their wives' seats apart as they sat in the middle of them, snickering under their breath. “Look, Colt, we all want to make the packs in one place. We had an attack by a group of rogues a week ago, remember? Half of our wall was damaged. Who the f**k brings dynamite to a battle? Who thinks like that?” He asked, throwing his hands up in exasperation. I have to admit, it was strange. Wolves tended to just use swords, it was easier to throw them onto the ground when they were shifting back and forth at random.

Emmett nodded, despite the fact that we’d heard about this particular battle earlier and it wasn’t really a surprise to us. “That’s why we’re trying to figure out what to do.” He said, sighing. “It would be easier if we had motivation. Something that’ll make us have no choice but to combine the packs.” He muttered.

Honestly, I’d have suggested something along the lines of engaging Josie, Julien and Jade’s daughter, and Tyler, Emmett and Colt’s son, together…but that wouldn’t work. After so many failed forced engagements over the past few decades, the idea of an engagement made by parents horrified everyone. Plus, Josie hated Tyler, so that wouldn’t ever happen anyway. Honestly, I was considering mentioning it anyway, just to give everyone something loud and annoying to complain about, to make them all realize how pointless this whole thing was, but before I could say anything, something strange happened.

I liked to sit at the end of the table, out of the way, where I could lean back in my chair and simply watch everyone bicker until my dad gave me looks to make me try and join in. Despite the fact that there were two windows in this room, neither of them was open because of the soft flow of the air conditioner billowing around the room. It was strange that suddenly a large gust of wind came up behind me, pulling at my clothes. My automatic reaction was to grip my guitar and my bag close to me, my hood whipping back as I went to turn around. Everyone around the table looked at whatever it was behind me with wide eyes, pencils dropping, eyes wide and mouths hanging open. Before I could turn around I felt something grip the back of my throat, and I let out a startled gasp as it clamped tightly on my skin. I was already thrown off by the fact that I was leaning back in my chair, two legs suspended in the air and only two legs on the ground, so when I was tugged backward by my neck I couldn’t really resist it. Everyone stood, calling my name, screaming, and the last thing I saw before I was pulled into the strange swirling thing behind me was my father’s eyes, wide with worry as he called my name.

The hand was gripping my neck loosely and I reached back, grabbing the wrist and turning myself. I was shrouded in a tunnel of explosive colors, and while it was probably only for a few seconds, it was mind-blowing. Beautiful purples, blues, greens, pinks, and any color imaginable were swirling together, sparks of electricity were billowing around me, and as I gripped the wrist that was touching me, a spark ran through my body, igniting my soul. One moment I was in the tunnel of swirling light, and the next, everything was happening at once. It was like I was falling from a great height, the perspective was off, instead of a straight line, I was in the air when I came out of the tunnel. The world was suddenly bright and colorful, so much brighter than I’d ever seen it before, but I didn’t have time to focus on that, or the roar of the sea that I'd never once heard before, or even the strange woman wearing clothes I’d never seen before. No, all I could focus on was the warm body that I had fallen on, my limbs tangled with theirs, and my lips, pressed against theirs.