7. New Friends

3421 Words
The next morning, Everly was startled awake by a young child standing at the head of her bed staring at her. He had the same color hair as Declan, but bright blue eyes instead of brown. She sat up quickly as the little guy looked at her inquisitively. "You're pretty but you have bad breath,” the little guy stated, hugging a stuffed sheep. "Uh. How did you get in here?" "I opened the door, silly. What's your name?" Everly paused, she was pretty sure she closed the door last night, but honestly, she had been so flustered, it might not have latched. "Everly. What's your name?" "Maddox. I live here with my dad. He's the boss!" "Well, Maddox. I’m a guest here. Your dad said I could stay. I like your pajamas. Is Spiderman your favorite superhero?" Everly asked. "Yep." Maddox crawled right up on Everly’s bed and began to enthusiastically explain the entire Spiderman story, complete with some additional superpowers she was pretty sure he was making up. Everly wasn’t completely familiar with the Spiderman story, but she knew enough of the basics. Everly and Maddox chatted for a while before she began to wonder what happened to Declan. It was abundantly clear that Maddox was his son. As Everly and Maddox got acquainted, Declan was just waking up down the hall. For the first time in a long time, Declan’s dreams were warm and happy. There was no empty void and blackness, no aimless floating, no despair from being alone. He woke up the next morning to find it was still snowing. The forecast predicted another 24-hours of intense snowfall, which meant Everly wouldn't be able to leave. Oddly, Declan found that thought calming. He realized Maddox hadn't been in to wake him which was unusual. After pulling on a pair of gray joggers, Declan went to check on Maddox, but he wasn't in his room. Declan heard his voice down the hallway coming from Everly's room. Declan wandered down the hallway and paused outside the door, listening to their conversation. Naturally, Maddox was enthusiastically explaining his favorite superhero. Declan smirked. No woman enjoyed being woken up by an overgrown toddler. Certainly, this would change his opinion of Everly. He stood in the doorway, crossed his arms over his chest, and rested his hip against the doorway, just observing for a moment before Everly knew he was standing there. Maddox was on the bed facing Everly, sitting crisscross applesauce, his sheepy in his lap, animatedly explaining Spiderman's superpowers. Everly had a pillow across her lap and was listening with rapt attention. Declan noted that even in her pj’s with bed head, Everly was still striking. Her hair was longer than he realized and he found himself wondering what it might feel like twisted between his fingers. His c*ck began to thicken at the thought and he quickly adjusted himself. “… And then Spiderman beat up the bad guy with eight arms!” Maddox explained. “He did! That’s incredible. Do you think Spiderman could have beat him if he had nine arms?” Everly asked. “Probably.” Maddox looked thoughtful. “Why do you smell so good?” Before Everly could answer, Declan jumped in. “Buddy, what are you doing in here? I'm sorry if he woke you, Everly.” Everly didn’t respond as she looked at Declan. Her mouth went dry when she saw him standing in the entrance of her room, shirtless, with sweatpants sitting low on his hips. Her suspicion was correct. The man was built. His abs were perfection. Sculpted pecs, 8-pack ridges of hard abdominal muscle, a smattering of chest hair, a deep-V leading to, well, she blushed at that thought. She tried to swallow, tried to answer, but found herself speechless. Declan noted the blush across her cheeks, and found it lovely. He didn’t miss the fact that Everly thoroughly checked him out. Everly cleared her throat and shook her head, snapping herself out of her lustful revery, “Oh … uh … that's ok. I like making new friends. Maddox was just explaining how Batman was the coolest superhero.” “Was not! Spiderman is!’ Maddox protested. "Oh Spiderman ... I was confused," she teased. Declan noted that Everly was not at all irritated about Maddox, and interacted with him in a completely sweet and normal way. She even seemed like she enjoyed the chat. Something about that tugged at Declan’s heart and stirred up some emotion he couldn’t quite pinpoint. “Listen Maddox, Everly is our guest and you don’t go into a guest's room without permission, okay?” Declan gently scolded his son. “Now let's go. Time to get dressed and get some breakfast. Maybe you can build a snowman with your cousins. There's no school today. It's a snow day!” Maddox hopped off my bed, "Yeah! Everly, you want to build a snowman with me?" "I'm not sure if I can. I hurt my ankle and I can't walk very well right now. But we can have hot chocolate when you're done if you want." Declan started, "You don't have to ..." but Maddox interrupted him, "with marshmallows, Dad? Pleasssssse?" Declan looked powerless to say no and kissed Maddox's cheek, "sure." He looked over at Everly, "as long as Everly doesn't have work to do,” gesturing to her laptop on the bedside table. “I'm sure I can squeeze in a hot chocolate break.” Maddox clapped his hands together excitedly and Everly heard his little voice chattering all the way down the hallway. As they headed out of her room, Maddox’s stuffed sheep stuffed under his arm, it reminded Everly of a memory with her mom. Flashback: Everly at 5 Everly had just pulled on her footie p.j.’s and climbed into bed. She was still sad that her favorite stuffed teddy had gotten lost in their most recent move. Her mom walked in with her hands behind her back. “I have a surprise for you!” she announced. Everly sat up in bed and looked at her mom expectantly. “Wa-La!” she pulled out a stuffed wolf. “I’m sorry your teddy got lost. I found this wolfy, I hope it will help make this place a little better.” She sat down on the bed and snuggled in with Everly, handing her the wolf. “Let me tell you a story …” Everly hugged her new wolfy close as she listened to her mom weave a tale about good witches fighting the dark forces of the night. “ … and one night the strongest witch of them all secured the destiny of light magic for the whole world!” Everly looked at her mom, spellbound, “she did?!” Her mom nodded, “yep. Someday, when you’re a grown-up, it will be your turn to fight the dark magic. And I bet you might just be the strongest of them all.” “Really? That’s cool.” “Indeed it is, sweet girl, indeed it is.” Everly’s mom smoothed the hair back from Everly’s forehead and kissed her, “love you muchly, good night.” “Love you mommy,” Everly called as she snuggled under her covers dreaming of when it would be her time to fight the bad magic. Everly sighed and felt her eyes get misty. She wondered if the pain of losing her mom would ever leave. Pulling on the clothes gifted to her by Whitney, she decided to head to the central dining room for breakfast. Whitney had mentioned they offered group meals when they had limited guests. Since Everly was currently the only guest as far as she knew, she figured breakfast would be a communal meal. She undid her braid and combed out her hair, pleased with the natural waves from the braid. Everly wasn’t particularly vain, but for some reason, she cared about her appearance and wanted Declan to notice her. While she was brushing her teeth, there was a soft knock on her door. “Everly? I brought a few more clothing items for you,” Whitney announced. Everly swung the door open with a grin, “Thank you! I love the sweats, but they’re feeling a little … used.” Whitney laughed “I figured. It’s going to be a cold one today, so I brought some layers for you as well as some skincare products. We have a partnership with a local spa, and since we’re basically snowed in, I thought you might appreciate some higher quality moisturizer.” “Snowed in?” Everly asked. “Yep. The blizzard dropped at least 8 inches overnight, maybe more. And it’s still coming down! I’m afraid you’re with us for several days.” “Wow. I’m so glad your sister found me! I definitely underestimated the storm. I guess I will do some work on my thesis while I’m here. I brought my laptop and no time like the present to stop procrastinating and get some writing done. Thanks so much for the clothes.” “My pleasure. Breakfast starts in about 30 minutes. Do you think you can make your way down to the dining room?” Whitney asked. “I do! My ankle is feeling much better today, but not quite 100%.” “Great. See you down there,” with that Whitney handed over the clothes and headed down the hallway. Everly shut her door and looked through the pile. There were several pairs of clean underwear, bras, some flannel, a pullover, a sweater, a pair of jeans, leggings, and another pair of sweat pants. It was perfect. The bag of spa products was even better. Whitney had even included some tinted chap stick in a perfect shade for Everly. Everly pulled on the jeans which were a bit long, but otherwise fit great, a long-sleeve and the pullover with some warm socks, grabbed her laptop and headed down the hallway. Her ankle was feeling remarkably better, but she was still careful as she made her way down the hall. Everly stood in the doorway of the dining room, a bit awkwardly until Jake noticed her and walked over, “Hey prof! Glad you made it down. How’s the ankle?” “Much better, thanks. Something smells great.” “Oh yeah! It’s blueberry waffle day. My favorite! Need a hand?” Jake asked. “I’ve got it, thanks though,” Everly replied. “Cool. Why don’t you sit with my friends. I’ll introduce you. You’re our only guest right now, and we’re pretty informal around here.” “Sounds good. Love to make new friends,” Everly commented. She decided since she was stuck here, she would act as normal as possible and just go with the flow. It wasn’t like she would see any of these people again, anyway. This was strictly a weird blizzard sort of thing. It felt good for Everly to let her guard down just a little. She knew there was no way for Shadows of the Dark to track her during the storm and the comradery of the pack felt nice for someone who had been alone or one the run most of her life. Jake grinned and led her over to a long table with a couple guys and girls gathered around. He introduced her and the crowd was friendly. Breakfast was buffet style and soon they all had full plates and steaming mugs of coffee. Jake had his plate piled so high with waffles, sausage, bacon, and eggs that it looked like it was about to topple over. “Dude. You know you can get two plates. You are going to make a mess!” one of the girls commented. Jake just shrugged, “hungry” he mumbled with his mouth full. “Eww,” Everly teased, “don’t talk with your mouth full! Didn’t your mom teach you any manners?” The rest of the table jumped right in giving Jake a hard time. He grinned and started exaggerated chewing with his mouth open, giving the whole table a disgusting view of his breakfast. “Gross!” “Disgusting!” “Go eat somewhere else!” The comments rang across the dining room as Everly and the rest started laughing at Jake’s antics. Suddenly, there was a little face wedged between Jake and Everly. Maddox shoved a Spiderman action figure up towards Everly, “Look Everly. I brought Spiderman to show you because he’s the best superhero!” Everly pushed her chair away from the table to make some space, “Oh wow Maddox! He looks cool. I like his outfit.” “It’s not an outfit,” Maddox protested, “It’s his disguise! No one can know who Spiderman really is.” “Oh, my mistake,” Everly apologized. “What is Spiderman’s real name?” she asked innocently. Before Maddox could respond, Declan was there, “c’mon Maddox. Time for breakfast. You can show Everly your superhero’s later.” Maddox huffed and gave an exaggerated arm wave, “fiiiiine. But I want to sit by Everly.” “We’re sitting over there, with Aunt Whitney and your cousins.” Declan gestured towards a table at the front of the room. Everly noticed that the whole table had fallen silent and everyone was sitting straighter, being more serious. “Morning Al … boss,” Jake muttered. Looking around, Everly saw a couple empty seats at the end of the table. “There’s space here, if you guys want to join us? We were just discussing how Jake’s table manners could use some work. Maybe Maddox could teach him?” Everly teased. Several people at the table snorted and Jake had a big grin on his face. The people at the table were silent and you could hear a pin drop in the dining room after Everly extended the invitation. Everly wondered what sort of werewolf protocol she was breaking, but she didn’t care. As far as they knew, she had no idea who or what they were or their hierarchical pack positions. Since Jake was a warrior, Everly assumed she was sitting at a table with warriors who probably didn’t have much interaction with ranked members. Well, they were all snowed in, and she was just going to ignore her previous knowledge and see what she could get away with. Declan looked around the table, “Sounds great. Would love that.” Everyone immediately rearranged themselves so there were two seats open next to Everly. Maddox happily jumped up onto one of them and sniffed Everly’s coffee. “Ew, gross,” he commented. The whole table laughed at that and the tension was seemingly improved. “You don’t like coffee?” Everly asked. “No. It smells terrible.” Maddox complained. Everly shrugged, “Spiderman drinks it,” she casually explained as she took a sip. Maddox’s eyes opened wide, “He does?” “Yup.” Everly leaned close to Maddox, “You should tell your dad you want to drink coffee like Spiderman and see what he says,” she whispered. Maddox looked up at her, eyes wide, “OK!” Declan brought over two plates of breakfast and put one in front of Maddox. “Do you need help cutting your waffles?” Everly asked as she noticed Maddox struggling to take a bite. Maddox nodded so Everly reached over and cut up the waffle. “Dad! I want to try your coffee!” Maddox exclaimed right as Declan was taking a sip. He spewed it out all over the table and started coughing. Everyone laughed as Declan looked around confused. “Got you!” Everly exclaimed. Declan actually smiled and rolled his eyes at Everly. “You sure buddy? It’s more of a grown-up drink.” Maddox took another sniff, “Changed my mind. Smells gross.” The table laughed and Declan continued eating his breakfast, while giving Everly some impressive side-eye. She winked at him in return. Their little exchange did not go unnoticed by Whitney and Bridget, sitting together. Doing that silent thing that sisters can do, they each made a note to watch the dynamics between Everly and Declan. Whitney, particularly, was suspicious of Everly’s arrival—not in a bad way, just in a “fate has intervened” sort of feeling. The table of warriors was equally shocked. While Declan regularly led their training sessions and Maddox was well loved by everyone. The Alpha rarely socialized outside of training, and he always sat with his cousins during meal time. He was notoriously sober and rarely seen to smile—let alone laugh. No one knew quite what to expect, but they rolled with the new dynamic and wondered what caused it. Slowly, the hum of the dining room increased as people started chatting. “Everly what are your plans for the day?” Declan asked. “Well, seeing as we’re snowed in. I thought I would work on my thesis. I have a ton of writing to do, and I’ve been hard core procrastinating.” Jake snorted, “did you just say hard core porn? Because I could watch with you, if you want.” Everly blushed, “I uh … I did not!” she stated emphatically when she heard a low growl from Declan. Whipping her head around, she gasped at him, as the energy around her suddenly shifted into this intense, alluring, almost suffocating, but fascinating aura. Jake stared hard at the table, his neck veins bulging out like he was under an intense amount of pressure. He immediately started apologizing. Everly laughed it off, “I stick with purely the soft-core porn,” she retorted as she got over her shock. The energy around the table didn’t immediately stop, but it eased. Jake didn’t raise his eyes, and continued to apologize. Everly waved it off, but the whole situation was incredibly awkward. “Well, I’m done!” Everly announced as she stood, “guess I better start writing. I have to finish my masters eventually. Declan, do you think you could help me get to the other room? My ankle is still sore.” Everly knew that asking Jake for help would be a non-starter, and honestly, she wanted to be close to Declan. If she wasn’t careful, Everly was about to start crushing on the Alpha real hard. Declan didn’t reply, but stood and offered Everly his arm. As soon as she grabbed it, the energy around the table completely eased and everyone seemed to release the breath they were holding. Everly assumed it was some werewolf thing and was dying to know more. She found herself wishing that she could be honest with Declan, that she could share her secret, and he could share his. Everly sighed. “Everything ok?” Declan asked. “Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about how much writing I must do. I love being outside and collecting the data for my research. Explaining it and describing the results, not as much,” Everly explained. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, then.” Declan replied stiffly as he helped Everly into a chair and walked out of the room. As soon as he was out of Everly’s eyeline, Declan sank down against the wall in an empty hallway and laid his head back. What had just happened? He completely lost it when Jake flirted with Everly and used his full Alpha command via mind-link to shut Jake down. Hadn’t he decided last night that Everly wasn’t worth the heartache? That he was going to focus on Maddox and the pack? Why had he lashed out so fiercely? It was almost like he couldn’t control his response. Some possessive, jealous feeling roared inside him and he couldn’t have anyone moving in on Everly. No one. Declan found himself frustrated, confused, and a little powerless. He hated that feeling. Once Declan and Everly had left the room, Bridget and Whitney headed to the kitchen with their plates. “What was that?!” Bridget hissed at Whitney. “No idea!” Whitney whispered. “I haven’t seen Dec act that way … ever. He let out his full Alpha aura. I almost choked on my breakfast!” Bridget nodded, “Me too. You don’t think … Everly …” she trailed off. Whitney just shrugged in answer to an unspoken question they were both thinking.
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