Althena

15. Summer

Winter drags to a close and then it's summer. I throw my bikini on and grab a towel at 7 am. I jump in Bertha and drive as fast as I can to the Full Moon Pack border. I slam on the brakes right before I cross it. Then I jump out and jump up and down. "SWIM TIME."

The guards crack up laughing. They know me. I'm here a lot with Chris. But I don't cross the border without permission.

One of the guards rubs his face. "Alpha Frank is coming to talk to you." Then he busts out laughing again.

Frank shows up after 2 minutes. "What are you doing?"

"SWIM TIME."

"It's 64 degrees." He zips his sweater.

"SUMMER."

"I don't think..."

"HERE WE COME BEACH." Chris comes running from a block away. He's in swim trunks with a towel over his shoulder.

"SUMMER."

"I KNOW. GET IN THE CAR."

Frank rolls his eyes. Then he puts his mark on my arm. "I'm not doing this everyday for 4 months. And it's too cold."

Chris pulls me away. "BEACH TIME."

"Get out of the way. They will run you over, sir."

I get us to the beach in record time, then slam on the brakes again. We run to the beach and lay our towels out. Then lay down as fast as we can.

"This is perfect."

"Our summer home."

As the summer deepens, more and more people come to the beach. The shop is only open when Conner opens it. It's good this way though. He tells me when we need stuff and gets the supplies. Then he pays himself whatever's left. I don't really care. He's doing everything for it. If I need anything the boys make sure I have it. Everyone leaves me alone and lets me enjoy the summer.

Chris and I check out every single man everywhere. Lots of boys look at me but nobody ever approaches. My looks are different with the white hair but I think I'm good looking. I've always been a little small but I have nice curves. I'm not sure why they don't ask me out. Chris gets lots of dates and people always flirt with him. I get jealous but someday I'll meet someone. I'm sure of it.

I roll over and check my phone.

"Anything?"

"Conner says I need more crystal balls. I'll have to ask Millie to send some clay."

He rolls over. "I'll get some more of that smoke stuff. You going to Woodland for your birthday? It's soon. It's hard to believe the summer is ending already."

"No. The only reason I did last year was because Mike broke his phone."

"I haven't seen him in a while."

"Yea. I guess he's busy."

"You still talk to him?"

"Not really. We text everyday but never really talk."

"Let's see if we can make him talk. I think he likes you." He grabs my phone and sends him a pic of me in my bikini.

I roll my eyes. "He doesn't care. He'll probably say it looks hot out. He's keeping his promise to my mom. That's all."

"I still think he likes you. He acts like it when he's here."

"He's never here." I laugh and check my phone. "See. He told me not to send pictures like that. They can get stolen."

He grabs my phone and checks it. "What an i***t. It's a damn swimsuit. Who cares?"

"I know."

He takes a picture of himself and sends that. "Maybe he's gay. Let's find out."

I crack up laughing. "I've never seen him check anyone out. You might be right."

Then Chris laughs. "I don't think he's gay. He's searching for bleach to clean his eyeballs now."

I roll my eyes. "Check him out."

"He's looking at you."

"No... He's into you."

"Are you sure?"

"I don't know. I can't see through his damn sunglasses."

"Be cool. He's coming over here."

I lay back and get extra sexy.

The man comes over to us and smiles at Chris. "Hey I'm..."

"UGH." I sit up. "I'm going to dye my hair. I'll be back. Have fun with the sexy man."

I hear Chris laughing as I go to my car.

Shopping for hair dye is different. There are so many different kinds. I end up picking a blonde that's not permanent. I've never tried this before. I take it home and sneak in the back door. Conner's here running the store. I follow the directions and it turns out yellow. It's not blonde at all. It's bright yellow. I look bad. My hair is horrible. I wash it 10 times. That's when it was supposed to come out. It lightened up a lot but it's still yellow.

I pull it back in a bun. Then I go downstairs.

Conner gives me a double take. "What did you do to your hair?"

"I tried to dye it. It's supposed to wash out. Maybe it needs more washes."

"Why?"

"I wanted to."

"Let's talk to someone. Maybe they can get it out."

He takes me to a salon and tells them what I did. The lady there is really nice. She washes my hair then strips it. "You have to be so careful with your hair this light. Never try to dye it on your own again. Even temporary dye can alter it. If you want me to dye it, I will in a month. It needs to rest and recover for now. That stripper is harsh."

"Thank you. I'll remember that. I'll probably be back in a month."

"I look forward to it. I'll come up with some ideas for you."

"Thank you."

Conner parks in front of my shop. "It's to late for me to open it tonight."

"Thank you for taking me to fix my hair."

"Any time. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"No. I need some sleep. Have a good night."

"You too."

I go to the back door and as soon as I open it, a man pushes me in. "I won't hurt you. I only need a place to hide for a minute. Please." He puts his hands up.

"Ok."

He shuts the door and locks it. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Then he looks at me.

He's the prince. I remember him from that day I was shopping with Conner. "It's no problem." His dark eyes do something to me. I turn quickly. I don't want to stare. Conner said I was nearly drooling that day. "I need to make some bread anyway."

"I remember you. It was your birthday."

"Next weekend. I guess this is a yearly occurance, sir."

"Happy birthday."

"Thank you." I get a big bowl and the ingredients out.

"What is that smell on you? Smells like chemicals."

"I tried to dye my hair. It didn't work. I had to have it stripped out. Sorry. It's burning my nose too."

He twirls my hair. "Your hair is so pretty. Don't hurt it."

"You and Millie are the only people who think that." I hand him a big bag of flour. "That table over there please."

"Who is Millie?"

"The luna of Woodland pack. She was friends with my mom before she died."

"I'm sorry."

I get the measuring cups out and shrug my shoulders. "It happens. So, what are you running from?"

"Getting caught." He laughs. "There's a pack. Demontail Pack. They're always getting into trouble. I'm trying to see what they're up to. They spotted me and I ran. They won't do anything to me. But I don't want them to know it was me."

"I bet it's impossible to be invisible or hide when you're the prince. Everyone knows exactly who you are."

"I have my ways." He winks and gets his own bowl. "Everyone seems to know who you are too."

"White hair." I shake my head. "Hard to hide that."

"White hair and bright blue eyes." He smiles and measures out some yeast.

"You know how to cook?"

"Not at all. I'm just doing what you're doing. Figure I can help since you're helping me."

"Thank you. That actually does help. I can make some rolls and noodles with it." I stare at him for a second. "I remember that name. Demontail. They're the ones who robbed moonlit pack?"

"How did you hear about that?"

I show him the mark. "My aunt and uncle are from there. I'm robbing them in my own way." I gesture around.

He cracks up laughing. "Well, I guess it's fine. Nobody will do anything to help Moonlit. My dad told them to deal with it when they got robbed. Do you live there?"

"No. I have an apartment upstairs. They didn't want me there. The alpha wanted to get rid of the mark but he was persuaded not to."

"I get it now. That's why you carry the woodland, gold, and crimson marks."

"Yea. Woodland promised my mom they would protect me. I was 13 when she died. I lived my whole life there. Crimson marked me when I was kind of homeless. It was when things were hard with moonlit. Not sure why your mom marked me. Full moon marked me because my summer home is their beach. Frank didn't like dealing with me at 7am."

He cracks up laughing. "Yea, he's not a morning person. And your dad?"

"Unknown." I roll out some of the dough. "He killed my mom."

"That's hard to hear. You're doing well... considering."

"Thank you. I try. I'm happy and I've found some true friends along the way. I think I'm pretty lucky."

He rubs his face and I crack up laughing.

"What?"

"You threw flour all over your face." I wipe it off his forehead and hand him the towel. "Come on. You can clean up, up stairs. This is done anyway. It needs time to dry."

He cleans up and sits on the couch. "This was a weird day."

I smile. "They're all weird. You hungry?"

"It's too late."

I make some noodles anyway. He's asleep by the time I get back. I put a blanket on him and go to bed. He seems nice. I'm sure he'll be fine here.