I think we take showers for granted. They give us a sweet moment to spend time with ourselves, cleanse our bodies and minds.

The hot steam relaxes my buzzing mind and allows me to just be present. These last two days have been a non-stop rollercoaster, so it was nice to just stand still and think about myself for a little.

I step out of the shower and change back into the fresh change of clothes. I clean up after myself, making sure there wasn't a single piece of evidence that I showered.

I quickly and quietly make my way down to the kitchen. Dakota and Gerard are chilling at the table, Moki and Kellan are working on dinner and Anika is leaning against the door frame scrolling through her phone.

I step inside the kitchen, with my arms crossed over and decide to stand next to Anika.

She smiles when she sees me and flips her phone my way, "I see you are friends with this guy".

Her phone shows an image of Corbey and I in the cafeteria last year captioned "Senior Year with my best pal". My heart cracked a little, the sight of that image bringing nothing but a sadness. Knowing that I won't be seeing him for a few weeks until we started college.

College. The thought of it completely swept from my mind until now.

I breathe out and snap out of my thoughts to look at Anika. My eyes are sad and the thought of Corbey and college sent a bit of a sick feeling in my stomach.

Anika notices my body language, and tries to change the topic, that's when Kellan jumps into the conversation.

"Show us the picture"

Anika gives me a face which reads 'sorry' all over. "It's just a picture that came up on my recommended of Alexandria and her friend". She says casually turning the phone to Kellan.

As soon as Kellan catches sight of the image, I notice his jaw clench a little. He nods, says nothing and goes back to the cooking.

The air becomes thick and awkward, and I try to breathe through it. "Uh, need help?" I ask, trying to push past the awkwardness.

"Yes, please Alexandria, could you dress the salad?" Moki intervenes, his face pleading for help.

I nod, happy to help out as I grab the dressing for the salad which happened to be in the cupboard just above where Moki was working. He smiles and grabs the dressing for me, "Here you go, thanks Alexandria".

I grab the dressing with a smile, just realising that everyone calls me by my full name. I thought now was the appropriate time to tell them what I prefer. "You can call me Ria".

"Ria? That's short and sweet" Gerard pipes up from the dining table.

I laugh a little, "Ah, yes. It's what my...friends call me" I say stuttering a little.

They all nod and Moki even throws in a "cool".

Once dinner is ready, everyone plates their food and sits at the table. Kellan sits at one head of the table, Moki and Dakota on one side and Anika and Gerard on the other. Which leaves one seat left on the other head. I clear my throat a little, and quickly sit down. I notice Anika smile to herself a little. I wonder why...

The first five minutes of us eating was silent, I notice everyone concentrating on their food. Except for Kellan, his eyebrows scrunch a little as he internally reflects on something, as if he's having an inner-conflict.

"So, for tomorrow, Ria...?" Anika pops up, my nickname sounding a little foreign to her. "We'll head into town, grab some clothes and essentials so you don't have to keep wearing Kellan's spares..." she says a little disgusted.

I nod in agreement, not being able to reply with the mouthful of chicken in my mouth.

Kellan scoffs down the remainder of his meal, jumps up quick and leaves the kitchen. No one else seems surprised by his early departure expect for me. I turn to Anika, with one arching eyebrow in confusion. I start overthinking everything that has happened today, to see if something I did or said sent him on edge. Not even half an hour ago we had a decent conversation.

Anika shrugs and continues eating, and I do the same.

After dinner is done, Gerard and Dakota clear the table and Anika begins wiping down all the benches. I get up to help them, as I start to load the dishwasher. After the kitchen is back to its tidy self, everyone says their 'see you tomorrows'.

To my surprise, Kellan emerges back into the kitchen just as I'm packing the last few dishes. We don't say anything to each other at first, he just takes the dry dish from my hand and packs it away, along with the other dishes.

I return his gesture with a small smile and a, "Thanks".

"All good, didn't do much" he replies, leaning against one of the counters. "Uh, sorry if I rudely left the table, I had to make a phone call".

"Oh, not a problem, none of my business" I shrug a little, not wanting to get involved in his personal complications.

"Actually..." he begins, "it kind of is your business. I was just on the phone to your father".

My eyes shot straight open, and my breathing automatically quickened. "Oh", was the only thing I could muster as a reply.

"I can't say it's good news" Kellan sorrily looks at me.

"Are they okay? Is anyone hurt?" I anxiously ask.

"No, no they're fine. It's just the council paid a visit to the Urbania pack, had an unexpected meeting with your father and discovered the difficulties he's been having with succession", Kellan carefully explains.

My anxiety is through the roof, my breathing was a little staggered and my body was tense.

"Lucky you weren't there, otherwise they would've questioned your entire situation and I'm sure it would've gotten ugly. They still don't know you exist, your pack is loyal in this they haven't told a soul...which is a blessing until we figure out...your um...your-"

"Me. Just me" I finish for him.

He nods slowly, "Yes...you. Your safest option is staying here in Hythera, train and build up your skills for any potential threats. You may not be a wolf, but that doesn't mean you can't train like one".

I swallow the stress and nod in agreement.

"Don't stress about it, you'll be okay" he assures me.

"I know, it's just...I'm just, you know...really sorry?" I stutter, not knowing how to express my embarrassment of having everyone around me try to protect...me. Miss Alexandria nobody Tarbell.

"Don't say that about yourself" Kellan tells me. I on the other hand confused about what he's talking about.

"Say what?" I ask.

"That your embarrassed, and that you're a 'nobody'. People care for you, cherish that" he genuinely expresses.

I wanted to take that moment of beauty and the warmness of his kind words to my heart, but my mind was dwelling on something that began to trip me out.

"I...um, I didn't say that" I ask a little confused...and worried. Because I most definitely thought it.

"You just said it now, look don't try and change the topic..." he begins to get more serious and little frustrated by the game he thinks I'm playing.

"Jesus, I'm not trying to play a game, Alexandria, I'm being genuine" he stresses. 

Oh, my god.

My entire body comes to a stand still at the impossible.

He notices my horrified expression and begins to realise that those statements were all in my head. And he heard them.

"Holy shit" he says in realisation.

Pure tension surrounds us, "How?" I ask seriously.

"I'm not sure, it must be something to do with the scent Anika and Dakota picked up. Something must be unveiling".

At this point I'm freaking out, that Kellan can read my thoughts, "Well...cover it back up! This can't be happening..."

"Relax, I can only hear small statements, not everything that's buzzing inside your head" that calmed me a little. "Werewolves have a little specialty, called mind-link. We can only ever do it when we give permission to, or in wolf form. You can conceal it, I'll just have to teach you".

I take a deep breath at his explanation and agree.

"Just imagine your closing the lid to a box, only opening it when you want to show someone what's inside. So just breathe deeply, open that box and I'll tell you what you're thinking".

I do exactly that, rolling my shoulders back and opening my chest to allow an easier flow of oxygen. I imagine the opening of my thoughts and try to think of something quickly.

"We can only ever hear surfaced thoughts, nothing too deep. Only what that person is communicating. So just think of a word and I'll listen" he explains, readying me for the task.

Pasta.

"Pasta" he repeats out loud, and to my astonishment I'm amazed by such a thing.

He laughs at my reaction to the mind-link, however tells me to keep it concealed, only ever using it when I needed to.

"You don't want to wear out your mental well-being. You won't have to constantly conceal it, you just had a slip up though" he says, jokingly unimpressed.

"Hey..." I begin, regaining his focus, "I just want to say thanks for your help with training and keeping me protected".

"Treasures need to be protected" he says, pulling his eye contact away and to the floor, his small statement left me a little dumbfounded with no response.

My speechless self, remembered to keep her thoughts to herself.

He clears his throat and says a 'goodnight', quickly leaving the kitchen to go up to his room.

Mr. Kellan, you're really beginning to tug at my heart strings.

~~~~
ASDFGHJKLKDJAL HOW CUTE

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