Hey y’all!  Wow this took a really short time to update haha I think this might be a new record for me for updating a story.  Anyways, I’ll let you read.

Quote of the Chapter:
“Calla: Did you just call me an abomination?
Silas: Yes.  Yes I did.”
~Calla Tor and Silas the Scribe
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Chapter 3: Yellow Rose

The embankment was steep and it took a few minutes for Ren and Arya to climb it.  At one point Arya lost her footing when a rock came loose underneath her foot and it was only thanks to Ren that she didn’t tumble down the mountain.

“Thanks,” She said, breathing heavily.

“You’re welcome.”

They continued walking up the slope; now Ren could see the silhouettes of Arya’s pack.  They were downwind so Ren could smell them.  The first scent that hit him smelled strongly of smoke, like a campfire.  It wasn’t unpleasant but it was different.  Another scent that Ren noticed was lavender.  The rest of the scents blended together and Ren wasn’t able to decipher the specific scents, although he could’ve sworn there was something that smelled like maple syrup, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Shiloh is there, at the very top.  He’s the smoky smelling one,” Arya whispered.

“He’s the one I really need to watch out for, right?” Ren asked.  Arya nodded.  He heard the soft whispers of the pack but nothing that he could understand.

“Hello, everyone,” Arya greeted cheerfully; the guy that Ren assumed was Shiloh, since he was sort of stocky with a square-ish face and black hair, instantly changed into a wolf, growling at him.

“Shiloh,” Arya snapped.

Shiloh shifted forms and if looks could kill, Ren would be dead ten times over.  He walked up to Arya; he was at least a head taller but she acted as if she were the same height.

The pack was shifting nervously, Ren noticed.  He couldn’t blame them.  A girl that looked like Brittany Snow, a smaller version, caught Ren’s eye and after giving him a small smile, she turned her eyes back to Shiloh.  She must’ve been Melinda.

“Who is this?” Shiloh demanded.

Still looking at her second dead in the eye, Arya announced, “This is Renier Laroche.”

There was a gasp from the pack; Shiloh paled just enough for Ren to notice.

“Does everyone know who I am?” Ren inquired nonchalantly.

“Yeah,” Arya replied somewhat sheepishly.

“I’ve never been famous,” Ren said to no one in particular.

“It’s more like infamous,” Shiloh growled.

“Do you have a problem with me that I don’t know about?” Ren inquired, meeting Shiloh’s eyes without wavering.

“Yeah, I do.  You being on our property, and you’re the reason Arya went off without telling any of us to save your sorry alpha butt from being killed.”

“Shiloh!” Arya admonished. “That’s enough.”

“Arya, if I’m going to cause problems staying here-” Ren began.

“You invited him to stay here?!” Shiloh barked.

“Yes I did,” Arya retorted.  Turning to Ren, she said, “Ren, you’re absolutely welcome to stay here.  You’ll stay in the guest room in my house, if that’s all right with you.”

“I’m fine with it.  I don’t think Shiloh is,” Ren said.  Shiloh lunged for him but Arya held him back easily.

“Stop this silliness!” Arya ordered, shoving him back with a surprising amount of force.  He looked surprised at the fierceness she had just shown.

A girl stepped forward from the crowd.  She had brown hair, brown eyes, and smelled like strawberries.  Her stature was small but Ren could see that she was toned and muscled.  Her looks were deceptive.  She stepped up to Ren and extended her hand. “Hi, I’m Carrie Shaw.  Welcome to the Lightwood Compound.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ren replied, shaking her hand.  Arya let a small sigh.  He guessed she must’ve been worried about Carrie’s reception of him as well but hadn’t mentioned it to him.

Carrie’s greeting eased everyone else up and soon Ren was surrounded by the pack, being introduced to everyone.  The next person to introduce themselves was Melinda, the girl that had smiled at him earlier.  She smelled like apples on; it was quite pleasant.  Next were Rigg and Dmitri.  Both of them acted high and mighty around Ren but he dismissed it.  He was an alpha and they would figure that out soon enough.  Rigg smelled like a woodshop while Dmitri smelled like a new car strangely enough.  Ren could see the resemblance between the two of them with their blue eyes and blonde/brown hair.  They were about the same height, too.  Ray was next.  Tall, lean, blue eyes, and black hair, he looked intimidating but in actuality, he was the nicest of anyone Ren would meet that night.  He smelled like a freshly cut lawn.  Leyla came next.  She really did look like Megan Fox with her black hair and tiny stature.  She smelled like a mixture of berries.  It was an interesting smell to say the least; Leyla merely gave a slight nod to Ren before walking off.  Katrina came next.  She was one of two red-heads.  She was polite but not very personable, even seemed a little snobby.  Her scent was strangely that of maple syrup.  So he had smelled maple syrup coming up the hill…

Michael came next and took all of Ren’s will power to not crack up laughing.  The guy even dressed similar to Michael Jackson.  He seemed wary of Ren, but nice overall.  He smelled like Old Spice.  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arya smiling slightly.  Perhaps she was remembering their conversation earlier…

Next was Derek, and Arya had hit his celeb look-a-like spot on.  He was tall, muscular, just a little bit taller than Ren, and had green eyes.  This was someone Ren would most definitely not want to piss off.  However, Derek seemed pretty chill, which his scent of the ocean complemented well.  Next was Amy and Ren could tell she was trying to contain herself in not being a complete bitch to him.  Her scent was strangely coconutty…

Mia and Walter came up together.  They seemed nice enough and they shook his hand firmly.  Mia smelled like sugar cookies while Walter smelled like coffee.  Ren remembered Arya saying it was those two that were the cooks and he found it ironic that they smelled like food.

Irene, who smelled like a cotton blossom, was relatively shy but shook Ren’s hand.  Frank came over, smelling like he had been in a bar all day, seemed wary but Ren was okay with that; he understood.  Erin and Taki came as a pair; Erin was a pretty blonde with blue eyes while Taki was a beautiful Asian girl with long dark hair.  Erin smelled like lemons, Taki like rain.  Finally, Nancy and Austin greeted him politely.  Austin smelled like bacon (which made Ren’s stomach growl because he realized he was starving) and Nancy smelled like honey.

Everyone started to head to their houses; Ren noticed there were twelve.

“Does some of the pack live in a house by themselves?” Ren inquired as he followed Arya to her house which was situated in the center of all of them.

“No, the two extra houses are for when my parents and their pack come and stay with us,” Arya explained.  They walked up two steps and entered her house.  The smell of freshly baked brownies reached his nose; involuntarily, his mouth watered as he sniffed the air.

“Are you hungry?  I can whip you up a quick meal if you want,” Arya offered.

“I don’t want to cause any more trouble than I already have,” Ren protested.

“I can make you a chicken sandwich or a grilled cheese.  I need to stop by the store and grab some more food.  I also have brownies.”

“Whatever’s easiest,” Ren said.  Arya led him to the kitchen which was spacious and cozy.  There was a big window that overlooked the courtyard and the fountain.  It was a really pretty view.  She had a small round table in front of the window with yellow roses in a crystal vase.  Arya was at the island in the kitchen.  It was where the stove was.  Ren figured she was making grilled cheese.  He leaned up against the bar attached to the island and watched as Arya started making his meal.

“Thank you for everything,” he said.  Arya looked up at him.

“It’s no problem.  It’s nice to have a new face around here,” Arya told him with a shrug. “We don’t get many visitors.  I wish we did but while the people in town like us, they are still scared of us so very rarely, meaning never, do they come up here.  I mean, I get why they are but unless they anger us, we won’t do anything to them.  Would you like anything to drink?  I have water, milk, chocolate milk, orange juice, cranberry juice, lemonade, and some soda.”

Ren immediately went for the orange juice.  He loved the stuff.  Arya finished making his sandwich and handed it to him on a plate.  She then started making another one.

When she finished hers, she sat down at the table with Ren.

“Sorry about Shiloh.  I knew he wasn’t going to react well but to actually lunge at you…” Arya trailed off.

“It’s fine.  Besides, you handled him quite nicely.”

Arya blushed slightly. “I don’t like being like that to my pack mates but sometimes I have to.”

“I know the feeling.  You hate to reprimand them sometimes but you know you have to.”

“Precisely.” Arya finished off her sandwich and reached over to fix a rose in the vase.  Ren didn’t see anything wrong with it but apparently she did.  Seeing where he was looking, Arya said sheepishly, “I’m OCD about a few things.  Flower arranging is one of them.”

Ren grinned. “So you like flowers?”

“Yeah.  I love them, particularly roses.  I like how they all have different meanings.”

“What do you mean?” Ren inquired, sincerely interested.

“Well, for example, a yellow rose can mean many things such as joy, jealousy, welcome back, or friendship.”

“What does that colored rose mean?” Ren nodded towards the peach rose in her hair.

“It can mean gratitude, sincerity, appreciation, let’s get together, and let’s close the deal or something like that.”

“I never knew that; that’s actually really interesting.”

“My old Keeper hated flowers, or at least actual ones because she had allergies.  Therefore I purposefully always kept flowers in my room so wouldn’t come in my room and learned as much as I could about them so I would keep them for a long time.”

“You, my friend, are brilliant,” Ren praised.  Arya grinned.

“I have my moments.  Are you done?” She asked, pointing to his plate.

“Yeah.” She was about to take it but he snatched it away before she could.  He also swiped up hers.  When she looked at him like he was crazy, he told her, “You made the meal.  The least I can do is take them to the sink and wash them.”

“I hardly call a grilled cheese sandwich a meal and you’re the guest so hand them over,” She commanded, standing up and motioning with her hand to hand the plates over.  Ren just smirked and walked over to the sink.

“Alphas are so annoying sometimes,” Arya muttered.

“You know you just dissed yourself, right?” Ren pointed out with a laugh.

“Then let me correct myself: Alpha males are so annoying.”

“But you know you love us,” Ren teased.

“Maybe human girls do…  Here, have a brownie.” She tossed a big hunk of a brownie to Ren who deftly caught it.  He couldn’t help but think Arya was very random, going from alpha males to brownies.

“This,” Ren said between bites, “is delicious.”

“Why thank you.  I made them from scratch.”

“Really?”

“No.  It’s Duncan Hines box recipe.  Come on, I’ll show you your room.”  Taking another bite of his brownie, Ren followed Arya up the stairs to a long hallway.  There were four doors on each side.

“The four rooms on this side are all occupied,” Arya explained, pointing to the left side of the hallway. “The one at the very end is my room.  All these rooms on the right are guest rooms.  Take whichever one you want.”

“Any of them?  What’s the difference?”

“Different themes,” Arya said, eating the last piece of her brownie.  Ren opened the first room.  It was very flowery and not at all what Ren would want to stay in.  As if reading his thoughts, Arya said, “That one tends to be more for the girls.”

“I noticed,” Ren answered with a chuckle.  The second bedroom was dark blue themed with white accents.  It was cozy and modern at the same time.  The third room was yellow and white, another girls room, Ren thought.  The last room amused Ren.  It had pictures of wolves in the forest and just things that went with wolves in general.  The bedspread was dark green and Ren decided instantly this was the room he wanted.

“I’ll take this one,” He said.

“All right; pajamas are in the second drawer of the dresser.  You have your own bathroom, balcony, and flat screen TV.  Anything I can get you?”

“No, I think I just found my heaven,” Ren admitted.  Arya smiled.

“Okay.  See you in the morning.  Breakfast is usually at nine but Mia or Walter will come and get you to let you know,” Arya informed.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.  Good night.”

“Good night.” Ren entered his room and shut the door, glad to be alone (although he had thoroughly enjoyed Arya’s company).  He headed over to the dresser and pulled out pajamas he thought would fit him.  Boy was he wrong.  The first pair of pants were so tight he couldn’t even get them over his calves.  He tried on another pair and although he was able to get them on completely, they were so tight he walked like a constipated penguin.  The shirt was so tight that it actually ripped in the back.  In fact, none of the shirts fit him.  Deciding he couldn’t do this, he went to Arya’s room in the too-tight pants and the ripped shirt.  He knocked twice and waited patiently for her to open the door.  When she did, her mouth dropped open, but she hurriedly put her hand over her mouth.

“I think,” Ren began, “that I need a different size.  What do you think?”

Arya began to laugh. “I’m sorry for laughing but it’s so… so…”

“So horrible that it’s amusing?”

Arya grinned bashfully. “Let me go ask Derek for some pajamas for you.  You two are about the same size.  I’ll bring them to your room.”

Arya walked past him and down the stairs hurriedly.  Ren went back to his room and sat on the bed, taking off the shirt at least.  Arya’s house was cool but not uncomfortably.  It was just the right temperature.

He waited only a few minutes for Arya to arrive with his new pajamas.  He opened the door shirtless which he noticed caught her by surprise; however, she quickly regained her composure. “Here.  These should fit.”

“Are you sure you want me to put a shirt on?  I thought you enjoyed the view when you first saw me,” Ren said with a droll stare.

“Shut up,” Arya told him, making a face at him.  She did blush slightly though.

“Thank you.  I think these will do.”

“You’re welcome.  If you need anything else, let me know.  You know where I am,” Arya said.  The two of them said good night once again and this time, they meant it.  Ren pulled on the pajamas (which fit him perfectly) and stumbled into bed.  He hadn’t realized how exhausted he was.

When he closed his eyes, he fell asleep almost immediately, knowing Calla was going to be haunting his dreams.

But that didn’t happen.

Instead, Arya frolicked around in the woods, changing from wolf to human and human to wolf.  And each time she changed to a wolf, her coat would change colors.
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And there you go!  Let’s see if I can get at least three reviews.  I won’t update until I have three so no review=no update people!  Hope y’all enjoyed