"Happy Birthday!" A shout of joy jarred me from my sleep.

"Jaycee!" I could hear Dexter scold. "Calm down." His voice quieted, "she's so much sometimes!"

"I heard that!" Jaycee retorted, and now she was much closer to me. I rolled over and stretched my eyes open to see they were all here. Jaycee stood next to the bed while the rest hovered near the door.

"Are you ready for the greatest birthday you've ever had?" I raised my eyebrows, because she had no idea how close to the mark she really was about that. "We let you sleep in, but we couldn't wait all day; there are things to do!"

I buried my head under the comforter, self conscious that they were all in here to get me up, and if I did, my hair was going to be all over the place.

I must have really slept late, for them to come get me! I wasn't sure what time I fell asleep, as I made sure to read most of the books Kota let me borrow. There was a lot of information that kept my mind reeling for hours afterwards, but I felt I was mostly caught up now and could understand the references Jaycee and Kota kept making. Like the Moon Goddess for instance.

I studied an entire volume about how Selene, Goddess of the Moon, created the werewolf race and that she is the one they worship. She handpicked the first royals and the first alphas. She is who created the bond between mates and how they can recognize each other. If needed, the wolves can pray to her and some have special connections with the goddess. It was quite interesting actually.

I also read about shifting, but that I mostly skipped over. Shifting seemed self-explanatory. The only information interesting there was that pups often shift on their sixteenth birthday. Earlier is rare and if too much later, concern of a stunted wolf arises.

The next section after that was Mates, but Kota explained a lot about that to me in his office, same with Packs. The section about rogues kind of freaked me out so I didn't want to spend too much time there. If they became important, I was sure Kota would explain.

Honestly, I just wanted to read about the Royals! They seemed the most interesting in how they are the most connected to Selene, especially because these books were so inexplicit about them.

Jaycee's voice was replaced with Kota's. "Hey, we have a day planned just for you, but if you're not up for it don't feel bad, it's alright. If you're too tired or need more down time, or are in pain, just let us know." He was so sweet! He was leaving this all up to me, and if I didn't want to, I didn't have to.

But I did want to, I just had a lot on my mind. I shimmied back out of the covers to poke my head out.

"What are you thinking, Love?" My heart skipped a beat when he called me that, but I tried to push that detail away and stuck my hand out to give a thumbs up. Sitting up, I could see they were all giddy with excitement, even Sydney looks happy. Eventually, I will have to ask her what her problem was with me at first.

Kota laid his hand out and I grabbed it, sucking in a breath when the sudden wave of sparks washed up my arm, and I let him pull me out of bed. Jaycee squealed and whisked me into the bathroom, along with Sydney and Eva.

"She'll be ready in a second!" Eva called as she closed the door behind us. That second was indeed not just a second.

Jaycee had brought supplies with her, including an entire outfit. "Do you want to shower?"

I looked down at myself, dressed in oversized sweats and with tangly hair. I shrugged, not really sure. So, I pointed at her and then at me, hoping she understood.

"You want us to decide? Hmm. . ." All three stood and looked me over. "Nah, you'll be fine once you're dressed and your hair is combed!"

I shrugged again, okay her call. Jaycee handed me the outfit and then they turned around for my privacy. Not that it really mattered — we were all girls and I trusted them — but I was grateful nonetheless.

Setting aside the clothes I was wearing, I tried my best to rapidly get on the black tights, light grey sweater dress, and black ankle boots. Surprisingly the dress fit me well enough, and where it hung too loose, the design of the dress helped hide that. I also liked that the neckline could almost be considered a turtle-neck and it hid any remaining marks that hadn't quite faded. The left sleeve fit strangely over my cast, but that was something I'd just have to ignore because I don't think the cast was coming off soon.

I walked over to the mirror, alerting the three of them that they were good to turn back around and Jaycee squealed again when she saw me.

"Oh my Goddess, it looks great on you!" Eva nodded her agreement and I smiled sheepishly, until I saw Sydney. She was smiling but not as strongly as the others, she seemed deep in thought.

"One moment." And then she slipped out the door leaving us all standing there confused. Does she not like it on me? Barely any time passed before she was back, in her hands were a simple black belt. Not saying anything, Sydney looped it around my waist and attached it on the smallest loop, so that it cinched some of the extra fabric from the dress. "There," she said, smiling in approval, "now it doesn't hang so loosely on your small frame." I thanked her with a grin and a thumbs up, maybe she was finally coming around to me.

Next, the girls got to work on my hair. One brushed, one sprayed, and one thought up ways to style it. Jaycee was in the middle of brushing through the tangles at the bottom when she held up the ends for me to see.

"You know," she thought out loud, "when we're at the mall today we could take you for a haircut!" She studied my reaction, which was nothing at the moment. "Only if you want though! Your ends just look a little dry and you definitely have enough length you can afford a nice clean up."

She was probably right. I hadn't had a haircut since I was a child, so the ends were ratty and split, not letting it grow much farther than where it sat against my hip bones. I took the section from her and ran my fingers across the fraying ends. Now that she had pointed it out, they felt very dry. Making a scissor symbol with my fingers, I closed them around my hair, about four or five inches up, then glanced at Jaycee for her thoughts.

She beamed, "yes, I think that would be a good spot! Still long enough it goes down your back, but enough off that it's healthy again."

Sydney agreed, taking the brush from Jaycee and continuing on through my hair.

"For now, how about this headband?" Eva piped in, bringing forth a grey band with black gems across it. We all agreed so Eva went ahead and placed it behind my ears so it sat right on top of my head.

"Hey Eirenae, have you ever seen this before?" Sydney asked suddenly, pausing her brushing. She was towards the top now, practically hitting the headband as she brushed. She set the tool down and used her fingers to part my hair.

In the mirror I saw Jaycee lean over to look too, "that's strange."

"Are you almost done?" A call came from the other side of the door. It sounded like Kota.

"Hang on!" Eva replied, rolling her eyes. "Goddess, guys are so impatient!"

"Well girls take forever to get ready!" Dexter yelled back, obviously having heard Eva's retort.

Eva giggled, but Sydney and Jaycee weren't really paying attention. Sydney had gotten her phone out to take a picture of whatever they saw in my hair. Oh no do I have lice or something? That would be awful!

It turned out not to be lice. Sydney showed me the picture and it was a frayed strand of hair, about two inches thick and only less than an inch long. But what was sort of disturbing was that my hair was pretty blond, and this tiny piece was shockingly red. I had never colored any bit of my hair, which meant this was natural.

Jaycee took my shoulders and spun me around so I was looking up into her eyes. "Are you secretly Repunzel?"

Huh?

Her eyes widened in shock at how confused I looked. "Okay, we are watching Tangled tonight, no one else gets a say!" The boys outside groaned, and the girls laughed. But I was just lost.

"Are you sure you've never seen this in your hair?" Sydney asked seriously. I was sure.

Though a strange memory that seemed more like a dream suddenly crossed my mind. I was a child, and I had been coloring a picture. I couldn't remember if my sister was there or not, but my parents were arguing — like usual. I tried to ignore them and continued coloring but suddenly the sound of scissors cutting hair made me perk up. Mom was crying about something and I ran over to see what was wrong. And that's all I can remember about that moment.

I reached up and brushed my fingers across the section Sydney had parted. Did Jack cut the piece off that day? Was this supposed to mean something? Why didn't it ever grow back?

Jaycee folded her arms and stared at my head in thought. "We'll have to look into it later, maybe Kota has answers." She grabbed my hand, "don't let it worry you, okay? Obviously you've had it for a while and it didn't change anything so let's just push past it. Sydney can brush over it and cover it up and we'll get back to the activities of your birthday!"

I lifted my lips in a small smile, agreeing to ignore it for now, but I would definitely need answers later.

"Makeup?" Sydney asked, holding a bag I hadn't seen before. I turned to study my face in the mirror first.

Honestly, most everything was healed up nicely now. My face seemed fine at first glance, but because I knew every spot Jack had hit me last week, I could make out the bruises and scars. Though they were so pale now they nearly matched my skin.

Taking the bag from Sydney, I got to work on my normal routine, though I could keep it lighter since the marks were faded. I did it fast, while the three of them watched me.

"Right, you've been covering up your whole life." I ignored that comment, and the fact that Jaycee hit Sydney on the arm for saying it. Actually that's false, I didn't ignore the hit; in fact, I actually flinched from it. Thanks Jack for all the trauma. Now I have PTSD from my childhood!

When I finished, I placed everything back in the bag and handed it back to Sydney. She just set it back on the counter, saying we'll put it away later.

"Ready?" Jaycee asked excitedly, looping an arm through my mine and dragging me from the bathroom.

We opened the door to see all the boys waiting patiently, as they were all dressed and ready to go. Though, one more person had joined.

Kota gestured to Holly — after he beamed when seeing me in this outfit, "I figured she should check up on you before we go."

Heat threatened to reach my cheeks as his eyes ran from my hair to my boots and back up. It was quick, though, as if he didn't want to make me feel awkward. I shoved the blush down as much as I could and focused on his words, and then on Holly — who was now walking over.

"Let's take a look."