The dining hall is packed. All the creatures circling the center table in silence, watching intently as the egg wobbles around. The pups are on the front row, their hands gripping at the wood table in anticipation. Next to me Jared is fixing the little object without a world. I'm sure it killed him to not know what's inside and I have a feeling he can't wait to see as his hands clench and unclench at his sides. I ordered him to place himself right in front of the egg earlier to be sure he would be the first thing the beast would see.

I don't want it to get attached to Cory or Gabe, no thanks.

There is a small 'toc' and the shell cracks slightly. Another and another. A small fissure draws itself on the egg and the animal inside starts to push at it. Suddenly a small red beak appears through the slit. And then an eye, and finally, after struggling, it gets out of its shell.

"What's that ?" Someone murmurs.

"That's just a bird." Another grumbles.

"So disappointing." Yet another one comments.

"That rogue couldn't find anything interesting. All that suspense for nothing." A feminine voice I don't know mocks.

They all start to leave, going back to their previous occupation, leaving only the ones who know me too well to know there's a catch. And the pups, just as exited as five seconds ago. They start to play with it and give him some food I prepared before hand in a bowl.

"Sorry it's not a dragon." I apologize bitterly.

"The last three remaining ones are currently working on the set of Game of thrones. I couldn't bring them here." Ralph explains

Jared looks at us with wide eyes as if we've gone crazy.

"Interesting." Rob whispers as he bends his long form over the table to look at it closer.

"I never saw a real one." Ben adds in awe. "Only read about them in books. Where did you find it ?" He turns to ask Ralph.

"I am afraid that will have to remain a secret my friend." The dwarf offers as an answer.

"We're not really supposed to have it." I explain.

The nestling hops to Jared which seems just as fascinated with the creature as before it hatched.

"So, is it a parrot ? Or an eagle maybe ?" He asks softly scratching under its head.

The bird doesn't have any feathers yet, only has fuzz between white and a pale pink color. Only its beak is distinctive. Suddenly the bird sneezes and catches on fire, making Jared jump in surprise and the pups scream from excitement

'That reminds me of someone.'

ONCE ! It happened once !

"Oh my god !" The beta exclaims. "Do something !" He demands.

I reach the table and grab the baby chick in the palm of my hands before it burns a hole in the table. The small flames lick my skin and heat it a little.

"It's going to get hurt." Jared worries.

"No silly." Sydney giggles. "It's a phoenix, it can't get hurt by flames."

This girl is so smart.

Jared looks at her in disbelief and then at me.

"A phoenix ?" He questions. "You got me a phoenix ?" He asks in wonder and I nod proudly.

The small animal finally succeeds to calm itself and the flames disappear showing to everyone that no harm was done, its skin is exactly the same as earlier. I decide to give it to Jared.

"Here daddy." I smirk. "I'd advise you to put it comfortably in a big basin during the night especially since nobody can wake you up once you're asleep. Trust me, these little fellas can do real damage. I wasn't careful once and let's just say I had to move out after that."

"You burnt down a house ?!" He asks horrified.

"A-ny-way. You'll have to feed it four times a day and it'd be best if you brought it with you everywhere you go so it gets used to being around people. When it grows up a little we'll teach it a few tricks."

"We'll help too !" The kids offer immediately, gathering around Jared to look at the bird again.

He puts it back on the table and comes back to talk to me.

"So. Did you see my little trick ?" He inquires.

"I did." I nod. "Needs a little more work but it's really impressive already."

He starts to smile at the compliment.

"That was really impressive." Daiki intervenes.

"That's true. Not many people are able to learn this. Noriko taught you well." Takeshi adds.

"Speaking of which," The young woman continues. "how do you know about it ?" She asks me.

"I learned it from one of you a long time ago." I tell her without giving too much.

"Really ?" She raises a brow. "See, Jared came to me to ask about it and said he saw someone perform the same technical feat with more copies than he could count."

"He did ?" I question innocently.

"The thing is, no one could ever produce more than six replicas at one time so imagine my surprise when he said he saw hundreds of them."

"Must have been a dream." I agree with a nod.

'Why do you always overdo everything ?' My wolf whines.

"Hundred ? That's impossible !" Daiki laughs.

"That's what I said too." She explains. "But when he insisted I started to get curious about who this prodigy might be."

"I could be wrong you know." Jared tries to help me. "I mean I was in a pretty bad shape, it was dark and my eye was hurt. Everything was blurry."

'He's a bad liar...'

Yup.

"They probably used projectors." I offer.

"How many copies of yourself can you do ?" Noriko asks.

"Me ? Oh, one or two at best." I lie through my teeth.

"I don't believe you." She shakes her head.

"Well, nothing I can do about that."

"If she said she could indeed produce hundreds of versions of herself you wouldn't trust her anyway." Ellie defends me.

"I'll find out the truth at some point." Noriko declares before going back outside with the rest of her clan.

"Sorry about that. I really wanted to learn the trick, I didn't know it was a secret." Jared apologize.

"Don't worry about it." I wave him off. "Plus, you've got some competition."

"What do you mean ?" He demands.

"Do you intend to stop with only one ?" I question curious.

"Well, yeah, I thought it was enough. And it's quite tiring to do already."

"Then it doesn't matter." I smirk.

"Wait. Did you teach this to someone else ? Is that it ? Is there someone else that knows about it ?" He wants to know.

"Jordan." I call the pup and he comes rushing. "Do you want do show what you guys can do to Jared ?" I ask him.

"Can we ?" He whispers with big eyes and I nod.

He runs back to the others and starts whispering in their ears. After a few minutes only Mathy, Sydney and him come join us.

"The others said they want to train a little more." He explains.

"Of course." I agree. "There's no rush. Is here alright ?" I question him and the three of them nod.

I turn to Jared who is frowning and smirk.

"This is your competition." I announce proudly.

"Hope, come on. They are only pups." He grumbles.

"Can I watch ?" Marie who was being discreet until now asks.

"Sure." I reply and her, Ellie, Rob Ben and Ralph go sit on chairs on the side of the room.

"What's going on here ?" Nate questions amused as he enters the room and sees everyone spread around.

"Alpha." Jared bows to him.

"Jared, that fight of yours was really impressive." He compliments. "And I heard you got a bird ?" He smiles seeming relieved by the news.

"Yes sir. Actually it's a phoenix." He replies happily and on cue the bird catches on fire for the second time.

I hurry to it and decide to keep it in my hands for now.

Don't want to be blamed for burning the place down.

Nate's eyes rush to me distraught.

"Nothing to worry about !" I declare dismissing the subject.

"Hope ?" Mathy pulls at the hem of my shirt and I look down at him. "Do we still need to show them ?"

"Only if you want to." I reassure him and the others and he nods.

"If you would please take a seat." I invite both men to go sit down.

I follow them and after we are all ready I nod for the pups to start.

"Who wants to go first ?" I inquire.

"Me ! Me !" Mathy lifts his arm high in the air.

"Alright then. We're all watching."

The kid places himself in front of us, his head held high.

'Thank god you didn't teach them that stupid pose of yours.'

That would have been awesome.

Suddenly he starts to run and the next second there are two of him in front of us.

"What ?" Jared chokes while Ralph whistles in appraisal.

"Jordan." I say and the little guy joins Mathy and starts to follow him around the room, indeed appearing in two places at once too.

By now Jared's jaw is hanging open on the floor. I look around, Marie is studying their movements intently and I have a feeling she's going to ask to learn this too, unless she catches the trick on her own. Ben and his brother are smiling impressed just as much as Ellie. Of course the pups can't do anything but move around, in a real combat they wouldn't be able to fight but it can still be useful if they ever need to flee so that they are able to surprise and distract their opponent.

"Sydney !" I instruct and she too imitates her comrades.

"Impossible." Jared murmurs.

I feel Nate's gaze on me but I don't turn around, it's time for the best part. Sydney increases her speed until she moves before Mathy and suddenly there are three of her.

'That's my girl !'

"No way !" Ellie comments.

I place the bird on Nate's lap and stand up to applaud.

"Awesome guys." I congratulate them as they come to a stop.

The others praise them too. My smile is so big I'm afraid it'll break my face but I can't help it.

I'm just awesome. I can teach anything to anyone.

'How big of a narcissist are you seriously ? How can you take credit for their exploits ?'

I'm the one who taught them. I'm incredible.

'You just showed them a trick, they are the ones who actually did it.'

I can do it too.

'But you don't count, it's like cheating. You can do anything.'

When did you become so judgemental ?

'The day you became a pain. So I'd say since day one.' My wolf sniggers.

"You really did great." Nate felicitates them. "Even I don't know how to do that." He says and they all grin at him proud to have impressed their alpha.

Jordan signals for him to lean down and he does so.

"Hope can do even more but that's a secret." He whispers to him innocently.

"I'm sure she can." He beams back at them and my heart stops for a second.

"Time for cake !" I declare and all the kids scream and leave the room rushing to the kitchens.

You don't have to tell them twice.

'Same goes for you.'

Can't help it if I'm always hungry.

Jared seems to get out of his daze, I'm not sure if it's because I said the word "cake" which is a high possibility or if he finally got past the shock of being average.

"Did you need something sir ?" He asks Nate ready to prove to everyone that he is indeed a capable man.

"Actually yes, I was wondering if you deemed it possible to organize our annual screening in the gardens during next week. I know there is a lot to do and the men need time to train but I'm afraid they'll start to stress out too much if we don't give them some breaks to relax from time to time." Nate explains and Jared frowns already calculating if this is such a good idea.

"Can I chose the movie ?" I ask.

"No way." Ben cuts me. "Last time you forced me to watch the entire saga of Twilight. Not even Dracula but Twilight !" He grunts as if I tortured him.

I might have put the movie on pause for ten minutes on the scene where Jacob's half naked but I mean who wouldn't with those abs !

'You have no shame...'

"This time I was thinking The little mermaid." I smirk.

"Not in a million years." Marie grumbles.

These guys are no fun.

"No vampires, no sirens, no werewolves," I enumerate as I turn to Ellie rolling my eyes. "you people are really hard to please."

"I'll choose something." Nate offers.

What did I say, no fun at all.

'You might be able to convince him to pick something you want.' My wolf tries to lift my spirits.

Good point, I still have a chance.

I nod as everyone else does too. Nate hands the bird back to Jared and leaves us behind.

And here I thought he came to see me...

'I don't know how your head didn't fall off yet. So big, must be really heavy.'

The rest of the day is uneventful, the foxes seem to still be a little displeased and keep their distance, Jared is running around trying to train people and organize the movie projection at the same time and Marie and Ellie have decided to train a group of fighters together for once.

I almost choke when Nate shows up again at night and after half an hour of my incessant beating heart bothering me with its drums and a great make out session I finally fall asleep. For the next week we take turns sleeping in his bed and in mine, I insisted on that, and his scent on the sheets of his bed is like heaven. If it were up to me we'd only sleep there.

On the fourth day Xavier comes back from New Orleans with his men and the house is packed to the brim. Nate had started to be more comfortable around me in the last couple of days, he kept coming to see me and talk to me, getting out of his way to say "hi" or "did you eat yet" but now with Xavier around I can see his shoulders tense. He doesn't smile, always showing a clenched jaw and a frown. I took the time to bring them up to speed, concentrating on their training particularly for a while and let's just say Nate wasn't pleased about it. He seems to avoid the both of us now.

"Are you going to ignore me from now on ?" I question when I'm laying beside him in his bed.

He hasn't said a word to me since earlier and he's still not facing me now, grumbling under his breath. It's driving me crazy. I sigh heavily when I don't get any response. My gaze is fixated on a patch on the ceiling and I wonder if I can make it bigger just by looking at it. I count to ten in my head and sigh again.

"I'm leaving." I say as I flip the sheets back.

'WHAT ?'

There's no meaning to me staying here if he won't even talk to me. I didn't do anything wrong which is rare enough on its own, I don't deserve to be treated that way.

I start to get up but a warm arm won't let me move any further, circling my waist.

I swear I'm breaking his arm if he doesn't speak in the next two seconds.

'Just stay calm.' My wolf sighs exasperated with me.

"Stay." He orders.

He's losing his head. There's no other way around this.

'Would you chill already ?'

There is no way I'm listening to any kind of order.

I turn his way to look him straight in the eyes, glaring.

"Try again. And this time be really careful about how you say it." I warn him.

His eyes shine a pure white and his fangs grow in his mouth. He shuts his eyes quickly to try and keep himself calm. I focus on his chest and see it rise slowly a few times. I hear him sigh aggravated but I hope for his sake he's pissed at himself and not at me.

I have a bad feeling things are about to get ugly.

"Why are you leaving ?" He asks slowly, trying not to raise his voice.

"Because I'd rather be alone if you're just going to ignore me." I grit my teeth.

That wasn't an apology at all.

"I want you to stay." He says.

It must be really tough to be you then because I don't particularly want to listen to you right now." I reply lifting a brow and I see his jaw twitch.

"Are you going to see him ?" He glares at me.

"And who might that be ?" I pretend not to know who he's talking about.

"Don't try to be smart with me right now." He warns.

I pinch his arm, hard, but he stubbornly keeps it around my waist.

"Are you actually jealous ? Is that it ?" I ask him because let's face it I'm really curious.

"No." He breathes out between his teeth.

'You two are really bad liars.'

"Okay then. Yes I'm going to see Xavier." I shrug starting to get up again.

"No you're not." He growls pulling me back to him and I roll my eyes.

For the first time in my long, long life I let it go as I sigh and get comfortable again.

'You're right, it is the first time you ever gave up on something since I've known you.'

Don't get used to it.

'This feels weird. I have chills running down my spine and goosebumps on my paws. I'm not sure I like it.'

I don't like it either.

"So are you staying ?" He inquires after a while when I don't move.

"Do I have a choice ?" I taunt him.

"Not really, no."

"That's what I thought. And yet I have no say in your life." I grumble under my breath.

"What do you mean ?" He asks but I didn't intend for him to catch that.

Stupid wolf hearing.

"Never mind."

"I want to know." He insists.

"You really want to know ?" I demand and he nods.

'Oh boy, here goes crazy Hope.'

"Alright then. I'm not allowed to be close to anyone or else mister big alpha is jealous, I can't talk to a guy, I can't help them train or they end up with broken noses-"

"I never-" He interrupts me but I stop him lifting my hand.

"We all remember Jared getting a bleeding nose, no need to pretend otherwise. I can't be alone in a room, even the dining hall. Yes I'm talking about that time I was in there with Ben, eating and you barged in, breaking a chair and demanding I go with you supposedly because you needed my help with something when you actually didn't. No, you didn't need help opening your filing cabinet, so don't even try." I spout and when he starts to roll his eyes I almost lose it.

'I think you said enough.'

Oh, I'm just starting.

'But you sound like a lunatic !' My wolf whines and I can almost see it hiding its face under its paws.

"And I'm not the one acting like a four year old and refusing to talk to someone because she is talking to another man just because I don't like him. That's all on you buddy. But I can't say anything about the dozen of girls flocking around you everyday. No, that's just normal. And when they sit on your lap, when they cling to you or when Cory shoves her tongue down your throat I just need to shut up and smile. Is that it ? Did I get this right ?" I finally stop.

"Cory didn't-" He starts but I raise a warning brow. "I haven't done anything with her since we came back." He declares.

I can't help rolling my eyes too. She's been stuck to his side everyday and she's not the only one. There are at least five of them at any given time.

"It's the truth." He insists. "I told her I wasn't interested."

I keep quiet. I know he hasn't been with anyone since we left but he still reeks, their scent is everywhere and my wolf is getting uneasy, hell, I'm getting pissed off by it.

'I think we all noticed.'