The rest of the day was lovely. I laughed harder that I'd ever laughed, and every second felt more and more sure that this was right.

Levi pulled into my driveway at about eight that night. "Do you want to come in?" I asked quietly, watching lights turn on in the living room. Alex was probably waiting for me. I felt a wave of guilt as I realised I'd snuck out the night before and never called him.

"Yes. But I really need to work," he trailed, sounding disappointed. We walked to the front door, and he brushed my messy hair off my face, kissing my forehead in the same place as before. Slow and steady.

I closed the door behind him, slumping against the cold wood. What a day.

Sure enough, Alex was waiting up in the living room. He put down the papers he was sifting through and gave me a look.

"Well. Despite looking half drowned, you look a hell of a lot better than you have in weeks."

I shot him a sarcastic look, and dropped onto the sofa. "I feel a hell of a lot better."

"So I take it things went well?" He asked, raising one eyebrow.

I looked at him, gauging his reaction. "Yes, I made up with them all. We talked, I understand things a lot better now."

Alex smirked slightly. "I'm glad to hear. But next time you end up staying over at your boyfriend's place, give me a heads up, yeah?"

"He's not my boyfriend," I spluttered, throwing a pillow at him.

"For now," Alex teased, getting up and rustling my hair as he passed me. I groaned, covering my face with my arms. This was so embarrassing. But despite it all, I couldn't help the grin that stretched across my face. It had been a perfect day.

--

Sunday was spent catching up on homework and assignments that I had been abandoning for weeks. I was shocked at how much clearer my brain was, how much easier I found all the work. The week before it felt like I was struggling out of a pit of tar, but now everything seemed to fall into place.

Estelle called me, demanding a run down of the date. She cried when I told her about her mom's gallery, but she was glad I got to see it. Alex and I ordered pizza, then suffered through an infuriating Skype call with mom and baguette-face. We decided to leave out all the drama of the past few weeks. I mean, how do you even explain that to your mom?

Other than that, it was a quiet day compared to the past few weeks. I hadn't heard from Levi, but Estelle did say that he was in meetings all day, so I tried to not let that get to me.

Monday came around, and I wasn't sure what to expect from school. The news was out that the human mate of the alpha had finally found out everything, and they could stop ignoring me and hiding from me. I definitely wasn't expecting what happened.

The minute I walked into school, pretty much everyone I walked past smiled at me, greeted me, and some even introduced themselves. The school that I thought was full of antisocial, cliquey kids turned out to be that way only as a precautionary measure. Who would have thought?!

"It was so hard to not say anything," someone called Jenny was gushing, her friends behind her nodding eagerly. "We're all, like, drawn to you, but we had to pretend to not even care!"

"So hard," a girl echoed.

"What do you mean, drawn to me?" I asked, shuffling awkwardly in front of the group of excited 15 year olds.

"Well duh, you're going to be our luna, you're like the most important person in the whole district," she laughed, grabbing my arm. I laughed with her, but mine came out more nervous than excited. Keep it together Danielle, I reminded myself.

"Alright ladies, let's give the poor girl a bit of space." I smiled in relief as Thomas appeared behind me, escorting me out of their circle.

"Someone's popular," Thomas teased, falling into step beside me.

I shook my head in disbelief. "Thank you so much. Everyone wants to talk to me, I have no idea what to say to any of them."

"They're just excited, it's a pretty big deal you know. They'll calm down."

I must have looked worried, as Thomas stopped walking. "Hey, it's nothing you can't handle. You were made for this."

That was still so weird to me, the idea that this had been determined before I was even born, that this was my life's destiny.

"Anyway, as beta and best friend to our beloved Levi, consider me at your service," he bowed slightly. "Seriously though, it's so much easier now that you know."

I laughed at his dramatic antics. "What's a beta?"

He covered his heart with his hands, staggering like he'd been shot. "That hurts, Danni, that really hurts."

I snorted, whacking him. "Seriously though!"

"Oh. Wow, thanks Levi," he scoffed. "I'm 2IC, one rank below - but still more awesome than - Levi, and well you I guess. Hey funny story - I actually don't go to school here. Well I did, but I graduated like three years ago. I was sent as surveillance and protection."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Of course you were," I sighed. "I could look after myself you know."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you were doing a real good job at keeping it together."

"Hey! Not my fault," I protested. How was I meant to prevent all the weird physical things?

"I know, I know. Oh, incoming," he nodded towards Mr Daniels who was walking right towards us.

I felt myself stiffen as the intimidating principal approached us. Last time I saw him I was fitting on the bathroom floor. Surely he was part of the pack, if he knew what to do.

"Thomas," Daniels nodded at Thomas, and turned to me. "Miss Parker, may I see you in my office?"

Gulping, I nodded. He turned and started walking. I looked at Thomas, wide eyed. He just smiled widely at me. "If he gives you any trouble, remember you technically outrank him."

I frowned, feeling weird about that. I hadn't done anything to deserve this rank, and definitely felt weird about being so young.

Daniels closed the door of his office, gestured to the seat in front of his desk, and sat down in the chair behind the desk. He looked at me for a moment, exhaling and leaning back in the chair.

"Well, this is a very unique situation, Miss Parker. I'm sure you can appreciate the rather unorthodox handling of it all." He cleared his throat, looking at me with his serious, dark eyes.

I nodded, unsure of where he was going to go with this.

"But I am informed that you are now aware of, well, everything."

Again, I nodded. "Yes, sir. I mean, I'm sure I have a lot to learn. But I've been...informed."

"You must understand that this is rare on many accounts. First being that you are human, then being the issue of your age. Usually higher ranking pairs aren't made until they are a much older age."

I bit my lip, doubt swirling in my stomach. I already knew all this, he wasn't making things any easier.

"But despite all that, there's nothing we can change and we must have faith in the whole process. So I would just like to welcome you, and if there is anything you need to make the transition easier, please come to me."

I dropped my jaw. That wasn't what I was expecting. "Oh, thank you sir. I will, definitely."

He nodded, and stood. "You better get to class."

Not what I was expecting at all. Everything was going too well, I felt slightly uneasy. Surely something had to go wrong... I shook myself - I had to stop thinking like this. It wasn't doing anything to help, and it was stopping me from being fully happy.

Estelle caught up with me at lunch, and we spent the rest of the day meeting, talking to and being pulled away from most of the student body. I wondered if there were any other humans not from the pack at school at all.

When the final bell rang, I was socially exhausted. I was never that great with people, so to meet and interact with so many was quite tiring. Not that I was complaining, everyone was lovely and very excited - it was a little intimidating, but very welcoming.

Estelle and I were walking out of the main building, when I felt something grab my hand, pulling me to a stop. I didn't even have to turn around, I could literally feel that it was Levi.

I spun around, grinning. "You're going to give me a heart attack one of these days."

"Please, you love it," he smirked back. He was wearing a leather jacket and dark glasses - can somebody say hot?! Very James Dean, very attractive. I must have been drooling, because he laughed and threw an arm around my shoulders, heading towards where Estelle was waiting.

She beamed at us, as did many of the students milling around. I blushed at the attention, but wasn't about to complain.

"Good day?" Levi asked, heading towards his car. I guess this was our ride.

I nodded, waving shyly at a group of students who yelled 'goodbye' to me. "I think every single student introduced themselves. They were all practically buzzing too, it was intense!"

Levi smiled, but looked concerned. "It was really nice," I continued, assuring him that I was okay.

"They mean well. I can tell them to back off, if you like," he offered.

"No, it's fine! It's very welcoming." There was something nice about it, feeling so welcome and wanted.

We got in the car, Estelle insisting on getting in the back. "So Levi, have you asked her about Saturday yet?"

"I was getting to it," Levi said, starting the car and giving Estelle a look.

"What's happening Saturday? You guys having a party?"

"Well, kind of actually. We have a monthly pack get together of sorts," Levi began.

"We're all basically family anyway, it's such a nice environment!" Estelle interrupted excitedly.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come," Levi asked, his jaw tightening slightly. "There will be the entire pack there, and to be completely honest, the night will probably revolve around you so if you're not ready, it's absolutely fine."

I thought about being formally introduced to them all, to a hell of a lot more people than just the kids at school. It hadn't dawned on me that there would be a significant amount of members way older than me until Daniels had talked to me. Doubts about leading crept into my mind yet again, but I could tell this was important to Levi, and felt it was something I needed to do. I may as well face them all sooner rather than later.

"I'd love to," I smiled, trying to sound confident. No time like the present.

"Really?" Levi sounded surprised, but impressed.

"I mean, it kind of scares the crap out of me, and I'll probably make them all hate me, but I think I'm ready."

Estelle snorted. "No one is going to hate you, you're too cute to hate."

I laughed, rolling my eyes. "I feel like 'cute' isn't the vibe anyone wants as their future co-leader person."

"You are who you are for a reason, trust me, you will be perfect and everyone will love you," Levi nodded, frowning slightly in determination. I smiled at him, taking a moment to just soak in his features. He spoke so confidently that I almost believed him.