For weeks after the fire, the trio of Matei, Emilia and Natalia were even more inseparable then usual.

Natalia was approved to start home-schooling by Imara Cipriani, as she was terrified to go back to school and see one of her former foster siblings and she heard her phone beeping from the charger.

Natalia slipped her headphones off and cut off Linkin Park "New Divide" as she wheeled the chair over to her phone and she checked the message with a small smile. Natalia stood up and she walked over to the window, as she crossed her arms over her chest and spotted both TJ and Matei looking up at the window.

"Does your mum know that you're playing hooky again?" Natalia asked TJ and she swiftly climbed down from the window, and she dropped the last ten feet to land lightly next to them as she wiped off her pants.

TJ asked and Natalia shrugged as she yawned and stretched.

"Hard at work up there?" Matei guessed and she nodded slightly, as she yawned again.

"I was a doofus and I must have gone completely bonkers overnight, since I am now doing Year 9 Year 10, at the same bloody time." She snorted at her own words as TJ spewed water all over and she jumped away from the spray in disgust. "Aw, TJ!" She complained and they all looked up to hear Imara coming.

TJ shouted as they all bolted off and Natalia laughed at TJ's face.

"Did Covaci convince you that this was a good idea?" Natalia asked and TJ stuck out his tongue at her, as she flipped him off calmly and TJ looked insulted.

"Why would you immediately blame me?" Matei asked, looking insulted by the very idea, and she shook her head at him.

"Very funny Matei. I know that you can take a joke. So I poke fun at you first, then I have a human shield if TJ ever gets mad at me." She pointed out and TJ lunged at her, but Natalia was up and over the wall and she was on the wall like a cat, perfectly balanced and TJ looked stunned. "What? Never seen a wolfblood balance like a cat or anything, Terrence?" She asked and he looked irritated, but when he tried to climb up, she jumped off of the wall and straight over his head to land behind him again.

At the nickname, Natalia growled menacingly and TJ had hit a bit of a nerve, not helped by saying it in a mocking tone.

"Chill out Nat. He didn't mean anything by it, you know that. Come on." Matei pointed out and Natalia's eyes flashed briefly, before she took a deep breath and the veins, that were all crawling over her not so many seconds ago, were all fading and disappearing.

TJ interrupted himself at the look on Natalia's face that clearly said "I will tear you apart, if there are any more questions" and he stopped talking.

A smart choice, and a damn good idea. But absolutely for certain not an easy one to keep to, for him.

"Come on. Who is up for wolfing out in the meadow?" Matei asked and TJ looked awkwardly at the ground and Natalia sighed, shaking her head a bit.

"TJ hasn't wolfed out yet, Covaci. But it can't be too much longer, until he is able to wolf out like us and Emilia."

At least she wasn't mentioning the fact about his missing dad and that was a relief, as he didn't need that information, piled up on top of every other thing going on.

"Uh right. Well, later TJ." Matei said awkwardly as both him and Natalia took off running, as they leapt over the wall and took the alleyways to get to the meadows.

"We should not have just left him, back there like that on his own. I feel bad now." Natalia admitted and they had reached the meadows, as Matei dropped his school bag into the grassy field.

"Hey. At least he can't run his mouth and piss you off, if he isn't around us though." Matei countered and she was rolling her eyes at him, and she tipped her head back and howled.

As she howled, her veins crept up her face and neck, becomin' visible as just when she finished the howl, she was on four paws with a playful bark and Matei chuckled. "Nice. Showoff." He said and she rolled her eyes at him, as her tail wagged and she barked at him and he transformed, dropping onto his paws and barking and they raced off throughout the meadow.

When Natalia lost sight of Matei, she was worried for few moments as she barked over and over, right up, until she spotted the end of his tail poking out from under a bush and she crept over to it silently, crouched down so that she was barely above the ground and she was silent as she crept over to the bush.

She pounced and Matei's surprised yelp was clear, and he shot out from under the bush like his tail was on fire and Natalia let out a loud, very loud series of coughing barks that he soon recognized as laughter.

Natalia was yawning as she lay back against an old wall as Matei glared at her, still not too happy about the tail hunting from earlier. "That wasn't funny at all." He grumbled as Natalia shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh stop it. It was hilarious." She muttered in response as she laughed again and she moved her head to rest on his arm. "I'm sorry." She mumbled and he chuckled.

"You actually thought, that I was angry at you for that? Come on." She smacked him on the arm and he winced.

"Matei Covaci! Not funny!" She shouted and she shoved him with both hands and he went tumbling down a few feet.

"I thought it was hilarious." Matei countered and she looked at him for a few seconds, before she nodded very slightly.

"Fair enough. That's fair." She muttered and he walked back up quickly to sit down next to her again.

His arm went around her shoulders and she tapped a message on his arm and Matei raised his eyebrows. "Can you repeat that?" He asked and she looked at him with a low, small growl in her throat, before she returned to tapping it out again.

"You might be my anchor. You happy now?" Matei chuckled and he nodded a little.

"That became apparent when I kept you from going feral on half the school in Year 7." Matei tapped out.

"You're making a joke out of this, are you serious?" She glared at him as her anger was clear.

"All right, all right, I am sorry. I love you too." Matei looked surprised by her reaction to the words and he raised his eyebrows. "What did I say Nat?" He asked aloud and she looked away, as her ears turned beet-red out of sheer embarrassment.

"I love you." She finally tapped out and he looked at her with wide eyes and she pulled her knees up to tuck under her chin and he moved both of his arms around her again.

"I love you too." He murmured out loud and she leaned against his chest and they sat in silence for awhile in the meadow, listening to nature.