XXV. The Friend

Rhea's POV

My sister's mate does not have many friends and I am shocked to hear him mention one, let alone smile because of the person. I am immediately offended on Robin's behalf.

I have gotten it in my mind that Luke's smile belongs to her alone. She has been the only person who has made a real smile cross on his face, aside from his nannies and, of course, me, but I don't count because Luke has always seen me as family.

I look at my sister thinking she would share the same sentiments, but she looks happy for her mate. It suddenly dawns on me that she is actually in love.

Life experiences have taught me that people change with those around them. If I were Robin, I would be fearful, but She is not intimidated by someone stealing her mate's attention or whispering in his ear.

I have only ever seen such love between my parents. Not even uncle James and Aunt Linda can compare, and they have a bond that is enviable. I find myself smiling as my sister checks her mate's appearance, and I am so happy she has found happiness in my favorite person within our pack.

Luke has been the only pack member to treat me normally and the name baby B came from him. It does not stand for Brain though; he has never called me that, it stands for baby bird, which is much cuter in my opinion.

We all follow Luke to greet his friend, but I am left staring with my mouth open. The man he is talking to has smooth caramel skin, and hazel eyes to match. His hair is wavy, has natural looking highlights and I know just from looking that his body is equally as amazing as his face.

I don't even know how, but the man is suddenly standing in front of me, and I find myself unable to look away from him. He is gorgeous, and if I am being honest, I wish I had listened to my mother and dressed up this morning.

"Hello," he says and there is a slight accent in his tone that lets me know he is of Latin descent.

"Hi-lo," I reply, mentally kicking myself for my fumble, but my mouth keeps moving. "Where are you from?"

"Panama, but I lived in New York for years." My lips part as my tongue lightly licked at my bottom lip. Both Luke and Lark positioned themselves in a way to pull the sexy man's attention away from me, but I wasn't done.

I stand there watching them, well watching the man, then realize I haven't gotten his name yet. I boldly take a step closer, not really knowing what to do, so I extend my hand, which seems to work.

"Sorry," he says, taking my hand and shaking it. His digits are warm, and the shaking hand motion shows me how strong he is. "My name is Jacques, but you can call me Jack." Waiting to also be on familiar terms I tried to reply similarly, but I failed completely.

"My name is B, but you can call me baby…" I immediately turned red, but I honestly wouldn't mind if he called me that. "I mean my name is Baby B, no, my name is B but..." I am pretty sure I have never seen the vein in my brother's forehead, but there it is, popping out as I try to salvage my botched introduction. Luckily, Luke came to my rescue.

"Baby B doesn't really speak to new people. I think she is trying to be nice because I said you are my friend. She is not only my mate's sister, but also like a little sister to me." That was not it, but I let Luke go ahead and think what he wanted, I also did not fail to catch his gentle warning.

"So, Baby for short?" Luke's eyes flashed, but his mate was near, so it was short lived, and Jack didn't even notice it.

"She is the baby of the house and only fifteen, we all call her B, short for…"

"Bird," I interject. "Baby Brain makes me sound stupid, and for some reason I don't want to seem stupid in front of Jack. I start wondering if I am coming into my urges, but my eyes have been mainly focused on his face.

"Baby Bird is cute," my heart thumps. I know he is talking about the name, but damn if I care.

Robin must have gotten a link from someone because she randomly tells me it's time to cook, and while I know how, I cannot taste test, So I have no place in the kitchen. She pulls me away and I barely get to wave to Jack before I am pulled into my parents' cabin.

"What was that back there?" Robin asks, and I shrug because I have no idea.

"Did I do bad?" I find myself worried and Robin looks at me suspiciously.

"Have you come into your urges?" I nod in embarrassment because I think I have, and if it weren't for the scent blockers, I would probably have smelled of arousal. "If that's the case then you didn't do bad."

"Probably because my wolf is gone," I mutter out.

I just know that if Sylvia had seen Jack, she would have argued with me about how I looked in front him. She was never against me masking my appearance to humans, but she always hated that I couldn't be myself within our own pack. We even had our first real argument when I used henna to paint acne onto my face during break.

I think back to that and always wonder what was on my mind then, and after having ant bite scars that still haven't fully faded, I finally understand what Sylvia was trying to tell me. I was taking a person's real-world problem and making it my mask. It's like a variant of human movies that show werewolves killing and eating human hearts.

"First, if you have urges, it means your wolf is still there, but there is only one way to tell if this is an urge or not." I look at my sister confused. I have never taken wolf related sex education classes because I should have started them right after Colton scared me into a premature shift. "How do you feel down there?" My sister points and I shove her hand away.

"Stop that. Don't be gross."

"Who is being gross?" My mother asks, and Robin smirks at me. I already know what she is about to do, and I regret teasing her with her birthday gift.

"Sorry mommy, I hope you weren't resting." I dart, anytime either of my sisters use the title 'mommy' and not 'mom' it's not good.

A few minutes later my mother knocks while entering my room. I don't need a sense of smell to know it's her, Robin would have barged in and my father would have steered clear of me. As a man with three daughters, he does not do well with 'the talk.'

"Muñeca, (doll)" I remove the pillow from my head and glare at my mother who smiles, making me frown. She knows I hate that nickname and she used it to get my attention. "Baby girl, this is nothing to be ashamed of."

"What did Robin tell you?" I ask, not wanting to out myself if my sister hasn't already.

"She said you made a fool of yourself in front of an attractive male." Just as I thought Robin hung me out as bait and I almost took it.

"I forgot my own name." My mother laughs at me.

"That is normal. Urges are good; they mean…" My mother pauses because she does not know my wolf's name and she knows that I hate speaking about my condition. "Baby girl, she will come back to you. Just give her time."

I turn around and hug my mother. I know that my wolf will come back and in truth I'm both embarrassed and terrified of knowing if my urges have started. It wouldn't necessarily mean I have a wolf, all omega's have dormant wolf spirits, but I know my mother is as hopeful as I am, and she thinks I will make a full recovery.

"How will I know?" I ask my mother, without my sense of smell, I won't be able to tell if I am aroused or not.

"Well… you will feel it; like a rolling in the pit of your stomach that bares down toward your…" I cover my ears.

"Aye, diosa! (oh, goddess!) Please mommy. Stop talking."

"Why? Do you think you'll stay a virgin forever?" I literally flinch and my mother starts to remove her shoe. I can tell she misread my reaction.

"No mommy; I haven't. I was just shocked to hear you say that. You had a different talk for Raven and Robin." My mother relaxes with a breath.

"You are not your sisters. Raven was impatient and I believe that is why the goddess is making her wait, and Robin is…" My mother pauses while shaking her head. "Let's just say that Luke is good for her." I can agree with my mother on that.

My sister has calmed all the way down. She doesn't start random fights and while she still takes pride in her strength and training, she is more concerned with taking care of her mate, which has made her a much more approachable person.

"I didn't feel any of that," I say after staying silent for a while. "Jack is just very handsome. I don't think I have met anyone as beautiful.

"My little scientist must have forgotten what she looks like." My mother removes my glasses and I feel naked. "When will you stop hiding yourself?"

"When either my wolf or my sense of smell comes back to me," I reply.