First Shift

Ch. 14

I collapsed against the wall of the classroom. We had been working for the last three hours straight and I was fatigued. I hadn't even really done anything other than stand and stare at Skye for the majority of it. For whatever reason I couldn't get the hang of the communicating in my wolf form. Skye had told me that it would take time and that this was only my first day of class. Maren told me that each wolf has things that they get the hang of easier than others. But both told me this when we were in our wolf forms so it really only succeeded in annoying me. "Kye! You coming?" Skye asked. I looked up at her. She was standing in front of me and I could tell by the look on her face she had been trying to get my attention for a few minutes. I thought back to the the last message that I had received when I was in my wolf form: "Stay after" it was a message from Corrigan, who had been standing off to the side of the room, still in her human form. "You can go ahead I need to use the bathroom and maybe go take a shower. I will come find you later." I told Skye. She nodded and left the room Ryan following after her. I glanced around the room, no one else was here. Corrigan and Maren where the first to leave, the others had already shifted and changed by the time I finally gave up, for today, on communicating. "You stayed," Corrigan said. She walked into the room alone, her hair untied and falling in waves around her face. "You told me to." I replied. She nodded and motioned for me to get up. "Did you mention this to anyone?" She asked. "No, I figured you didn't want me to otherwise you would have just asked after class." I explained.

We left the room instead of going down the stairs like I expected she pushed away a section of the wall next to the stairs to reveal another set of stairs leading up. "You think things through," she said. "What do you mean?" She motioned back to the room we just left. "When you were trying to tell us apart you couldn't figure it out, then you thought to use your nose. When I told you not to think when it came to the shift it took you a minute but you figured it out. Now tell me smart little pup why can't you figure out how to communicate as a wolf?" She asked. I stared at her back as we climbed up the stairs. Her question tumbling through my mind. "I'm...not sure" I finally said. Corrigan stopped and turned to look down at me. "Then let me give you a clue. Communicating takes a connection to the wolf you are trying to 'speak' to. As a pack we already have a connection in place: the bond. So half the work is already done for you, you have the connection so why is it so hard for some wolves to use that bond and communicate?" She asked. Our bond is what marked us as pack. It connected the entire pack and let us feel each other: where we were, how we all felt, and if Corrigan was right it let us speak to each other. Some wolves purposely blocked information coming from the bond, others blocked it unconsciously. As far as I knew only the Alpha kept the bond completely open at all times. "People have trouble with communicating because they don't let their connection with the bond open?" I asked. Corrigan smiled down at me. "Andrea is great at communicating she understood it easily. However she is still having trouble shifting, why?" Corrigan asked. I thought about everything I knew about the shift and about Andrea. "She can't let go of the control being human gives us," I said confidently. Corrigan arched an eyebrow and didn't answer. She turned around and started back up the stairs. When the stairs ended the floor laid open before us just like the second floor. The room made me think of an attic hideaway lounge. There were couches and bean bag chairs strewn across the floor a giant flat screen tv was bolted to the right side wall to my left there was a kitchenette and along the back all was a book shelf that ran the length of the room. At the end was a end table with three laptops piled on it. "What is this place?" I asked Corrigan. She moved away from the stairs and claimed a dark red bean bag. "This it 'the lair' the getaway for Betas." Corrigan said. "There are hidden niches like this all over the compound for the different Gammas, the omegas, pups, and even the Alpha has one." Corrigan explained. "Why?" I asked. "Didn't I just get done telling you to use your head? When pups shift for the first time they need help, mentors, as a pup you really only know other pups. These hideaways give you a place to go to get away from everyone if you need and it's a place you can meet and befriend older wolfs in the same position you are in. Everyone with access to this room will be a Beta." Corrigan said. After Corrigan explained it I realized it made sense to have something like this. It had to be helpful to all new wolves. I finally moved away from the door and plopped down on the couch not far from Corrigan. "Good, now before you go and relax I didn't bring you here to laze around." Corrigan said. I shifted uncomfortable under her gaze. "You need more training then the rest of those pups, as a beta it is now your responsibility to protect the pack from harm," Corrigan told me.