Astrid

Chapter 3 - The Birds ate the Bees

Astrid was growing up very quickly, and lately she seemed to grow an inch a day. She was now 12 and in junior high, standing at an impressive height for her age of 5'2. Evan turned out to not be the love of her life as she so boldly claimed that first day. That title went to Jack. Then Ivan and George. Am I missing one? Oh and her current garçon du jour, Henry. His mate was boy crazy.

Every time she brought one of those little shits to his house, he'd scare them away somehow. Maybe it was the fact that when they would come for dinner, Andrew would let his wolf out for a split second as Astrid was turned away. His glowing eyes would meet their frightened ones, and he smiled just enough to let his canines graze his lips. Let's just say they never came back.

     She never went farther than holding hands with any of her male suitors. She had once admitted to me that she was scared to give away her first kiss to just anyone. It had to be special. This made Andrew and his wolf extremely happy. She would be completely theirs as they would be completely hers. He just had to wait a few more years.

Astrid was almost of shifting age and she was very excited. She's known to keep her race a secret from the other kids at school, and lately Andrew made sure to emphasize that she was ready to shift at any moment so she should take precautions. Shifting at school would surely scare the kids at the playground. Maybe it'd stop the boys from coming around.

She had already had her first period a month ago, and it was an extremely awkward situation. Andrew had been passing by her room when he heard her tell his mother that she was bleeding. Naturally he was scared that she had gotten hurt so he rushed in. However, the look on Astrid's face of pure embarrassment told him everything he needed to know. This was a good sign though; now she could start her werewolf training once she shifted.

"Andy!" A shrill scream pulled Andrew and Nolan away from their work.

     "Ah shit she's back." Nolan ran a hand through his ginger hair and sighed. He knew what it was like to have pups in the pre-teen stage, and he didn't want to relive that at the moment.

     "Hey I heard that." Astrid strutted into the office as though she owned the place. She pointed her finger straight at Nolan and began to scold him. "You can't say those words mister."

     Nolan began to laugh and Astrid joined in. Seeing his mate happy made Andrew happy, so he reached out to give Astrid her 'back from school hug' as she called it.

     "How was school ma chouette." Andrew had begun to call her that a few years ago, and Astrid could only tolerate the nickname when it came from her guardian.

     "That means my cabbage. I learned that in French today. All these years and you've been calling me cabbage?" Astrid looked exasperated, but Andrew knew she was joking. His mate was one for the theatrics.

     Suddenly feeling very much like a third wheel, Nolan cleared his throat. "Well all this talk of food has me hungry. I'm going to get a snack." And with that Nolan had exited swiftly.

     "What else did you learn today in school?"

     "Nothing much, but my health teacher said we're learning about the birds and how they ate the bees." Andrew nearly choked on the air.

     "Um... Astrid... I think you mean the Birds and the Bees." Andrew was starting to get uncomfortable, but this saved him and his mother from a very awkward conversation later on.

     "No silly. Ms. Renee said that the birds ate the bees because they were tired of the patriarchy. It says it right here in my notes." Andrew registered that for a moment and started laughing. Ms. Renee was honestly a misandrist who gave feminism a bad name. He had had many bad experiences with the woman.

     "Trust me sweetie; the birds eat the bees, but it's not because they wanted to topple the patriarchy." Nolan suddenly appeared with a salad in his hands. His mate, Reese, is a health god who only lets Nolan eat dirt and grass.

     "Is it because they're hungry?" Astrid was suddenly very curious.

     "Yeah... something like that." Nolan stuffed his face with salad to stifle the laughter crawling up his throat. Andrew sat passively behind Astrid not wanting to make a scene and scare her. He did know, though, that when Astrid left, Nolan would have hell to pay.

     "Well that doesn't make any sense. Georgina and I leave them seeds every morning and they eat them. Also, that seems very mean since the bees are dying." Astrid was getting frustrated, so Andrew moved to soothe her. After a while she mumbled something about homework and left the office.

     "What was that about?" Andrew was furious at his friend for making such conversation with his mate.

     "Relax Andrew. Why? Does her talking about sex offend you?"

     "It does not offend me. It's crude and she's just a child."

     Nolan rolled his eyes. Humor glinting in his brown irises. "The kid doesn't know what sex is. It's like in kid shows when they hide sexual innuendos for the parents. Anyways, she needs to learn about it before... you know." He made an obscene gesture with his hand. This made Andrew roll his eyes.

     "Whatever. We still have to finish all of this work."

     Andrew was unnerved at the thought of mating with Astrid. His wolf didn't like it. She's going to be our mate. He had to remind it to himself over and over again.

     Maybe one day he'd actually believe it.