Chapter 73: Summer Begins

*****EJ’s perspective*****

The last few months have been good. The lost boys had a new home and new friends; they were doing great with training, too. The twins now looked fourteen like me. If no one knew better they’d think we were triplets. Artemus and Sebastian were dating now. He was a little overprotective but that was the mate bond. Sara and Christopher had joined the pack and were doing pretty good considering everything they went through. I still had hope we would find their parents some day. Mom and Dad have been the atypical parents of teenagers; I think we were driving them insane. Layla finally joined the advanced group as did the lost boys. And Layla and them were graduating tomorrow. Overall, things were great.

School was finally done, at least for summer. I was looking forward to the Magic the Gathering Tournament in July. It was in Boston. I thought I had a good handle on my emotions and powers. I hadn’t had any issues lately; Nathan was a great person to talk to about stuff and had helped me a lot. “EJ,” a voice said. Who was that? I didn’t recognize the voice. Was someone trying to mindlink me?

“EJ,” it said again.

“Who are you,” I asked.

“I’m Max.”

“Max who, I don’t know any Max and how are you mindlinking me?”

“I’m not mindlinking. I am your hybrid wolf.”

“What?”

“I finally got my voice.”

“Why did it take so long?”

“Because you shifted before you were actually a year old. I had some developing to do still.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

“EJ,” another voice said.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m Zeus. Your wolf.”

“Nice to finally meet you guys. You guys are a pain in the neck sometimes. Do you have to fight with each other over who I shift into?”

“I’m the better one,” Max said smugly.

“That’s debatable. He should be more wolf, like the rest of his pack.” Zeus said.

“Guys, stop fighting. I shift into who I think is better for the situation, so don't fight about it.”

“Sorry, EJ,” Zeus said.

“Sorry,” Max said.

So now I had two voices in my head. They were loud and obnoxious. At least now I knew they could understand me. I went to find my father.

I told him I met my wolves, Max and Zeus. And he organized a pack run, we hadn’t had one in a while actually. He said it was so Max and Zeus could introduce themselves to the others. We would run in wolf form so Zeus could get to know everyone first. After the run, they would stay in wolf form and Max could get to know everyone while we sat around the bonfire. Max wasn’t happy about not being first. I told him to suck it up, he can’t always be first.

After getting to know everyone’s wolves, we shifted back. We roasted marshmallows and made smores. The pack elders told some stories that sounded scarier around the fire. After the stories, we cleaned up and went to bed.

When I woke up, I wasn’t me, I was Max.

“Max, what are you doing? Why did you shift?” I asked as I shifted back.

“I didn’t, you did while you slept. You were having a nightmare.”

“What, how can I shift in my sleep?”

“You shifted in response to fear, it was instinct.”

“Great, now I’m doing things in my sleep. Guess I should tell Nathan.”

I got up and got dressed. Then went downstairs to help with breakfast. It had become a daily ritual: five o’clock wake-up, get dressed, help with breakfast, train. I had changed up the training schedule so I could help with breakfast. Instead of training before breakfast, I now held training after. Breakfast started every morning at seven o’clock. Now that school was out for summer, training would start at nine o’clock. Some people had to work, so those that missed the morning training sessions would catch the evening training sessions after dinner. Kyle, our beta, held a training session every morning at six o’clock for the beginners. Jake, our gamma, held a session at six also for the advanced group. After dinner, the three of us held sessions at seven o’clock. On Saturdays, I held three training sessions: one at nine o’clock in the morning, one at one o’clock in the afternoon, and one at seven o’clock in the evening. Kyle and Jake held three sessions also; at six, one, and seven. The seven o’clock session was mixed. We paired everyone up with a different partner every week so they could have a different challenge. Jake also held patrol training on Saturdays to train the new recruits if we had any. Newly shifted wolves had a choice in joining the patrol ranks; unless it was necessary to increase patrols.

Anyway, after breakfast, at about eight thirty, I headed for the west training grounds; that’s where I held my sessions. Kyle had the east training grounds and Jake had the south training grounds. My mother used the north training grounds for her self-defense and evasion training for the girls. She held her sessions at four o’clock in the afternoon every day.

Ethan and Lucas were always the first to arrive, just before me. Then the lost boys would arrive. The rest trickled in over the next fifteen to twenty minutes. While we waited for everyone to arrive, we stretched. Most of those I was training were newly shifted but advanced. We did a mix of martial arts for about thirty minutes and then we shifted into our wolf forms and trained as wolves, except Lucas and Ethan. I paired everyone up for the wolf training. It just worked better that way. I would occasionally let Max out to spar with Ethan and Lucas, too.

After training, I had my session with Nathan. He was staying at the Barnette estate and I would see him there. Of course my body guards still followed me everywhere. I had mentioned this with my father, telling him I’m practically indestructible. And asking why I needed them. He of course said it was for my mother’s sanity. I felt it was for his as well. Aunt Rose seemed to have taken an interest in one of my guards, Spencer. Most days, I could hear them my entire session talking and laughing. I didn’t have to see Nathan every day, but I went when I was feeling off, which was almost every day. Sometimes my mother came for sessions, too. Aunt Scarlett would sometimes talk to me when I was there but I noticed she didn’t talk to anyone else. Our conversations were usually short, she was just wondering how I was doing and stuff. But it made the trip over more worth it. She had a really nice voice and I wondered why she never spoke to the others. Mom says she sings a lot, in her head and not out loud of course.

Nathan said I might be feeling off because Max needed to be let out more. He tended to scare people so I didn’t let him out a lot, mostly just during training. So I decided to let him out more to explore our territory and just be him.

When I finished my session, I went home for lunch, letting Max run the whole way.. After lunch, I would hang out with my friends, except on Saturdays when I would head to the training grounds. Those days I hung out with them after training. Ethan and Lucas were getting quite good, they were still twigs but had improved a ton since February. They were the only two in my training sessions who hadn’t shifted yet.