Mutt ~GxG~

Chapter 21

A bit of a longer chapter lol. I wanna write more tho.

Lunch comes around quicker than I anticipated but I'm too eager to care. I walk over to my usual lunch table with Sophie to tell her that I'm sitting with the pride today only to notice she isn't there. Weird. As I walk over to the pride table I'm greeted by rowdy banter that I'm unused to after sitting at my usual table for so long.

"Hey Bridgey!" Nico hollars from the table. I chuckle and wave awkwardly.

"Hi Nico." He scoots away from the other lion who I recognise as Ariel Jr to make space for me.

"Hey, there you are. C'mon, I thought we should teach you about lion pride cultures as a, well, pride." Leya says softly.

"That makes sense." I reply as I make myself comfortable at the table.

"I guess we should start with the legends and stuff?" Ariel suggests, digging into some cafeteria fries. Leya nods in agreement.

"Okay, let's do it!" She exclaims cheerfully. Nico crosses his legs before beginning.

"So in our pride, I'm not sure about other ones, we were taught this legend by our parents."

"Mostly Ariel Sr, actually." Ariel Jr chimes in with a mouth now full of fries, actually it sounds more like "Moftly Awiel Seyow, actwy". The others nod and Nico rolls his eyes before continuing.

"Before the creation of the earth, there was only one, the Goddess of the Universe Cruinne-cè. Tired of her loneliness, she created three children to govern the universe with her. The Sun God, Ghrian, The Moon Goddess, Gealach, and The Star God, Rionnag. The children grew under their mother's wing until they, too, began to create. The eldest, Ghrian, formed the sun and flame. The second, Gealach, formed the moon and sea. The youngest, Rionnag, formed the stars and wind."

I ate my own cafeteria food half heartedly, focusing entirely on the legend Nico told. "Can I have that if you're not eating it?" Ariel asks in a whispery voice, tentatively moving her hand towards my fries. I nod before focusing back on the story.

"Cruinne-cé, wishing to gift her children, created the earth for them to live on before taking her home in the void once more. Many centuries passed of the siblings inhabiting the planet alone until Cruinne-cé gifted her children once more with the gift of animals, each one taking their life energy from the Universe Goddess herself. The children used their mother's gift to form their own. The God Rionnag crafted bears using their spirit, The Goddess Gealach crafted wolves using her mind and The God Ghrian crafted lions with his heart, hence our story completes." I furrow my brows.

"What about humans and supernaturals?" Nico shrugs, crossing his legs and leaning back.

"It's been a while since I heard that myth so I can't tell it word for word but the gist of it is that Cruinne-cé really likes spoiling her children so she made humans and Rionnag got bored and was hunting with their lover before they missed their spear throw at a bear and hit their lover, Mathan, instead and didn't want him to die so they melded his spirit with that of the bear's and BOOM bear shifter."

"And the other shifters?" I ask slowly.

"Well there were more gods afterwards, if Rionnag had a lover, the others did too so they obviously reproduced and made more gods. The other gods basically stole Rionnag's idea and made their own symbolic animals into shifters."

"And other supernaturals?" I ponder

"I dunno. Ask my mom." Laith groans at that.

"You're useless. But I guess we should move on if we're gonna finish within the lunch hour." Laith sighs before she nods to Ariel who freezes, looking like a deer caught in headlights as she reaches for Leya's half eaten burger. I snigger.

"I-uh one second." Ariel blushes as she swallows the food in her mouth and drops the burger before clearing her throat.

"Get on with it, Ari." Nico groans impatiently.

"Okay, okay! Jeez!" Ariel sighs before beginning. "I'm technically Leah's future beta so I've been educated on this sort of thing. As you know, Leah's father is the Alpha of our pride, the ranks are similar to that of a wolf's as it was the easiest for humans to comprehend. The difference being that we don't have omegas or gammas and the way we gain our ranks. While most wolves are born into their rankings, lions earn theirs. Theoretically Nico or our cousin Lynn or even Laith-"

"Gee, thanks." I hear Laith mutter

"could become the heir, but Leah's the most powerful of us, any of us could still become the heir but we'd have to beat Leah in a duel first and that won't happen any time soon." The others chuckle at that.

"Continue." Laith prods.

"Beta rank's given by the Alpha, or Alpha heir. I'm the third most powerful in our generation and the reason Lynn isn't Beta is because I'm closer to Leah, both emotionally and in age. Everyone else is just a delta." I nod my head.

"That makes sense." I clear my throat as the bell rings.

"Well let's just all go I guess." Leya murmurs.

"This got awkward real fast." Nico jokes.

I wonder where Sophie is?

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Okay, I kept calm for most of the day, busying myself with class and stuff but I haven't heard from Leah or Sophie and once in a while Ariel or Nico will look down at their phone or text someone while squishing their eyebrows together and now that school's over and I'm home and 'Guel is god knows where, I have nothing to distract me from my concern so I message 'Guel, saying I'll be gone for a bit visiting Leah. And Zoe, voicing my concern on their whereabouts. And Leah, on the fact that I'm going to her house. I was about to board my brother's car but I notice that it's not in the apartment's garage. Hahaha that helps my nerves.

Instead I call an uber and pretend to be on a very long call to avoid awkward conversation with the driver.

Upon arriving at the Pride House, I ring the doorbell. Of course, with a family that big, you don't have to wait very long for someone to get the door. Tora answers the door with a worried expression that immediately brightens when she sees me.

"Oh, hello!" She smiles warmly. I force a grin in return.

"Hello ma'am. Um," My eyes flit around behind Tora looking for Leah. "Is Leah home?" Tora's worried expression returns. Oh shit.

"I'm afraid not, she's dealing with something right now."

"Oh, um" I gulp. "Where might she be then?" Tora casts me a pitiful smile. Fuck. Something's up.

"She's at Denver Health." I'm a bit relieved knowing she's physically okay but what about mentally? I mean Laith did say it was pride business, she must be so stressed. Leah had dealt with my bullshit for so long and she also has all this? I'm about to leave when Ariel peaks out behind the doorway.

"Oh hey, Bridgette's here. She looking for Leah?" Tora nods.

"Sick, I was just about to go find her. You know, beta stuff. Wanna come along?" I nod profusely.

"Aight get in the truck."