Catch Me When I Fall

The Others Among Us

***Scarlette's POV***

Aimee and I are up early despite our option to sleep in, since it's not a school day. Aside from that, we have a long weekend anyway since tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

It's also the most beautiful morning, perfect for a good run.

Aimee and I shift back into our human form, and Aimee's face holds a triumphant smile.

"I won! I won!" She exclaims.

"By a couple seconds. And my wolf is way smaller than yours, so technically, I won."

"You wish."

Aimee and I share a laugh, but we suddenly spot another wolf in the distance, trotting with a slight limp.

"Did you hear?" Aimee asks, turning to me suddenly.

"Hear what?"

"Last night, super close to Khai's house, there was a fight. I'm pretty sure that wolf there is some guy named Rassler. He's a rogue and he stepped onto Alpha Jatix's territory."

"You mean our pack's rival alpha?" I question.

Aimee nods.

"But get this. Rassler used to be Jatix's Beta. I'm not entirely sure what happened between them, but Jatix despises him now. I wonder if Rassler was trying to make amends. Whatever the case, things ended somewhat badly."

"Hopefully Khai wasn't tangled in that mess." I say worriedly. "But his house isn't on Alpha Jatix's territory..."

"No, but that's just where it happened. I hope Khai didn't get tangled in all that either." Aimee pauses, seeming very thoughtful. "Scarlette... have you ever noticed that we never see Khai's wolf around?"

I stop, realizing I've never actually thought about that.

"You're very right... we haven't."

"It's so weird, Scarlette. We don't see him at all, he's never even acknowledged that he's your mate, not to mention that chocolate incident. Sure, it's safe to eat chocolate in our human forms but it can be kind of hard on our wolves... Khai's not like that. He's sweet and gentle... it's hard to imagine him purposely doing that to his wolf. If I didn't know better, it's like he's not even a werewolf."

"His parents are, so he has to be. But you are right about everything else. I mean, maybe he just really loves chocolate but still... it's also like he doesn't know we are werewolves, you know what I mean? Like he can't sense our wolfish presence."

"Wait Scarlette, I've heard of that before. Some werewolves are nose-blind. It's not common, but it does happen. Maybe that's why he doesn't know that we're werewolves too, or that you're his mate."

"So without my intervention... he won't know we're fated mates." I realize.

"Right." Aimee concords.

"So I should tell him we're werewolves like him. Maybe he'll feel like he fits in a bit better with us, then. I can't help but notice he likes being around Tyrone more than us." I say sorrowfully.

"Guys are just like that. It's not that he dislikes us. He enjoys having us as friends." Aimee is about to stop there, but she quickly adds, "But once you tell him, I'm sure he'll enjoy the bonded partnership just as much."

I nod.

"The only thing is... it's gonna be a bit of a struggle. My dad told me to never talk about being a werewolf in public and..."

"Tuesday's the first quarter. You know what that means for us." Aimee smiles and wiggles her eyebrows.

"Okay..."