Secrets in the Skin (BoyxBoy #Wattys2015) **ON HOLD**

Ch.11

-Axel-

Hiro is quiet the whole way back to the Pack House. I don't blame him though, that was a lot of information to take in. Hell, even I'm in shock still. My mate has gifts from the gods. I knew he was special, I just never imagined he was this special.

"Are you okay?" I ask as we come to the end of the tree line as we near the pack house.

Hiro slowly nods his head. "Surprisingly yeah, I'm okay." He smiles up at me. "I feel like I should at least freak out a little bit, but I'm not. I'm perfectly fine, like what I was just told happens every day."

I smile down at him. He is a strong kid. I on the other hand am secretly freaking out. How could something as big as this not bother him at all?

We walk up the path to the porch steps. The parents are gone, making me wonder how long we were gone. I hear noise inside the house, laughter, chatter, maybe a TV. I open the door and the warm air hits my skin. The cold doesn't bother me anymore though. Ever since I first shifted on my fifteenth birthday I have been immune to the cold. Hiro on the other hand welcomes the heat. I keep forgetting he is human and is affected by the cold.

I pull him closer to me as we walk into the kitchen, hopefully giving him some of my body heat. It makes me happy when he doesn't pull away. I glance at the clock on the wall, 5:20, just in time for practice. I watch a few people run for the basement and chuckle, looks like were not the only ones late.

"Do you want to go to practice with me?" I ask Hiro. He looks up at me and nods his head. "Maybe you can even join me," I smile as I remember what Elder Sham said.

"Are there going to be a lot of people there?" He whispers in my arm. I squeeze him reassuringly, I know he doesn't like people.

"I'll be with you the whole time," I say and kiss the top of his head and lead him to the basement stairs.

I hear him gulp and hesitate before walking down the stairs in front of me. I smile as I watch him walk down to the basement where the noise intensifies. A few kids look up at us. They bow their heads at their soon to be Alpha and his mate, only they don't know he is my mate yet. Hiro stops once he steps off the last step and looks up at me with frightened eyes.

"It's okay," I reassure him. "I'm going to stay with you the whole time, Hiro,"

Hiro looks back at the basement filled with teenagers. Everyone from fifteen to eighteen is here. The room expands down here, almost magically bigger than the whole house itself.

"We call this the training room," I say to Hiro who stands close to my side. I like the little distance between us, he is close enough for me to grab and protect if needed, but far apart for no one to suspect anything between us, just like he wants. I honestly don't understand his thinking. He is openly gay at school, yet he doesn't want to be seen with me in my own home. It really hurts me actually, almost like I'm not good enough for him, or I embarrass him.

"It's huge," He says with wide eyes, I smile at his reaction as he temporarily forgets his fright of crowds.

"I'm not even sure how big it is," I chuckle. "But we do all of our training and learning down here,"

"Like what?" He looks up at me and asks.

"Like, learning." I say. "The fifteen year olds have to wait until they turn sixteen to start training." I point to an area filled with desks and a white board. The area looks like a classroom, it even has a bookcase filled with books. "Fifteen year olds have to learn everything in their first year, from our werewolf ways and traditions, how to control their shifts, how to shift properly so it doesn't hurt, to how to prepare to fight and dual."