Raised By Wolves

Chapter Six | Friends

School on a Monday was never easy and yet after the weekend she had, May was glad there was some kind of normalcy to be found in the classroom. Chad wasn't himself, grumbling and distracted through home room; the two other shifters on staff much the same. Even the principal managed to spend the majority of the morning doing laps around his campus, and it was something even the unaware human students found unsettling. Faking an excuse about needing to finishing up some homework, May hid in the library during first break; her friends oblivious to her anxiety but not to everything that was going on around them.

"Since when do they come into a library?" Tiffany whispered to May, her eyes flicking up to someone behind them.

Turning slightly, May already knew who she was referring to. "Dunno."

All the shifters had congregated into the one location. Chad kept an eye on them while flirting shamelessly with the librarian while trying to look up something on the learning network. There wasn't anything too unusual about the current arrangement, but Tiffany was right. That particular group wouldn't be in here, ever.

"There you are!" Josh greeted, slipping into the seat beside May. "You just vanished after history and you weren't with the others."

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to tell you we were coming in here." May found herself blushing slightly, and Tiffany barely managed to hide her giggle as she turned her attention to her tablet and read the page on the screen.

Josh looked around, first at Chad and then other students before answering. "Busy in here isn't it?"

"It's a bit windy outside, maybe they don't like the cooler weather?" May suggested.

"Maybe."

As the session ended, and everyone started their way to the next class, Josh somehow managed to take May's hand in his. His hand was warm, soft and bigger than hers - his grip strong as their fingers simply entwined with each other as if it was the most natural thing for them to be doing. Her eyes found his and a nervous, half smile appeared on his face before May smiled back. To make the moment even better, he swung her hand up to his lips where he placed a small kiss on her knuckles before they kept walking. Tiffany poked May's shoulder as she moved beside her, winking as the girls made eye contact before giggling together like it was some private joke.

The rest of the day went by much the same, and the one after that. The whole week went by in a blur of worry and paranoid glances over shoulders as all the pups understood the severity of the situation now. Chad and Miranda's encounter on Sunday was enough to scare all of them into believing that the threat was real and needed to be taken seriously. Yet it wasn't all bad, not for May anyway as her mind thought of Josh whenever the stress of outside the school worried her.

"So, how about another hike tomorrow?" Josh asked casually at the end of their last class on Friday.

"Um, I think I have a family thing on. I'll let you know tonight."

"Okay." He leaned over and kissed her forehead as they headed out of the classroom.

May was positive she was glowing and leaned in against his side as they headed towards the staff office. There was no more waiting in the carpark alone now, but May didn't care as Josh stayed close anyway. Since the hand holding event on Monday, there had been an easy progression of hugs, shy kisses and as Tiffany mocked, sickening loved filled glances, whenever they weren't actually glued to each others side.

Leanna was already waiting when they got their, her smile looking out of place as she saw them. Her large brown eyes looked tired, lacking her usual over energetic spark. If anyone asked her what was wrong, she simply told them she wasn't feeling well as even her skin seemed pale and dull. She'd spent the last couple of nights at May's since she couldn't handle being in her own house at the moment.