Timber Alpha
Chapter 3

I rolled my eyes at her as I turned to grab clothes out of my closet, I thought I was so careful, Ihoped she was the only one who seen because if either of my parents caught me I'd get theranking members need to act like such’ conversation for about the thousandth time.

“It wasn't a walk of shame Farah,” I huffed at her as I sifted through my drawers instead forsomething to throw on.

"Ok, Ok, you weren't ashamed, but Rowan... huh...” she was wiggling her eyebrows at me now as asly grin formed on her face.

“We're just friends Farah, nothing happened.” My voice came out soft and unsure, I wasn't surenothing happened, but nothing Farah was thinking, happened. As close as we were I never crossedthat line with Rowan, and he's never pressured me to, not that Echo would sit by and let it happenanyways.

"Sure, sure,” she said pausing, staring at me caught in my own thoughts, “but I expect details later!”“Farah!” I scolded, taking my clothes behind a room divider to change, not that it did much as herhead came popping around the side of it.

"We grew up together Avi, I'm not blind,” she stated firmly as she rolled her eyes at me.

Farah was constantly encouraging me to act on things with Rowan, but he was a perfect gentleman,and as long as there was no pressure I didn't want to ruin anything if he didn't end up being mymate. As I slipped on a pair of jeans with light tears down the front and a dark blue spaghetti strapshirt, my stomach let out a louder growl than in the clearing, now clearly demanding to be fed assoon as possible.

"Oh my god Avil” Farah laughed as my cheeks turned shades I'm sure.

She cupped a hand against her cheek like she was going to whisper, faking some silly but scaredface, as she pointed to my stomach behind her hand and giggled, “Let's go eat before it getsangrier.”

I let out a chuckle and grabbed a brush to quickly deal with my hair, it was getting so long but Icouldn't bear to cut it. It was almost past my butt and thick as could be, but I was grateful that itwas manageable — mostly. I slipped some mouse through and scrunched my hair a few times withthe towel before heading to the door. My stomach felt instantly empty, it had been close to an hoursince leaving the clearing — and I was starving then.

As we went to leave my room, it was as if Farah just noticed what I was wearing, “Your mom's goingto throw a fit, shouldn't you change?”

“No one is here until tomorrow Farah,” I shrugged my shoulders and opened the door. My parentscould be strict about my clothing choices when we knew other ranking members would be here, or Iwas going out of the house, but generally they didn't care what I wore inside.

As she walked past me, I noticed she had on a nice tan colored summer dress with short sleeves,that came just past her knees, and some black flats. She was always dressed and ready to be seen,especially after her 18th birthday, she wanted to look presentable for when she found her mate.Rejection was something that happened rarely, but she wasn't going to take any chances, as ifwhoever looked at her wouldn't instantly fall to her feet, she was gorgeous.

Farah cleared her throat at me, drawing my attention downwards as she wiggled her toes. I widenedmy eyes as I looked towards my own feet that were without shoes. I slinked back into the room andwiggled my feet into the first pair of sandals I could replace before dashing back out the door.“Seriously you could have put in a little effort’ Echo whined. I did feel slightly underdressed, but itwas too late now.

Echo had become increasingly more vocal and somewhat annoying over the past six months.Shortly after I turned 16 she started to appear to me, helping me along with things and learningwhat we could all do together. She was an extension of me and I adored her, but usually she wasfairly laid back, only talking when she really opposed something or knew I needed her.

My birthday was in two days and I would be 18, old enough to replace my mate. This is what she livedfor, she would stop at nothing to replace our mate, and as much as I could see the benefits, I also hasreservations. What if my mate was boring? What if I had to move somewhere cold? Or far awayfrom the only family I have? I was also young; I knew it could happen quickly, but I had hoped for atleast a year of freedom, a year to explore and get into some kind of adventure of my own.

That's when the smell hit me like a brick wall and I couldn't control the way my stomach sounded inanticipation.