Chapter One

Tree…tree…another tree…oh what a surprise another tree. This is great, just great they are going to drop me off in the middle of nowhere. Sigh…my life sucks. I pulled my oversized grey sweater closer to my body and dropped my head against the window and closed my eyes so I wouldn't have to look at the obviously remote and dull scenery or my social worker Clarissa who seemed to have a permanent frown plastered to her face. What the hell did she have to look so upset for I was the one being shipped off to my umpteenth home! Sometimes having two dead beat parents sucked.

"We're here." Clarissa said loudly enough to wake me from the light sleep I had drifted off too.

I opened my eyes and slowly got out of the car, stretching my body from the long car ride. The house was nice. It was two stories and had a warm, homey vibe coming off of it. I snorted. I knew better than most that looks could be deceiving. This would be my second Loup's foster family and I was not looking forward to it. I had nothing against the Loups Garou but they had so many unspoken rules that it was hard for a normal girl to keep up with. Everything was about balance with them. Someone led and someone followed. Someone had to dominate and someone had to submit.

I grabbed my one, old beat up suitcase and trudged my way up the porch steps. Taking a deep breath, I placed a smile on my face. I was going to make a good impression. These people were going to like me or at least tolerate me. Damn it I was not going to be shipped off to another family in only a matter of months. I would get through a school year without having to switch.

Clarissa looked at me. "You ready?" She asked.

I nodded my head and smiled even harder.

She knocked. Then we waited. All too soon a short, plump woman flung open the door and enveloped me in a big hug. I was suffocating and the whole hug you before being properly introduced thing wasn't flying with me but hey I needed this home so I sucked it up and hugged her back. Letting go, she took a step back and looked me up and down. I knew at the moment I wasn't much to look at. I had been in the car all day so my clothes were rumpled and my hair wasn't the neatest.

"You're a pretty thing if I do say so myself. Now come in, come in, and don't be shy. I'm Beatrice. Now have a seat here while I bring you two some snacks and something to drink." She rushed out while pushing me down onto an overstuffed couch. I took the time to glance around while my social worker pulled out paperwork that had to be signed before I could be released to the Hamilton's. There were pictures everywhere of family outing's and birthdays. The room was cozy but a bit of a mess and judging from the amount of kids in the pictures I was about to be welcomed into a family who had enough kids to form a baseball team. It wasn't unusual; Loups usually had really big families. Beatrice bustled back into the room and promptly began serving me and Clarissa. The brownies were homemade and awesome. Beatrice was a little on the bigger size but she wore it well. Her eyes were a warm brown and her red hair flew all over the place. I was beginning to like her already.

Beatrice signed the paperwork and Clarissa left me with a "Call if you need me" and I was left alone with my new, for lack of a better word "mother."

"Come on hon, I'll show you up to your new room. You're going to have to share with my oldest Vanessa but she's a dear and a big help around here so I'm sure you two will get along just fine." She grabbed my suitcase and led me up two flights of stairs into the attic which had obviously been converted into a bedroom. "Here you go. You get great light up here and you girls have your own bathroom." She said while placing my suitcase onto a twin bed with rose colored sheets. My husband Arnold and me are on the second floor. He's a good man and you'll just love him. Everyone does. The two oldest boys Cody and Andy have a room in the basement. The girls Madison and Chloe share a room on the second floor and so do the youngest two Timothy and Lillian. So there's seven in all and with you here it makes an even eight. Now I'm going to leave you to unpack but you holler if you need anything. My pups will be home soon from school and then I'll go about introducing you to everyone."

I slumped down onto the bed after Beatrice left the room feeling overwhelmed. I didn't even have a chance to get two words in. But as foster moms go she was by far the best I had, had in a while. The room was neat and it was obvious that a girly girl lived in here. I didn't mind I could be pretty girly myself at times. God I just needed all this to work out. I started unpacking and placing my stuff into the empty drawers. Unpacking was always the first step in making myself get more comfortable with a place. I needed a shower badly so I jumped into it. The bathroom was small but hey if I only had to share with only one other girl I wasn't complaining. I had been staying at a group home the last couple of months and sharing two shower stalls with eighteen girls. I scrubbed myself head to toe until I was satisfied then jumped out and threw on a pair of faded jeans and an old blue t-shirt. I straightened my black locks and carefully applied some make up to my face. Satisfied with my appearance I slipped my feet into my ballet flats and cautiously made my way down stairs. I was ready to meet my new foster siblings.

Just as I placed my foot on the last step of the stairs, the front door swung open and in poured a loud crowd of rambunctious kids. They were all yelling and shoving each other as they made their way into the house. I froze, unsure of how I should introduce myself. Thank God Beatrice chose that moment to make her way into the foyer. Seeing me standing there out of place she grabbed my hand and pulled me next to her. By now the group had noticed me and were staring me up and down.

"Guys I want you to meet Cynthia. She's the girl I was telling you about. Cynthia these are my pups." Beatrice said with my pride. They stared and I stared. None of us making a move toward the other. Finally a tall, lanky girl stepped forward.

"Hi I'm Vanessa your new roommate." She said while holding out her hand and just like that the ice was broken.

The kids were nice. None of them had as yet tried to kill me, humiliate me, or make me feel unwanted. That was a rarity these days in the foster system so I was counting my blessings that night as Vanessa and me headed up to bed. Arnold their dad was a typical Loups Garou male. Meaning he snorted and grumbled a lot but over all seemed nice. Once the door was shut Vanessa pulled me down to her bed and demanded I tell her all about myself.

"Well, there's not much to tell." I murmured. How do you explain to someone with an obviously awesome family and good home life that mine had sucked? Hence the whole living with stranger's thing I had going on.

"Oh come on!" She whined. " Favorite color? Family history? Boyfriend? Anything!"

"Ok, well, my parents are not the most…upstanding people in the world so I've been in the system since I was eight. I've been moved around a lot. You're my second Loups family. The last one was alright but none of us really ever clicked. Oh and I don't have a boyfriend. How was that?"

She smiled. "That was a good start. I think you and me are going to be good friends. And God knows I need one! I'm not exactly the most popular around here and well I help mom out a lot with the younger kids and I don't have a ton of free time to socialize." She said happily.

I smiled an honest smile. She was the first girl in a while that I could see myself having a genuine friendship with and I was happy for it because I needed a friend just as badly as she did.

The next morning came fast and the alarm was way to shrill and loud. I pulled my pillow over my head and prayed that I was only dreaming about the alarm clock ringing. I heard a grumble from the bed beside me and a whack as the offending object was turned off.

"Come on, Cynthia we have to get up." Vanessa yawned out before heading into the bathroom.

I rolled out of bed and began searching for something appropriate to wear. I wanted to look decent on my first day. I finally settled for some straight jeans, an oversized sweater, and some flats. I jumped into the bathroom after Vanessa came out to wash up and then made my way downstairs. Mrs. Hamilton had made a huge breakfast and the entire Hamilton clan had dug in with gusto. No matter how many times I had started a new school I still got incredibly nervous. My body was shaking slightly and my stomach was in knots. Beatrice poured me some juice and took a big whiff of me at the same time.

"You smell of fear, hun." She said.

I had forgotten how powerful the Loupes nose was. "I can't help it. I hate first days."

"Now hun, don't you worry. Vanessa will help you get settled with school and if anyone messes with you come home and tell me and I'll bring it to the appropriate authorities."

I was touched. No one had ever said anything so profound to me before. My life had left me scarred on the inside and I found it difficult to express any emotion or affection. So I settled with grasping Beatrice's hand briefly and murmuring a quiet "thank you." She smiled back at me and nodded her head.

"Out with you guys before you're late for school." Mr. Hamilton boomed.

We scrambled from our seats and grabbed backpacks and lunches and began the trek to school. We swung by the elementary and middle school and drooped off the younger four Hamilton's and then continued on our way to the local high school.

The building was huge and I could tell that I was going to get very lost trying to find all of my classes. Cody and Andy located their group of friends and made their way over to them.

"Come on Vanessa you got to go to the office and get your schedule." Vanessa said with an encouraging smile.

I took a deep breath and followed her up the stairs and through the glass doors. I cautiously followed her down the linoleum hall. The typical high school lockers lined the hall and students stood grouped off with their friend and clicks. God being the new kid sucked. I just hoped that no one here decided that putting the new human girl in the dumpster was a fun idea. So lost in my own thoughts I almost ran head first into Vanessa who had stopped outside a door labeled office.

She turned her head to look at me. "This is it." She said before pushing open the door.

I took a gulp of air and followed her through.

The office lady was a big, broad shouldered woman who spoke in a monotone voice and shoved my schedule into my hands.

The day went by quick and all of my classes seemed manageable. No one as of yet had locked me into a locker or threw me down the stairs so I considered the day a success. Lunch came around and I quickly searched out and found Vanessa sitting alone at a table. I slid into the seat next to her and pulled out my sandwich.

"How was your first set of classes?"

"Not bad." I shrugged.

"Anyone mess with you?

"Nope. They all kept away from me for the most part."

"They don't know how to treat a human. We don't have many of them around here."

"I'm ok with that. I can live without being noticed."

Suddenly a commotion came from the side of the cafeteria. A beautiful Loups female was arguing with another. She was tall and slender and had cropped blond hair. She radiated a power that made me cringe.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That's Anne. The alphas adopted sister. She's basically the alpha female because the Alpha hasn't found his mate yet." She explained.

"Adopted?"

"The alpha was adopted into Anne's family when he was just a little boy. His family was brutally murdered by rogues. Anne's father found him wandering around his parents' house covered in their blood. They say that's why he went so feral. He's a really dominate alpha and very powerful. A great alpha but he always toes the line between Alpha and feral. Just stay out of Anne's way. She's a bitch in the truest sense of the word."

"What about the Alpha?" I whispered, he did not seem like the type of man I wanted to run across.

She chuckled. "Don't worry we are way to unimportant to ever see him in person. I've only seen him from afar a few times."

"Thank God." I breathed out and with that the conversation turned to more normal things.