26

As Ophelia was only thinking about herself when she left, and Frank was only thinking about his mate, the two left Luke and Leigh in Harley and Rayna's care.

About an hour after they left, Luke, Leigh, and Rayna are hanging out together in the living room of the Alpha Wing while Harley works. The two are only three to four years younger than Rayna, as she just graduated high school while Leigh is in the last bit of their freshman year.

"Tell me about you guys," Rayna says, sitting down on the couch, trying to break the ice. The two sit next to her.

"I'm Leigh. Fifteen, pansexual, non-binary. I use they/them pronouns, so . . ." Leigh starts, stressing out the 'o' in 'so'. "I came out to our mother a few months ago, having known what I am since sixth grade, but she just doesn't get it. Goddess, was she pissed when I cut my hair." They chuckle.

"Name's Luke. I'm sixteen, and a cis dude. I'm asexual, but I'm refraining coming out to my friends and mother for the time being," Luke adds.

"Cool," Rayna comments. "I can already see why you wouldn't wanna come out to your mother."

"Yeah," Luke awkwardly agrees, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I can't believe she just left you two here," Rayna mutters.

"Eh." Leigh shrugs. "She leaves us a lot of places without realizing. One time she left us at another pack during a large gathering all because she wanted her grand exit."

"Yeah. Anywhere is better than with her," Luke chimes in.

"Well, I'm sure you guys can stay here for as long as you want," Rayna tells them.

"She'll come back for us in a few days. Good thing we have clothes here," Leigh says.

"Do you two go to an all year 'round school?" Rayna asks. "Just wondering 'cause of the uniforms."

"Yeah. We have like, one more week until we have two months off," Luke explains.

"Cool. I just graduated high school a few weeks ago. What's that kinda school like?"

"It's nice. To be honest, it works a lot better for me than just non-stop school for nine months," Leigh exclaims.

"Agreed," Luke pitches in. "The uniforms aren't even that bad considering it's a lot better than my last school."

Rayna nods. "Sounds nice."

"So . . . How did you and Harley meet?" Leigh questions, wiggling their eyebrows.

"Oh, uhm, he was visiting my pack," Rayna tells them. They nod.

"What's your family like?" Luke asks, then awkwardly chuckles. "It has to be better than ours, right?"

"I don't think so," Rayna says honestly. "I'm adopted. I have three older brothers, who are all biological, and my mom died when I was fourteen. Since then, my adoptive dad and one of my brothers have been abusive towards me—both mentally and physically."

"Oh . . ."

"But everyone has their own problems, and their experiences and emotions are valid," Rayna says, shaking her head and smiling to change the mood. "Anyways, you guys like board games?"

*~*~*~*

It isn't until supper a few hours later that is able to have a conversation with his siblings, as he was busy working all day. Since it was the four of them, they decided to eat in the Alpha Wing, but they still had Jade come and make food for them.

"So, the new school's been good?" Harley asks.

"Yeah. We've made some good friends already," Leigh says happily.

"And how are your grades?"

"They're better," they tell him.

"What about you, Luke?"

"They're still good," Luke assures him.

"Did Ophelia drag you out of class or what?" Harley questions.

"No, it was early release," Leigh explains.

"Oh, okay. If she did I would've been pissed," Harley says passively. "What do you two think of Rayna?"

"She's a keeper!" Leigh exclaims.

"Yeah. She's really nice," Luke adds.

Harley chuckles as Rayna blushes.

*~*~*~*

Later that night, Rayna and Harley are cuddling in their bed.

"You were amazing today, baby," he whispers. "Not only did you handle my mother, you used your powers for the first time and kept my little siblings company. I love you."

"Mhm. Thank you, babe. I love you, too," she mumbles back.

She gives him a little kiss on the check and snuggles into his chest, quickly falling asleep. He smiles, kisses the top of her head, and follows her lead.

*~*~*~*

When Harley wakes up the next morning, he decides to take a few hours off work to show Rayna his passion for photography. It's been a while since he's been out to take pictures, anyway.

Luke and Leigh were escorted to school on time by Keane, who had volunteered to do so.

At 9:50 A.M., Harley walks into the bedroom where Rayna is sketching.

"I'm taking you out today!" he exclaims. She looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

"Like . . . out on a date, or out as in you're gonna kill me?" she asks.

Harley facepalms. "Yeah, I'm gonna kill you," he says sarcastically. "Obviously I meant on a date."

Rayna giggles and stands up, setting her sketchbook down. She walks up to Harley and gives him a kiss on the cheek. "I'm just messing with you."

"I know," he says, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her forehead.

"Lemme go get ready."

Just a few minutes later, Rayna is dressed in a cute outfit and ready to go. Harley smiles, already dressed in very ripped jeans and a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He has his camera on him with a cross body strap.

They walk through the castle together to the garage, where they have an assortment of cars to choose from.

"What do you wanna ride in?" Harley asks.

"Uhm, that white Jeep?" Rayna says, unsure.

"Okay."

They hop inside.

"So, you're gonna be taking pictures today?" Rayna asks.

"Yeah," Harley tells her, nodding.

"Cool."

Harley drives them into town, and they jam out to loud music all the way there. It turns out that they're both somewhat fans of Sam Hunt. The ride ends when they reach the pier to a large lake. Rayna recognizes it as Lake Regiis,which is the Latin word for Royal.

Harley parks in a small parking lot next to the pier, and they step out.

"Wow," Rayna comments, looking around at the gorgeous scenery and opening her arms to feel the soft breeze. "This place is beautiful."

"Yeah," Harley agrees, walking around the car to Rayna. "It's on of my favorite places to take pictures."

Rayna nods. "I can see why."

He starts walking to the pier, and Rayna follows. There's some people kayaking out on the water and a little island out there. To either side of the pier is a Long Beach right next to the highway with a little wall made of stones separating the two. Between the beach and the water were rocks, and pine trees surrounded them.

"What should I take a picture of first?" Harley asks, holding up his camera.

"Uhm . . . the beach with the water and the trees," Rayna replies, motioning towards where he should look.

He nods. "Cool idea."

She blushes a little bit, able to hear the snaps of Harley's camera, and sits on the little wall. She watches Harley as he takes pictures before the wind blows her hair into her face, blocking her vision. She brushes it out of the way, and when she can see again, Harley is taking pictures of her.

*~*~*~*

They're at the pier for a good hour, playing together in the sand and water when not taking pictures, before they leave to go somewhere else. Rayna doesn't know where, but she's hungry. Harley knows just the place.

Soon, they pull up to a cute little cafe in the city.

The head inside, the door jingling, and take a seat at a booth. It doesn't take long before a waitress hands them both a menu, and as Rayna is looking down at hers, looking through what she should order, she hears a snap.

She looks up to see that Harley's camera was pointed towards her yet again. She smiles and blushes, giggling. There's another snap.

"Harley!"

*~*~*~*

After lunch, they headed back to the castle to go on a run together in wolf form.

The two of them walk behind respective separate trees (even though it's nothing that they haven't seen before at this point) and strip from their clothes, folding them up and neatly setting them down by the tree. Then, they shift into their wolves.

Harley's wolf has a pitch black coat with a gold patch of fur on his right hind leg in the obvious shape of a crown, signifying his royal status, as of his size didn't already give it away. Rayna's Wolf is a beautiful blue with a black raking of a vine and flower crawling up her right front leg. She's surprised when she realizes that her wolf has grown a lot since the last time she shifted. Well, besides the whole "date night gone wrong" situation.

They step out from behind their trees and approach each other, studying the others wolf form.

'You're so beautiful,' Harley mind-links her.

'Say that to my wolf,' she replies. 'Hollow sure is handsome.'

'He says thanks.'

Harley walks up to Rayna and licks her ear, making her shake her head. She then wraps her head around his neck, in somewhat of a wolf hug. Suddenly, she pulls away and bolts off into the forest.

'Come and catch me."

Harley is surprised for a moment before he starts chasing after her.

*~*~*~*

An hour later, Harley and Rayna are laying down in a beautiful meadow together, surrounding by flowers. They were lightly playing by pretending to gnaw on the others limbs, biting the others ear, or softly swatting with their paws.

Out of no where, Harley freezes, his eyes flossing over as he gets mind-linked.

He growls, standing up.

'Not again.'