Coming of Age Ch. 02

"Oh yeah," Myth said as she remembered, "that freaky bond thingy that they have," she sat and waited for Serenity to do whatever she needed to do to, to function.

Slowly Serenity's mind and emotions became her own as her sister put up a series of blocks, Serenity could still feel the pleasure her sister was feeling but now it was muted to the point of being simply background noise. Serenity sat up and took a deep breath. "I didn't need that," she said as she ran her fingers through her short hair, rearranging her spikes as she went.

Gwynt chuckled, "I can sympathise." He stood and offered a hand to help his sister up.

Serenity got up, her feet a little unsteady.

Thanks Ren... that could have been dangerous if it had continued any longer. Thais said into his sister's mind.

How are you? She asked a little concerned.

Tender... da says it'll pass. Fucking scary though. He answered and Serenity snorted.

"What's so funny?" Crystal said as she joined them.

"Thais... he's tender." Serenity answered and got answering grins from Myth and Crystal.

"He has to take it like a man." Gwynt added, "It's a test of character, of strength and trust."

"We know squirt." Crystal answered as she nudged him.

He grinned and nudged her back as Sasha ran in, "Hi everyone..." she frowned as she glanced around, "where's Temperance..."

Everyone but Sasha cracked up laughing.

Maria took a deep breath as she held a gong, striking it with the stick, it made a deep sound that could be heard throughout the manor and some of the surrounding grounds, "DINNER." She shouted then moved to get out of the way from the inevitable stampede. Sage and Gwynt came barrelling down the stairs followed at a slightly slower pace by the others, Ancients (those who were here) appeared near their chairs choosing to avoid the madness as Were raced to the food.

Lupa walked in through a garden door dressed only in a pair of sweats. A small gaggle of children were brought in by Anna and directed to their smaller table then started the sometimes painful process of getting them food, thankfully as Were they would eat almost anything however as cubs they sometimes had peculiar habits. Maria and Eric's twins, Willow and Briar, for example, Briar had to have everything with ketchup regardless of what it was and Willow only wanted to eat macaroni and cheese. Traci and Kar, Sienna and Gillian's twins, were much easier as they would scoff whatever was put down before them. Sienna came over to help Anna as Gillian went over to make sure their older son Quinn, who was born six months after Keira's scratching and two months early, ate something other than just meat when the food arrived.

Amy walked in and with a simple thought the food which was waiting in the kitchen was suddenly on the table. Those who were older waited for the younger ones to get their food. Sasha reached over Sage to get some bread as Vivian went to work putting food on her daughter's plate. Amy had kept her promise to Sasha and had put a tag on her name just in case, tragically only days after her birth both her parents were killed in a car accident while they were taking her home. Since she was pack no one in the government questioned who would get the little girl as that was up to the Alphas to take care of, several pairs had put their hands up willing to take her but Amy had said no and placed Sasha into Vivian's arms.

It had stunned Vivian as Amy said 'here you go, her name is Sasha and she's yours,' without even asking if she wanted the little girl. When Vivian had questioned her, Amy had shrugged, 'I'm keeping a promise; I promised her just in case something happened to her birth parents to make sure she gets back to her adopted mother. You.' When Vivian asked when this happened Amy gave her a pained look, the look she had whenever she talked about that other universe, Vivian then nodded, she didn't need to know, handed Sasha to Lupa and redecorated their rooms to include a crib.

Lupa had been besotted the moment he first saw the little girl and protective from the moment he first held her, she was his and he would protect her and love her forever like he did with all his family. He watched his young daughter almost obsessively as she got her plate together, he would never get over the fact that he had a family.

The three new adults were almost the last to come in and Temperance entered with a bashful blush. "Hey Temp who attacked you?" Sage asked a little concerned as she saw fading bruises.

"No one." Temperance said as she adjusted her collar and found a seat.

Keira waddled into the room, her hands rested protectively on her rounded stomach, Ghan hovered around her. "Ghan!" She snapped, "I'm pregnant not an invalid... back the fuck off." She told him. Several chuckled in amusement; everyone had known that Keira and Ghan were mates long before they became so. However, it had been a shock for Keira that on her coming of age Ghan tried to claim her, tried being the operative word; she had gone mental, demanding to know how long he had known before kicking him from her room and slamming the door in his face. From that moment on their relationship had been rocky with many ups, downs and shouting matches, they were currently the most volatile couple who lived in the manor but they loved each other unconditionally. Temperance and Bastion however may surpass them in the volatile couple department.

Bastion quickly snagged the seat next to Temperance as everyone settled into their seats. Vivian studied Bastion and Temperance and smiled, "it's about time you two started getting along." She said and those who knew just why Bastion and Temperance were friends now cracked up laughing.

"That's right... get it out of your system..." Temperance said giving them a bring it on gesture with both hands.

"Get what out of their system?" Sage asked as she served herself.

"Bastion is my mate!" Temperance declared boldly knowing what was going to happen when she declared it.

There was silence for a moment before the whole room cracked up with laughter. Temperance and Bastion just sat and waited for them to cut it out, in a way both could see the humour in it; they had been at each other's throats since she was old enough to crawl. To be honest if he had thought about it he may have come to the conclusion that she wasn't out to be the bane of his existence, she just wanted to be around him as if she had known subconsciously he was hers.

When the laughter finally died down everyone got down to the process of eating and celebrating.

Wolfgang checked his watch later that night, they were all in the family room, some were reading, others were watching TV or playing board games, the young cubs had been put to bed ages ago and the older ones a few hours later. He cleared his throat and Amy glanced up from her book, he tapped his watch and Amy nodded. She put her book aside and stood, "Temp, Ren, Thais... it's time."

The triplets nodded and stood, they followed their mother from the room. Wolfgang didn't rise to follow, as this had nothing to do with him, it was something only Amy could do as it had to do with her blood. She was going to take them up to the ley-line which was forbidden for anyone to go near until they were adults with good reason.

Alanna, Electra and Sage had been out running on Sage's eighteenth birthday and had in their boisterousness stumbled into the special clearing with its four stones at the compass points. Like with Amy back at the Kings Men a mist had risen up but the three had fought it and tore out of the ring. They had managed to get home barely and had spent a week in bed trying to recover from it, however they didn't recover and it took Amy taking them back out to the stones and getting them to sit there and let the Teg do what they wanted before they finally recovered. It was however the next day that they noticed the 'crest' Amy had on the back of her neck was now permanently inked into their skin in different spots. Sage's sat between the shoulders of her wings, Alanna's sat on her right inner forearm and Electra's sat on the back of her left thigh. Amy had then decided that it was best to get this 'branding' over with however she would not do it until her children came of age, Ash had been next to be taken to the ring and it had been a lot easier on him so everyone agreed to do it her way. Now it was the triplets turn to encounter the strange energy and blurs of light which seemed to be so fixated on their blood line.

The four left the room and quickly exited the manor; they paused just outside of the door and stripped down, Amy's eyebrow arched up as she took in Serenity's new additions. "I hope they're metamorphic." She said before she turned and shifted, letting her beast out, her shift was rapid and liquid. Her body grew to its full proportions and when she finished she was four times the size of her mate but her size had finally become fixed, she could be smaller but she hadn't gotten any bigger in almost ten years and was unlikely to. She yawned and stretched then turned and waited for her children to shift.

Thais was the next to finish his shift, he shook his body, his odd two toned coat made rippling patterns which were hard to watch, he was only slightly smaller than his father and still had some conditioning to do before he would look like a fully grown male.

Serenity was next one to complete her shift and yawned showing off her teeth; she then sat and proceeded to groom herself. She was half the size of her mother but her paws hinted that she still had some growing to do, her distinctive facial markings distinguishing her from her twin had grown darker; the tips of her ears now were also black.

Temperance butted her head against her twin and started to lick her twin to help with her grooming. Like her sister she still had some growing to do and her own markings were darker, she also had black paws like little sockets. Thais moved over to his sisters and sat before them. He felt a little out of place with the cats but he accepted it.

There had been a little bit of concern when Gwynt had his first shift and shifted into blond wolf cub, people wondered if a boy could ever be a Sabre and assumed all the boys in the family would be wolves. The theory was squashed when Ash experienced his first shift after being adopted; he had turned into Sabre with black socks up to his elbows, white toes and bold black and grey markings. Now all they needed was for a girl to be born and shift into a wolf to confirm that it didn't matter if it was a girl or boy the beast would be whatever it needed to be.

Come, Amy said and trotted off into the night, she was followed by her now adult children, although to her they would always be her little cubs. The midnight hour was fast approaching when they finally made it to the ley-line. They paused just outside of the ring of stones and shifted back into their human forms before they walked into the ring and sat, moments before the mist started to rise. They all closed their eyes and just accepted whatever was about to happen.

Serenity groaned and slammed her hand on her alarm clock before she dragged herself out of bed as she had classes today; she walked into the bathroom and looked at herself. Glancing at herself she saw that she was covered with green paint, the gift from the Teg as Taliesin called it, her mother called it annoying. She turned to the stall and turned the hot water on; she stepped into the stream and groaned as the hot water drummed against her skin. She lathered a sponge and attacked her skin knowing it would take time and effort to get all bar the crest from her skin. She wondered where it would be but knew she would only find that out when she stopped scrubbing.

When she was happy she turned the taps off and dried herself thoroughly. She used her towel to wipe her foggy mirror. It took her a simple moment to find the crest as it was hard to miss, it sat on the left side of her throat, neck and it also went up behind her left ear and partially across her shoulder, chest and back. It was a lot bigger than the ones on Alanna, Electra, Sage and Ash but that was understandable as they were adopted.

"Okay..." She said to herself and went about getting dressed as her stomach started making feed me noises. When she was dressed simply in a pair of faded jeans, long sleeved grey shirt and army boots, she ran her fingers through her short hair and willed it into the style she liked with lots of irregular spikes. She grabbed her bag, shoved the books she needed into it and her note pads before she grabbed her Badget and raced down stairs for food.

Temperance sat in the dining room glaring at the kitchen and her mate. Since leaving their parent's home, Temperance had basically claimed the kitchen as her own and did most of the cooking.

"Let me guess... kicked you out of the kitchen." Serenity said as she sat.

Temperance nodded.

Serenity studied Bastion and shook her head, "doesn't he own anything other than a suit."

Temperance shook her head she had gone through his things while he was sleeping, suits and nothing else. "I am however going to rectify that this afternoon since I don't have classes, I might try to do something with the grey hairs and make him look less... stuffy."

Thais raced up stairs and turned to his sisters, the first thing he noticed was Serenity's crest as it was very hard to miss. He jerked up his shirt and showed part of his own crest as it covered most of the right side of his chest. Both turned to Temperance who stood and turned around lifting the back of her shirt showing that her crest covered her entire back. Bastion growled a little as he walked in with food.

Temperance jerked her shirt down, "cut the possessiveness, they are my siblings." She snapped at him as she sat and started to eat, admittedly she had missed his cooking. Crystal was suddenly in the room and Myth soon entered with Han. Bastion sat and joined them when the last of the food was out; breakfast in the house was a very rushed informal affair as they all had different class times.

Temperance glanced at her mate and glared for a moment; she reached with one hand and yanked the tie off. "Don't put another tie on," she ordered, "my last class finishes at one, be ready we are getting you a new wardrobe."

"Yes dear," he said resigned to his fate.

"Nuh ah," she smacked him gently; "you did not just yes dear me. We are not my parents!"

He rolled his eyes and focused on his breakfast.

Everyone pretended to be very interested in their breakfasts and tried not to laugh, they had experience in this, Ghan and Keira were a wild mix and others' laughter only made it worse.

Temperance checked her watch, loaded toast with scrambled eggs, bacon and tomato and stood. She kissed her mate good bye and raced from the room.

"Sorry Bastion," Han said as he followed Temperance.

Myth and Thais were quick to follow, Bastion just waved them off; he wasn't bothered as he knew that everything he had made could be reheated later or eaten cold.

"Bye Bastion," Serenity said as Crystal stood gulping her blood.

"Thanks for the food." Crystal said, "Oh... if I catch your scent in my room I'll hurt you."

Bastion snorted, "You wish."

Serenity sat and sighed as Crystal went to get coffee; their first class had been a simple lecture which was good as she didn't think she could wrap her mind around anything too complicated at the moment. She felt uncomfortable in her skin, her siblings had told her that they had felt powerful after their encounter with the Teg, more in tune with their full potential, but it went further than that for her, she felt the power that they did but she also felt the stirrings of an Alpha within her, the power which could never be used because no pack could have two Alphas.

Her cat just projected a simple thought in her mind, are you surprised? It asked; I know I am not.

There can't be two Alphas and I will not leave my family to form my own pack, WE will NOT be Alpha. Serenity told her cat firmly. The cat just watched, swishing her tail for a moment before she began to groom herself, ignoring her human side.

Ren, Thais said gently into her mind.

Yes? She asked.

When you get home, we need to talk. He told her earnestly before he left her mind and threw up a block to keep her from entering his conscious thoughts.

Serenity came out of her mind as Sky and Jasmine joined her with their own drinks, and Crystal came with a tray of coffee and food. Leaving Serenity no time to ponder her brother's words or begin to think about what he had seen.

"Gez, we don't see you for a day and look at you?" Sky said, "Nice tattoo by the way who did it?"

"The Teg and it's not a tattoo... as such... more like a crest." Serenity explained as she touched it, it was completely smooth; she couldn't even tell were the mark was and only knew where it was from her memory.

"The Teg?" Jasmine asked.

Serenity nodded, "the twylfth teg," she said as if that explained everything.

"Oh," Sky said sarcastically, "the twylfth teg, I thought you meant some other teg."

Crystal snorted in amusement.

"Sorry," Serenity said, "I forgot that you didn't have the same education I did." She pulled out her Badget. "You can Google it." She said as she offered it to Sky. "Twylfth is spelt with a y not an e." She added as it was a common mistake.

Sky did just that and read for long minutes before turning the Badget to Jasmine who quickly read the page.

"Okay, so... why the sudden change?" Sky asked as she stole a cookie.

Serenity chuckled, "Sky... yesterday was exactly one month after my nineteenth birthday."

Sky clicked instantly, "Coming of age day... man I'm an idiot."

Serenity chuckled, "not your fault, it's not like it is a part of your culture."

"Okay... I can understand the haircut and the piercing, but the twylfth teg is a little beyond me." Jasmine said as she handed the Badget back.

Serenity nodded, "It is a little complicated, see it is something unique to my family." She said not quite knowing where to begin to explain.

"You can't just leave it like that? Is it a secret?" Sky asked quickly.

"It's not a secret; it is just... difficult to explain." Serenity said as she dug out her wallet, she pulled out her id card and handed it to Sky. "Check out my race," she prompted.

Jasmine leant over and both sets of eyes went to where the race was indicated, W/A/?, "Huh?" She said and turned to Serenity.

"I always wondered why there is a question mark in race section," Sky said a little bewildered, they all knew what the forms looked like as in order to get their driver's license they had to also get their identity card as the two were linked, although you didn't need to get a driver's license to get an identity card. The identity card had been implemented fifteen years ago, it had been a simple idea, something someone could carry to prove who they were and or what they were as well as age, a year later the identity card had been linked to the persons driver's license making it so that only one card was needed. Slowly but surely the world had cottoned on to the idea and implemented their own cards. Now the identity card also doubled as a passport as there was a readable chip within the card which had yet to be counterfeited.

"Well you have to prove your race anyway, it's simple when your parents are already in the system, ma had a hell of a time trying to explain that she wasn't Were or Ancient she was something else, however since she can turn someone she eventually agreed to say she was Were and because her mother was Ancient she agreed to be that as well but when they asked what else she was she said she didn't know, so they put a question mark, she then warned them that others would need cards who fell into the same unknown quality so they included the question mark." Serenity explained.