Tangled With The Fated Mates

Claudine's Pov

Claudine opened her eyes and groaned. The sunlight streaming in through the stained windows of the little room hurt her eyes as soon as she opened them. She automatically flipped an arm over her eyes and groaned again.

"Today's adoption day," giggled Annette.

Annette is one of the overly chirpy roommates that Claudine had been saddled with for the past six months in the orphanage home. There were so many mornings that Claudine wished she could hear just her mouth, and today was one of them.

Utterly oblivious to Claudine's thoughts, Annette continued eagerly to the other girls.

"Miz Lucas says I'm going to be picked today." She bounced giddily on her toes as she proclaimed the girls who made suitable happy noises back at her.

Claudine climbed down from the bunk bed, plunking her feet firmly on the ground to distract them and keep them quiet even for a minute. She succeeded because they all paused in their conversation to spare her a glance. Annette hissed and sneered at her, encouraging the other girls to do the same.

"It can never be you, Claudine. You would stay here, getting old and dirty, and finally, become another Miz Lucas to look after new orphans." The other girls nodded their heads readily in agreement.

"Well, good luck to you" –she nodded her head in Annette's direction-" and to your minions" -she nodded her head to the other girls.

Annette started to vibrate. "Who are you calling minions? Do you think you're better than everyone else around you? You're-"

But Claudine had shut the door firmly against them at this point and thankfully stopped the tirade. She didn't care to hear what she was in Annette's opinion. If the people coming for adoption could take them all, she would be eternally grateful to fate for playing such a hand.

She quickly brushed her teeth and showered. She may not feel like lining up to be examined by strangers, but she still had to show up and make herself presentable. When she returned to the room to dress up, she found the room quiet and empty.

Claudine sighed and sat down on her bed to reminisce about her life. If only she had grown up in a natural home with her birth parents, she would not be here trading words with teenage girls with overinflated egos. She got up and walked over to her box, rummaging for something suitable to wear.

A voice suddenly called her name from the landing.

"Claudine Gofflin! Come down here right this minute."

That had to be Miz Lucaz. No one else drawled her surname as she did by putting an emphasis right at the end of the surname. She did it in such a way that "Gofflin" sounded like "Goffleeen." Claudine sighed again and shut her box with a bang, after which she hurriedly dressed up.

"I'm coming," she called back as she went through the door to go down the stairs and into the hall.

Usually, on adoption days, both sexes line up in the hall, all the boys to the left and the girls to the right. The younger ones stood in the front line, and the older ones stood just behind them. Then, the couple or family seeking to adopt any of the orphans would casually go around to inspect and screen till they found a spec visually. Today was no different.

A young girl of fifteen with sky-blue eyes and rich dark brown hair appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Her pink, rosy lips parted, and her beautiful voice was heard all over the room.

"You called for me," she said primly to Miz Lucaz.

"Fall in line, girl," whispered Miz Lucaz quite fiercely.

Claudine did as she was told. Whatever energy she heard was best conserved for standing and smiling at the strangers when they started to make their rounds. Annette caught her eyes and stuck her tongue at her, but Claudine completely ignored her.

A family of three had walked in then. A man in his fiftyish years with a thirtyish woman and their young daughter who looked like she could be in her early twenties. The woman's voice sounded sweet but sounded like something you could easily get tired of hearing quickly.

"Darling, we're adopting mostly for Arielle. She has always wanted a sister, so it has to be a girl. And probably someone quite close to her in age."

"Okay, okay," replied the man, who appeared to be someone who quickly gave in to his wife and daughter's whims.

He had something Claudine called a bulldog posture in her mind's eye. When he had gotten closer to Claudine, she could see the tufts of hair coming out of his ears and from his nostrils. His skin looked like he could use more sun, but he appeared decent enough aside from that.

The woman called to the daughter, whose name was Ariella.

"Ariella, baby, come check out the beautiful girls here."

Up close, Claudine thought she had a lofty carriage, almost certainly reminding her of Annette and her little clique. Or maybe it was all just in her mind due to her morning encounter with Annette earlier.

Claudine could see Annette preening as the girl called Ariella stood in front of her a little while longer than she had done the other girls she inspected. But she sailed past her after a while to end up in front of Claudine.

Ariella looked at the mousy girl in front of her, who had a certain kind of beauty but, indeed, was not as pretty as she was. Her parents always told her that she was the most beautiful girl on the planet, and that was a fact.

"Do you like her?" asked her mum.

"Yes, she will do quite nicely. I do pick her to be my foster sister." She smiled back at her mum.

Claudine's Pov

"An excellent choice!" Exclaimed Miz Lucaz, who would have made the same pronunciation for anyone who happened to be selected.

"If you all come into my office, we can prepare the paperwork for you guys," she continued.

Ariella's mother, Janey, clapped her hands delightedly. "Yes, yes, please." she turned to her daughter and asked, "Aren't you excited, too, love?"

"Sure, mum. A foster sister at long last", she responded sweetly and with an innocent look on her face for the sake of bystanders.

The truth was, she didn't care either way if she had gotten a foster sister or brother or whatever else they put up for adoption in this rundown, shitty orphanage home. It was just that being an only child could be tedious at times-no one to have rows with. Or punish. Or torture. An evil smile started to spread on her lips.

Claudine had caught the evil look that had flashed across Ariella's face after she smiled, and it had given her a bit of chill for reasons she could not quite put her finger on. But what could be worse than growing old in an orphanage home because no one else ever wanted you?

"Run along now, kids. Get back to your duties for the day. Your supervisors would be at their stations", said Miz Lucaz in quite an authoritative voice. A voice Claudine wouldn't have to listen to anymore, and the thought of that made her smile.

As the children scattered back to their duties as commanded by Miz Lucaz, Claudine saw Annette's sad face, and for a moment, just a tiny moment, she felt for her. In reality, they all would like to escape the drudgery of the orphanage home and live in a natural home with grownups who could care for them. Or pretend that they do, at least.

Janey, her husband, and daughter marched with Miz Lucaz into her office, with Claudine bringing up the rear. Miz Lucaz's office was like all the other rooms in the orphanage. It was small and cramped, with several cabinets crammed full of papers. Miz Lucas had once mentioned how running an orphanage on a very tight budget had made it unable to afford certain things like the services of a personal assistant. So the result was having her office look like it did now.

"Please sit," Miz Lucaz gestured to two of the chairs placed in front of a desk that had chipped surfaces, "Mr and Mrs-?"

"Zaynader," responded Ariella's dad in a flat monotone. He could not wait to get this bit over and out of the cramped little room. Crammed spaces always made him nervous and gave him heart palpitations. He had never admitted it to anyone, though

. In his work about life, it was better never to admit weakness. That's how you get killed easily. So, he shifted uncomfortably in his chair and tugged at the neck of his collar to loosen it up.

Ariella and Claudine stood against the wall as there weren't any chairs for them to sit on. Ariella was careful not to touch any parts of her body on the wall, which looked quite grimy to her.

After five awkward minutes, Miz Lucaz whipped a file out with a flourish. The clutter made it difficult to find things.

"So if you could just read through, sir and ma'am," she glanced at Janey and her husband as she spoke, " you could sign right at the bottom if you agree with all that is on the paper."

A minute or two of silence as Ariella's dad and mom scanned the documents.

"What's this it says here about visitations? I thought you guys had already sent someone to see our place and ensure it was conducive enough to house another human?" Janey asked in a tight little voice that Ariella and her father recognized.

It's the same one she took up with cashiers at malls and grocery stores, the voice that said, 'Hold up, I know you would love to rip me off, but I ain't about to let ya.' Yep, that one.

Ariella's dad allowed his wife to do the talking. She had always been the smarter one out of the two of them.

"Ah, it's-well, you're right. We did send our representative to check out your house and its living conditions. But the clause on the paper is for future visitations." she looked at them as she talked, darting her eyes from one person to another. When Miz Lucaz was sure she had their attention, she continued.

"So if we get any report from Claudine here about any maltreatment, we would like to know in advance that we can send our representative to come over to your place and investigate."

"Okay, that's fair, I suppose," responded Janey as she signed the paper and pushed it over to her husband to do the same.

Miz Lucas beamed at them. "So, that's it. We're done here."

"Thank goodness," muttered Ariella's dad as he made his way out of the cramped room fast before the others.

One of the orderlies had packed Claudine's stuff and brought it out by her new family's car.

When Claudine passed Ariella, she suddenly yanked the beaded necklace from around Claudine's neck, which caused the string to cut and the beads to scatter all over the floor. "What an ugly-looking necklace. I've been wanting to do that all day."

Claudine looked at the beads as they scattered on the floor; it was the only thing she had of her birth parents. Miz Lucaz said it had been in the basket that was left on the doorstep of the orphanage. Claudine didn't know when the tears started to roll unchecked down her face.

"Oh crap. The mousy girl is a big crybaby too. Just get in the dumb car, dumb girl", said Ariella as she shoved her hard into the backseat of the car while her foster parents looked on like it was alright to shove teenage girls around.

Denzel's Pov

Denzel Anderson stirs; he doesn't open his eyes yet as he's still groggy from sleep. He'd just woken up from a profound sleep.

The previous night, they had marked the time of the month when the full moon was at its highest point. The Wolves of the Blackmoon pack, him their Alpha included, had stayed up till very early the next day running and fleeting through forests of aspens and beech and pines with dense undergrowth, frolicking and hunting, fevered baying and barking wolves scattered all over rolling hills deep in the woods that formed the heart of their territory.

The full moon was high in the sky, and they had felt its pull, the substance of the Lunar body tugging at their whole hearts. The sheer energy of its light had seemed to course through their lupine veins.

At intervals last night, Denzel had climbed onto ledges and rock outcroppings, lifted his snout at the moon, and howled out of his whole heart his worship and affection for the moon.

All over the territory, his pack had paused and lifted their snouts and howled their equal affection, their howls ringing out from all over in bone-chilling harmony.

They had dispersed and returned to town exhausted but in high spirits after their Alpha had called off the hunt just as dawn had begun to change the indigo-blue of the well-lit night into lighter shades of blue.

Humans would be waking up any minute now, and they didn't need any unnecessary attention drawn to their activities. Their Wolf ancestors had kept their existence and knowledge of their activities hidden for numerous generations before them, and they had to remain that way, hidden.

Humans had the bad habit of fearing what they couldn't understand, and that fear, more often than not, turned into hate, which spawned violence. They could, of course, deal with hostility from humans; after all, what could the humans possibly do to harm them?

They were faster and more robust than humans, and with their much more heightened lupine senses, it was near impossible for humans to hunt them down using stealth.

If they didn't already smell them from a mile away, they'd hear their fragile hearts beating from yards away. Besides, they couldn't be found unless they wanted to be.

They didn't conceal themselves from humans out of fear; it was much easier to avoid opening the can of worms discovered by humans.

As they'd shifted from their wolf form, he had called out for his Beta. Still, Reid had been unaccounted for, leading Denzel to conclude that he had either taken off earlier or was still out hunting and had strayed far from their territories, which would be an overly reckless and irresponsible thing to do.

Denzel had hoped it was the former. He was livid, though; he'd expected to confer with his Beta on what to do about the Bluefur pack.

The pack of rogue vagabonds had lately been encroaching on their territories, and knowledge of this had begun to cause undertones of unease within the pack.

He wanted to do something about it and nip the threat in the bud before it became a stubborn branch that'd poke them all in the eye.

But Reid Venigor was not exactly known for being very responsible, and here he was not only putting himself and potentially the entire pack at risk of premature conflict with the rogues but also risking being discovered by early bird humans who were already awake and about at that time of day.

Since the death of his parents when he'd taken over as Alpha, he'd kept pack activities running smoothly. As his orders and policies stemmed from very well-thought-out plans, he expected to be obeyed to the letter and disliked deviations from them. Deviations meant disorder, which in turn led to chaos.

Lately, though Reid seemed to do as he wished, almost deliberately disobeying especially, he seemed to have agendas of his own.

Denzel cared little for whatever plan he had going on. He just needed to know that whatever it was didn't interfere with the pack's welfare and his responsibility to it. The Pack needed to see that It was safe and cared for, or It would lose faith in Its Alpha and overthrow him.

He hated the idea of disappointing them more than he feared death at their hands, though. He would have to call Reid to order. For now, though, he had to get home. His bed – with his lover in it – awaited him.

Denzel heaved a breath and blinked open his eyes. It was clear daylight already, and his large glass windows allowed a lot of light into his bedroom area, so it was pretty bright in there, white curtains billowing over them.

A glance at his classic (80s Japanese) bedside digital clock told him it was just past noon. He looked over to his right, reaching for his lover simultaneously. His hands landed on empty sheets just a half second before seeing that she was no longer in bed. He rolled over sluggishly and sat up as his lips parted to call her.

"Looking for me?" Nira said in her characteristic soft voice as she walked in, hips swaying, carrying a steaming mug.

"Good morning, baby," he replied, grinning. She looked so beautiful in his eyes with her auburn hair and sharply defined jaw; her skin looked radiant in the bright room, and her gorgeous petite body looked lithe in his oversized flannel shirt reaching down to her mid-thighs. He knew she was wearing very little underneath.

"Good morning, my love," she muttered, smiling. She'd reached where he sat and handed him the mug. She reached down to plant a kiss on his cheek.

"It's past noon just by a bit, but I know just how much you love your coffee, so there you go,"

"Ah," he breathed as he took a sip and leaned back, "I needed this."

"Yeah, and there's a truck coming up the driveway," she said over her shoulder as she began to walk away, "it looks like Reid's."

So that was why he'd woken up. It must've been all that crunching of tires on gravel as the truck had driven up to the house.