DARK CRESCENT

Sorrow

We arrived, like always, in Juneau around Friday evening. As we pulled up into the driveway of the pack house, Rodney stood on the porch. He was dressed in a khaki colored, corduroy coat, with dark gray gloves and hood. The wind blew through his hair as the headlight beams flashed across his face. He looked perturbed as we began piling out of Moses van.

"Everything okay?" Moses asked, shutting the driver door.

Liam and I were already pulling our luggage out of the back of the van, while Paige stood at the passenger door studying Rodney's face.

"The twins are ready. I'm about to start a bonfire out back" Rodney smirked.

We exchanged looks amongst each other. We were both worried and anxious to meet the new additions to the pack. As we entered the house, Liam immediately dropped his duffel and took off in a jog towards the back doors of the house. Outside I could see a huge pile of wood stacked up a few feet from the back porch.

"I'll just take these up" I nodded to Moses, as I reached down, grabbed up Liam's duffel and headed for the stairs that led to our rooms.

Moses and Paige followed soon after to put their things away before the introductions started. Around nine p.m. I headed outside with everyone else. The bonfire was blazing, and Liam was already working on roasting his first hotdog. Moses was seated next to Rodney as they began tearing into a bag of marshmallows. Paige sat to herself adjacent in a mesh fold out chair. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she had a look of annoyance on her face.

Clearly, she was upset that she wasn't Moses' center of attention for a moment. I was starting to wonder if the whole thought of imprinting on a person was real, because if it were, it was Paige and her codependency. Beside Moses and Rodney sitting on a blanket were the twins. They both had hair so blonde it was almost white and Aquamarine eyes. Other than being the opposite sex, they were practically identical in the face.

Ada was short, with a very tiny, petite figure. Between she and Alex, you could tell who got all the nourishment in the womb. But even still, Ada looked like she stood at five-six, so she was an inch or two shorter than Paige. She was dressed in a cream-colored Tunic sweater under a black and white letter jacket, jeggings, white leg warmers and furry peanut butter-colored boots.

She had her stringy blonde hair up in a butterfly hair clamp. Alex on the other hand was about the same height as me, with a slim, but athletic build. He was dressed in a hooded, long-sleeved black shirt, under a black leather coat, regular, slim fit jeans, and a pair of black and white Retro Air Jordans. His hair was done in a tapered haircut. They looked as if Moses plucked them straight from a high school pep rally.

"Everyone, this is Alex and Ada. Guys, this is the pack. You already know me and Rodney, well this is Paige, that's Liam and the quiet one is Theo" Moses informed, nodding to me.

At the moment, I was busy losing the fight and getting third degree burns on my finger from a marshmallow. At this point it was up in flames and melting from my stick. In an effort to catch it, I missed, and it fell into the brush around my feet.

"Don't you mean Zac" I sassed, licking the remains of the marshmallow from my right thumb.

Liam immediately snickered at my comment. Ada let out a light giggle as well. I looked over to her and she smiled at me.

"Just ignore him he can be an asshole at times. Although, the bite is as bad as the bark he's a sweetheart" Rodney smiled.

"Plus, I won't bite unless you ask me too" I muttered, not looking up, digging through the marshmallow bag.