"Red." I answer, even though I'm pretty sure she already could guess that. "Rubrum."

She smiles so wide I could count her teeth. "Is that Latin for red?" I nod. "Oh, it's such a pretty word!"

I giggle slightly at her enthusiasm. "I guess. What about you?"

"My favorite color?" She looks startled I asked. "Mine is indigo. Like the night sky."

"Pretty." I whisper.

"How long were you in the woods?"

I freeze, not expecting the topic jump.

"Sorry! That one isn't necessarily on the easy, gentle side, is it? You don't have to answer. Here: what's your favorite animal?"

I open my mouth three of four times before I close my eyes and decide what to say. I have to blurt it before I change my mind.

"Four years."

She blinks until understanding lights up her face. And then sympathy overtakes it. "You were on your own for four years?" I nod in confirmation. She lowers her voice to a whisper, "What happened? Never mind, you don't have to answer that. You've already taken a big step."

"I—" I start when a jarring knock on the front door cuts me off and makes me jump.

"Oh! The Addams are here! Mason, will you get that?" She hops up and then glances at my plate of untouched food with concern. "Are you not hungry?"

I shrug. "What is it?"

She smiles and points to the meat strips first and then the yellow fluff. "That's bacon. It comes from pigs and is fatty and delicious. And those are scrambled eggs. They come from chicken."

Chickens lay eggs. Good to know.

I take a bite of both, deciding I like the eggs better than the meat. I think I just miss the meat from home.

"Hello, Mason." A deep voice makes my head snap to the front door.

I see Jasmin's son dip his head in a slight bow. "Alpha." He runs back over to Jupiter, sitting down beside him.

"Hello!" Jasmin says cheerily as she reaches the front door where four people have come into view.

There are two girls and two boys. It's obvious that two are the parents and two are their children. This must be the Alpha Family. I make no move to push myself over there. I just observe from my spot at the table.

Jasmin leads them to the living room and they take a seat on the couches. She offers them drinks, and they all ask for waters.

The family looks strikingly similar to each other, each kid taking after one parent. They all have silky, raven black hair and fairly pale skin. However, while the parents have deep, dark eyes, their children have neither. The girl has pretty ice blue eyes, but I can't get a good look at the boy's.

The boy is taller than his parents, and very well built. The girl is taller than I would be standing up, and she's got muscle, but she's still on the petite side.

The girl smiles at my brother, showing pearly white teeth. She tries to talk to him but he keeps his mouth tightly shut and his eyes neutral. I hold in a chuckle.

Jasmin returns to the living room with the waters and sits in a chair across from them. No one seems to acknowledge me yet.

"I'm glad you brought your children! I think Kiara might be around Azari's age. It'll be good for her to meet people outside of the doctor's and this house."

The girl — who I'm assuming is Kiara — looks around the room, her eyes landing on me. She smiles and gets up, ignoring her father's command to sit still. I focus on her and I don't get to hear the rest of what Jasmin is saying.

The girl pulls out the chair next to me and sits down. Her eyes are bright and excited as she extends a hand to me.

"Hi! I'm Kiara. You must be Azari."

I tentatively take her hand and give it a small shake. I'm not sure what to say. She seems super perky. Like another level of Jasmin. I settle on "Hi."

"I don't know if anyone's told you this before, but gosh, you are just gorgeous!"

I touch the ends of my fire-red hair, suddenly self-conscious as I remember Jasmin never did it. "Thanks." I whisper.

She tilts her head, her eyes sparkling a little. "You don't talk much, do you? Well that's okay, I guess. People tell me all the time that I talk too much, so I might just do enough talking for the both of us!" She laughs and I give her a small smile.

"Kiara!" Her father barks from the couch. "What are you doing?"

Kiara stands up. "Making a friend." She replies in a "duh!" tone. I notice her mother gives her a stern look.

"Kiara, we don't know her yet. She could be dangerous. That's why we're here."

Kiara rolls her eyes at me and I bite back a giggle. "She seems pretty okay to me!" She leans down to whisper, "Can I push you to the living room?" I nod and she pulls me away from the table and over to the living room.

I catch Kiara's brother's eye and hold back a gasp. Those were the same vibrant green eyes that I'd seen through the window the first day.

I realize the world has stopped around me, and I can't hear Kiara arguing with her parents anymore. All I can see is him and for some reason, my eyes won't tear themselves away. I notice we both stopped breathing for a minute.

Finally, I'm able to blink and whatever just happened breaks. No one seems to catch it, but every time I glance to him, his eyes are still glued to me.

"Azari, is it?" Kiara's father asks loudly, making me jump and break eye contact with his son. After a second, I nod. "Jasmin tells me she found you and your brother all alone. Why is that?" I suck in a breath, not wanting to speak to the stranger.

Jasmin jumps in. "I don't think interrogating her is the best—"

The Alpha holds up his hand, cutting her off. "I'm just getting a feel for who she is." He turns back to me and repeats his question, and even though Jasmin was trying to save me from answering, I can see she's genuinely curious as well.

"I- we-" I stutter before stopping and letting out a sigh. "We had to run."

The Alpha's eyebrows shoot up. "Run?" I give him a nod. "Run from where? Or should I say who?"

I look at my lap, where I'm fiddling with my fingers. "My home was being attacked. We had to escape. I don't wanna talk about it."

He nods in understanding, but his eyes tell me he wants more. I'm not going to give him more.

The Alpha suddenly lightly slaps his leg and stands up, making both Jupiter and me jump. "Well, I think it's safe for you to take care of them, but just know I'll like to stop by often and hopefully learn a little bit more about each, if that's alright." Jasmin nods. As if she'd ever say no to her Alpha. "Kiara, Bryce, let's go."

He and his wife begin walking to the door, but Kiara and the boy I now know as Bryce stay behind a minute. Jasmin jumps up and grins at Kiara as if she just got the most brilliant idea.

"Kiara! Would you mind taking Azari shopping today? She needs clothes of her own and I don't want to have to drag the boys there too."

I don't think I've ever heard someone squeal as loud as Kiara just did. I cringe and Bryce lightly slaps his sister's shoulder.

"I would love to! Oh My Gosh, it'll be so much fun! I know ALL the best stores!" She chuckles sheepishly, "If you can't tell, I love shopping." She glances at her brother. "Ooh, and Bryce could come with us and be our bag carrier!" Bryce groans and I widen my eyes. "Mom, Dad, is that okay?"

The Alpha Female shrugs. "I don't see why not. But take a couple guards with you."

Kiara groans, but nods her head. "Fine. It'll still be fun." She leans close to me so her parents can't hear, "We'll just ditch 'em!"

I smile half-heartedly, not completely sure what I'm getting myself into.

"So, are you ready?"

I give a timid nod, although I think I'm trying to convince myself more than Kiara.