Thursday passed in a breeze. I had a new bounce to my step as I got through my classes. After my mythology class was over-I decided to take this elective to see if anything would bring me clues that could lead me towards discovering more about myself-I headed for the library to grind out some of my homework.

I was halfway through my English assignment when the chair across from me pulled out. I glanced up from my laptop, half expecting to see Xavier. Instead, Andrew sat down and pulled out a couple of notebooks along with his laptop.

"Mind if I join you, Freckles?"

I smiled. "Go for it. What's Everlee up to today?"

"She's got her anatomy lab she's finishing up. I'll text her to join us here when she's out."

"Sure." I went back to my assignment, and he got to work on his homework.

After a half an hour, I finally took a break to talk again. "What are you studying?"

"Politics mostly. Not only does it fascinate me, but I'm already set up for a career in business."

That answer made sense. He wasn't lying and he didn't give anything away. I was actually pretty impressed how casual it was for him to respond that way. Politics would help him be a good Gamma, the pack being the "business" he was referring to, and so I had no doubt he also was taking business classes, as well.

"I have no interest in politics, but I'm glad some people enjoy it!"

He chuckled as his fingers scrolled down on his laptop pad.

Technically, I should have more interest in business and political affairs, being an alpha's daughter and possible heir, but I never could put my heart into it. Without my heart, my mind was never focused in Dad's lessons and meetings. It was actually immensely relaxing to be on the other side of the country and away from all the alpha prep my parents were encouraging.

"How about you, Freckles?" Andrew continued the conversation. "Ev mentioned you were clueless, but there's gotta be something that interests you."

I sighed and rested my chin in my palm. "I really am clueless. I'm sort of dabbling in everything."

"Oh yeah? What classes are you in?"

I had to think about it for a moment. "The basics mostly. English, biology, and algebra are my big ones. But I'm also exploring mythology and wildlife resources for fun."

"Mythology and wildlife resources, huh?"

I shrugged shyly. "I have my reasons."

He didn't press, and we easily fell quiet again as he worked on whatever he was doing and I started back up on my English paper.

Everlee joined us about an hour later, bringing new life to the conversations and allowing us to study for our upcoming biology test that she was most definitely going to ace and I was going to bomb. This was another thing my heart wasn't in. Anatomy and biology and most of the sciences never resonated with me, even as a child.

I was right. The way I felt walking out of the testing building on Friday was not a good sign. Biology definitely just wasn't it for me. Everlee and I had studied a lot in the library earlier that week, and then I reviewed by myself each night at home, but half of that test was a guess.

I sent a quick message to my friend saying I was out, and she responded by telling me to go to a particular booth in the cafeteria.

The second I sat and shrugged my backpack off, Andrew slid a bowl of frozen yogurt across the table. I sent him a puzzled expression.

Everlee grinned from her place beside him. "We figured you'd want a pick-me-up after the test."

Gratitude warmed me and I grinned, scooping a spoonful of the cold creamy dessert into my mouth. As the sweetness spread across my tongue, I relaxed a bit. "You were right," I laughed. "This does help."

"Test was that bad for you?" Ev frowned.

I shrugged and took another bite. "Could've been better. Could've been worse."

Andrew pointed his own spoon at me with a look of agreement and relatability.

"I'm sure you did fine." Everlee tried reassuring me.

"Maybe. Definitely not as good as you, though."

Her already tanned face darkened with a blush, but she didn't disagree.

The bench shook and I glanced to my right to see Xavier joining us.

"Hey." He said casually. I gave him the slightest of smiles.

"Where's mine?" He joked, gesturing to the bowls of yogurt in front of us.

Everlee rolled her eyes, but I shrugged and slid mine over to him. "You can finish mine if you want."

He stared at me for a second before the slightest hint of a smile crossed his face. "No, no, I was just kidding. I won't take yours." He pushed it back to me, and I happily kept it, scooping another spoonful.

His blue eyes found mine. "What are your plans this weekend?"

My own blue eyes widened. Was he asking me out again? He made it seem like he was asking only me, but with his sister and her mate there, I was sort of hoping he was inviting everyone to whatever he had in mind.

"U-um. Nothing, I don't think. Maybe some homework?"

Xavier was extremely attractive, I couldn't deny that. But otherwise I couldn't feel the pull werewolves didn't shut up about. Was Emerald right? Was it worth going out with him if he turned out not to be my mate? It felt so wrong with the culture the pups learn from birth. In some packs, you could be shunned for not waiting for your mate. But maybe I was really just overthinking all of this; I was good at that, anyway. My parents told me to live like I was human, so maybe this could be part of that.

I took a deep breath, Emerald's words coming back to me. I had to have a little bit of fun, right? I had to have a social life whether these people were my future pack or not.

Deciding to be brave, I asked, "Why?"

Now he smiled for real. "I figured we could do something tomorrow."

My eyes flitted their way to Everlee and Andrew. Xavier's followed mine, and he amended.

"All of us."

A breath I didn't know I'd been holding released. "Okay, sure. Like what?"

"Oh!" Everlee piped up. "We could go apple picking! I keep seeing signs around town for it."

Andrew scrunched his face, making me laugh as his obvious disproval of that idea.
"That's like, a date for a group of girls wanting to take pictures together in the orchard."

Everlee glared at him. "Well, we're not fully into autumn yet, so that's our best option."

Andrew looked pleadingly between Xavier and I. "Xav? Freckles? Please tell me you have a better idea!"

I chuckled behind my spoon of yogurt. "Nope. I-" I almost said I wasn't from around here, but then I caught myself and remembered they thought I lived down the street from the Williams. "I don't have any preference what we do." I finished to save it.

"Apple picking could be fun." Was Xavier's answer and Andrew's face contorted in false pain.

"You guys are the worst."

The following evening, we met up in the west parking lot of campus-my request-and piled into Xavier's truck. Xavier offered the passenger seat, and I took it happily, declining his hand again. Everlee and Andrew climbed into the back along with another of their friends.

Remembering him briefly from the leadership meeting last week at the Williams', I nodded my head in polite acknowledgement.

His dark eyes stared back, not menacing, but not exactly the friendliest either.

"April, this is Jacob." Xavier introduced him, giving no further explanation.

Jacob finally returned the acknowledging nod, dipping his head in my direction.

Nothing else was said, and I was honestly a little surprised Jacob had joined us at all. Maybe it was to relieve the pressure that this outing could become a double date. Jacob came alone, so as to make this merely a group of friends spending their autumn Saturday at the apple orchards.

It was a short drive, just the other side of town, creeping toward the farmland that spread across the county outside the city limits. Xavier parked and we hopped out. Everlee grabbed a cloth bag I hadn't noticed before and tossed it to Xavier.

"Here," she said. "You can carry the apples. April and I will pick them."

"We will?"

She giggled. "Sure! We can be the climbers." She grabbed my arm and led me into the orchard.

Families milled about the trees, filling their own baskets and bags with the apples they desired. Little kids shrieked as they chased each other around. I spotted a father lifting his child onto his shoulders for better accessibility into the branches. With the constant slight breeze and the sun failing to heat the brisk autumn air, it made for a chilly but peaceful day under the branches of the apple trees.

"C'mon April!" Everlee called, and I realized she'd let go of me and had scaled half the first tree already. I squinted as I tilted my head back to watch her climb.

"She's pretty relentless." A voice behind me made me start. "You better start climbing."

I glanced over my shoulder to find Jacob standing near. I took his advice, but not because Everlee was relentless but because he was starting to give me the creeps. I just didn't know him yet when compared with the others.

Reaching up, I grabbed a branch and pulled myself after my friend, weaving between the leaves and branches as I went like an intricate maze ten feet off the ground. I had a harder time navigating through the limbs than Everlee did. She was several inches shorter than me and could fly through the the maze without pausing. But my long legs gave me the advantage when we stopped to pluck the fruit. I could easily rest my feet on two branches with my legs barely apart, stable, but Everlee had to find a tangle of branches to lean on closer to the trunk.

Peering below me, I could make out the guys through the gaps in the tangled leaves. Jacob seemed to be standing guard for some reason; maybe it was his beta instincts. Andrew was fighting over the cloth bag with Xavier.

"Go get your own." Xavier growled playfully.

"I wanna catch the apples!"

Everlee sighed from behind me. "They're like toddlers. Constantly."

I giggled and started plucking fruit from the branches in front and above me. Holding a good one in my right hand, I shouted down to Xavier, "Fire in the hole!" And let the apple drop. Xavier looked up at me just in time to snatch the bag from Andrew and pop it open and catch the apple.

"Hey Freckles!" Andrew called. "Who should hold the bag?"

"I'm not getting in the middle of this."

Xavier sent his gamma a smirk, effectively winning the bag. I just laughed and sent another apple down.

"Catch with your hands, Babe!" Everlee called and tossed an apple of her own through the branches. Andrew snatched it from the air, giving a hoot of victory before passing it into Xavier's bag.

This went on for a while as we figured out an effective, but enjoyable system. Everlee and I climbed the trees and tossed the fruit down, while Andrew caught them with his hands and passed them on to Xavier's bag. Jacob mostly stood around, seemingly on edge, but we did manage to get him to catch a few, too.

I swung down from the branch and landed softly on the grass after Everlee and I decided that was the last tree we needed. I brushed my hands off on my jeans.

"Okay, now can I have the bag?" Andrew complained.

Swiftly, Everlee snatched a rotting apple from the ground and lightly hit him in the head with it.

"Hey!"

She squealed and bolted, sending Andrew seconds behind her. They weaved between the rows, attempting to throw apples as if they were snowballs. Their shrieks blended into the shrills of other children running around.

"Is this normal?" I asked in amusement.

"Unfortunately." Jacob grumbled his response with a roll of his dark eyes.

But Xavier cracked the smallest of smirks as we watched the couple chase each other. Because I was watching, I noticed fur start to sprout on the back of Andrew's arm. Xavier must have noticed too, and I felt the slight shift in the air that alerted his panic.

He gave a sharp whistle, stopping the shift short. Andrew and Everlee collided and fell to the dirt floor. Xavier waved two of his fingers.

"Time to go, kids!"

That brought a snort out of my throat, and another eye roll from Jacob.

When they joined us again, Xavier offered the bag of apples to Andrew. "Here ya go. I've decided you can have the bag now and carry it back."

Andrew just grumbled something under his breath, but took the bag, anyway.

Back in the truck, I thanked my friends for bringing me along. The outing was so very human, and I almost said that out loud before stopping myself. But it was what I was thinking. And I loved every bit of it. Never before had I felt free to just live, instead of worrying about alpha meetings and pack patrols and training. I could hang out with friends, something I'd never experienced before. Suddenly, I wasn't so upset about playing human. Whether or not these guys were my future pack, I was just thrilled to spend time with people my age. They made me forget about the pressures of the werewolf world, and we just got to be college students spending their Saturday together. It was amazing!

"What's next on the agenda?" Everlee asked, leaning forward over the center console.

Xavier glanced at me and I realized I ruled the decision here.

"Um, well I definitely have homework this weekend."

Everlee frowned, and I noticed Xavier's lips twitched down, too.

"Actually, I definitely do, too." She admitted. "Maybe afterwards?"

My heart was pounding. I loved spending time with them, but the longer I did the higher the risk present became. One step at a time for me. "Maybe next weekend?" I offered.

Everlee sank back into her seat. "Yeah, okay. Next weekend."

And I knew they'd be talking about me their entire way home.