---- Bright: Full of light.----

Doctor Lopez was busy throughout the morning so we decided Maverick was really going to show me around the pack, finishing the tour at the pharmacist's house in time for lunch.

It was a lovely place, more similar in layout to a normal pack than ours. Most of the houses, even the Alpha's mansion, where in close proximity to the pack house, which worked as the center of the settlement. The pack was delimited by a big lake to the south, woods to the west and north, and opened to a combination of meadows to the east, where they grew their cattle. This pack was famous for its delicious meat, even among human markets.

We strolled around the houses, passing in front of the school and clinic, to finish in front of the pack house and give me a round inside. Maverick and his older brothers, like every young adult werewolf that hadn't found their mate yet, were living in the pack house.

Also, according to his explanation, usually visitors stayed in the guest rooms of the pack house but, considered our long lasting commercial and peace treaties, we were enjoying a deferential treatment. Not that I had cared much to stay in the pack house, but it was nice not to be in constant contact with other werewolves. It reduced the risk of people noticing I was... different.

We still had some time after finishing the visit of the pack house, so we decided to stroll a bit towards the training grounds before heading to Dr. Lopez's house.

"By the way... What kind of fetish has your family with the names with M at the beginning? Alpha Thane doesn't look like the kind of person that would care about that..." We had entered the woods and the singing of birds and wind rustling through the leaves had replaced the chattering and noises of people.

"Oh, that comes from my mom, Luna Meredith Ackerman." His lips curved upwards into a smug grin. I blushed at my carelessness. I had met her yesterday evening but hadn't exchanged a single word after the brief presentation, busy as she was with the details of the dinner. The only impression I got from Luna Ackerman was that she incarnated the ideal image of a perfect housewife. Based on outdated, sexist and misogynistic standards, of course. "She was rewarded with the first letter of our names for giving birth to males."

I snapped towards him, barely believing what I just heard. His shrug made me roll my eyes and I let out a heavy sigh. After what I had witnessed since we arrived to the pack, I should not be surprised.

"Your parents know that the gender of the baby is decided by the sperm carrying an X or Y chromosome, don't they?" I searched in his eyes, trying to confirm if he himself knew about it.

"I'm not sure how much biology they got to study before they started producing their own offspring." He forced a light chuckle, but his smile did not reach his eyes. "The point is, we all share the letter "M" like, what a coincidence, your dearest Maximilian."

I furrowed by brow at his biting answer. It was obvious I had offended him and he had every right to defend his family, but I didn't expect him to be so defensive.

I found myself at loss of words for a couple of seconds before he broke the eye contact and resumed the walk. I hadn't even noticed we had stopped.

I took a couple of hurried steps to catch up on him and mumbled a short apology. I had obviously overstepped and didn't want our budding friendship to turn sour. He glanced at me with the corner of his eye and a small smile dotted his face.

"I am sorry too," he brushed his hair with his hand and he let it fall, folding both of them at his back, "I got a little prickly there. I suppose it comes with the Alpha blood. You cannot mess with my family or pack without it biting back."

"I get what you mean." I did not feel the connection with my wolf so the alpha blood did not influence me, but I had seen it in Max more than once. Territorial and over-protective reactions. I could not blame him. I looked around, feeling the breeze caress my hair and took a deep breath. "Are we arriving anytime soon?"

He stopped on his feet again and I turned to see him looking back at me with a confused expression painted all over his face. I furrowed my brows, finally realizing the faint sounds of people that were being carried by the wind. We were obviously close and if I could hear them now, probably a normal werewolf would have been hearing them for a while. My question was totally odd and I deserved the confused look. I had to get out of there the most convincing way possible.

"Ok, ok," I blurted before he could say anything, lifting my arms in surrender, "it was a lame way of changing the topic! Looks I have to practice a little bit my people's skills when getting out of awkward conversations..."

Maverick made a face, probably more confused than before, but he soon let out a gush of air and chuckled.

"It is confirmed, you are weird."

"As weird as one can get." I winked at him, placing a hand on my cheek and faking a cute pose, hoping for him to let it ride. All the time I had used to practice being a more normal and sociable person were being handy, but it was seriously tiring.

His smile spread a little wider and shook his head, checking his wristwatch. He signaled towards the front and resumed the walk.

"We do not have much time left. Let's do a quick check and head to Dr. Gunner. He's nice, but he doesn't like to wait." I nodded and picked my pace up, reassured everything was well after all.

After checking the training grounds, Maverick lead me back to the pack house area, navigating me between different streets until we arrived to a very modern two story house. Floor to ceiling windows were framed by grey walls of exposed concrete, soft to the touch. Once you crossed the surrounding bushes fence into the front garden, it was easy to see the living space, that connected on the opposite side with a beautiful flower and herbs garden.

It did not take long before Dr. Lopez opened the door after my companion knocked the front door and he greeted us with a friendly smile, inviting us to enter.

"Gunter, this is Riley Turner, I understand you were expecting her." Maverick introduced me the moment Dr. Lopez had closed the door behind me.

"Yes Maverick. Thank you very much for escorting her here." He bowed a bit and then turned to me, grabbing the hand I was offering him with both hands. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Turner. I had the opportunity to read a couple of your articles before you contacted me and found them pretty interesting. Our fields of research have much in common."

I felt my heart jump in my chest when I saw the sincerity of his words reflecting in his dark eyes. I could barely believe I was shaking hands with him, even less the fact that he had read my research.

"Dr. Lopez, you cannot imagine how happy makes me to hear that. I have studied all of your publications and have been always a source of inspiration and useful information. Thank you very much." I felt like a fan girl, especially when I saw Maverick rolling his eyes from the corner from my eye. But I did not care. I had worked so hard for this I wanted to enjoy the moment.

"Please, call me Gunter." I nodded and tried to control the stupid grin that was spreading in my face. Dr. Lopez tapped my hand and let it go, pointing towards the back of the backyard. "I had some lunch prepared and, as the weather is still tolerable, I thought we could enjoy some outdoors before the winter prevents us from these small pleasures."

Maverick and me agreed, expressing our gratitude and following him through the living room to the back of the house.

It was not until the desserts were served that I noticed Maverick covering a pretty wide yawn and I realized I had been bombarding Dr. Lopez with research questions, leaving him completely out of the conversation. I sent him a sorry look and he waved his hand, winking an eye to me. He gestured me to go on and then focused on the green tea cake that the service had placed in front of him, allowing me to enjoy the meeting to the end.

By the time we finally finished the coffee, or tea in my case, it was already past four in the afternoon. We apologized for taking up so much time and excused ourselves to go back to the pack house, where we were supposed to meet our families.

"So," Maverick had offered me his arm once again and we were strolling slowly in the streets, "did you enjoy it?"

I met his eyes, biting my lips. I could feel sparkles of happiness flying out of my eyes while I nodded my head vigorously.

"It was so much better than what I expected!" I closed my eyes, remembering the moment when Dr. Lopez had agreed on mentoring me. This was such good news and I was just starting to assimilate them. "Thank you soooo much for bringing me there! Also, I am very sorry I got swept in the moment and forgot to engage in a conversation a little less boring for you..." I gave him a puppy eyes look and he chuckled, rising on eyebrow.

"You looked and still look so over the moon that I will overlook it this time." He flashed me a warm smile and then faced back to the front. "I am glad it went well."

We walked in silence, lost in our respective thoughts, until we reached the pack house. When he opened the door to let me inside first, I leaned a bit to his ear put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it a bit.

"Next time I will make sure to talk like normal werewolves do." I winked at him and saw him curving his lips upwards before I entered the house and joined my brother in the sofa of the main living room.

He gave me with a resigned smile and squeezed my hand before turning to the two alphas that were talking in a corner of the living room, next to a big french window that opened to the front porch.

Maverick had joined his younger brothers in the pool table, leaving Max and me some privacy until Mason and Miles joined us to go for the visit of the cattle facilities.

"What's bothering you, Max?" I whispered for only him to hear, while leaning on his shoulder and relaxing to his familiar body heat.

"Father mentioned before we are to visit the next pack in two months." I furrowed my brows and he sighed, powerless. "Looks like he is not completely satisfied with your pairing with the third son." He glanced with the corner of his eye to the subject of the topic, verifying he didn't catch our conversation. "He wants to put you to better use."

"Why am I not surprised?" I rolled my eyes and left my head fall on the sofa, focusing on the coffered ceiling.

"I won't let you go until you decide yourself you want to, Riley. I promise" He squeezed my hand, reminding me on the tight grip he had on me during all the trip coming to the Wildclaw pack.

My lips pulled into a smile knowing he was serious. I was not alone. 

A/N

So, what do you think about Maverick? Should we keep him? lol
As you can see, Rie is doing her best on her research, the girl is on fire trying and find out what happened with her!!

Also, December is here and, guess who is drilling all of the imaginable Christmas carols to her boyfriend since day 1? Guilty! Seriously, it is only 5th and he is already complaining... xD But I do not care, I know with time he will grow to like them ;)
Talking ab0ut that... What is your favourite Christmas song? Enlighten me! =)

Any comments, advice are always welcome! Thanks once again for reading and, please, do not forget to vote if you liked the chapter!

See you soon!