Part of the Pack

"Super glue them shut." she joked with a soft giggle "I'll bring a few things." she smirks and begins walking backwards "I'll see you tomorrow." she turned back around and began walking back home, a bit of a kick in her step since her bright mood increased, looking forward for the following day. Getting home she put her groceries away and dug into the peaches she bought, a wide smile on her face as her hunger was finally satisfied.

Finally with a full stomach she began getting ready for the next day. Finding her notepad and pen she began writing down everything she would need and what she would like to show the kids. Herbs, Salts, supplies, she couldn't wait and hoped that the kids would enjoy what she brought. At the end of the day she changed into a large t-shirt and fell asleep on the couch, falling asleep with a smile still on her lips.
 
The rest of the day went well for Faolan as well. He brought the kids back, walked some of them home, cooked dinner for his pack, and fell asleep under a pile of wolves as he usually did.

He woke up the next morning feeling pretty refreshed and spent the day up until noon at home with his pack, playing around, asserting his dominance, wolf things...At noon, he made lunch, ate with everyone, and headed down to the community center, most of his pack following or already there.

The community center looked like it had actually been an old school. There was one building that wasn't too big and a nice big fenced-in yard. The fence definitely looked newer than the building and it looked like The Wolf Pack had put a lot of effort into cleaning the area up. There was a swing set, a jungle gym, a basket ball court, all that good stuff. He walked in and hung up his leather jacket in what was probably the old principal's office. It gave him a nice view of the yard and let him see when kids started showing up.

It was a two story building and in the top story, all of the rooms had been converted from classrooms to bedrooms, each with two bunk beds. They weren't used frequently, but every kid there knew that they were available if they needed them. One room was constantly claimed by one of the 16 year olds.

Around 2, the kids started showing up and playing in the yard. Faolan walked into one of the classrooms that was still a classroom and started setting out desks for the kids, putting a small, cheap notebook and a pencil on each desk in case they wanted to take notes.

At 3, he was running around outside, chasing the kids and keeping them entertained and happy, letting them know at least someone loved them...

His packmates were doing the same, all except Ulfa who was sitting at the old receptionist's desk, leaning back in her chair, her feet up on the desk. she was chewing one of the chews Lacey gave her and rubbing her stomach, kinda glaring at it a little bit.
 
Getting up that morning she freshened up, today she decided to let her hair stay down but pinned up a few strands on the side of her head with a flower pin that used to be her mothers. Looking at herself in the mirror and smiled, grabbing a bag and the address she made her way out the door so she wouldn't be late.

On the way to the center she stopped by the shop
"What are you doing here, aren't you suppose to be at the community center?!" Mrs. Walters shouted at Lacey, "Oh relax! I'm grabbing a few things before I go."

"Oh alright then." she smiled going back to work. Lacey grabbed what she needed and carefully placed them all in her bag, hooking it over her shoulder she jogged out the door "I've got to go, I'm going to be late." she said waving goodbye to Mrs. Walters. Checking the address, multiple times to make sure she was going the right way, she finally reached the community center. Getting closer she saw how nice it looked, "I wish I had this as a kid..." she mumbled, but the closer she got, seeing the kids running around, she tensed and nibbled her lip unsure if she could do it. Reaching the fence she waved at Faolan slightly "Am I late?"
 
Faolan looked over, grinning. He was in a t-shirt and his klit as usual. Though, as he ran over to the fence, she'd see the hemp and wolf tooth necklace around his neck. He grinned and grabbed onto the fence, panting some. He glanced back, then at her. "Nah, right on time." He didn't have a watch...

He turned his head and coughed a little, then looked out at the kids running and screaming and laughing. "Right on time." He laughed. "I'm exhausted." He turned back to her, grinning and sweating, his white t-shirt clinging to his chest. "Go on around through the front doors. Ulfa's at the front desk. Don't let her give you any shit, ok? I'll round up the kids and get 'em into the classroom. It's first floor...ok, facing Ulfa's desk, take a left, then it's the second door on the right, ok? It's the only one made up for a class right now, so..if you do into a room and there aren't desks, try the next one." He grinned and looked down as a kid ran up and attached himself to Faolan's leg. He picked the kid up, flipped him upside down, and smiled. "I'll meecha in there."
 
Nods slowly taking in the information on how to get to the classroom. Seeing one of the kids attach their-self to Faolan's leg she smiled, only to gasp and flinch as he held the kid upside down. She shook her head pushing something from her mind and made her way to the front door, being careful as to not run into any kids or trip, her hand tight on her bag as she entered.

Waving and greeting Ulfa on her way in, "Hey, Ulfa." she looked around already getting confused and forgetting the directions. Looking into each room she pasted, it took her a few minutes before finding the classroom. Her heart started to race feeling her nerves start to get at her, she began placing all of her things out on the the teacher's desk and placed her back off to the side. "I hope they like me..."
 
"Hey, Lacey." Was all she got out of the young woman. She yawned and rubbed her stomach, thinking about going into Faolan's office and taking a nap.

Not too long after she got settled, Faolan opened the door, leading children into the classroom to take their seats. They were all surprisingly well behaved at the moment. "Alright!" He said once everyone was seated, standing at the front of the room. "Like I promised, I've brought someone very special in. Everyone give a Wolf Den welcome to Miss Lacey."

The kids all howled, some of them giggling afterwards.

He smiled at them. "Good. Now. Miss Lacey is going to teach you about some herbs and how they can be used for positive things. Who can tell me what some negative things herbs are used for?"

They all eagerly raised their hands and he called on a 12 year old girl in the front. "Drugs!" She said happily.

"Right! Drugs are things we want to stay away from. What do you do if someone tries to get you to take drugs?"

They all answered in unison. "Say no and walk away!"

"Good!" He grinned proudly and glanced at Lacey. "Now, can someone name something positive herbs can be used for?"

They all thought a minute before a boy in the back raised his hand. "Is sage an herb?"

"Yes, it is, Mikey."

"Then it can be used for cleaning spaces of negative energy!"

"Yep! That's exactly right. That's what we use sage for. But, there are other uses." He turned to Lacey, smiling. "And Miss Lacey is going to tell you some of them and some other uses for other herbs. They're all yours." He said, stepping aside and sitting at the chair behind the teacher's desk.
 
Went wide eyed surprised by the howls from the kids and gave a slight wave of her hand "Hey..." she stood there timidly listening to him with the kids. She glanced at him a few times and then stared at the kids "I uh... I'm Lacey Maleto... And I work at Herbal Healing, its this herb shop..." she cleared her throat "At the shop we sell any herb you can think of, any mix, and herbs can cure almost anything." she smiled feeling herself beginning to relaxing.

"Now, one of you said something about sage to be used for cleansing. Well..." she held up a jar of salt "If you take all natural sea salt and but it in a small cup, place it in the corners of a room it draws in all of the bad energy. But besides energy it also helps with health." she continued to explain all of the herbs she had covering the teacher's desk. "Now, these are my mortar and pestle they grind down the herbs into find powders, we do this for supplements and sometimes for oils."

Handing them to one of the kids to pass around she continued, "If you want, I put some dried leaves in there, all of you can have a chance to grind it. In there are the secret ingredients for Mrs. Walters cure. Is her special cure for anything that makes you sick. If you have a headache, take it. Stomach ache, take it. You have food poisoning? Take it!" she smiles and sits up on the desk grabbing another mortar and pestle, "Now grind it like this..." she gives them the demonstration "So now we all will have a chance to make the remedy for someone. But you know what makes the best medicine? Care. That's what we put in everything, that's what makes it work."

After all the kids got their chance at grinding the leaves she took it and handed it to Faolan, "You have to do it too."
 
He laughed softly. "Alright." He took it and ground it up a little. He brought it up and sniffed it lightly, trying to pick out what was in it. He handed it back, smiling. She was doing wonderfully. The kids were hanging on her every word, some taking notes on the different herbs and everything.

One kid raised his hand. "How does care...h..how do you grind it up?"

A couple of the kids laughed and he made a sort of chuffing noise at them that shut them up quickly. Like when a dog halfheartedly barks and it comes out as mostly an exhalation of air but a little bark in there as well. "Care is the energy you put off. Everything is effected by the energy you put off. If you put good into something, you will get good out of it. If you put bad or negative into something, that's what you get out. It's like...think of it like words. When you say something mean, something mean comes back, right?" He looked up at Lacey. "Like, if I told Lacey...You look really pretty with your hair down." He smiled at her, then looked at the kids. "That's nice, right? True, too, but for demonstration purposes, it's nice. He looked up. "And that made you feel good, didn't it?"
 
A dark blush rose to her cheeks at his compliment "Well.. Y-Yes, it does..." she cleared her throat as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear smiling some "Well sometimes I pretend that I do grind car into it, but he is right. That's what makes all of our products so fantastic." she picked up the mortar and pestle and ground as she spoke "Taking these instead of the other stuff like Advil and blah blah.." she kind of made a funny face for the kids when she said it, "Is ten times better, they're all natural and better for you without all of those chemicals."

She took an open jar and poured the ground up leaves into it, closing the lid tightly "Now we all put care into it. This one will stay here at the community center for all of you if you need it." she dusted her hands off and smiled "Anyone have any questions?"
 
He grinned and picked up the jar, looking it over. That was really nice of her...

"How do you take it?" One boy asked, watching Faolan with the jar. "Do you eat it? Or...or is it magic?"

He smirked a little and glanced at the kid. They needed more books here...or maybe more trips to the library. He went back to looking at the herbs in the jar, letting Lacey answer that question.
 
Giggles softly "That's a good question, but no its not magic. Sometimes we make them into pills but in this case it will be brewed into a tea. You drink it and let the herbs do all of the work." she glances back at Faolan "And no, you'll never guess what's in there." she lets out another giggle as she sits back up on the desk "I'm always down at the shop so if you guys are in the area you can come by and say hi. Alright?"
 
There was a happy chorus of 'okay!'s and 'we will!'s.

Faolan smiled and stood up. "The herb shop is on our list of Safe Places. Anyone that needs that list again should ask Ulfa up at the desk, ok?" He gave a massive stretch all of the sudden, then smiled. "Now, if Miss Lacey's done, you can come up and ask questions if you want, or go back outside. It's almost time to let the dogs out for a run, so...watch your step." He smirked a little and watched the kids all get up. About half went on outside while half came up to look at everything on the desk. Faolan moved out of the way and smiled at Lacey. "Thank you so much for coming by."
 
Smile quickly getting out of the way of the kids as they looked at everything, "Its no problem... I was nervous..." she said bashfully moving to stand next to him "They all seem like really great kids, I never knew there were places like this. I like it." she gave him a nudge in the side with her elbow. Once the kids were done looking and went outside she began cleaning up and putting all of her things away "Hey, if the kids don't like drinking the tea add honey and they'll swallow it down just fine."

She holstered the bag over her shoulder and looked around at the classroom with a faint smile "If uh... If they ever want me back let me know... I actually really like this. I was worried they wouldn't like it or me."
 
He picked up the jar and smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks." He made a mental note to pick up some honey and nodded at her. "It was great having you here. They loved you. Trust me, I'll be looking up excuses to have you back as soon as I get home tonight." He glanced out the window to make sure everything was going ok.

He looked back at her and smiled. "I wanna repay you for this somehow. I'd really like for it to be by taking you out to dinner somewhere. Maybe out for a drink or...movie..." He shrugged. "Whatever you want to do."
 
"I'd really like that." she looked out the window watching the kids playing. "Oh you don't owe me..." she stopped mid sentence hearing his offer, she nibbled her bottom lip in thought "You mean... Like a date...?" she asked looking back up at him, the blush rising back to her cheeks.
 
"Is that what you humans call it?" He smirked, a teasing tone to his voice. "Yes. A date. Dinner, dancing, the whole nine yards." He smiled at her, turning away from the window to face her. "Nothing super fancy. I don't own a suit, to be honest with you. I'll put on a nice button-up shirt though." He smiled and reached down, smoothing out his kilt a bit. "And a nice, clean kilt with a fancy sporran. I have one that's fox fur that I keep for special occasions. A sporran, not a kilt..." He grinned. "But I'll honestly probably keep the biker boots and the jacket...have you ridden on a motorcycle before? Or do you want me to borrow a car from someone?"
 
She just stared at him wide eyed not sure how to respond "I.. What?" she blinked a few times "Try slowing down a little." she gave a soft chuckle still a bit dumbfounded that he would want to date her "Look, I don't know how to dance and I don't own any nice close. Unless you consider shirts and jeans nice clothes... And to answer your question, no. I've never been on anything other than a bus."

She ran a hand through her hair and shook her head "How about we just have dinner or something along those lines? Honestly... I don't really know... I've never..." she was embarrassed to admit she hadn't been on a real date before "Or talk more. We can talk and have dinner..." she stopped herself as she began to jabber on, a little nervous tick she had at times.
 
His smile slowly spread into a grin as she talked. When she was done, he nodded. "Dinner sounds great. Dinner and talking. And I like to keep it casual, so...jeans and a t-shirt work." He stretched some and looked around. "Do you want the grand tour of the place? I'll give you that for free with no date required." He smirked and started walking towards the door. "I'll lock the door if you wanna leave your stuff in here."
 
Smiles setting her stuff back down "I'd love that, but you don't have to lock the door. I'm sure the little tikes won't take my herbs. They all seem like good kids." she stepped out of the room letting him decided if he wanted to lock it or not. She leaned into the wall waiting for him "You know... I don't know your last name... You're such a stranger." she teased.
 
"Lovell." He said with a smile, closing the door. He thought about locking it, but he knew the kids wouldn't be getting into anything, so he waved an arm and started walking down the hall with her. "Faolan Lovell. Shorten it however you like. I also go by Ace and you'll hear some of the guys call me Alpha." He shrugged. "Ahh, lets see....I was born in August here in the city...Sylvester's my brother, we're twins, I guess...and I take an annual trip out into the mountains every winter." He looked at her, smiling. "There. Not so much of a stranger now."

He looked around. "The first floor is all classrooms. The second floor we knocked out most of the walls and kept the support beams up. It's a huge play area for when it's raining or too cold outside to let the kids on the playground..."