My Name is Not Cupcake

The next morning, I stretched and took a quick shower. I dressed in a pair of baggy gray sweatpants and a loose-fitting black t-shirt. I walked down the curved staircase and into the kitchen. The room was bright with sunlight. Elias was already there with food.

"Morning, sweet cakes," he smiled

"Sweet cakes?" I asked, weirded-out.

"Honey bun?" he tried again.

I shook my head.

"Cupcake?"

"No."

"Sweetheart."

"No."

"Princess."

"No."

"You know I was really gunning for cupcake."

"Stop... just stop," I said in frustration, sitting at the bar. "Nova will suffice, Elias," I said.

"Elias is what everyone else calls me. My family calls me Eli. You can call me that as well," he said, setting a plate down in front of me.

"No," I replied.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No-"

"For the love of the moon, stop it," someone said, entering the kitchen. I blushed as I looked down and Elias chuckled.

"Taylor, this is Nova," Elias smiled. Taylor was a big guy. He had black hair and grey eyes like Elias. The only difference being that Taylor looked like a younger beefcake version with shorter hair.

"You're big," I blurted. Taylor laughed. I blushed even harder. I meant to say hello. Darn, my non-existent brain-to-mouth filter.

"Nova, this is my little brother, Taylor," Elias said. I smiled shyly and started eating.

"So did you hear about that brat, Mason? He wants permission to search our... town. Uzeo si djevojku, zar ne? (Croatian: You took the girl, didn't you?)" he asked Elias.

"Mason? Mason's coming?" I asked as I perked. Elias glared and practically growled.

"No, he's not. I'll be damned if he... does something stupid," he answered me before turning to Taylor. "Nisam imao izbora, svojoj klasi bio na izletu, ili bilo što, a ja sam imao samo jedan mali prozor mogućnosti. (Croatian: I had no choice, Her class was on a field trip, or whatever, and I only had a small window of opportunity.)," he rambled off in the foreign language.

"What language is that?" I asked confused.

"Croatian," Taylor answered absentmindedly.

"Why is Mason coming?" I asked confused. They both hesitated, having a stare off before Taylor sighed and broke eye contact first.

"We don't know. We think he's trying to retrieve you, but we won't let him get that far," Taylor promised.

"But Mason is my... friend," I said. Elias shook his head and took my empty plate.

"Not right now he's not," Elias muttered. "Nova, why don't you continue reading that book I gave you? I have business to attend to," to said before he left the kitchen. Taylor shot me an apologetic look before he followed behind him. I went back to the bedroom and decided to continue reading, but not because Elias told me to.

'The lone wolf, or the rogue, is either born into that life or they have been exiled from a pack. It is rare that a pack will accept a rogue to join them, but not impossible. Rogues can be driven mad by the loneliness. Mainly, the rogue will just try to reek havoc on packs surrounding them. All Lycan have a specified job from, practically, birth.

A Salutary is a healer, or doctor. They show a gift of nurturing at a young age. They are taught old healing recipes and anatomy of the Lycan. They serve in the hospitals, nursing centers, and orphanages. Their main job is caretaker. The Sentinel, or warriors, are mainly male. They show great promise in being strong fighters at an early age. They are trained in combat and stealth. Trackers, do exactly that. They have a keen sense of smell, even more so than a normal Lycan. They are quick and quiet. From their childhood, they learn to be hidden and quick. Their sense of smell is used to track pretty much anything.'

~

I stayed in the room until I finished the entire book. It was interesting. It went into detail about the Lycan's shift from man to beast and how they could control it for the most part. When the Lycan got angry, it's wolf would push forward, and sometimes the shift would be involuntary. It showed the changing anatomies of the man in his transition to beast. It looked painful and unreal. There were pictures and descriptions of the pain that came with the first shift and every one after. The Lycan could begin it's transformation at puberty, whenever it would hit the normal person. There was so much detail on this one fictional creature. It was incredible. I applauded the creativity of whoever wrote this. It was very specific.

When I finished the book, I stretched and tucked the book under my arm. I remembered Elias saying that he worked in his home office often, and I needed to talk to him about this book. I didn't knock before entering, and in hindsight, I should've. In my defense, I wasn't expecting anyone else to be in the house. Elias was in a deep discussion with two men. One of them I recognized as Elias' brother, Taylor. Regardless, Elias smiled when he saw me. I probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Nova," he smiled. He motioned for me to join him at his desk. Paralleled against my option to just stand at the door, I went to Elias. I walked hesitantly over to him and he pulled me into his lap. I could feel the blush creep up my neck.

"I-I didn't realize you had company," I said shyly, standing. I motioned to the book. "I was just going to give this back to you," I said quickly. I turned to leave but Elias caught my wrist.

"Wait, Nova. What did you think?" he asked. I glanced at Taylor and the other strange man in the room.

"We can discuss it later since you're busy," I said, trying to leave. Elias chuckled and sat me on his desk.

"It's okay, love. Taylor and Peyton don't bite," Elias said, to which both men chuckled as if the opposite were true. I looked at my fingers clasped in my lap and shrugged.

"I think it's a very descriptive and detailed piece of fiction. Whoever wrote it has quite the imagination and I commend them for that. It was truly entertaining," I answered softly.

"Fiction?" the man, Peyton, asked. Peyton looked like the pretty, golden boy that everyone loved in high school. His stature was that of a jock, and with his golden hair and blue eyes, he was the poster child for an All-American Man. I looked at him confused. He seemed offended, while Taylor sat smirking like the cocky bastard he probably was.

"You believe it?" I asked Peyton. He glared at me before turning his glare to Elias.

"Nisi joj još? (Croatian: You haven't told her yet?)" Peyton asked Elias in Croatian, I assumed.

"No, it's a process and ne želim ju uplašiti(I don't want to scare her)," Elias replied. I sighed in frustration.

"Could you guys stop speaking a different language when I'm right here? Thanks," I said bitterly. Elias chuckled and took my hands in his.

"You'll catch on eventually, Cupcake," he smiled. I mentally rolled my eyes at the stupid nickname. "So about the book... do you believe any of it could be real?" he asked. I shrugged. I had always been able to keep an open mind about the supernatural, but nothing I'd ever seen up to this point gave me any proof of their existence.

"I think the idea of soul mates is beautiful and ancient. I don't know how feasible it is though. I don't believe in love at first sight. I believe there can be lust at first sight, but you can't know that you love someone until you know him or her. I don't think there are any exceptions to that rule. As far as the whole Lycan concept as a whole is concerned, I don't think a man's body would completely shift on command with the snap of a finger. Furthermore, the beast has no downside; no negative to balance out the possibility of something so unnatural. There's a consequence for everything. This Lycan creature has no consequence, just talents and hyperactive senses. It's not feasible," I ranted. All three of them stared at me shocked. I had the gift of gab and I knew it. That, plus, my love for English, made me talk a lot. I blushed crimson as I realized that I just went off on a tangent.

"I'll be up in my room," I said quickly before I rushed out of the office and to my bedroom. It's funny how I was already calling it mine, like I accepted the fact that I was staying here. Hopefully, Nolan and my dad got my message and were working on a way to retrieve me. I didn't mind Elias, Taylor, or even Peyton, but I knew I couldn't stay here forever.

~