Page 6 of Beginning Fate

The ARC offered ASL as a course. We were going to talk to the professor and see if she could assist in helping my sister integrate better.

When I finally saw her step out of our hotel, I started flashing the headlights at her.

She stopped and gave me an incorrigible look before stomping over to the car and climbing into the passenger seat.

“It about time. Are you trying to make us late?” I signed to her.

She crossed her arms over her chest and sank back against the seat. For once I was grateful to see it. It had always been difficult to communicate with her while I was driving.

The map app on my phone guided us through the big iron gate of the ARC and to the building we were instructed to park. I'd gone over the itinerary so many times that I could see it when I closed my eyes. Every second of it was memorized to ensure we didn't miss a thing, and we were already late.

I parked and turned to her, waving to get her to look at me.

“At least try,” I signed.

I knew my face showed all the concern I felt. I was pretty sure I was building up an ulcer from worry. I hated the thought of being away from her and dreaded that inevitable moment I was going to have to hug her one last time and walk away.

My baby sister was all grown up now. I'd done everything I could to prepare her for this, and while I knew she was disappointed in her college choices, I was also confident that I had equipped her to not just survive but thrive in her time here.

“You're going to do great,” I signed to her.

“You don't have to worry about me anymore,” she signed back.

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I will always worry about you.”

“I know.”

“Love you.”

She held up her thumb, index, and pinky fingers to tell me she loved me too. It warmed my heart.

“Now, let's go. We're late,” I quickly signed as I shooed her out of the car.

Once we got moving, it was easy to follow the crowd to the quad where we were supposed to meet up for the kickoff to orientation.

I've never been to the ARC before and as I looked around, I had to admit that the brochure pictures did not do this place justice. It was even more beautiful than I imagined.

I dared a glance at Kylie, happy to see her just as in awe as I was.

There were a couple hundred people scattered around the large grassy area between buildings. Most of them were looking around, taking it all in, too.

I pointed out a few things to Kylie and she to me.

We still had ten minutes before Dean Shannahan kicked off with his welcome speech to officially start orientation week.

There were a couple of guys sitting on a section of large rocks and with a girl that seemed to be watching us closely.

“Why is that girl staring at us?” Kylie signed.

I turned to stare the girl down for being rude. I knew my sister could be quite sensitive to the looks of others. Most of them didn't mean anything bad by it, they were just curious. I'm sure if this girl was raised in a Pack, then she might not have ever seen someone signing before.

It bothered Kylie though.

I sniffed the air around us. There was no smell of fear or anger, no reason to suspect we weren't perfectly safe. However, I was instantly reminded that we weren't in Pack territory any longer. In fact, we weren't even surrounded by wolves here.

The ARC didn't just enroll wolf shifters but shifters of all kinds.

To the best of my knowledge, I'd only ever met wolves, but here the scents of others were strong. I wasn't even sure the trio I walked over to were actually wolves.

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