Page 2 of When Embers Become Ashes

The problem was that something was wrong with the physical view. What I could see and what my sight showed me was different.

The fox before me just looked like an Arctic fox, but my sight showed the same fox but with more tails, the white I could see swishing behind him. There should also be a yellow one, a dark purple one, and a grey/blue one, but they were blurred like how I saw the wolves, bears, and demons at the group home.

Before I have a chance to figure out why he doesn’t look right, he flinches as the voice barks out a closer-to-angry demand,“Who are you?”I frowned at the fox, not understanding the language or how he spoke it.

The fox goes back down on all fours as the voice sounds again.

“Answer me!”This time, a strange feeling brushed over me as the boy who spoke steps into my line of sight speaks. The feeling tickles me, so I giggle. This makes the fox tilt his head, and the boy frown, the boy sighs.

“Shift back, brother.”This time I understand him, as he finishes speaking, the fox turns into a boy who smiles up at me but stays crossed-legged on the floor.

The boy who had been speaking goes over and turns on the bedside light.

I needed names, or this would be confusing even in my head.

The Fox boy is smaller and has almond-shaped eyes and pitch-black hair. His eyes seemed to change color but are always full of mischief. The boy who spoke, I can see his wolf; he has brown hair that darkens towards the tips to an inky black that I can only see when the light catches it just right. His build is bigger than the fox, but they looked similar, as if they were brothers, maybe?

While I was still taking notes about their appearance,the wolf speaks again, and this time, I understand everything.

“Who are you?” I blink at him and then answer with new questions.

“What language did you speak before? Can you teach me? Are you brothers?”The fox on the floor smiles and starts to bounce in his seat, then answers me.

“Yes, we're twins. I take after Hahaoya, and he takes after our father. It’s Japanese, and Hahaoyawould probably be best to teach you, but don’t speak it to father as he gets angry!” The fox frowns, takes a breath, and then speaks rapidly,

“My name is Jenson, and my grumpy twin is Ren! What’s your name? You smell odd!”Jenson stops talking, smiling at me. I blink and then looks at his twin.

“Hahaoya?” Ren, who is still frowning at his brother with his arms crossed, looks up at me.

“It means mother.” He says with a sigh, then turns a stern look upon me.

“Are you going to answer the rest of our questions?” Again, I just blink at him and then realize I’d ignored everything they asked while I was in their home. I shrink in on myself and mumble out an answer.

“Sorry, my name is Ember. My social worker dropped me off and told me that the Alpha and Luna would deal with me later!” I keep my head down and take a breath. I can see Jenson lean forward and try to catch my gaze, but I don’t look up, and then I answer the other question I was asked.

“I’m nothing! Jameson says I’m broken, but I’m just an odd human, nothing more. That’s why I smell odd.” I hear a growl rise in Ren’s chest, and my head snaps up to look wide-eyed at him as he growls out.

“Don’t say that! You're not broken!” Jenson steps next to him and smiles.

“You're just odd like me.” He looks so happy about the statement as Ren mumbles something that sounded like

“That’s not a compliment,brother!”The sun was starting to rise when Ren wanders out of the room and returns with a pile of clothes.

“Here! These are ours that don’t fit anymore, get washed up, and we will get some breakfast.” He hands me the clothes as Jenson shows me the bathroom.

“Meet us in the hall in 10 minutes.” The boys disappear out of the room.

Eight minutes later, and yes, I was counting in my head, I was standing in the hall in a pair of boys’ boxers, baggy sweats, a joker T-shirt, a hoodie with sleeves that I had to roll up, and fluffy purple socks with baseball bats on. I finger-combed my hair and put in pigtail braids or at least I did my best.

The boys step out of what I’m guessing are their rooms a little down the hall, I follow them down to a kitchen. There were loads of people rushing around, but an older lady smiles fondly at the boys as they sit in a booth-like area, like what I saw through the food place windows from SJ’s car.

“We eat here when the pack has visitors, as Father prefers us to be out of sight, so we don’t embarrass him,” Ren informs me as the lady brings over two glasses of apple juice and one chocolate milk. She places the apple juice in front of Ren and I, and the milk goes to Jenson. We all say thank you, and she again smiles fondly at the boys.

Her focus switches to me, and I see her sniff the air and look at me, confused. Her wolf shrugs at her, and the confused look quickly passes, as she smiles at me.

“My name is Margo, and I’m the housekeeper for the main house. If you need anything, let me know, or if these two try to get you in trouble,” she states with a snicker.

Ren scoffs, and Jenson tries to pull off an innocent look but fails. He’s about to say something when a beautiful lady walks in.

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