Liga Volkov (The League of the Wolves)

Alaina's P.O.V

I was jostled awake by the Forester hitting a speed bump, and furrowed my eyebrows in confusion when I realized I was sleeping on something. I blinked the sleep out of my green eyes and tilted my head upwards to see that I had fallen asleep on Alexei's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I quickly stated, sitting upright and scooching away from him slightly. He just stared at me for a few moments, his unique grey eyes seeming to take in all of my features before turning his head away to look out Vladimir's window. I could hear Zhenna and Dante talking quietly about the mission, and leaned forward slightly to see Vladimir with his head resting against the seat with his mouth parted slightly. I glanced over my shoulder to see Vera out cold, curled up as much as she could into a ball in the back seat.

Aww, she's a little baby fetus! I cooed in my head, smiling as I looked at my best friend. Seeing everybody else sleeping made me realize just how tired I really was. I covered my mouth with one of my hands to yawn, and then leaned my head back against the seat. To say it was uncomfortable was an understatement. I moved around for at least ten minutes, trying to get comfy enough to sleep.

When I felt a large hand wrap itself around the side of my head, my eyes shot open. Alexei had his arm around my neck and was pulling my head to his shoulder. Once again, his face held no emotion. Is he even capable of showing any? I ended up scolding myself for the rude thought that ran through my head. After all, the male was not going out of his comfort zone for my own happiness, but was doing something kind as well. I let my head be dragged over to his shoulder, and I could feel my body visibly relax at having touched another person.

"Go to sleep. I'll wake you when we get there," I jumped at the deep velveteen voice that came from right next to me, but could feel myself shiver slightly at the melodiousness that it sheltered. Alexei visibly tensed at my reaction to his voice, and decided once again to keep his mouth shut. I was afraid to answer, knowing that I'd probably say something to deeply embarrass myself, or say something that made no sense at all. Keeping my mouth shut seemed like a safe bet.

-

"Alaina." His voice was demanding and short, and it easily brought me out from the deep cover of sweet sleep. I sat up and looked around, rubbing one of my eyes with my small fist. I could see Vera looking at me with a suggestive smirk at my earlier position, but decided for now to leave it alone.

The house we were at was probably the most gorgeous log cabin I'd ever seen. It was two stories high, with a beautiful terrace protruding from two glass sliding doors that I assumed connected to a bed room. I gasped as we all piled out of the car and into the paved driveway. The cabin was in the middle of a clearing, which was surrounded by spruce and birch trees, weaved together in an intricate pattern which splattered out into the grass using its shadows.

"It's... breathtaking," I said out loud. Vera came to stand by my side and nodded in agreement. "Is it ours? Or is it just for this mission?" I asked, turning towards Zhenna, who was already unpacking our items from the trunk. Dante immediately went over to help her with the heavier suitcases, and Vladimir was soon to follow.

"It's ours. For... forever I guess. We don't need to make any payments on it. The shtab-kvartira takes care of that," Zhenna explained, taking her luggage into possession as she dragged her belongings towards the door. I grabbed my black suitcase and followed behind her, eager to see the interior decoration of the cabin. If it was anything like the outside, I knew it would be magnificent.

Alexei's P.O.V

We had only been on our way to the house we'd be staying at for half an hour when the blonde- who'd introduced herself as Alaina had fallen asleep. I'd look over about every five minutes to see her head drooping more and more. She eventually went completely limp and her body melted into my side. I stiffened a lot, and poked her shoulder.

"She's not a dead lizard that you need to poke with a stick," Vladimir scoffed from beside me. If I wasn't so intent on getting the female off, I probably would've said something to retort, but decided just to let it go for now. I poked her a few more times, but I eventually came to realize she wasn't going to wake up.

"Oops," Zhenna mumbled from the front seat. I was confused at first, but when we hit a bump going much faster than we were supposed to, I understood. The sudden movement had Alaina's eyes open. She blinked and seemed quite groggy. When she turned her head to look me, I just stared at her. She seemed distant for a second as she began day dreaming, but I watched as she pulled herself out of it and shook her head.

"Sorry," She mumbled, quickly pulling herself away from me. I'm not the creature that killed the lizard that should be feared. I thought with a small frown, turning away from her and looking over Vladimir's craned neck to look out the window. Dante had stayed awake to keep Zhenna company, but Vladimir and Vera were out cold. As soon as her body heat was ripped away from mine, a slight pang of sadness hit my heart, but I quickly shoved it away.

She had turned away from me, and was now looking over the seat at Vera. The smile that spread across her lips was nearly contagious, and I could feel the corner of my mouth start to pull up into a smile. Stop. I demanded to myself in a harsh mental voice. I chewed on the inside of my cheek and frowned. You need to stop. The voice in my head spoke again. I glanced back over at Alaina, who was obviously very uncomfortable with her head tilted against the seat at the angle it was.

I felt bad, considering she'd been perfectly happy sleeping on my shoulder, but I didn't want her to do it again. You can't get close again. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply in frustration at the words that were ringing out through my head. I was a lot closer with my shifter form than a lot of the other assassins were. When I was in my human form, I could speak to him- something that was considered very rare amongst the shifter community.

I can do what I want. I snapped back at my wolf, angered that he was even implying that this would be like what happened last time... Alaina would be fine. I looked back over at the blonde, to see she was still struggling to fall asleep. I rolled my eyes and huffed, reaching out my large hand and gently gripping the other side of her head while pulling it towards my shoulder. At the feel of my hand against her head, Alaina's eyes were ripped open.

She stared at me with a confused expression, and I just returned her hard gaze. She glanced over my facial features quickly, taking in their sharp appearance before closing her eyes and allowing her head to be glided over to my shoulder. I sighed heavily and looked down at her sleeping frame, my eyebrows furrowed together in a mixture of emotions. I wasn't really sure what I was feeling at the moment either.

"I'll wake you up when we get there," I stated quietly, lowering my head towards her ear so she could hear me without waking Vladimir or Vera up. She jumped at the sound of my voice, and I quickly reminded myself that she hadn't heard it before. It was when she shivered that I almost lost it. I clenched my fists and ground my teeth together as I snapped my head to the side to look out the window. You can't do that to me. I snarled in my head.

It only took about three minutes for Alaina to fall asleep, and she was breathing heavily in no time. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the Forester, muttering a quiet string of curse words.

"What's your problem?" Dante asked from the front seat, finally pulling his attention away from Zhenna to turn around half way to stare at me with raised eyebrows. I'd known him and Vladimir longer than I had the three females, considering we grew up in the same wing, but I still didn't consider him someone I was close with.

"I can't do this again," I stated with an angry frown, lowering my head to look at the older male. I was only eighteen, while Dante was twenty one. He furrowed his eyebrows and I watched his left cheek be pulled in slightly as he chewed on it. I knew that the male knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Alaina's not going to do that. I guarantee that she's not going to do that. She's not like that," He shook his head and returned his gaze to the front window. I sighed and shook my head, looking down at my lap. If only I could know for a fact that this is true.

It only took another fifteen minutes for us to get to the house we were assigned too, and as soon as the Forester came to a stop, I looked down at Alaina with a hard frown. I didn't want her to think that I was angry at her for any reason, but I needed to be able to keep her at arms length to keep her safe.

"Alaina," I gently shoved her shoulder, causing her to quickly open her eyes and sit up. She yawned and rubbed her eyes with one of her fists. I forced my eyes away from her and trained them outside of the window. Why. Just why. We all piled out of the vehicle to gawk at the gorgeous log cabin that sat in the middle of the clearing which was surrounded by a deep woods. I inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent of the forest. I knew my wolf would enjoy running through those woods soon enough.

"It's... breathtaking," Alaina said from beside me. Instead of looking at the cabin to agree, I just stared at her. Yes. Breathtaking.

Zhenna's P.O.V

I was quite surprised at the mass and beauty of the cabin, and couldn't help but gawk amongst the rest of my peers at the house in which was now labeled as ours. It would stay here until we either moved to a different country, or all died during a mission. That was a dark thought that ran through my head, and I quickly shook it- hoping to rid myself of that stuff altogether. I heard Alaina mention the beauty and looked over to see Alexei staring down at her small frame. I frowned and bit my bottom lip. That was going to be a problem.

I cleared my throat, and Alexei's head automatically snapped up to look at me, a frown on his face. I gave him a hard look, which caused him to look away. He knew exactly what my hard look meant. I shook my head and opened the trunk, beginning to pull out the suit cases so we could go inside and begin to get settled in. Dante came over and stood by my side, pulling out the more heavy of the cases.

"Alexei," He stated, looking over at the dark broody male who was carefully watching Alaina out of the corner of his eye. I nodded, understanding exactly what he was saying without him even having to speak any more. I sighed heavily and bit down on my bottom lip in thought.

"That's going to be an issue. One that I don't know how to deal with," I said, looking up at the tall, muscular male. Dante nodded in agreement, obviously sharing the same thoughts as I. We pulled out the rest of the suitcases before bringing our own in possession. I dragged mine towards the cabin, my eyes never leaving the polished cedar wood.

When we stepped inside with all of our items, I was amazed- to say the least. The interior decoration was even more gorgeous than the outside- if that's even possible. Everything was so... fancy. All the furniture appeared to be brand new and looked as if it hadn't even been touched before. Dante let out a low whistle as he walked inside, head tilted back as he looked up at the second story which we figured held all the bed rooms.

Alaina came in with Vera and they both took a split second to look around, before sprinting towards the stairs. Vera grabbed Alaina's ankles and tripped her, sprinting up the stairs. Alaina got on top of the stair case railing and launched herself into the air, doing a front flip and landing on the balcony in front of Vera. She stuck her tongue out at her friend before sticking her tongue out childishly and kicking the lilac haired teen in the chest, shoving her down the stairs.

Vera quickly regained her balance and ran after the blonde. They disappeared down a long corridor, and the only thing that could be heard was thumps and screaming. I groaned and rubbed my temples with my fingers. They were worse than the boys. I felt Dante's large hand on my shoulder, patting it gently.

"Good luck," He muttered with a chuckle. I nodded, knowing that I would definitely need it if I was not only going to teach and lead these teenagers, but keep them alive as well. I heard someone scream 'CALLED IT!' and the other female groaned loudly in protest, but the fighting appeared to be over now.

Vladimir and Alexei grabbed their suit cases and walked up the stairs as well, going to go claim their rooms. I heard Vera and Alaina giggling loudly, and couldn't help but be confused at their friendship. I hadn't had many friends in my life- in fact, I barely had one. But I was pretty positive you weren't supposed to beat the shit out of each other, then be perfectly fine with after. Dante disappeared upstairs after the boys, but I stayed down to investigate the downstairs. I didn't really care with bedroom I got. I'd be happy with it anyway.

The kitchen was what amazed me the most. I'd been taught to cook since I had arrived at the base, and actually thoroughly enjoyed it- so what I set my sights on was like heaven. I ran my fingers across the marble counter tops and sighed in happiness. I could hear more thumping above my head, and had no doubt that the girls were rough housing again. Why do I feel like a mother? I thought to myself with a low groan.

The living room was large and roomy (just the way they'd need it seeing as how things were going so far). The leather couches appealed to me greatly, as I'd always wanted some of my own. The house was heavenly. I flopped down in the single chair in the corner of the large hard wood floored room and let my head loll backwards. This was going to be an adventure for sure.