Loving Luna - All Grown Up

Chapter Fourteen - The Dining Hall

❤Tina

“Hey, sis,” I groaned softly as I rolled over onto my back. I could hear voices and that included my annoying brother’s voice. What the hell did he want so early in the morning? “Keanu just left,” I heard him whisper and I slowly opened my eyes and sat up. I wanted to be back at home, not in this horrible place. “He is giving us ten minutes to get ready for breakfast,”

“What does that mean?” I asked Colin curiously.

“We think it means, he is going to let us out of our cell,” Colin replied way too excitedly for me. I was still waking up and I didn’t appreciate his enthusiastic mood so early. I got out of bed and pushed him aside softly.

“I’ll go and shower,” I mumbled as I headed to the bathrooms. It was an oddly built place because when you are in the cell, you don’t notice it and then BOOM. I went over to my locker and opened it up. How was it that these people knew exactly what size I wore? This thought went through my mind as I selected a pair of dark grey jeans and a white t-shirt, clean undies, and a towel. I headed over to the shower stall and washed as quickly as I could before drying off and getting dressed. My hair was still slightly wet when I left the stall and headed back to the cell. Everyone was already done and waiting on Mr. Keanu to arrive.

“Hey, cuz, you took your sweet time, eh?” Warrity said as he came over to me and I rolled my eyes at his idiocy. We all turned to look at the door as we heard someone on the other side unlocking it. I was surprised to see that it wasn’t Mr. Keanu that came inside, instead, it was another man. He was also dressed in green overalls and looked like a younger version of Keanu.

“Hey! Listen up!” the man yelled out. “I am not a wolf but that doesn’t mean I won’t kill you if any of you try something funny!” I was shocked by this but yet I had almost expected it. “So, don’t try to run away, don’t try to shift and don’t try any funny business! Do you all understand?” I wasn’t sure about the others but judging by that shotgun in his hand, I didn’t think he was joking, so I quickly nodded. “Good, now, all the girls first,” he said as he came forward, leaving the door open. “You’ll stand alongside that wall, got it?” he pointed behind him and I once again nodded. I couldn’t help but look past him at the outside world and I smiled. I could see palm trees and what looked like soft sand. The man opened the door and I was the first one out. I went to stand by the wall and breathed in the salty air. Terri and Bonnie came out next and then the man held up his gun. “Remember what I said, boys,” he threatened. Once we were all against the wall, the man locked up the cell and turned to face us. “Follow me, and don’t look around too much,” he said before he walked out the door. Since I was in front, I followed him. The second I was outside; my wolf came rushing back to me. I smiled but didn’t pay much attention to her. We weren’t that close, but I could hear the others whispering to their wolves. That box we had been in had definitely created a wall between our human self and our wolves. I enjoyed walking along the wooden log path and to see the sun shining brightly in the clear blue sky. I couldn’t see the ocean, but I could smell it and it made me want to run to it and maybe go for a swim. It was while I was looking around that I saw three other groups being led in the same direction. I couldn’t tell from this distance, but it was clear to me that they weren’t all human. The man was leading us to what looked like a large building. It had a dark red brick on the outside with large windows and a flat roof. The other groups had stopped, and I was curious as to what was happening. I didn’t bother trying to listen as I followed the man inside. The smell of bacon, sausages, eggs, and who knows what else hit me like a ton of bricks. The meals we had been fed so far had been quite nice, but this just made my mouth water and my tummy rumble.

“Welcome to the dining hall!” a woman dressed in chef’s white’s smiled warmly at us as we entered the exceptionally large room. Long cafeteria tables and chairs filled the one side of the room and then there was what looked like a serving line. The trays and trays of breakfast caught my attention and all I wanted to do was pile up a plate and enjoy. “Wolves?” the man nodded. “Wonderful, could you just form a line over there please?” she pointed to some random area and I hurried to stand in line. I watched as another group came in.

“Dragons!” another man yelled out. “Form a line!” I watched as dragons came in and formed a line not too far from us. No one dared to move out of line or utter a word.

“Tina!” I heard Colin’s voice in my head, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, now we could communicate via our mind link.

“What?”

“Do you smell that?” he asked, and I glanced over at the food.

“Oh, hell yes I do!” I responded.

“Bears!” I glanced over at the door as I spotted Keanu leading in the bear shifters. My senses started going haywire and the smell of honey hit me so strongly that I groaned out loud. That sweet smell had made my legs weak and I grabbed onto Liam, who was standing in front of me. He looked at me oddly, mouthed out: ‘Are you ok?’ to which I nodded. I stopped paying attention as more and more groups entered the large room. Suddenly the size of the room and the number of tables and chairs didn’t seem that odd. The chef clapped loudly, and we all looked at her.

“Now, first of all, I am Chef Kimmy and I will be cooking all your meals and as nice as it has been to dish up for you, this works out a lot better for me. From now on, you’ll be brought here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so get used to it. The serving line is self-service and you’ll notice another one being opened on the other side. Move quickly, you can come back for seconds, so…enjoy!” I didn’t bother looking behind me to see the other serving line as we slowly made our way forward. When I got to start, I grabbed a plate and quickly dished up some scrambled eggs, fried bacon, two pork sausages, and four slices of whole-grain toast. I hurried over to where the other wolves were sitting and sat across from Bonnie and Terri.

“Are we allowed to talk?” Terri asked me and I shrugged as I started eating. I couldn’t be bothered with talking when I had a plate of goodness in front of me. Colin sat down beside me, and I glanced over at him before continuing to eat.

“Hey, sis,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I think my mate is here,” he said, looking around. My eyes went wide as I nibbled on my piece of toast. “Somewhere in here,” he added. I shook my head as I looked around the room. There were so many kinds in this room. Different heights, different sizes, different colors, different ages but most importantly, different species. It would also seem like the groups stayed together. I wouldn’t say that anyone looked scared, but it was clear that everyone was uncomfortable, full of questions and curiosity. As I finished off my meal, I thought about going to get some more but since we would be coming here for lunch, I wasn’t too worried. I sat back and relaxed as I listened to Warrity, Liam and Colin discuss some karate movie. I noticed that Daniel had finished eating and I wondered why he didn’t talk. I leaned against the table and nodded over at him. He raised an eyebrow, pointed at himself and I nodded.

“Come on,” I said. I got up from my seat and I was pleasantly surprised when he followed. I grabbed my plate and headed back to the serving line. “Are you ok?” I asked him as I checked what was left. Considering the number of species in this room, I had thought there wouldn’t be much left. However, there was still quite a bit of food and now that I wasn’t worried about taking too long, I spotted the pancakes, fresh fruit, and muffins. I headed down the line as I dished up some pancakes. Now, where is that honey?

“I’m fine, Tina,” Daniel finally said. “What about you? Are you doing ok?”

“Yeah, I’m ok, all things considering,” after making sure my pancakes where drenched in syrup (I couldn’t see the honey), I turned around to head back to the table. I stopped as I felt someone was watching me and I glanced out at the crowd. I could vaguely hear Daniel talking about not eating so much or something as my eyes landed on one of the most attractive males I had ever seen in my entire life. His hair was so black that it made me shiver and his eyes where so dark that I couldn’t really make out their color. He wasn’t smiling but he looked…happy with himself. His defined features made me flush and I felt Daniel nudge me in my side.

“Tina?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled as I looked down, breaking the connection, and hurried back to my seat. I sat down and stared at my plate. Who was he? What the hell was that between us? I was curious about him and that was a first for me.

“Mate,” my wolf whispered, and I shook my head. There was no way that male was my mate. No way. “Mate,” she repeated.

“No, Chrissy!” I snarled out and then I promptly shoved her back and started eating. I refused to believe that a different kind of species was my mate. With this thought in mind, I looked over at Colin. He had finished eating and he was trying to look around the room. Was it possible his mate really was here? What were the odds that we would both find our mates on the same day?

“What did you say?” I turned back into the conversation and heard Chandler and Riddick talking.

“I said, there is a group of lions here!” Chandler repeated and I rolled my eyes. Lions, dragons, bears, what else?

“Lions? When I was in line, the two behind me told me they where wild dogs,” Riddick said and I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. Chandler, Warrity, and even Daniel joined in. The look on Riddick’s face made it even funnier. “What is so funny?” he hissed out as he leaned in. I took a deep breath and put on a straight face before leaning in.

“Really? Wild dogs?” I asked him seriously.

“That’s what he said!”

“If there are wild dogs here then I’m frog and pigs really can fly,” Riddick wasn’t happy with what I said as he suddenly stood up and stormed to the doors. We all watched him, and it didn’t surprise me when three men stopped him at the door.

“I won’t run away, I just don’t want to be in there,” Riddick said. They nodded and one of them went out with him. I rolled my eyes and continued eating. However, it felt like I was being watched. I already knew who was watching me, but I didn’t want to look up. I didn’t want to see him. Oh, well, I looked up, and once again I found myself looking at him. I wanted to go over there, ask him his name, sit on his lap, and just kiss him. Woah! I pushed the plate away and turned to Colin.

“Bro, I think my mate is here too,” I whispered.