Nothing.

There was nothing even remotely helpful in these damn books. Most were fiction; precious hardbacks or original copies. Asra really had collected them all. He hardly seemed the type, and since most of these were hundreds of years old, I could only assume he inherited them.

Browsing the non-fiction section, I only found facts about wolf history. There was a lot about the Great War, and how the wolves came out on top. It had me scoff with distaste, slamming the book closed.

Arrogant beasts.

Grabbing the next book, I peered down at the mottled green leatherback. It was still fresh, which was one reason I picked up the book. All the other books were old and worn, or well-used and worn, so this one, being shiny, was strange.

But its title was stranger.

'Secrets of wolves.'

Interesting title, right?

I wondered what these pages held with a title so ominous.

There was no author, and upon turning the first page, I found handwritten.

Even more interesting.

The pages were a soft beige colour and smelt wonderfully old.

Wolves and their secrets.

Every wolf has a secret in their closet.

The one who huffed and puffed down houses to eat the pigs.

The one who killed a grandma to eat a child.

The one who hunted Peter.

The one who bullies the fox.

Every wolf has a secret, but unlike these tales, wolves do not work alone.

They work together.

They calculate, they plan, they hunt, they attack. They win.

In this book, we shall discover the secrets of wolves.

Oh, now this was interesting.

I flicked through the first few pages with keen interest, but soon grew bored with the factual descriptions of wolves and the comparison to shifters.

Shifter's canines were an average of three and a half inches long; creepy.

Alphas can shift as quickly as one-point-three seconds when in danger; painful.

Shifter's fur is darker the older their blood is; strange one.

They run hotter because of the magic in their blood. To break all the bones in their entire body, they need faster blood flow, and a stronger immune system, which in term gives them great healing capabilities.

Very informative. Who needs school? I should just send Bella here.

More blabber about their capabilities that I already assumed. That included; alpha wolves being larger and the ranks within the pack hierarchy. Both wild wolves and werewolves mate for life too, which interested me. They truly were dogs.

However, apparently they can reject their mates, but that causes a great deal of pain and sometimes death for a wolf or its counterpart. So, I was lucky Asra turned his grumpy ass around.

More information about the mating process had me briefly skim read, noting the stages that it had put me through. I was glad I didn't go through the heat that females do because they sounded annoying. Ravenously horny? I'll pass.

Alpha wolves apparently have it worse too, and the male's sexual drive can be so strong that a female may not leave her bed for a week. They apparently desire so badly to claim and scent their female and bear a pup right away.

Where was my week-long sexual break, Asra?

It stresses the importance of alpha couples procreating too, which had me wonder just how hard it was for Asra to restrict himself. Me going onto birth control must be fucking with his instinct but I applauded the man for understanding.

I grunted, finishing the next few pages. Was this going to give me anything but a biology lesson? It was called Secrets of the Wolves; I didn't realise it would be about this.

The next few pages were about the so-called Moon Goddess. How she loved humans and loved the wild animals of the earth. They referred to her as an entity in this book, and that she joined the two to make an ultimate species to defend against the vampires that murdered innocent humans.

This was hardly a secret, and a more factual textbook. No wonder nobody picked it up.

I snapped the book closed and rose from the chair. However, in my movement, I noticed a flutter of something fall to the ground. I paused, staring down at the simple piece of paper with interest. Looking around to see where it had come from, nobody else was here other than one teenager cramming for school in the corner.

Bending down, I picked up the piece of paper curiously. Unfolding it, it was the same size as the book, with a torn left edge. There was writing, scrawled un-neatly across the page. I squinted, trying to make out the old-style cursive. This reminded me of the writing I found in grandmother's letters.

If you seek the true secret stars of the shifter-kind, then you are getting adjacent. You merely need to have a softer sense of height and find the right book.

Right, 'cause that makes this a lot easier and not weird at all.

Pursing my lips, I turned the page over in my palm, wondering where it had come from. The pages were darker than the book I had just read, and flicking through it, I found no torn pages.

Why was this piece of paper in here, and why did it randomly fall out?

Where did it come from?

Smoothing my fingers over the page, I found it smooth of any impurities. At the top was a star, and at the bottom was a crescent moon.

Nothing else.

This was the same on both sides.

The handwritten message seemed in haste too, the words scrawled and some of them coming out thicker than the others. They had written with a fountain pain. It was likely it flowed faster, however... it drew my eyes to the words bolder than others.

Stars. Adjacent. Softer. Height. Right.

My chest ached as I exhaled.

Those were clues, weren't they?

This wasn't just a random note, this was a clue.

Why?

Was it intended for me?

It seemed old. Why had nobody picked it up before?

The book was barely used, barely touched compared to every other one in this library. It wasn't like it was a book without interest; pups and young teens would surely read a book that told you how to wolf. It had the history of their kind, the Moon Goddess, and their abilities. If I was a child, I would want to read it.

I kept the book, finding it too odd to leave behind for somebody else to find.

Meanwhile...

Adjacent.

Moving back to the bookshelf, I stopped at where I found the book.

Which adjacent?

I glanced back down at the pages.

Height.

I looked up, eyes running along the various dull coloured non-fiction. There was too many!

Softer.

Soft?

Were books soft?

No! They were paper! Paper wasn't soft like cotton.

Wait.

Soft.

Not hard.

My head snapped to the bookcase on the left. They separated the hardbacks and paperbacks from each other!

But wait... It also said right...

I looked back the other way, confused. The girl in the corner glanced at me, but was quick to get back into her work when she caught my eye.

Okay, Ailia, stick with this idea first, then we can try the second one.

Glancing at the paperbacks, I found the shelf next to the one I retrieved from the first book. I moved right, and then higher, my finger trailing over the book covers to find one of interest.

Stars.

Stars?

Star?

Sky?

Moon?

Nothing. None of these books had anything of this kind.

I looked higher, something within me telling me it was truly higher.

I need a ladder.

Hurrying to the other side of the room, I grabbed the ladder and popped it open in the same place I once stood.

The ladder wobbled as I climbed and I cursed, clinging to the side of the bookcase.

I hate ladders.

I have decided they are just as bad as the death-box.

Swallowing nervously, I stood on the centre step, my knees shaking as the legs wobbled. Was it missing a damn foot? Why was it so wobbly? I was gonna tip if I even as much as moved an arm! I was five feet in the air!

Suddenly, it stopped, and I glanced down from my near death-experience to find the teenager holding onto the side of it. She didn't even glance at me, merely running her eyes across the room as her well-manicured, pink-tipped fingers clasped the ladder.

My lips quirked slightly, and acknowledging her silence, I turned back to the bookcase. Now I would not die, I could concentrate on what I was looking for. My fingers ran along the covers, my head turned as I read the titles of the books. Some were near new, with only a few being used going by the creases in the spine.

Poor paperbacks.

What would I be looking for?

I have the height and the side, and I have found the 'soft' books. Now I just needed...

Stars.

My index finger stopped at one book. It was a dull brown, and well, well, used. It stood out up here. That's how I compared it to the pristine covers of the rest of the bookshelf. And guess what? The spine was blank.

So, how did I know this was the book?

Well, a star is a bright ball of gas, right?

But what else was it?

A showcase. An amazement. A glowing orb of possibilities that drew you in.

This book was none of those. It was bland and boring. A dull brown, well-worn narrow case. It was nothing compared to the shiny, fat and pristine books on either side of it.

But that was exactly it.

A star was something that was different; something amazing. It was something that stood out against the darkness of the sky and brightened it.

This book wasn't bright or pristine. It wasn't amazing and took your breath away. But it was unique in its own way. It was unique and stood out from everything else.

It wasn't meant to be placed there. That was obvious. A book so well-read would be on a lower shelf, which meant somebody put it here on purpose with the less popular books. Out of reach. Out of prying eyes.

This was my star.

I pried it from the shelf, turning it in my palm to peer at the front. It, too, was blank. It was a thin book, and I clenched it in one hand as I climbed back down the ladder. I thanked the teenager softly, and she shrugged before strolling back to her desk.

Teenagers were weird.

Am I that weird?

Wait, am I still a teenager?

I haven't felt like a teenager since I started working. I've always had to be a grownup.

I guess I'd never know what it felt like to be an annoying, silent teenager.

Shrugging, I took the book back to my chair and sat down. It wasn't even dusty, and once I opened the cover, I found nothing but a torn page.

I grinned, almost manically, and quickly had to compose myself before the teenager noticed me being weird. Unfolding the torn page from my pocket, I placed it next to the torn edge until it fit.

It was perfect.

This was my Cinderella moment.

I followed the star Wendy and Peter!

Neverland was in my grasp.

Keeping the note safe between two pages, I sought the first page of the book. The pages were dull and well-worn from the amount of touching. But someone scrawled every word in a penmanship that filled the pages.

This book was old. With no title, no author, not even page numbers, I read.

There are things the wolf council don't want you to know.

Oh boy, it was going right into it.

But wait, wolf council?

I didn't realise there was a council.

The wolf council. Where every alpha of importance convenes. No mere peasant wolf may know what the alphas talk about, not even the females. But I do. Because I was one of them.

******

if you were part of a wolf council, what would be your first declaration or law?