CHAPTER 5

Practice had just ended. Robert and the rest of the team were walking towards the lockers room to clean up and take a shower. However, before Robert could enter the room, the coach stopped him at the entrance.

Coach Gundlach scowled at him, with his arms crossed across his chest. "You were late for practice today," he stated.

Robert scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he looked down sheepishly. "Ah, yeah. Sorry about that."

"Don't make me regret making you the captain and letting you in the team," reminded Coach Gundlach. "Do you hear me?"

Coach Gundlach was one of the people in town who knows about Robert's origins. And he was neutral about it; he did not really care much about it. At first, he had his qualms in regards of Robert being in the team. He knew about the shifters' superhuman strengths and abilities. He was a strong believer when it comes to fairness in life and sports. But when Robert pleaded with him that he wanted to join the team and that he would not be using his superhuman strength, Coach Gundlach reluctantly agreed. He could sense his sincerity and his passion for football.

Robert sighed. "Yes sir! I'm sorry. I got distracted," he mumbled.

Coach Gundlach slapped him on the back and said, "Alright, alright. Get going. Make sure to come on time for the next practice."

Robert nodded as he walked back to the locker room.

Inside, Edward and the others were already done with their shower. They were now in front of their lockers, joking around and pushing each other. They fell silent when Robert walked in. He headed over to his locker, grabbed his towel from inside and head into the shower.

Few minutes later, he and Edward were on their way to the parking lot, with the rest of the pack, who were in the football team, as well. At the parking lot, there stood three good looking men, who seems to be a couple of years older than Robert.

Robert frowned when he saw them.

One of them noticed his group and walked over. Before he could blink, he found himself in a headlock.

He tried to break free and push the guy away but to no avail. The guy's grip was too strong. "The feck, Latham!" he cursed out loud.

The guy who had him in a headlock laughed and released him. "How's my little pup?" Latham asked jokingly, ruffling his hair.

Robert growled but Latham only burst into more laughter.

The other two joined them. One of them, who had a beauty mark below his left eye, rolled his eyes and put his hand on Latham's shoulder. "That's enough teasing, Latham," he said sternly.

The other guy just nodded.

Latham shrugged. "Hey, it's been so long since we haven't met the pup, Noaz. Can't help teasing the little pup."

Robert growled at being called a 'pup'. The only person he could tolerate calling him a 'pup' was his father. He does not have the guts to stand up to him, anyway.

Latham, Noaz and Roel were the shifter triplets and used to be Robert's guardians. But ever since Robert had his wolf, the three were relieved of their duties and were assigned as the Alpha's agents outside the town. From time to time, they do still protect him as he was the future Alpha and has yet to shift fully.

Despite being triplets, they were fraternal triplets and one could not tell that they were actually triplets. Latham was the mischievous and the oldest triplet, with sandy blonde hair and hazel green eyes. He always has a smile on his face and were known to be outgoing and friendly, compared with the other two. In the human world, he worked as a mechanic at one of the workshops in town. Noaz was the smart and middle triplet, with black hair and blue eyes. He has a doctorate degree and was one of the lecturers in Prides University, teaching History. Roel was the youngest triplet with the same black hair and blue eyes as Noaz. The differences between him and Noaz were that Noaz has a beauty mark below his left eye and Roel was much more muscular than Noaz. In the human world, Roel worked as a chef at one of the restaurants in town.

Noaz rolled his eyes and smiled down at Robert. "Hey, Rob. Long time no see." A few months ago, the triplets were sent to another pack in another country, to discuss on several pack matters. The triplets went there, on behalf of the Alpha, showing how much the Alpha trusted them, despite not being a Beta or Gamma.

"What are you guys doing here?" Robert asked, with Edward standing beside him.

"The Alpha told us that you might need a ride home so here we are," Latham said, spreading his arms wide, with a huge grin on his face.

Robert frowned. "Yeah, but I was thinking of heading over to McClay's for some grub," he said.

"Then, you can use the van to go there if you want," Noaz suggested. "Glad that we decided to use the van," he laughed as he looked at the other young pups behind Robert.

"What about you three?" Edward asked, with a concerned frown.

Latham shrugged. "We can just shift and run our way back home."

Noaz stretched his arms up and said, "Yeah, it's been awhile since I let Briven out for a run," referring to his wolf.

The three of them led the way to the van, which was hidden from sight and swiftly removed their clothes, before placing them in a bag. Roel placed the bag in the van and the three of them began to shift. Sounds of bones cracking could be heard. Robert and the rest watched as the triplet's teeth began to lengthen, their nose began to elongate and furs began to burst out of their skins. The three men who stood before the van were now gone. And what replaced them were three large wolves; two black and one dark brown. But these wolves were larger than normal wolves and could nearly reach Robert's shoulder in height, when on crouching position.

The three wolves growled and immediately ran off to the direction of the pack house.

Roel had already handed Robert the car keys before shifting. So, every one of them climbed onto the van with Edward at the driver's seat and drove off, heading towards the McClay's.

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The group finally arrived at the McClay's. The place were brimming with life, where there were people standing nearby the jukebox, listening and dancing to the music and people sitting at the booths, enjoying their food. The place was designed in the 70's style diner, with red and white booths, red bar stools, round and square tables and long bar counter. On the counter itself, there were displays of pies and cakes inside.

Robert headed towards his usual table, where the owner usually left it empty for him. He was a regular customer at the diner.

He was about to sit at his booth, when he saw Sarah at the next booth, with a couple of girls. They were eating and laughing and did not seem to notice him coming into the diner. 'Why do I keep seeing her everywhere? Is she a stalker or something?' he wondered.

He continued to sit down and before Edward could sit next to him, a couple of girls pushed by him and flanked both sides of Robert. "Hey Robby, we've been waiting for you," they sweetly said in unison.

Robert grinned at both of them, resting his arms behind the girls' booth seats. "Been waiting for long?" he asked.

The two girls just giggled.

Just then, somewhere inside his mind, Dane growled fiercely at him, telling him to push them away. One of the girls had just rubbed her hand against Robert's muscled thigh, which made Dane growled. It really does not like to be touched by humans.

Robert inwardly rolled his eyes. 'You tell them,' he joked at Dane.

'If I could, I'd probably kill them!' Dane growled.

Robert inwardly rolled his eyes. 'Just cool it,' he warned.

A growl suddenly can be heard and everyone at Robert's booth went silent. The two girls who were sitting next to him suddenly backed away from him, their eyes widened with fright. That's when he realized the growl was from him. He put his hand on his forehead and sighed. 'Demmit, Dane,' he inwardly cursed.

Robert looked up and saw Edward looking at him in concern. His look asking, 'Are you okay?'

Robert nodded and let out an awkward laugh. "Haha… I must have been hungry," he lied.

Edward immediately call for the waitress to take their orders.

Half an hour later, their foods finally arrived. The two girls, who were sitting near Robert now moved away, probably still scared of making him angry. Much to his consternation and Dane's delight.

Robert had ordered three burgers, five french fries and two nugget sets. Yes, he has a big appetite. Probably because he had to feed his wolf, as well and that he has a high metabolism rate.

As he was about to bite into his second burger, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Sarah standing up, looking as if she was about to leave.

She walked past Robert's booth and coincidentally, their eyes met again. It made him wonder why looking deep in her eyes made him feel warmth and at home.

Sarah gave a small but weird smile, as if she was thinking why Robert was staring at her that way. She pulled away from his gaze, walking out of the diner with her backpack and books in her arms.