Lana spent Sunday morning preparing things for Chekof's surprise birthday. The books said werewolves couldn't eat chocolate so she decided to make strawberry shortcake. At lunch time, everyone converged on his room bringing gifts and food, all wishing him happy birthday. Soon after they got there, lunch arrived.
While everyone was eating, Chekof whispered into Lana's ear, "today is not my birthday. I gave the military false documents but thank you." He smiled brightly at her and she returned it.
After they ate, he opened his presents and was quite pleased these strangers welcomed him in this way. He thanked everyone for being so thoughtful. Then Lana served the strawberry shortcake. Everyone was happy and enjoying themselves. Chekof was asked to choose a movie for them to all watch together, Karlen excused himself to return to his roof.
"Anything by Andy Sidaris is fine," he said.
None in the room had ever heard of such a person so he had to show them where to find these movies. Blaine chose one at random, having no idea what they were getting ready to watch. Next thing they knew, half-naked women who were well-endowed in the chest area were running down a beach in slow motion carrying guns. Blaine slapped his forehead.
"I should have guessed," he chuckled.
The other guys had their eyed glued to the TV, with the exception of Almin who was watching Kattie's reaction to all this. Blaine smiled hoping one day he would have the courage to finally approach her.
Eventually, the movie ended. Almin offered to walk Kattie back to her room. The others all returned to theirs or went to the park. All wished Chekof a happy birthday once more before departing. Lana gave him a big hug.
Whispering in his ear, "your wife must be amazing!"
He chuckled and opened his book. There, between the pages, was a picture of the most stunning woman she had ever seen. Her raven hair shimmered in the moonlight and her skin seemed to glimmer with the magic of the moon.
"Her name is Divina," Chekof said with a level of reverence she was shocked by.
A smile slowly crept across her face. "How long did it take you to win her over?"
He chuckled, "5 years… Neither of us regret it either. I wish I could speak to her but I'm only allowed to drop messages right now."
"Why?"
His eyes grew dark, "I still need answers on some things."
Lana nodded, "enjoy the rest of your day. We are going to my lab."
Chekof chuckled, "is that what you call it? Have fun!"
Lana's face turned bright red but her smile was unmistakable as she walked out with Blaine's hand in hers.
When they got to the tree, Lana was getting ready to ask the tree to put them in her lab but Blaine had other ideas. She soon found herself in her room. They had put the furniture back after returning and he now sat in a chair, pulling her into his lap.
He pulled her in for a deep kiss. After a few moments, she pulled back with a small chuckle, "don't tell me that movie…. affected you…"
Blaine chuckled, "having you in my lap, laying against me did. I barely saw the movie. I was lost in you diing for the torture to end."
Lana had been watching his eyes. She saw the love and desire and couldn't resist him. They spent the rest of the afternoon between the sheets enjoying themselves and talking. She realized she was leaning more toward Kyle than Blaine. They seemed to have more in common.
As dinner time neared, they cleaned each other up and got everything set up. They were sitting at the table when all the friends showed up. Kyle was in control of his body and Lana was reading a book that could only be found in her classroom. Kyle had been slowly using the duplicate ability on all the books in there so Lana could add them to her own library. The knowledge was simply too valuable to her to have it hard to access. The bookshelf in her bracelet was filling up. One dresser was still empty so they figured that would be next.
Lana continued to study while dinner was prepared. She was looking for something specific and hoped this book held the secret.
When Kattie placed a plate in front of her, Lana couldn't help but exclaim, "Kattie! Your watch says 6!"
She jumped up and gave her friend a hug, "congratulations!"
Kattie hugged her back, "thank you! This was very hard to get. The higher level beasts have such strong wills!"
Lana smiled, "that means you need to advance Sven now!"
Kattie chuckled, "soon."
"Kent will be a month old in two days. He should be able to regulate his body temperature totally on his own by then as long as he's developing correctly."
"Do you want me to have a family member examine him? I don't know if the school has anyone," Kattie responded.
Lana thought about it. "They should have someone. Soldiers and students have beasts, though it's not common... I'll ask Doctor Tall. I may need to have your family look at him."
Kattie agreed to ask someone to come if Doctor Tall didn't have anyone to look at Kent and they all enjoyed their meal. They all sat around talking as their meal digested. Not long after, they started sparing as had become their nightly routine. Blaine and Lana didn't participate but took on more of a supervisor role, helping people with their stance, giving pointers to improve accuracy and speed.
"Blaine, I have an idea. Switch to Kyle and have him buff up. Play the target," Lana said.
Blaine laughed and did as she suggested. Lana continued advising while Kyle danced around with everyone missing him. Some got close a few times. Once they were done, he gave them pointers and encouragement. Everyone was tired so they walked back to the dorms together.
Blaine walked Lana to her room, escorting her in and closing the door so he could kiss her goodnight.
"I hate leaving you here. You belong in my arms," Blaine said with a sigh.
Lana chuckled softly, "it won't always be this way. Enjoy having a bed all to yourself while you can!"
Blaine groaned, "I don't want to. I've had my bed to myself for 17 years. I want to share it now. With you."
Lana chuckled and brought him in for a deep kiss. After a while she pulled back, "get out of here before we end up doing more!"
She reached over and opened the door. Just as she did, Blaine's watch went off with an incoming call. He looked down and it was his grandmother. All thoughts of happy drained from his face as he stepped into the hall and answered it, making sure Lana's face could not be seen on the hologram.
"Blaine, darling, how good it is to see my grandson's face. I wanted to let you know, on Friday, I'll be there to pick up some volunteers. I'll be bringing you with me as well. The school has agreed to allow you to come for the weekend to apprentice with our company. I expect you to be here for the full summer as well here in a few months. Make sure you pack a bag for the weekend because I won't give you time when I get there."
"Yes ma'am," Blaine said, his face ghostly pale. He had no idea what she was talking about but the glint in her eyes said nothing good was going to happen this weekend.
He had left the door open to Lana's room and she heard the whole thing. Just as he was going to turn to her room, her watch went off. It was a text from Paul.
[Come up here ASAP. Bring your Dobin, Blaine and Chekof.]
Lana poked her head out to see Blaine just turning toward her. She showed her watch to Blaine, stepped into the hall and closed the door behind her. Blaine's face hardened. He grabbed her hand and they quicky went up the stairs, stopping by two rooms to collect the requested people. Lana let them all in and soon they were standing in front of Paul. Lana decided to take the chair at Blaine's insistence.
"Mother just called. It appears Barica Abel has the names of five students she plans to pick up and add to her experimental subjects. Two names on the list are Chekof and Lana."
Chekof looked excited, "Yes! I finally get to be inside!"
Blaine raised an eyebrow. Chekof told them about his mission to track down Abel Genetics and find his brother.
"Should I have you work with my parents? We have people on the inside now. Lana will be able to get some support to a degree. We'll need to have meetings throughout the week."
Blaine informed them he was told he'd be going as well but that the students were volunteers.
Paul nodded, "let me update my parents. For now, go get some rest."