To Come First

by J C Rae

  I’m not sure if I should do this or not. After thinking things over, I decide to compromise. “How about if I agree to drop my shield when we get to your house, with only you in the room. Actually, Matt can be there too because I’ve let it down with him around already and he didn’t attack me. He’s actually grown on me so I feel like I can trust him and would be more comfortable with him there. Can you explain why it’s so important?”

  "As I said, we use a persons' scent to help know how they are feeling. We can also separate someone's scent to help locate them, if needed. I have actually never met anyone that didn't have a scent or that could hide it. I guess it would come in handy if you were trying to sneak up on someone or even hide from them." I'm processing Uncles words as he continues. "We can also scent our mates. We can tell by their smell if they would be a good match for us. We can scent familiar bonds as well as if someone is taken. It helps keep jealousy down, along with fighting. As you have probably noticed, we are slightly more aggressive than normal folks."

  He continues talking about mates and pack life. I like the fact that they are all considered family, even when they are not blood related. It sounds like a nice way to live. He touches on the hierarchy of a pack and how to show respect. I giggle a little when he gets to that, which earns me 'the look', but I've always agreed that respect is earned and I'm not sure how that's going to work in pack life. I guess we will find out. He's just starting to talk about family claiming, when the car suddenly swerves violently to the left and Randolf shouts for everyone to hold on!

  Chapter 11

  As soon as I hear his shout, I wrap my shield around the four of us. I cannot see anything that's going on but I want to make sure we are all protected. Out of nowhere, there's a huge explosion and then I feel the car starting to flip over. I brace myself and try to look around but it's too disorienting. We roll 4 or 5 times before coming to a complete stop on the roof. I'm dizzy and shaken but seem to be fine. After looking around to make sure everyone else is okay, I ask "What the hell was that about? Did you break for a squirrel or something Randolf?"

  "How can you joke right now? We just got ran off the road in an attempt to kill my Alpha and they are probably out there right now, ready to blast us apart. I don't know how we are going to get out of this alive!"

  "Oh, calm down. First of all, I can and will always joke. It's better to laugh than cry! Secondly, I have us all shielded so they can't do anything to hurt us right now. Anyone know who these people are?”

  Uncle looks slightly shaken but he seems to be more pissed off than anything. “I’m not sure who they are and I can’t catch their scents. All I can smell is gas. We need to get out of this car. Ash, will your shield hold if we are moving?”

  “Yes, it will hold. I have it locked on each of you separately so we don’t even really have to stay as a group. I’ve never really tested it much but so far it's held up to knives, bats, pans, fire, and guns. Let’s get out of this tin can.”

  We are all able to get out of our seat belts with a little work and the sharp knife that Matt had in his pocket. The windows have all been busted out during our roll, so we crawl out thru the back. Immediately, we are surrounded by a dozen men. They are all dressed in black but haven’t bothered covering up their faces. That puzzles me because I would definitely not want anyone to know I was involved but I guess they plan on killing any witnesses. They all have that hard look in their eyes, but some of them have the sparkle of excitement. Those are the ones that we are going to have to watch because they seem to be enjoying themselves.

  Once guy steps forward and says, “We has you surrounded. There’s no place you can run and hide. What are you gonna do now Alpha Carl?”

  This guy must have a problem with Uncle because he practically snarls his name. We all stay quiet for a minute but I watch these guys. Some of them are leering at me like I’m dinner and they’re starving. I don’t like those looks. To me, they look like the typical bullies you meet on the corner who harass you for your lunch money. That thought cause a snicker to escape and I’m pretty sure the head guy doesn’t like it.

  “Is something funny sweet cakes?”

  Ugh, I hate pet names. “Well,” I start but Uncle shakes his head slightly. Guess he doesn't want me to piss them off, which in all honesty, I’m good at. Oh well.

  Uncle starts to speak but is cut off by one of the other men. “What’s wrong Alpha? Your little bitch not allowed to talk to us? Is she not used to real men? I could show her a thing or two while you’re here. As a matter of fact, I think I might just do that and let you watch. Maybe you’ll learn something.”

  This time I laugh out loud. I can’t help it. These guys are ridiculous! “Are you serious right now? I wouldn’t let you touch me if you were the last man on earth!”

  That seems to piss him off. “I didn’t say you were gonna have a choice, bitch! As a matter of fact, I think there’s a couple of us that can help you learn to keep your mouth shut since you obviously don’t know how.”

  “Listen, asshole, I have dealt with bigger douchbags than you and I can guarantee that they were never able to teach me that lesson. You wanna try, bring it on.” With that, I drop into into a fighting stance and wait. This causes most of them to laugh but I don’t take my eyes of my admirer. He puffs up his chest and takes a step towards me but the leader shakes his head. He’s pissed off now. Oops, guess I made him mad too. I’m not really sorry but oh well. Guess I might as well continue.

  “Is this going to take much longer? I’m tired and I really just want to get to Uncle’s house and take a nap. Can you guys maybe tell us what the hell you want so we can kick your asses and get home?”

  The laughter starts again and I see a couple guns raise up towards us. I’m not really worried about it though. I know my shields are strong so I take a step towards the leader and keep my eyes on him. Matt tries to grab my arm but I keep walking out of his reach. None of the others have really moved. I guess they aren’t as confident in my shields as I am.

  I’m now standing right in front of the leader, staring into his eyes. “Are you going to tell me your name or do I need to make one up? It seems like asshole and douche are taken by some of your teammates here but I’m sure that I can come up with something.”

  He cants his head to the side like he’s trying to figure me out. Good luck buddy because it won’t happen but I stand there and wait, keeping my eyes locked on his the entire time. “I’m Alpha Caden and I suggest that you drop your eyes and submit before I make you little girl.”

  “Hmm, well Caden, you’re not my Alpha and even if you were, I submit to no one. I’m my own person so you can just kiss my ass. If you’re an Alpha too, then why the hell did you attack us? Is this some war that I wasn’t informed of?”

  That last question is aimed at Uncle and he looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “Kinda of. Alpha Caden here wants my territory and my pack and it seems like he’s willing to do whatever he can to get it. This has been going on for years but he won’t come at me directly because he can’t beat me fairly, as his father found out.”

  “My father should’ve won that challenge against you. There’s no way that you’re stronger than he was.”

  I’m trying to keep up with them but I still have a question. “Was? So...” I leave the question unspoken and am not disappointed when Uncle answers me.

  “His father requested an Alpha challenge, which is to the death. These are rarely done because it can be devastating to the rest of the pack having to rebuild their lives in a new pack. The winner gets control of the losers pack. In this case, he passed his pack to his son before the challenge so that I wouldn’t be able to take them over when I won. It’s not against the rules but it is highly looked down on.”

  “Ok, so let me get this straight. His dad challenged you, lost his life, and now you are wanting revenge? Oh my gosh, it’s so much like high school! Get over it. Your dad knew what he was getting into when he made the damn challenge. Now you have t
o live with the consequences. Are we done here? You ruined a car, had a little chat, tried to be intimidating and failed, and now I’m just bored.”

  With that, I turn back towards Uncle, Matt, and Randolf. They all suddenly get a horrified look on their faces, as they start towards me, and I feel arms wrap around me. That lasts for about 5 seconds before the shock from my shield knocks him off his feet. I spin towards my would be attacker and see that he’s on his knees, breathing heavily, so I kick him in the head. He rocks to the side but doesn’t go down.

  “What the hell! You wait until my backs turned and try to grab me? I’m gonna kick your ass!” With that I start to lunge towards him but Uncle’s shout stops me in place.

  “Stop! Ash, I would like it if you would come back here with us so that we can leave. Some of my pack is almost here to get us and I think these guys are done talking.”

  When Caden hears that, he pulls himself back to his feet and raises his gun. He’s still watching me like he’s trying to figure me out so I yawn and roll my eyes. “You are not going anywhere! Shoot them but leave her for me.”

  With that order, all hell breaks loose. Guns start firing but I just stand there. From the sounds of it, the shooting is coming from both sides so I guess Randolf or Uncle were armed. Shouldn’t surprise me but I want in on some of this action too. The guys are hollering for me to come to them but that’s just not my style. Guess they’re going to learn, eventually.

  I turn towards the closest guy and run straight at him. He doesn’t seem to know what to do since his Alpha told him not to shoot me. I take advantage of his hesitation and punch him in the face. Oh my, he’s got a hard head! I follow that by a jab to the ribs and then a knee to his junk. With that, he falls forward gasping.

  Someone tries to grab me from behind but can’t because I’m already moving again. I spin behind him and wrap my arms around his neck, while hollering to Uncle, “Hey, Uncle, is there some rule on how much I can hurt them? I mean, that guys junk may never recover and this guy is having a little trouble breathing. Oh, yeah, and you guys don’t really need to hide right now cause I got you covered.”

  The guy that I’m hanging off of has lessened his struggling and I can tell that the lack of oxygen is having an effect. He's still struggling and spinning, hoping to dislodge me, but I have a tight grip. He drops to his knees and then onto his face. I can tell the exact moment when he passes out so I let go and stand up, looking for my next target. The shooting has stopped and everyone is looking at me.

  “What?”

  “Ash, dear, you just choked out a guy three times your size after putting another one on the ground. And no, you cannot kill them. I know that’s what you were trying to ask. Good lord, you’re definitely going to keep us on our toes.” That last part was said so quietly that I don't think I was supposed to hear it.

  With that I snort and look around. Alpha Caden has a gun aimed right at me and looks like he’s trying to figure out what to do so I decide to help him out. “I suggest that you and your little friends run along now. I’m starting to get mad and you don’t want to see that. I’m tired and hungry already. If you add pissed off to that, then all hell is going to break loose.”

  A howl cuts me off and the guys seem to stand a little taller. Guess that’s our back up, not that we actually need them. Oh well. When I look towards Alpha Caden, I see that his men have gathered around him. It looks like a couple of the guys even grabbed tweedle dee and tweedle dum that I knocked down.

  Alpha Caden looks at Uncle and says “This isn’t over. I will get my revenge and then I will take your female.” Then he looks at me with a smirk. “You will be mine very soon.”

  With that, they take off. I’m actually kind of mad because I didn’t get to see anyone change into a wolf. I was a little distracted when Matt did it so I didn’t get to watch. I look over at Uncle just as the first wolves reach him. They seem to surround him and turn to me, growling.

  “Hey puppy, don’t get your fir in a twist. I just saved your Alpha’s ass so you better be growling a thank you or I’m gonna have to show you what a size 10 feels like shoved...”

  Before I can finish, Uncle interrupts. “Stand down Luca. She is not the threat. Caden and some of his pack blew us off the road. They already ran off, that way. Ash is with me as a guest.”

  The wolf whom I’m guessing is Luca just huffs and keeps watching me. In my head, I feel him speak, Alpha, are you sure? I can take her down with no problem. I know you don’t like to hurt women but sometimes it's a necessity. If she attacked you...

  This time it’s me that interrupts but I do it out loud. “Listen you overgrown mutt! I didn’t attack him. And if you step one paw my way, I swear on all that is holy, you won’t be able to walk for a week. Don’t think just cause I’m a girl I can’t do it either! He’s not protecting me, you idiot, he’s protecting you.”

  By this time, we have quite the audience. It looks like there’s a couple dozen wolves standing around us right now. There’s also two SUVs pulled over at the side of the road that I’m guessing contained more of the pack.

  Did she just hear me? What the hell is going on? I can’t scent her so maybe she’s a wolf but she shouldn’t be able to hear me unless she’s in the pack and I don’t feel the link to her. Alpha?

  I had started walking towards the wrecked car but pull up short at his comment. “Yes, I can hear you. No, I’m not part of your pack. Now, can anyone here help me flip this damn car over so I can get my shit out of it?”

  A couple guys look from me to Uncle and when he nods his head, they turn towards the car. It gets flipped over quickly and I’m able to grab my stuff. It’s not much, but dammit, it’s all I have.

  “Uncle, I hate to be a bitch. Really I do. I’m just tired and hungry and everyone is looking at me like I’m the enemy. I thought you said packs were about family and having someone to lean on. If this is how they are treated, then I don’t know if I want to be a part of that. For now, can we please just get where we’re going so I can relax? Someone, point me in the direction of the car that will be carting my ass.”

  No one moves at first and then I hear a chuckle. Looking over, I see that Matt and Randolf are both laughing. Randolf sees me looking at them and he winks at me. “Alpha, I told you she was going to be a handful!” Then both he and Matt head my way.

  I just stand there and shake my head at them. Ugh, men!

  “Okay, guys. We’ve had an interesting time but I found my nephew and that’s cause for a celebration. He’s brought his adopted sister with him and she will be treated like family. We will explain more tomorrow at the pack meeting but for now, lets get home.”

  “Yes, Alpha.” Is all I hear echoed around me. Some is out loud, while others are thru my mind. That’s going to take some getting used to. Oh well, at least we are finally headed home!

  Chapter 12

  We get to Uncle's house without any more problems. Well, no more outside problems. Some of the looks I am getting are downright hostile. I’m not sure what I did to any of these people but they need to back off before I go off. I know what it’s like to have someone new come in to your territory but some of these people are taking it a little too far.

  First it started when we were getting in the cars. Some guy decided that I wasn’t to be included in the vehicle that was hauling “His Alpha” because I was an unknown. When I wouldn’t move, because honestly it’s so much fun riling these people up, he thought that he would take it upon himself to make me. Now I understand that I’m not really intimidating looking, especially when he had me by almost 6 inches and 100 pounds, but he learned very quickly that looks can be deceiving. In all fairness, I told him not to lay a hand on me, but he didn’t listen. When he tried to grab ahold of my arm, I jerked it up in the air and elbowed him in the face. I didn’t follow up with anything else because really I just wanted him to leave me alone but he didn’t take the hint. He tried to grab me again and I was pissed. Maybe I could’ve handled things a little
better but I put his ass on the ground, roughly. Once there, I held him by the throat while he growled at me. I had gathered an audience, once again, and his growling was mixed in with theirs. Once I had him secured on the ground, I looked around and announced to everyone standing there that they either needed to back off and mind their own business or I would make them, just like I did with the guy in front of me.