by D. Fischer
Turning in Evo’s direction, she waves her wooden spoon at him. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You think you’re so special now with that gift your beautiful mate gave you, don’t you?”
I shake my head at the two of them. Distracting them from their friendly spat, I decide to break the ice about our plans this evening. “Kenna and I plan to go to a bar tonight.”
Switching to Alpha mode, Evo straightens his posture. “I don’t think that’s a good—”
Kelsey claps excitedly, effectively breaking off Evo’s little speech. “Can I come? We can make it a girls’ night!”
Everyone’s been feeling a little cooped up. I understand her excitement, and Kelsey feels it more so than I. Since feeding the Pack is a full-time job, she doesn’t work outside the territory and hardly ever gets to leave.
Aside from those of us who leave the territory for work, we’ve been sticking close for a reason. George Kenner, Alpha to the Gray Pack and Kenna’s biological father—though, he doesn’t know our Alpha female is his daughter—has sworn to retaliate for us killing his son, Chris. He isn’t our only problem, though. Our ex-Pack mate, Jazz, is on the run after we killed her mate, Chris. With these threats to our Pack, we’ve stuck close to home. However, if we don’t get out to have a little fun, we’ll all go insane.
Ignoring my brother’s protest, I turn to Kelsey. “I think a night out is exactly what us girls need.”
“Hold on a minute,” Evo begins. “You three girls aren’t going anywhere by yourselves. Some of the guys will have to go with you. I don’t want to leave you unprotected.”
Kelsey shrugs. “Jeremy can come.”
“He can’t. He planned to help me with the Pack financials tonight,” Evo says.
Jeremy owns his own accounting business in town. Calculating numbers and pinching budgets comes easily to him. Though he is a quiet, calm and collected man, he has the brains of a genius.
“I’ll send Ben and Flint along. Dyson’s scheduled to patrol the territory tonight,” Evo says after a short pause, giving in to our evening plans.
Kelsey claps her hands excitedly while my heart sinks to my toes. Ben tagging along won’t be fun for me, but my wolf wholeheartedly disagrees. She thinks this could be our chance to get our mate to recognize us. When it comes to Ben, she lives in la-la-land. For me - this could very well break me. I want to get away from him and his ignorance, not have him guarding us while I try my best to forget about him and pick up a guy. I’m trying my best to move past him, but if he so much as flirts with another girl, I’m not sure what my reaction will be, either. However way you look at it, the prospects of this evening turned from the possibility of fun to downright depressing.
Evo wags his finger at us. “I don’t want everyone out the entire night. I expect everyone to be functional enough to spar in the morning. And for the love of all that’s holy, keep your wolves under control.” He looks pointedly at Kelsey. Her face, which resembles the picture of innocence, brings a small smile to mine.
Every Saturday morning since Evo challenged and killed our father and took over as Alpha, we’ve been sparring with the other members of our Pack to improve our self-defense and fighting techniques. If there ever happens to be an attack, having strong and capable wolves who can defend our territory, and those in it, is necessary.
Kelsey’s shoulders sag and her cheerful mood deflates. “How functional are we talking here?” she asks.
I slap my hand on the counter. “Don’t be such a thumb-sucker Sally, big bro. We’ll be home when we can no longer consume any more alcohol. Or get kicked out. Or go to jail. Whichever happens first.”
Turning away from my brother’s disapproving expression, I stand from the stool and make my way out of the kitchen, intent on heading to my quarters.
Each member or mated pair of the Pack has their own living quarters inside the mansion. The only door on the front leads to the Alpha’s quarters. This is to ensure that if any humans come to our doorstep, they won’t think a group of people live here. Otherwise, they’ll be suspicious. Each of the other living quarters can be entered from the back of the mansion.
“Supper’s in twenty minutes, Bre!” Kelsey shouts as I’m sliding open the glass door that exits to the spacious backyard.
Stepping outside, I inhale a deep breath and take in the scent Fall provides. Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the smells. The colors of the leaves are soothing shades of brown, red, and orange. Our wooded territory comes alive with creatures scurrying about to gather food before the first snowfall, which could be any day now. There’s already a brisk chill in the breeze. Winter is certainly arriving early this year.
My wolf and I have a thing for trees. She’s a depressed creature. Having a past like mine and a mate that doesn’t know you exist would do that to any wolf. Anything that soothes her helps soothe me. Soon, it’ll be winter and all my favorite trees will be dormant. Though my wolf enjoys playing in the snow, she enjoys being buried under a pile of leaves more.
Before I can turn my door knob, Dyson’s wolf trots up to me and gently nips my hand for attention. His wolf is a beautiful mousy brown, with black fur on his ears and underbelly.
I bend down and scratch behind his black ears. “Hey, Dyson. Kels said supper will be ready in twenty minutes. Maybe one more perimeter run?”
He yips at me and takes off back into the wooded area, his brown fur becoming a blur. The setting sun doesn’t provide the needed light to make his shape out clearly. I watch him happily zig-zag across the lawn, chasing a rabbit and disappearing into the tree line. “Don’t be late!” I shout, a smile playing at my lips. Dyson has a presence about him that can turn any frown upside-down.
Opening my door, I step inside. My quarter always looks like a tornado ripped through it. I’m a very messy and disorganized person. Me, my person, isn’t messy, but everything else I own is and I’m perfectly okay with it.
Clean and dirty clothes are strewn over my couch and chair. It’s to a point where I don’t know which items are clean and which need to be washed. Untouched boxes from last week’s online shopping order sit on my coffee table, covering the entire surface. I own a T.V., but I haven’t been able to find my remote in weeks. I’m positive my couch has swallowed it whole, but in order to look under the cushions, I’d have to first clean off the couch. Which isn’t going to happen.
It’s not like I watch T.V., anyway. I’ve found that I’m more of a reader and enjoy escaping my reality for a fictional one. We all have issues. I just happen to bury mine deep, call them demons of my past, and ignore them by reading a good book. I’ve gotten good at ignoring those demons, but every now and then, they sneak their way into my thoughts and smother me with depressing memories.
My disorganization causes Kenna to have a total meltdown. She’s the most organized person I’ve ever met. The desk that Evo put in their master suite for Kenna’s PI job is adorned with neatly stacked papers, perfectly aligned sharpened pencils, and an alphabetical filing system. Every time she visits my quarter, she offers to clean it.
I can’t decide. Should I wear red or green? Kenna sends telepathically. I jump at the interruption of my thoughts.
Any Alpha can communicate telepathically with their wolves. Mates can also communicate to each other in the same manner. The only downfalls are we can’t initiate the telepathy with our Alphas—the Alpha must open the communication first—and we can’t communicate telepathically with the rest of the Pack.
At first, Kenna never used it. The more she grew accustomed to it, the more she saw the benefits of it. She never sends text messages anymore, finding the telepathy a more convenient way of communication.
Definitely green. You look hot in green. I reply while rifling through the boxes of new clothes.
Did you talk to Evo, yet?
Yeah. Kelsey, Flint, and Ben are coming along, too. Checking myself in the mirror, I hold up a light grayish/pink shirt to my body. This will do. It’s such a sexy
little shirt. I just need to locate my dark gray skintight leather pants. Frowning, I walk in a circle, my eyes searching for the missing pants in my mess of a living room.
Ben? Flint? Oh, God.
I know, I mumble back.
Ben is one issue. Flint is another. Kenna is sure that Flint has a thing for me. If the constant teasing is anything to go by, she may be right. It’s not like I think Flint is a bad person, but he constantly torments me with his version of flirting. Food often lands in my hair at the dinner table, sexual grins are shot in my direction, and he’s recently begun twirling my hair around his finger. I find it all aggravating. Besides, I hear the rumors going around in the wolf shifter –community—even witnessed it myself. Flint is kind of a slut. If we sleep together, I’ll end up being another notch to scratch on his bedpost.
Kelsey said supper was going to be done soon. I’m going to shower real quick. See you in a few, I add.
She ends the communication and I scurry to my bathroom. Never wearing makeup, twenty minutes is plenty of time for me to get ready. My shoulder-length blonde hair has always been quick to dry, too. I considered my fast-drying hair to be a small miracle in my mess of a life.
Benjamin Grobin
Knocking on the Alpha’s office door, I step inside the spacious room.
“You needed me?” I ask Evo. A few minutes earlier, Kelsey had stopped me in the kitchen relaying a message that Evo wanted to talk with me before supper. Never one to procrastinate, I immediately went in search of Evo.
He leans back in his chair and twirls a pencil between his fingers. “Yeah. Shut the door quick,” he says. I shut the door then make my way over to the front of his desk and take a seat in a high-backed chair. “The women want to go out to the bar tonight so I’m sending you and Flint with them. I don’t want any of our wolves left unprotected while they venture off the territory.”
I frown. “Flint?” The guy has some kind of issue with me. I have yet to figure out why. “Are you sure that’s a wise choice?”
Pausing the twirl of his pencil, Evo lifts an eyebrow. “You two are the best choice in the Pack who’s able to properly protect them. Both of you are the most adept males in hand to hand combat. You’re just going to have to find a way to work with him.”
“Easier said than done. Flint is a strong member of the Pack, but the guy has a problem with me,” I grunt.
Evo lifts an eyebrow. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“What don’t I know?” I ask, scowling. There isn’t much I don’t know about what’s going on within the Pack. It’s my job to stay on top of the issues that crop up. If someone knows why a Pack mate is having an issue with me, I want to know about it.
Evo blows out a long breath. “Nothing. Look, if anything goes down, your number one priority is to get the girls out of there and then contact me. We don’t know if or when George Kenner will strike. The last thing we need is for his Pack to come after the girls while they’re drunker than a skunk.”
“Do we know anything on that front?” I ask, referring to George, the Gray Pack Alpha and Kenna’s biological father.
“Not really. It’s been quiet over there. Jeremy, Dyson, and some of the Riva Pack have taken turns staking out their property. They haven’t seen much but were able to get a layout of their land. I’ve tried calling George to see if he wanted to settle this in a peaceful way, but I couldn’t get past that Victoria chick. She hangs up on me every time. Something’s going down, we just don’t know what.”
The Riva Pack is our neighboring Pack. We had formed an alliance with them a few years ago when Evo became Alpha. We’ve never had to call on each other before, but it looks as if that may be changing.
“Maybe try calling again in a few days?” I suggest with a shrug.
“Yeah.” Evo rubs the space between his eyebrows. “I might be able to convince Victoria to open up to me. I’m still trying to figure out if Kenna’s mom is alive or not.”
“Have Flint call Victoria. From what the rumors say, he’s quite the charmer,” I say, disgust thick in my voice.
Evo’s lips twitch as he holds back a smile. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“What about Jazz? Any word on where she’s at?” I ask.
“Another no. It’s like she’s fallen off the planet. I’ve thought about taking Kenna and Dyson out to see if we can hunt her down,” Evo ponders. Dyson is our Pack Tracker. Confrontation isn’t where he excels, but he can find just about anyone with his nose or technology. He has some serious skills in that area. “There’s a good chance she’s fled to town. She’s going to be weak for a while from losing her mate. That’s not something that can be recovered from quickly and she wasn’t a mentally strong wolf to begin with. I still can’t believe her mate was Chris Kenner. Do you know that makes her Kenna’s sister?”
I ignore Evo’s question. The thought of that bitch being related to my Alpha female in any way has my blood boiling.
My anger has a life of its own. My anger issues developed from our last Alpha’s ruling. I try to avoid subjects or situations that will set me off, but that isn’t always easy. I’ve become adept at ignoring my feelings because emotions can often lead to anger—the very thing I try to avoid. Evo has helped me come a long way with controlling it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t struggle at times. I’m very protective over my Pack mates.
“Dyson and Kenna are good choices to take along. Are you sure Kenna’s ready for it?” I ask.
Massaging his temples, he says, “She needs to get out and do something. Staying on the property and doing nothing about all this is driving her crazy, which is driving me crazy. I need her to go along because she’s more skilled to this gift than I am. She knows how to use it to track someone by their emotions. If I tried doing that, it would take me twice as long.”
I smile at my lifelong friend. “Still struggling with it?”
“I don’t how she does it,” Evo groans.
“Years of practice, man. She’s had years of practice.”
“Anyway, Kelsey says the food is done,” he says while tapping his temple, letting me know that they’re communicating telepathically. I have no idea how one can keep two conversations going at once. The thought of doing so gives me a headache.
Chapter Two
Brenna Johnson
Shortly after we finish supper, Ben, Flint, Kenna, Kelsey, and I head to town. Ben and Flint had wordlessly decided to take two cars. Well, … it was more Flint that had wordlessly refused to ride with Ben.
Flint isn’t a fan of Ben. Kenna’s theory to this predicament is that I show interest in Ben and it makes Flint jealous. I suppose she’d know because of her gift. I’m just thankful she keeps all this stuff to herself. I really don’t need the entire Pack knowing that Ben and I are mates. They’d try to fix it and I really don’t want that. I want Ben to see me for what I am, not because someone points it out to him. Kenna has already tried convincing me several times to let her talk to him, but I refused every time.
Kenna had gracefully chosen to ride with Ben while Kelsey and I ride with Flint. I could just kiss her with gratitude. Such pain it’d cause me to be near Ben and fight the urge to scream at him. Or lick him. My wolf is totally down with licking him. I shake my head to clear away the erotic images.
“I can’t remember the last time I went to a bar,” Kelsey says tapping her chin.
Flint laughs from the front seat. “Last time you went to a bar and Jeremy didn’t tag along, he spent the evening bailing you out of jail because you decided to instigate a barroom brawl.”
“I remember that.” I smile fondly at the memory. “Didn’t you start that fight? Something about a girl bumping into you. She broke the strap on your sandal, right? Well, she didn’t actually break –it—your near fall did. You’re a merciless drunk when liquor is involved.”
Kelsey smiles wistfully. “Such fond memories.”
I shake my head and giggle at her. “How’s Jer
emy dealing with you being out of his sight for a few hours?”
She purses her lips. “I got a lecture or two.”
Flint’s scoff could be heard throughout the car. “I bet you did. Only beer for you, Kels. No liquor. I’m on strict orders to not let you touch the stuff.”
Kelsey pretends to pout. “But tequila and I are such good friends. We go way back.”
“Yeah. Way back to the pokey. Don’t worry, pumpkin, I’m sure a shot or two won’t cause any harm.” I smile reassuringly at her before shifting my eyes to Flint. He’s looking at me in the review mirror. Daring him to object, I hold his gaze. I’m more dominant than him, so it doesn’t take long for him to avert his eyes back to the road. I get a small satisfaction out of that. I can be shamelessly petty at times.
“Well that’s good because these may have snuck into my purse by accident.” Kelsey pulls out several small bottles of tequila from her purse. “What? They were getting lonely in the liquor cabinet.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me and whispers conspiratorially, “A little pre-game before the big game?”
“It’s been a while since you’ve been out, hasn’t it?” I quirk an eyebrow at her and snatch one of the bottles from her hand. I wasn’t going object to her invite. The sooner I get Ben out of my head, the better my night will be.
Unscrewing the tops off, we touch the tips of our little bottles together before we down them. The burn is delicious as it makes its way to my stomach. Kelsey and I are well on our way to getting drunk by the time we pull into the bar parking lot.
Flint has been frowning at our behavior since that first bottle of tequila—we each drank three more before the car was parked. Kelsey pats his shoulder as she climbs out of the car. We have a plan—to squeeze in as much fun as possible before the night is over. Though I have a teeny tiny separate agenda, and several ounces of alcohol is still required.
“If Jeremy asks, I didn’t witness any of that,” Flint mumbles.
