Pack Mentality

by Idella Breen

  Gwen gasped quietly when Jezebel stepped back and gave her a slow and lazy smile. “Would you like a drink?”

  “Yeah,” Gwen breathed her answer softly and Jezebel reached out to tuck a strand of blonde hair that had escaped her ponytail, behind her ear in such a casual way that the sudden familiarity didn’t make Gwen uncomfortable. Instead, it put her even more at ease.

  “What would you like?”

  “Lemon drop martini.”

  Jezebel nodded and got the attention of the bartender that had wandered off while they were talking. He came over after a moment, “What can I get you, ladies?”

  “Lemon drop martini and a long island iced tea.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Jezebel motioned to the stool next to her and Gwen took it, smoothing down her dress in the process as she got comfortable. She turned to Jezebel and was a bit startled by the lazy intensity in her eyes as she rested her chin on her hand, leaning against the bar while her other hand lay casually over her crossed legs.

  “Yes?”

  “You look beautiful.”

  Normally, Gwen would have brushed off such a compliment as polite niceties but the way Jezebel was looking at her, as if she was the only woman in the room, and the easy almost casual way it had been said, as if it was something she said every day, left Gwen’s mouth slightly dry.

  “Oh, thanks. You look great too.”

  Jezebel’s eyes seemed to twinkle with a hidden humor and Gwen couldn’t stop the blush that suddenly stained her cheeks though she wasn’t entirely sure why.

  The bartender saved her from whatever she was about to say when he slipped their drinks in front of them.

  “Thanks.”

  He simply nodded and moved onto the next person trying to get his attention. She sipped the sweet but tart drink and tried to brush off her nervous jitters.

  “I’m glad you asked me out, Gwen.”

  “Oh?” The werewolf turned her body to better speak with Jezebel.

  “Hmm,” she hummed and twirled the stir stick in her drink before sipping it. “I wanted to see you again.”

  “Well, here I am,” Gwen laughed nervously.

  “Here we are,” she agreed and that same lazy smile spread across her lips as she leaned on her hand again and studied Gwen in a way that deepened her blush.

  “So, uh, how have you been?”

  Jezebel stirred her drink and took another sip, her eyes never leaving Gwen’s. As she set her drink back down she smiled showing off her pearly whites and Gwen couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being stalked. Almost as if she were some sort of prey, but wouldn’t that make Jezebel the predator? Yet, for some reason, Jezebel didn’t feel like a predator. There was too much of an ease about her, and even as Gwen’s instincts warned against it, she felt herself relaxing the longer she was in the other woman's presence.

  “I’ve been fine. The children that I teach are a handful sometimes but they’re all good kids at the end of the day.”

  “Oh. that’s right. Are you a kindergarten teacher or something like that?”

  “Daycare, actually. We have some older children mixed in with the bunch, though.”

  “How long have you been doing it?”

  “Hmm, a while now. How about yourself? What occupies most of your day?”

  Gwen paused as she thought over the seemingly innocent question. By revealing her profession she would also be telling Jezebel much more. She was a bit nervous but she also couldn’t help how comfortable and easy it was to talk to Jezebel despite having only just met.

  “I’m actually a professional omega.”

  “Ah, yes, for the Lander Clan, correct.”

  Gwen smiled. “You remembered.”

  Jezebel nodded. “Your clan is quite well known around these parts. At least to those that listen.”

  Gwen paused at such a strange response but she didn’t sense any ill intent behind the comment. “How do you know of us?”

  “Would you like another?”

  “What?”

  Jezebel pointed to her now empty drink. “Oh, yes, please. If it isn’t too much trouble.”

  “Not at all,” S]she motioned to the bartender when he looked over to them and he nodded. She then finished off her own drink and leaned on her hand again turning her full gaze to Gwen. “The Sleeping Forest Clan. Your alpha is a busy boy. It might be easier to ask who doesn’t know of you but I suppose I should give you a better answer than that.”

  Two drinks were slid over to them again interrupting their conversation and Gwen couldn’t stop the nervous butterflies filling her stomach as she waited for Jezebel to answer her.

  “Well, you’re werewolves right?”

  Gwen nodded.

  Jezebel smirked, “You don’t know what I am, do you?”

  Gwen shook her head and Jezebel’s smirk widened.

  “You called yourself the omega?”

  “Yes.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?”

  Gwen was confused by the sudden change of topics but decided to answer anyway, “I assume you know wolf packs are hierarchical.”

  She nodded.

  “Well, I’m basically at the bottom.”

  Jezebel nodded again. “That’s what I thought. I take it that means it would be fair to assume that you’re a bit, how should I say this, would it be fair to call you sheltered? Smothered? Maybe even naive?”

  “Hey!”

  Jezebel smiled. “Did I hit a nerve? Honestly, I’m asking out of curiosity rather than insulting you.”

  Gwen studied her face and saw only curiosity and decided to take her at her word. “I wouldn’t say that I’m naive but it would be fair to call me the other two.”

  Jezebel nodded. “That would explain your lack of knowledge of the other monsters in the area as I am from a group that is well known to those who know us.”

  Gwen frowned at the confusing words but Jezebel continued.

  “I’m a nekomasume.”

  “Nekomasume?”

  “A cat demon.”

  “You’re a cat?”

  “Similar to a panther, actually.”

  “Oh.”

  Jezebel sipped her drink and waited patiently.

  “Well, that would explain your smell.”

  “Oh? Do I smell offensive?”

  “What? No! Of course not!”

  Jezebel rested her chin on her hand again. “No? Then do I smell good?”

  “Oh, umm, you smell like a cat, I guess.”

  “And what does that smell like?”

  Gwen frowned as she tried to put it into words. “Well, kind of wild.”

  “Wild? What does that smell like?”

  Gwen’s frown deepened as she tried to explain it better. “Like you’re natural. Um, a natural scent. Like an animal in the wild. Not full of chemical scents like soaps and stuff. Just something naturally you.”

  “Are you calling me a wild animal?”

  “No! Not at all, I’m—” Gwen cut herself off as she looked over to see Jezebel smiling at her.

  “Are you making fun of me?”

  Jezebel sat up straight and placed her hand over the one Gwen had resting on the bar and smiled wider. “Shouldn’t I be asking that question? You did just call me an animal after all.”

  Gwen’s breath hitched as a shiver of anxiety tingled across her skin. “I didn’t mean it that way at all.”

  Jezebel traced designs across her skin. “What way did you mean it?”

  Gwen tried to keep track of the conversation but all she could think about were tingles across her skin that were making her nervous as she quickly realized something. Jezebel wanted something from her that she couldn’t give her. Jezebel obviously wanted more. Gwen turned her hand over and caught Jezebel’s hand in a friendlier connection of simply holding hands which the woman accepted and simply held her hand. “I just meant that no one could tame you.”

  “Do you want to tame me, Gwen?”

  Gwen loo
ked up meeting darkened emerald eyes and could feel her own widening as her wolf came closer to the surface. When she spoke, her voice was more nervous and higher pitch than she had ever heard it before, “Do you want me to try?”

  “Would you ladies like refills?”

  Gwen nearly fell off her stool had Jezebel not caught her.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to let you know that happy hour is about to end, I’m doing a final round.”

  Gwen frowned and looked at her wristwatch to see that an hour had indeed gone by already. “Oh, um?” She glanced over to Jezebel only to see her checking her phone before she glanced back up. “I actually have somewhere I need to be. Could you close us out?”

  He nodded and turned around. Gwen frowned as she had begun to reach for her purse but when he came back he handed Jezebel a credit card as well as a receipt. She signed it then hopped off her stool only to hold out her hand for Gwen to take.

  “You paid?”

  “You invited me out,” she gave Gwen an easy smile as she held her hand and helped her down but instead of releasing her hold she simply wrapped her arm around Gwen’s and began leading them towards the exit. Gwen pouted. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  Jezebel easily navigated through the dinner crowd as Gwen was distracted. “You didn’t have to invite me out.”

  “You’re going to be difficult about this aren’t you?”

  Jezebel smirked at her. “Only as difficult as you’re currently being.”

  Gwen huffed only to realize that they had made it outside. Jezebel led her over to where she parked and Gwen just assumed that her sense of smell was pretty good to have been able to pick out her car. “So, what now?” She asked as the panther released her hold around her arm but kept their hands linked.

  Jezebel smiled in her lazy way and squeezed Gwen’s hand gently before letting go. “Now I guess I’ll return the favor. I had fun, Gwen. I want to see you again.”

  Gwen breathed as Jezebel reached forward and gripped her chin. “Jazz wait.”

  The woman paused, “Yes?”

  “I can’t give you what you want.”

  Jezebel held her chin still as she considered this then nodded. “Is this okay if it’s just a kiss?”

  Gwen nodded. “Kissing and hand-holding is fine.”

  Jezebel smiled and moved forward. Their eyes locked and the lazy intensity Jezebel always seemed to be gazing at her with stole her breath away as she leaned forward. She managed to say as Jezebel's lips gently brushed against her own and she seemed to suck in her breath as her lips pressed slightly harder against Gwen’s before pulling back slightly to brush their noses together. “

  “Will you wait for me then?” Jezebel asked.

  “Okay.”

  Jezebel smirked then stood back. She rubbed her thumb against Gwen’s chin lovingly before dropping her hand. She licked her lips then sauntered off towards where she must have parked. Gwen spun around and climbed into Remus’s old clunker only to drop her head against the steering wheel and breathed. She wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened but it had felt nice and nice was better than anything she had ever felt before. Yet, even as she stared up the engine, Gwen couldn’t help the melancholy from seeping into her bones. Would it always be like this? Never being able to feel or give Jezebel the intimacy she wanted. What if they weren’t mates and Gwen was just wasting the woman’s time? Was this all really fair? For either of them? As she pulled out of the parking lot, these thoughts weighed heavily on her and what should have been a good date suddenly seemed like a nail in her coffin. It seemed Jezebel was too good for her and Silvia had more than one option. Was she ever meant to find her alpha? Was she ever meant to have her happy ending?

  Silvia had found them, or who she thought they were. It had taken a few days, but Silvia always delivered. Art was sitting in his study when she entered. She slapped a file on his desk startling him from his drink. He seemed to be drinking more these days. It wasn’t a good sign for any of them.

  “What’s this?”

  “You asked for children. I couldn’t find any but I found two people that might fit the bill. They seemed to have a prophecy about them so many years ago and they both have interesting powers that seem to be opposites of each other.”

  His eyes turned greedy as he reached out and opened the file. “ Cait Fallon and Snow Bennett? A Fallon? Really? Wait.” He paused as he read through the file Silvia had written up. He began nodding to himself as he got deeper into it. “This might be it. I can give this to him.”

  Silvia frowned. “Who exactly are you giving this too?”

  Art’s eyes widened as he grabbed the file and slipped it into one of the drawers in his desk. “It is of no concern to you.”

  Silvia held his gaze for a moment before shrugging. “Whatever. Do you have any more work for me right now?”

  “Prepare for the meeting. Have you sent the request to the Lander’s?”

  She nodded. “It’s tomorrow night.”

  “Good. I’ll talk to Kebethi to see to the men we should bring.”

  “Alright. If that’s all then I’m going.”

  He waved his hand absently as he poured himself another drink. Silvia frowned as she felt a sudden shiver travel down her spine. Her instincts were telling her to leave the room. She looked around but couldn’t see anything threatening. Shivering, she left Art’s study even as she felt like there were dark eyes watching her every move.

  9

  Alone. It hits her when she least expects it, just how alone she can feel at times. It’s an emotion that has followed her for a while now, so long that it has felt like it has always been there, ever-present, even though she can tell you the exact day it truly began. She had come to always believe she would feel this way. Gwen had resigned herself to the cold hard truth that she was an omega without a mate, without her alpha. She had hoped, for a time, that her mate existed out there somewhere. That one day he would appear and whisk her away from her clan, break the numbness, and show her a new exciting world, an adventure of her own. The ideals of a young adolescent. Then she met Jezebel, who was nothing like she expected a potential mate to be. For one thing, she was obviously not a ‘he’. For the other, she was also a cat. The date was nice, though.

  Jazz was wonderful. She was beautiful, sensual, kind, tender, and did she mention how beautiful the woman was? She seemed to ooze grace and sensuality like it was the oxygen she breathed. Yet, after the wonderful date they had, not once did Gwen have any sexual urges towards the nekomusume. The only logical explanation Gwen could come up with was that there must be something wrong with her. For Gwen, when she said, “it’s not you, it’s me,” she really meant it. Gwen was simply not a sexual woman. Sex was not something that seemed particularly interesting nor was it something she particularly wanted to do. Jezebel had been wonderful during the kiss. She didn’t push. She respected Gwen’s boundaries, but for how long? Gwen really didn’t want to be called frigid by Jezebel. Because, despite having no sexual urges towards the woman, Gwen could easily see herself falling in love with the woman as more than a friend. Definitely more than a friend, Gwen sighed. Jezebel was wonderful and easy to be around. Yet, Gwen felt she was the strange one and that Jezebel would tire of her without the offer of sexual intimacy on the table.

  Gwen sighed as she leaned against the window of the passenger seat. Remus was driving. Remus, the very same person that had made a huge ripple in her life from the moment that her parents left and the numbness began to settle in. It was cold and heavy. It seeped through her organs, and deep into her bones, until even her heart beat a little heavier. She had simply come home one day after junior high to an empty house. Not only had they left her without so much as a goodbye, but they had also disowned her, stripped her of her name and birthright, and left her to a man who had been good friends with her father. Remus was forced to claim her and he had done so with little complaint. Even though he wasn’t her mate, he wasn’t really ev
en her alpha as she had not accepted him as such at the time, but he had taken her into his hodgepodge clan that he was beginning to build as he had need of an omega, and though Gwen was too young she had already shown an outstanding affinity towards controlling other werewolves at school.

  It was a well-kept secret among werewolves, but omegas could only mate to an alpha. It was a biological mandate, empirical, indisputable law of nature that only an alpha truly had the power to mate to an omega. It was the reason alphas were unable to control them with their power of subjugation, the same power that gave them control over all other wolves within the clan, and the reason omegas could only mate to alphas as only they could keep their sense of self while mated. Of course, alphas could mate to non-omegas, or betas, but only if they weren’t werewolves and therefore immune to the alpha command but omegas had to mate to an alpha, even if it was of another species as only an alpha could give an omega what they needed, balance. Gwen could not be controlled by any alpha and therefore she was free to mate to her one true alpha, the one made just for her, her blood bond. Yet, she had come to accept that this bond was never to be fully realized, to be realized at all. For deep down, Gwen knew, she knew to the marrow of her bones, more importantly, she believed it, that she was never going to find her alpha. She felt nothing, her wolf felt nothing, not with Jezebel, not with Silvia, and not with anyone before her, and therefore she believed her heart just didn’t work like most people’s. The omega exhaled, her breath fogging up the window. She reached out and wiped away the condensation getting the attention of the alpha in the seat next to her.