Pack of Freaks: Beasts Among Us - Book 2

by Jennifer Zamboni

  A giant display of candy canes sidetracked me. They were early, of course, but I grabbed a box of the minty hooks anyhow. As long as I only ate a little piece at a time, they were on my menu of doggy-safe eats.

  My list was short: beef jerky and flowers.

  As far as apologies go, flowers were always good, right? I was a little unclear about if it worked if a girl was giving them to a guy. I looked over the mixes of roses, lilies, and carnations. Maybe not.

  I wondered if there was a florist open anywhere and if maybe I could find—what? I nixed the idea; flowers were not the thing.

  Wandering around, looking for a clue, I happened upon popcorn. Popcorn had to be safe. I picked up a box of the microwavable stuff and dropped it into my cart. A six-pack of beer followed. Hopefully, he’d be all right with providing the movie. I was no good at that, not being one to rent or buy them; I just sat down and watched whatever was being shown.

  I looked longingly at a container of dark chocolate covered coffee beans, and bypassed, not being allowed to eat chocolate or coffee until the new moon.

  As I didn’t have much in my cart, I headed for the 10 items or less lane.

  An enormous woman, who looked like she could give pro wrestling a go, pulling not one, but two cart loads, waited in front of me.

  Big Bertha made me look delicate and petite in comparison, which was no mean feat as I was 5-foot-10 in flats, currently wearing combat style boots with 4-inch heels, and curves added on top of muscles. The carts full of food, which weren’t exactly overflowing with spinach, could have fed a family of seven, instead of just this woman and her equally rotund husband who joined her, carrying a gallon of ice cream in each hand. Of course, I didn’t know for sure that they weren’t feeding a big family, I was just being judgmental.

  I decided to try another checkout.

  Filled carts waited in serpentine lines for their turns.

  I found one with only four people waiting and was just pulling up when a rounded over cart rammed into the front of mine.

  “Watch it, would you? I’m in a hurry.” The woman pushing the cart sported a sour expression to match her peeved tone.

  “I think I was here first.” I tried to reign in my temper, but I could already feel the beat of my pulse pick up.

  “You don’t have a car full of kids waiting for you.”

  Wow, what an excuse.

  She looked in my cart. “You don’t have anyone waiting for you. Now if you’ll excuse me.” She shoved her cart in front of mine.

  Incredible.

  What happened to the days when people were courteous? When people let others with fewer items go before them, whether or not they were there first?

  “Actually, I do have someone waiting for me.” I picked up her cart with one hand and heaved it to the side.

  I probably should have thought that one through, but my wolf was pissed.

  “How dare you!” the woman shrieked, and shoved her cart back into mine, sending it spinning to the side and knocking into the next line of people and carts.

  Was this woman really starting something with me, in the middle of the supermarket?

  I glanced at my displaced cart, and back at the woman, who had maneuvered her cart into place.

  I could feel my hackles prickle up, which meant that they were probably poking through my skin.

  I didn’t have much time. I tried a few deep breaths, my eyes focused on the woman, who was glaring back, daring me.

  I couldn’t take it. I left my cart and ran for the door, passing the two girls who had finished their shopping list for their mom.

  As soon as I reached the parking lot, my tank top split and the itching prickle of hair announced that I was more than a little furry. I ran, screaming in pain as my feet grew inside my boots.

  I paused as soon as I could hide behind a row of cars and tore the leather away from my legs with the help of my elongated teeth.

  I changed too quickly to remove any more clothing, so instead, I ran.

  I headed towards home, hoping my wolf would continue in that direction, as she was pushing to take over. I lost control of her, and my last conscious thought was that I hoped I wouldn’t hurt someone.

  I came to, still in wolf shape, half lying on someone’s lap. A deep voice muttered soothing words in French as gentle hands sifted through my thick coat. His familiar scent hit my nose.

  I’d made it to Doug. Hopefully, I’d run straight to him.

  Hopefully, he wasn’t somewhere terribly public.

  I shifted so I could lick his bearded chin. He chuckled and scratched under my jaw.

  I closed my eyes in bliss. There were simple pleasures I could allow myself to enjoy when I wasn’t posing as human.

  I sat up and rested my chin on top of his head, which I had to stoop to do in wolf form.

  In lady form, Doug and I are similar height, so I didn’t have to slouch too much to rest on his shoulder, which was not something I was in a habit of doing, mind you.

  He pulled away. “I’ll go get you some clothes.”

  Before I could respond, he’d left the room, which was apparently the tack room in the barn.

  I trotted out behind him, not thinking anything of the fact that Fern was sitting in the kitchen, joining Percy for a cup of joe.

  “Holy crap, is that Gretchen?” She stood, and jumped back as I tried, unsuccessfully, to sneak through the open door behind Doug.

  It’s really hard to sneak when you outsize an Irish Wolfhound.

  “I told you I’d get you some stuff.” Doug all but shook his finger at me but didn’t smell too upset that I’d followed him inside.

  I sat my rump down on the tile, wagging my tail, and letting Fern get used to the sight of me.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.” Fern sat back down, though she scooted her chair a little to one side, away from me.

  I got up, plopped myself directly in front of her, and held up a paw.

  “Really, Babe, don’t you think that’s a little much?” Doug commented.

  He never calls me “Babe.” “Babe” is one of the pet names Hades uses with Percy.

  I turned my head, yapped at him once, then faced Fern, still holding up the paw with my ears pricked up and my tongue lolling out one side of my mouth.

  She batted it away with a short-nailed, manicured hand.

  “I’m not gonna shake hands with you. It’s not like I’ve never met you before.” She crossed her arms.

  I whined and nudged her shoulder with my nose.

  “Really. Really?” She rolled her eyes, but I got a grin out of her.

  I barked once, then bounded past Doug.

  I very rarely used my wolf shape inside the house, but at the moment, I didn’t feel like changing back.

  I raced to Doug’s room and sat in front of his door, scratching on it as he caught up.

  “Fine, but I’m still getting you some clothes.”

  He opened the door for me, and I trotted in and flopped on the floor in front of the couch.

  I didn’t dare lie on it, not knowing how it would hold my weight.

  It would probably be fine, but then if Doug sat there as well, it might just give out.

  No, the floor was fine. I laid my head on my paws.

  Doug reappeared holding a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. I noted the lack of underwear, but as I planned on staying the way I was, I couldn’t comment.

  “I’ll put them in the bathroom, should you change your mind, you’ll know where to find them.

  I yawned in his direction as soon as he turned his back.

  He returned and sat on the floor with me.

  “I’d ask you what happened, but I’m guessing I’m not going to get an answer, am I?”

  I bumped his hand with my nose.

  “What?”

  I whined.

  He patted me, then reclined, using my side as a pillow.

  Even if I did have use of a voice box, I’m not sure what I would have said. Instead
, I laid my head down on his chest and closed my eyes.

  It was dark when I woke up, and I was lying on the couch in my less furry shape.

  I didn’t usually sleep through the pain the change caused.

  I lifted an arm outside my blanket and stretched, immediately popping it back down when I noted I was only wearing a blanket.

  I highly doubted Doug had heaved my wolfy self onto the couch, so that meant I’d gone human, probably right under his head.

  I sat up, pulling the blanket with me. I glanced quickly at the bed, noting that my fella was fast asleep under his sheet, the rest of the blankets bunched up at the end of the bed.

  I scurried across the room, as quietly as I could, to the bathroom and threw on the clothes that waited for me in the dark on the counter.

  So clad, I padded back out at a much more leisurely pace, the blanket slung over one shoulder. I dropped it on the floor when I reached Doug’s bed, lifted the sheet on the unoccupied side of the bed, and slid under it.

  We’d shared a bed before when the fever of the change was fighting to the death for Doug’s body.

  I definitely wasn’t there to make anything happen. I was just exhausted and didn’t see the point in wandering around to my room, especially when I was supposed to be trying to be at ease around him.

  How much more relaxed could I be than sleeping?

  I hadn’t counted on his snoring.

  He was lying on his back with his mouth wide open. I suspect his hair made it hard for him to breathe out his nose properly.

  I didn’t feel too bad shoving him.

  He rolled over onto his side, his back to me, and the snoring ceased.

  I retreated to my side of the bed, rolled in the opposite direction, and promptly fell back to sleep.

  When I woke next, I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my skull.

  I turned over, so I was facing him, and scowled.

  He was propped up on his elbow, just like the last time I’d woken up next to him.

  Luckily we weren’t nude and snuggly this time.

  He smiled at my scowl, which made me scowl all the harder.

  I rolled away and pulled my knees up to my chest, squeezing my eyes shut and wondering why I had thought sleeping in his bed had been a good idea.

  I felt him scoot over to me, putting an arm around my middle, and pulling me into his warmth.

  Two werewolves in a bed are hot, and not in a sexy way.

  I shoved myself up into a sitting position, fanning myself with one hand, and holding my hair up off my neck with the other.

  “You go take a shower and get dressed. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Doug sat up as well and slid off the other side of the bed.

  He came around and kissed my cheek as I fanned, then headed to the bathroom.

  I took him up on his suggestion and met him downstairs in less than half an hour.

  The kitchen was conspicuously empty when I got there.

  I shrugged it off and started breakfast. He’d cooked the last time.

  “No offense,” Doug uttered my least favorite phrase, “but your cooking is awful, go start the tea, I’ll do this.”

  He nipped the spatula from my hands, and I let him.

  Well, I supposed I was improving. It happens from time to time. I even did as I was told, filling up a large tea ball with our special tisane and settled it in a teapot, then set a kettle to boil on the stove, all without getting in his way.

  “Care to talk about what happened yesterday?” He piled eggs and bacon onto two plates and popped some toast into the toaster oven, something I should have done before everything else.

  “I wolfed out in the supermarket.” I detailed everything, right down to my intention of buying popcorn and beer.

  He threw his shaggy head back and laughed.

  “It’s not funny. I could have seriously hurt someone.” I shoveled in a mouthful of meat.

  He smiled at me, until I relaxed, and smiled back.

  “It’s not good you know, wolfing out in public. It doesn’t exactly keep me a secret.”

  “You’re not very good with the secret identity thing there, Wonder Woman.”

  I may have muttered something in response, but have chosen to deny the occurrence.

  When the kettle whistled, Doug jumped up before I could respond, and poured the water into the teapot, and set it on the table with two mugs.

  The others left us alone, except that we could hear Hades stomping around the house, muttering curses under his breath about having to spend the winter in Maine. The poor dear.

  I was feeling less and less bad about his situation as time progressed. Percy got to stay in Maine for once, which meant increased business for the salon, as I wasn’t experiencing near the same draw as I used to.

  I’d have to figure out something soon. A good reputation plunged down the drain is hard to get yanked back up and cleaned off. I didn’t need the money, but I did need to keep busy. I got into trouble when I wasn’t busy.

  I had a feeling Hades did as well. What does one do when banished from one’s kingdom? Hang drapes? Sort beans?

  I contemplated this as I polished off my remaining food.

  The tea we sipped in silence, still listening as Hades’s stomps faded to the other end of the house.

  “So how did practice go the other night?” Doug broke the silence.

  “Fine. We’ve got some songs together that we’re going to record, finally. I don’t really care if we only play Kumbaya, I’m just excited to get recorded.” I tilted my chair back on two legs and wrapped my fingers around my warm mug. I don’t know why I prefer hot drinks, being how I’m always running a temperature.

  “I bet. I’m sure you’re fans will be excited. Are you going to be able to get some of it on the radio?” He mirrored my chair back balance.

  “That’d be awesome, I hope so. It’d be great to get some exposure outside the state. You know, just for the fun of it.” I doubted we’d tour that far, what with half the band having families.

  “How come you can handle the adrenaline of being on stage, but not rude people in grocery stores?” He dropped his chair back down.

  “I don’t have a spectacular track record, no matter where I go, but playing soothes me. No matter the tempo.”

  He just nodded and went back to his tea.

  “I’ve gotta get to work. I’ll see you later?” I stood, still clutching my mug.

  “As long as that’s what you actually want.”

  “It is. I’ll even bring the popcorn and beer for real this time.”

  “Why don’t you con someone else into chasing that down. I think perhaps you should stay away from crowds for a little while,” he said with a wink.

  My phone buzzed obnoxiously until I picked it up. A notification for practice with Chaos Theory stared up at me.

  “Aw, shit,” I muttered, tapping the screen to cancel the alarm. I had been planning a replacement snacks and movie date with Doug, and I had forgotten the extra practices Mark had scheduled to get ready for recording.

  Setting the phone aside, I peeled a sticker off the waiting sheet and fixed it on a little jar of dried herbs, labeling it with a permanent marker: Oregano.

  Percy had me organizing her herb stash. Some I recognized: oregano, lavender, and rosemary. Others I couldn’t pronounce, never mind spell without instructions. I had her handwritten and illustrated herbal grimoire to direct me in correct labeling. Persephone really knew her plants, let me tell you!

  Perhaps I’d bring Doug to practice with me. I knew Mark wouldn’t appreciate it, but I owed Doug.

  The attic I was working in spanned the entire house and served as our unofficial “secret sanctum,” though it had remained less than secret during the last few months. I had everything spread out on the immense oak table that had doubled as our surgery table when I’d brought Doug home from the changer. Luckily, bleach is an effective cleaner because I don’t know if I would’ve been able to sit up there if the
re were any traces of blood left.

  Some of the herbs would get sold at farmer’s markets, some of it would be made into tea, and some of it would get stored for uses I could only guess at. I wasn’t reading her recipes or spells, just the plant descriptions. The jars for home use were plain tins, while the ones destined for sale were color coded.

  I had my work separated into sections: herbs I was familiar with and ones that had other worldly origins. They were all stored in various Tupperware style containers, and I didn’t want to risk something accidentally mixing. I didn’t know what effect fae plants would have on a human digestive system. I didn’t really care to find out, or get Percy sued, should some of it end up in the wrong person’s gullet.

  Each bottle had a place on the shelves that lined the room, and as soon as I finished a batch, I put them away. Percy was super organized, while I may have been the most disorganized person ever. I prefer piles to putting away. It works for me, even if it drove other people nuts when they tried to find stuff.

  I swept the table with a short-handled broom and dustpan, then wiped the whole thing down with a damp cloth. There, no residue to mess with Percy’s next bout of creation.

  The trap door in the floor, the only door to the attic, creaked as I pulled it open. I ignored the ladder and jumped down as the house slammed it shut behind me. I watched as the outline of the door sank into the ceiling, disappearing entirely to masquerade as an innocent ceiling.

  There were times when the house creeped me out, like when things moved right before my eyes.

  I opened my door and found myself in a closet. “Hold still, gosh darn it!” I yelled at the back wall and slammed the door. Searching for my room was a challenge, they all appeared the same on the outside.

  I opened and shut the same one a few times, just to see what would happen, but apparently, the house was holding still, like I asked.

  Working my way down the hallway, I ended up in Doug’s room.

  Thank goodness he wasn’t in it. I didn’t feel like explaining why I was there. I tried the door that was supposedly sharing a wall with my room.

  Locked, as it had been the last few times I tried it. Well, there had to be a key somewhere. I industriously tore Doug’s room apart in search of it.