The Pack - On the Run

“Josie. Josie! Wait! Hold on,” Louis called after me while I hurried through the forest as fast as my bare feet let me, which was quite slow, if you get the gist. “Josie, c’mon! Stop running. It’s normal for... shit!... It’s normal for newly changed wolves to be driven by their instincts! Despite what you think, you’re not the first one to react in such a way!”

Doubtfully anybody leaped at the guys they barely knew naked as the day they were born and almost dry-humped them!

What was even wrong with me? How could I have behaved like a horny teenager? I didn’t do that! It was so not me! And what the hell was that weird pull I felt towards Louis?

It was so wrong on so many levels it was freaking creepy!

“Josie, calm down!” Louis finally caught up to me.

His hand snaked around my wrist, stopping my hasty retreat and causing shivers to run down my spine.

I wasn’t ready for his touch, nor for his masculine scent that enveloped me like a cozy blanket the second, he neared me.

I whirled on my heel, baring my teeth and claws at Louis. I wanted him to just let me freaking go - well, at least part of me did, but obviously, nothing like that happened. So I lashed out, growling low in my throat in warning, not that I accomplished shit. Louis had me pinned against the tree with both my hands above my head before I could do any real damage. I wasn’t finished fighting him, though, rage fueling me from within. I snapped my teeth like a feral dog, only a few inches away from his face.

I was a mad woman on the crack.

Louis’ eyes flashed light silver, and he growled back, his wolf clearly unhappy with my blatant show of disrespect. I didn’t care. I much preferred being angry to feeling overwhelmed with embarrassment. It was the only way I could cope with the situation.

That, or breaking down with tears.

“I didn’t see anything! I wasn’t even looking!” Louis admitted through clenched teeth, his minty breath fanning my face. I ignored how close we were or how our bodies fitted together like two pieces of a puzzle. I was too pissed with his confession to actually mind it.

How could he not take his peek?

“You weren’t even looking?” I repeated, incredulous.

Gosh, I was effed-up.

Louis cursed, letting me go only to rake his hand through his hair in agitation. “Yes. No! I don’t know. Whatever makes you feel better,” Was his ambiguous answer.

I huffed a humorless laugh at that.

What a sick joke!

“You’re telling me you don’t know if you took a gander? And you expect me to believe that?”

And here I always thought I was reasonable enough not to dig my very own grave. Nonetheless, something inside me was adamant about finding out if Louis was really not that interested. The possibility was painful in so many ways my mind couldn’t even begin to phantom.

Louis sighed, giving up, as he locked his quicksilver orbs with my hazel ones.

“I tried not to look because, as tempting as it sounds, I was under the impression you wouldn’t exactly appreciate me taking advantage of you while your wolf was in control. I could have been wrong about that,” He finally settled on saying.

It was enough, though. My anger evaporated like mist in the sun while my teeth and nails shrank back to normal. I let my chestnut waves fall freely on my face as I glanced away from Louis’ loaded gaze, pleased he cared enough to be considerate.

“Now that we have this covered, could you please explain what happened in the meadow? And who was that blond twat that attacked you?”

The blood drained from my face at the same time sudden realization hit me like a sucker punch.

I gripped Louis’ arms, sucking in a panicked, shaky breath.

“Oh my God! Mikey!”

***

“I... can’t... breathe...” Said Mikey, his voice strangled from how hard I was squeezing him.

Admittingly, I could have overdone myself with the cuddling. But only a little.

“Sorry. I’m just glad you’re okay,” I smiled sheepishly, pushing my brother away at arm’s length so I could check him from head to toe. Again.

Mikey made a face, silently enduring another once over while I turned him around.

The seven-year-old was - for the most part - intact. He sported a bump on the right side of his head from where he had hit a tree and a mild concussion, thankfully, already almost fully healed.

“Don’t worry, Josie. By tomorrow, Mikey’ll be as good as new,” Rosalynd announced, walking into the kitchen of her inn with a bag of medical waste in her hand. “Regrettably, that can’t be said about the guy behind me,” she added, grumpy, just as Jonah made his limping appearance.

Gulit gnraled at my stomach.

The boy looked like hell. He had been shot with silver, and the bullet went straight through his left thigh, leaving a bleeding gape in its wake. It must have hurt like a bitch, and I felt sorry Jonah was in that state because of me. Though he didn’t seem to mind it that much.

“You should have seen the other guy!” The teenager exclaimed with a shit-eating grin, taking a chair by the table. “Besides, nobody’s ever said being a hero would be easy.”

“Knock it off, dimwit.” Louis chid half-heartedly, shoving his brother lightly on the head with an open hand, earning himself a stink eye and a growl. He pointedly ignored both as he leaned over a wall by the kitchen doors, not even a few feet away from where Mikey and I were standing, and he crossed his arms over his chest. I couldn’t help but notice how the muscles on his arms bulged under the fitting shirt he wore. I found it extremely sexy and hard to look away. “You should thank your lucky stars you’ve ended up only with a graze on your arm and gunshot to your leg, not your head. Not to mention, the whole situation would have been completely avoided if the three of you had just stayed home.”

Louis’ friend, Raph - if I remember correctly - decided to take pity on Jonah. “Give the kid a break. He did save your girl in the end.”

“I’m not his girl,” I mumbled, at the same time Louis said.

“Yeah, after he took her to the inn.”

Jonah opened his mouth to protest, but Rosalynd cut him off before the family’s quarrel could turn into an all-out war, fixing both Everton brothers with a hard stare. “What’s done is done. Let’s all be glad everybody’s made it out alive.”

“Barely,” Louis mumbled, but his bitter remark was drowned by his younger brother’s exclaim.

“Right! Congratulations on surviving your first shift, Pretty Face!”

I furrowed my brows, directing my question at the younger Everton but never leaving my gaze off the older one, who looked like he was short of strangling Jonah alive. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re alive,” Jonah deadpanned, reaching for an apple from a fruit basket. When I still just blinked like an idiot, he supplied. “There was a high chance you would have dropped dead. Just so you know, you, chicks, rarely cope with the change. It’s one of the reasons there’s so few of you.”

No surprises there, but it still sucked that no one had been decent enough to warn me.

“I swear, I’m gonna kill the little shit,” Louis suddenly burst out, lunging at the teenager, but was stopped by Raph, who - forethoughtfully - placed himself between the brothers.

“Easy, pal,” murmured the Enforcer, while Jonah continued with the taunting.

“What? Someone had to finally tell her if you didn’t want to!” He shouted, biting into the apple with a loud crunch.

“You’re right,” Jack agreed as a way of greeting while he raised his eyebrows at his sons. One look was enough to have Louis quit his attempt at killing his younger brother and make Jonah sit ramrod straight on the wooden chair, injured or not.

Rosalynd just sighed.

“I’m so glad you’re finally here,” she exhaled, massaging her temples, clearly fed up with all the drama.

Jack nodded, mutely acknowledging her, as his calculating gaze landed on me.

The wolf in me stirred.

I locked my eyes with Jack’s quicksilver ones, narrowing them in a blatant challenge. The Alpha lifted his brow while his lips curved into a toothy, cocky grin before he stalked my way, his boots thudding lightly on the wooden floor.

I bared my teeth.

The room went utterly silent.

I had this distinct impression that everybody’s attention was suddenly on us, almost as if they were anticipating the fireworks to explode. Jack paused in front of me, never dropping his light silver, fully-wolf eyes from mine as his large body towered over my much smaller form. I knew it was a power play on his part, but I didn’t let myself be intimidated. We stood in a silent battle of wills for a minute or two as the wolf inside me evaluated the Alpha in front, considering his worth.

I was still ready to pounce at him any second.

Finally, after what had felt like an eternity, I let my gaze gravitate toward Louis. His wolf peeked outside, coloring his eyes light silver, and something unspoken I didn’t quite understand passed between us. He nodded slightly, and I shifted my focus back to the Alpha. Slowly, agonizingly so, I bared my neck, eventually glancing away from the mountain of a man in front.

Jack’s large hand landed on the crook of my neck, his fingers grazing my trachea. I shivered, feeling unease pool in the pits of my stomach as beads of sweat broke on my forehead and above my lips. I felt vulnerable, exposed. With one move of his hand, the Alpha could snap my neck like a twig, should he feel like it, and I would be too slow to do anything about it. Obviously, nothing like that occurred. But the mere possibility made me so queasy that, once again, I found myself seeking Louis’ comfort - heck even knew why. When Louis didn’t seem the least bit concerned, I willed myself to loosen up.

Warmth seeped into my skin as the Alpha gently caressed my exposed neck in a fatherly yet still patronizing gesture. My temper flared, but the wolf part of me seemed to find the action more comforting than vexing, and so it relaxed under Jack’s touch.

I felt conflicting feelings battling for control inside me. It was utterly baffling.

Jack let me go but stayed in my personal space, his posture dominant and powerful. It bothered me so much that I took a tentative step back, only belatedly realizing I had played right into the Alpha’s hands. He wanted me to submit to him, and I did, through and through.

The man grinned, and I gulped.

“What the heck has just happened?” I asked, disturbed, licking my upper lip, my eyes flickering around to the werewolves in the room.

Rosalynd seemed pleased, Jonah was smiling, Raph’s face remained impassive, Louis looked kind of smug, whereas Mikey grabbed my thigh, sensing my unrest. I absentmindedly rubbed his arm, seeking comfort.

“Your wolf has just acknowledged me as your Alpha,” Jack announced, satisfied.

Well, shit.