The Pack - On the Run

Nononononononono!

This was not supposed to happen! This was not the plan! I was not meant to submit to some werewolf alpha the very first second that I had shifted into a wolf!

No fricking way!

The room started spinning as my heart began its erratic flutter in my chest. The faces around me turned into a blurry, undistinctive mass. I caught Louis’ frown before the older of the Everton brothers placed himself strategically behind me and pulled me close to his body, saving me from collapsing face-first on the tiles.

Louis nuzzled my hair with his nose, snuffing my scent in, the move as comforting for me as it was for him. It soothed some of my frayed nerves, so at least my hands stopped shaking, and the room ceased its swimming. Despite that, my legs still felt like Jell-O.

“Wh- What does this whole submitting imply?” I asked when the first wave of shock passed, and I began to notice certain things - like how Louis’ hands were placed on my hips, his thumbs drawing small circles above my hip bones, or how everyone seemed to look at us with various degrees of surprise and interest.

I blushed, and, suddenly uneasy with the whole scrutinization, moved away from Louis - or at least tried to. The second I pulled away, he drew me right back. I smacked into his hard chest with a soft oomph as he let out a low guttural rumble. I elbowed Louis lightly in the stomach, not that he noticed or cared when he put his chin on the top of my head, and wrapped his arms around my middle possessively, locking me in place.

A warm, mushy feeling started to blossom in my heart as it skipped a beat. A soft purr filled my head, and I bit the inside of my cheek while blotches of red flooded my cheeks.

What the hell?

Why did Louis embrace me like that?

And why did I like it so?

“Your wolf decided Jack is worthy enough to be your Alpha,” Rosalynd answered, ignoring my and Louis’ mute bickering. Tired of standing, she took an empty chair by the table. Jack neared her, then grabbed the rest of her chair with both his hands and leaned forward, so he was hovering slightly over the woman. At that moment, they reminded me of royalty. A king to his queen - though hardly romantically involved - taking up a united front.

“And this is important - how?” I prompted because I had this nagging feeling I was still missing something. Something that made them all so excited they did a shit job at hiding it and not for the lack of trying.

Well, maybe except for Jonah. He wasn’t even trying to mask his delight while he munched happily on his apple.

Speaking of the devil.

Catching my confused and nervous glance, the teenager winked. Louis sent him a searing glare that made him immediately blanch, to which Raph rolled his eyes and silently took his leave.

Rosalynd cleared her throat, drawing our attention back to her.

“Well, you see, males and females choose their own packs and alphas driven by different needs. Whereas he-wolves tend to submit to the strongest and most dominant males, unmated females pledge their loyalty only to those they trust to protect them and their future offsprings. The brute strength of an alpha, albeit still usually quite relevant, is not always the most important factor for she-wolves when they bind themselves to the pack. The stability is,” Rosalynd supplied with a half-smile on her heart-shaped face. “So, whenever a female decides to join a pack, it shows others that this particular palace is safe. It also encourages other she-wolves to at least reconsider changing their ties. And the more females the pack has, the stronger its position and the position of their alpha is.”

All of that sounded lovely and whatnot, but I still didn’t get one crucial thing. How the hell could a wolf inside me think the hunters’ shooting range and rogues playground, the very epitome of Redforest Pack, was safe?

Unless ...

No. Surely not ...?

Or ...?

I chanced a peek at Louis’ profile from behind my lowered lashes and licked my upper lip, feeling the salty taste of my sweat as I pondered whether or not to go in there. It was like watching myself taking part in the B-class horror movie and looking behind my shoulder when the rational thing was not to be doing just that.

But, as always, my morbid curiosity won.

“You said unmated,” I started warily, feeling Louis tense behind me, his arms squeezing me a tad bit harder. “What if they’re not? Unmated, I mean.”

The smile on Rosalynd’s face spread, blinding me with the row of her pearly whites. She glanced above me at Louis as she dealt her next words like a deadly weapon, her eyes glinting with sparks of amusement.

“Then, the females stay in the same pack their mates, or potential candidates for mates are.”

[*]

~ LOUIS ~

Louis could pinpoint to the fraction of a millisecond when Josie put two and two together.

Suddenly uncomfortable, she began to wiggle in his hold, her breath leaving her throat in soft panicked pants.

He internally sighed.

What had he actually expected?

Josie might have been naive at times, but she was far from stupid. She caught right onto the barely obliqued innuendo Rosalynd threw at her, and it made her uneasy. Reluctantly, Louis let his mate pull away, enjoying the last second of his fingers on her body, her warmth slowly sipping away as she slid from his grasp, while her anxiety tainted the air with its arcid stench, annoying his wolf.

She turned to look at him, confusion, shock, and doubt battling for better in her eyes.

He cringed, though his face remained impassive as her big, hazel eyes scanned him for the confirmation of what she was without a doubt suspecting by now - thanks to Rosalynd.

Maybe Louis should just tell her and be done with it? Though, admittedly, he feared her reaction.

But, at least, he did know the girl’s wolf - her mate’s wolf - had already accepted him as her future partner, and Josie could not reject him, not really. Nevertheless, he was painfully aware of the fact her human side would find hard coming to terms with the idea of being connected to Louis on such a level, should she learn about the whole implications behind the bond.

He was aware she was yet to understand the pull Josie had been feeling since before she even shifted - she had been brought up as a human, after all. Knowing Josie, she could fight against the idea just to spite it - more so because she seemed to strongly value her independence. And the mate-pull pretty much took that choice, or any other choice regarding her future love interests, from her.

Even so, his wolf actually looked forward to the fight Josie would put. Like every dominant male, he did enjoy challenges.

“Okay, right. Okay,” Josie mumbled, as she started pacing the room. She ran her hand through her hair, pulling at some of the strands. “I’m so not ready for this mate talk. So let’s start with something easier. Who are the Hunters, and why do you think my parents are somehow connected to them?”

The Alpha didn’t reply straight away. He shot Jonah a look, silently ordering his youngest son to take Mikey and get out of the earshot. The kid rolled his eyes, mumbling something under his breath, but he reluctantly obliged, not that he could go against his father.

Once the sound of the pups’ footsteps receded, Jack turned his attention back to Josie.

“Because they are,” He returned back to the topic. “Both your parents were hunters, rather respected in their circle, may I add. Your mother stopped killing our kind when she became pregnant with you. Your father, as far as I’m aware, has been a very active member of the group until recently...”

“You mean until he’s been changed?” Josie fired out, her face as white as paper.

Jack nodded grimly.

"Ohmygod,” Josie said in one breath, clumping heavily on the chair by the table that Jonah had occupied only a second ago. She hid her face in her hands, and Louis couldn’t help but feel desperate to ease some of her pain, even though she had shied away from him earlier. He gently squeezed her shoulders in a gesture of comfort and as a reminder that she was not alone in all this, that he was there for her.

Unconsciously, his mate leaned into his touch.

“You mean all of this...” She stumbled, then collected herself. She lifted her head and looked his da dead in the eye, “...All of this happened because of my father? Because he was part of some sick group and couldn’t stop killing werewolves?” She gulped.

“It seems so, yes,” Jack replied bluntly, but his voice took on a gentler note.

Josie exhaled a long breath that turned into a soft anguished whine. Louis felt the pang of pain in his chest - his mate was crushed, and his wolf felt for her.

“And my mom?”

“I met your mother a year before you were born. I was shot by one of the hunters with a silver bullet, and Melinda found me lying in the undergrowth, stuck mid-shift. She could have ended me then. Her gun was filled with silver bullets and pointed at my head, but instead, Melinda pretended she didn’t see me when her friends neared us. What’s more, she sent them on a wild goose chase. I still don’t know why, but ever since then, I owned her.” The Alpha explained with a small smile on his lips.

“So mum left us to live with you, and you took us in because you were indebted?” Josie half-asked, half-summed up.

Jack’s eyes flickered to Louis and back to Josie, his eyes glimmering with amusement.

“Not really. I took you in because you needed help in your transition. You were, and still are, a danger to our kind. Even so, my word stands. I will let you leave the pack once you learn to control your wolf, should you wish,” His da said candidly, ignoring the threatening growl that left Louis’ mouth at the thought of losing his mate. The Alpha shot him with a stern look, his eyebrows lifting. “Josie has a right to decide, my son.” He chid softly.

Josie’s eyes flickered to Louis and then back to his father. “Thank you, sir,” she said, smiling softly. Then, she sighed. “Sheesh, I feel like I’m starring in some soap opera. What a crappy turn of events.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Rosalynd chimed in, smiling crookedly at Josie. “But once the dust settles, you’ll see all’s not that bad. In fact, I have a feeling you’ll even start to enjoy your new life.”

Josie snorted. “I can’t really see how.”

But Louis did. He just had to show her.