Ch 1-10

Summary

Being called an abomination and a monster is nothing new to Kaiya. As a rarity among the wolf shifter’s and deemed too animalistic, she hardly gets a warm welcome. So, when the pack receives threatening notes regarding her while she’s away? She’s less than worried. Until those notes are connected to a radically religious organization hell bent on making her kind go extinct. And if that wasn’t enough to deal with, her Alpha’s Wilder cousin suddenly turns up. A cousin, who turns out, she unfortunately knew in the worst way. Added with the fact that the Beta’s babbling around her more than usual and wanting to talk about his feelings? Yeaaaa. For a woman who liked to stay in her comfort zone, Kaiya was about to get reallll uncomfortable. (All the books in this series can be read as standalone’s.)

Chapter One: An Annoyed Wolf

Annoyed.

A seven letter word that held so much meaning. With so many opportunities to use it and have it accurately represent your situation, like the one I was in now. Enduring a twelve hour car ride back to packlands after three months away demolishing renegade camps with other pack Omicrons. These past few months fed my violent tendencies well but this bus ride was ruining my post kill mood. It wasn’t the constant stream of words spilling from their mouths that was bothering me this time. It was all the words not being said and the tension filling the bus that annoyed me.

They had seen the full extent of what I could and would do when my Alpha wasn’t there to call me off. Watched as I clawed out the guts of one enemy while ripping out the throat of another with my fangs in human form. They were scared of the strength and abilities I possessed as a Feral Born. And that was exactly the reaction my Alpha had sent me to receive.

Normally I was kept close to the pack because as their Omicron, I was the first line of defense. Meaning that anything perceived as a threat to the pack inside or out, was handled by me. So to be outsourced was a rare occurrence but it was past time for the other packs to meet the Silver Fangs Omicron.

And what better way to do that then by sending me out with others of my position so they could run back to their packs with what they had witnessed. My Alphas way of showing the rest of the Shifter world that the Silver Fangs were well protected. And with the way these shifters flapped their mouths, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was already circling the pack gossip pools.

The tension in the bus increased as I moved around in my seat trying to get comfortable. I know the men and women in this bus had never met a Feral Born before this …excursion but this was ridiculous. It wasn’t like I was some uncontrollable monster, I was just born with my human and wolf mind combined. My wolf wasn’t a separate entity like theirs to call upon when needed or with slightly heightened senses in human form. Me and my wolf were truly one being, I had more abilities than a regular shifter and that made me dangerous in their eyes. A very human-like mentality they had, to fear what they didn’t understand.

I also thought differently than they did and had the combined strength of a wolf and a human in either form. Could shift certain parts of my body at will and had all my wolf senses in human form. It was why I could hear the differences in heart beats, detect lies, and sniff out sickness, fertility cycles and pregnancies. I winced slightly at the thought, being Feral Born had it’s advantages but there was nothing more uncomfortable than smelling when a female was in peak pregnancy conditions.

The male to my right, Brian I think his name was, finally closed his mouth to jerk back when he noticed I moved a little due to my wince. Even after three months in close quarters with me, they were all still so jumpy.

“Relax. Your anxiety is making me hostile.” I said, wiggling my shifted nails in his face to show him that I wasn’t joking.

Paling slightly, he leaned further back into his friends side and faced the front of the bus. Instead of staring until he started to sweat because it would amuse me, I turned away. Looking out the window to watch the snowy wonderland of Alaska whizz by. After being down in Arizona for so long it made me realize how much I missed running through the snow-covered mountains. The heat had been shit on my already short temper so I was irritated basically the entire time I had been there. Besides when we were killing, of course. But it didn’t help matters that the rest of the Omicron were a chatty bunch.

While generally, we, the Omicron, were a silent murdery type it looked like this group didn’t fit into that stereotype. I had almost killed at least half of the ten that were in my squadron but as that would’ve reflected badly on the pack I controlled myself. And took out all my aggression on the renegade campsites, especially the last one. Who at the time thought it would be a good idea to try and takeover the Night Star pack by raping and pillaging.

When we arrived, a day had already passed and thankfully they were still somewhat on the pillaging stage. Since they were newbies doing initiation into the renegades, we were easily able to defeat them. And another squadron of Omicron stayed behind to make sure they had protection during their vulnerable time.

The bus slowly came to a stop at the bottom of a long sloping driveway with a gate that had the initials BW on it. The driver, an old woman from the Elders pack, turned in her seat to face us calling out, “BlackWater pack Omicrons, this is your stop.”

Two women and two men from the front row stood up saying their goodbyes with bright smiles. Huffing I watched them leave, having four Omicron was over kill but after seeing how inexperienced they were…maybe not. Their whole pack was a bunch of rich holier than thou assholes who lost touch with anything remotely wolf. Living in that big mansion having everything handed to them, shopping instead of hunting.

Our pack did our own fair share of shopping but hardly ever for food unless we were running low on the treats the pups loved. Those little fuckers would riot if they didn’t get their nuggets and mac an cheese, not to mention the hissy fits the teens threw if they couldn’t go shopping in town.

Actually, it was probably just me who thought that buying things besides clothing was a waste of time and money. I don’t remember any of my other pack mates complaining about going into town except for me. But then again they weren’t the ones who drove those hormonal gremlins into town to get their thongs and condoms. They should see what their brats get up to when they aren’t around …on second thought, they should be spared that hideous knowledge.

As the Blackwater Omicrons walked up their driveway, the bus driver called out the next stops. “Onto TreeTop and then lastly Silver Fangs.”

Finally. Just one more stop before I could retreat into my cabin for the next couple of days. After three long months of constantly being around people? I was long overdue for some alone time and a good hunt. Maybe for some deer? No, Rabbit. Mmmm rabbit sounded nice in a stew with some potatoes and carrots. I could practically smell it already.

The male, Brian, must have gotten unnerved by my hungry look combined with being one of the last three people on the bus. Because he nudged his friend and motioned to the front of the bus before they both got up to take new seats closer to the front.

Was he serious? I was a animal sure, we all were, but I wasn’t a fucking cannibal. I might’ve swallowed a piece of throat here and there but so what? Whatever, at least now I could lay down and sleep for the last six hours to the packhouse. Our pack was farther up north with the closest neighbors being Blackwaters which was six hours away and then Treetop at three hours away. But in wolf form Blackwaters was only two hours away and Treetop just a little over forty minutes away, in case we were ever in need of help.

However since I joined the Silver Fangs pack seven years ago, they haven’t needed to call for help. Which was why my alpha sent me on this trip, to show them that we only had one Omicron and still stayed fully protected.

Wolves of my status usually worked in pairs or in rare occurrences fours to keep the bulk of the pack protected. We weren’t supposed to be the packs army, obviously. That was what the pack warriors were for, but we did prevent threats. And we were often the first ones out, even before the alphas, onto the battlefields.

It also didn’t hurt that on average, a single Omicron could successfully take on five wolves at once. But since I was an Omicron and a Feral Born it meant I could take on up to eight wolves and win. I’d definitely be banged up by the end but instead of dying like the others would, I’d only need a week to recover.

Yawning, I stretched my arms up over my head before twisting to lie down on the padded seats. Tucking an arm underneath my head and pulling my feet up onto the seat. I closed my eyes, getting ready to sleep for a couple of hours. Unworried about being attacked because I would hear them before they could reach me, I slipped off into a light sleep.

……………….

The squeal of brakes and a sharp jolt had me rolling from the seat to the floor. Thankfully though, a well placed foot and hand saved me from that undignified fate. Sitting up, I shook the sleep from my brain before taking in my surroundings. A quick glance out the window showed me that I was back on packlands. Jumping to my feet, I leaned down to grab my duffle and slung it over my shoulder as I walked down the aisle.

Reaching the front of the bus, I turned to the driver making sure to catch her green eyes with my red ones, “Nice try, pup.”

Flashing a fang at her appalled expression, I jogged down the steps of the bus and onto the snow covered ground. Pausing for a moment, I took a deep inhale of mountain air while listening to the bus pull away from the cabin. A sharp wind whipped through the air pulling at my black military cargo pants and the olive green tee tucked into it. Along with the wind came the familiar scents of the pack bringing a tiny smile to my lips that I quickly suppressed.

Exhaling, I strode up to the front door making sure to stomp my favorite steel-toed boots on the wrap around porch to rid them of the snow. Hiking my brown duffle higher onto my shoulder, I twisted the door knob only to snarl a little at finding it unlocked. Moon, I leave for three months and these people just throw safety to the wind. Annoyed once again, I threw the front door open and let it slam against the wall as I stepped into the cabin.

Looking around, I saw that nothing had changed while I was away. The walls were the same dark green covered in pictures of past pack members in wolf form, along with the table by the door for keys and a full coat rack. Although, it seemed that most of the pack was out because the only cars out front were the higher ups. My annoyance grew when I realized that I’d have to go find them instead of them coming to me like I thought they would.

Before heading up the stairs, I took a look into the living room on the right. A group of teenage pack gremlins sat around the T.V as they watched other gremlins play a game. If I didn’t already know they were gonna shit their pants at my voice, I’d be pissed that they didn’t acknowledge the door opening. Actually, I didn’t see a problem with that.

“I know, I don’t see what I think I see,” I rasped out, watching as all six jumped and started scrambling to their feet. “Because it looks like I see a bunch of aspiring warriors ignoring a threat.”

Each of them looked down, shame faced except for my protégé, Theo. “We caught your scent as soon as the door opened. We knew it was you, Kai.” He replied in a ‘duh’ tone.

“With your weak snouts? Not likely. And how do you know I haven’t turned on the pack?” I raised a brow at him, waiting for him to argue his point like always.

“You’re a Feral Born. You’d never betray the people you gave your loyalty to. Besides, you’re practically in love with me! You’d never kill me.” The seventeen year old chuckled, giving his buddies a high five at the last part.

“Oh I am, am I? Then why don’t you come over here and I’ll show you all that love.” I said, my fangs clicking together as I bit the air.

The boy shook his head “Uhhh…no I think we should wait. Make it special, you know?” he said with a wide smile, taking a small step back.

I unshifted my teeth and looked in amusement at his friends who wouldn’t meet my eyes. Probably because the bright red tint tended to unnerve the younger wolves. Their wolf halves knew not to challenge me and no harm would come to them but their humans still thought I was a wild card. Idiots. They were a part of my pack. I wouldn’t touch them unless they committed a crime or became a threat. And may the moon help them if they ever did.

“I’ll pass. I’m not the tender type.” I flicked my eyes back to Theo and met his hazel orbs, “Take this bag to my cabin, Grunt. Your three month vacation officially ends now.” Ignoring his sigh of disappointment, I hefted my duffle from my shoulder and tossed it at him.

He groaned in surprise as it hit him right in the chest, “Damn. What the hell do you have in here? Wolf heads?”

“Sure. Now, take the bag to my cabin so your friends can stop awkwardly twitching at my presence.” All twitching from the young boys immediately stopped, making the corners of my lips twitch.

Theo’s voice rang out as I headed to the stairs, “That wasn’t an answer!”

“Wasn’t it, though?” I murmured as I climbed the steps two at a time, uncaring if he heard me or not.

Theo showed real potential at taking over my position later on when I could no longer perform my duties. Being that I was only twenty three, some thought it was too early for me to have a protégé but the Omicron position was different from others. We had to hone all of our senses to the highest degree, be skilled in four different types of combat in human form and be lethal in wolf form. That wasn’t even mentioning the psychological and intelligence testing, Omicron were the shifter equivalent of the humans C.I.A.

Theo showed real strength in all those areas but I wouldn’t actually start training him until he turned twenty. It would take him at least five, maybe even seven years until he was ready to be responsible for the protection of the entire pack. Longer than my own training because he wasn’t a Feral Born, his senses and the relationship with his wolf needed to be fully developed. Which is what we were working on now, even though the cocky little shit thought it was because I liked him.

I hadn’t told anyone, not even him, that I had chosen him for my future replacement because he needed to choose it for himself first. I had others in mind if he ended up not wanting the position but none that I was as confident in.

Reaching the top of the staircase I took a sniff of the air to single out the Alpha’s scent. In less than a second, I caught it and started moving in the direction it was coming from. Passing bedroom doors and rounding corners, I ended up in the hallway that held all of the offices.

The thump of my boots hitting the wooden floor was almost therapeutic, reminding me that everything would go back to normal soon. At the end of the hall right before the Alpha’s office there hung a large golden mirror. It was the only piece of luxury in the pack house and it had been passed down by the founder of the pack herself to the next alpha and then the next. Each one putting it in a different place inside the cabin to signify a new beginning with the change of Alpha’s.

Pausing as I passed it, I took a few steps back to see my reflection. Light brown skin darker now because of the Arizona sun, loose wavy black hair that stopped right at my shoulders and slightly rounder than average eyes with bright red coloring do to my Feral Born heritage. Just as my eyes dipped to take in the scars across my throat, I picked up on an unfamiliar scent coming from behind the office door. Besides the Alpha’s and Beta’s, I could smell a light almost forest-y scent. At first, I thought it was the natural forest smells coming through a window but then I took a deeper breath.

Freezing in place, I tilted my head slightly towards the door trying to pick up on how many heartbeats were in the room. Two were beating loud and strong while another was just a little bit faster than an average shifter’s. A forest-y almost nonexistent scent with a faster than shifter average heartbeat….

What the fuck was a Wilder doing in the Alpha’s office? And more importantly why did it come out of the forest to be around pack wolves? Wilder wolves were only comfortable being around Feral Borns because we were more similar in nature than pack wolves. And even then, we had an on sight mentality to establish dominance between us. With all of this in mind, I quickly moved forward and slammed my booted foot against the door. It crashed back against the wall with a loud bang calling all attention to the doorway.

A snarl was already making its way up my throat before I fully entered the room. Dismissing the “Oh. Shit.” and then the shouted “Wait!” that came from my Alpha and Beta. I crouched slightly, head tilted down and fangs bared at the man casually sitting before the desk. It didn’t matter if he came in peace or not. Dominance needed to be established.

As soon as the man tensed up with a loud rumbling starting in his chest, I was on him. Before he could blink, I was in front of his chair grabbing him by his ripped up shirt and using his own body weight to turn us in a semicircle. His snarl cut through the air as I jumped on him pushing him to the floor with my weight. Before we could land like I had planned, he twisted. Rolling mid air, the chairs were knocked away as we hit the floor with him pinning me. Legs tangled together, we growled and snapped at each other’s throat. When his head lowered to try and bite at my neck again, I surged up and slammed our foreheads together. The male released one of my hands with a snarl and my claws immediately pressed into the tender skin of his neck. All fighting from him instantly halted as he realized his dangerous position.

In our tense pausing of movements, my Alpha spoke, “Well, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go down. But Jasper meet Kai, our Omicron. Kai, meet Jasper, my cousin and our newest pack member slash Co-Gamma.”

Not a chance in a moonless hell.

—————————————————————

Omicron is pronounced: O-ME-CRON

Thank you for reading my first chapter!! Let me know what you think!

Chapter Two: The Refusal

I narrowed my eyes at the olive ones above me and growled deeply from my chest. Digging my claws a little further into his throat, I bit out a, “No.”

“Enough. Release each other now.” The red headed Alpha demanded, sitting back down. Where, I’m assuming, the Beta was standing loyally at his side like a well trained pet.

Carefully watching the male above me, I slowly flexed my claws deeper into his throat instead of letting go like the Alpha had asked. His eyes narrowed before he snarled loudly in my face as the scent of his blood perfumed the air. I bared my fangs in response, I wouldn’t let this asshole go until he submitted to me. One of us had to and there was no way in hell that I’d submit to him. His almond shaped eyes roamed my face. Apparently noticing my eyes for the first time, because his own widened in recognition. Looked like somebody finally recognized me.

“You.” He whispered it like a fact as he continued to look at me. Mostly just staring at the rugged scars covering the front of my throat.

Glaring at him I sunk my claws deeper into his neck, “Me.”

The very me who’s virginity he took before saying ‘had better’ and taking off into the woods. He didn’t even make me cum! But that was five years ago, I was over it. My claws slipped deeper into his throat.

He winced, just as my Alpha’s angry voice ripped through the air, “I said release each other now.” The command in his voice slammed down around us, making me breakout in a light sweat as I ignored it.

“Not. Until. He. Submits. To. Me.” I rasped out, never breaking eye contact with the male still frozen above me. He never even told me his name, which was apparently Jasper, and it brought me great satisfaction to watch him struggle underneath the command. His face was actually twisting up in pain at Alpha Otis’s command and- wait. Did the Alpha call him cousin?

Oh, this son of a bitch! He would submit to me fully as a weaker wolf and as punishment for being a lying dick. I had asked him on that night if he was anyone I could potentially run into in the future! It was supposed to be a win-win. I should have known he could control his heartbeat, he was a wilder for moons sake. But I had been a nineteen year old virgin and so sexually frustrated that I had just wanted to get the first-time out of the way. I hadn’t even cared that he was a Wilder or that he was weaker than me but I should have. If I had, this wouldn’t be happening right now.

Actually the more I thought about everything that had happened and was happening right now, the angier I got. Snarling viciously, I leaned up to snap my fangs together loudly in Jasper’s face making him immediately bare his neck in submission with a strange sound.

There was a heavy pause in the room before…

“Dude…Did you just squeal?” That incredulous response came from my greatest annoyance better known as Beta Ryan Davis.

“No!”

Curling a lip up at his juvenile response, I ripped my nails from his neck before slapping said hand against his face and shoving him off of me. “Weak.” I announced mostly to my past self, I mean this is the man I gave my virginity to? I must’ve been really desperate to get rid of it. I turned my head to look at the dark red headed man laying beside me with a hand gripping his bleeding throat.

Sighing, I thought, yea I really did fuck this guy but who cares? I wasn’t going to dwell on it, I had an itch that needed to be scratched and he was around. I could’ve at least tried to hold out for somebody that didn’t squeal though. Real wolves had all the luck, they didn’t have to deal with human sides and their weirdness long after fucking.

An obnoxious clearing of a throat had me tilting my head up to look at my Alpha. He was leaned over his desk to stare down at us, red eyebrows arched up high on his forehead, “Kai.”

I raised my own brows back at him, “Otis.”

My red eyes met his green ones in a silent standoff that I didn’t fully understand. Otis seemed to do this at least twice a month for no reason at all and my instincts forced me to hold it no matter how long it took. While Alpha commands could work on me they still took a while to actually take and I’d sooner die then lower my gaze for anyone, even my Alpha.

“Seriously. This, again? Now?” Ryan gave a long sigh after speaking, probably shaking his head and looking at the ceiling as he did so.

Otis and I smirked at each other, though mine was more of a twitch of my lips, not breaking eye contact. It was almost comical how upset Ryan got when we did this, Otis thought it was because he hated to be left out. Hmmmmm. Maybe I wasn’t the only one he annoyed with all his talking because I was starting to see a wicked glint in Otis’s lime colored eyes.

“I hate you both,” Groaning loudly, Ryan then began to yell at us. “I know you can hear me! Stop it right now! I didn’t even do anything, this time! Why me? Why my Alpha? Why the pack’s Omicron? We have important things to discuss! This is ridiculous….”

For every octave that Ryan’s voice rose my smirk grew with it until it was a full blown smile. And then suddenly, I was no longer looking into Otis’s green eyes but into chocolate brown ones. The grin slowly melted from my face as I took in how Ryan had changed while I was away. His black curly locks seemed just a tad longer, adding a boyish look to his twenty seven years. The new beard he was sporting made his cheekbones and jawline look a lot more defined than usual. And I’d be a filthy liar if I said the way he filled out his gray long sleeve wasn’t at all interesting.

Why the hell was he looking so good anyway? I knew he was attractive but his chattiness always made it easy to dismiss his looks. My brow furrowed as I flicked my eyes back up to his, finding myself getting angry with his shirt. Deciding to ignore whatever was happening to me, I quickly stood up bringing us almost eye to eye. Not at all hard to do when I was 5’10 and he was around 6’4.

“Kai, how are you? It’s been a long time since I last saw you. What’s new?” Ryan asked but the weird emphasis he put on ‘new’ had me pausing.

“Nothing…” I slowly replied, eyeing him warily.

“So there’s nothing new? At all? Like no new friends? Did you socialize? What about tent buddies? Anyone interesting?” He pushed, even going so far as to lean further into my personal space. Tilting my head back and around him, I gave Otis a puzzled look. The burly male just shook his head trying to suppress his laughter in reaction to the new weirdness that was his Beta.

Looking back to find Ryan staring intently into my face, I reared back, “You need to back up and stop asking weird questions. Always chatting away. We have important things to discuss, Beta. Stop side tracking us.”

His brown eyes blew wide in disbelief, “ME? I was the one-.”

“Ryan, please. No more distractions. Let’s get down to business.” Alpha Otis cut in.

Seeing the Beta’s face change into one of frustration brought me an unhealthy amount of pleasure. Hiding a smug look, I quickly walked around him to find that Jasper had already righted the brown leather chairs we knocked over. Dropping down into the seat next to his, I glanced over at the Alpha’s large black desk. His laptop and family photos were the only personal items he seemed to like keeping in his office. The walls, a deep green color, matched the rest of the house except for the light brown bookshelves lining the left wall.

Looking away from the full shelves, I turned to watch as Ryan made his way around the desk to stand next to Otis again, who sat in his black leather chair. Both had their backs to the large window pane that overlooked the clearing where the warriors trained behind the house. Like a King overlooking his soldiers…

Otis made sure to catch my gaze before speaking, “Now, I have a few things to say. Yes, Jasper is my cousin and the new Co-Gamma. He’s been a wilder for a long time but he wants to rejoin pack life and finally settle down,” Otis paused and gave me a hard look before continuing, “Jasper arrived a month ago and will not be getting a background check because he’s family. There will be no negotiations about it and don’t even think about going behind my back to do it anyways.”

I would definitely be doing a background check on Jasper, especially since I knew first hand he was a liar. But all I did was give him a sharp nod as if agreeing with everything he just said. It was important to make the Alpha’s feel in charge and then do whatever you wanted afterwards. So here I was, a Feral Born, making sure my Alpha’s ego was fluffed. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Fuck, how did I let this day get away from me? I should be alone in my cabin right now eating a delicious rabbit stew. Not, sitting in my Alpha’s office with the man who took my virginity and a Beta who’s clingy long sleeve was making me angry for highlighting his biceps. I couldn’t even blame my notice of him on my oncoming heat either, I had already gone through it last month.

I brought my focus back to the conversation just as Otis and Ryan shared a quick look between themselves before looking at me. “What is it?” I asked, shifting my eyes between them.

Ryan beat Otis to the punch, “There’s something you need to be aware of but we’d prefer to tell you in private. It’s a sensitive matter.”

I sighed, like always when Ryan spoke he managed to tell me absolutely nothing of importance, “Does it endanger the pack or anyone in it?”

“Well not tech-”

I cut him off as I stood to leave, “Then I’m not interested. Is there anything else? Because if not I’m leaving.”

“Sit down. I still need that debrief on your three month mission and then you may leave.” Feeling a jolt of irritation rush through me at Otis’s demand, I reminded myself this was how things worked in a pack. Seven years with them and taking orders still chafed at me.

Dropping back into my seat, I rasped, “Fine. But I refuse to discuss anything in front of non-pack members.”

And then I pointedly stared at Jasper, making sure they completely understood who I was talking about. Jasper in turn just stared back at me with a blank expression like he didn’t fully understand what was happening. His appearance was much more unkempt than the first and last time I saw him. Wilders tended to be uncaring about their looks but the long stringy auburn hair and dirt covered skin was new. Didn’t Otis say he’d been here for a month? He should have adapted to the pack’s way of cleanliness already.

“Were you not listening? That’s okay, I was. Otis said that Jasper’s our Co-Gamma-”

“Stop talking.”

“But I’m just trying to help you-” Ryan wined.

I interrupted before he could continue, “Was he initiated into the pack?”

This time it was Otis who responded, “No, not yet.”

“Then he’s not pack. And I won’t endanger us all by talking about pack business in front of a non-pack member.” Then looking towards Jasper, I snarled, “Leave.”

The Alpha and Beta sighed simultaneously as I watched them all. So dramatic. They should already know that when it comes to pack safety I do everything by the book and overboard.

Jasper had apparently taken offence at the males’ continued silence because he suddenly snapped, “Are you guys serious? You’re the Alpha and Beta just tell her to let me stay.”

We all stared at him in silence.

“I’m the Omicron. They don’t have the power to overrule me when it comes to the safety of the Silver Fangs pack.”

“How?”

I raised a brow, “How?”

“How are you the Omicron?”

Narrowing my eyes, I looked him up and down. “You think I can’t protect the pack?”

“NO. Do not answer that. Just leave Jasper,” Ryan rushed out.

Otis made shooing motions towards his cousin, “Go, we’ll talk later Jasper.”

I watched as Jasper angrily walked towards the door, pausing as he opened it to look back at us. Looking at him dead on, I brought my hand up and made a slicing motion across my throat with a claw. He gagged before shooting out the door and slamming it shut behind him. My face pulled up in disgust as I stared at the closed door, that man didn’t know how to react correctly to anything. Who gagged when their life was being threatened?

“Kai! Stop staring after him and give us the debrief already!” Ryan yelled.

Turning back to look at him, I blinked and then blinked again. “I don’t listen to you.”

“Just give me the damn debrief so we can all go to bed. It’s almost ten o’clock.” Otis sighed out, rubbing his hands over his face.

It was already ten o’clock? Great, all these chatty assholes cost me my dinner. Beyond fed up now, I quickly gave a summary of my three months away. “All in all, We were able to eradicate a large percentage of the renegades in Arizona. Twenty members have been captured and are currently being interrogated. Five of them, we believe, hold crucial information and will be sent here within the next couple of weeks so that I can extract that information. I think at least one can confirm the rumors about how their group’s main goal has changed.”

Otis hummed thoughtfully, “Are you sure that their focus has shifted from pack wolves?”

“We don’t know. With the latest attack on the Night Star pack it could just be a distraction tactic. That’s why it’s important the five are sent to me.” No matter what the other Omicron’s thought about my extraction methods, they couldn’t deny that I got results.

“What happened with the women at Night Star? We heard that you guys didn’t make it in time.” Ryan asked, concern furrowing his dark brow.

“We came too late to save some of the women. A few had already been sexually assaulted by the time we arrived. But out of the captured, some were able to point out their rapists. Once I had them confirmed, I bashed the mens kneecaps in and forced them to kneel in front of the women they assaulted. The women delivered the punishment they believed their rapists deserved. One woman took an hour before she finally killed her assaulter.” She hadn’t cried or screamed while she did it, instead she calmly sliced off parts of him in a cold rage before cutting off his manhood at the base. I stood by making sure they got the revenge they deserved, even doing it for some who didn’t have the stomach to do it themselves.

“Good.”

“Those men got what they deserved.”

The muscles of both men were pulled tight in anger as they thought of what those women went through. I stayed quiet letting them calm down as their eyes swirled to black signaling their wolves had taken over. It always made me curious as to how that felt. To be pushed into the back of your own mind as the wolf took over your body. I wonder if it felt weird, if they could feel it coming on or not? Sometimes I thought of how it would feel to have someone else in my mind to talk to, who knew me inside and out. To always have someone around who’d never betray or leave me.

However, with all its benefits and curses I loved being a Feral Born. Except that there weren’t many of us left. The main reason for that was simple, we were a very violent wolf kind. Most of the time we didn’t even make it into adulthood. In fact, the only other adult Feral Borns I had known were my parents and they died a very long time ago. So when I thought of how the other wolves had someone to share their life with no matter what…it brought an odd feeling to my chest that I didn’t dare analyze too closely.

Otis stood from his seat, “Okay, I think that’s enough for tonight. If you have anything else you’d like to report, come see me tomorrow…. Actually, we still need to speak to you so come in anyways.”

“Sure.” I rose from my seat as well, finally ready to go home and sleep.

“See you tomorrow, Kai. Hey! Maybe we could go hunting together after the meeting? Or you know maybe you..uh..want some..company? We..could..guh.”

I stared at Ryan until he stopped talking to swallow thickly before looking at Otis, “Is he broken?”

He smothered a laugh while Ryan looked anywhere but at me, “Yea, don’t worry about it. I’ll fix him.”

“Be sure that you do. There’s only so much I can handle before I start killing things.” I stated, walking over to the door and pulling it open.

“That didn’t just happen.”

“Oh but it did, my friend. It did.”

I closed the door on the laughter behind me while shaking my head. First day back and it was already extremely weird. Ryan was acting weirder than usual and Jasper, the man I gave my virginity to, was my Alpha’s cousin and joining the pack.

Moon. My luck could not be this bad.

—————————————————————

Second chapter! What do you think of the characters so far? Any favorites yet?

Otis?

Ryan?

Jasper?

Kai?

Theo?

Feel free to comment or like!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Three: Late Night Visitor

Avoiding the shifters in the kitchen, I slipped out the backdoor of the pack house and began my walk home through the woods. My own little cabin was only about ten minutes behind the pack house. Far enough to be secluded but close enough in case of an emergency. The best part was that I could barely hear all of the commotion during the day from the main house.

When I had first arrived seven years ago, I was in a constant state of agony from all ofthe noise. Back then I hadn’t been used to being around so many people and because of that I never learned how to dull my senses. And I still haven’t. Why put the pack at risk when I could simply just ignore the mild pain it brought on every once in a while. Although, I did tell Otis and Ryan that I’d learned to dull my senses because I knew that they would baby me if I hadn’t.

Bracing my hand against the trunk of a tree for leverage, I jumped over the fallen one blocking the path. Apparently no one had come to clear the larger debris from the snow-covered path while I was gone. That was to be expected though, the pack members didn’t really come near my cabin anymore. They knew I had issues with thick scents in my area.

The only one that came to my cabin was Theo because I preferred to do his training away from any distractions. The Alpha and Beta came around sometimes to talk about pack safety… well at least Otis did. Ryan just wandered around my living room touching everything as me and Otis talked. Irritating but his scent didn’t really bother me, so I chose to ignore his antics.

Side stepping a branch, I thought about how I should wake up early tomorrow and clear out the path. I didn’t feel like going through an obstacle course every time I went back and forth between here and the pack house. Plus if I left the fallen trunk blocking the path, I had no doubt that Theo would use it as an excuse to skip his morning lessons. Reaching the end of the path, I entered the clearing I built my cabin in. It was a simple one story log cabin with a porch that had a bench underneath the front window and a couple of stairs that led up to the door.

Surprisingly where I was expecting to see layers and layers of snow, there was none. The stretch of land leading to the stairs, the stairs themselves, and the porch was completely cleared of any snow or debri. I’d have to thank Theo next time I saw him for shoveling the path and sweeping the porch for me.

Walking to the front door, I swept my eyes over the trees that circled my home. The noises of the forest seemed to echo loudly from all around causing me to sigh in contentment. Finally, alone at last. A smile curved my lips as I bounded up the porch steps to the door. Unbuttoning the pocket on my right thigh, I pulled out my house key and reached out to unlock the door. I stopped right before putting the key into the lock to look around…my duffle wasn’t on the porch. Which meant…Theo put it inside but he definitely doesn’t have a key so how….

Grabbing onto the handle, I gritted my teeth in anger as it twisted open underneath my hand. Fucking deliquent gremlin breaking into my house and then leaving it unlocked! Why did I even bother protecting this pack? They had absolutely no sense of self preservation.

Stepping silently over the threshold, I tilted my head to the left. Taking deep even breaths, I lowered my heart rate until I couldn’t hear it anymore before listening for others. When I was met with more silence, I moved further into the house before closing the door behind me.

Reaching over I flipped the light switch on the wall, flooding the living room with bright light. Taking in the dark blue plaid couch with my duffle resting on the ground next to it, I glanced over at the dark brown coffee table and the T.V mounted in the corner. With a deep breath, I filtered through all of the different scents circulating in the cabin.

Dust. Stale air. Theo’s lemon-y scent. Wood. Snow. Pine.

The last two probably came in from when I walked through the door just moments before. Satisfied no one was laying in wait for me, I continued on into the kitchen making a beeline straight for the fridge. I was starving. I should’ve brought something to eat on the bus like the others had. But at the time I thought I’d quickly debrief Otis on my time away and then I’d be free to go hunting. If I’d have known that someone from my past was going to show up, I wouldn’t have waited to eat.

Rounding the island in the middle of the white tiled kitchen, I pulled open the stainless steel refrigerator doors. Sighing I looked over the items inside, which of course had gone bad. Grabbing the spoiled vegetables and meats, I walked the few paces to the back door before tossing them into the trash can. Looked like I’ll be going into town soon to restock on the things I couldn’t get from the pack garden.

On the way back to the fridge, I stopped in front of the sink to look out the window above it. The way the trees swayed in the snow swirling breeze felt like it was beckoning me to join them. Making me want race through the trees in my true form, jumping over logs and running down prey beneath the guiding light of the moon. I had always enjoyed the coldness of the air and the way the snow would melt on my skin. It reminded me of freedom, of being alive. Heart thundering in my ears, sweat cooling over my skin, freezing air rushing through my lungs with adrenaline pumping through my veins. It was like a drug I couldn’t get enough of and I doubted I ever would. A flash of red had me snapping my head forward only to catch the reflection of my own eyes. It was my birth right after all, the forest was soaked into my very being.

After a promise to myself that I’d go out into the forest in the next couple of days, I turned away from the window. Back to scanning the bleak pickings, I shut the refrigerator doors and moved over to the cabinets instead. Pulling out a bowl and two small packets of Brown Sugar and Maple oatmeal, I opened the packets and dumped them into the bowl before filling it with tap water. Putting the bowl in the microwave, I set the timer to two minutes and then grabbed a spoon from the drawer. Tossing the spoon on the counter, I leaned against the island to wait for it to finish.

It wouldn’t be the most fulfilling meal but it was the only edible thing I had at the moment. A steak would be much better. My fangs throbbed to be unleashed at the thought of a bloody steak. I could eat it raw in my human form which was perfect since I preferred raw-

Rrrrrrrrrrr.

Whipping around I looked in the direction the sound had come from, which turned out to be the front door. Eyes narrowed, I slowed my heart rate and moved quietly towards the door while making sure to stay hidden. Hugging the wall, I leaned my head out slightly but saw no one in the window. Standing behind the door now, I closed my eyes to focus completely on my hearing. The calm thud of a heartbeat on the right side of my porch where the bench was could be heard.

Who was sitting on my porch?

Opening my eyes, I looked at the portion of wall where the bench would be. The heartbeat was a regular shifter’s so it had to be someone from the pack. But who would be visiting me this late? The microwave’s sudden beeping startled the person into moving. Flipping the lock, I quickly ripped open the front door.

Stepping out onto the porch, I shifted my nails into claws and lunged towards the bench only to pull up short. What was he doing here? There, sitting with his hands on his knees like he was just about to stand, was Otis.

“Shit, I always forget how fast you are.”

“What are you doing here? I thought you were going to bed.”

“I wanted to talk to you about something. Two something’s actually.” Otis said, straightening out.

I tilted my head as I looked him over, “About what? I almost shredded you.”

He was in blue jeans and a black t-shirt with converse on his huge feet, he must have changed before coming here. His relaxed clothing didn’t explain why he was at my cabin at this time of night though. He’d only been here a few times without Ryan before and only during the day.

“It’s what me and Ryan wanted to talk to you about tomorrow. I decided it’d be better if I spoke to you alone. And there’s something else we needed to discuss.” Otis replied, taking a step forward until we were eye to eye.

He was barely hitting six feet which was considered short for an alpha, but what he lacked in height he made up for in width. Muscles roped his wide chest, thick arms and tree trunk like thighs. Other Alphas always assumed Ryan was a fellow Alpha and that Otis was the Beta but that stopped the instant Otis’s dominance flooded the room.

“Oh. I know why you’re here.” Suddenly, it was obvious why he’d come to see me. His word choice, proximity and how late he had come was a dead give away.

Bewildered, he said, “You do? How do you know already?”

“Listen, it’s completely natural. Your wolf is just reacting to the strength and dominance I give off.”

“Erm what?”

“It’s normal for your wolf to try and create a bond with me, you’re a high ranking male. But as you know, I have no wolf for your’s to bond with. And I have no interest in creating a human one with you. So-”

“Wait no, that’s not-”

I raised a brow, “There’s no need to be embarrassed. I knew this would happen eventually. Just give me your wolf’s name, so I can deny the bond.”

As I waited for Otis to give me his wolf’s name, he stared back at me in a mix of horror and shock.“I-I don’t think I ever realized how confident you were.”

“I’m only speaking the truth. Now, your wolf’s name.” I furrowed my brow in confusion as he exploded into laughter.

Wiping the corner of his eye, he responded, “Oh Moon. I really needed that. Thanks, Kai.”

I just stared at him. I think he finally snapped, all the stress of being an Alpha finally caught up to him.

“Neither me nor my wolf have formed a bond to you, Kai. And we never will.” He was still chuckling softly as he explained, “That would be uncomfortable and to be honest…terrifying.”

I flashed a fang in annoyance at the way he said it. He made it sound like being mated to me would be devastating. Just because he was my Alpha didn’t mean I wouldn’t toss his ass off my porch. I could do it, it wouldn’t kill him or cause serious harm. It was a very fine grey area but he was tempting me to enter it.

Seeing the growing aggression on my face, he quickly went on, “Only because I see you as a little sister. A murdering, lock your bedroom door, hide the knives, kind of little sister.”

The snarl faded from my face as I searched his, “Sister?”

“Uh, yea. Ever since the day you came to us…like you did,” His eyes quickly glanced down to my scarred throat, “I’ve always tried to make sure your as happy as you can be here. My wolf feels connected to you, he considers you apart of our inner pack.”

A lump suddenly formed in the back of my throat as his words registered in my mind. I turned my head to sweep over the forest around us, desperately trying to ignore the warmth I felt inside my chest. A light sniff at the air told me he wasn’t lying and the tightness in my throat grew.

A shifters inner pack was very intimate because their wolves were the ones who picked who was allowed into the inner pack. It was normally just their mate and immediate family with a close friend or two thrown in. To be in one was an honor, because it meant that the shifters wolf trusted you completely. I’d never thought I’d be in one.

“Your like family to us, Kai. I thought you knew that.” Otis’s words came out gentle like he was trying not to startle me.

A strange pressing sensation started up in my chest and my skin felt unnaturally tight. It was abnormal and I wanted it gone. Now. Looking back at Otis, I went to speak but nothing came out. Clearing my throat, I tried again, “You said you needed to tell me things. Let’s go inside, my oatmeal’s getting cold.”

Twisting on my heel, I walked away from him to reopen my front door and rush back into the kitchen. On the way, I physically shook my head free of all the uncomfortable feelings and thoughts that the conversation with Otis brought up. I didn’t like those types of emotions. They made everything complicated and I didn’t know how to process them. Everything was much easier when I dealt with only anger, annoyance and general disinterest when dealing with others.

Rounding the island, I headed straight for the microwave and pulled out my bowl of oatmeal. Ignoring Otis for a moment, I grabbed the spoon off the counter and leaned a hip against the sink as I dug in. The oatmeal was lukewarm but still tasted delicious on an empty stomach. As I shoveled another spoonful into my mouth I looked up at Otis, who was standing on the other side watching me with a sorrowful look.

Narrowing my eyes, I snapped, “What?”

“Nothing.”

“Then tell me what you came to say, so you can leave.” I didn’t want him here any longer than he needed to be. His sandalwood scent always lingered in a musky unpleasant way, it irritated my extremely sensitive nose. I could only handle light or fresh citrus like scents in my home because there was no wind to carry away the heavier scents like out in the forest.

He hesitated before moving closer to the island, “Well, let’s start off with the easier of the two topics. I-uh, know about you and Jasper. He told me after we finished the meeting.”

“And what do you know?” I asked, while taking another bite.

“You know,” He cleared his throat before squaring his shoulders, “He told me that you two have a sexual history and I want to make sure that it doesn’t restart.” Huh. Not exactly, what I was expecting.

“Why?” I replied, dropping my spoon into the bowl and putting it to the side. Pushing off the counter with my hip, I moved to lean over the island towards him. I had no intentions of ever sleeping with Jasper again, but I wanted to know why that was any of his business.

Otis jabbed his finger down on the tabletop harshly, “Because Kai, you two sleeping together is going to hurt people and cause an utter shit storm. The pack doesn’t need that, especially not now.”

Keeping my expression blank, I scanned his face and hid the confusion I felt at his words. Hurt people? How could me and Jasper sleeping together hurt people? The most confusing thing about it all, was how angry Otis seemed to be about it. He wasn’t the type of alpha to over involve himself in his pack members lives. The only time he did was when they wanted him to or when it was necessary.

I stood up in alarm when his last sentence finally registered,“What’s going on with the pack?”

He sighed, hanging his head for a moment before answering, “I know you won’t appreciate anything but the blunt truth so here it is,” He looked up, piercing me with his light green eyes, “While you were away the pack has been receiving threatening notes about one member in particular.”

“What do you mean notes? What pack member and why wasn’t I told? Son of a bitch, you should have informed me the moment the first one arrived. No, the instant I arrived, that should have been the first thing you said. How long has this been going on?”

“Kai, calm down. They’re only notes and they started arriving the week after you left. We’ve gotten three so far and I didn’t tell you because the pack member wasn’t in any danger at the time.”

“Only three so far,” I snarled, the harsh sound filling the room, “It is my job to protect this pack from every possible threat. Even if that means protecting the pack from you. And it’s starting to look like I might have to.”

His eyes swirled black, showing his wolf didn’t take kindly to me questioning his leadership, “Watch yourself, Kai. I would never harm my own pack, it’s unthinkable.”

“No? Because that’s exactly what your doing. A pack member is in danger and you’ve kept their Omicron away. That’s what’s unthinkable, Alpha.” I paused watching as he fought for control, “Who’s the pack member?”

“I was keeping them safe by keeping you away from the pack.” He grunted, rolling his shoulders back as his eyes finally returned to their original color only slightly darker.

I bared my fangs and growled lowly, “Who is it?”

“You don’t understand, it was for their own go-”

“Do not make me ask again.”

There was a pack member out there afraid and in need of my help. Fury raced through my veins at the thought, no one under my protection should ever be afraid. My claws shifted and pushed slowly out of my nail beds sliding over my human ones. The slight burning sensation helped to clear out the thick anger making my mind hazy with bloodlust.

“Damnit, Kai. It’s YOU.” Silence filled my little kitchen and spilled out around the cabin immediately after his shout.

“Me?” I questioned, the anger I felt earlier deflating with his confession.

Otis released a frustrated sigh, “Yes, the threatening notes were made out to you. We thought it would be better if you didn’t know. You were safer with the other Omicron than were here.”

“I don’t need protection. If the notes were for me, don’t worry about it. Show them to me tomorrow, it’s probably just some rival pack causing problems.” I said, waving a hand dismissively.

He should have just told me that the pack member in danger was me instead of getting me all worked up. My fangs receded back into my gums and my claws were quick to retract into my nail beds.

“This, Kai. This is why we didn’t tell you because we knew you wouldn’t take it seriously. That you’d come rushing back to the pack in case they ended up getting hurt instead of you.”

“Of course I would’ve, it’s my job.”

“Moon, Ryan was right.” He ran a hand through his red hair before grabbing the back of his neck, “Look, I’ll show you the notes tomorrow but please Kai, be cautious when your out doing your duties.”

I looked him over, Otis really seemed to want me to take these threats seriously. I wonder what was written on them to make him and apparently Ryan so worried, “Fine. I’ll try to be cautious. If that’s all, you can leave now. I’ll see you tomorrow… brother.” I held my breath after saying the last part. I wanted to see if I felt the same things I did earlier when I was on the giving end of affection. The answer was yes, I thought as my stomach rolled. And they were so much more grossly intense. Never again.

He stared at me for a moment, his eyes flaring with a warmth that I didn’t recognize. It wasn’t lust or anger but something more that I didn’t understand.

“Good.” He walked backwards a few paces before asking, “Oh, and your history with Jasper isn’t public knowledge so let’s keep it that way. I don’t need Jasper getting killed on top of all the other shit we’re already dealing with.”

I cocked a brow in interest, “Who’d be doing the killing?”

He gave me his back as he headed towards the front door, “A very angry, very spastic, wolf.”

Right before the door closed behind him, I spoke up, “I don’t understand.”

All I received in return was a laugh before the door closed leaving me with a lot to think over.

————————————————————————

Soooooooo, what do you guys think? Why would Kai sleeping with Jasper again be a shit storm? What do you think the notes say?

Comment or like if you feel like it!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Four: Lessons and Notes

Early the next morning, I woke up to the sounds of breathing. Heavy breathing. Rolling onto my back, I stared up at the ceiling and started going over everything that happened yesterday. Ryan was being weirder than usual but that could be fixed by just ignoring him until whatever he was going through was over. Jasper being here was a curveball but there was nothing I wanted from him so I doubted we’d cross paths. And lastly, the threatening notes. Depending on what they said, I was either going to tighten up security or tighten up security and increase training.

Satisfied that I had a simple solution for everything, I sat up and pushed the white comforter aside. The heavy breathing had evened out while I was thinking everything over, so I still had a few minutes before I needed to meet Theo outside. Standing up, I made my way to the back of the bedroom and into the bathroom. Walking past the sink, I shoved the shower curtain aside and turned the water to lukewarm. Stripping out of my boxer shorts and t-shirt, I quickly got in to wash up.

Scrubbing the last of the 2 in 1 shampoo and condition from my hair, I leaned over and turned the shower off. Grabbing the light blue towel hanging over the top of the shower, I wrapped it around my body and stepped out onto the tiled floor. Taking the few steps to the mirror and stopping before it. I tucked a corner of the towel into the other side to keep it in place while reaching for my toothbrush on the sink. Brushing my teeth quickly, I shifted them half way through to brush my fangs. There was nothing worse than trying to threaten someone with a pair of yellow fangs. Something about flashing a pair of pearly whites tended to scare the prey better.

Finished, I put the toothbrush back and headed into the bedroom to get dressed. Moving past the bed, I started pulling clothes from the dresser and tossing them backwards onto the bed. Shutting the drawer, I unwrapped the towel from around my body and used it to dry my hair as I turned around. Since I’d only be doing, what I considered to be, light training and maybe a meeting or two. Dressing more comfortable than battle ready seemed appropriate.

Pulling on a mix-match pair of black underwear and a white sports bra, I yanked a white cotton long sleeve over my head. Before slipping into the uber soft black sweatpants I had laid out and grabbed a pair of socks as I left the room. On the way to the kitchen, I glanced out the window to find Theo standing outside staring right back at me through the glass. The first few times he did this, it put me on edge but then I realized he was doing it on purpose to freak me out. I don’t know what it was but the male shifters in this pack were all… odd.

Ignoring him, I opened the cabinets and searched for a quick breakfast snack for the both of us. Spotting a granola box in the back, I pulled it forward and opened it up. Only to find it semi-empty with one lonely granola bar inside. Taking it, I pushed the empty box aside and headed to the front door. Pausing by it, I pulled on my socks and sneakers before unlocking the door to step out onto the porch.

“Well, it’s about time! I’ve been up since four thirty and you’re barely waking up? Talk about lazy.” Theo called out as he stretched on the snow-covered lawn.

Scoffing, I shut the door behind me, “That’s because you run two laps around the territory and it takes you thirty minutes. Why would I wait around for thirty minutes until you showed up?”

“It was just a joke, babe.”

Babe? “Don’t call me babe, Gremlin. What’s your lap time?”

He gave me a smug smile, “Twenty five minutes.”

“Twenty five minutes faster than a third of the pack and only seventeen minutes slower than me. Almost there.” I said, tossing the granola bar at him.

Shaking his head at me, he ripped open the packet and ate the bar in two bites.

Jogging down off the porch and into the snow, I paused to breath in the mountain air. I never planned on leaving again, Arizona had smelt of body odor and smoke. Going into towns and cities was always overwhelming. Here snow coated everything and always gave the air a fresh scent, which reminded me…

“I appreciate you clearing the snow off my porch and pathway while I was away.”

Theo’s shoes crunched over the snow as he approached, “Oh Moon, no. That wasn’t me, too much effort. So, what are we doing today?”

Shrugging it off, I looked him over to decide what the lesson would be today. Since he was in a pair of basketball shorts and sneakers, combat would be best. Dropping into a crouch, I swept a leg out to knock him onto his back. Unfortunately, he managed to keep his balance after I connected with his ankles and jumped backwards.

“I guess it’s human style combat today then?”

“Let’s see if you’ve been practicing.”

Theo grinned before lunging at me with a left hook and high right kick. Dodging his punch, I used my forearm to block his leg and grab his throat. Before I could get a good grip on him though, the little shit twisted out of my grasp. Theo’s breathing picked up as we circled each other both looking for a weak spot. He had two that I knew of but he’s gotten a lot better at hiding them.

Normally, I wouldn’t use my full speed because it wouldn’t be a fair fight but he needed to get faster in his reaction time. Making the first move, I came at him with a flurry of punches. At lighting speed, I hit him twice in the ribs before jabbing him in the inner thigh and finishing up with an elbow to the back of the neck. The kid fell to his knees like a bag of bricks clutching his thigh and ribs. Grabbing him by the hair, I yanked his head back and placed my claws at his throat.

“You’re slow and you forgot to protect your neck.”

Theo’s growl vibrated against my claws. Probably feeling embarrassed that I’d beaten him so quickly. As soon as I released my grip, he jumped up and spun around to face me with eyes swirling black. Younger shifter’s always had a hard time separating their feelings from their wolves but it was still no excuse to bring the wolf out everytime they got upset.

“You can be mad all you want, Theo. But take it from me, you have a chance of healing a ripped out jugular. If you’re too slow you’ll never heal from a severed head.” I scolded him, watching as his eyes slowly melted back to hazel.

He swallowed before hesitantly asking, “You never told the pack what happened to your throat. Is that what happened to you? Someone ripped out your throat? It is, isn’t it. That’s why you have those claw marks and why your voice is so gravelly.”

Theo sounded so horrified by the end of his sentence, that it almost made me want to lie. Almost. “Yes. When I was younger than you are now, I trusted someone I shouldn’t have. Because of my naive mentality my throat was torn out. I should have died but instead I spent a year in agony as it slowly grew back.”

A hushed silence fell over us as he took in the story behind the scars covering my throat. I cocked my head as I watched a tsunami of emotions dance over his face. Granted it wasn’t the whole story of what happened but this was the most anyone besides Otis knew. Otis was the only one in the pack who knew the full detailed story, everyone else I left in the dark about my scars.

So, I was interested in seeing how Theo would react to it. Would he say it was my own fault? If he did, I could only agree with him. What happened to me was completely my own fault, there was no one else I could blame. Or would he spit at me for being so stupid as to have gotten my throat ripped out? Deep down in a place I didn’t look at too closely, a part of me whispered it’s agreement with that statement as well.

So wrapped up in my own unusually tormented thoughts, I almost missed his reaction to my little share of old personal history.

Theo’s brows were furrowed and his body was tense as he spoke, “How..How could someone do that to you? Who would do that to a kid? Where were your parents? Why didn’t someone protect you?“

My face twisted into confusion as I listened to him. He was…blaming others for my mistake? That didn’t make any sense. I was the one who wasn’t strong enough to keep myself from getting hurt but I learned my lesson. I would never go against my instincts again.

“Our world is a cruel one, Theo. You must be faster and stronger than those around you. To protect yourself and to protect the pack. My past mistakes don’t matter anymore.”

“How can you say that?” He demanded, his voice thick with emotion. “You almost died Kaiya! That’s not something that just doesn’t matter anymore.”

He was frustrating me with his lack of understanding. Giving him a hard look I respond, “Theo. It. Doesn’t. Matter.”

“How can you-”

I interrupted him by grabbed his shoulders tightly, “Your not getting it. It doesn’t matter anymore because it was a lesson learned. I’m trying to teach you the same lesson in a much less violent way.”

His hazel eyes searched my red ones, “And what lesson is that, Kai?”

“To fight, Theo. To fight with every sense and every skill you possess. Because one day you might be the only thing that’ll save your life and the lives of your packmates.” He needed to understand that in case he ever decided to become the next Omicron.

In the span of a sentence he went from a teenager to a scared child, “But we have you. Nothing’ll happen to us with you here.”

I released his shoulders, he was still young with an immortal mentality of those around him. I didn’t need to scare him with the possibility of me dying on him like his parents did, to do so would be cruel. And whether I liked children or not, I would never be cruel to them.

I cuffed his chin lightly with my knuckles, “Of course not, but on the extreme off chance I can’t get to you kids in time? You need to be able to protect yourself and others.”

Theo’s face lit up with a cheeky grin, “I’m not a kid. I’m a seventeen year old male shifter, baby. Old enough to hunt and old enough to fuc-”

This time when I swept his legs out from under him, he fell flat on his back in the snow. As he groaned, I stepped up next to him and leaned over to see his face clearly. His eyes were squeezed closed as he took in large gulps of air.

“But not old enough to shut up.” I mocked.

He gave me a playful snarl as he rolled up onto his shoulders and then sprung to his feet.

“Prove to me you aren’t a waste of my time.” I said, punctuating my words with a snap of my fangs.

He lunged at me with a snap of his own.

………………….

By the time we had finished, four hours had gone by and Theo had managed to get me on the ground twice. He hasn’t beaten me yet but still a great improvement from the last time we had sparred. I had confidence that by the end of next year, maybe even earlier if he kept at the pace he was going, he’d finally beat me.

An hour had gone by since I’d sent him home to the pack house with instructions to rest and come back tomorrow morning at the same time. Tomorrow I wanted to see if his senses had increased like his fighting skills. For now, I was chopping wood at the side of my cabin on an old stump. The rhythmic movements of my arms and the sound of splitting wood brought me a rare piece of relaxation. Rare because as a creature born blended so completely with her wolf, one was never able to truly relax. Although patterns and rhythmic motions always seemed to do the trick for me.

With every swing, my chest heaved in exertion and my breath left my body in small white clouds. The temperature had to be below forty but it didn’t affect me as much as it should have. My body ran even hotter to adjust to the temperature in my environment. Much like when a wolf sheds it’s winter coat or grows one, my human body temperature is regulated to the weather I experienced.

Placing another block of wood on the stump, I tried to ignore the tread of someone’s shoes as they walked the path to my cabin. Sighing as my axe got stuck in the wood, I place it on the ground. Putting a foot on the log and gripping the handle tight, I tried to yank the axe out. The footsteps got closer to the entrance of the clearing right as I pulled it free of the log. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I leaned the axe over my shoulder and walked to the front of the cabin to meet the intruder.

As I rounded the corner of the cabin to the front, I caught sight of Ryan walking up the dirt path to the door. Taking this moment, I stopped just out of view to watch him. Ryan seemed overly cheerful for some reason, black locks bouncing around his neck and ears as he walked. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, timberlands and a brown hoodie pulled up around his neck. For being a Beta the cold always got to him a little more than the average shifter.

When he was just a few feet from the porch stairs, I stepped out and into view. Hearing the crunch of my footsteps, his head turned in my direction. Chocolate colored eyes went wide as they took in my form and then like a blind deer his boot hit a rock in the path. Causing all six feet and four inches of solid male to fall face first into the dirt. Unable to control myself, I busted out into a raspy laughter. Ryan stayed face down on the floor as I laughed making my way closer to him.

Taking the axe off my shoulder, I nudged his back with the flat side of the blade, “Hey. You break your neck? Do I need to call the Doc?”

Ryan turned his head to the side pressing his cheek further into the ground to peer up at me, “Rude. I know you can hear my heart beating.”

I shook my head and suppressed more laughter that wanted to bubble up, “You can heal a broken neck, Ryan. We’re shifters, remember?”

His cheeks turned red along with his ears, “Right, of course. I knew that.”

I hummed in reply as I watched him slowly pick himself up off the ground. While he dusted off his jeans, I walked to the side a bit and leaned the axe up against the stairs.

“Where’s your, uh, shirt?”

I turned around to face him, wanting to watch his expressions. They were always written so plainly across his face, “Hanging off the side of the porch.” I took it off earlier when it had gotten too hot to chop wood in a long sleeve. So, I was only in a sports bra and sweatpants.

Ryan’s eyes dipped to my chest before shooting back up to meet my eyes, “Why are you shirtless though? I mean it’s your house, you can do whatever you want. And I’m not complaining, er, that is to say there’s nothing to complain about. But people could be walking by and that’d be bad. Not! Bad as in you look bad but bad as in they’d see you. Your bodys, uhh, fantasy worthy. Oof, no. Wait. I mean-”

Oh great. He was pacing in small circles now, “Ryan.”

“-Other’s shouldn’t be looking at your chest glistening in sweat-”

Glistening in sweat? ”Ryan.“

“-because only I should see it. Oh Moon! I meant-”

Only him? “Ryan!”

He stopped his pacing to look in my direction, “Yes?”

I sighed while rubbing at my temples, “You’re confusing me with all of your words. Why are you here?”

“Oh, right.” He stuck his hand into his hoodie pocket and thrusted three small slips of paper at me, “I offered to come by and give you the notes. Now you don’t have to go up the main house. I know all the noise still hurts your ears.”

Something warm sparked in my chest as I tilted my head at his words, he noticed? I thought I had hid it well.

Once again he lifted the papers for me to take causing his scent to waft off him. Oranges and mint. Taking a quick inhale of his scent because it was one of the very few male scents I liked, I responded, “Thanks.”

As I took them from him, he said, “They’re in the order we got them. But I have to say, it was really hard for me to not fucking burn them as soon as I read them.”

Raising a brow at his unusual moment of gruffness, I read the notes causing all of the men in my life to go cave wolf on me. Each of the small notes had two lines:

You have a Feral Born bitch in your pack. An abomination that must be exterminated.

Kaiya, the Feral Whore, must die. It is only with her death and others like her that the moon will forgive us.

Alpha Otis, send the impurity down the mountain beyond your territory for us to slay. You have until the next blood moon to fulfil our request.

Huh. So a new group of what sounds like a radical religious sect of shifters wanted me dead. “I’m disappointed. I thought death threats were supposed to be more….threatening.”

Ryan growled at my words, “Are you seriously joking about this, Kaiya? They know your name.”

I handed the notes back to him and started climbing the stairs, “Yes. I am. Because there is always someone who wants me dead, I’m used to this. Besides the blood moon’s two months from now.”

His footsteps pounded up the stairs behind me as I snatched up my shirt and started tugging it on. As I was adjusting it, Ryan started blabbering. “Yea? Well I’m not. Whoever these people are they want you dead and that can’t happen. You can’t die on me, like ever. We need more shifters on patrol and you need a guard at all times. I volunteer to be that guard.”

I abruptly stopped causing Ryan to bump into me before I rounded on him, “I never said we wouldn’t be adding people to patrol but I don’t need a guard.”

His chest brushed mine as he took a deep breath, “Fine but at least take someone on patrol with you.”

I narrowed my eyes as I looked up at him, “I don’t need protecting.”

Ryan cleared his throat before tugging at his collar, “Look. If you don’t take someone on patrol with you, I won’t get any sleep.”

“Not my problem.”

He was quiet for a moment before giving me a shocking sly smile, “If I don’t get any sleep, then I’ll be tired during meetings. Important meetings. And as Beta I have a say on what is decided in those meetings.”

“And?” I asked, raising a brow at his elongated explanation. Couldn’t he just say what he meant? What was so hard about that?

“No sleep equals poor pack decisions.”

Snarling deeply, I stepped into his chest looking him straight in the eyes, “Are you using the packs safety to manipulate me?”

His nostrils flared and his eyes swirled black, “If it stops you from being stupid and stubborn, yea. Moon, you smell good.”

Time seemed to slow down as his words sunk into my head and made it spin. Stupid. He just called me stupid. I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t stupid. Something in my chest pinched tightly at the words. Angry, I swung out and connected with his bearded jaw. “Fuck. You.”

As he stumbled back and fell down the porch stairs, I watched unfazed in my fury. Screw trying to manipulate me, calling me stupid? I knew Ryan was odd but I had never thought of him as mean. He groaned as he hit the last stair and landed on his ass in the dirt.

Ryan snapped his head up to look at me with wide brown eyes as he clutched at his jaw, “What the hell, Kaiya?”

“I. Am not. Stupid.” Feeling my eyes burn, I quickly turned around and walked into my cabin as he frantically got to his feet.

“Fuck! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! Kaiya! I forgot, plea-”

The front door of my cabin snapped shut violently behind me.

————————————————————————

Ohhhh Snap. Looks like all that talking finally got Ryan into trouble. And right when they were having a lil tiny moment too. I know some of you might find her reaction to being called stupid immature but everyone has a trigger word. Stupid just happens to be hers and it’ll be explained later on.

As always, feel free to like or comment!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Five: Rocky Road and Whiskey

Ryan’s P.O.V.

“Fuck.” Thunk. “My.” Thunk. “Life.” Thunk.

With one last smack of my forehead against the countertop, I kept it pressed against the cold marble and groaned loudly. Why? Why did I have to say that? I mean, everything was going so well. We were conversing, joking at one point even! And then of course, the one time I can talk in her presence without sounding like a complete blubbering buffoon. I go and put my fang in my lip!

Sighing, I stood up to my full height and walked over to the refrigerator. Opening the doors, I paused to decide what I wanted to drown my sorrows in. Oh who am I kidding? Grabbing another pint of rocky road off the freezer shelf, I closed the shiny silver doors. And retook my seat in front of the other two empty pints of rocky road and a half empty bottle of jack.

How could I call her that? How could I forget? One of Kaiya’s only insecurities and I went and reaffirmed it in one go. Yanking the lid off, I threw it to the side and picked up my spoon to dig in. She hated me. The way she said fuck you and then told me she wasn’t stupid. Moon, she damn near broke my heart. Especially, when I thought I had seen a sheen of tears in her ruby red eyes. If I made her cry? No. I couldn’t even think of that possibility.

Mate angry. Go fix.

The words were a growled rumble coming from Slader. As if it wasn’t bad enough to have my own thoughts putting me in a shit mood, my wolf did it too. It’d only been a day since the incident and I was still torn up about it.

It’s not that easy, Slader. I thought back to him while shoveling another spoon full of rocky road into my mouth. Tilting my head back, I grabbed the jack and poured a shot’s worth in before swallowing.

Kill stupid. Get mates love back. Simple.

I rolled my eyes at his smug tone. You can’t kill words, Slader. And she doesn’t love us.

Because you no tell mate about bond. You scared, Slader not. Slader do it.

I tensed as he tried to force himself into the driver’s seat of my body. No. You’ll piss her off even more. Besides she rejects every male that asks her to accept it.

Slader whined. We not everyone. Mate see. She our moon. Only one for Slader. Only one for Ryan.

I sighed as I took another bite of ice cream. The sad thing was, Slader was right. Kaiya is the only she-wolf for us. Since we first met my wolf has been drawn to her but up until five years ago I didn’t realize I was too. After that awakening, my wolf refuses to try and form a bond with anyone else. I don’t blame him though, lately he wasn’t the only one in love with her.

Go my Kai. Tell her we strong, I tell her wolf but she no have one.

Our Kai. I growled back at him. Greedy bastard always liked to say she was his when Kai was ignoring me or angry with me.

No. Kai no like you now. She mine.

My eyes rolled to the ceiling. Moon, she patted his head one time after we killed a buck in a hunt and he never let it go. He thought that was her confirming her interest. I didn’t have the heart to tell him she was actually just swiping guts off his fur.

Ours Slader, she’s our female and she doesn’t even know we exist so I don’t know why we’re arguing about this.

Ryan. Mate no have wolf or human. Mate both but mate more wolf. Respect strength and violence. Show her we have both.

I immediately went to reject his idea when it truly sunk in. He was right! I was going about this all wrong, I need to woo her. Not how a man would, she wouldn’t understand or respect that but as a wolf. There was just one problem…

How was I supposed to do that when every time I got near her I acted like a pup?

Stop that. Mate no like.

I huffed and took another bite of ice cream followed by a pour of whiskey into my open mouth. Everything was just sooo simple to him. Lucky bastard.

Abruptly, the kitchen light flickered on causing me to squeeze my eyes shut in pain. Taking a sniff of the air, I was hit with sandalwood, grass and blood.

“Who’s bleeding?” I asked them, keeping my eyes closed.

A muffled female voice answered back, “The fucking twat that pissed off Kai on sparring day and didn’t alert the pack when I find them.”

Grimacing, I opened my eyes to see Candice standing in front of me with a bloody nose and a black eye. Otis was at the sink wetting a washcloth for her. Probably to get the blood off her face.

“That twat would be me.”

“Why do you and Otis love pissing off the women in your lives?” She snorted and then instantly regretted it, if the look of pain that flashed across her face was any indication.

I sighed, “If only.” Sticking another spoonful of rocky road into my mouth, I went to pour the whiskey in next when Candice snatched it away.

“Hey!” I barked, “I’m nursing a broken heart here!”

Stools scraped out from across the island followed by the sound of bitchy laughter. Candice put the bottle to her lips and took a large pull before passing it to Otis, “You’re so dramatic. How can Kai break your heart when she doesn’t even know she has it?”

“You can unknowingly break someone’s heart.”

At that, both of us looked over at Otis in surprise as he took gulps from the bottle.

“Riiiight, so we’ll circle back to that later. What’d you do to her? Cause she did not hold back in training like usual.”

Dropping the spoon into a tub of rocky road, I grabbed the bottle from Otis and took a swig. Cradling it to my chest, I said, “I called her stupid.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“You know how she feels about that.”

“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”

“How do you accidentally tell the, quote love of your life unquote, that she’s stupid?” Candice questioned, taking the wet cloth and wiping the blood off of her face.

“Seriously, man?” Otis said, coldly. “She already feels uneducated around all of us and you had to go and say that?”

My heart sunk even lower in my chest, “I wasn’t thinking, okay? I was just so worried about the threatening notes and how she wasn’t taking them seriously. And it just came out but she’s not stupid, she’s the smartest wolf I know.”

“Of course she is, she has a wolf’s education. But for some reason Kai thinks because she never went to a human school, she’s not as smart as we are,” Candice lectured me in a righteous tone.

Sighing, I placed the bottle on the counter top and just stared at it. I should’ve known better than to let it slip out but I thought she had moved past that. If I wanted to be her mate I needed to know things like this. What her insecurities were and how to help her or avoid them. So something like yesterday never happened again, so I never hurt her again. Unintentionally or not.

I sat up straight and announced “I need to get to know her better.”

“You’ve known her for seven years and have been in love with her for five of them. How do you not know her well enough?” Candice asked, raising a blonde brow.

“A year.” I mumbled, making Otis laugh.

“What?”

“I’ve only been in love with Kaiya for one year.”

Her blue eyes rolled to the back of her head, “Oh, I’m so sorry. One year. Like it makes it any better that you still haven’t told her.”

“I don’t want her to reject me like she does everyone else.”

“But everyone else is afraid not to take no as an answer. You aren’t.”

“What?”

“What Otis means, dumbass, is that no one’s ever pushed for her to say yes to the mating bond.” The amount of attitude Candice was alluding was offensive but she did have a point.

My shoulders straightened as Slader perked up in my head, “That’s true.”

“And,” she added, “No one’s formed a bond to her in almost a year.”

I laughed nervously while Otis shook his head in disagreement, “No. They have. He,” a finger was aggressively pointed in my direction, “has fought off every single one for the right to lay claim. I’ve gotten twelve complaints about him. Twelve.”

Candices jaw dropped, “What? So all those scratches and bruises weren’t from training? Why wasn’t I told? I’m the Gamma even if you gave my position away to a tree licker.”

I shrugged unapologetically, what was I supposed to do? Let those mangy wolves try and bond to her? Me and my wolf growled deeply at that.

“For the last time, Candice. I did not give your position away. You’re always complaining about having no help, now you do. I don’t see the problem.” Otis complained.

Exasperated, Candice shouted,“Of course you don’t! Your cousin’s a weirdo. I told him to go fuck himself when he told me he was the new Co-Gamma. You know what he did! He screamed. Screamed.”

My brows rose in disbelief. What the fuck.

Otis cringed at her words, “Yeaaaa, he’s always done that. There’s nothing wrong with him, he’s just….Jasper. Just ignore it. Anyways, he’ll be a good Gamma just give him a chance.”

“A chance? You’re not the one that had to spend every-”

I cut her off, “Uh, Hello? We’re here to talk about me and how I can trick Kaiya into being my mate.”

Both of them immediately looked at me with concerned expressions. Otis took the bottle of whiskey and pulled it further across the table towards them, “Don’t you mean accept?”

“Isn’t that what I said?” I asked, confused.

Candice began to laugh when I just continued to stare at them in confusion, “He’s so far gone. If I didn’t know she could kick your ass seven ways to Sunday, I’d be afraid for her.”

“Okay. Okay. So it’s been like what? A day since you called her stupid?” Otis questioned.

“Accidently. And yes, how do I fix this?” I groaned out.

“Welllll, you did say you needed to get to know her right?”

“Right.”

“So apologize in a way she’ll understand and accept. Then get to know her better.”

I threw my hands up, “How, Otis? I already decided to woo her like a wolf but how?”

“Just…offer her a kill. I think?”

Candice nodded her agreement with Otis’ words.

A kill? I could do that, but what type of game does she like? Deer? Moose? Elk? Bear? Oh Moon, please don’t let it be bear.

“Okay, but what about getting her to open up to me? So, I can get to know her better.”

“First, you need to tell her that you’ve formed a human and a wolf bond to her.” Candice said patronizingly.

I waved a pale hand around with my words, “Can’t I just… I don’t know, not do that?”

She mimicked my hand movements, “Can’t you just..I don’t know, grow some fangs?”

Curling a lip, I flashed the fangs she thought I didn’t have.

“No, Candice is right. It’s time you told her, Ryan. You can’t keep fighting off potential mates for her when you haven’t made your own intentions clear. It’s not fair to Kaiya.”

Sighing, I ran a hand through my black locks before rubbing at my beard. Looking at Otis, I felt reluctance crawl up my throat, “I know it’s not fair to her but I won’t let others pursue her. Me and my wolf are selfish when it comes to Kai …but we also fear her rejection.” Flicking my eyes between them, I continued, “Your right, though. I need to tell her. I will.”

“Okay so, you’re going to apologize? Check. And your going to tell her that you’ve formed both bonds to her? Check. All that’s left is for you to get to know her.”

Nodding at her words, we all lapsed into silence.

How could I get to know Kai more? Maybe hangout around her house? No, too stalkery and she’d hate having me invade her space. Join her in training? Nah, she’d kick my ass and I’m trying to show her I’m a suitable mate. Or that could hold some promise, If I sparred with other people. Let her see me as more than a blubbering idiot….

“I’ve got it!” Otis exclaimed, “I’ll assign you guys to the same shifts and duties for however long. So you can get to know her!”

“That’s…perfect! Thanks, man.” I grinned.

Candice didn’t agree, “Let me get this straight. You want to basically corner a Feral Born to ask her about her feelings and innermost thoughts?”

Me and Otis shared a look, “Yea. What’s wrong with that?”

She gave us a blank look, “Idiots. This pack is run by idiots.”

Standing up, she fixed her loose light pink jacket and track pants before leaving out of the back door muttering about how all men no matter the species were clueless.

“What’s her problem?” Otis asked.

I snorted, “There’s only one woman I care to figure out and that’s not her. Pass the whiskey.”

He slid the bottle across the counter towards me, “Now about the babbling thing you do in Kai’s presence…”

Flipping him off, I took a long drink from the bottle. I couldn’t wait for my future with Kai which got me to thinking, “You think she’ll want pups?”

Otis laughed so hard, he tumbled off his stool and to the floor.

————————————————————————

Chapter Six: Went to Town

It’s been two days since Ryan had called me stupid and if I was honest with myself, I don’t think he said it on purpose. He probably didn’t even know the impact his words would have on me which made my reaction even more embarrassing. When I felt the burn behind my eyes, I grew even angrier with my own weakness. I was a Feral Born for Moon’s sake! Words were a ridiculous thing to allow myself to become emotional about. Tearing up like a pup. The disgrace.

But nevertheless, I’d been avoiding Ryan so I wouldn’t have to go through the uncomfortableness of explaining my reaction. I was doing a good job of it too, staying around my cabin, going on that run I wanted to, and clearing the path from the pack house to my cabin. Until Candice came by with an apologetic smile to tell me I was to take the teens into town today with Ryan because she’d been rescheduled for patrol.

So now, I was currently making my way to the front of the pack house. Trying my best to avoid any of my fellow pack mates in case they wanted to talk for some reason. Reaching the house unhindered, I decided to cut straight through instead of going around to the front. I had just stepped through the threshold of the kitchen when the faint whisper of my name teased my ears. Curious, I followed the direction it had come from through the kitchen and to the stairs.

Cocking my head, I listened at the bottom to see if my name was mentioned again. Sure enough the person repeated my name and since it was mine they were saying, I started up the stairs. As I went the voice had become clearer in it’s tone, the speaker was Ryan.

“So, Kai. I feel, no not feel Ryan. Formed, you’ve formed. Come on, get it together you can do this.”

At the words I instantly wanted to go back down the stairs but if it’s what I thought it was, the earlier I dealt with it the better. Walking with soft steps, well as softly as I could in my combat boots, I headed left down the hall to Ryan’s room. Passing the two empty rooms reserved for visiting alphas, I stopped at his door.

“-I have for a year now, but I’ve just realized that I don’t know you that well and that’s a problem. How can I be so sure about my feelings if we don’t know each others…well everything! I at least know it’s not infatuation or obsession, I passed that stage a long time ago. There’s just something about you that makes my heart –

Apprehension took hold of me and I paused my hand inches away from knocking on the hard wood of his door. That didn’t sound like the speech men gave me when their wolf formed a bond. This sounded very different…almost like it wasn’t a wolf bond at all. But a…human one.

A feeling speared through my body, one that I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was like a flood of ice had hit my heart and stole my breath in the process. Fear. Fear of his strange words and the change that came with them.

If only Ryan learned to keep his mouth shut, then the urge to avoid him wouldn’t have just tripled. If I was quick enough I could make it look like I’d been on the bus the whole time. Unless the gremlins tore it apart while they waited for us to get there. It had only been around fifteen minutes or so but they always found a way to get into trouble. Theo should be on the bus though so maybe he kept his fellow gremlins in line.

Racing down the stairs, the swing of my short hair irritated me in my slightly panicked state. Every glide of it against my neck caused a brushing sound followed by a small whoosh of air. The downside to having intense hearing was that it was never truly quiet, even when you were alone. Opening the side pocket of my tan cargo pants and grabbing the hair tie I had stashed in there earlier. I bent at the waist to flip my hair over my head before pulling it up into a tight ponytail.

Passing a hand quickly over the top to feel for bumps, I was satisfied to find none and continued down the stairs. A click of a lock and footsteps in the hall behind me caused a spike in my pulse. Picking up the pace, I walked out the front door to the bus parked just a few feet from the porch. Snarls and laughter came rolling out of the half open windows to assault the air. The noise level was deafening right up until I entered the bus.

As soon as they noticed me standing beside the driver’s seat, all of them immediately quieted. My lips quirked at their reaction, gremlins were very entertaining sometimes. When all I did was stare, the teenagers began to murmur again at a much lower volume than they had before. Doing a headcount I saw we had about fifteen with us on this trip, all clumped together in their little groups. Theo was sitting towards the back with a group of boys he always hung around when he caught my gaze and winked.

A low growl from behind me had Theo quickly looking back towards his friends. Turning my head, I found Ryan who shifted his glare from Theo to me and then cleared his throat.

“So I’ll drive then?” He asked, innocently.

I nodded and looked for a seat, “Yes. I hate driving.”

“Oh? And, uh, why’s that?” He said, sliding into the driver’s seat and closing the bus doors.

All the seats towards the back were taken and pairs littered the middle section. But right behind the driver’s seat on the left by the doors, there sat a boy or a girl with their blue hoodie pulled up and over their head. Something about the way they sat, all scrunched up next to the window, called to my protectors instinct.

Moving to sit beside them, I answered Ryan, “I don’t like having my attention split between the gremlins and the road.”

“Ahhh. Thanks for telling me.” He said, voice giddy like he’d just uncovered something telling. “Hey, were you outside my room just a few moments ago?”

“No.”

“Coulda sworn I smelled your scent…”

Ignoring him, I sat down next to the lone person. They twitched a little in their spot but kept themselves facing the window. With a loud rumble and a jolt the engine came to life before we started down the road at a smoother pace. I’d have to talk to Otis about getting a new bus, this one was getting too old for these trips.

Settling into the seat, I prepared to sit in silence for the next twenty minutes and eavesdrop on the teens behind me. The eavesdropping part wasn’t really planned but with impossible not to, in such close proximity. Knowing how far they went with so and so or who liked who, wasn’t really what I cared to hear. Thankfully, at the moment they were only talking about what they wanted to buy or try in the human town.

I was moving away from the spring digging into my spine, when the figure next to me turned and snapped, “Could you stop fucking moving?”

His eyes went wide when they registered who he had just snapped at. Raising a brow at what I could now tell was a boy, I looked him over. He was pale skinned with sharp features, a hard lined mouth and dark brown eyes. With a cruel persona that warned people off and an aura to match. One I knew well and had seen change over time, it was Devin Colrich. I’d caught him by the border rolling his motorcycle to the road trying to sneak out more than a few times.

His eyes lowered to my shoulder, “Sorry, Omicron. I didn’t realize it was you.” His voice was a little deeper than I remembered.

Now that he moved, I was hit by the scent of cigarettes, “Smoking now?”

“Sometimes.”

“And where’s your motorcycle?” He normally went to town without anyone knowing on that damn bike. It would drive me up the walls because then I’d have to go down there and make sure no renegades caught him in the neutral territory.

Devin scoffed, “You’ll be happy to know my parents took it.”

“I am. Why aren’t you sitting with your friends?”

“I’m not friends with those assholes anymore.” He replied, uncaringly but his face was carefully blank.

“What happened?” That didn’t sound like them. Devin was a wolf capable of alpha status when he was older, it wasn’t natural for others not to be hanging around him.

“None of your business.”

“If it hurts you, it is.” It wasn’t my job to offer him comfort but I did try to protect my fellow pack members in any way I could.

“It doesn’t.” He snarled, eyes sharp.

I flashed a fang and snarled back. I didn’t mind Devin but I wouldn’t allow disrespect.

“Sorry. I…I just don’t want to say anything here.” He muttered, sinking further down into his seat.

The vulnerability in his voice made me tense, “I’m not good with this. Do you want to hear about my mission?”

Devin gave a small laugh, “Yea, how many renegades did you kill?”

For the rest of the ride, Devin and I talked about how my mission went. Mostly on the gory parts that caused us to lapse into a comfortable conversation for the both of us. Throughout the conversation though, I felt bothered about how he said he wasn’t friends with his friends anymore. It sounded like something had happened between them, something that caused him to hurt …inside.

………………

As the bus creeked to a loud stop in the local grocery store’s parking lot, the gremlins’ conversation grew to an obnoxiously loud volume. Ryan turned the engine off and then stood to address them, “Alright everyone, you know the drill. Stay in pairs, don’t wander off and if you see, hear or smell anything suspicious tell Kai or me. We’ll be moving on to the next store in an hour and a half, so make it snappy. Understood?”

At the silence, he repeated himself loudly, “I said, understood?“

A chorus of ‘Yes, Beta Ryan’s’ filled the bus before one by one they started getting off. When Devin went to move I put a booted foot up on the plastic, stopping him in his seat. Theo was among the last of the group to get off and he gave us a confused look as he passed. Though the look was a short lived one as he quickly turned away.

Ryan stared at me hesitantly from where he stood near the door, “Kai?”

“Me and Devin need to speak.” When he continued to wait patiently, I added, “Alone.”

“Fine but find me after, okay? I need to talk to you too. Alone.” He said, after a moment of staring at us.

Now, I was the one hesitating. “…Sure.”

He looked between Devin and me once more before following the gremlins off the bus and into the store.

“When the hell did he grow a pair?” Devin laughed.

“A pair of what? Nevermind. Why are you friendless?”

“Very sensitive of you, Kai.” He snarked.

My eyes narrowed at his tone, “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”

“What if I don’t want your help?”

“Then I won’t force it on you but Candice once told me it feels better to talk to someone about your problems.” I personally didn’t understand why but maybe he would.

He swallowed hard, “But what if I tell you and you don’t want to talk to me either?”

I furrowed my brow, “Did you betray the pack?”

“No.”

“Did you hurt anyone in the pack?”

“No.”

“Did you put yourself or others at risk?”

“No.”

“Then why would I not speak to you? Stop being emotional and just tell me.”

He released a slow breath before saying, “They stopped talking to me after they found out that… that I don’t know how to channel my inner alpha.”

I blinked, “What?”

“Yea and if you don’t like it, you can fuck off like the rest of them. I could care less what you think.” He hissed out, but the high set of his shoulders contradicted his words.

“Why would they do that?”

“They said that they’re future ranking wolves and that they couldn’t be friends with a pretender alpha. That I’d cause them to be rankless in the pack if anyone found out they were friends with a future rank mater.” His voice was thick with bitterness. But I guess to a nineteen year old being called a shifter who mated for rank would seem like a devastating insult.

Except, I was confused, “Are they not friends with Lisa Sukton?”

He snorted, “You mean Lisa Sucka-ton? Yea. That’s different, Kai.”

“I don’t understand. So the only reason they don’t want to be your friend is because you haven’t found your alpha essence yet?”

“Pretty much.”

“Your right. You don’t need them…..they are weak and unworthy of an Alpha’s friendship. I will be your friend.”

“You don’t have friends.” He muttered, turning his head to look out the window.

I tilted my own head, he had a point. But up until an hour ago, I didn’t think I’d be afraid to have a conversation with someone. “No, I don’t. But you can be my first.” Who knows, maybe I’d like having a friend…

He turned to me and laughed, “You want to be friends with a nineteen year old?”

“Why not? Are there age restrictions? I’m only four years older than you.”

He shook his head and laughed again while standing up, “I wonder how Ryan’s going to feel about this.”

I stood up with him and asked defensively, “Why would his feelings matter?” Devin couldn’t possibly know about Ryan’s human bond to me. I had barely just found out myself so it was impossible, they weren’t well acquainted.

Devin ignored me as he passed to exit the bus.

Shrugging I followed him out, I don’t think I’ll ever truly understand the minds of regular shifters. While walking through the snow blanketed parking lot, wind blew from the east causing flakes to dance across the cement. It was a pretty sight until the smell of blood and wet dirt assaulted my nostrils.

Lip curling, I turned to face the treeline at the edge of the parking lot with a vicious snarl rattling deeply in my chest.

“Renegades.”

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Shit is heating up y’all!

As always, comment or like if you liked the chapter!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Seven: Went to Town Pt. 2

“What! Where?” Devin exclaimed, squinting at the tree line.

Reaching out with one arm, I grabbed the neck of his blue hoodie and yanked him behind me. “Link Ryan and tell him to get the teens back to the bus.”

“But it’s neutral territory they can-”

“Now.” I snarled lowly.

While Devin had wasted time with useless questions, the renegades in the treeline moved closer. One man and two women stood there dressed in army fatigues creating shadows under the trees. And even though Devin was right, these renegades could be here peacefully. Their bared fangs and glares made it obvious they were here for anything but peace.

“Alright, I told him. They’re on their way.”

Good. The renegades were getting too close to the treeline for comfort,“Get on the bus.”

He walked around to stand beside me, “No, we can take these-”

Narrowing my eyes, I tracked the movements of the male renegade who stepped out from the woods to stare me down. Keeping my gaze locked on his, I lowered my head and snapped my fangs together with a loud clack. A direct challenge. The edges of my lips curved upwards when I realized I wouldn’t have to hold back with them. The male mimicked my motions and added a snarl of acceptance. Sending a shiver of excitement racing up my spine at the thought of sinking my fangs into his throat.

“-Onnn second thought, your smile is psychotic. You got this.”

His footsteps shuffled away at a hurried pace in the direction of the old school bus. Only to be replaced by the multiple pairs coming quickly out of the store and into the parking lot. Not wanting to move my eyes from the treeline I took a whiff of the air, confirming that the footsteps were coming from my fellow pack members. All of them heading straight for the bus except for the pair beelining for me. Keeping my stance rigid, I waited for him to stop next to me.

“You think they’re behind the notes?” Ryan asked, leaning forward to whisper in my ear.

His hoodie brushed my bare shoulder making me consciously aware of his closeness, “Most likely but it could always be another group.”

Ryan’s cheek nudged mine as he motioned with his head,“Did he challenge you?”

The male in question gave another growl before stepping back to disappear into the woods. The renegade was impatient to fight and to be honest, so was I.

Moving my head to break the skin on skin contact, I told him bluntly, “No, he accepted mine. Take the teens to the territory. I’ll be back to brief Otis when I’ve finished.”

He didn’t move, “How many?”

“Three. One man and two women.”

“Slaughter them. I’ll take the teens back to the pack.”

His aggressive words took me by surprise but I wasn’t going to sit here and ask about them, “I always do.”

“I’ll see you in an hour then and don’t forget we still have to talk. Have fun!” Ryan shouted after me.

As soon as I knew he would be taking the teens back to the pack, I was sprinting across the parking lot and through the trees. Picking up on their scent, I ran deeper into the woods until I reached the small group. The male I challenged was just turning to face me, words pouring from his mouth when I jumped on his back. It didn’t matter what he was going to say, I had no time for words. He promised bloodshed when he accepted and I was going to make sure he delivered.

Knees clutching his hips, I reached a hand up an over to grab underneath his chin and slam his head back. Bracing my other hand on his shoulder, I threw my head forward and buried my fangs deep into his throat. His claws sliced into my forearms as he tried to rip me off of him while releasing strangled screams. And the fact that I knew exactly what type of pain the male was going through made his screams even sweeter.

Shaking my head, I yanked and pulled at the muscles between my jaws like a true wolf. Only when I started to feel them give way between my teeth did I rip my head back still clutching at his throat with my fangs. Blood sprayed and tiny chunks of skin flew through the air in an arc following the movement of my head. As his body began to fall, I dropped my feet to the ground and pushed him forward to land at the feet of his friends.

Two pairs of astonished eyes looked at their fallen comrade before looking back up at me. Blood dripping from the chunk of throat I still held between my teeth started to soak the front of my black tank top during our standoff. Meeting their eyes, I spit the flesh from my mouth and stood perfectly straight. Waiting.

The dark haired woman shouted, “You didn’t even let him talk!”

I raised a brow, “Why would I waste time talking to you?”

“He was the messenger! Tau had information!”

I didn’t need to talk to these renegades, I already had five of them coming to the pack that I needed to speak with. Ones with more information than these grunts carried. These ones I was free to kill, and kill them I would. What I wouldn’t do is talk to them.

Didn’t people just fight to the death in silence anymore? How hard was that?

As I pondered that, I lunged forwards making it look like I was going for the black haired woman and then spun left to claw at the blonde. But even though I caught her by surprise she was quick enough to raise her arms and effectively block the swipe of my claws. Deep gashes appeared on her arms instead of her chest making me growl in annoyance.

Feeling the air shift behind me, I ducked in time to miss a fist to the back of the head. Moving to the side to keep them in my eyeline, I took a moment to figure out my next move. What felt like a light bulb went off in my head causing me to smile. A bloody fanged one that made the women in front of me cringe.

Racing forward, I sucker punched the blonde in the throat before shoving a clawed hand deeply into the other’s gut. The burnette blinked at me in surprise and then slowly looked down at my hand up the wrist inside of her. She gurgled as blood slowly began to pour from her mouth and down her chin. It was a deep red color that mesmerized me for a moment until the loud choking from behind brought me back to the moment at hand.

Yanking my hand from her stomach, I brought her liver along with me. Turning to kill the last woman, I wasn’t surprised to see her sprinting deeper into the forest. My veins sang with adrenaline as I watched her go. It was always much more fun when they thought they had a chance of escape. Silly shifters, didn’t they know a Feral Born never lost their prey?

Liver still in hand, I cocked my arm back, took aim, and threw. The organ soared through the air in a spinning arc before hitting her square between the shoulder blades with a wet smack. I had just reached her when she started stumbling from the hit. As she fell forward, I curved my left hand and placed it where I thought her head would fall.

When she went down, her head hit my hand causing my claws to sink deeply into the soft flesh underneath her chin. Tugging my hand up just a bit, I let gravity do the rest. My grip combined with her weight and momentum of the fall tore her head clean off before she even knew what was happening.

Blood sprayed the area around us coating everything in a fine mist of red. The renegade’s head swung in my hand dripping blood steadily onto the ground. Eyes closed, I dropped the head and tried to wipe my face clean. Once I knew I wouldn’t get blood in my eyes, I opened them to survey the damage I had done. The snow covered ground was now splattered with red drops and pools of blood from my prey. Their cooling bodies laid still in the snow while snowflakes slowly dusted over their limbs.

Glancing down at myself, I found that my cargo pants went from tan to practically red while my top became a darker shade of black. The blood covering my hands and arms were beginning to dry from the cold. Making my skin feel uncomfortably stiff, a feeling that I found I didn’t like from being covered in blood so often. It was easy to push that feeling aside though, when I had other things to attend to.

The blood soaked clearing would be covered over in a fresh layer of snow in an hour or so, but the bodies need to be buried. However, since the ground was frozen solid and I was without a shovel. I’d have to get creative on how I was going to hide this mess from the human’s badged Omicrons. Reaching a hand up, I scratched at my hairline as I thought of how to cover this up.

The prick of claws against my forehead had me looking up at my hand and retracting them instantly. It felt so natural having them out that sometimes I forgot to retract them. I actually preferred to have them out but Otis ordered me to retract them a while ago because it made the other pack members nervous. The order didn’t make sense to me since I was their Omicron but then again the orders that weren’t about safety rarely did.

Crouching down, I used my hands to dig into the soft snow on top of the frozen layer. Hitting the ice a foot down, I moved over and dug another hole for the other head. Finishing with that, I stood up to retrieve the heads that were discarded around the clearing. Grabbing them by the hair, they swung in my hands before I dropped them into the small pits. Bending down again, I filled in the holes until it looked like the snow hadn’t been disturbed.

Now for the bodies...I wouldn’t be able to bury them properly but I could cover them. Standing up, I walked over to the closest headless body and dragged it over to throw it on top of the other one before repeating that with the body that still had a head. Putting my hands on my hips, I looked around to see how I was going to do this…

Moon, I couldn’t believe I missed it earlier. Going over to the tree across from the bodies, I braced my right shoulder before ramming it straight into the trunk. The great pine tree shook as the snow layering in its branches fell onto the bodies. It wasn’t quite enough to cover them yet so I rammed my shoulder against the trunk again. This time a huge amount of snow fell from above and successfully covered up my prey.

The scene was still showered in blood but the snow fall would cover it up soon. Rubbing bits of bark off my scraped shoulder, I took one last look around before sprinting off into the direction the pack was in. The gouges in my arms from the man’s claws burned as the wind whipped through them. Keeping my knees high and steps light, I quickly made my way to the side of the road where I began to run alongside it.

Staying hidden within the trees, I dodged low hanging branches and leaped over logs as I ran. Wind whistled passed my ears followed by the snowflakes pressing into my exposed skin making my clothes damp with more than just blood. With the snow getting deeper I had no choice but to move even closer to the road where it was easier to run.

The road forked off into two different directions causing me to sprint across the road to follow the right one. The pack house should be just a few minutes away now which gave me incentive to run faster. Picking up speed, I weaved myself between the trees to the annoyance of the crows squawking above me. The house came into view a moment before I burst through the treeline and out onto the driveway.

Slowing my pace, my chest heaved as I took in air and released it in white clouds of steam. A burning feeling starting up in my lungs and muscles made itself known to me as I walked to the front door. I must have gotten here faster than usual, I thought catching sight of the empty bus parked on the far side of the drive. Snow and gravel crunched loudly underneath my boots on my way to the front steps but a prickle of awareness had me looking off to the side of the house.

A group of pack members around my age, who were loitering at the side of the house, stopped mid-conversation to stare at my blood soaked appearance. But it was a pair of dark green eyes at the back of the group that had my lip curling in disgust. In return, Jaspers face turned a light shade of green as his cheeks bulged in what was at last an appropriate reaction for the situation. A weak reaction but an appropriate one.

Jogging up the front steps, I grabbed the handle to find it once again unlocked. I would let it slide this time though because there were pack members out front watching the house. Walking over the threshold, I shut the door behind me making the heartbeats in the living room jump. Taking a deep breath I found the scents I was looking for much closer than I thought I would.

Making the few short steps needed, I turned to enter the living room and faced the three people I was looking for. Candice, Otis and Ryan sat on the couches with their heads turned to watch my entrance into the room. Each of their reactions to the way I looked at the moment was different. Candice was giving me a proud grin, Otis was looking over me in concern and Ryan’s eyes had started to swirl with his wolf’s as soon as he caught sight of me.

“You really went to town on those renegades, didn’t you?” Candice laughed.

Otis shot her a disapproving look before turning to me, “More importantly, are you okay? That’s a lot of blood.”

I was going to ignore his question until I remembered that him and his wolf considered me a part of their inner pack. For that reason alone I felt the need to answer him honestly, “Yes. They clawed up my forearms but that’s all. Ninety percent of the blood covering me is theirs.” To prove my point, I lifted up my forearms to show the gashes that covered them. The ones you could see through the crusted blood were already shining the light pink of newly healed skin.

Once Otis was assured that I wasn’t going to dramatically die from the gashes in front of them, he carried on with the conversation,“Who attacked first?”

“The renegades show’d hostile intent with the teens around and I reacted.” I responded calmly.

Candice caught on to what I didn’t say and leaned back into the couch across from the boys with a raised brow.

“That’s not what I asked, Kai.” He responded sharply.

“I challenged the male as soon as he stepped from the tree line.”

Otis sighed and leaned forward causing his dark red turtleneck to stretch, “You can’t just challenge every renegade you come across in neutral lands, Kaiya. It’s not safe. Especially, not with these damn notes. They could’ve been the ones sending them, it could’ve been a trap.”

I was about to defend myself when the person I had least expected to take my side spoke up.

“Devin told me that the renegades were aggressive before she even made the challenge, Otis. And three of them is hardly enough to take down our Kai.” There was a hardness to Ryan’s tone that suggested he wouldn’t appreciate anyone opposing his words, “Besides, I saw the male she challenged. If I had thought she needed help, I would’ve stayed. You know that.”

I felt strangely smug to have someone on my side for once, someone who thought my actions were justified and not rash. Otis looked over at Ryan with a slightly shocked expression as it wasn’t often that Ryan disagreed with him on matters that pertained to me. It was a quiet moment where everyone in the room seemed to be in a different state of shock.

Thankfully, the silence was finally broken by Candice, “Our Kai? Are you serious? You can even make that simple of a claim? Okay honestly, you’re really starting to piss me off.”

“We haven’t spoken yet, Candice. So if you don’t mind, kindly shut your big mouth.” Ryan snapped back at her.

Oh, Moon. There was that implication of a talk again. A talk I severely didn’t want to have with him. Before I could dwell on it though, Candice and Ryan began to argue at a rapid fire speed.

“I would not throw stones from that glass house, if I were you.” She pointed a sharp claw in his direction, “Mister I Blubber Like A Seal In Front Of Kai.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

He pointed an equally sharp claw back at her, “OOOOHHH NO. No, don’t even think I don’t see the way you act around Marcus. Misses,” He pitched his voice high, “Oh Can You Show Me That Again.”

I tilted my head in confusion. Marcus was one of the warriors Candice was in charge of that specialized in mixed martial arts. I didn’t understand why that was insulting, she wanted to hone her MMA skills. There was no shame in that.

Candice responded in a haughty tone, “Well, at least Marcus knows what I’m hinting at.”

Ryan snorted, “Yea, a lawsuit.”

Her eyes narrowed further but before she could respond Otis cut in, “That’s enough. Candice, you need to stop poking at Ryan. And Ryan, you need to talk to Kai before the end of next week. Kai, we’ll speak more about this later when you’ve showered. You look insane.”

Sniffing the air, my nose crinkled at the heavy scent of blood. It wasn’t a very pleasant one to stand around in. I really did need a shower.

“You look…stunning,” Ryan announced.

It was the first hint of his lust and not his words that had me getting the fuck out of there.

“Hey! Where’d she go?”

I heard Candice laugh while I raced out the back door to get home, “You scared her off with your disgusting puppy dog act.”

But it was Ryan’s reply that had me running faster than I ever had before.

“Damn,” He sighed, “That woman really knows her way into a man’s heart.”

————————————————————————

Maybe our mothers are wrong, maybe the way into a man’s heart is through his bloodlust and not his stomach…Hell if it gets me a Ryan, I’d try it. Lmao. I wanted to make her first real fight scene pretty violent, and it’s also my first time writing one so hopefully it wasn’t too bad.

As always, comment or like, if you feel the chapter deserves it!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Eight: 3am Talks

Lacing up my sneakers, I stood from my crouched position and jogged down the back steps of my cabin. Entering the dark forest, I took my time winding through the trees as I made my way towards the border. Otis had finally put me back in the patrol rotation and it was time for me to relieve half of the night team in my sector. My partner will relieve the other half only a few minutes after me when they’ve arrived.

There was four teams of four at each corner of the territory whose focus was on patrolling their specific areas. It was safer to have select groups watching each corner at all times, making the chance of anyone slipping pass them very slim. Plus their areas all bumped into each other so there were no gaps in the routes they took.

My area tonight was the southeast sector that was defined by the small stream running along the edge of territory lines. It was a little stream that flowed down the mountain and trickled into a lake beside the human town. A pretty site for the pack shifters to hangout and take their mates to. But it was also great for washing away the blood after a fight, like I had after I killed those renegades. Cleaning blood off the bathroom tiles was a shit ton of work that I didn’t care to do.

Fangs pulsing to be released at the memory, I shook it from my head and focused on my surroundings. The full moon tonight was giving off just enough light so the forest wasn’t as dark as it normally was. Either way it wasn’t a problem for me, it was child’s play picking my way through the broken branches and rocks to my patrol route.

The sound of rushing water flooded my hearing the closer I got to the stream. Tilting my head, I pushed past the sound listening for the shifters I was sent to relieve. Two heartbeats were beating steadily by the stream while another two were spread out and beating to a faster pace. The snow was starting to become littered with muddy paw and shoe prints near the treeline. I tsked as I saw them multiply leading me straight to the four patrolling. Sloppy.

Suppressing a growl, I kept my steps light and slipped around the last remaining twigs making sure not to snap any of them. Stepping out from between the trees, I narrow my eyes at the men I could now see clearly. They opened their eyes the moment I stepped out from the forest and immediately snapped to attention like a soldier would for his general.

I stared them down until their gazes lowered to just above my shoulders. Much better. Looking away from the pair, I turned my head left and then right to see the others. Another two in wolf form were panting by the stream trotting back n’ forth with their eyes trained on the other side of the stream. Their ears flicked in my direction half a second before their bodies turned to face me.

Muddy snow squished underneath my sneakers as I walked further away from the trees and closer to the others. The pair in wolf form sprinted past me into the woods to change forms in semi-privacy. Not going far, the faint sounds of their change assaulted my ears with groans and the sharp cracking of their bones.

It reminded me of when I heard a group of wolves speaking about their changes, they had said the reshaping of their face hurt the most. Something about the snapping of their jaw and cheekbones always aching for a few minutes after a shift. I found it secretly fascinating, I could change forms but my form wasn’t exactly a wolf.

“Are you here to relieve us, Omicron?” Turning to the voice, I saw that it was the light brown haired man who spoke.

I nodded in answer to his question and looked them over. Both wore t-shirts but one was in sweats while the other, like me, wore black basketball shorts. I didn’t know everyone by name but I’ve memorized their faces throughout the years. So, I knew that these men were pack warriors who trained directly under Candice and now…Jasper.

“How’s your new co-gamma?” I asked them just as the others walked back from the trees to join us.

The shifted warriors turned out to be two women who were just as tall as their male counterparts. The women were in the same patrol clothing as me, basketball shorts and a sports bra. Comfortable clothes that you could run and stand in for long periods of time. Plus they were easy to slip or rip off when you needed to shift.

It was the women with braids who replied, “Uhh, a little strange to say the least.”

And then the second male spoke up hesitantly, “He’s a very…opinionated male. ”

I tensed at the implication, “What does that mean?”

They all shared a glance between each other before the light haired one murmured, “He isn’t very fond of females in power.”

“Candice almost tore his head off when he suggested she tell him when her heat was so he could take over training. To avoid any rash decisions.” The second woman chimed in.

Moon, that man didn’t understand how to communicate with she-wolves at all. But that wasn’t something I could dwell on as I heard my patrol partner approaching.

“I see. Feel free to come and find me if he does something concerning to you,” I paused for their agreement and then continued, “You can turn in for the night, my partner’s almost here.”

I smirked slightly when they immediately tilted their heads trying to listen for the sounds of approach they wouldn’t hear. My partner was too far out of their hearing range for them to hear his or her approach. When all they heard was the natural sounds of the forest surrounding us, they tipped their heads slightly in acknowledgement of my position and sprinted off into the trees.

Watching until I couldn’t see them anymore a stray thought crossed my mind, Wouldn’t mind if Ryan was my partner tonight. His presence wasn’t as annoying as it once was and there were things we needed to discuss. I didn’t run away when my throat was ripped out and it was bothering me that I was running away from the words that needed to be said between us. I was over it, we needed to clear things up.

Turning to face the stream, I swept my red gaze over the trees on the other side. Paying special attention to the darker crevices hidden by the branches and tree trunks. Renegades tested the borders every now and then but before I left, patrol hadn’t seen them for a few weeks. Thinking about that, maybe it was because they were planning to kill me. But I’ve pissed off a lot of people during my time so those notes really could be from anyone. No matter. In two months they’d come for me and I’d know who I was killing.

Pacing along the stream edge while I watched the other side, I didn’t bother to turn around when my partner stepped out onto the muddy bank. Instead I stated a fact, “It’s three ten, patrol started at three. You’re late.”

Their shoes sloshed in the muddy snow, “I know. I was thinking something over and lost track of time. Sorry, Kai.”

Oranges and mint wafted through the air seconds before I turned to face him. We spoke at the sametime, “I’m actually glad-…you shaved.”

“Your shirtless again,” He blurted.

Expecting to see his normally bearded face, I was shocked to turn around and find him suddenly without one. His jaw was less prominent than before but not in a bad way, all that smooth skin brought more attention to his strong neck and shoulders. His grey hoodie did little to hide the broadness of his chest. I had seen him a million times sometimes even shirtless but right now it was like I was seeing him for the first time.

Ryan gave me a small smile and rubbed at his jaw, “Uh, yea. It was getting to be a hassle, do you like it?”

He had little dimples around his mouth. Little dimples. Blinking rapidly I replied with a quick head nod, “You look fine.”

I had meant it as a vague compliment but by the way his smile lit up, it was obvious he took it another way. After that, he kind of just stood there staring at me, so I turned around and began jogging down the right side of the stream. It took him a few seconds before he started to jog in the opposite direction as me. The air whistling by carried the scent of deer, snow, and pine. A lot of the scents that were normally found in the forest were covered up by the rushing water.

Stopping at the four mile marker, I nodded in greeting to the other patrol running up to the marker and then headed back the way I came. Taking deep breaths, I checked the scents again as I ran and kept on alert for any heartbeats that weren’t purely animal nearby. As my feet pounded against the earth, the rhythmic thumping threatened to drag me under a relaxed trancelike state.

I physically shook my head to get rid of the feeling and refocused on the matter at hand. Passing where I had been standing earlier, I continued to run down the side of the stream that Ryan had run down. A couple of minutes had passed since we started so I should’ve been passing him soon but it wasn’t until I was two miles deep into his route that I saw him. He was further up ahead running in my direction with a determined look on his face.

His run slowed to a jog the closer he got to me but I kept my pace and quickly passed him. I knew he had wanted me to stop so we could talk but honestly I needed a few more minutes to think about how this could possibly change everything. Or in reality it was probably not going to change anything a whole lot. We both had things that needed to be said, things that neither of us were going to like very much. I just hoped everything I needed to say would be accurately explained. Knowing myself though I was sure I’d neglect to say a few things out loud, out of embarrassment.

Without realizing it, I was quickly approaching the spot where we had started and Ryan stood there with his hands on his hips waiting. Fuck. Taking a moment as I stopped in front of him, I looked at my shins to avoid the conversation for just a few more seconds. The liquid mixture of muck was splattered across my bare shins and Ryan’s clothed ones.

“Kai, we need to talk.”

His words and the seriousness of his tone made it feel like an anvil had just dropped on my chest. Looking up, I locked my red eyes with his chocolate ones, “I know.”

He pulled at his collar, “I wanted to start with saying, I’m sorry for calling you stupid. You’re the furthest thing from it and it was a poor choice of words on my part. I should’ve remembered that it’s a sore spot for you…I really am truly and deeply sorry, Kai.”

I waved a dismissive hand, “Forget about it. You said it and I punched you in the jaw. Let’s just pretend like it never happened.” It was embarrassing enough to remember, let alone talk about it.

“No, we’re not going pretend like it didn’t happen. I hurt you Kai and it hurts me to know that I did. I won’t make that mistake twice, I promise.”

A small kernel of warmth bloomed inside my chest but I was quick to squash it as much as I could. Despite it all, I could still feel it inside. Except for Otis, nobody had ever taken my feelings into consideration. They all believed Feral Borns to be heartless animals consumed by our bloodlust and in some ways we were. However, they always seemed to forget that even animals had feelings.

My tongue felt thick but I pushed out the words that needed to be said, “Thank you…”

His eyes softened slightly before growing more determined, “What I really wanted to talk to you about is,” I steeled myself for what I knew was coming, “I… well, I have feelings for you, Kai. My wolf’s formed a bond to you and it’s not just him. I have as well. Uh, formed a human bond that is.”

A human bond. I had been expecting his words but I hadn’t realized what they’d really mean. The wolf’s bond could easily be written off as a reaction to the dominance I gave off but a human sides bond? That was something much more complex than a wolf’s. It was a bond I’d never had to deal with before.

He spoke again quickly not giving me a chance to answer, “I know what you’re going to say, that my wolf’s just reacting to the natural dominance you give off but he’s not and neither am I. Kai, we’ve both formed bonds and we want you to be our’s. We can’t see ourselves with another she-wolf, it’s just not in the cards for us. Give us a chance, Kai. We know we could make you happy, all you have to do is accept the bonds.”

His cheeks were slightly red at the end of his speech while I felt like all the blood had drained from mine. Ryan, the beta who talked too much and felt the need to repeat things to me, formed both a wolf and human bond to me. To me. He wanted to be my mate because of his human feelings for me, not just his wolf’s. And that caused me to feel an emotion that had only reappeared a day before. Fear with a side of panic.

“Why,” I croaked out, “have you formed both bonds to me?”

Ryan furrowed his brow, “What do you mean why? Because I think you’re the most incredibly violent and stunning she-wolf I have ever met or will meet. Because the way your mind works fascinates me. Because every time you come back to the pack after a fight covered head to toe in blood, I think you’re the most sensual sight to grace my eyes.” With every ‘because’ he had taken a step closer to me until we were almost chest to chest.

My breath lodged in my throat making it impossible for me to speak right away. The fear and panic I felt earlier was nothing compared to the amount I was now feeling at his words. My gut reaction was to punch him in the throat and escape into the woods. But I was tired of avoiding him plus I still had patrol to do.

As we stared at each other, I began to breathe normally again after realizing something. His words were shocking and pretty but that’s all they were. Words. I had nothing to be so fearful or panicked about when he made no real actions to back them up. Ryan had always, always only ever given me words. Which made what I had to do much easier.

Straightening my spine, I responded, “I don’t have a wolf for your’s to bond with. Your’s will always be longing for something I can’t give. Save your wolf that agony and give me his name.”

Ryan’s intense expression fell a bit before coming back full force, “No.”

“Excuse me?” I rasped, raising a brow.

“No. My wolf understands that you don’t have a wolf for him to communicate with but that hasn’t stopped him from forming one anyways. I won’t let you use that as an excuse.”

I searched his brown eyes, this was not the Ryan I was used to speaking with. The man in front of me was sure of himself and knew what he wanted. He wasn’t beating around the bush or spewing words from his mouth and I wasn’t sure how to handle this new side of him. Or the fact that he had so boldly told me “No” people didn’t tell me no.

Ryan’s head dipped closer to mine, “Kai, you don’t have to accept me right now but-but don’t just reject me either. What’s the harm in seeing if we could work as mates?”

My thoughts screamed that there would be a lot of harm in doing so but the break in his voice gave me pause. It was a tortured sounding break that made my stomach clench and my chest tightened. All these feelings inside were overwhelming and this conversation was headed in a direction I never thought it would.

Swallowing thickly, I raised my right hand and slowly dragged it up his sweatered torso towards his neck. At my touch, he leaned his forehead against mine while his muscles tightened beneath my palm. Looking into eachothers eyes, he held his breath and flicked his eyes down to my lips. Curving my hand to fit against the side of his neck, I…..pressed my shifted claws into his skin. I couldn’t believe what I was about to do.

Pushing his head back roughly I warned him, “I am not a domesticated shifter and I will not bend to your dominance.”

“I know, I’d never ask you to.”

Narrowing my eyes, I continued, “I won’t reject you, yet. Mostly because you won’t give me your wolf’s name but also because you caused me to panic.”

With my nails still digging into his throat, he squinted at me. “And thhhat’s…a good thing?”

My lips twitched, “I don’t know but make no mistake, I have no romantic feelings for you or your wolf. And I still think you talk too much.”

He grinned a little making no move to pull away from my grip, “At least you’re honest. This mean you’re done threatening me?”

“Why? Is it bothering you?” I asked, flexing my fingers around his throat.

“Oddly, I think I like it.” He answered, leaning a little into my hand.

Weirded out, I pulled away, “We need to get back to patrol.”

“Wait, Kai. Just so I have a concrete answer…what exactly are we?” He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably waiting for me to respond.

I thought on it, “Well we’re…I don’t think we have a name for what we’re doing. What’s the human term for this?”

Ryans cheeks flushed, “Uh, I’m pretty sure I’ve overheard the teens call it talking.”

Talking? We were talking? I wasn’t exactly sure what that was but it sounded harmless enough. “Sure. Yea, we’re talking.” I’d ask Devin about it tomorrow. Since he was my new friend, he’d be able to tell me.

With a big grin, Ryan nodded his head and sprinted off so we could get back to patrolling.

Before I started my own route, I tilted my head back to look up at the starry sky. Moon, I’m not sure what we’re getting into but don’t let it end in blood.

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Poor Kai, who’s gonna tell her “talking” isn’t all that harmless? Lmao.

Idk about you guys but I was getting a little frustrated with Ryan not telling Kai how he felt so I’m happy with this chapter. Also I hate when the romance in books goes super fast so hopefully this is like a nice pace.

If you enjoyed the chapter lmk by commenting!!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Nine: The Forth Note

Nothing in the forest seemed to move out of fear of being the next kill. All of the little critters that scurried around day and night were suddenly nowhere to be found. The birds in the trees had disappeared from their branches besides a few who looked down on me with glassy eyes. Even the wind sweeping down from the mountains was softer than the day before and for once it wasn’t snowing.

Taking deep and even breaths I didn’t move a muscle from my half lying position in the snow. A slight puddle caused by my body heat had begun to form around me signaling that I needed to get moving. Come, little food bags. I’d been out here for about two hours stocking up on meat, since I still didn’t have any food in my cabin and I had also finally run out of oatmeal. I’d caught five rabbits so far but now I was looking for bigger game that would last me the next few weeks.

Listening carefully for the slightest movement or heartbeat around me, I almost groaned out loud when I heard the beat of a shifter’s heart. I thought I’d get at least a few more hours before he tracked me down. With everything that had gone down between me and Ryan, I needed time to adjust to all the new changes. He was always around now asking these…these invading questions about me. Like what my favorite song was and how I liked to spend my free time. I had left my cabin early this morning in the hopes of getting a few Ryan free hours. Except it looked like that had just ended.

…Or maybe not. Keeping an eye on the direction the heart beat was coming from, I pressed myself deeper into the snow. If only my father could see me now. The mighty Feral Born hiding from an average Beta wolf. I’d huff if I wasn’t so concerned about him finding out that I was actively hiding from him.

Heavy footsteps made their way closer to where I was hidden, thank moon I decided to wear all white to blend in better. Closing my eyes briefly in relief when I saw the person that the heartbeat belonged to. I stayed in place, observing as she pushed her way through a small bush. Candice cursed as her hot pink sweatpants snagged on a jagged edge. Yanking her leg away, she huffed and then searched her surroundings for something.

“I hate the fucking woods.” She muttered, right before she screamed, “Kai! Where in the eclipse are you? I know you’re hiding out here! You’re a creature of habit!”

Choosing to stay silent, I watched her temper tantrum in amusement.

Shoving a chunk of blonde hair behind her ear, her blue eyes narrowed. “Ryan’s been not so subtly looking for you all morning! I told him he was being a smothering stalker and bought you a couple of hours. The least you could do is show yourself after I came out into these moon forsaken woods to find your ungrateful ass.”

I slowly stood up, “How can you be a shifter and hate the woods?”

Her head twisted quickly in my direction with a smirk of her own, “The same way you’re part human and hate emotions.”

Grabbing the long stick with my rabbits tied to the end, I rested it on my right shoulder while walking closer to her. “How’s Ryan?”

Candice snorted, “Walking around with a scowl and snapping at everyone because he hasn’t had his daily dose of Kai.”

I raised a brow at her words but kept my curiosity to myself. Walking past her, she kept pace with me but didn’t say anything more. Keeping quiet, I waited for her to bring up whatever it was that had brought her out here to find me. It was after we jumped over a large branch that she finally spoke up.

“So, I know you don’t consider me a friend or anything but I was hoping you could do me a favor.”

Side eyeing her, I asked, “What kind of favor?”

“You might not know but Devin’s my little cousin and he’s too ‘cool’ to ask but would you consider training him for-”

BOOM!

What sounded like an explosion pierced my ears and deafened me to the last part of her sentence. Staggering from the pain, I dropped my hold on the rabbits and slammed my palms to my ears. Fuck. A high pitched whining sound smothered out any other noise around me. And I could only stare at Candice who frantically shouted into my face while gripping my arms to keep me up right.

My hearing slowly returned only to be assaulted by Candice’s voice, “Kai! Are you alright? What’s going on? Can you hear me? Hello!”

Pushing her hands off me, I started looking around to find the location of the explosion, “Did you hear that? What was that?”

“Hear what? Kai, maybe we should go to the-” She froze mid-sentence, eyes unfocused. Someone must be alerting her to the sound.

BOOM!

This time my hearing stayed but the pain of it had me on my knees in the cold snow. Ears throbbing from the pain, I could only think about how whoever was doing this was going to end up with my claws in their gut. Fisting my hands in the snow, I shoved myself back onto my feet to find Candice turning the same shade as my clothing.

“Candice.” I breathed through the pain, “Candice what’d they said?”

Eyes shining bright with fear, she took off running past me at full speed while shouting, “Hurry! Southeast border! Someone’s shooting at Mary’s kindergarten class!”

With fury burning through my veins, I shot past Candice at a speed I didn’t know I was capable of. Feet barely touching the ground, I vaulted over a bolder and charged deeper into the woods. Wind whistling in my ears, I could feel the urge to shift wiggling underneath my skin. I needed to be careful, I couldn’t risk shifting into my… other form in front of everyone.

BOOM! BOOM!

This time I could hear the sounds of whimpers and screams following immediately after the blasts. Faltering for a moment, I steadied myself and kept running until the class came into view. Mary and the warriors had squished the pups inside a hollowed out pine tree. The few that couldn’t fit were pressed closely together behind the adults, who crouched in front of them covering them as best as they could.

Mary’s eyes were completely black with fangs and claws fully extended in fear. The two warriors at her sides had their claws and fangs out but maintained control over their wolves. They were about ten feet from the border with nothing blocking the gunshots coming from the other side. Large holes littered the ground just a few feet in front of them with little pieces of metal winking in the sunlight.

The faint smell of urine reached my nose, causing me to release a muted snarl. The pups must have soiled themselves in fear of the loud sounds and the aggression coming off the adults. With my growing rage hitting a boiling point, I flexed my claws and silently made my way closer to them. Motioning to get the attention of the warriors, their heads moved in my direction just as another shot went off.

BOOM!

Snow and dirt came raining down on them causing a few of the pups to scream out in terror. Simultaneously a vicious snarl came from one of the warriors who clutched at his calf, blood seeping out between his clawed fingers. They needed to be moved and quickly. Thinking fast I maneuvered around the trees, careful not to be seen by the unknown shooter until I got to where I needed to be.

Standing right behind the hollow tree they were using for cover, I spoke lowly, “Don’t make any sudden movements.”

Small sighs of relief came from the adults at the sound of my voice while the pups quieted.

“Where are your partners?”

“They-They went out onto the other side of the border. They haven’t come back.” One of the men whispered.

Shit. “How far out are the Alpha and Beta?”

“Five maybe four minutes.”

Too long. “Link Candice, she should be right behind me. Tell her to come in quietly and slowly.”

“She said she has a few warriors with her, she’s a few seconds out. We need to get the pups out of here, now. Whoever’s shooting out there has been toying with us, I think they’ve been waiting for you.”

“Okay. Listen closely, don’t react but I’m going to rip off the back part of this tree so the pups can crawl through.”

When no one responded I took that as my go ahead and turned to look at Candice and her group who had just arrived a few feet away hidden behind the trees around me. Motioning them closer, I went over the plan with them before flipping around to face the rotted trunk. Flexing my claws again, I carefully sunk them into the wood just above the pups inside.

Using all of my strength, I gave a harsh shove getting the tips of my claws through the wood and onto the other side. A faint crack was heard as I curled my fingers around the wood and yanked. At first the wood refused to budge and then the part I held crumbled underneath my grip. The pups inside whined loudly in fear while I ripped away at the surprisingly still strong bark.

BOOM!

Another shot went off causing me to rip the rest of the wood away in fear of the pups safety. They screamed sharply before abruptly cutting off when they caught sight of me. Chubby tear stained cheeks and wide eyes looked at me as I placed a clawed finger to my lips. Little heads bobbled their understanding, retracting my claws I reached inside and grabbed a wet little boy. Placing him beside me he clutched at my leg as I pulled another small sniffling pup from the tree and ignored the smell of urine coming off them.

Holding both of them close to me, I signaled for one of the warriors nearby. Moving quickly, she made her way to us and held out her arms for the pups. Pulling their little hands off of me, I passed them to the warrior and once she had a good grip on them she took off running back towards the center of the pack.

This repeated until only three pups remained inside the trunk and more warriors along with Otis and Ryan had arrived. They were all anxious to go after the shooter on the other side but the safety of the pups took priority. Passing the last two pups, who cried ‘papa’ when they saw him, to a warrior, he squeezed them tightly with tears in his eyes. Bowing his head deeply towards me in thanks, he sprinted off into the woods.

With one last pup in my arms, I nodded the go ahead for the warriors nearby to seek their revenge. Like ghosts through a fog, they smoothly made their way to the edge of the treeline with snapping fangs and growls vibrating the air.

Mary crawled through the hole I had created in the tree and was quickly followed by the two warriors with her. Just in time too because suddenly shots had begun to go off in a rapid session. Shoving them back against the shelter of the tree, I placed the little girl into the unwounded warriors arms, “Take her back to the pack house with the others, quickly.” A lull in the shooting was all it took before he was racing off into the woods with the little girl tucked securely in his arms.

“How bad is your leg?” I asked the wounded warrior.

“Only one of the pellets got me. Bastards using silver buckshot.” He hissed through his teeth.

“Good. If you can walk, head to the infirmary.”

“I’ll-I’ll help him.” Mary offered.

Nodding at them, I refocused on the sounds coming from the other side of the tree. Peaking around the trunk, I could still see everyone sheltering in place behind their own tree. The shots seem to be coming from a downward angle so the shooter must be in the trees. Scanning the tops, I almost looked away when a flash of movement caught my eye. The nozzle of a shotgun was poking out from between the branches of a tree right across from us. It was swishing side to side looking for its next target and this time I got the feeling that it wasn’t taking any more pot shots.

Suddenly a voice shouted out breaking the tense silence, “Come out, come out wherever you are Feral Born! No one else needs to get hurt!”

“Lying piece of deer shit!” Candice shouted back.

Shocked, everyone looked her way to which she just shrugged back at us. Moving through the trees, I got closer to the edge of the treeline and everybody else. Ryan who was next to Otis gave me a warning look that I completely ignored.

“She’s here, isn’t she? You idiots! Do you even know the monster you have behind your own borders? Give her to us, we’ll save you from her and her from herself!”

The rage that had calmed slightly came raging back at this person’s words.

“The one you call Kaiya, is an abomination! Her kind is a current stain on shifter history!”

My hands shook in rage at the words this man was spewing out of his ignorant mouth. Looking over at Candice her eyes went wide at whatever she saw on my face. Making a ‘keep him going’ motion with my clawed hands, she nodded in agreement.

“Says the one that shot at pups! You worthless scum!” She screamed back.

Tilting my head back, I gave a smile when I noticed a branch that jutted out just a little over the border. Time to come down, little preacher. Bending down, I unlaced my boots and quickly slipped them and my socks off. Wiggling my toes, I felt the familiar burn of my claws pushing through my nail beds but this time it was coming from my feet. Claws a little shorter than the ones I sported on my fingers extended from my toes. A weird perk that Feral Born’s never really talked about but all valued.

“I wouldn’t have hurt them! I was talking pot shots! Look, goddamn it! Stop calling me names! The Feral Born needs to come to us sooner rather than later!”

“Why, asshole!”

“WELL IF SHE HADN’T OF KILLED THE MESSENGER RIGHT AWAY LIKE AN ANIMAL, YOU’D KNOW WHY! Honestly, you people are making this a lot harder than it needs to be! I’m trying to save you all! Where is your Alpha?”

Sinking my claws into the bark, I had just pulled myself up and went to dig my foot in when a hand clasped my arm. Short brown hair flung in a wide arc over my shoulder from the force I used to look back at whoever was holding my arm. Meeting chocolate brown eyes and a pale face, I rolled my red ones in exasperation.

“Yes, Ryan?”

“What in the moonless hell do you think you’re doing?” He glared at me.

How adorable he seemed upset, “Going to kill him.”

“By giving him exactly what he wants? And since when do you have toe claws?” That last question was asked with a pointed look at my feet.

I pulled my arm free of his grip, “Since, I was born. Look, can you ask questions after I kill this guy?”

He gave a low snarl, “Can you just listen to me for once?”

“No. I don’t have time for this.” I stated, before climbing further up the tree.

He latched onto my ankle, “Kai! He has a-”

“Shhhh.” Tilting my head I focused my hearing on the other side of the border. Something’s changed.

“Kai-”

“Shhh!” There was no third shifter heartbeat coming from the other side of the border but I couldn’t be sure with Ryan still running his mouth.

“Stop shhing-”

Frustrated, I broke his hold on my ankle and spun around as I let go of the tree. Wrapping my legs around his red sweater clad chest, I slapped a hand over his mouth and looked down into his wide brown eyes. “Ryan. Stop. Talking.” I hissed.

Looking shocked beyond belief, he quickly nodded his head and placed his hands on the sides of my thighs. Choosing to ignore that, I focused in on the other side again. Fucking hell.

“He got away!” Growling I pushed at Ryan to set me down before taking off for the tree the shooter was in. Skitting to a stop beside it, I found the two missing warriors on patrol knocked out in wolf form. Dismissing them, I scaled to the top of the tree where the shooter had been at. No scents besides the heavy smell of pine stood out to me making the only thing I found in his perch, a note. Vaguely I could hear Otis and Ryan barking orders down below as I unfolded the dirtied sheet of paper, it read:

Dear Kaiya,

What my messenger had been trying to tell you before you so rudely murdered him, is this. We can cure you! You no longer have to be a beast of primal intelligence! Come to us and we will cure you like we have others of your kind! You can be a regular shifter like the moon intended! You wouldn’t have to hide your shifted form! You could even have an inner wolf! Come to us before the blood moon to save your monstrous soul before it is too late!

P.S. You will receive this cure, Kaiya. Willingly or not, make the choice while I am still so graciously giving you one.

See you soon,

The Savior

I gripped the branch to steady myself, they went from death threats to wanting to cure me? To cure Feral Borns? A tendril of raw terror curled around my chest. What changed? How could you cure something that was a birthright? The moon created my kind herself and nothing she does is a mistake. This ‘cure’ wasn’t a cure at all but a more devastating form of death.

“Kai! What’d you find?” Otis yelled up at me.

Folding up the note, I stuffed it into the side pocket of my cargo pants. Climbing down the tree, I fell the last ten feet to the ground and landed in a crouch. Standing up, I looked around at the people I had been protecting for the past seven years.

“Well?” Otis questioned as he helped pick up the unconscious warriors, “What’d you find?”

Without hesitation, I replied, “Nothing, not even a scent. Just a burn mark from his rifle on the branch.”

Everyone seemed to accept my answer with a nod and started heading back to the territory talking about new security measures. All except for Ryan who stood there staring at me a little longer than normal. Breaking eye contact, I started walking back to where I had left my shoes. The note felt like a stone in my pocket but it was one that I needed to carry alone until I knew who I could trust. If certain people in this pack thought I could be cured? Let’s just say some of them would jump at the chance to ‘save me’ and I’d rather have my throat ripped out again then be ‘cured’.

————————————————————————

Mmmmmmmmm, looks like things are getting tricky for Kai. Is she wrong or right for keeping the new note a secret? Also, It looks like Ryan might know Kai a little better than she thinks he does…..

If you’re enjoying Kai’s story so far, let me know by commenting or liking!

Smooches, Verbage💋

Chapter Ten: Turning on the Heat

Ryan’s P.O.V.

“Okay, so following Kai’s orders after the shooting. Two more warriors have been added to patrol for each sector, trackers are also scouting the area for any left over evidence as we speak, and all members have been told to keep away from the border until further notice.” I informed Otis, while pacing across the front of his desk.

The top of his red head bounced in acknowledgement as he wrote it down.

“Also, the five captured renegades will be here in the next few days for Kai to question. I put a rush on it because I think the renegades are behind the notes.”

“I agree, is that all?”

Spinning on my heel, I started walking back to the right,“No, a new day to take the teens into town needs to be set. Their parents went and got things for the household but the teens are bugging me about needing personal items.”

He snorted, “Right. Personal items. I’ll speak to Kai about it.”

“Lastly, a date needs to be set for Jaspers pack initiation and you need a secretary.”

With one last squiggle on the page, he looked up, “But I have you.”

“Ha. Ha. Asshole.” I snarked back, sliding into the leather chair across from him.

Sighing, Otis leaned back in his chair, “Alright. Go ahead. I know you’re just dying to talk about her.”

My eyes bounced around the room, “I don’t want to talk about Kai but if you want to talk about Kai, then we can talk about her.”

He rolled his eyes, “Come on, man.”

“Something’s going on with her, Otis.”

“Like what?”

I shook my head, “I can’t explain it but when she came back down that tree the other day…the look in her eyes was different.”

His face scrunched in confusion, “What do you mean?”

I shook my head again, “The way she looked at us. It was…calculating.”

“That’s how she always looks at us.”

“No, you don’t understand. It was like we were suddenly strangers to her.”

“So you’re saying what exactly?”

“I- I think she saw something up in that tree and she’s not telling us.” I hated to say it, hell I hated to think it but Kai had changed after coming down that tree. Her ruby eyes held a cold glint to them, one I had only even seen her use when hunting something down. Whatever she saw changed something for her and it hurt that she didn’t confide in me.

Otis Ahh-ha’d me, “Didn’t she just agree to give you a chance?”

I furrowed my brow, “Uh, yeah. Happiest day of my life but what’s that got to do with it?”

“Ryan, friend, buddy. Kai is not the easiest she-wolf to understand, you’re being paranoid. You can’t read too much into every look or glance she gives you. You also need to give her time to adjust.”

“Paranoid? No, I-”

He cut me off, “Plus you were asking her all those questions trying to get to know her. Which I’m sure she didn’t answer.”

I ran a hand over my face, “You should’ve seen the look this woman gave me when I asked what her favorite color was,” chuckling I continued, “You’d think I asked about her ex’s!”

Laughing loudly at the memory, I slowly stopped when I realized Otis was looking anywhere but at me while chucking tensely. “What? What’d I say?”

“Nothing. See! You’re proving my point! You’re being paranoid. Give Kai time to open up to you. In the meantime don’t read into every little thing she does. You’re going to drive yourself crazy, Ryan.”

I took a minute to think it over. I didn’t feel like I was being paranoid…right? Maybe the not so unconscious fear of Kai changing her mind was getting to me. Perhaps it was better if I just relaxed more around her instead of constantly thinking about what she thought of me.

Hesitantly I responded, “You could be right, I definitely need to relax a bit when it comes to Kai.”

He threw his hands in the air, “Finally! She-wolves aren’t attracted to hoverers.”

Scoffing, I flipped him off.

“It’s true! And you need to take it easy with the males in the pack too.”

I pressed a hand to my chest, “Who? Me? I haven’t done anything to them!”

Otis gave me an unimpressed look.

“Well, not since me and her got together. I’m a changed man!”

He gave me a placating look, “Are you really together, though?”

“…We’re…talking..”

“But does that really count?” He asked, with a condescending smile.

“Yes dammit!”

Laughing, he stood from his chair, “Whatever, let’s get a beer.”

Standing up, I adjusted the collar of my long sleeve and followed him out into the hall. Passing a few shifters on the way to the stairs, I looked at their short sleeves and shorts in wonder. How they didn’t freeze their asses off in this cold I didn’t know because I was always cold as hell. That probably had more to do with my mom being a Syrian wolf shifter and my dad being a pure blooded Alaskan wolf shifter. The combination of their blood had ended up with my body heat being just a couple of degrees lower than a shifter needed to survive the Alaskan winter in t-shirts.

“So, when are you going to give the pack an Alpha Female?” I asked as we started heading down the stairs.

He turned his head so I could see his smirk before saying, “As soon as Kaiya dumps your desperate ass.”

Snorting he took off down the rest of the stairs and towards the kitchen as I chased after him growling, “Come here, you son of a bitch. I’ll show you desperate.”

Seeing the kitchen door swing shut after him, I rushed through and immediately slammed into someone on the other side. Instead of taking us both to the floor, I, a six foot four adult male shifter, bounced off the person and hit my head on the swinging door behind me. Shaking my head clear, I opened my mouth to apologize but froze in embarrassment when I met bright red eyes.

Kaiya stood there dressed in dark green cargo pants and a tucked in black t-shirt. Brown hair loosely framing her beautiful face that was tilted upwards to stare back at me. A face that was slowly turning into one of what looked like concern the longer I stared at her.

“Otis, I think Ryan has a concussion.” She told him in that seductively raspy voice of hers.

Feeling my wolf stir in my head, I snapped out of it, “Uh, no, no, I’m fine.” I can’t believe she didn’t even budge when I ran full speed into her.

Looking over her head, I saw Otis press a fist to his mouth in order to smother his laughter. Glancing down at Kai, I watched as she moved away from me and to the fridge. A choking sound filled the room causing my eyes to snap to Otis and give him a dirty look. He just turned to face the back door, shoulders shaking as he bent slightly at the waist.

“Oh, and Otis I’d never be your Alpha female. I’d dominate you too severely. And I don’t know what you mean by dumping but Ryan’s not desperate just … a little eager.” Kai causally announced during her search for something in the fridge.

While my wolf pranced around in my head with his chest puffed up, my cheeks started flaming at her words.

Asshole, she heard you!! I linked to Otis.

“I, ahahah, can’t, haha, it’s too much!” Otis laughed loudly before leaving out the back door.

Not knowing what to say but not wanting to leave her presence so soon, I walked over to one of the counter stools and took a seat to admire her. Her shoulder muscles flexed and rolled underneath her smooth caramel colored skin as she dug around in the fridge. Her current hairstyle also put the curve of her neck on full display. Pale jagged lines from the scars that covered the front of her throat spilled over to the sides making them visible even from behind.

Do oath. Knot female. Complete bond.

Slader! I shouted at him in shock, eyes locking on the countertop in embarrassment. You know we can’t….At least not yet.

He growled lowly at me, Why no?

Slader. We don’t even know how her kind mates. What we consider bonding might not be the same for her.

She want us.

Making sure Kaiya still had her back to me, I responded, How are you so sure? I’m not even sure.

He lifted his snout high in the air, She no reject. She mount us!

Gasping in sheer disbelief at his words, I began choking when it went down the wrong pipe. Slamming a hand down on the counter I started coughing hard in an effort to catch my breath.

“Are you alright?” Kai asked.

Looking at her through teary eyes, I waved a hand, “Yea, I’m good.”

“You sure?” She questioned with a skeptical look.

“Yea, yea.”

With one last look, she shrugged and then turned back to continue looking through the fridge. Eyes pinned back to the countertop, I responded to Slader’s outrageous claims.

Slader! What the hell are you talking about? She never mounted us! Wolf spirit and Moon, man! What goes on in our dreams doesn’t transfer over to real life!

No dream. Mate mount us in woods!, He snarled stubbornly back at me.

That’s not something I’d forget about, Slader! She absolutely did not mount us in the- Oh my moon. Slader. She did not mount us! She was trying to shut us up! Kai just hung on to us!

… mate no mount?

No, buddy. She didn’t and if she ever does it won’t be around fifteen other people in the middle of the woods!

Well… I didn’t really know what she was into but I hoped not. I’d feel bad if I had to gouge out that many pairs of eyes afterwards.

Slader whined before curling up and putting his tail over his eyes.

“Are you done talking to your wolf?”

Jumping at the sound of her voice, I begged, “Please tell me you can’t listen in on other people’s wolf conversations?”

She pulled a white butcher wrapped package from the fridge along with a large covered green bowl, “No but your lips move when you speak to your wolf. I could hear them brushing against each other.”

Panicked, I slapped a hand to my mouth and murmured, “Seriously?”

Kai placed the items on the counter before going to the cabinets, “Yea, you whisper softly too.”

Practically going into cardiac arrest, I squeaked out, “I do?“

Setting the pans on the counter, she looked up at me with a small smile, “No. But I’d kill to know what you guys were talking about.”

Relief flooded through my entire body, oh thank Moon! If she had heard my inner conversation with Slader? I shivered at the possibilities of an injury by her hand. Glancing down to the containers Kai had taken out of the fridge, I realized the items were a rack of deer ribs and a bowl of potatoes.

Eager to keep the conversation going since she seemed to be in a somewhat playful mood, I asked, “What are you making?”

She tilted her head and gestured to the items. Right, real smart Ryan.

“Do you know how to cook ribs?” I questioned innocently. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her eat cooked meat around others.

“No, but it’s meat. Meats all the same. The potatoes I know how.” She answered as she started to unwrap the ribs.

Offended, I quickly stood up and pulled the ribs across the counter to me, “Excuse me, woman? Meat is all the same? What are you using for seasoning?”

Her brows furrowed, “Nothing. It has natural flavors.”

“I can’t let you cook these,” I said ghastly.

“Then what am I supposed to eat?” She practically snarled at me.

I smiled at her gorgeous face, “I said you couldn’t cook them. But I can.”

Kai’s expression went from annoyed to carefully blank in the span of my sentence. Her red eyes felt like they were piercing straight through my own and into my soul. Weary that I had somehow said the wrong thing, my smile slowly slipped from my face. Why was she staring at me like that? What’d I say? And more importantly, please don’t let there be anything on my face.

“You’d…do that?” She asked, “You’d provide for me?”

Understanding dawned on me. Speaking sincerely, I responded, “Of course, I would. I want to be your mate, Kai. Providing for you is one of the many things I’d love to do. Even if for now it’s just cooking up the best ribs you’ve ever had.”

That last part got me a short lived smile. Pulling open a drawer, she took out a knife and began to chop the red potatoes, “What do you think of me?”

Taking a moment for myself, I followed her lead and finished unwrapping the ribs. What do you think of me? If Kai was any other woman I’d think it was a trick question but I knew with her, she just wanted my honest opinion. But still after everything that’s happened between us since she came back? I’m surprised she needed to ask. Taking out a flat baking pan to prep the ribs on, I snagged the spice rack on my way back around the counter.

“Kai…you know how I feel about you.” I murmured to her as I placed the ribs on the non-stick pan.

The sound of her slices became louder, “Not about that. How do you feel about me being…me? A Feral Born.”

Stopping, I looked at her with renewed suspicions, “Why? Since when do you care what people think about you?”

“I don’t. It was just a question, forget I asked.” She said.

I carefully watched her expression, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. It’s stupid.” Kaiya snapped.

“Hey. Don’t do that,” I snapped back at her. “I won’t let anyone talk about you that way. Including you.”

We stared each other down before lapsing into silence as we both prepared our dishes. But her question kept digging at me, “Is this because of what the shooter said?”

Instead of answering, she kept silent and poured her cut potatoes back into the bowl.

I sighed, brushing some sauce over the rack, “Kai, he’s an ignorant man that’s probably never even spoken to a Feral Born. What he says shouldn’t matter.”

Still not giving me a response, Kai pulled out another baking sheet and spread the potatoes out on it. Walking over with my own tray in hand, I placed the tray on the stove and turned the oven on. As I waited for the oven to heat up, I thought fuck it.

Please don’t rip out my throat, Please don’t rip out my throat, I chanted. Moving forward, I gently turned Kaiya around and caged her in against the island. A naturally arched brow raised while her eyes narrowed in on me.

“You are not some mindless killing machine. You’re an asset to this pack and anyone who thinks differently can go screw themselves.” I told her harshly, “You and your kind are not abominations.”

“So you’re not bothered that in my free time I like to kill things?”

I chuffed in amusement, “No, I like to hunt too.”

“Or that my eyes are red?”

“Nope.”

In a blink of an eye, she had our positions reversed, “What about the fact that I’m stronger than you?”

Swallowing thickly, I peered down at her through hooded lids, “Nah, I, uh, kinda like that one.”

Red eyes flashed, “Not even that I can smell your arousal?”

“Embarrassing but surprisingly still no,” I released on a shaky exhale.

Her eyes flickered back and forth across my face like she was having an internal battle of some sort. Not wanting to scare her off, I waited patiently for her to work through whatever she was going through. Determination steeled her gaze before she started tilting her head up and closer to mine pain sakingly slow. Slader howled in excitement inside my head. Oh, moon this is it. It’s finally happening, Ryan. Don’t fuck it up.

But instead of doing what I thought she was going to do, she asked, “If you had the chance, would you strip me of my abilities? To make me like you a shifter like you? Remember I can smell it if you lie.”

All the lust I had just felt moments before drained from my body to be replaced with alarm. “How could you even ask me that? I’d rather die than do that to you. Which is impossible anyways, Kai. Your abilities can’t be taken from you, you were born with them.”

Watching her with sharp eyes, she looked me over with something different shining in hers. Kai inched her head closer, lightly pressed her forehead to my chin, “You’re a male full of words but I’m starting to think your words might mean more than just pretty illusions.” During her sentence, she moved her head to rub her nose against my jawline. Then with one last tap against my chin, she moved away.

Suddenly, she was sliding the potatoes in the oven like she didn’t just give me a common sign of affection for wolves. Confused and concerned beyond all reason, I went to ask her what in the hell was going on when a male came tumbling through the doorway. Instantly, frustrated aggression overcame my body at the interruption.

“Kai, Ryan. What are you guys making? Ooooo ribs and potatoes? You mind making me a plate when it’s done? Haven’t had venison in awhile, looks good!” Theo exclaimed.

“No. You talk too much.” Was Kai’s short reply. And it might be petty but I felt extremely smug at the fact that she was finally telling someone else besides me that.

Unfortunately, I was too angry at his interruption to give the kid a break, “You heard her. Fuck. Off.”

Shocked, the boy looked at me, “Woah. Take it easy, there’s enough food to go around.”

He interrupted the first real intimate moment me and Kai have ever had, to ask us for food? Oh, fuck no.

Kill male! Kill rival! Slader snarled viciously.

“Leave, pup. Before I make you.” I snarled, lifting my upper lip to flash a fang.

“Dude, are you serious right now? I just wanted some food.”

“Starve.”

Theo looked over at Kai, “Can you tell lover b-”

“No.”

The boy sputtered as he looked between us. In response, I allowed Slader to push out just enough to make my eyes swirl and then Theo was quickly tumbling right back out the door.

A small chuckle broke the silence Theo left in his wake. Turning, I watched Kai put the ribs in the oven. Slamming the door shut, she turned to face me still chuckling softly, “I didn’t know you got mad.”

Retracting my fangs, I ignored the taunt, “What’s going on, Kai? Are you okay?”

She dismissively waved a hand, “I’m fine. Just needed some clarity on something.”

About if I thought she deserved to die? “Kai, you know you can tell me anything right? You can trust me.” It was important for her to know that. Call it paranoia but I knew she was hiding something from me. Something serious.

“I know that now but I have nothing to tell you at the moment besides that I …am …beginning to enjoy your presence.” She said, looking like she was in physical pain by the end of her sentence.

Now I was the one sputtering, “You-you like me? You actually like me? Holy shit, I’m dreaming. Fuck, I am aren’t I? Everything makes so much sense now. Literally, of course this happens to me. Why, Ryan! Why do you do this to-”

“You’re not dreaming.”

I squinted at her, “I’m not?” She shook her head. “Then that means you just said you like me?”

“No, I said I enjoy your presence as in you no longer annoy me. Not the same thing.”

Ignoring what she just said, I started singing, “You like me, you like me, you like me, you lik-Good moon, woman!“

The handle of the knife vibrated from the force used to sink it at least three inches deep into the steel fridge door. Eyes wide, I looked between the knife that was a few mere inches from my own head to the calm face of my mate-to-be.

“What?” She replied, looking right back at me with no remorse. “You were being absurd and I knew I wouldn’t hit you.”

And as I stood there staring back at her in shock, damn it all to hell if I didn’t just fall in love with her a little more. If I wasn’t a shifter I’d be very concerned about my mental health.

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My little babies are growing closer!!! I feel like a proud parent! Lmao. Ryan’s such an optimistic when it comes to Kai that he’s literally ignoring her actual words. This chapters a bit longer because honestly I had too much fun making it.

Please like or comment if you enjoyed this chapter! Or if you prefer being a silent reader that’s cool too!

Smooches, Verbage 💋