Hunted

Chapter 13 - Found You

Jeremy returned with the pizzas and the sketchbook I'd been working on. He gave it to me, apparently so I'd have something to do while I waited, and opened the boxes. The smell of the pizzas drifted out, clearly he'd re-warmed them for us, and it got our stomachs working pretty fast.

We sat there quietly together and ate, trying to not listen to the sounds, and finally Jeremy went to get the laptop and play music from it. That helped somewhat. His energy was calming too.

It got to about ten at night when the sound stopped from downstairs and didn't come back. Jeremy lifted his head, Pav's shoulders slumping, and I hesitated, waiting. Waiting for it to start up again. It never did.

"Off to bed now, I think. I'll tell you what I can in the morning." Jeremy stood up from where he'd sat cross-legged on the floor, pulling me up with his good arm, and picked up my art stuff for me. He handed it to me with the laptop under it so I could carry it one armed. "I'll get you a canvas to paint this on if you want."

"I'd like that..."

"Goodnight, Anne."

"Night Anne." Pav called. Jeremy was already walking over to her, yanking a bag open, tugging a big needle out. I cringed and hurried out before I could see what he was doing with it.

Nick stood at my door, looking pale, glancing into it in an apparent attempt to find me, and when I wasn't there, spun around. His eyes were wide until they caught me and he sighed. Relaxed. “I thought you were supposed to stay in your room."

"Jeremy had us stay in there together." As I moved closer, I smelt something on him, blood, sweat, and something else. It made my skin crawl. He cringed as I withdrew, as if he'd seen my nostrils flare, and backed up into my room. Nick held out some clothing he'd been holding in one hand.

"Noah and Morgan are downstairs with Reece, sleeping in the living room. So I'm showering and staying in your room tonight." The look on his face, the tenseness of it, he wasn't happy. I could have easily told him to bugger off. He looked so distressed and strung out that I couldn't say no.

"Okay."

Nick blinked at me, as if he'd been expecting some kind of argument there. When I didn't give one he shrugged and shut the door behind us.

I climbed into bed again, not even bothering to change, sliding the stuff onto the bedside table beside me. Bedside table clock was wrong, I'd fix that later, it had restarted with the power. I shut my eyes and ignored Nick when he climbed into my bed, sliding up close, but there wasn't anything sexual in it. He just moved as close as he could and relaxed there, heart still pounding, a hand finding mine and fingers threading through it. We fell asleep like that, his fingers clinging to mine, his heart beating fast against my back, without saying another word.

Morning came too fast and with it there was now a tenseness in the air. There were muttered introductions at breakfast as I met the youngest two pack members, Morgan and Noah, and found that Nick was right. They were both close to my age, and good looking guys, but they did feel younger to me. Like teenagers. Noah was awkward around me, around my smell, like he weren't quite sure how to take it. Morgan did better, he was calmer, more controlled, but I suspected that if Antonio had been right and I did smell 'good' then it wouldn't be helpful to make friends. Elena and Pav were easier, both had a mate, Elena had children, there were clear boundaries there. I didn't have either a mate or children. Did that make me suddenly desired in the supernatural world? That'd be a first.

Nick seemed to make it even more awkward when he hovered around my shoulder, teasing them, making Noah grin but fluster at the same time. It was kind of clear where the pack dynamics were and where Nick was. He wasn't Alpha, he wasn't even close to the top, but he was older and treated with a kind of respect from the younger men. It looked like it was Jeremy, then Elena, closely followed by Antonio and Clayton, with Nick more or less close behind. He never seemed interested in getting further. The younger men seemed to go by age at the moment.