Sacrificed Soul

Chapter Fourteen

"Yeah, we'll head out, too. You wanna come with?" Lenora asks.

"Nah, I've got food here," which wasn't a lie. I technically had food of the canned variety which is better than any MRE. Still not as good as Maureen's food, but I am quickly learning my limits when it came to surviving this clan. I was thoroughly satisfied with my decision to keep a separate residence.

"Fine, suit yourself," she says, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

I walk them out, waving good bye from my front door as they pull away in the shiny new car. Junior hadn't waited for them, and I can still smell his second soul's scent hanging around. When I look to the side, I notice the fresh stain of piss on the side of my house where I had marked early in the morning.

Oh. So that's how we're gonna play it. What a little shit head.

Still edgy with exhaustion lining my muscles, I do my best to ignore it.

I fail to do so miserably as I scramble out of my clothes and let the fur come over me. After shaking my body in irritation, I piss on my house, staring off into the woods glaring in the direction of a little brother who will get his little ass kicked when I find the proper moment to do so.

I don't bother changing back to skin when I go into my house, kicking the door closed with a hind leg. The lock must not work right anyway, so I don't both to turn back to the knob as I make my way into the room. The bed is a mess of blankets that while smelled of other wolves had been hidden away in a linen closet and forgotten by the ne'er do wells that had made this the home of pack frisky business.

I'd given a mated pair quite the scare the other night when they'd rambled into my bedroom only to find me, naked and recently shifted in my human form from their loud, stumbling movements, sitting on the bed and waiting for them. I hope the story has made the rounds and no other fornicators will make the attempt again.

I hop up, the mattress complaining very loudly at all four hundred pounds of me as I roll over the mess of fabric to ingrain my scent into the one space I will not let anyone enter. It is the only instinct the army could not take from me. This is my space. My den. I claim it. I'm sure they would have put a stop to it had they figured it out, but public spaces like barracks are always different.

My phone peeps. I look at it, sitting there innocently on the nightstand, from beneath where I've hidden my snout by my paws. I grumble and ignore it.

It peeps again. Then it starts ringing.

Groaning, I shift back to two legs and reach over with my human hands to look at it. Thinking it's Maureen calling and wondering why I'm not at dinner on the eve of my new job, I don't bother to look at the name as I answer.

"Hey Maureen."

The deep chuckle sounds through the speakers does not belong to a she-wolf, "Hello to you too, little wolf."

"Oh!" I say, scrambling, "Shit."

"Shit is right. It's been almost four days! I just got an earful from Mama, and don't even get me started on Clarice and Sebastien."

"I'm sorry. It's just been a strange few days. I've been settling in though. Also, I bought a house."

"That's nice. Now, where's my twenty bucks?" He demands, already knowing.

Putting the phone on speaker, I tap until I've brought up my bank app and sign into it. Dodger's account has been set up so I can send him money quickly. He wins a lot of bets.

"Are you going to tell me about it or are you going to just send me the money? You know I'll hear everything from Clarice, right?"

Clarice, my favorite bear, knows exactly what buttons to push that will have me spilling my guts to him. Mangy bears and their mushy words and motherly instincts.

"It was fine."

"No. No, you don't get to do that to me. Tell me what happened or you'll find a bunch of grizzlies and polar bears sitting on your front porch by morning. I'm sure that will go over well with your pack leaders."

Fuck. Fine, "It was eventful. The leaders had a lot to say to the pack about what I've done and all that. The alphas accepted me. My family was very excited to see me. I was only threatened once."

"What are you talking about? Who threatened you?" His growl is low. Subterranean in it's depth. He does not tolerate threats anywhere near me.

"Apparently, Captain Thompson has been in contact with the Alphas. He's given them an olive branch."

The rumbling lowers.

"If I can't control myself, they will contact him and he will be the one who retrieves me."Dodger grows silent on the other end.

"I don't think they understand what I am. What happens when a Fenryr is unleashed."

"No," he says, "They clearly don't, and neither does that asshole Thompson."

"Yeah," I mutter.

"I think Clare—,"

"I'm alright. I promise. Just, please, give me more time to settle. I promise I'll call if I need him."

"It's been a long time, Leanne. You'll find a polar bear does not have the same restraint as the rest of us. Call him."

"I will."