Claws and code

They meet

'WHAT?!'

'You have been living with our pack for so long, your scent has changed from human to something more Lycan. You also spend a lot of the time in the arena and fight with the males from your family... and despite having your own workstation, you work on any station that comes up but you're on laptop most of the time. On top of that you wear shirts belonging to your brothers most of the time. Those guys are security and it's their job to know everything. They don't know you and they can't get a handle on your scent.'

'Why haven't any of them tracked it to the house, here?'

'They actually linked your scent with Mark and Arthur. That's why I am here. Dad wants to know if you want to leave, Red Lake has been asking a lot of questions about this family and its members.'

'Do you think you can trace this thing without me?'

'I'd like to say yes, Cloe, but I honestly don't think so. Whomever did this is really good at covering their tracks. I don't know if you saw what the guys did today but they brought their hacked hard drives and we have been digging out the corrupted files.'

'Did you find any signatures we know?'

'We haven't found any signatures at all, no back doors, entry points, exit routes, consistency in file access... Not a single pattern. Nothing.'

'When can I get into the systems room?'

'We thought you might say that.' Arthur grinned. 'Daniel will have every non pack member at the table for a low key welcome dinner and drinks that will take at least three hours. We have about two hours left of that and I need to be there in half an hour, when dinner starts. When we get you into the systems room, we will lock it and keep the other packs out of there. They will be going on a run in the morning and we will let you out then.'

I smiled happily, this was what I lived for, challenges. I pushed my chair back and ran upstairs to get my trusty backpack and laptop. Then I ran back down, jumping on the spot. 'Lets go, people, lets go! I have work to do.'

Cindy handed me a thermos that was probably filled with coffee and a container that clearly came from the freezer, it had my name on it. I suspected that it contained my favourite cookies or maybe cake. Sugar and Caffeine. The woman knew me too well. I gave her a one armed hugs and whispered. 'Thanks mum.' Cindy pushed my hair back, all teary eyed. 'Anything for you, Sweetheart.'

'That's not fair!' Cam whined. 'She calls her mum and suddenly she can't do anything wrong. I call her mum and she gets me to do chores.'

We all laughed and Arthur wrapped his arm around my shoulder to walk me to the pack house. The three men and I walked into the kitchen and I was promptly enveloped into another motherly hug. Mrs Benedict, Sasha's mum was one of the chefs who took care of the pack. One of our warriors glanced around the corner. 'Mowgli, how was house arrest?' He joked. I grinned back. 'Worth it, I get to do a clandestine run through the pack house while avoiding three other Alphas and all their people.'

Everyone laughed and Mrs B handed me a basket that David promptly took from me. The warrior linked someone and then looked at Arthur. 'Beta, Sir, the guests are all accounted for in the dining room, we have a clear run to the systems room from here.'

We walked while I hummed the theme song from Mission Impossible. David joined me in the systems room with Mark. Mark maintained an icy glare at his best friend and sat with his back against the door that his father locked from the outside. David led me to his work station.

'Look. I'm sorry_' He started but I interrupted him. 'Like I said to Mark, I'm kinda glad he beat you up for me but it's behind us now. We have to all move past it. We need to make sure that we get this sorted before something hits the fan. I won't be able to forget it, but I do forgive you.'