Changed [Watty Awards 2013]

6. Bruised

He chuckled. “I’m twenty-five years old. I needed something to do for myself, and I had the grades up there so I figured ‘why not?’ I also love inflicting pain on my brother.” He said with a wink.

Jared whacked him with the towel again.

Caelon walked into the house with the passed out Mutt in his arms, bringing him down into the dark basement.

That was the only part of the house that wasn’t “wow” worthy and I didn’t like it that much. It was a dangerous place for me, one that brought back painful memories that I never wanted to revisit. I just wanted to forget about them.

Nick followed his Beta and shut the door behind him.

Emily looked over at me from her position beside Jared and smiled at me.

It’s been two weeks since the men first went out to discover what was going on with the rogue Pack and they found a few minor things. A couple unknown scents here and there. A couple run-ins with wolves that meant no harm. They were lone Mutts that didn’t belong to a Pack just passing through. Usually, they would tell them to beat it roughly, but innocent Mutts were the last things on their minds. They just politely explained that this is Pack territory and asked them to leave. Of course, they obliged.

We got some big news two days ago. They spotted a black wolf further in the forest that matched Master’s scent. Before they realized what was going on, the wolf bolted back and never showed up again.

It seemed that whatever was going on with the rogues and living quarters, they weren’t that far away.

After Nick had heard that they were residing close by, I was permitted from leaving the house without him, Eric or Caelon. He did not want me to get scooped back up by their greedy paws. Once they had me, they would disappear. And so would I.

I asked if I could go out for a run with Emily, but that was also a no-go. Nick did not want the only two female wolves known in existence to get captured by Master. We meant too much to him to even risk that.

So I was housebound. Every time I had to Change, he would send me into our room to Change and get it out of my system. The Change was not worth it enough without running or a nice hunt, so the process was pointless to me. Besides, I could hold it off until things calmed down.

Or that was my logic anyways. So I stuck with it. I haven’t Changed in two weeks and was pretty proud of myself.

Kyle accepted me right away. When he found out about me being his youngest brother’s mate, he treated me like his sister. I was grateful for it and Nick was relieved. Eric and Jared still didn’t know about the declaration, and there would be plenty of time for that.

“So, how’s Nick been?” Emily asked.

I made a non-committal noise in my throat.

“I know he can be overprotective and possessive, but it’s only because of everything going on. He’ll let you out in the real world soon enough, hon.” She chuckled. “Well, the possessive part probably won’t go away any time soon.”

Jared looked at me and smiled. “Finally stopped being stubborn?”

I growled. “I wasn’t stubborn. It just made no sense.”

“How did it not—?”

“I was just bitten a year ago. I’m still new in this world. Nothing makes sense to me.”

He looked at his mother. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She hasn’t Changed in two weeks.”