Looking To Belong (A Runt's Story)

Chapter 18

Tiffany narrowed her eyes, unimpressed with the offer. "I advise you two to continue on your way before I tell my brother that you are flirting with his mate."

The first guy looked faintly amused. "That doesn't exactly scare me, simply talking to two pretty ladies isn't a crime."

Tiffany smirked, which appeared to throw the men off balance slightly. "Oh? You aren't worried about irritating an Enforcer?"

Their eyes widened as their posture changed from light flirting to caution. I felt the sudden shift in their mood; they had zero interest in tangling with an Enforcer, and at this point, they simply wanted to put distance between us. "Uh, sorry about the misunderstanding. We will be on our way. Have a good day."

They beat a swift retreat, and I looked at Tiffany with a somewhat worried expression. "Can we please delay telling Will about this until later?" I asked. "Preferably when there isn't anything breakable nearby. He almost lost control this morning and his antagonist was only a bramble bush."

Tiffany burst out laughing. "How did a bramble bush irritate him? Oh, I agree with you. I have no intention of telling Will anytime soon. I have told the other Enforcer, Evan, and he is going to keep a subtle eye on our guests. Supposedly, they only came here to buy supplies and will be on their way in an hour."

Sighing in relief, I replied, "That is good to know." I shrugged as I addressed her original question. "I ran under the bramble bush while he was trying to catch me, and he couldn't get to me. By the time we realized what was happening, the mate bond had gone way overboard, and he almost lost control."

Tiffany nodded slowly with a serious expression. "I can see that. If someone can't get to their mate, it can push them right to the edge. It is a well-known fact with Alphas, and it probably applies just as much to any Beta or Enforcer." She tilted her head in sudden confusion before asking, "How did you get under a bramble bush without getting all scratched up?"

I shifted my weight uneasily. "I am a runt, so I simply ran underneath it. I barely even needed to duck."

She blinked in shock before she started laughing. She regained control swiftly enough. "You are just full of surprises, aren't you? You might be just the thing that Will needed to keep him on his toes."

Her emotions held no judgement or aversion; instead, she was full of mirth and curiosity. I was relieved that she wasn't bothered by my wolf shape. I grinned at her while saying, "Oh, you should have seen our wrestling match in wolf form yesterday."

She shook her head in amusement. "That would have been something to see. I would love to see your wolf form one day."

I replied, "Remind me when we get back to the pack house." I glanced into a store window as I looked at another top.

"Bingo!" Tiffany saw her chance and dragged me into another store for more shopping.

An hour later, Tiffany looked at me as we left yet another store. "I am getting the feeling that you are done shopping. I somehow doubt that I could convince you to buy anything else at this point."

With a grin, I said, "You would be correct. Besides, if I counted correctly, you reached the limit that Will allotted you for your own personal spending."

She sighed dejectedly as she gave in. "I really hope that there will be a repeat of this in a few weeks..."

I laughed as I shook my head. I had met the five top minimum limit that Tiffany had set, so we headed back to the pack house. Tiffany had showed me where her room was located; it was actually just down the hallway from Will.

Once our purchases were put away, Tiffany led me out of the pack house and down some seldom used forest paths. Her slender frame was shining with excitement in my senses as we made our way to her destination. I followed in curiosity as I waited for her to tell me where we were going.

       Tiffany looked at me dubiously as she inquired, "Are you sure this is going to work?"

She had finally told me where we were going, and then asked if I had any tricks to make us less noticeable. The easiest thing I could think of was to cover our scent. Tiffany was apparently having second thoughts about asking for my assistance.

I replied, "Well, it worked for me for nine years. It won't hide my scent from Will, but from what I have seen, no one else is observant enough to pick up a rogue's scent if it is masked this way."

Tiffany shook her head in disbelief, but took my word for it as she rubbed another fistful of leaves across her legs. I took a deep breath; my normally faint scent had swiftly disappeared under the odor of the plants. Will's scent had slowly been wearing off throughout the day while we were shopping, and it was easily masked. Only the faintest scent of Tiffany's perfume lingered.

I grinned at her. "Good enough. From what you said, they shouldn't have a chance of catching our scent at that distance, even if they were downwind."

She clapped her hands in excitement, happy that the plant treatment was over. She grabbed my hand as she started leading me through the forest. "Excellent! Come on, I will show you the best spot to spy on them."

Shortly afterwards, we sat on two large tree limbs to watch the proceedings down in the valley. It had taken some reasoning with Tiffany to get her up in the tree. She had thought I was crazy when I suggested it, but I had eventually persuaded her to come up.

I watched with interest, although my eyes kept drifting back to one shirtless figure as he supervised the others in their training.

"If you stare much harder, you are going to start drooling..."

I snapped my gaze to Tiffany, who was watching me with amusement. I stuck my tongue out at her as I retorted, "Just wait until you get your own mate."

She snickered. "Oh, I will probably drive that poor guy completely crazy. I have an entire drawer of clothing just waiting for him."

I halfway choked. "Way too much information! On a side note, why did you insist on hiding in the trees while watching them? I doubt that they would object if we watched from the sidelines."

"Their actions are more natural this way," she said. "They act slightly different when they know their mates are around, and have a tendency to show off. I wasn't aware that I was about to get impromptu lessons in skulking around like a rogue. I must say though, I can't pick up either of our scents, and I have been trying for some time now. Would another rogue be able to scent us?"

I nodded absentmindedly as I watched Will. "If they were experienced, quite easily. Your perfume isn't quite covered, and the ferns in my scent are a bit too strong. Both of our scents would stand out noticeably for a rogue, but it should be more than sufficient to prevent those down there from catching our scent at this distance."

Tiffany readjusted her grip on the branch, still not at ease with her perch. She replied, "I noticed that you seemed to like the scent of those ferns. Attempting to balance out scents sounds way too complicated, so I guess the life of a rogue is out for me. By the way, what is your plan for explaining the change in our scent when we get back?"

I turned to grin at her. "Isn't it obvious? We went for a run and had a game of tag. You tried to follow me into a few too many tight spots. My scent is normally pretty weak and being so close to the ground wipes out a lot of my scent as grasses brush against me."

My gaze turned back to the field. Will was a natural at what he was doing. This was a side of him I hadn't seen yet. Occasionally, he just watched the others and called out advice, although he spent a fair bit of time wrestling around in both human and wolf shape while helping others learn various fighting styles. We watched for quite some time until Tiffany grew bored, and we headed back to the pack house.