~Chapter Thirteen: Pack House~
YOU HAVE 10 NEW MESSAGES.
Ever since I woke up in the pack house on Wednesday, my phone has been my only connection to the outside world and I cannot even use it. Ryland kept calling, so Dylan took it away. His reason: "I don't want anything to influence your decision." As if he was not already trying to do just that.
I finally found it last night and hid it away in my pocket right before Markus all but dragged me into the bed I have been sharing with three other wolves for the past two nights. After some growling and a long debate, I managed to lessen the security on my person to just a team of four, which is made up of Markus, the alpha pair, and a pack fighter named Diego. All the other pack members are on high alert, but were allowed to return to their individual homes scattered throughout Colorado Springs. And unless they catch the scent of a lion, they will stay there for the remainder of my visit.
My guess, though, is that Ryland will not wait much longer. He stopped calling on Wednesday night and started the texts on Thursday morning. It is Friday now, making it two whole days since I woke up in this bed, and a cat can only bide his time for so long before moving it. There is nothing in his texts that reveal what he has planned, but even I, the very lazy cat, would not be patient enough to wait another day.
With that in mind, I intend to spend my last few hours hidden away from Ryland relaxing. And it all starts with a morning bath. I might be a night shower kind of person, but sleeping in a bed full of wolves typically means spending the night covered in sweat.
I start to wiggle under the sheets, moving away from Markus's snoring form and closer to Dylan, the sound sleeper. Unless I make a lot of noise or follow Erika's example and perform wrestling moves on him, he will not wake up. Markus, however, is a very light sleeper, as I have learned over the past couple of days and I would rather spend my bath time without a guard standing outside the door. Especially since I intend to spend it in cat form, and Markus likes to hold conversations through the door, which would be impossible without a human voice.
Since I have been here, I have only been able to turn into a cat once, and that was only for an hour to stretch my muscles and bathe in the sun from the roof. Dylan has been very strict about me not stepping one foot outside the pack house, the only exception being the roof. I have tried to break that rule multiple times, but someone always manages to stop me before I can, even when I was one hundred percent certain that I was the only one on that side of the house.
I manage to free myself of the blankets, but Markus groans beside me, rolling over to face me. His hand grabs my ankle just as I am about to make my escape by walking over him. "Where do you think you are going?" Markus grumbles, still only partially awake.
"Go back to sleep. I'm just taking a bath," I reply, tempted to pull my leg free. He seems to consider his options before releasing my leg.
"Fine, but find me when you're done," he mutters before nodding off again, silently giving me permission to make my escape now. Either he has a lot of faith in me or he is lazier than I am.
True to my word, I go directly for the bathroom down the hall, not wanting to use the one in that room, which would probably wake everyone up. I close the door behind me and strip off my borrowed clothing, which are just a pair of gray sweats. I turn on the water and wait for it to properly fill up.
After turning it off, I begin the shift, dropping down on all fours. A minute later, I am sitting in the molten hot water. While it does sting, it feels great moving through my fur every time I change my position to clean myself. Plus, the large amount of steam rising from the bath and filling the room improves my mood.
I start to clean myself, which is quite fun when I am not using my own spit to do so. While I have nothing against the traditional cat's cleaning method, I prefer not smelling like whatever I ate last. Besides, leopards are notorious for their love of water, and while I would prefer a pool or lake, a bathtub is a fine substitute.
Altering my position so that I am on my back and floating slightly, my chest begins to rumble with a throaty purr. It is at this point that I either black out in favor of my cat side or fall back asleep, because the next thing I know, the water has rapidly cooled and the steam of the room has died away.
Huffing, I kick the water stopper with my back foot to make it release. I know I succeeded when the disgusting sound of the drain slurping the water away fills my ears and I roll over onto my feet to make sure my tail does not get caught in the spiraling water.
I wait until all the water is gone before shaking it mostly out of my fur and climbing out of the tub, still rather wet. Locating a clean towel, I rise up on my hind legs and grab it between my teeth before tugging it down so I can roll on it. Once it is the towel that is wet and I am a rather fluffy damp cat, I kick it towards the bin and face my next challenge. The door.
Wisely, I left it unlocked, but I still have to figure out how to open it without opposable thumbs. It takes a minute, but I manage to wrap the wet towel around the door and twist it with my teeth enough that I can pull it open and slip outside. I feel bad for whoever ends up cleaning that mess because it most certainly will not be me, even if that means I have to remain in cat form until someone else does it for me.
"Cade," Diego starts upon seeing my cat form walking down the stairs and into the kitchen as he leaves the dining room. Confused, I look up at the clock above the kitchen's microwave and see that almost an hour has passed since I went into the bathroom. I am surprised that no one came looking for me, but that explains why Diego is awake. "Beta Markus was waiting for you to finish your bath."
Oh, right. I should probably go find him.
I turn around to go back up the stairs, thinking he might still be sleeping in the bedroom. However, Diego stops me before I can reach the first step. "He is outside right now," he says before looking at the door. "You can just wait until he returns."
If I was human, I would give him my most annoyed scowl, but I have to settle for a low growl of annoyance. The wolf stiffens a little, eyeing me as if assessing a threat. I squint at him, wondering why wolves think all the other Weres have the same body language tells as them.
However, instead of waiting, I go upstairs to the bedroom. To my extreme pleasure, Diego does not follow, returning to whatever odd smelling food he was eating for breakfast. No one else is in the bedroom, which is what makes climbing out the open window and onto the roof so much easier.
I creep along the roof section that goes around the pack house to cover the porch below, listening for signs of where Markus might be.
"...mmn..."
I pick up the sound of Markus's voice and immediately start crawling in that direction, staying low so that no one catches me. "...get back inside and see if Cade is out yet," Markus is saying, making my ears perk up at the mention of my name.
It is because he thinks I am still in the bath that makes the next two minutes amazing. I manage to spot the familiar light brown hair of the beta and creep closer to the edge. My flickering tail most have caught the attention of the young woman he was talking to, because she looks up, but is too late to warn Markus before I am diving down on top of him from the second floor, landing on him perfectly.
He groans from under me and I crouch down on top of his back, making myself comfortable until he finds the strength to push me off. The woman is not entirely sure how to react and stands beside the fallen beta awkwardly. "Cade, you little shit," Markus growls as he slowly gets to his feet.
I give him my best pointy-toothed grin before moving closer and rubbing against his legs. He grunts when the force of my rubbing almost knocks him off his feet again. My tail curls around his legs as I move in a tight circle around him, occasionally forcing my way between his legs just to be an annoying cat. To my surprise, Markus just stands there with his feet slightly apart, braced against the ground, taking my scent-marking abuse. His facial expression is that of a dying animal, but he does not push me away.
"Cade!"
With an unhappy huff, I turn away from Markus's legs to look over at a furious Dylan. I glare at him for a moment before returning to my task of tormenting the beta. However, before I can, Markus grabs me by the scruff of my neck, thoroughly stopping me from continuing. I wrap my paws around his leg and drop down to the ground, making him lose his grip on neck.
"Cade, I told you to stay inside," Dylan says once he is standing between me and the forest. Erika appears next to him within a matter of seconds, almost as if she grew up from the ground.
My reply is a halfhearted hiss followed by a somewhat remorseful grumble. Dylan sighs, getting my message. "C'mere," he says, putting his hands above his head.
I glare at him for a moment before doing as asked. Normally, it is a game, but since I disobeyed his orders in front of others, it is more of a show of dominance and if I do not want to suffer some random act of punishment, I have to put up with his silly power game.
Once I am close enough, I push off with my front paws so that I am supported on my hind legs. He catches my front paws mid-rise and puts them on his shoulders so I can steady myself out before he continues. Once I am stable, he moves my paws up and up until they are just above his head. A few more wolves have gathered around to watch the strange show, annoying me, but giving a better audience to witness his power play.
When we reach full stretch, there are a few 'oohs' and 'aahs' as well as some clapping, but the power play ends there and a few of those who had stopped to watch went to finish whatever their tasks were around the pack house. There is a flash of light and I look over to see Erika holding up her phone.
"Oops, it wasn't supposed to flash," she apologizes, for the wrong reason. I growl a little, but turn back to Dylan, who is still holding my paws up.
Giving him a rather flat stare, I wait for him to finish his little game. However, when he does not end it, I decide to take matters into my own hands – or paws – and rub my cheek against his. He almost jumps back in surprise, probably thinking I was going to bite him, but sadly does not let me go. Perhaps I should have bitten him.
Dylan finally lowers my paws down to his shoulders, but grabs my hips before I can escape. Dancing? Again?
Behind me, Markus snickers and I am about ready to snap at Dylan for real, not willing to be subjected to such an embarrassing part of his game, when a ferocious snarl rips through the yard.