Maybelle's POV
I wake up in the morning wrapped in a pleasant warmth. It's nice considering I had a dream that I was being chased by guys in strait jackets through a mental institute. Strange how they all had my dad's face. Internally rolling my eyes, I snuggle up to the source of the warmth only be buried into something hard. Still keeping my eyes closed, I reach my hand up to feel at what I had collided with. Big, warm, hard, the hell? Opening my eyes, I pull back to see myself presented with a side profile of Wilfred's face.
The color leaves my face and I immediately scowl. Ew, ew, ew! I sit up lightly and see him spread starfish style, taking up almost all of the bed. My eyebrow twitches slightly and I glare at his sleeping form.
If this mother humper thinks shit like this is okay than he has another damn thing coming! Reeling back, I bring my knees up into my chest. Mustering up all the force I can manage, I kangaroo kick him, sending the both of us off different sides of the bed. Shit! Twisting to avoid a harsh fall, I kneel on the hardwood. Woah, forgot that would happen. Laughing lightly at myself, I hear Wilfred grunt loudly.
"Ack!" My head snaps to where he had fallen in time to see his head shoot up and look around confusedly. The abrupt awakening leaves him more or less perturbed and I narrow my eyes evilly. Once his gaze finds me and he's able to put two and two together, his face twists with anger. "Maybelle!" He growls in a tone only an alpha can muster.
Unfazed, I click my tongue irately. "That's what you get for laying spread eagle and giving me no fucking room." I hiss, each of us glaring the other down. There is a moment of intense silence until Wilfred finally sighs and rubs at the back of his neck.
"Jesus you're annoying." He mutters, getting to his feet and sauntering past the bed.
"Where the hell are you going?" I question sharply. He glares over his shoulder at me.
"The bathroom." He states plainly.
Crossing my arms, I wiggle my hips as best I can. "I need to use the bathroom." I retort grumpily. True statement, now that I think about it my back teeth are floating. Wilfred makes a face and turns back around.
"Well you'll have to wait." He says. Crawling forward awkwardly, I glare up at his turned back.
"Why do you get to use it first?" I question fiercely to which Wilfred responds with a quick, 'Because.' "I'm using the bathroom." I say more forcefully. Wilfred finally turns to face me, distaste clear on his face.
"No, you're not." He grits.
I narrow my eyes. "Yes, I am."
He takes a step towards me. "You're not."
"I am."
"You're not!"
"I am!"
"Not!"
"Am!"
Wilfred features twist in annoyance. "I'm using that fucking bathroom." He snarls.
"The hell you are." I tell him.
He smirks. "Watch me." With that he turns on heel and returns to making his way to the bathroom. My scowl deepens. Scrambling to my feet, I rush towards him and latch myself onto his back.
He stumbles forward in surprise, but quickly regains his balance. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He says as he tries to throw me off of him. I tighten my grip on his back, pulling at his neck so that he'll move away from the bathroom.
"I need to pee!" I scream, squeezing my eyes shut as I avoid one of Wilfred's arms.
"So do I!" He screams back, forcefully peeling me off of him. I try to hold on, but he's too strong for me and I end up just being able to hang on by my feet. We both struggle to get out of the others grip, and soon enough I'm latched to his left leg the way I child throwing a tantrum would.
"You can pee outside!" I yell to him as he tries to shake me off of his leg. He gives a throaty growl before reaching down to pry me off with his hands. Needless to say, this continued for a while. I don't think either of us even remembered our bodily needs by the end of it. Eventually, I reigned victorious and was able to snake into the bathroom just a hair faster than Wilfred.
After taking care of business, I walked past a very pissy Wilfred and out of the room. Emptying my bladder left an opening for my stomach to chime in its protests with a thundering growl. I groan slightly at the uncomfortable pain and quickly speed walk my way through the house.
Truthfully I have absolutely no idea where I'm going. I've never been in this house before yesterday and its freaking huge. The only way I'm able to find the kitchen in the first place is because of the strong smell of food. While I wander through, I take the chance to evaluate the house appropriately.
It's nice. If you like that sort of thing. It's pretty easy to tell that the generations prior to this one decorated it, everything in it looks rather old-school, but aside from that it's nice. The atmosphere isn't very welcoming though. It almost puts you on edge unlike our pack house; okay granted pizza boxes and bean bag chairs don't scream 'come on in, want a slice?' but at least there it feels lived in. Who knows, if we'll be living here from now on some changes will have to be made regarding the lack of beany cushions and empty take out containers.
I awkwardly shuffle into the dining room, a few Black Forest pack wolves' eyes flickering up to me. I don't see any familiar faces, I'm sure my pack is hiding away in their rooms, refusing to come out even if it means starving to death, but I had at least hoped to see Beck. He's the one wolf from this pack that I even know, aside from Wilfred and that douchebag who tripped me last night. Speaking of which.
"Hey." I pipe up, every head at the table tensing immediately. "Who was that guy that tripped me last night?" I ask, my voice giving way to no emotion. I see them all exchange glances, all quietly trying to figure out what to do. They hate me, that's a given, so I assume they don't want to give me any info on the guy whose nuts I want in a vice; especially if that guy is their friend. That said, I am also now their unofficial Luna, which means they can't not answer my question. I'm a patient woman, and I understand how weird this all must be, so I don't say boo as it takes them all a solid two minutes before one of their heads raises.
It's a woman, probably a few years older than me, with very narrow features. Her dark brown skin makes her honey colored eyes pop as she meets my gaze. "That was Tristan." She mutters begrudgingly. I nod to myself, shifting my weight to one side.
"Has he been down yet?" I ask. The woman shakes her head. "What does he have for breakfast?" This question makes the woman flinch. I can only imagine what's running through her head. Nevertheless, she answers.
"H-he has a bowl of cereal with a glass of orange juice." She says in defeat. She can't lie, that much I know, but that doesn't stop me from focusing on her heartrate just to make sure.
"Does he put sugar on his cereal?" I say, my voice never changing. The woman nods, finally breaking eye contact. I give my thanks to the woman before walking up and swiping the salt and sugar containers and taking them into the kitchen. Luckily, no one is in there and it gives me the chance to set the two holders down and go through the cabinets. Food, food, more food, aha! Spices. Rummaging through the little bottles of oregano and thyme, I finally come across the good stuff. One good thing about packs, the cupboards are always filled with crap you wouldn't even think of. That's why it's no surprise to me that I can easily find a bag of Carolina Reaper powder stuffed at the back of the shelf.
Little lessen, if you aren't already aware, Carolina Reapers are on record as the world's hottest pepper, how do I know this you ask? I have a brother, that's how. Taking the bag out, I open it up to examine the powder. Holding it away from me, I shake the dust around and deem it worthy for my plan. Skipping over to where I left the salt and sugar I grab a glass from the see through cabinet overhead. Walking to the fridge, I grab out the orange juice and fill my glass half way. Snatching up the bag of death powder, I carefully begin pouring it into the drink. I continue adding more and more until the color begins to shift, but I'll be honest because I added a shit ton before it finally started to change colors. The powder isn't too far off in color and it is very fine, allowing me to put in almost a dangerous amount. Leaving the juice on the counter and delicately putting the powder away, I grab hold of the sugar and salt, walk back out to the dining room table, and replace them.
The wolves still sitting there eye me curiously, but I ignore them and instead return to the kitchen to wait for my prey. After hopping up onto the counter, I hold the half-filled OJ glass in my hands, gently swirling it to mix the concoction. I don't have to do this for long though as Tristan enters the kitchen only about ten minutes later. I glance at him from the corner of my eye and he stops short the second he sees me. The disgust on his face is clear, but he doesn't say anything. He quickly and quietly begins assembling his breakfast, being sure to avoid me at all costs.
The overstuffed bowl of Cheerios that soon appears by me has me curious if he could even fill the bowl with milk, but my question goes unanswered for now as he gets out a glass identical to mine and returns to the food at my side. I made sure to sit in front of the fridge so that he'd be forced to go by me at least once, and it pays off as he silently fills his glass to the brim with OJ. Clearing my throat, I hold the glass out to him.
"Would you mind filling me up?" I says sweetly, earning a solid glare from Tristan.
"I would actually." He spits. Fully prepared to replace the orange juice, he begins turning around only to be caught as my foot extends, preventing him from going past to reach the fridge.
"Let me rephrase that then." I say, extending my glass again. "Fill me up." My words come out icily, an order rather than a question. Tristan leers at me hatefully, but we both know he can't refuse. Begrudgingly, he opens the orange juice and fills my glass to the rim. "Thanks." I beam, lowering my leg so that Tristan can pass. He doesn't look at me, and that's what I counted on because in his haste to escape my gaze, I easily switch my glass for his. Hopping off of the counter, I follow Tristan out of the kitchen and into the dining room. I wait for him to sit before taking my own seat a couple chairs away.
My eyes quietly follow him as he miraculously fills his bowl with milk. Taking a sip of orange juice, I realize I have an even bigger audience. A few brave souls from my pack have trickled in and I give them brief smiles as I sip at my drink. Returning my eyes to Tristan I find him looking dead at me, his eyes smiling. "Really? Switching the salt for the sugar, I thought you better than that." He says, a smirk tugging at his lips. Raising an eyebrow I look around at the other wolves, most of whom avoid my gaze. They clearly ratted me out, but once again I had counted on that.
Sighing lightly, I take a longer gulp of juice as Tristan reaches out for the salt shaker, assuming that he's picked up sugar. He pours a good amount onto his cereal and mixes it in with his spoon. I can feel the gazes of my own pack members boring into me. They know I'm not that simple, switching the salt for the sugar is child's play. "Guess you got me." I breathe as Tristan takes a big bite of his cereal.
I watch his face twist slightly just before he spits the mouthful of partially chewed cheerios out into his bowl. I smile. "Except I didn't switch the salt for the sugar." I say, earning a deathly glare. If looks could kill. He grunts in annoyance, swiftly picking up his juice and taking a few big gulps. My smile broadens and I lean back in my chair. "I did, however, put Carolina Reaper powder in your OJ." I say nonchalantly, lacing my hands behind my head.
His eyes suddenly widen and he quickly spits orange juice across the table before meeting my gaze like I'm insane. Pursing my lips, I reach out to grab the spoon from the sugar bowl and pour a big spoonful into his juice. "Try it now." I encourage earning a dangerous look.
"I swear to god I'm gonna—" He stops impossibly short, his whole face going pale as his eyes widen.
I tsk lightly, leaning forward with a grimace. "Oh, is the pepper kicking in?" I ask in mock concern. Tristan doesn't answer and instead runs straight into the kitchen, presumably to down one of the jugs of milk. Shrugging, I reach over and pick up his glass. "You sure you don't want to try it again?" I yell at him from over my shoulder. "I mean we all know," I raise a finger in the air, mimicking a conductors wand, "just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, medicine go down, medicine go down." I stop to gaze at my fellow wolves, some of whom look disgusted, (i.e. Black Forest wolves) and some of whom look like they're about to piss themselves from containing their laughter (i.e. Dark Moon wolves). Tilting my head to the side, I lean in and smile wide. "All together now!" I announce, doing my best Johnny Depp/mad hatter impression. From there I continue to sing about sugar as laughter erupts from all points of the room.
I'll admit, some wolves still look mortified, but I did earn some hefty laughter from a few who didn't have poles jammed firmly up their asses. Finally settling my own laughing, I look around to spot Markus. Perking up, I jump to my feet and skip over to him happily. "Oh, Markus!" I say in a sing-song voice that makes him freeze.
Meeting my gaze with a tired scowl, he sighs. "What is it Ro?"
"Let's all play a game!" I beam. "I want to play capture the flag, or wolves and humans." I tell him simply, a large grin plastered onto my face.
"What's wolves and humans?" A voice asks from our side. Both Markus and I look over and I see the same woman who had informed me about Tristan's breakfast watching me intently. She seems a little bolder than the last time she spoke, but that's probably because I got a belly laugh out of her during my epic double switch.
I smirk at her. "It's like sharks and minnows except the sharks are wolves and the minnows are humans." I tell her with a thumbs up before returning my gaze to Markus.
He shakes his head in exasperation. "We can't just do that here."
I give him a look. "Why not?" My hands go up in the air to gesture towards the house. "We're living here now, right? Plus their yard is huge." I exclaim. Raising a finger, I continue. "In addition, this place is deprived of bean bag chairs and foosball tables, but I digress back to wolves and humans." I say, giving him a cocky half smile.
Markus rolls his eyes, but I can see a smile playing on his lips meaning I won. Truthfully he probably just wants to ruffle the feathers of these stuck up, clean cut, Black Forest wolves. My expression brightens and I quickly start bouncing on my toes. "Make the call!" I tell him, giddy with excitement. "Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, I won't stop 'til you do it, do it, do it, do it, do it—"
"Fine!" He cuts me off with a laugh. Ignoring the questioning stares from the Black Forest wolves, Markus jogs over to the edge of the stair case and takes in a huge breath. "CHALLENGE EXTENDED!" He screams at the top of his lungs. Ignoring the surprised yelps of the people by my side, I cup my hands over my mouth and let out the best impression of a howl as I can.
All of the wolves not in my pack stare at us like we're crazy, but not even thirty second later, the thunderous sound of footsteps echo through the house. Matthew is the first at the bottom of the stairs, soon followed by a number of wolves from my pack. "What we got?" Matthew says, his eyes locked on me.
"Wolves and humans." I cross my arms and Matthew makes his way over to me.
A cocky expression on his face, he raises a hand up in the air. "Oh, challenge so accepted." He says. Raising my own hand, we high-five each other eagerly.
Pulling his hand toward me, I bring my face close to his. "Accepter is the wolf." I tell him before spinning on heel. "To the yard!" I shout, pointing forward in full preparation to lead my army of humans outside right as a figure steps into my way.
"Hold on!" Tristan says, still sweating pretty heavily.
Raising an eyebrow, I laugh. "What's up dragon breath?" My comment makes him cringe, but I stop to think. Waving a hand at him, I lean forward. "Wait, no could you confront me again I think I can come up with something better." I say, unsatisfied with my burn, pun intended.
Tristan doesn't react, but does hold up his hands. "You can't just run around like you own the place!" He hisses, his words directed solely to me.
Tilting my head, I hit him playfully on the arm making him jump. "If you wanted to play you could've just asked!" I tell him with a huge smile, innocently skipping past him and towards the door.
I don't want to deal with all that hate right now. Playing a fun game is really what I need, what we all need to destressitize and maybe relax as we're thrown through the proverbial shit hole.
By the time we all get to the yard and set up the perimeters, a couple wolves from the Black Forest pack had joined our game including the pretty black woman from breakfast and excluding Tristan, who decided he'd rather sulk.
Normally, my pack would be pissy about letting them join, but we've always been lax when it came to who participated; James is always first pick for hide and seek. I swear he may not be a wolf, but he can sniff us out like a fucking blood hound.
Most of us don't have any spare clothes, so the shirts off our backs worked for flags. The girls commandeered some tube socks to use instead of showing off the goods.
With new cloth tails and a now wolfed up Matthew standing in the middle of the playing field, we all stand at the ready for the okay to run. When it finally comes, there is a flurry of bodies that run frantically to reach the other side with their flags still in their back pockets.
Booking my little hiney to the other side, I see Matthew catching a few people. The ones caught stop running and saunter off to shift in privacy before coming back out onto the field. My numbers dwindle quickly, and soon enough the teams are switched. Me and about six 'humans' all stand warily at the edge of the field in front of us an extremely daunting number of wolves.
I smile, turning to my teammates with a nervous laugh. "This is where it gets interesting." They all share worried looks. This is going to be very interesting indeed.
Turning back to face the onslaught of death, I pat the tube sock in my back pocket. There is a moment of complete silence, not even the crowd that's gathered makes a sound, before the go rings out. The remainder of us run like our lives depend on it and the opposing side does the same. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that we are outnumbered five to one, but we run anyways.
I try to ignore the others and instead focus on evading the wolves that rapidly approach me. When the first one reaches me, I quickly jump over it, rolling onto the ground to escape the second. All I see is fur and grass; trying to push past the bulky bodies, I twist to move my sock out of the grasp of one of the wolves behind me, narrowly missing their jaw.
Growls and barks erupt from both my sides, but I once again ignore them and keep running until I burst through the other side of the sea of wolves. At this point I can see the other side of the field. I can make it! I pant heavily, my heart racing as I push my legs to move faster. Almost there! I lean forward to increase momentum, trying to run faster.
Every fiber of my body pulses in anticipation as the end draws tantalizingly close. Just as I'm about to reach the end, I feel a strong tug on my back and I stumble. "Woah!" I go tumbling to the ground, a large wolf falling over me and onto the ground at the same time.
My head shoots up and I am greeted by Matt's chocolate colored wolf gazing at on his back, my tube sock in his mouth. "No! I was so close!" I scream, pounding my fist against the soft grass.
"I did it!" We both turn to look at the end of the field. Jumping up and down victoriously is the same woman from breakfast. Despite my own disappointment from being caught, not to mention the bitch of a bruise I can feel forming on my side, I get to my feet and run over to her.
"Holy shit, you actually made it!" I exclaim, exchanging a high-five of epic proportions.
She looks at me with an ecstatic smile. "That was so much fun!" She cries, still jumping in excitement. When she finally calms down, she seems to realize who she's speaking with and stops. After all, the majority of us playing are from the enemy pack and she's geeking out to their alpha. "I mean, uh—"
I cut her off with the wave of my hand. No way is she downplaying this. "That was amazing, I've never seen anyone get through a wave like that!" I compliment again. Giving her my biggest smile, I turn to the others. "We have a winner!" I shout, a chorus of howls and barks quickly filling the air.
Everyone around laughs and claps, still high off the adrenaline rush of the game. In that one moment, I felt everyone forget about packs and titles. We're all just having a good time, enjoying the game, and I almost feel sad thinking that moment will never last.
***