Jake's Pov
I couldn't take it anymore! I turned around, faced the kid and screamed, "What?!"
Out of nowhere, Sara walked up and said, "Don't yell at children, Jake. That's not okay." She looked down at the kid, ruffled his hair and left.
Deciding to try a new tactic, I squatted in front of the kid and made my voice high pitched, "Little boy, don't you want to go somewhere else, maybe play hide and seek with the other kids?"
The boy, who had been stalking me for days now, raised an eyebrow, "I'm not five."
I threw out my arms and raised my voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, it speaks!" The boy chuckled, just once, but I heard it. I took that as encouragement. "Ladies and gentlemen, I can guarantee you've never seen anything like this. It speaks. It laughs. It occasionally does both at the same time!"
When he laughed again, I sighed. I had been trying to get rid of my silent shadow since he came here three days ago. He was Alana's little brother and if I remembered right, his name was Jacob.
"Well, if you are going to keep stalking me, I might as well make it educational."
"What do you mean?" he asked. Geez, two sentences in one day, this kid was on a roll.
"My patrol shift starts in twenty minutes. I've got the western border. Want to come with?" He nodded.
Sam's Pov
I was trying to teach Clarey how to fight, but it wasn't going well. She was a die-hard pacifist. What kind of wolf is a pacifist, I asked myself for the millionth time. Mate, my wolf answered proudly. I sighed. My wolf definitely wasn't helping the situation. Every time that I approached her offensively to see how she would defend herself my wolf growled at me and every time she wanted to stop my wolf forced me to cave. Today was no different than the last two days had been.
"So when you have your enemy's arm in that hold you bring it down forcefully over your knee."
"Oh," she said, slyly, "and what is the purpose of that move?"
"To break his arm," I answered casually.
She put her hands on her hips and turned the full power of her large, blue eyes on me. "I told you. I'm not breaking anyone's anything."
"Then how will you fight?" I yelled, frustrated.
Out of nowhere Sara walked up and said, "Don't yell at your mate, Sam. That's not okay." She looked at Clarey, patted her arm and left.
Clarey shrugged. "I'd rather not fight at all, but since you insist on teaching me, you'd better find a way for me to fight without crippling anyone."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know," she said innocently, "But if you can't do it, you must not be a very good fighter."
My wolf growled. She's challenging us.
It's about time you were on my side. I replied.
I'm not. She has a point.
Argh! The woman was driving me crazy.
"Alright, I'll teach you how to fight without hurting anyone." I was aware of how contradictory that phrase was.
"Thanks!" She went up on her tiptoes and gave me a quick kiss. "But first I want to go for a swim."
With that, she walked away, towards the river in the woods. I growled. I swore I would wait to be mated with her until she was 18 and I was 21, but she wasn't making it easy. I watched her walk away still surprised at how small she was...and beautiful, definitely beautiful. Only kissing, that's it, I commanded myself again. Then I followed her.
Damien's Pov
I sat with my back against the wall and my head tilted back. I was cramping from being in this position for an hour. Right next to me was the entrance to the living room where two females were talking.
"One more quiz then we'll move on. Who was the first wolf?"
"I don't know. It was some massive Greek guy with some stupid Greek name."
"His name was Künegetays, meaning hunter," my mother interjected patiently.
"Yeah and he had sex with the moon, which is pretty impossible if you ask me."
"He didn't have sex with her. He became her mate."
"Well, aren't they the same thing," Alana asked innocently, "Your son looks at me like I'm fresh meat every time he sees me." That was putting it crudely...but it was pretty much true. My mom was silent. I could imagine the embarrassed look that was probably on her face right now.
"Well...that may be true, but..."
"Hey Damien."
I looked up and saw Chris, one of the wolves who were around my age. "I just got back from patrol and...what are you doing?"
I stood quickly and dusted myself off. "Nothing. How was the patrol?"
Suddenly Chris smiled and leaned over to look in the living room. "You were spying on her, weren't you? So, the rogue's got you whipped. I've got to say this is surprising. My superior Alpha has a weakness. Maybe he's human after all."
"I'm not whipped. She's my mate. I was trying to figure out how to get her on my side...for political reasons." Yeah, that sounded like bullshit even to me.
Chris just smiled at me like an idiot.
"So, what were you going to say about your patrol?"
"Huh? Oh right, I was just going to say that it was fine. All is well in your territories, Alpha."
"Good. Now go join the defense training outside. Tomorrow I'm going to Alpha Russell's territory. Tonight, I'll be choosing the warriors who will go with me." He nodded once and left.
I tilted my head towards the living just in time to hear my mom sigh and say, "Take a break Alana. We'll start again in an hour."
"Finally!" Alana burst through the entrance and turned to glare at me. "And you, just standing there for an hour like some kind of creep. Were you trying to make me nervous? Because it didn't work!"
I smiled. She had known I was there all along. I had heard that mates could sense each other's presence, but I hadn't believed it until now.
"You've been avoiding me," I pointed out, still smiling.
"No I haven't! But if I had been, how would you know? You spend all your time in that stupid office."
I reached up and stroked her cheek. "Aww...did you miss me?"
She slapped my hand away. "No. I just think that the Alpha should pay more attention his pack." She turned away from me and started walking, so I hurried to walk with her.
"Well, that's what you're here for, sweetheart, to be my eyes and ears when I have to work." She flinched when I called her sweetheart, like always. I wondered about that. If I called her babe or something she just got angry, but when I called her sweetheart she looked like she was in pain. I figured that if I said it often enough she would break down and tell me why she hated it so much.
"If you don't spend more time with them, your pack will forget who you are. They'll just go around calling any old fool Alpha, maybe even me." She looked delighted with that idea.
"I doubt that. Besides, it's not always like this. There's just a lot that going on right now."
"Like what," she asked, suddenly serious. She'd started to accept her place as Luna in the past three days. No matter how she felt about me, she was fiercely protective of the pack. I'd known she would be a good Luna since the moment I saw her with her younger siblings.
I sighed. She deserved to know. "Alpha Russell caught one of the rogues responsible for the murders that have been happening."
"I thought you said that the rogues had just passed through his lands. We figured they were long gone. How did he catch one?"
"We learned that the rogues who went through his land were just scouts. A second group came through yesterday. Now we think that they are gathering information and preparing to attack. One of Alpha Russell's patrol groups saw them and fought. The rogues were vicious fighters and most of them got away with just a few scratches, but the patrol group captured one of them. I'm leaving for his territory tomorrow to help him question the rogue."
"I'm going with you." Hers fists were clenched and her eyes held no compromise.
"No. You're not." I fired back, just as determined. "I need you to stay here and watch the pack."
"Your mother and sister can do that. I don't know anything about running a pack yet. I haven't even met most of them. I will be more useful on this trip."
"Oh really," I asked, "Have you studied the fine arts of torturing a rogue? Was that something that your rogue parents taught you?" It was a cheap shot that I instantly regretted. My fear for her safety overwhelmed my self control. Instead of crying like another girl might have, she became furious.
"No, but you need me because I'm a rogue...or was. I might know this guy."
"Really? Were you friends were murderers in your mysterious past?" I teased her, instantly lightening up.
"Yes," she answered quietly. I stared at her in shock.
"Why?"
She tensed up, shutting me out again. "I'm going with you."
"Yeah," I replied, "I guess you are."
Whatever else happened during this trip, I planned on using the time to win her over.