Sidney
I got breakfast for my pets together as the trespassing idiots drove off, then I settled into making some food for myself. I made up a batch of scrambled eggs with mushrooms and sausage, before gobbling them down with my morning coffee. It was still early by the time I had everything together, letting the dogs out after getting changed, but after letting them back in I just decided to head for the sanctuary. I got there about ten minutes before six and since I knew the feeding routine from yesterday I got straight to work. It took about 45 minutes to feed all of them and then it was really just waiting around until the afternoon feed and cage cleaning.
So since no one else was around and I had finished the morning feedings, I decided to go ahead and pay a visit to a special resident. Spartan gave his same low warning growl at my approach, but didn't charge towards me when I entered his cage for the second time, he just snarled from a distance. "You know Spartan, that won't work on me. You can try to scare me away all you want, but I'm not going to give up like everybody else. I'm not the enemy here, I would never hurt you." I spoke gently to him, he perked his ears up at me and sat down as far away from me as he could.
He watched me warily for the next hour as I spoke to him in a gentle tone and kept my place on his cage floor, we stayed that way until I heard the car approach. "Alright big guy, I'll be back later." I murmured as I slowly exited the cage before Gavin's car pulled into view. "About time you show up Streaks, I finished the morning feedings an hour ago." I puffed towards him as he slammed his car door shut behind him. "Yeah sorry I'm late, there was a call that came in and I had to make a pit stop first." Gavin sighed out and his tone had me tilting my head at him out of curiosity.
"What kind of call?" I hummed out as he opened the back door of his car and pulled out a covered box. "The kind that hisses." Gavin raised as he flipped the box open with a smug look. I could tell he expected me to be afraid of what was inside but I couldn't help but stare in curiosity. I slowly reached in to pick up the inhabitant of the box as Gavin gaped at me in shock, I slowly and gently studied the large corn snake in my hands. "He's kind of cute, so what kind of call was he again?" I hummed, I gently let the healthy looking snake slip gently through my hands as he tested the air with his tongue.
"Somebody found him in their garden and thought he was poisonous and called, I figured I'd get him out of there before they chopped him to pieces." Gavin muttered. "Smart move." I nodded my agreement as I took him over to a nearby wood pile and let him disappear inside. "Quick release too." Gavin chuckled out as I looked to him curiously. "Now we have some real work to do, these cages won't clean themselves." I stated back as I gave him a pointed look, he blushed but quickly joined me in getting to work.
I found the squirrels to be fairly entertaining as they jumped around the enclosure, some even came down to sit on my shoulder while I cleaned the cage floor. Once everything was cleaned up we got to work on the afternoon feedings, and after finishing my half I went to sit inside Spartan's cage again. This time he snarled but sat down with a huff when he realized I was keeping my distance like I had this morning. When Gavin noticed I was in he wolf dogs enclosure he tried to reason with me to get out before giving up and storming off to continue his chores.
I spent another hour just sitting and talking quietly with the anxious male as he watched me uncertainly, after half an hour he actually calmed down enough to lay down on his half of the cage. I was just talking randomly and telling him about my own pets, how I thought he would love Tyson and Ollie. I just kept talking to him out loud in a calm voice and slowly I noticed he was relaxing in my presence, until the clear approach of another car at our backs had him jumping to his feet with a low grumbled warning. "Easy big guy, I won't let anyone hurt you." I tried to sooth but the calm had been broken, he was back to frantic and wary.
I smelled them before they even spoke, two scents new yet familiar as they grew stronger on approach. "She's actually in there, sitting down!" I heard a male voice shout out on a disbelieving squeak, and I fought to keep myself from growling at the idiots. "She can hear you just fine, and until you showed up he was actually starting to be okay with me sitting in here." I puffed, keeping my tone neutral as not to upset Spartan more, but also displaying my annoyance at them. I slowly exited the cage, securing the door behind me as I turned to look at the two male wolves that had joined Gavin outside the cage.
I directed my focus to the young male who had spoken, he was the one with copper hair and blue eyes. I could sense the boy didn't pose any threat he even lowered his head and blushed at my scrutiny, showing just how low ranking his wolf truly was if he had no desire to challenge my gaze. "Sorry to interrupt, my name is Tucker Willis. You might know my brother as the idiot who your four legged friends tried to eat." The male with blonde hair and green eyes cut between my gaze on the bashful male, as he held his hand out for me to shake.
I slowly shook his hand as he gave me a big grin and a playful wink, I only frowned at his obvious excuse for flirting. "He just has a deathly fear of dogs, it's pretty stupid and hilarious." Tucker chuckled out. "We all have fears, not all fears have to be rational for someone to be afraid. It's not something to be mean about, I'm sure your brother has his reasons." I state clearly, chastising the boy as he blinks back at me in surprise. "Uh, yeah..." Tucker murmured as he sent a look to Gavin and I focused my attention back to the copper haired male who had been studying me off to the side while I scolded his friend.
"So Puppet, what's your name?" I hummed out softly, letting my eyes soften as they met his blue ones. I could sense he wanted to look away but he seemed frozen in place before he dropped his gaze from mine, only to shake his head and focus back on me. I couldn't help but to instantly like this copper haired boy, he was respectful and shy, both aspects I found adorable and attractive about him. "Fletcher, Fletcher Wilson?" He murmured out uncertain as he pouted a frown my way, yep he was an adorable pup.
Fletcher
She was so strange and yet, so pretty. She hadn't smiled at me but her eyes had softened the second time she focused on me, instead of the sharp intensity she studied me with the first time. I hated being called a kid by the rest of the guys but when she called me Puppet it sent a thrill of pleasure through me instead of the usual anger, my wolf was more than happy for the pretty new stranger to give him a pet name too. "So what brings the two of you here?" She voiced wearily as she sent a look towards where Tucker and Gavin were watching her.
"Well we were out this way and figured we'd stop by to see our buddy Gav here." Tucker was grinning as he flung his arm over Gavin's shoulder, receiving an elbow to the ribs in response. I had been the one to want to check in with Gavin but Tucker had to tag along to show off around the new girl, but being on the lower end of the pack ranking the three of us did hang out a good bit. "So your visit has nothing to do with your BS buddy trying to buy my property?" Her question clearly displayed her disbelief and I couldn't help but snort at the way she referred to our alpha, if only she knew how powerful a man he could be.
Tucker
I couldn't help but feel a little jealous when Sidney shared a look with the pup of the pack, little Fletch. I was trying to catch her attention as much as possible and all she'd given me was a few funny looks and a uneasy handshake. Then Fletcher being his awkward self gets his own nickname and her shiny blue green hazel eyes focused on him. What was it going to take for this girl to see I was being nice, and way more than friendly over here?! "Actually we did want to apologize for that, it was rude of us to arrive unannounced like that." I winced out honestly with a soft sigh, and suddenly the intensity of her gaze was staring me down.
I usually wasn't fond of anyone holding eye contact without looking away but instead of getting annoyed I found myself puffing up proudly to have her scrutiny on me. "Yeah you were all being grade A jerks, but since you seem genuinely apologetic right now... I guess I can forgive the three of you, the rest of your buddies are not forgiven yet though." She warned, her tone was surprisingly playful, although there was no smile to her features. "Why not?" Gavin huffed out as he scowled at her, they had a very strange working relationship from what I could tell.
"You apologized honestly, they didn't. Plus from what I saw you three weren't in on the big plan, you were just tagging along. Am I wrong?" Her tone was condescending and I rolled my eyes at her. "No. I guess not." I shook my head at her surprising observations, only to have her smirk back at me. The look was far different than the stern intensity she always seemed to display and it had my breath catching in my throat. "You know Smiles when you're not all Flirty McFlirt, you're actually not completely annoying." Again her amusement was clear in her tone and strangely enough I found my face heating at her words.
"Well it was nice meeting both of you but I've got to get home to check on my own loveable furry friends, so I'll see you around!" Her call was quick and I found myself staring longingly after her as she got in her car and drove off. "She has to be starving, she didn't eat the whole time we were here, even when I stopped for lunch she just kept working." Gavin huffed and I was a bit surprised to notice he actually seemed worried about her. "Maybe we should invite her to dinner sometime?" I hummed out thoughtfully.
"Like the rest of the guys would ever agree to that." Fletcher was actually looking like a kicked puppy now that she had left. "You never know what might happen, especially if we can get Bowen on our side." I grinned, it was time to work my charm on my older brother and the alpha. If Bowen agreed then the rest of the guys were more likely to accept the idea, which only left Colton and the rest of the guys to fall into place. I had a feeling Bowen would agree quicker than Simon after the crazy girl had challenged him openly, she really was an exciting new addition to the territory.