Hey guys, new chapter is coming up. Hope you enjoy it, there will be more excitement in the next chapter so stick around. Disclaimer: We all know Kelley Armstrong is brilliant at what she created and who belongs to her. OC s are my creation but enjoy them all you will.
I hid under my bed with a textbook, waiting for some noise of movement to come. Clay's snores from the room next door were still going which probably meant Elena was asleep. His pacing in the hallway had sent me into a nightmare filled sleep. I couldn't handle it. I felt watched and trapped. At least he was still too large to fit under the bed. I knew it was strange to be sleeping under here, but it was the only place I felt safe. I heard a creak outside my door and Clay's snores stopped. I crawled out from under my bed, and padded over to the door. It was warmer under the bed so I only had shorts and a T-shirt that Nick had left behind. I found it in the laundry before bed. It fell down to mid-thigh but it made me feel better. Without scented detergent, his smell was faintly there. However it was nothing to prepare me for the sight I saw when I opened the door.
"Clay!" I shouted turning my head away. Paw-print boxers were not what I wanted to see so early in the morning. Elena was chuckling at the head of the stairs. Clay shook his head, waking up and looked over at me. "Pants! Now please." I kept my eyes closed and went past him, Elena smiling as I ran down the stairs. I smelt something good. Really good. There was a large plate set up in the sun-room as Jeremy had called it. I just called it the room of windows. I saw a steaming plate set up in there along with an easel. Jeremy appeared beside me. He glanced between myself and the kitchen. I nodded and went to eat my breakfast.
"Come, it's getting cold." he said to Elena. They disappeared into the room. There was more of the great smelling food in the kitchen. Jeremy must have made it even though I've never seem him cook before. It was just food that could easily be put together. I stacked my plate high with pancakes. They smelt better than the ones I was used to eating and the maple syrup was the expensive kind I had at at university. It made me feel better when exams came around. I ate slowly, listening to the murmur of Jeremy and Elena in the other room.
A loud car rolled up the driveway as I pulled more food onto my plate. There was a loud commotion and the front door bust open. Nick stood there, his hair messed up, his eyes flashing between Elena and myself. I smiled and waved. He came over and wrapped his arms around me, swinging me out of my seat, his breath hot against my neck. I squealed and hugged him tightly. Without letting me go he went over to Elena, hugging her in the exact same way. We were all squashed tightly together.
"Make yourself at home." Clay drawled from the doorway. Thankfully he had pants on this time. He grabbed Elena from the group hug and held her by his side. She stepped away with a shake. A loud booming laugh came as Tonio walked in. He swept Elena up in another hug. I knew how she felt, it was strange getting hugs instead of other forms of greetings. Well from everyone but Clay and Jeremy.
"Never learned to handshake?" Elena questioned him. He laughed again, Jeremy's eyes crinkling.
"If I squeeze harder, will you stay here longer?" he answered back. "When do the others get here?"
"What's a meet?" I whispered to Nick. I knew the others could hear me but were polite enough to pretend they couldn't. His breath felt warm against my ear.
"Jeremy called everyone back here." I nodded.
"So when can we start?
"Eat, you've lost wait. There's more for you lot in the kitchen." Jeremy said. The prospect of food won everyone over, even myself as I'd left half a plate back there. Clay looked over at Nick expectantly, making no move to leave Elena for a second. Yup, definitely something going on there. Nick scooped me out of the room, tickling my sides. Tonio had replenished my plate full with more food.
"Care to share?" Nick asked piling another plate with food. I pinched a pancake off of it, letting the syrup drip down my chin. Nick's finger caught it, running up to my lips. I darted my tongue out to catch the sweet liquid. His eyes darkened and I picked up my plate quickly. Tonio placed his hand under mine as he went, taking the unsteady plate from my hand.
"Thanks." I smiled. He winked.
"Glad to see you doing better." He leaned down close, "I brought some putty to fix that hole." I hurried back to Jeremy with a booming laugh behind me.
I smacked Nick's wondering hand from my thigh for the third time as we ate dinner. Due to the lack of seats he had volunteered his lap, ignoring Clay's growl. Elena didn't comment, eating without saying anything. Another car pulled up and Tonio let in Peter. He looked happy to see her, giving her a large hug and getting some food for himself.
"When's Logan coming?" Elena asked. Jeremy placed his fork down gently.
"He's not. Got caught up with a case. I filled him in and he'll come when he can." he explained. Elena slumped back in her chair.
"So, how are we going to catch this mutt?" I asked leaning back into Nick. I had no idea what the proceedings were with this kind of thing. Well I knew the end results, but the middle part was a mystery.
"Elena, I want you to go over the dossiers. You've got the best nose and we need that. This mutt is on our territory, killing where we live. We need to draw him out without creating a panic. This will take caution so I don't want anyone going straight into it without consulting me."
"I'm not staying." Elena said firmly. My stomach dropped. Part of me wanted her to stay, to have another female around. But she had been here longer, and been away from the life she made in Toronto. She was right to be angry. Clay didn't like what she had to say.
"You're just going to leave?" he growled throwing down his utensils. Jeremy rose and Elena followed looking mad. They went into the study, Clay quickly following before he was locked out. The rest of us sat around awkwardly. Great start to the day.
"And this is the last bag." Nick said placing a bulging plastic bag onto my bed. "Where are your sheets?" he observed tilting his head to look under the bed.
"Under there." I confirmed with a blush. It was embarrassing, he would think I'm some kind of freak for sleeping there. To my surprise he squeezed my shoulder.
"Still can't sleep properly? He asked. I shook my head. "Do you want some company tonight?"
"Only if you keep your hands to yourself." I placed a finger on his chest looking him once over. He smirked, a sly one with the corner of his mouth up.
"You and I both know that's not going to happen. Open your presents." I went over and unpacked the bags, excitement coursing through me. It was as if he had read my mind on all my favourites. And he had gotten the sets too. He watched me happily as I unpacked all the bags setting them out on the floor like the last time he got me something. I was going to have to think of a way to give him something nice. I sat down on the cleared bed once the last bag was empty, bouncing up and down.
"I take it you like them?" he asked knowing the answer. I nodded and leaned over kissing his cheek. It was warm and rough from overnight stubble. He turned towards me and I felt his lips gently against mine. I jumped at the sudden feeling, Nick chuckled and his hand went to my neck to keep our lips together. I've only been kissed a couple of times and they were all slobbery idiots compared to the way Nick kissed. I felt like I was melting into him, from his touch and the tenderness. It felt like the kiss lasted forever, really it was a couple of minutes but the look in his eyes when we parted said he wanted to go for longer...and do something else.
"Um...wow." I drawled, not knowing where to look. Did I look at his face or elsewhere. There was no way in hell I would look below his neck. I settled for the lips I just felt. There that was safe from obvious hormonal reactions.
"I thought about you while in New York." he smiled softly, pulling me into his side. Alright keep your eyes ahead or at his stubble. No dropping otherwise...just no. Feel the fuzzy feelings.
"I'm glad you're back." I whispered. It felt better here now I wasn't on my own.
"So am I going to have to leave clothes here for you to wear?" he tugged at my sleeve.
"Yes." I smiled up at him. "They're comfortable."
"Hold onto that one. It's yours now." I kissed his cheek again. Nick sighed and wrapped his arms around me. I was still confused if this was a werewolf thing to do or it was genuine but nether the less it felt nice.
"Study, now." There were two sharp raps at the door. Well nice sentimental moments were over for now.
Clay tackled Nick as we came down the stairs and the two of them and Peter somehow made it into the study without any broken limbs. Thankfully play fighting looked rough but it wasn't. Elena and I were offered the couch which Jeremy sat in his chair behind the desk. Very werewolf Mafia like. Not that I would point out the similarities. Jeremy must have decided how to handle this mutt. I was hoping I wasn't going to be involved in any of the gruesome details of the task. I wasn't ready for that any time soon. Jeremy looked around and everyone and the room fell deathly silent.
"Tonight we are going to hunt down and kill the mutt." the prospect of a hunt sent excitement through everyone. "Peter, Tonio, you will investigate together and Nick, Clay and Elena will go together. I will make this clear now, Elena and Antonio decide if this mutt dies. If it is too risky I want you back here right away. Otherwise you know what to do." Clay was looking at me while Jeremy listed out the teams. I could see the wheels in his mind ticking and I didn't like it.
"Is Eve coming?" he asked. Nick growled low at him but of course Clay ignored him. "How else will she learn."
"I will think on it. For now, get ready for tonight. I will let you know when we leave." And we were dismissed. The guys quickly left for a game of touch football outside with Tonio supervising. Jeremy went back to the work he had out on the desk before we entered. Elena turned to me on the couch.
"Let's grab some food and then I'll show you what I do." that was interesting. I didn't know there were other roles in the pack besides the Alpha. I knew Antonio was probably a confidant seeing as Jeremy and he had talks regarding important decisions but that was pretty normal. Then again being a pack of werewolves wasn't entirely so.
I made myself a large salad sandwich for lunch, soaking it in garlic sauce. The smell was a little more pungent then I was used to but Elena ensure it was safe to eat. We took our lunch back into the study which Jeremy had mysteriously disappeared from. From a bookshelf behind the desk she fiddled around and after a loud click she pulled out thick book.
"These are the dossiers. Records of mutts we keep. My job was to keep these records up to date. Any mutt we've come across has a file. Everything about them is recorded. Those that try not to kill humans, those that don't and then we have the serial man killers." She leaned close to me, "They don't bother trying."
"Do you think this mutt slipped up?" I asked. With the way she was showing me, letting me look through the files, this was something for me to learn, to remember.
"No. He displayed his kill openly near to us. This was a calling card. He isn't trying to resist."
"Does that make him new or old?" I asked. Very few of the pictures were young. Even with prolonged aging, they looked old. Rugged would be a better description.
"I need to talk to the others, see who they've been keeping tabs on. There are a handful of usual suspects but we need to work out their last locations before we start to look for a new mutt."
"Can I help with anything?" I asked. She smiled at me like I was doing her a big favour.
"Read these. I'm going to look over something else. I don't know what Clay did to you but I wouldn't want to be kept in the dark. These mutts are the other side to being a werewolf. Remember that." she shifted the book over to me and went back to the bookshelf, pulling a larger, more tattered book out. I flicked through the files slowly, trying to remember names and faces as well as what type of killer they were. Some of the names I recognised from recounts of Clay but I wasn't going to make that known. Some had pictures which made me feel sick, which brought on memories of whips and I had to excuse myself for a while. Elena fell asleep on the couch while I continued reading until Antonio and Peter came in looking for us.
"There my girls are." Antonio boomed, the door slamming open. "Look Pete, we saved them from boredom just in time."
"I was letting Eve meet the dark sheep of our world." She said. "Why do you two look like you have ideas of who did it?" she looked at them both suspiciously. I closed the book loudly. They were definitely up to something and it wasn't just high spirits.
"That's because we do. Come." Peter grabbed Elena and pulled her up.
"Nicky and Clay are looking for you Eve." Tonio said at the door. I growled and stormed out of the room to their laughter. I wanted to hear their ideas not deal with frat boys.
Nick and Clay were practice fighting outside, probably trying to prepare for tonight. They both looked at me as I approached, covered in sweat. I winked at Nick, cocking an eyebrow.
"Come here, I'll get you just as sweaty." he puffed.
"Is that a challenge?" I replied feeling the grass between my toes.
"More like a promise." Clay kicked up his leg, sending Nick sprawled on the ground with a threatening growl. I rolled my eyes.
"Am I here for a reason?" I asked. They both grinned at me. I groaned, this meant one thing. Pain.
"Ow!" I complained rubbing the back of my neck. I don't know how Elena fought with these guys. They were rough. Or well Clay was. He didn't hold back and I'm sure I had a fair few bruises already developing. Nick had been made to sit out while Clay taught me how to defend myself from a Mutt. Very little of it was offensive. That was going to come later but for now if I ran into a mutt, it would keep them off me until backup arrived. Hopefully.
"Is he always this rough Nick?" I asked as he came back with a bag of peas for a particular spot on my shoulder that was already purple.
"It's the excitement of the upcoming hunt. Can't you feel it." he dropped down in front of me. There was excitement in his eyes, and a pink flush on his cheeks.
"Too bad I don't get to go." I smiled and tweaked his nose.
"Do you think you can Change?" Jeremy's voice came from behind. I swivelled around to him. "More than once." We'd been keeping my Changes regular while it was just three of us at Stonehaven. Besides the routine, if I felt it coming on, I was set outside to wait and see if it would happen or not. The main focus had been teaching me control over them, to Change more so at will.
"I want to try. Please." I added with a smile. Jeremy chuckled and turned away.
"Get ready. You leave when it gets dark. Nick, make sure she eats."
"He doesn't want me getting the munchies." I nudged him in the ribs. We went over to the kitchen and I pulled out a lot of meat and a jar of peanut butter. It was like a godsend finding the unopened jar in the back of a cupboard. It was still good and all mine. I sat at the couch with a spoon and waited for Nick to bring the other food over.
"Here. Eat the fatty spread. I'll give you the good stuff." he kissed my temple and settled behind me feeding us slices of meat. I ate until I was beyond full just to make sure no bunnies tempted me later. There was a loud whoop upstairs and a cry from Elena. I sat up spoon in my mouth as Clay marched down the stairs, Elena thrown over his shoulder. Tonio and Peter came out from their respective hiding places.
"Get ready. It's time to hunt." His eyes held the same excited look as when he brought in a new body. I needed more peanut butter.
Let me know how you feel about Nick and Eve. I'd like to know if its heading where people want :)
