Trace held my hand as we walked along the winding path through the tree's. The same dirt path that lead from our house to Brian's house. It was a ten minute walk, five minutes on the four-wheeler's, and only half a minute in our wolf forms. I looked back at Trace when he paused, his eyebrows pulled together thoughtfully.
"Daniella, this is the third time this week you've thrown up for no reason." I sighed softly.
"I think it was the things I've been eating. Or, what I haven't been eating." I shrugged. "You know I don't eat very much when I'm in my wolf form…"
"I know honey, but I still want to take you to the clinic. Get you checked out." he cupped his hand around my cheek and pressed his soft lips to my forehead.
"Can't my husband do that?" I asked, smirking. "After all, he is a doctor."
"I'm afraid I wouldn't be doing very much medical research in that situation." he chuckled and pulled me close. I rolled my eyes when there came an amused growl, glaring when the night black wolf jumped onto the dirt path. He danced a circle around us, then trotted a couple steps towards Brian's house. The small scar on his hind flank showed him to be Connor, one of the twins. He trotted back towards us, and tugged on the hem of my shirt. I tapped his nose lightly, and he snorted, turning his tail towards us. Trace snickered, and rolled his eyes, tugging me along as we followed the boy. He disappeared behind a tree, then there came a sharp crack, the sound of denim sliding over skin, and Connor trotted out sweeping curly blonde hair out of his face.
"Hey lovebirds." he snickered, and reached out, somehow swinging me away from Trace's arms. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and began walking, pulling me along. I laughed, putting an arm around his shoulder. Trace snarled, and followed us slowly.
"Do I take this as abandoning your run?" I cocked an eyebrow and Connor pressed his lips into a thin line.
"Course not." he shrugged, and turned to slink back into the tree's.
"It's good you're here. Tell the others on the run that there's a meeting at Brian's house in five minutes." Connor nodded and trotted back into the tree's. I waited for Trace, holding out a hand for him, some small part of me calming again when I felt his warm hand slip around mine. We walked the rest of the way to the house and simply walked inside. Clarissa was sitting at the table, nursing a steaming mug of coffee.
"Brian and I can make something to eat." Trace offered, and Clarissa laughed lightly.
"He's dead to the world. And thankfully so is Stephanie." she sighed gratefully and smiled up at me. "Thank you again for taking Brian's runs." she gave a halfhearted smile.
"I completely understand Clarissa. It's gonna take a while for you two to acclimate to having her around, and it'll take a while for the weariness of her schedule to wear off." I smiled, returning the small hug she gave me.
"What about you and Trace. Have you decided on any kids yet?" Claire asked, looking up at me with the happiest eyes anyone could have.
"I think we're going to wait until we get things regulated, with the pack and all. We've been having some trouble with the southeastern pack again."
"Brian said something about that… oh Daniella. I hope you two decide soon. If you two had children, they would just be the cutest little things." I rolled my eyes.
"If they were anything like their father, they'd be little devils." Trace straightened up, from the fridge, a jug of milk clutched in one hand, a jar of mayonnaise in the other.
"I was going to make a sandwich…" Trace adapted a fake pout. "And do you really think that lowly of me Dani?" his face looked so dejected I trotted over to him and pecked his lips.
"You know I only think the highest of you, and you're… potential." I turned to Claire, and we both giggled.
"I heard there was a pack meeting!" Chase said, trotting through the back door. The slight eighteen year old still had some growing to do before he was anywhere near the other men of the pack, but he still towered over Claire as he hugged her shoulders and kissed her hair.
"You'd better hope Brian doesn't get a hold of your hide later Chase." she smacked his arm. Chase shrugged.
"What's he gonna do. Run home and tell our mother." I snickered and smacked him softly upside the head.
"Be nice to your older brother." I scolded fondly.
"Yes mom." he snickered, rolling his eyes. I wrapped him in a head lock and rubbed my knuckles into his scalp. "Okay, okay. OKAY!" he pushed me away, and rubbed his head. "You're a lot meaner than my mom!" he laughed.
"Whose a lot meaner than mom?" Brian asked groggily as he stepped into the kitchen, kissing Clarissa on the cheek.
"I smell dweeb." he grumbled, sniffing her hair.
"I tried to tell him." Claire giggled, rolling her eyes. Brian smacked his younger brother upside the head. Chase ducked his head under the table.
"Alright, everything from the neck up is off limits to everyone!"
"I hope that excludes me." Rebecca giggled, giving me a quick hug before walking towards her mate. She pulled her long brown hair away from her face, and stood next to her will-be sister-in-law.
"Of course!" Chase said, jumping, and hitting his head on the underside of the table.
"We're gonna have to check his head for brain damage." Brian snickered, brushing back his black bangs.
"We have to check?" I gasped melodramatically, then rolled my eyes. "Where are the others?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips. I ignored the sugar coated love fest that was happening at the table between Chase and Rebecca.
"Cody and Conner are on the perimeter, and Sam, Jason and Brandon are scouting the southern region of our territory for breaches." I sighed and rubbed my temple.
"Alright. Trace, can you call them in. We need to speak with them, and apparently Connor decided not to say anything."
"What's up D?" Brian asked, wrapping his arms around Clarissa's waist.
"I don't want to repeat it five times, so you'll have to wait." I patted his head. It didn't take long. After Trace walked back in, it only took the other five, two minutes to arrive.
"What's up Alpha?" Cody asked, flopping onto a chair. I sighed, smacking him upside the head.
"Don't call me Alpha bud." I sighed, and leaned on the head of the table. "My family is coming up. And yes, my younger brother is a werewolf." there were murmur's around the group. "Listen. The Cabal is after them. They need a safe house. They're going to stay with Trace and I."
"How many?" Brandon asked thoughtfully, taking a sandwich from a plate that Clarissa was passing around.
"Six. Kit Bae, his son, Simon Bae. My brother, who Kit adopted, Derek Souza, his mate Chloe, her aunt, and a friend of theirs." I glanced around at them. "I'm going to see if Derek will stay with us. To see if he will join our pack. You're all going to be nice to him. Don't attack him if he wants to help with a run."
"Of course." they answered in unison, all surprisingly quiet.
"What do we do if the Cabal is following them?" Samuel asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Just incase a Cabal is following them, and they didn't know it. We're going to put up extra alerts for the next two days. Then after that, it's back to regular runs. Sound good?"
"Who's going when." Brandon asked, lounging back in his chair as he finished the last bite of his sandwich.
"I'm sorry to say, twelve hour runs. Who ran last night?" I hated doing this. It only made everyone that much more tired. But we'd tried splitting it up into six hour shifts, which only made it worse. We had decided an uninterrupted block of time for runs was better.
"You." they all answered in unison again. I sighed again, rubbing my temple.
"Dani, go in the other room with Claire and Rebecca. We can take care of this…" Trace said, rubbing my shoulders, trying to relieve the tension.
"No." I shook my head. "No. Chase, Jason, Brandon, and Sam will run tonight, then tomorrow night. Trace, Cody, Conner and I will run days…"
"Your family is coming D. I'll take the days." Brian said, rinsing the sandwich plate off.
"You've got a new born baby." I protested, but Brian held up a hand.
"Daniella. You've been running yourself into the ground. You've taken my runs for the past two weeks, along with your own. You ran a thirty six hour run the other day. I think Stephanie would forgive me for relieving her aunt." Brian said, raising an eyebrow, waiting for me to protest. I was tired, and they knew that. I wouldn't be able to argue, but I wasn't about to let them talk me out of it.
"I'll get a good nights sleep. Alright…" They all fixed me with a gaze.
"What if the Cabal is following your family? What if the South-eastern wolves try to breech our lines." Cody, Connor's twin asked. "You would be no good in a fight as you are. Let us handle this. Spend time with your family."
"You know, for a nineteen year old, you're pretty insightful." I snarled, sinking down into a chair.
I looked around the table at all the worried faces. I looked at the three oldest wolves, Trace, Brian, and Jason. They'd been in a pack before this one, and I relied on their judgment when it came to pack decisions. I looked at the three youngest. The twins, Cody and Connor, and Chase. They were impulsive, so ready to prove they were as good as the rest of us. Then there was Samuel and Brandon, both of them were my age. Brandon and I should be blood related for all the memories we shared of the Edison Group project when we had been younger. We knew how to comfort one another when those memories assailed us. He probably knew me the best out of my pack. Trace excluded. They were my family. They all cared about me and I cared about each one of them. I knew this argument would go on all night.
"Cody's right you know." Jason rubbed my shoulders soothingly. "If you got into a fight, you'd be fatigued before one of us could get there to help."
"And with how sick you've been for the past few days." Trace added, stroking my cheek with his thumb. I hated it when he did this. Fixed me with that look, that looked like a starving puppy. "Listen to us Dani. You're not the only wolf in the pack." he entwined our fingers together, and rubbed his nose along my knuckles. I rolled my eyes and looked at the other boys, exasperated. Brandon snorted because he knew it would work. Brian was stifling laughter, because Trace looked so ridiculous. And the younger boys were, no doubt about it, snickering to themselves. I took my hand back and crossed my arms.
"Look, guy's. I know I've been running for a while. But I'm gonna be gone tomorrow, to pick them up at the airport. James is going to have wolves at the edge of his territory, and it's going to be kind of tight tomorrow. So… I don't want to get you guys too stressed." Jason snorted, and put his hand over mine.
"Daniella, the only stressed one here, is you." he winked, and sat back in his chair. The twins both laughed as I grimaced. I rolled my eyes and stood, walking to the cupboard over the sink, and grabbing a glass. I filled it with water, and turned back to the table. I felt the back of my neck prick as every guy at the table stared at me with a disapproving expression.
"Don't make me shoot each and everyone of you." I murmured into the lip of the glass, and took a sip.
"Is she still arguing?" Clarissa's voice wafted in from the living room.
"Honey, get in here and try to explain to her that she's being stupid!" Brian called, and Clarissa came into the kitchen.
"Don't." I pointed specifically at her, and sipped the water again.
"I'll be able to handle Stephanie for the next few days. I'll even come over to your house, and you can help watch her. It'll be no problem." I sighed, and knew it was probably the best agreement I would get until I convinced everyone I was fine.
"Alright." I sighed, and poured the rest of my water into the sink. "But the moment I get the a-okay from Trace, I'm out there running again." I warned, and they nodded, but I saw the wheels in their heads turning.
There was no way around it. I could see that as I later settled into the mattress. There was no way I could make them see I was just fine. I didn't look up when Trace slipped under the quilt beside me, and it was extremely hard not to snuggle into his chest and peck his cheek before falling asleep with his heartbeat under my ear.
"Are you mad at me?" Trace whispered, his strong arm draping over my stomach. I just huffed and gritted my teeth has his nose brushed against the shell of my ear, his hot breath washing across the skin of my neck. I had to fight to keep my glower. "I'm really sorry you didn't get your way." he didn't sound sorry at all. There was no mistaking the triumph in his voice.
"Oh, I got my way all right." I grinned suddenly and rolled to smirk mischievously up at him. "I'll be going into the South-eastern pack territory all alone tomorrow and there's not thing one you can do about it, because you can't leave the pack another set of paws short." Trace stared incredulously down at me and sucked in a breath to protest, but knew I was right.
"You're a terror, you know that?" he grimaced, and rolled away from me, folding his arms over his chest. "I can't believe you managed to get away with that one!"
"Hey. You all yelled at me not to take any runs. So there." I grinned and softly touched the exposed skin of his side. He tensed under my touch, knowing full well that I knew it tickled.
"Don't you dare." he demanded, and I fought to keep the smile from my face as I lightly ran my fingernails over his side, giggling when he rolled swiftly, wrapping his arms around me. "You just won't give up, will you?" he glared, and I shrugged.
"I just know how to annoy you." I grinned, burrowing into his embrace when he wrapped his arms around me and fell asleep tucked safely into his chest.