Thank you, Whiteanddark, SamanthaJane13, NoMoreTears, and NoMoreTears for the reviews. As well as the people who sent me personal messages.
"No, I don't want blue." Carla said pushing a paint tile off to the side on the kitchen table. Janice annoyed with their process rolled her eyes, and leaned forward in her chair. She bit the inside of her cheek holding back what she was really thinking. Carla needed to just pick a colour and at this point no one really cared what colour she picked.
A frustrated sigh left Carla's lips as she pushed the tiles away from herself. "I hate them all." She said shifting her eyes to Janice. Carla had known about twenty minutes ago that Janice had lost all interest in the paint chips and moved her attention somewhere else.
There was a shift in Janice's chair as she watched Carla stand up and made her way towards the fridge. The almost hourly process was starting to wear an invisible path in the floor. Alcide knew her route almost too well, and Carla could now perform it in her sleep.
"So when are you going to find out the gender of the baby?" Janice asked, she didn't need to look at Carla to know a look of irritation crossed her face. The five month mark was slowly closing in, and it would be any day now. It seemed everyone was excited to know what the baby would be, not being happy with the blurry ultrasounds.
"We've been through this, Alcide and I don't want to know. So whatever information you're digging for, just ask." Carla slammed the fridge door shut rattling the contents inside. She hadn't taken anything out of the fridge, and had now moved on to the cupboards.
Janice bit the inside of her cheek carefully forming the words in her mind. She wanted to know a lot, and she knew Carla would only let her in on so much. Her brother had asked she not share much and unlike any of the women in her family, Carla was keeping her promise.
"This pack that you and…" She was suddenly cut off by Carla who pulled a bag of cookies from the cupboard.
"What about it?" she asked, Janice shot her an annoyed looked turning herself around in the chair so she could see Carla better.
"Are you and Alcide really serious about it?" A silence hung between the two of them. Carla placed another cookie in her mouth and slowly chewed before swallowing. Her delicate hands reached for another. Carla nodded her head.
"I think you're crazy and I don't think you and Alcide have any idea what Debbie could be capable of." At the mention of the name Carla's head snapped up glowing orange and a loud growl escaped her throat. Janice immediately felt inferior, and sized herself down. She was not going to attempt to take a mama wolf on, let alone an Alfa of a pack.
A loud creak and bang came from the front door as Alcide walked in. It was enough to distract Carla from her anger, and put her back in a good mood. A deep sigh left Alcide's lips as he entered the kitchen. Alcide didn't even look at his sister as he went straight for Carla.
Deep circles under his eyes showed the lack of sleep. Alcide had spent the past few nights designing a house. It had popped up as a huge surprise for Carla, but the idea had made sense. Alcide was going to sell his house, and move in with Carla. There he would fix up her house a little, while he and a few friends worked on building a new house.
The house was going to be big enough so they could host more pack members. It would also be located on Carla's mass of land. This way it would be a little safer for Carla and the baby. This also gave Alcide the opportunity to design their dream home. He had already included a window bench for Carla in the living room. She had been so excited by the idea that it made up for the long nights of designing.
A giggle came from Carla when Alcide grabbed her hips and pulled her towards him. He tiredly buried his head in the crook of her neck. They both missed Janice's rolling eyes as she watched the couple. Janice was happy for her brother, but at the same time she didn't like to see him hang off of Carla's hip.
But Alcide was always like that with his girlfriends, and it often led to whispers. His father was nothing like that, and it probably explained why their parents weren't together. But no one had a clue where he had picked up the behavior and it wasn't like their mother ever dated another man.
"We have a pack meeting tonight." Alcide said, finally pulling away from Carla. He quickly gave his sister a look, he expected her to be there and his mother too. They had always stuck together, so they would follow where Alcide went. It was also expected of them to follow, because it would be his mother and sister that would take careful watch over Carla and the pup during birth.
No one had told Carla yet, but she was not going to a hospital to have her baby. The idea would have been madness. Sometimes if the mother was very in control of her shifts she could go to a hospital, but because Carla wasn't she would be confined to home birthing.
The last thing they needed was a woman changing into a wolf in the middle of a hospital room. They would of course have an elder be present, and the elder would take care of her. Alcide had yet to hear about something going wrong when an elder was present.
There was a loud exhale from Carla's lungs as she thought about their new pack meeting. Everyone knew she was nervous, and there wasn't much comforting words could do. It would take time for her to fall in line with the pack, and it would take her experience.
There was no possible way that starting a new pack would run smoothly, it would take months to work out the kinks. So Carla was at least lucky in that aspect, she wasn't going to be immediately thrown into a position of great expectation
Alcide gave Carla a soft squeeze of her shoulder, trying to remind her that he was still with her. That he and his family were going to get them through this.
Janice nodded her head at another wear before answering Carla. "I wouldn't worry too much about it; eventually you will know who everyone is." The words were far from comforting, because Carla didn't want to know everyone later, she wanted to know them know.
Sighing she stopped in front of what would unofficially be her mother in law. Grace gave Carla a soft look before turning her attention back to counting the small group of women around her. Carla had found it odd that she was only counting the women, but didn't question. She was sure it was some unknown wolf pack thing she didn't know about yet.
When she was finished she placed her finger to her lip in thought. The women around her bounced in excitement. The women were a lot older then Carla and all probably hovered around the age of Grace.
"It looks like we are starting." Grace murmured, the women around them seemed to perk up at the exact time everyone else started to walk towards Alcide. Grace nodded her head and directed the smaller group of women towards another empty space of grass, away from what her son was doing.
"Okay ladies, this is all new to Carla so we are going to take it slow." Grace said stopping by a small log on the ground. A few glances were shared between the women; Carla felt the embarrassment crawl up her cheeks. The urge to go home was strong.
A dark look crossed Grace's face and an instant silence hung over the girls. "You all seem to forget this position was once new to every leader." Grace snapped, only a few of the girls dared to nod their heads, but others were not so easily convinced.
"Besides, until Carla is ready… I will be guiding her." The tension in the air lessened, Carla could feel the tight tension in her chest begin to unwind. If she had Grace to guide her, she would be fine and she wouldn't be a big as a failure as she thought she would. To be honest Carla didn't have any clue as to why there was a smaller group of only women around them, and she gave Janice a pleading glance.
"If that's settled, I would like to introduce Carla." Grace pointed to her, Carla didn't know if she was required to say anything but when Grace continued on with her speech she figured the time had passed. Grace pointed to every single woman in the group naming each of them off. They all nodded when their name was called and Carla smiled at each of them awkwardly. She wasn't good with names, she never was. But she was good with faces. None of them would know she forgot their names as soon as she was told.
"Carla this is what we would call your Ladies-in-waiting. You are in charge of these women, and each one of them has a specific job. Mostly to look after you, but their jobs range from child care, midwifes, and other kinds of family care. A pack takes care of everyone in the pack. Typically in a pack the women are in charge of social care, whereas the men are in charge of our safety. Sometimes it works a little bit differently, but because the two of you are mated we won't touch on that subject. I know this is a lot right now, but you and I will sit down later and I will explain it to you in greater detail, tonight is really just a way for everyone to get together and start the process of a new pack. " Carla couldn't feel more greatful for Grace's hand on her shoulder, the idea of running that much was beyond her, and with the new baby coming in a few months she had no idea how she was going to handle it. Grace silently turned her eyes away from the group, and removed her hand from Carla's shoulder.
Something was happening with the large group around Alcide. A small number of them were slowly walking towards the woods, and stripping their clothes off. The sight was new to Carla and she could feel the heat rising on her face, she had never seen so many people naked at once. Alcide sent a nod over to his mother, allowing her to know that they were ready.
"Ladies, it looks like they are done. The run begins." Grace chimed; the women didn't sit around to be told twice, each of them walked towards the edge of the woods. They grouped up and it was evident that they were whispering about Carla. Carla's face was quickly etched with a frown.
"Don't worry about them, if there is one thing you can learn tonight, is that your ladies in waiting are always righteous bitches. " Janice's words would have almost been a comfort, if it was something Carla hadn't already figured out. Carla had always found it hard to get along with a large group of women which is why she typically stayed away.
"Come on, your man is waiting for you." Janice grabbed her wrist before she could respond and dragged her towards Alcide who was nodding his head in conversation with Red. Both men were slowly stripping their clothing off. Carla could feel heat rising in her stomach more as the clothing came off her mate. It was normal for her to feel like this now, which she would have thought was crazy before their binding. If it was up to her, Alcide would be naked all the time.
The small conversation between the two men was cut short when Carla arrived, and Janice was called off before she could say anything. Most of their pack was now gone, disappearing off into the woods to check out their new surroundings.
"Hey babe." Alcide greeted, pulling off another sock. Carla sent him a small smile, her arms crossed over her chest. She was trying very hard not to look around wide eyed, and not to jump his bones. The look wasn't missed by Alcide, and he knew she was uncomfortable.
"You okay?" he asked stopping his strip down, his pants were slightly undone and Carla could clearly see his underwear through the opening. They were a normal pair of underwear, gray and there was nothing in particular that was interesting about them. This didn't seem to stop them from looking very good on her boyfriend. That feeling was slowly starting to become stronger, she cleared her throat.
"Yes, it's just a little overwhelming." She choked, her mind was clearly on sex at that moment, and it wasn't hard for Alcide to figure it out. It was after all not hard to smell. Carla of course didn't know this because Alcide knew how embarrassed she would be if he told her.
It reminded him of how little she knew, and at the same time it reminded him about all the things he had still yet to teach her.
"I know babe, it will take a while. But I'll always be here for you." He leaned in to give Carla a quick kiss, then pulled away from her before she could respond. His hands were once again on his hips and he slid the remainder of his pants off.
"Just so you know, emotions get a little high during runs so you will see couples having sex." He said folding his pants up neatly before placing them with his shoes on the ground.
"What?" A shocked look crossed Carla's face, and it slowly started to turn pink. She couldn't imagine walking in on another couple in the middle of an intimate moment like that. But it didn't seem to faze Alcide.
"You know how we get, it's exactly the same. Don't worry about it too much, its normal and everyone has seen it, or done it. So no one is judging." The embarrassment deepened in her face, she couldn't handle the idea of her fellow pack mates seeing her on the ground under her boyfriend like…that.
She had opened her mouth to protest this, her mind and body now clearly set on the idea that they would no longer be having random sex in the woods when he stopped her. There was a lot stranger things that happened in a wolf pack, and she was just starting to learn.
"Also, don't be alarmed if someone sticks their nose up your back end. They can smell the pregnancy on you, and they tend to get very curious." He tilted his head in thought, his face scrunched up. The very idea would have been tempting to him, if he wasn't so use to the sent. He also hadn't missed the looks from other male pack members.
The males were usually the ones who were extremely curious about the sent, and it wasn't uncommon for it to cause sexual arousal. Not that anyone would try anything with Carla, but they would try with their own respected partners.
Whereas the females seemed to knit closer to a pregnant female, it wouldn't be long before Carla had a following of females around her at all times. It had already started, but Carla hadn't noticed because his mother and sister where the two who had started.
"Sounds like a great time." Carla groaned sarcastically, the sound brought a smile to Alcide's face. The comment was more than expected from her. Pulling off the remainder of his clothes he shifted, then peered up at Carla to do the same.
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