Finding My Pack (16 page)

  I'm placed on cool sheets, a firm pillow under my head. Someone removes my shoes and socks, running their fingers over my toes once they're bare. It tickles. "Did you get Noah?" I mumble sleepily. I don't hear the answer if there was one because I drift off to sleep.

Ash

A
s soon as I hear a vehicle rolling up outside, I jump up from my perch on the railing of the porch. When Remy told Logan to 'go cheer up our girl' I doubt he meant to steal her for the entire fucking day. That's what happens when you get him and Tristan together. Expect nothing but the unexpected. She better not have gotten so much as a damn paper cut. Whatever injuries my Little One gets I'll make sure those in charge of her care gets twice that.

  Reed's SUV pulls right in front of me, followed by Tristan's car. I sniff the air, finding Kitten in the white one. I'd know her smell anywhere. A woman has never smelled as good as her. I've been on this earth for centuries, so that's really saying something.

  I throw the back door open, impatient to see her smile again. I scared her earlier today and I'm desperate to make it up to her. The poor thing is slumped over in her seat, asleep. At least she has a seatbelt on. That's a good sign. I'm not even gonna ask about the fucked up bear sitting next to her, buckled in as well.

  I gently extract her from the car, trying to wake her. She's probably worn out. Logan can be tiring on his own, add in Tristan ... She stirs slightly as I cup her tiny head in my palm, bringing her face to my neck. She brings her arms up, her fingers glancing over my hair. It feels amazing to have her in my arms, her hands on me. It takes everything I have not to get hard right now. Kitten inhales deeply, letting out a contented sigh. Did she just sniff me? Maybe she has a little wolf in her too. I snort at the thought. If only.

The others stay silent as we make our way in the house. They know better than to question me as I head directly to my room. I've missed her. I've worried about her. She's mine for the night. Ours forever, but MINE for tonight.

  I lay her down as gently as I'm able. It's not in my skill set, but I'm gonna have to learn with Kitten in my life. I untie her sneakers, slipping them off. She has the tiniest little feet I've ever seen. I have to know what they look like so I take her socks off as well. I'm mesmerized by her little toes. I trace each one, loving the way her smooth skin feels under my rough fingers. I vow to protect each precious little one of them. I can't help but put my hand to the bottom of her foot. I smile, yep my hand is bigger. I shake my head.

  "Did you get Noah?" Her soft sleep filled voice reaches my ears. Damn that was sexy. Images of her lying next to me float through my brain. Her sex-mussed hair, my scent all over her bared skin as I watch her wake, morning after morning. I'm stopped in my train of thought by her words. WHO THE FUCK IS NOAH?

  I leave my room silently, closing my door behind me. I race down the hall in a rage. No man's name other than mine and my brother's should EVER cross my Kitten's perfect lips. I sniff out the others. They've gathered in Remington's office. I kick the door the rest of the way open, seeking out Logan. I stomp over to him getting in his face.

  "Who the fuck is Noah, and where can I find him?" I growl at him.

Logan

                Remy was a little ticked at us when we came in, but he called a family meeting. He said it was to catch the rest of them up with what happened today, but I think he just missed having Kitten here and can't stand that he missed out. No way would he ever admit that, though. Just as Remy asks me to fetch Ash, the door crashes open, knocking into the wall.

  Ash is in my face immediately. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared shitless. My wolf tries to rise to the surface, but I tamp him down, I don't want to challenge Ash. His deep voice is deceptively low, his words a growl. Ash yells when he's angry, when he doesn't, shit is about to hit the fan. "Who the fuck is Noah, and where can I find him?"

  My eyes widen. Do not laugh, do not laugh, do not laugh. I chant to myself. Thankfully, Tristan explodes in laughter, taking Ash's intense focus off me and onto him. Before Ash can jump him Reed holds up Kitten's ugly bear.

  "Ash, meet Noah. I don't think he's much of a threat dude." I watch as the tension drains from my brother. The guys have a good laugh at his expense. Ash usually hates to be laughed at. I think he's too relieved to care right now, though.

Remy

  That's the second door of mine that he's kicked in today. It's a damn good thing he's the one who fixes things around here. We're going to have to talk one on one about his rage issues. I thought this was under control. Another time perhaps.

  "Now that we have that cleared up, take a seat, Ash." I use my most commanding voice on him. I lost a little confidence in myself this morning but I'm still the alpha around here and I'll not have it forgotten.

  "What's with the hideous bear?" Jace asks Reed, who still has the filthy looking thing.

  "I won it for Kitten at the fair." He shrugs.

  "What happened to it? Car accident?" Jace says laughingly.

  Reed stiffens, clearly insulted. "Nothing happened to it, I mean...not recently. I told her to pick whichever one she wanted. She chose this one and named it Noah because it survived a storm. Kitten loves it. She obviously asked for it or else Ash wouldn't have stormed in here."

  Jace looks at the stuffed animal again. The disbelief apparent on his face. "She really likes that...thing?"

  Tristan speaks now. "Yeah, our Kitten is all about saving the unfortunate. I don't think we'll be able to take her anywhere without her being adorably heartbreaking." He shakes his head with a small smile on his face.

  "Unless you dare to shoot a paintball at Tristan, then she goes apeshit!" Logan exclaims.

  "Start from the beginning, neither of you are making sense to the rest of us," I say, exasperated. I've grown used to knowing Kitten's every movement and not having her here today has worn my patience thin.

Tristan and Logan begin by telling us about their trip to Splatter Arena. It wouldn't be my first choice for an outing, but I sent the two of them for a reason. They are better with this new generation than the rest of us. Logan mentions how Kitten was initially afraid of the guns, which makes sense, she's probably seen real ones in action. I'm insanely proud when Tristan talks about her not being afraid once she got shot at. In fact, she took out four players on her own. We all have a good laugh when he reenacts her battle cry, defending Tristan from the pink paint. She even got the other team's flag. Impressive as hell for a first timer.

  "Then she was like, 'did you get my flag?'". Logan chimes back in. "I didn't know what she was talking about. She meant OUR flag. She explained why it was hers, how she earned it. You should have seen her reaction when the manager tried to take it back. It was epic man. She clutched it to her chest like she was ready to die for it."

  "Where is it now? Did you make she got to keep it?" I ask. They better have.

  "It's in my pocket. Like I'd let it out of my sight after all she did to have it. Just FYI to the rest of you, Kitten takes competition seriously. Very seriously. I don't think SHE even knew that she was that competitive until today. And if you offer up a prize, you damn well better be ready to hand it over." I'm a little surprised when he doesn't laugh. Logan tends to be a bit dramatic and finds most things funny. He must be a hundred percent serious. How interesting, our frightened little woman turns into a war goddess when pressed. Good to know. Ash seems to be over the moon at this new information while Jace and Kellan both have frowns on

their faces.

  Reed takes over, telling us about their time at the fair. About Kitten's initial excitement, about how she walked away from the first game because of how the goldfish were treated.

  "Damn Finn, why couldn't you just let the girl win a goldfish? She doesn't need her pretty little brain warped by your freakish knowledge on fish." Jace huffs. I too question whether I would have chosen to tell her that. Anyone who has ever been to a carnival of any type has that information.

  Staring Jace down, Finn explains himself. "She would have wanted to know. Kitten likes knowing things, she's not satisfied being coddled and paraded around like an airhead. Besides, what would happen once her prize died? What then? She has abandonment issues, she would have cried and been devastated again." He lowers his eyes.

   Ah, I see now. He said 'again'. He's still feeling the guilt of pretending to be her pet. I still don't know what he was thinking doing that. I know he got caught in his wolf form, but he should have run off. He had said that she looked like she needed a friend and he wanted to be close to her. I can understand that...somewhat. But still...it was wrong.

  "Did you manage to redeem yourself to her today, Finn?" I ask.

  "I think so, that incident is more of an inside joke to us now. She was quite...friendly with me today." I'm a little jealous of that last statement. I'll have to work on that. I'm glad that at least one problem was solved today.

  Reed continues on. He explains how Kitten came to have the bear. "As I said, I told her to pick a prize. I thought for sure she was going to choose a pristine white one with a red bow, but she changed her mind at the last minute, choosing that thing instead. The attendant almost didn't give it to her, explaining that it had been left out in a storm and damaged. Her eyes went ice cold man, like, just froze over. She put that guy in his place good, saying it wasn't the bear's fault it was left out. Then she..."

  Reed trails off, the sad looking smile I've noticed he gets when he thinks about her. Reed is the most laid back person I know, nothing really brings him down. I know his sadness is because he cares about her. He's going to have to accept her past and move on from it at some point, though.

  "She what..." Kellan speaks for the first time at this meeting. I know he's like me. He was worried about her and felt left out today. He was invited to the fair but had to miss it because he was needed at the clinic. Jace was livid when Reed and Finn left without him today. He wanted to show off for Kitten, I'm sure. Or have her on his arm, parading her around like Finn suggested. No matter how hard I try, I cannot get that man to realize that he is no longer part of the Ton. Hell, the Ton doesn't even exist anymore. I managed to calm him down, explaining how much fun he would have trying to win her good graces. He'd have the opportunity to woo her like he was expected to back in his time. I truly hope that advice doesn't backfire.

  "...she took that bear and acted like her whole world stopped. Like it was the biggest diamond there ever was. She told me it was the best present she ever received." Reed takes a seat. I guess he's done talking, off in his own little world now. I catch Jace's smug look and struggle not to roll my eyes. Oh yes, it certainly will backfire.

  Logan picks up where Reed left off. "We took her on rides after that. Seriously, that girl had already broken my heart over the games. She had a great time riding. I tell ya, that girl is magnificent when she's carefree and laughing. There was an incident on the Ferris wheel though, I don't really get it since she wasn't afraid of heights before that but she had a freakout, Tristan used his magic Kitten taming voice and she calmed down until we could get her off."

  "Yeah and then we filled her full of fried goodness. She actually got a funnel cake for you Remy, but she was eyeing it with so much lust I told her to ahead and eat it. Powdered sugar is a good look on her." Tristan butts in. She thought about me, huh? I can't stop the grin that spreads on my face.

  "Tell them about the roller-coaster Finn." Reed comes back from his inner thoughts.

  Finn has a broad smile as he obliges. "Kitten wanted to ride the roller-coaster again. I told her we could go wait in line again but she was having none of that. She told us in the most reasonable voice I've ever heard, that it was still her turn because on swing sets you have to wait for the person on the swing to be done before the next person gets a turn, and she wasn't done with the roller-coaster. Personally, I've never thought of it that way but it does make sense. I think she has her own logic and she isn't eager to budge from it. Just like with the flag, in her mind, she earned it because she defended it, even though the rest of the world would say that it belonged to Splatter Arena."

  I see Finn's point. Kitten probably had to develop her own logic because there wasn't anyone around to teach her differently. She's very observant. I remember watching her watch Jace at dinner, seeing how he ate. Mimicking his movements. She must have watched other people interact and decided what their actions meant on her own. What interests me most about this is that fact that her logic seems better than everyone else's. In today's society children have one set of rules and adults another. How that happened, I have no idea. It didn't use to be that way. Used to be, from the time you were born, you were trained to be an adult. You didn't wait to "grow up" to learn a skill. Your parents passed down their skill to you and as soon as you could do something for yourself, you did. Simple as that. Kitten's simple logic falls in line with a time that proceeds her by centuries. She's just full of surprises isn't she?