— Mishka —
I was climbing the fire stairs up to my apartment. I don't take elevators unless I want to be spotted. Which is never when I go back home.
I was tired.
This last job had been a mess.
The only highlight of my day would be the couple of beers I was about to crack open the moment I'll step in.
I smelled something wrong, before I reached my door.
The broken bulbs in the corridor, and the damage on the door, were also excellent clues.
I took my time, listened for any suspicious sounds, and focused on the smells. There were a lot of them in the corridor, which made it harder to cipher through.
I heard TVs from other apartments, and some talks too, but nothing from mine.
I put my bag against the wall, careful not to make a sound, and grabbed my gun.
I pressed my back against the wall, on the side of the doorknob, took the safety off the gun, and gently pushed on the door.
I let it swing halfway open and listened.
The lock was unsalvageable, I wasn't sure the doorknob could be saved either.
There was no sound coming from inside.
There was a whiff of wolves though.
No human did this.
That pissed me off.
A stupid human, not knowing who they're robbing breaking into my home sucks, but a wolf…
They know it belongs to a wolf. They could smell it. But they did it anyways.
Fucking city wolves.
I moved slowly in. I kept the gun aimed down just in case. Those are fireproof floors with concrete slabs, and an accidental discharge would stop a bullet. Not the walls. This is an apartment building, and accidentally shooting your neighbours is not a good long-term strategy.
I scanned each room, moved methodically, clearing one at a time until I was sure no one was hiding anywhere.
Once I was done, I went to grab my bag outside, then closed the door the best I could.
The latch didn't seem to really work, so I put the nearest piece of furniture in front of the door to hold it in place.
Then I went to assess the damage.
Whoever they were, they didn't put much effort in holding back. They didn't seem to care that I'd notice the intrusion right away.
I went room by room, looking for what could be missing.
The TV was gone, and so was the sound system. Most of anything of value.
The safe in my closet was damaged. They had tried to get in, but when I checked inside, everything was untouched.
I should have installed cameras.
For my defence, I've been here only a few months, and I spent most of them working away from home. But still. This is a stupid oversight.
Maybe I should've gotten an apartment with security at the door.
I hadn't thought long term. I didn't even think I'd be here long enough.
I called the Alpha active in this territory.
I'm not part of his pack or anything, but I'd contacted him when I'd moved in. Gotten authorization to move into his territory, which was also supposed to give me some level of protection too. Granted, this is a city pack. Those tend not to have large territories, and navigate among the rest of the population. It's not like they can control who come and goes on their territories, there's like a bajillion humans and whatnot moving around all the time. They don't have a tight leash on anything. They don't have exclusive land either. Hell, some of them recruit their members on the internet. They tend to be an odd bunch to begin with.
Which is why I supposed, they didn't bother too much with a lone wolf like me. It's a good way to hide.
Rural packs and those with land tend to be a lot more skittish about who they let walk on their territories.
Some don't let any non-pack members live on their land. Some are even not fond of guesses either.
But they do tend to have much better security.
My conversation with the Alpha was a let down. He had no good answers. "I've heard of nothing." "I'll look into it." He probably won't find anything.
Fucking city packs.
I got my secured laptop out of the safe, as my other one was gone now and checked my mail.
I went to grab a beer in my fridge.
Of course, they found the beer.
Fucking thieves stole my fucking beer.
Fuck!
This day sucks!
I should set myself a little more permanently somewhere. This way I could have some proper security.
Finding a pack that'll take me would be a doozy. That or I set myself on some property on my own. It could be a passable retirement plan. I've considered it before. But it does include retirement. It's pretty hard to assure security of your own land when you're not on it.
I'm not sure I'm ready to settle. I mean, what would I do with my life? Learn macramé? Build bird houses?
I'd probably go insane within a year.
Besides, I'd need a bit more money to be able to settle like that.
The other option is a pack.
But what kind of pack would take a wolf like me?
My mail app pinged.
I got a new job offer.
I read the email, nice terms, possible multiple gigs. It mentioned a possible permanent position. Interesting.
Let's see what there is to it.
I answered them, then went to pack my stuff.
I got more ammo from my safe, and a few additional guns—just in case. Then I grabbed my machete—again, just in case. I shoved those in my bag and swapped the dirty clothes for clean ones.
Now I only have to do something about that damn door.
And find me some beer.
— Darren —
I got up early.
After last night's dinner, I asked Eva on a date. Our first.
We'll spend all day together, go to town, get to know one another.
I really want us to have a good time.
Last night's dinner took an unforeseen direction. I mean, I expected the curiosity, and the questions. She comes from a notorious pack. Has an infamous brother. But it got a little awkward in the end, and that's not what I wanted. At the same time, I was there with everyone, trying to wrap my head around Blakemore.
I'm kinda seriously considering moving there.
Coming from a relatively conservative household, Blakemore is pretty out there. I'm sure the sheer mental gymnastics required to consider its mere existence gave my father ulcers.
However, what got me thinking was what type of man build something like that from the ground up. And so early in his life.
He might become my Alpha, and brother-in-law. I can't just write this off as a novelty pack from far away, to gossip and speculate about when I'm bored.
On top of that, Eva's father is also an active Alpha.
In consideration, there's probably Alphas everywhere there. Maybe I'll just feel at home? Who knows?
I got to Eva's room early. I wanted to get a move on before Ana would get the brilliant idea to make it a double date, or a group thing.
If she sticks with us, she'd hack the whole day away from us, and we'll have to keep up with her pace.
I don't know how my brother does this. She's nice and all, but that woman drives me crazy.
"Ack!" I heard on the other side of the door, when I knocked.
"Hi! You're early," Eva said as she opened the door. Part of her hair was curled. Maybe a third of it.
"Well, I did say we could leave early."
"But this is early early." Her eyes were a little wide.
"It's too early?"
"Hem. It's okay, I just didn't plan for early enough."
"You want me to come back later?"
"I can hurry. If you don't mind waiting," she said with a doubtful expression. "Otherwise, if you have anything else to do, I can text you when I'm ready."
"I don't mind waiting," I said. And she let me in.
She went back to the little desk with the mirror and curler and makeup and other girly stuff, whatever those are. I could barely distinguish lipstick from hand cream.
In the meantime, I sat on her bed.
"You sure you're okay with waiting."
"Sure," I answered. "Quite frankly, I'm afraid to be spotted by Ana, so it's better if I hide here until you're ready."
"Why you hide from her?"
"To not get this day hijacked."
She snorted. "She's a little intense."
"A little? She drives everyone nuts. You've seen nothing yet."
"I don't know if I should be excited or terrified."
"I don't know about the former, but definitely the latter."
"Did you plan something for today, or we wing it?"
"A bit of both. I picked a few options, and dependent on what you like or if we feel like excitement or quiet, we'll choose. But if you have something in mind, I'm okay with improvising whatever."
"So you're okay with improvisation and last-minute changes?"
"It's mostly how I've survived so far. Dealing with the unforeseen is my nature."
"So you generally wing it?"
"I can plan. But I usually get a few plan Bs in case. And I won't panic if everything is scrapped and changed at the last moment."
She nodded and spend the next ten minutes finishing her hair.
Then she began makeup, so I picked up my phone and checked the news or whatever.
She continued her work in silence for half an hour until she rose and came to me.
"Ready," she said.
I closed my phone and rose from lounging on her bed.
"Wow," I said.
It took a while but I felt she'll turn a few heads today. She looked incredible.
She smiled smugly.
We tiptoed to my car as if we were a bunch of robbers sneaking around, which looked a lot like us goofing around more than anything else but to the finest trained eye, and we got in the car giggling.
We began our excursion to a nice little place with nice waffles and incredible home-roasted coffee. They even did the little designs in the froth, which got Eva cooing over it.
Then we went to the park that surrounds the lake, where there are a few water features, and large flower beds, and quaint little thickets of woods. We walked around the lake three times, talking about our families, school, work, hobbies, friends.
She was really close to her sisters. Had a thing for ice cream (but again, who doesn't). Had a few friends from high school she was close to, but none as close as she was with her sisters. Apparently she hasn't done that much dating, because her family and brother are intimidating, and most stayed away. And the few time someone didn't, turned out she was being used. Knowledge which gave me a whole new insight on us. She was used to being treated differently because of her circumstances. Which was not why I was interested in her, obviously, but my father though … he got me worried.
He spent all week asking me questions, asking me to ask her things.
I had to cut him short a few times yesterday evening. I tried to be as subtle as possible. But he was becoming less and less subtle himself. He wanted to use this as an opportunity.
I don't know if he had a plan, or if he was just fishing for something to gain out of this, but it really worried me.
He could easily get her spooked. Even more so if she's experienced being used in the past like this. I don't want him to screw this up, and make it seem like I'm into influence, or fame, or money, or title, or deals for my father, or pack.
I wouldn't want to be used like that either.
I just don't know how much I'm going to have to insulate her from him.
And I also know that if he doesn't get what he wants from me, he might conscript my brothers or anyone he can in his scheming. Blindsiding me.
I told her about my little crew of friends.
And she wanted to meet them. I don't know if it's cool or worrisome. But I guess she's interested in knowing more about me, so that's nice.
I haven't come out to my friends about my whole mate thing, and moving away, and all that. I've no idea how they're going to react.
We grabbed a bite at a cafe and went to eat it outside, picnicking in a smaller park where there's a small stage with street musicians playing. We snuck a bottle of wine that we drank secretly and chilled there for a couple of hours.
We went shopping in the afternoon, and I discovered she's really into shopping, I mean really into shopping.
After all that walking, we chose a cool place to eat where they have small table, nice bite-size meals, and comedians on stage.
We laughed. Had fun. I considered this pretty much a success.
Until my phone rang.