I sat beside Chrissy, waiting for Drew and Scott to finish changing. Sitting on the edge of the woods, we were able to see the back porch where Cora sat with Sarah. Cora wasn't a fan of running with a big group of rowdy twenty somethings. When the two boys appeared, all eyes looked around, waiting for someone to take charge. When no one moved, Drew leapt on Tyler's back and dashed away before my older brother could react. The assault set everyone off. We didn't need to care how loud we were. It was a relief compared to how careful we were in Oakville. This was a private property; we weren't like to stumble across anyone hiking through the woods.
The path of destruction behind us would slowly grow over and no one would question any of it. Wolves crashed through the forest, chasing each other, and playing a naïve game of tag. We weren't intentionally staying together but somehow; the mass destruction was more fun. The small pond on the property opened in front of us as we broke through the last of the trees. Half of the wolves kept running, diverting around the pond. They continued through the trees on the other side. Slowly down, I could hear the yips caused by teeth biting at heels. Beside me, Drew leapt at Luke and the ground shook under my paws as their large bodies hit the ground. I stopped at the edge of the pond, looking into the water. Even though I was a different species, I could picture my human face looking back at me. I was no longer freaked out seeing fur and a snout looking at me in reflections.
A punch of pain hit me in the side and my paws lifted off the ground as I was flung through the air. My head submerged under the water and the liquid rushed up my nose. Swimming to the surface, I sputtered out the cold water as best I could. Swimming with layers of fur meant to protect from the cold wasn't an enjoyable task. In my peripheral, I could see another wolf was knocked in too. When I saw it was Luke, I knew who the culprit was. Drew was on his side on the ground, dark brown fur collecting mud and dead leaves from his heaving laughter. Laughter would be the human sound. What came from the dark auburn wolf was a wheezing noise.
Pulling myself out of the water, I shook off the excess water. I let out a huff at the dampness of my undercoat. I wouldn't dry any time soon. I glared at Drew as he stood up, composing himself. Once Luke got out of the pond, I glanced at him. He dipped his head in understanding and I turned back to Drew, letting out an annoyed growl. My brother looked at us. His eyes widened, and the realization he'd knocked me into the water as well crossed his face. Drew let out a weak huff, an attempted apology. I took a few steps towards him, contemplating how I wanted to get him back. As Luke joined my forward motion, Drew took off into the woods, heading back towards the house. I launched myself after him.
Multiple times Drew attempted to divert further into the woods, but Luke and I herded him back. I had an opportunity to embarrass my brother and I planned on taking it. Drew faltered, stumbling over a rock and I could almost grab his tail in my teeth. Within a hundred yards of the treeline, I leapt. Landing on his back, Drew twisted as he hit the ground and we slid almost a dozen yards, tearing up the grass. Drew snapped his teeth at me, trying to get the upper hand. Luke jogged around us, seeing if he could jump in on the fun.
"Damn Ash, you don't have to rip the man's throat out. Whatever he did probably wasn't that bad," James's voice came from the porch followed by a chorus of chuckles. My father, James and Aaron had joined the others on the porch. I huffed and stepped over Drew, kicking his head with my back paws. Everyone fell silent as tires stopped at the front door. The smell of food carried on the wind just as Will Rhys's voice echoed from the driveway, yelling, "dinner."
I was tempted to growl a warning at the Pack members on the porch to not eat all the food, but it would take too long. I was hungry. As I jogged to my small clearing to change back into a human, I could hear the thundering footfalls of the other wolves to change upon the announcement.
Brandon and I stumbled out of our spots at the same time, pulling our clothes into place. We paused and looking each other over. We broke off running, a race for the food waiting for us. He reached the door first but paused to hold it for me. Brandon waved me into the house ahead of him. I rolled my eyes at his ridiculous behaviour.
"Nice ass, by the way. I always forget how good it looks," he commented.
I smacked him on the arm and Brandon let out a howl of laughter.
"Yes, and I know that very well," I said, my hair was still damp from my unfortunate swim in the pond.
Walking into the kitchen, I came face to face with Rob. We exchanged smiles. Again, I didn't know he would be coming over. Grabbing a plate off the counter, I joined the circling of bodies around the kitchen island, covered in take out containers. James leaned against the far counter, waiting for access to the fridge. After making eye contact, he winked at me, and I rolled my eyes. Dinner rarely changed. I grabbed a handful of fries off his plate and before he could complain, I shoved them in my mouth. James glared at me, which I responded with a wink and a grin.
Finding a space at the counter, I piled my plate with chicken wings, fries, and salad. James handed me a soda as I passed him. I took the can from his slowly, almost expecting him to have shaken it. A hand appeared over my plate. I held it away from Drew, raising my eyebrow in annoyance.
"You're kidding me? After what you pulled outside? I took an unnecessary swim in October because of you. My food goes no where near your mouth."
"I just saw you take food from James," he commented.
"And your point?"
Drew shook his head and James started laughing, "she's got you there, bud. I don't know how you thought you'd take food from her."
We sat at one of the multiple patio tables scattering our deck. Nicole was already outside, picking at her food. She'd obviously been waiting in the kitchen when the food to arrive. Perk of being human. She got first pick but usually, she was the only one who remembered that.
All the humans were back to normal, and the deck was full. Putting my hair in a bun to avoid a mess and I glanced at the door as it slid open. Robb stepped outside, awkwardly looking for an available seat.
"Hey Brit," I called, nodding my head to the empty seat across from me. He nodded his head, accepting my offer. I hadn't spoken to our visitor often during the times he'd visited Talia Grove. My Pack brothers had occupied his time, showing him the many ways they'd learned to get in trouble. Scarfing down dinner, we asked each other general, easy conversation questions. I chuckled to myself. It's nice to see that no matter where they were from, a werewolf was always hungry.
My empty plate of food pushed aside as Robb and I had engrossed ourselves in conversation about literature, even when the others returned with full plates of seconds.
"Hey Ashlyn," Will called my attention, "if you're going to flirt with Robb, can you do something about it? I don't want to see the poor guy turn into a mess like James."
The peace my body had disappeared as annoyance filled my veins. The others on the deck went dead silent other than a few commenting to Will that his remark wasn't cool or appropriate. James released a deep hum of annoyance from behind me at another table. My jaw locked, glaring at Will. His smirk made the annoyance within me boil.
"You're on my last nerve, Rhys. Keep it up and I'll knock the shit out of you."
My words came out as a growl. A twinge of satisfaction shot through my heart seeing the twinge of uncertainty in his eyes. I turned away from him, catching a look at James. His eyes were locked on his empty plate, discomfort written across his face. He met my eyes moments later. With a huff of breath, James looked away. I couldn't read his expression in the short time, but I felt nauseous. The porch stayed silent as James stand up and took his plate inside.
After a moment of staring at the shut door, I turned my attention back to Robb. I gave him a small apologetic smile, but Robb continued to look confused.
"Are you and James not dating?"
It was an innocent enough question. I'd been asked plenty of times over my life. It was the low chuckles that made me angry. Will's laughter was the loudest, not trying to hide it at all. Will took to enjoy James's misery. I stood up, kicking my chair in the direction that the laughter had come from.
"Grow up," I growled. I slammed the back door behind me, the wall shuddering. I knew I was overreacting, but sometimes showing big emotions was what they needed to get it through their thick heads that they'd done something wrong. I didn't go looking for James. I could have found him in his room if I wanted to. I knew he'd heard my reaction through the house, and he'd just try to say it was not a big deal. He'd brush off over how uncomfortable the situation was. I didn't want to hear the words I'd heard and said over and over again. Going straight to my room, I shut the door much softer, flopping on to the bed. A huff left my chest, and my bed became ridiculously uncomfortable. Instead, I curled myself into a ball on my reading chair.
My mind wandered over the feelings shared between James and me. None of the relationships I had with my Pack brothers got anywhere close. I often wondered if any romantic feelings between James and I had grown naturally. Or were the feelings there because people made assumptions and our brains generated them?
No. There wasn't anything romantic. The behaviour between James and I was a natural progression. It wasn't as if one day we'd jumped into situations like cuddling when James was upset. I'd learned these things over a lifetime of being together. The times that we were lonely or horny and ended up physically together were natural reactions too. We'd both been sexual with other people. We weren't exclusively naked with only each other. We may have both stopped seeing other people in the past few months but that had to do with other things in our lives. Not each other.
My imagination skipped forward to a hypothetical future. Was there a possibility where I'd reach a point in the future where I'd find out that I was in love with James truly, and we'd missed out on years of being together? What if I was with someone else? Would I break someone's heart just to fall into the stereotype friends-to-lovers that had the potential of not working out?
The old myth of werewolves having mates blossomed in my mind. It was controversial and the few times it'd been brought up around the Pack, it caused debate. No one knew if it was real. Was James my "mate" and I didn't know? Was there someone else out there and falling in love with James was just setting us both up for heartbreak?
Memories of James and I hooking up flashed in my brain. I knew in my heart the fact we'd crossed lines of temptation and lust with no second thoughts or concern about of falling in love said something. There was something to the continuous words thrown at me by my friends, family, and strangers.
But I wasn't going to confront him with that. Not any time soon. I planned not to have that impending conversation unless it was shoved in my face.
Glancing at my digital clock, it dawned on me I'd been sitting in this chair for at least two hours. As I stood up, my legs protested with the tingling feeling of the blood pumping again. I let out a groan, stretching my body. I sprawled across my bed, loading my laptop up and let music blaring from the speakers. Feeling the pulse of the bass through the bed, I considered buying actual speakers, a knock sounded against my door. Calling out for the person to enter, Chrissy stuck her head in.
"Is it safe for me to come in?"
I chuckled, sitting up, "yes, it's safe."
Shutting the door behind her, Chrissy sat down on the edge of my bed. Shutting the music off, I rested my head on her lap. Her fingers ran through my hair and neither of us said a word. I was glad to not have to explain myself.
With my eyes shut, I asked, "where's James?"
"In his room, I think. Tyler went to talk to him before I came here," Chrissy answered. I nodded, feeling the anxiety rise over my next question.
"Do you think James is in love with me?" my voice cracked, having a hard time leaving my throat. My eyes now open, staring out the window as I waited for Chrissy's answer.
"It doesn't matter what I think. You two need to figure that out," Chrissy's voice had a loving yet sincere tone to it. I sat up, shooting her a look of disgust.
"That's so cheesy. Jeez, if I wanted that sort of answer, I'd talk to Cora."
A giggle left my mouth as I finished the sentence, Chrissy joining in quickly. Catching my breath, I rested my head on her shoulder.
"Seriously, what's your actual opinion?"
Chrissy sighed, "yes, I think James is in love with you. I also think you're in love with him but it's easier for you to stay in the dark and keep it as a friendship instead of taking that next step."
Groaning loudly, I flopped face first on the mattress. There was the answer I was expected. Didn't mean I wanted to hear it. Chrissy let out apologetic laugh, rubbing her hand on my back.
Keeping my face against the bed, I could hear approaching footsteps then a knock against my door.
"Come in," I called, sitting up. Robb appeared around the door, looking uncomfortable.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked.
"I was heading out and I wanted to apologize for earlier. I know that's what set off the chain of reactions. I also wanted to say sorry for my assumption about you and James."
I smiled at Robb, "honestly, it's fine. Will has a knack for setting people off. I'm surprised he's still able to talk after some of the things he's said. I'm sorry you had to see that though, it's not my pretty side. Blame it on the testosterone constantly around. It's also an easy assumption to make."
Robb just smiled, nodding and closed my door as he left.
"That was sweet of him," Chrissy commented and I nodded, dropping back on to the bed.
"Trying to keep on our good side, I assume," I muttered, not aware of how good Robb's hearing was.
"Do you want to go for coffee? My treat if you drive," she asked.
I leapt off my bed, an obvious answer to her question of free caffeine.