It was kind of unbelievable that Evelyn must have lived close to them. Would they be even more angry when they realized how much time I had spent just under their noses? I was kind of surprised I had never run into any of them before, since I had spent plenty of time in Seaside or with Evelyn. Or maybe I had crossed paths with wolves before and just hadn’t realized it. Once again, I lamented the knowledge I lacked about my own kind.
Both of us got quiet, and traffic started to go faster once we got through the tunnel. I tormented myself with visions of what was going to happen to me once we got to the house and tried to come up with different ways I could turn this situation to my advantage. I came up with nothing.
Cody turned off the main road and onto a dirt road that was mostly hidden. I looked at him dubiously. “Are you sure you are not taking me into the middle of the woods to murder me?” I asked him.
He laughed. “You will see the house in a second. We don’t like anyone being able to see the house from the road. We like our privacy.”
I nodded, and true to his word, we drove up the long driveway towards the house. “Are you close to the beach?” I asked him, curious as to why they would put a mansion in the middle of the woods instead of at the beachfront.
Cody nodded. “There’s a path that goes from the house, through a small section of wooded area, and then onto the beach. We also don’t like beachgoers or passing boats to know that there is a mansion back there.”
That made sense to me. I could see why a house full of werewolves would want to stay hidden from casual human viewers.
I started to squirm as we pulled up to what Cody had described as a “kick-ass mansion.” He wasn’t exaggerating; if anything, he had undersold it. I looked down at my jeans and Uggs...why had I not decided to put on some fancy clothes?
I had a mental image of standing in a room with beautiful men and women dressed to the nines and sneering at me as if I had tracked mud into their gorgeous house. I hunched down in my seat even more as we pulled up the driveway.
There was what looked to be an eight-car garage – eight! Additionally, there was a small parking lot off to the side. Who needs a parking lot at their house? The lot was half-filled with mostly trucks and a Jeep. So, it looked like there were some members of the pack here after all.
My stomach churned, and I was glad that I had eaten that burger a few hours ago; any sooner, and it would be coming up right now.
Cody parked in front of the house and hopped out of his truck. I hesitated to get out, so he came around to the passenger door and opened it. He gave me an encouraging look. “I promise, it is not going to be that bad.”
I just gave him a dirty look. Easy for him to say; he wasn’t the one who was about to be on trial here. He tapped his thumb on the door where he was holding it and looked at the ground, considering his next words carefully. “Not all of us here were exactly ideal candidates for a pack. Austin gave us all a chance. I’m sure that he will do the same for you.”
“So, he’s not…evil or anything?” I asked quietly, searching his eyes.
He burst out in a laugh, and I realized how childish that must have sounded. I was essentially asking him to tell me that the monster under my bed wouldn’t hurt me.
“No, he’s not evil,” he told me with a huge grin on his face. He shook his head and chuckled again before holding out a hand to help me out of the truck. I jumped down, and he shut the door behind me. He tossed his keys up and down in the air as he strode confidently toward the front door.
He opened the door and waved me in. I stepped inside and tried not to stare. I had never been anywhere this nice before. The entryway looked empty, as if someone hadn’t gotten around to decorate just yet. Cody tilted his head to one side, almost as if listening, then stated, “Office.”
He strode off, and I slunk along slowly behind him. He reached a door around the corner and down the hall and stopped. He looked back at me, as if he was just realizing that I hadn’t been right behind him the entire time.
I hurried a little, as I realized he was waiting at the door for me. The closer I got to the door, the harder my heart was pounding. I fought the urge to turn and run the other way. Almost in slow motion, Cody turned the door handle and opened the door.
My eyes were drawn to the two men across the room. One was sitting behind a giant desk, and the other was half-sitting, half-leaning on the front right side of the desk. Both had their eyes on me with weighted stares. Cody had to nudge me forward a little until I was completely in the room.
“Thanks, Cody,” the man behind the desk stated. I couldn’t tell how tall he was while he was sitting, but he was certainly good looking, with dark golden hair and light eyes. He was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt with a few of the top buttons opened. His sleeves were rolled up, and I could see tattoos on his arms, which was an interesting look for someone dressed as a businessman.
I heard the click of the door behind me, and I turned to look for Cody. He was gone, and he had left me here with there with two strangers. I took a couple steps backwards until my back was pressed up against the door.
The main with the dark hair stood completely up from the desk he had been leaning on and started towards me. I just stared at him with huge eyes. He was almost as tall as Cody, and he was muscled, but in a leaner way. He had dark hair and olive skin; he looked Italian or Mediterranean, maybe. He stopped 3 feet in front of me, and we just stared at each other.
“James,” the man at the desk murmured softly. My eyes snapped over to him where he was now leaning forward on the desk with his hands folded in front of him.
James relaxed a little. “Anna, you were not an easy person to track down.”
“Well, why were you tracking me, James?” I answered snarkily.
He snorted. “I received word from two of our wolves on patrol that they had found a fluffy little white wolf prancing around on our territory.”
I huffed. “I’m not fluffy, and I don’t prance.”
“In my report, there was mention of firefly chasing.” He smirked. “Do you also chase butterflies in the daytime?” I turned bright red, mostly because he was right. My wolf loved to play and chase things. Fireflies and butterflies were included on that list of things.
I squared my shoulders back and stepped forward. I was not going to cower in front of this…ass.
I decided to ignore him for the moment and focused on the man with the golden hair at the desk. “I guess I can assume you’re Austin?”
He smiled and leaned back in the chair. “I am.”
“That’s the way you’re going to petition to join our pack?” James asked incredulously.
I just looked at him. I had no idea how I was supposed to petition for a pack. I was a little surprised that joining their pack was an option. I had been expecting to have to finagle my way out of torture and murder like Evelyn had described so many times. Although, by the way that James was looking at me now, torture and murder might still be on the table.
“James is our security expert. He does the initial screening to see if a person is a potential candidate for membership in our pack.”
James scowled. I had the feeling that if it were up to him, I would not be a potential candidate.
“From a security perspective, we do have some questions for you before we can move forward. I see you have a security clearance with the military already. That’s good.” Austin turned the page in an open folder, and I slid a little further into the room. Was that a folder on me?
James swung his arm wide. “Please, come in, have a seat.” Sarcasm dripped from his words.
I didn’t even give him the satisfaction of glaring at him. I just stalked across the room with my head held high and settled into one of the two plush chairs sitting in front of the desk and folded my hands in my lap. James followed me and took up his spot at the front of the desk. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at me. I ignored him.
Austin just smiled at me again. “You
currently work for the Navy. That is also good. Almost all of us here are prior or active duty military.”
My jaw dropped. “How could any of you have been in the military? I thought wolves couldn’t join?”
James chuckled. “Who told you that, little wolf?”
“I…” I didn’t want to mention Evelyn to him. If he did anything to disrespect her memory, I would probably launch myself at him in an attempt to wipe that smirk right off his face.
I just shrugged. “I guess I just thought it would be too difficult to hide what we are.”
Thankfully, he left the topic alone, and Austin continued. “One thing that James could not figure out is where you came from initially.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw James’ face tighten. I imagine that he would not like to be reminded of his failings. I made a note to myself to mention them often. And repeatedly.
“I don’t know either,” I answered honestly. “All I know is that I was adopted. I tried to go online to see if I could use one of those services that links up adopted kids with their birth parents, but I didn’t have any luck.”
I had tried with desperation for years, praying that someone would come take me away from my uncle and the hell I lived in. No one ever did, and I stopped looking once I turned 18 and was out of the house. I figured that if my birth parents wanted to be a part of my life, they would have done so already. Evelyn was more than enough family for me.
However, I was not about to let James know about any of that. I’m sure his research would have shown that I had a relatively normal childhood; Uncle was very careful about what was said about him in the community.
Austin just gave a quiet hum at my answer and continued to look through the folder. I leaned forward as far as I could without being obvious about it, but I really wanted to know what was in that folder.
James tapped his fingers on the desk impatiently. “Do you mind if I get straight to the heart of the matter?”
Austin waved a few fingers in the air without looking up, giving James permission to ask his questions.
“Why was your scent all over the scene of my murder investigation?”
My heart stopped. He had to be talking about Evelyn. “What murder are you investigating?” I asked cautiously.
“Have you pranced through multiple crime scenes lately? You’re having a difficult time telling which one I’m talking about?”
I ground my teeth. I really did not like this guy.
“Well, if there were butterflies involved, I might not have noticed a crime scene,” I replied sweetly.
A laugh burst out of Austin, and James’ face got redder than I thought possible.
“I’m talking about Evelyn Heights,” he ground out.
“That was actually my crime scene investigation,” I told him. “And if you were a good security expert, you would know exactly why I was there.” I crossed my arms across my chest as I sat back in the chair and gazed at him defiantly as I spoke.
At this point, I was sure that he was one of the two men I saw breaking into Evelyn’s house, so I decided to instigate him further. “And you should have also realized I was watching you go through her house later that night. I still haven’t crossed you off my list of suspects.”
James spluttered, so I think that I had assumed correctly, and he had been one of the burglars. Austin chuckled. “I can assure you that James is not the murderer,” he told me. “I had a close eye on him all Saturday night.”
“While you were sleeping?” I looked at him doubtfully. “And what about early that morning?”
“We were on a pack run that night out in the country. I assure you that his alibi is airtight.” Austin still seemed amused, which I took to be a good sign.
“It sounds like James could probably use your help with the investigation,” Austin told me with a twinkle in his eye. It turned out I was wrong; James’ face could get redder. I think Austin might be trying to see just how red he got before he exploded.
“I guess I could help him out,” I groused, playing along with Austin.
“Excellent,” Austin stated. “We don’t offer anyone pack membership right away. We have a thirty-day trial, then a year probation before you are officially in the pack.”
“That seems fair,” I answered. Maybe these wolves were not as bad as the ones Evelyn grew up with. There are bad humans and good humans out there. It makes sense that wolves would also be a mix, since we are human part of the time.
“I need to go over the pack rules with you, to see if you would be able to live with them,” he told me seriously.
My anxiety crept back up, this where he was going to tell me about horrible things that I was going to have to do to be in his pack.
“The first rule is that we always support each other.”
I nodded in confusion.
Austin smiled reassuringly; “What I mean by that is, we treat each other as family. We are organized with a rank structure, but at the end of the day we are all brothers and we always have our brothers’ backs.”
That didn’t sound too bad. That actually sounded nice.
“The second rule is that you respect the rank system that we have in place. You don’t issue challenges, and you don’t disrespect anyone higher ranking or disobey orders. If you have a problem with the way that a superior treats you or something that they ask you to do, you come to Cody, James, or myself. We will sit down with you and work out the problem without having violence involved. Violence within the pack is forbidden.”
I nodded again. None of that would be a problem for me; a non-violent pack sounded exactly like something I would want.
“The next rule is that everyone works for the good of the pack, and everyone contributes. We make sure everyone has a home, a good job, and everything that they need. In return, we ask you to work for the pack or work for one of the businesses that the pack operates.”
I looked at him nervously. “Does your pack currently have an opening for a pharmacist?” I asked dubiously.
James snorted, and Austin shot him a look.
“I understand that you currently work for a military hospital?”
“Yes,” I answered, probably unnecessarily. I’m sure my entire life was written in the fold that he had in front of him.
“We have some pack members who are currently serving active duty or who are enrolled full time in college, so we are flexible with how we can work with you. I will most likely assign you duties that serve the interests of the pack directly, instead of assigning you to a work detail at one of our companies.”
“So, I would be allowed to keep my job?” I asked hopefully.
Austin gave me a warm smile. “Yes, I can see that you like your job. I don’t want to take that away from you. We can find things to work around your schedule.”
My heart started to get lighter. Maybe this could work! Never, had I ever thought that I might be able to join a pack one day, I certainly never thought that I would get to be part of a pack that was so opposite to everything Evelyn had told me about. I was starting to get excited at the thought.
Austin nodded. “Let’s talk about rank,” he continued. “We don’t fight for dominance like a lot of other packs do. You probably think that is odd.”
I shook my head no. I had no idea how other packs worked, not that I wanted to admit that to James.
Austin looked more animated as he spoke. “We use more of a military structure here. Rank is based on your desire and ability to lead, job skills, and merit. Physical strength might factor into some of the work assignments we take on, but strength and the ability to fight well do not always make a good leader.”
I nodded along as he spoke. He was very charismatic, and I could tell this was an important issue to him. What he was saying so far definitely made sense, and I could see huge differences from what Evelyn had told me about wolves.
“We do a lot of things differently in this pack, as you will start to notice as you spend more time with us. Not every
one in the wolf community likes that we are doing something different here, and not everyone is a good fit for our pack. If we decide this isn’t a good fit for you, I will do everything I can to find you a pack that would be a good fit.”
I was surprised at his earnestness and a little touched by his concern for my well-being.
“I take it you are most familiar with the Navy rank structure?” I nodded in agreement.
“We have two prior Navy in the pack, but the majority of us are former Army or prior active duty Marines,” Austin told me. I smiled a little that he had called the Marines “prior active duty.” Most Marines very strongly objected to being called former Marines or ex-Marines; they believed ‘once a Marine, always a Marine.’
My attention went back to Austin as he continued. “You are a civilian at the hospital. Where do you fit in the military ranking system there? Are civilians kept separate or incorporated into the military structure?”
Finally, here was a question I could answer. “Our mission at the hospital is patient care. The CO runs the command similar to the way a ship would be run, with some obvious differences.”
James and Austin seemed to be listening closely, so I continued. “In my department, all the pharmacists are expected to do the same job, whether they are active duty, reservists, GS or contract. The military officers do have some additional requirements and command duties that they are expected to complete, but for the most part we are all interchangeable and work on a rotating schedule.”
He nodded. “That’s unusual to see in the field, but I can understand how health care would be different.”
I nodded. “While at work, a nurse is a nurse, a doctor is a doctor, and a pharmacist is a pharmacist.”
“So, if you were in the Navy, what would your equivalent rank be?”
“Pharmacists are lieutenants when they first come in. The first few years, they do mostly staffing and then get put into more leadership positions. As a staff pharmacist, I would be doing the job of a lieutenant for life, whereas most of the lieutenants I work with now will more into Division Officer or Department Head positions once they reach Lieutenant Commander or Commander.”
Finding Somewhere to Belong Page 7