Finding Somewhere to Belong

by C. C. Masters

  That made sense to me. “Well, I’m independent and can provide for myself just fine.”

  Mason grinned. “Don’t worry, we will make sure no one spoils you.”

  “I call first dibs on any presents that pack members try to give Anna!” Jason called out.

  I threw my pillow at him and sat back up. I put legs back down on the floor to sit up straight. I was surprised to realize that now that I had been getting used to feeling Mason’s touch, I felt the absence of his warmth.

  The doorbell rang. “Food’s here!”

  Chapter 8

  The guys explained what they knew of wolf etiquette to me as we prepared dinner. I assigned them all slicing and dicing duties as we prepared lime chicken fajitas and ground beef tacos with homemade guacamole and salsa. They both thought it was a little excessive for me to use steak to make my own ground beef, but I promised they would taste the difference.

  I was confused as to why Austin and James thought the twins would be a good resource for wolf etiquette. Most of what they told me was about dominance struggles, which Austin didn’t allow in his pack. They were clueless about having females in the pack, and they both admitted they preferred to avoid female wolves altogether. Mason was quick to add “except you.”

  A short time later, we sat down to eat, and they admitted I was right about making everything from scratch.

  They ate enthusiastically, and while I had thought we would have plenty of leftovers, the food was gone quickly. I had underestimated the amount of food that two grown male wolves would eat. I could only imagine how much it would take to feed a pack.

  After cleaning up dinner, we went back to the living room and relaxed with full bellies. Jason checked his phone. “You get anything from James yet?”

  “No, but he might be hunting down his car by now, though,” Mason grinned.

  “We haven’t even given it a mud bath yet.” I frowned. “We can’t let him find us now!” I jumped up, and they both laughed.

  “Hurry up and pack up your stuff. We will get the car dirty on the way back and have it back in the garage while he is out looking for us,” Mason told me.

  “I’m pretty sure we will get at least one threatening phone call before he comes after us though,” Jason added. “So, we will get some warning.”

  I laughed and ran upstairs. Kelsey had given me one of her old luggage sets when she upgraded to a Luis Vuitton set. It was black with hot pink heart and the guess logos. Not exactly my style, but it was free and worked for my purpose.

  I tossed all my toiletry items in one of the bags and after a moment of hesitation added my hair dryer. Hey, I might want to look nice again one day.

  I dragged the larger bag into my closet and just starting piling things in it. Gym clothes, sweaters, jeans, bras and panties all went it there. My strategy was to pack as much as the bag would fit, and then I would probably have what I needed when I got wherever I was going.

  I sat on top of the suitcase so I could zip it and looked around my closet. Crap, I forgot shoes.

  I wasn’t about to repack my bag, so I just grabbed my backpack and threw some sneakers and flats in it.

  I decided the most efficient way to get all three of my bags down the stairs was to stand at top of the stairs and throw the backpack down. I watched it bounce down a couple of stairs and then slide to the bottom of the staircase. It seemed to work well, so I just gave the other two pieces of luggage a push over the edge of the stairway. They thunked down the stairs quite satisfactorily, so I went back in my bedroom to grab my charger.

  I bounded down the stairs and jumped over the pile of stuff that had landed at the bottom of the stairway. Mason watched with an amused look on his face from where he sat on the couch. Jason was nowhere in sight.

  “Are you guys ready?” I asked.

  Jason walked into sight from where he had been standing in the kitchen. He glanced at his phone. “That was, like, five minutes of packing.”

  “Dude, when a girl gets ready for something in a reasonable amount of time, you don’t question it.”

  I rolled my eyes at Mason. It wasn’t that difficult to pack when you just threw most of what you owned into a suitcase. I didn’t need a lot of clothes since the hospital provided me with a fresh pair of scrubs to wear to work every day, so it’s not like I had a lot to choose from.

  I picked up my purse and shoved my phone and iPad into it, along with my charger. I hesitated for a moment, thinking about if I was forgetting anything important. Nope.

  To my surprise, the guys had already picked up my bags, and we were ready to head out. I said a sad goodbye to my house; I might not be back until the end of the week.

  I set the security alarm and locked the door on my way out. It looked like Mason was driving this time, and Jason had already called shotgun. The back seat was fine with me.

  “Let’s go to the park around the block, it’s always muddy because it’s part marshland,” I suggested.

  The close proximity to the park is one of the reasons I decided to live out here. The best part of the park is that there were no streetlights, so everyone stayed away once it got dark. I lived in the type of neighborhood where everyone had their kids to bed by nine and houses dark by ten. It was perfect for my wolf to be able to roam the park without fear of interruption.

  Both of the guys agreed with the plan, so we headed up the long driveway of the park that led to the parking lot next to the docks and fishing pier. I directed them to go past the paved parking lot and down the dirt road to the gravel parking lot. While driving there, mud was delightfully spraying up the sides of the car all the way up to the windows. Mission accomplished.

  “I’m thinking we might have time for a run, since Anna is so delightfully efficient,” Mason teased.

  My ears perked up. My wolf could use a run after being cooped up for so long.

  “Is it safe?” Jason asked me.

  “I come here all the time to let my wolf run free,” I answered enthusiastically.

  Mason parked and I got out of the car eagerly. “There’s a picnic shelter over in the woods that is hidden from view and is the perfect place to change,” I told them.

  They both shrugged and followed me as I practically skipped ahead of them. The cool night air was invigorating, and the sky was bright with the moon and stars.

  I entered the picnic shelter and stopped. I looked at them both nervously as they followed me in. I had not thought the logistics of this out. All three of us were going to have to get naked, and no way was I okay with undressing in front of one guy, definitely not two guys.

  “Do you guys mind if I change first, and then you can come in and do your thing?”

  Jason looked surprised, then grinned. “Anna, are you shy? You know, nudity is perfectly natural -”

  Mason punched him in the arm. “Shut up.” He looked at me. “We will wait out here.”

  He gave Jason a stern look. “And turn our backs so we don’t see anything.”

  Jason jokingly scowled but stepped out and turned his back. Mason followed and stayed a step behind Jason, probably to punch him again if he tried to peek. I appreciated that.

  I quickly undressed and gave the guys a nervous look. My wolf had never met other wolves before the other night; I wasn’t sure how this was going to go.

  I relaxed and let my wolf come to the surface. I was relieved that she seemed curious and playful as she came to the surface and I shed my human form.

  I bounded out of the shelter and ran top speed into the field in front of me. I made a wide circle and slowed as I came back to where the guys were standing there, watching. They were both grinning as they crouched down to greet me. I sniffed at the hands they offered me, taking in their scents.

  Mason reached his hand towards my head and hesitated, as if asking for permission. I rubbed my head against his hand, and he gently stroked my fur. “You are a very pretty wolf, Anna. I’ve never seen anyone with a pure white coat before.”

  Jason st
ood. “I’ve never seen a wolf that fluffy before,” I playfully growled at him.

  Mason stood as well. “I think that means she is ready for us to change so we can run.”

  I trotted back out in the field to sniff around and wait for them, eager to stretch my legs out and just run.

  Two wolves ran out to join me quickly. They were both twice my size, and their coats were a mix of browns. They crowded me a little and boxed me in-between them as all three of us took in each other’s scents. Once I was sure I would be able to track them by scent, I was bored with the meet and greet. I shoved my way through them and ran. I loved the feeling of freedom as I flew through the night.

  The guys quickly caught up to me, and we had a great time running and chasing each other through the woods. They may have been larger than me, but I had the advantage of agility and maneuverability that their size didn’t allow them.

  I led them on a merry chase through the woods, and eventually I came to the end of the trail. The wooded area ended abruptly, and there was an eight foot drop down to where the marsh was. The tide was out, which meant it was a muddy mess. I stopped abruptly, but Jason came barreling though after me and tried to skid to a stop. His larger size kept his momentum going forward, and I took advantage of the moment to pounce on him as he teetered near the edge. He lost his balance and fell into the muddy mess below us with a plop and a muddy splash.

  If I were in my human form, I would have been laughing hysterically. Jason struggled to stand as the muck clung to his body. He pulled one of his paws free, and the mud released it with a sucking sound.

  I heard Mason coming up behind me; he was more cautious than his brother and approached slowly. I could see the look of amusement in his wolf eyes as he gazed down at his brother. I crept a little closer to the edge to watch Jason’s progress in freeing himself.

  Mason backed up a little, and I glanced back at him in just in time for him to shove me over the edge and into the mud with Jason.

  I landed in the muck almost on top of Jason, who couldn’t move quickly enough to get out of the way. I was soon quite familiar with his struggle. The muck was so soft that I just sank right down in it. It was too thick to swim through but too mushy to get any type of purchase to stand.

  I decided to try to get out by climbing up Jason’s much larger body. He realized what I was doing when the extra weight caused him to sink deeper. He attempted to throw me off, and we engaged in a wrestling match.

  We both froze when we heard low growling from Mason. He was looking down the trail we had come from. Suddenly, he headed toward the edge of the cliff-like border and leapt in after us. Both Jason and I frantically scrambled to avoid being crushed by him, but we couldn’t make it far.

  All three of us were now tangled in the mud, and Mason snapped at us to stop struggling. All three of us were quiet as we heard rustling and branches snapping as someone walked our way.

  They were definitely human footsteps. There was a chance that whoever it was would just keep walking by without looking down the drop to see what was below. The marsh did not smell good when the tide was out, so most people avoided it.

  No such luck. The footsteps came closer, and we all watched with apprehension to see who it would be. There was no way we could get away unnoticed.

  A shadow separated from the trees, and a man’s silhouette appeared. As he came forward, the moon shone on his face.

  James.

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” he raged, trying to keep his voice low.

  “What are you idiots doing with her?” He took a deep breath. “Never mind, I don’t want to know.”

  He gestured towards us. “Get up here. I have a plane to catch, and you are making me late.”

  We all just looked at him; that was easier said than done. I started squirming around, and when he realized the dilemma, he started to laugh.

  He pulled out his phone. “I hope the camera is good enough to capture this moment in the dark.” He continued to laugh as he took multiple pictures. Jason and Mason started to growl, and I could feel their bodies vibrating against mine.

  James sobered up and eyed the situation critically. “You could either try to make your way through the mud and into the deeper water to swim to where you can climb out, or you can change back to human and try to climb up.”

  I weighed both of those options. The muddy route would be time consuming and difficult. We could scale back up the face of the cliff-like drop by using the tree roots sticking out, but only in human form.

  Mason had the same idea, because he worked his way free of us and changed to human. In his human form, he was able to stand and the mud went up to his knees. He laboriously walked up to the wall of dirt, rocks, and roots. With each step, he had to pull his leg out of the mud forcefully before it would let him go with a loud squelching noise.

  Jason watched his progress for a moment, and then he, too, maneuvered away from me and changed back to human. Mason had started to climb up, and James was reaching down to pull him the rest of the way up.

  My only choice looked like I was going to have to follow them. However, I was terrified to change in front of them. I would be naked. In front of three men. I couldn’t just stay down here for the rest of my life, though.

  I did my best to relax my body so I could change back to human. After I changed, I made sure I was fully covered in stinky mud before standing up. I decided to pretend that the mud I was wearing was actually a body suit so I wouldn’t feel so exposed.

  I tried my best to follow in their footsteps as I laboriously made my way through the mud. Jason had stayed near the bottom of the cliff to help me up. As he lifted me up, Mason reached down to grab ahold of me and pull me up.

  I did not even want to consider what the view must have looked like to either of them as I climbed back onto solid land. Mason and James were both staring at me when I reached the top, and I was scrambling onto the grass so Jason could climb up after me. I was so embarrassed, the only thing I could think to do was rapidly change back into my wolf.

  I instinctively shook out my coat. Mason laughed, and James looked at me incredulously as he wiped splatters of mud off his face. Mason reached down to help Jason up as James glared at me. I flicked my tail at him and sat to stare back at him defiantly.

  Once the guys were both back on solid land, James started in on them.

  “What were you thinking? Were you thinking at all?” When he took a breath, Mason interrupted.

  “We were teaching her how to be a wolf and got caught off guard by the terrain.”

  James just looked at him and then turned to head back up the trail. “I track my car down here, find it covered in mud and then what do I hear? Wolves growling and barking, chasing each other through the woods and doing everything they can to attract attention.”

  I trotted after the twins as they followed James back up the trail. The two guys had stayed in human form and were not at all embarrassed by their nudity. Mason continued to offer reasonable explanations for what had happened, but Jason just smirked as James continued to chastise us.

  I was quickly bored with trailing after them and pushed my way to the front so that I could run free again. I made it back out of the woods and rolled around in the grassy field to wipe some of the mud off me.

  I paused and eyed the boat ramp that led down into the river. I glanced back at the trail; it looked like I had some time until the guys would catch up. I ran over to the water and splashed around. The water was freezing, but it felt good to get the muck out of my coat. I used the textured concrete boat ramp to scrape the mud off my back by rolling around on it in the shallow part of the water.

  I heard the guys coming out of the path, so I shook out my coat and ran back in their direction. I rolled around in the grass some more while they headed over to the cars. James had driven the silver Jeep here.

  I trotted up to them. James was no longer finding creative ways to express his displeasure, but steam was still coming out
of his ears. I briefly considered shaking out my coat again while he was in range but stopped when he shot me a look.

  “Where are my keys?” he barked.

  “I’ll get them,” Jason volunteered. I’m pretty sure that Jason just wanted to get away from James. He ran off quickly towards the picnic shelter, where we had left all of our belongings, still naked.

  James included me in his glaring as he continued to berate us. Jason came back toward us after a few minutes. He had wiped what mud he could off him and pulled his pants on. Mason still stood there unabashedly naked. Jason unlocked the doors to the Range Rover before handing the keys to James.

  “We need to get Anna’s stuff out of the trunk.” He tossed a shirt and pants to Mason and headed towards the back of the Range Rover to get my things.

  Jason unloaded the back while James examined the interior of the car, he seemed satisfied with the lack of interior damage. I had to really fight the urge to jump in and shake off my still wet and muddy coat. I could just imagine the look on his face when he saw me splattering mud all over the interior of his fancy car.

  “I think six months of detailing everyone’s vehicles is an appropriate punishment for stealing my car and taking it on a muddy joyride.”

  The guys groaned. James glared at me. “That’s for all three of you.”

  I just curled my tail around me and looked at him impassively. “Don’t think you are going to be treated differently from any other pack member,” he warned me.

  Even though he was handing out punishments - which apparently he could do - I felt oddly reassured. He clearly did not like me but had just admitted I was an equal member of the pack.

  The warm feeling of pleasure that started to fill me took me by surprise. Honestly, being forced to spend more time with the twins did not seem like a bad thing. I was pretty sure they could manage to make whatever we did fun.

  Chapter 9

  After James had peeled out angrily in his filthy Range Rover, Mason and Jason burst out laughing. “That was pretty awesome!”