A Month with Werewolves (The With Werewolves Saga Book 1)

by Marla Braziel

  After I piled my plate as high as it would go, I searched for a place to sit. I was surprised to find that Chris wasn't sitting with the alphas and betas. Although I would have rather sat with him, Emmett was motioning at me to come to their table, so I was forced to take my place with the higher ups . . . and Sasha.

  “Why isn't Chris sitting with you guys?” I asked as I sat down.

  “He's been placed in the hierarchy. He has to sit with the other werewolves now,” Emmett told me.

  It seemed a bit mean, but I understood what he was saying. The only reason Chris had been allowed to sit with the alphas and betas up to that point was because his place in the hierarchy hadn't been distinguished yet. Now, he would have to find his own place among the lower ranked werewolves.

  “New wolf placed high,” Sasha said in a strong Russian accent as she peered over my shoulder at Chris. “He will be strong member of pack. Good strong wolf.”

  “Yes, he will be,” Rick laughed.

  That reminded me that I hadn't even bothered to check the hierarchy results before I got my food. I was completely out of the loop as to how Chris and Devon had placed.

  “Is Devon still omega?” I questioned.

  “Nope. He actually made it a few spots up. He even beat you, Taya,” Rick joked, though I didn't find it funny.

  “Good,” I sighed in relief, happy that he had escaped his life of misery, despite the fact I knew it had just been passed on to someone else. “Does that mean that he won't be my guide anymore?”

  “No, he'll still be your guide,” Emmett told me. “It wouldn't make sense to replace him right now. He knew he would continue to be your guide, even if he made it out of the omega rank, and he was fine with it.”

  “Good,” I said again. While I didn't particularly mind the idea of having to get used to someone new, I liked Devon as a person and felt like I could trust him.

  It didn't take long before most of the werewolves were drunk. With an unlimited amount of beer at their disposal, they gorged themselves to the point that some of them were puking into trashcans before it was even seven o'clock at night. I felt sorry for the person who would have to clean up their mess, probably the new omegas.

  Chris seemed to be getting along fine with his new pack mates. Alcohol definitely helped to strengthen a bond that had barely been there before. I watched with a smile as the two men on either sides of him threw their arms over his shoulders to sway back and forth and sing. Perhaps life did have its happy moments on the reservation after all.

  When Sasha jumped on the table and started kicking beer cans all over the room, I decided that it was a good time for me to take my leave. Before I exited the recreation room though, I stopped to look at the paper on the wall that had the hierarchy trial results printed on it. At the very bottom, above a girl named April Brown, was my name. My face involuntarily dipped into a scowl before I allowed my eyes to travel up the list to find Chris's name. Surprisingly, he was only three down from Rick. Maybe he really would be a threat come the next hierarchy trials.

  The air outside was cool and crisp as I walked aimlessly around the reservation. It was hard to believe that I had already been there for a week. So much had happened since arriving, from the welcoming celebration, to listening to so many interesting stories, to the hierarchy trials. I couldn't help but wonder if I'd miss it when it was all over. Three more weeks and I'd be returning home, and who knew where life would take me from there after my report set my career on a blazing path of success.

  A ruckus near the housing units made me turn my head, and I blushed as I spied two werewolves viciously making out against a wall, tearing at each other's clothing. In embarrassment, I walked faster towards my room. That was one thing I wouldn't be returning to when I left the reservation, a boyfriend. It had been so long since I'd slept with a guy that I hardly remembered what it was like. Maybe that was for the best though, because it kept me from thinking about what I was missing.

  Since I had forgotten to leave a light on, my room was dark inside. As I flipped the switch near the door, my eyes landed on Chris, curled up on my loveseat. I grasped at my chest, trying to catch my breath as he moaned awake, shielding his eyes from the light.

  “Chris, you about gave me a heart attack,” I chastised him. “Why didn't you just wait outside?”

  He sat up, holding the sides of his head, and I knew he was drunk. Even from where I was standing several feet away, I could smell the alcohol on Chris's breath. Strong, pungent beer. Yuck.

  “The door was open,” he muttered.

  “Of course the door was open, there aren't any locks on them.” I furrowed my brow at him, thinking of John's warning.

  “I just . . . didn't want to be out there anymore,” Chris sighed, kicking his feet over the side of the loveseat and sitting up.

  “Do you want me to walk you home?”

  “No. I don't want to go home. That Sasha girl might find me.”

  My blood boiled when it clicked in my head what he was talking about, and it took everything in me not to display that his words had upset me.

  “Well, what do you want to do then?” I asked.

  “I just want to stay here for a while. Is that okay?”

  “Oh, I guess.” I threw myself into the recliner, tossing my notebook onto the table.

  “I start job duty or whatever it's called on Monday,” he told me. “I have to submit the job that I want to do to Emmett tomorrow. He handles that stuff.”

  “I assumed that the compound staff handled job assignment. At least, that's how he made it sound on the tour.”

  “No, apparently that's one of his jobs.”

  “What did you put in for?”

  “Whatever it looked like sucked the least,” he laughed.

  “Well, what looked like it sucked the least to you?”

  “I think I picked laundry duty, maintenance, and . . . I forgot what the last one I picked was.”

  “I doubt you'll get laundry duty. I've only seen females in the laundry facility since we've been here.”

  “Well, it never hurts to try.” Chris cringed as a surging pain raced through his skull.

  “Nope, it sure doesn't.” I smirked at him. “You're going to have one hell of a hangover tomorrow.”

  “Oh, I know. I've already thrown up once.”

  “Sexy,” I teased him.

  “It is, isn't it? I bet you'd like a kiss right now.” He stood, throwing himself on top of me.

  “Chris, no!” I tried to fight him off, giggling as he tickled me in an attempt to get close enough to kiss my face. Finally, he landed a sloppy vomit scented smacker right on my cheek. My gag reflex kicked in from the smell of his breath, and I was never happier when he got off and flopped back down on the loveseat. “That was absolutely disgusting.”

  “You know you liked it.”

  “About as much as you'd like Sasha all over you,” I tested him.

  “Pfft, that girl would have blown me if I gave her half the chance,” he told me. “It's scary to think she's an alpha.”

  “That it is,” my voice went solemn, thinking about how much power she held over everyone now. She could probably take Chris by force if she really wanted him. “Terry said that you'd start feeling better about this place if you took a mate,” I said cautiously.

  “Pfft, a mate.” He rolled his eyes. “Like we're some kind of fucking animals. You know, that's what bothers me about these people here. They seem to forget that we're people. Just because we turn into some crazy blood-thirsty monster once a month for an hour or so doesn't mean that we're any different than normal people the rest of the time, you know. A mate . . . I guess that's why they neuter us like dogs.”

  I didn't know what to say. Talking about it obviously made him upset, so I decided to change the subject. “You placed really high on the hierarchy trials. I'm proud of you.”

  “Who would you take as a mate . . . if you were stuck here?” Chris asked, catching me completely off guard.

>   “Me?” I stuttered. “It doesn't make any difference. I'm . . . not a part of the pack.”

  “But if you were. Is Emmett your type of guy, all big and muscly and super masculine?”

  “Oh, heavens no.” I couldn't help but smirk at the description.

  “Or are you into little scrawny guys, like that Devon kid. Oh, I know, I can be a wolf, and you can be a cougar,” he joked.

  “Damn, Chris, I'm only twenty-seven. I think I'm a bit too young to be called a cougar,” I told him with a hint of annoyance in my voice.

  “You're older than me,” he said, and for some reason, the comment struck a hurtful chord with me, as if he thought I was too old to be with him.

  “I can't help that.” I shrugged.

  “Oh, did I offend you?” Chris straightened up, getting ready to pounce on me again.

  “Don't.” I glared at him to let him know I was serious.

  “Why not? You're too weak to stop me.”

  Despite my warning, Chris was on top of me in an instant, tickling me until I thought I might piss myself. All that I could do was flail and kick to try to get him off me. By the time he stopped, I was absolutely breathless, staring down at his hands.

  When I looked back up at Chris, our eyes met, and all joking was aside. The air was tense as he held himself over me, dominating me, waiting for my reaction, but I was too captivated by him to move. Disgusting beer breath and all, I wanted Chris, and I couldn't deny it to myself.

  My lips parted as he leaned forward, my expression softening under his heavy gaze. Just when our lips were about to meet, when I could feel Chris's warm breath caressing my skin with the heat of his life, he pulled away, leaving me sitting there, shocked, and embarrassed, and angry, and a hundred other emotions that felt like they were ripping through me like daggers.

  “I'm sorry,” Chris said as he fell back against the loveseat, staring out into space. “I . . . I should go.” He stood to leave.

  “Chris.” I flew to my feet, but before I could take two steps towards the door he was gone.

  What in the hell just happened? I sat down, curling my fingers into my hair. The second the tears began flowing, I turned off the lights, resigning myself to cry in the dark so that no one could see me from the outside, not that anyone would come look through my window. It just felt safer in the dark, somehow.

  That night, I cried myself to sleep, but when I woke up the next morning, it was with new resolve to finish my interviews. In the end, this was only a job. I couldn't afford to have feelings for Chris. Besides, it had probably just been the alcohol that had caused him to act in such a way.

  Devon arrived early, as usual, to pick me up for breakfast. This time, he had even more pep in his step, due to shedding his omega rank.

  “You're awfully happy this morning,” I teased him, pretending like I didn't know what had happened at the hierarchy trials.

  “Of course I am.” He beamed at me. “I got to pass the shit sandwich on to someone else.”

  “I bet you wish you could have passed me on to someone else too.”

  “Nonsense. This is still easier than most of the jobs out there. I wouldn't dream of giving up my free ride.” Devon cocked an eyebrow at me, and I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

  Breakfast was a little strange without Chris sitting across from me. Now, it was the very loud and rough Sasha that I had to contend with. If it wasn't for the events that had transpired the night before, I might have been tempted to leave the alphas and betas and go sit with Chris instead, but I was still a bit too nervous.

  “You interview me after breakfast today, eh?” Sasha said, her thin face all excitement.

  “How do you not have a hangover?” I asked, amazed at how lively she was after the night of partying. Even Emmett was holding his head in pain.

  “Russian women know how to hold their alcohol. Not like you puny Americans and your pussy beer.”

  I had no idea what to say to that. Every word that came out of Sasha's mouth blew me away, the sheer bluntness of the way that she spoke. It was obvious she feared nothing.

  “I'll interview you after breakfast,” I told her, just wanting to get it out of the way.

  “I show my biiiiiig house. Make your room seem itty bitty.” She squished her fingers together.

  I wanted to tell Sasha that I had already been given the tour by Emmett, and that the two houses were exactly the same, but I was too intimidated by her to open my mouth again. This was one bitch I definitely did not want to piss off.

  After lunch, I followed Sasha to her house. The place was so new to her that she hadn't even moved her stuff inside yet. Still, Sasha gave me the grand tour as if she had lived there all the while.

  “Is this your first time as female alpha?” I asked when we returned to the living room.

  “Yes. First time as alpha, but won't be last,” she insisted with a proud smile.

  Unlike Emmett, Sasha didn't offer me a drink. Eager to get the interview started, she plopped down on her leather soda, leaving the recliner for me.

  “You ask whatever you want. Don't be shy,” Sasha told me, staring at my notepad with enthusiasm as I flipped it to a blank page and began writing her name down.

  “What's your last name?” I asked after wracking my brain to remember. Lord knows I wouldn't be able to spell it once she said it.

  “Abakumov,” Sasha said, and then thankfully spelled it for me afterward.

  “Are you originally from Russia?”

  “Yes. I came from Russia five years ago. I was a mail-order bride. Husband have big wallet and little cock,” she guffawed.

  “Wow, that's interesting.” My eyes widened in surprise. While I was curious to know more, I didn't like Sasha enough to want to be in her presence any longer than I had to. “And how long have you been on the reservation?”

  “About a year and a half.”

  “How old are you now?”

  “I'm twenty-five.”

  Younger than me but older than Chris, I thought, though I wasn't sure why it even mattered. There was no competition here.

  “How did you contract the lycanthropy disease?”

  Sasha shrugged, looking innocent for a second before she spoke, “Like I said, husband had small cock. I look for bigger cock elsewhere.”

  “What happened to the host werewolf?”

  “Was never found.” She shrugged again, obviously not caring. “Rich husband divorced me when the reservation take me in, but I no care. Plenty of big cocks in here.” Sasha's smile was so wide it could have taken over the whole room, and I couldn't help but chuckle at her regard towards men.

  “So, no children?”

  Her face sulked into a frown. “One daughter. Husband take care of her while mommy is away.”

  “Oh, I'm sorry to hear it,” I said sympathetically.

  Sasha grunted in reply.

  “How do you feel about the reservation?” I quickly moved on, leaving the sad subject behind. For as much as I wasn't a fan of Sasha, I didn't want to make her feel bad either. It must be horrible to have children outside of the reservation, knowing that they were growing up without you and that you probably wouldn't ever see them again.

  “Reservation okay.” She didn't appear to want to say anything else.

  “And the detainment process. Was it hard on you?”

  “Detainment process no fun for no one.”

  “So I keep hearing. How did the other werewolves treat you when you first came to the reservation?”

  “Everyone very nice to me,” Sasha said, but her eyes were miles away.

  “Well, I think that's about it. I'll take my leave now,” I told her before flipping my notebook closed and standing up.

  “You like Chris Abbot, don't you?” she asked, catching me off guard.

  “What makes you think that?” I turned to her, trying to hide the tension in my voice.

  “Chris spend lots of time with Taya.”

  I didn't know what to say. The re
al answer was yes, but I dare not disclose it to anyone. To care for Chris in the way that I wanted was to break my own heart. Nothing could ever come of my affection for him.

  “We're just friends,” I said finally.

  “Good.” Sasha's face lit up once more, and all traces of depression were washed away with thoughts of a new conquest. “I'd like to see how big his cock is.”

  “You do that,” I told her between gritted teeth, showing myself to the door.

  It wasn't until I was outside that I let out a loud sigh. The interview wasn't as torturous as I had thought it would be, but the last part was still painful. Eventually, Sasha and Chris would be together, I was certain of it, and there was nothing I could do about it.

  Chris didn't show up on my doorstep that night, nor did he make an appearance the following day. I was beginning to think that our friendship was over. He was obviously embarrassed by the way he had acted, regretting his advance on me. While I missed him dearly, I was too prideful to approach him, and I think we both knew it was better if we stayed apart.

  In the middle of my second week on the reservation, I decided to try interviewing the lone wolves again. I had been making a lot of progress with my other interviews, knocking out sometimes four in one day. It was certainly going a lot faster than I had planned. With nothing else to do around the reservation, sticking to business was the best way to pass my time.

  Devon had become lazy about visiting me in the mornings. In fact, the morning that I decided to go visit the lone wolves, he didn't come to wake me up at all. I had to track him down where he was working out in the garden. Apparently, Devon had decided to take advantage of his new-found freedom and his position as my guide by using his time doubling up on job points.

  “You're working?” I said with a twinge of surprise in my voice as I came upon Devon picking tomatoes under the morning sun.

  The sleeves of his blue jumpsuit were rolled up, and small beads of perspiration sparkled on his light-brown skin. Devon turned to me, looking like a deer caught in the cross hairs of a gun, knowing that he had been caught.