I’m deep in thought, going over my research as I walk to Alex’s room to check in with his progress. Maybe route B would be better to take, since my girl is coming too. I reach Alex’s room and barge in without pausing. I expected to find Alex busy at his desk, but what I actually find is him and my mate on his bed.
My heart stops as the most beautiful sound comes from her. My mate’s laughter fills the room and my heart inflates and begins pounding twice as fast. I never would have thought to find her in here, much less find Alex fucking off with her instead of finishing his task. “Alex,” I snap with a sharp tone.
His head jerks up at the sound of my voice, and the smile melts from his face. “Uh-oh, Princess. The fun police is here. I’m going to need a rain check on the movie.” He gives her a wink, and I can’t help but simmer with anger. Alex knows the seriousness of how time-sensitive our missions are, and here he is fucking off.
“What the fuck, Alex? You know how imperative it is for us to be on top of these situations. The longer the video is up, the more difficult it is to contain the exposure. I can’t believe you’re screwing around right now!” My breathing speeds up as my anger rises with each word. Alex just smirks at me, which doesn’t help the situation for him.
He sits up on the bed and raises an eyebrow at me. “Chill out, dude. I’m already done, all traces are scrubbed and failsafe programs are in place.” Well, shit. Now I come off as an asshole. Unfortunately, my anger doesn’t dissipate with his words. I turn and walk out of his room, not wanting to appear any worse in front of my mate.
Over my shoulder, I shout at him, “Make sure you’re ready to leave in five.” I make my way to find Klaus and Derrick, wanting—no, needing—to calm myself down. I find them both in the kitchen, packing some food into their pouches.
“Who thought it was a good idea to distract Alex by leaving our girl with him?” My angry tone spews out the words, almost making me flinch. This emotional shit sucks. The two guys in front of me just peer back with surprise on their faces.
“Marcus, you know Alex becomes fixated on his work when he’s in the middle of doing his thing. Trust me, she wasn’t much of a distraction for him,” Klaus responds. He puts a hand on my shoulder. “Take some deep breaths, man. Let your exhale carry the stress from your body.” I follow his advice, and my shoulders drop in relaxation.
Alex and our girl enter the room, and she instantly draws all of our attention. Quickly, Alex whispers in her ear, “Don’t forget our deal, Princess.” She smiles at his words, and suddenly the remainder of my anger drains out of me. How can I be mad at him for being able to make her smile like that, or bring out the laughter I heard when I walked into his room?
“Everybody ready to go?” I question those gathered around me. Klaus runs over to the dryer and pulls out the clothes my mate was wearing earlier.
“Hey, Sunshine, do you want to put these back on now, or would you like me to pack them for you?” She takes the clothes from him and heads down the hall to change.
I let out a sigh. It’s going to take some time getting used to having someone else here with our group. I’m so used to it just being us, and everything being so seamless. It would be really great if we could skip over all the uncomfortable parts of getting to know her, and get to the part where we are completely comfortable with each other. I have no doubts the day will arrive at some point, I just don’t know when.
“I have a few routes planned out, how do you guys want to handle the travel? We can’t just shift in front of her, and I’m sure she’ll question the fact that some of us are missing and there’s a sudden appearance of some wolves.” I pause to allow the other guys to add in their thoughts when I hear Alex in my head.
“Ah, damn. Princess needs to hurry up and get back out here... Operation Shield is about to be a go.” I snap my head in his direction, and notice Derrick and Klaus do the same. They must have heard the same thing I did. Whatever ability allowing us to share thoughts is getting stronger.
“Operation Shield?” I question him, just as she walks back into the room.
Alex winces and says, “You guys weren’t very censored when you were talking about Silas’ call. I felt the need to explain a few things. Better to get answers from us than just let her wonder what the fuck we were talking about.” Shit. I rub a hand over my face. He’s right, we’re so used to not having to watch what we say, we forgot all about it right after deciding not to tell her anything. That was stupid of us.
I can’t fault his reasoning, but that doesn’t mean we’re just going to let him get away with it. It’ll have to wait for now, though. “Well, that solves the problem then. You good to walk with us while we’re in wolf form?” I direct my question to her. I can’t believe she’s so calm right now... A human finding out about shifters for the first time shouldn’t be standing here like it’s an everyday occurrence. Something isn’t adding up with her, and I can’t place exactly what it is.
I’m fairly certain she won’t mind, she hasn’t wanted to talk since waking up anyways, but I still want to ask. She gives a slight nod in response, and we take that as our cue to head out. Derrick, Alex, and I strip our clothes off, and I catch her face heating up as we show more skin. Her blush covers her cheeks and it is more adorable than any other face I’ve seen her make so far. As we take off our pants, she turns her back to us in a quick movement as she finally processes what we’re doing.
Klaus walks over to her with his phone out and a pair of headphones in his hand. “I figure it’s possible you’ll get bored and might like to listen to some music,” he tells her with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. She takes the items he hands her, still not turning around, and I catch sight of his screen already open to the music app. After he watches her put the headphones in her ears, he walks over to us, and changes out of his clothes and puts them away like the rest of us.
One by one, we shift, and I lead the way to our first destination as my mate follows on foot. Alex takes up a position on her right side, and Derrick falls into pace on her left. I watch as she runs her fingers over both of their heads at the same time. Damn, I should’ve thought of that, although with the way she’s acted toward me, I bet she wouldn’t want me to walk next to her.
I keep an eye on our girl as we make our way into the woods surrounding my cabin. We’re going to have to make camp at some point tonight, and hopefully arrive at the location for our first target tomorrow. I made sure to pack plenty of camping supplies, like a tent and bedroll, a pillow and some toilet paper for my mate. We may be able to rough it in our wolf forms, but I’m not going to allow her to sleep on the forest floor like an animal.
“Man, it feels like we just finished doing the whole travel camping thing... Oh wait, that’s because we did!”Alex’s sarcastic thought sounds in my mind. It really has felt like things have been nonstop for us lately. I look forward to just being able to take a break and spend some time with our girl.
She seems to be diligent with keeping her eyes on our surroundings, constantly scanning about. Although, it appears more like she’s searching for something in the woods than just keeping an eye out for dangers. I wonder what it could be that she’s watching for? There definitely appears to be more to her than meets the eye.
Throughout our day, I can tell she’s distancing herself from us, as she keeps slowing down and pointing out animals to Alex and Derrick to bait them into hunting. My curiosity finally gets the best of me.“Hey guys, it seems like our girl is trying to be by herself. Let’s not make it obvious, but we should give it to her and see what she does.”
Derrick immediately drops back and rushes around to her other side to nip at Alex’s tail. Klaus sees what’s going on and decides to join in on the pseudo-attack on Alex. Alex lets out a yip as he runs away from the other two, trying to get them off his flanks. I can’t tear my gaze away from her as she lets out a small giggle, tracking them with her eyes. After a few minutes, she examines the trees again, and I watch as it slowly appears as if she's just getting behind in pace.
Her eyes light up after a short while, and she walks straight for the base of a tree. When she reaches it, she wastes no time bending down and scooping up a handful of water that has been collected in a knot that grew into the roots. I rush to her side, and bop her hand with my snout, making her drop the water she gathered before she can try to drink it.
Who in their right mind would want to drink that nasty water after it’s been sitting there for Fates know how long? There’s probably mosquito larvae growing in there. Just the thought of drinking infested water makes my stomach clench. I command my body to switch back to my human form so I can talk to her.
“Hey, if you needed some water, you could have asked one of us. We don’t mind stopping to give you a break.” I try to make my words sound soft and caring, but they come out more harsh and accusing than I planned. The scathing glare she gives me says she thinks I’m incredibly stupid. As I open my pouch to grab her some water to drink, she takes advantage of me being distracted to once again scoop up some water to bring to her mouth.
I swipe my hand out just before she makes it to her mouth and knock the water from her hand again. In my panic, I might have hit her hand harder than I meant to. Sometimes my strength is greater than I remember. She gives me an outraged gasp and pulls her hand into her chest. “Shit, I’m really sorry. I just told you not to drink that, it’s nasty, and there’s clean water for you right here,” I try to explain to her.
She still doesn’t say anything, just gives me the same ‘you’re an idiot’ glare with a bit more loathing added in. This time, with her eyes staying on mine in challenge, she deliberately reaches for another scoop of water. Is she for real right now? What’s wrong with her that she wants to drink that nasty water?
