Chapter 27: Skyler - Pack of Mine

Our existence hidden in the woods with Octavia is a dream come true. I spent my whole life chasing a different high when the one that would be the most fulfilling was twenty minutes away at a shitty dive bar.

Silver Lake is a town full of nobodies. All of the women are basic, boring, and they crumble under the slightest touch. Octavia doesn’t break, in fact, she even begs for more. My mismatched jigsaw piece was looking for me out there, serving drinks to old farts and dating all the wrong men.

It’s been a few weeks since we brought her home from the hospital. She spends most of her time jumping back and forth between me and Tristan’s room for cuddles or orgasms. Valentine doesn’t push, but I can tell he itches for alone time with her as well.

I’m still unsure why she doesn’t pursue him, maybe because he’s so fucking reserved, but I don’t pry. I get my time with her and that’s all I care about, really.

Octavia told us about her mother in the dreams while she was unconscious or seizing, how each of us is a fated mate for her.

Yeah, fuck you, fate. But I was right, wasn’t I?

She walked us through the trauma she endured in the psych ward, the drugs they filled her with and the visions she couldn’t escape. I debated going back and slaughtering all of them just for touching her, but I really don’t need to get into any more trouble with the law right now. We’ve all been laying low in the mansion while Valentine works through a way to clear our identities.

He mentioned that it was a little more challenging than usual with Octavia being in the news and all, plus there was video footage of us entering the hospital.

I’ve watched him pace around on the phone for hours. He talks with loads of different people, then shoots me a glare if I watch him and hides in his room like I can’t hear through his door.

I’m just letting him handle it.

But aside from that, I think I can speak for all of us when I say we don’t give a flying fuck about being wolves anymore.

I thought being a part animal would cost me my entire life – turns out it introduced me to the beginning of it.

If that’s the price to have her in our lives, so be it. I can live with that.

Tristan and I have been practicing our transformations together – he still pisses me off to no end and I force him to be honest with himself. We like to see how fast we can flip it on and back off. I think we’re starting to get the hang of it, but we’re not as speedy as Valentine yet.

I trace Octavia with my eyes as she frolics around the living room with Tristan and they play a game of tag. A cigarette hangs from my lips as I take another drag, my pupils locked on her every movement. Smoke engulfs me and warms my lungs with every hit.

The furniture is still a fucking wreck, as it has been for weeks. I’m not sure what’s taking Valentine so long to clean it up. He’s usually beyond impatient and works day and night to fix things and put them back exactly where they started. I think he has OCD or something. The typical sounds of him hammering away in his workshop late at night drive me mad, but it’s been oddly silent.

Octavia and Tristan swiftly move around the broken glass and torn-up pillows, a boasting smile on both of their faces. It’s so nice to see her happy and thriving, especially with my little brother.

If you would’ve asked me a few years ago to picture this right moment right here – a beautiful woman who could stick around and throw my banter right back at me, jumping around my living room and smiling, not covered in terror…

I would’ve eaten your stupid face off.

Tristan rushes by the barstool I’m sitting in and taps me on the shoulder.

“Skyler, you’re it!”

I grin and slip out of the chair slowly, my boots thumping into the floor when they touch it. They both look at me like kids at a playground, hands out to their sides and ready to run.

“Fine, but we play outside, where we can really run.” I point towards the giant front door and they gaze at each other, like they’re debating on telling me no. That word is not in my vocabulary.

My eyes trace them as they both shrug their shoulders and walk out the door.

“Alright, I’ll give you a head start, but remember if you get scared…” I stretch my arms up above my head and shake my body out as I warm up my muscles. “The scent of fear will make you a hundred times easier to find.”

They both giggle and sprint, their bare feet kicking up dirt from the forest floor beneath them. I watch Tristan run to the right and Octavia to the left, their scents already leaving trails behind them.

“Five…”

I crack my knuckles.

“Four…”

I can still hear their footsteps running from me.

“Three…”

Octavia giggles softly about thirty feet from me.

“Two…”

I feel my fangs push at my gums with excitement of the chase.

“One…”

Tristan pants and his scent lingers behind a tree.

“Watch out, Daddy’s coming.”

I toss my cigarette on the ground and dash straight towards the direction of Octavia’s laugh, her little footsteps racing again on the soil. The thrill of hunting her like prey is making my primal instincts impossible to ignore.

Tree branches whiz by my face and I cut through the forest like I’m splitting lanes in traffic. The sound of her breathing heavily is too loud to hide from my sensitive wolf ears.

I slow down and pinpoint her location, like a ping on a map.

“Oh Kitten, you’re so bad at hiding. I can hear you from a mile away.”

She laughs again and runs towards Tristan’s direction. My feet push with force into the ground and launch me closer and closer to her. She’s surprisingly fast, but I’m faster.

I could catch her if I wanted to, but I’m enjoying the chase too much.

Tristan grunts and I hear him trip over something maybe forty feet or so from us. A soft “shit!” sings in my ears and I decide to follow him instead.

Easy prey.

I hear him attempt to get up with anxious scattering, dried leaves and branches crunching underneath him. But every second longer that he takes, I fly on my feet closer to him.

“Tristannn, I’m gonna get you!”

My lungs pant and I see him between the trees now, stumbling to get back on his feet and brushing the dirt off his shorts. His head snaps in my direction and fear widens his eyes, the sight making my cock throb.

I launch on top of him at full speed and knock us both painfully to the hard ground. He laughs underneath me and tries to shove me off, but fails miserably.

“Tag! You’re it,” I spit out between breaths.

He smiles and blushes as I sit on top of him, his chest moving rapidly and his bulge twitching.

Octavia breathes like a dog who just played fetch and approaches us, her hands on her knees.

“You two look like you’re having a bunch of fun without me,” she says with a smile. “Care if I jump in?”

I climb off of Tristan and my teeth fade back to normal. We both look down at him on the Earth and he turns as red as a tomato again. His shorts and shirt are covered in dirt and sweat. I smell desire seeping out of his pores, not that he could hide the desperation in his face anyway.

I hear a distant set of footsteps, but they’re skillfully quiet. My head snaps back behind me and I try to lock in on the sound, but it’s impossible. Who’s out there?

“What?” Octavia walks up behind me and rests her hands on my back. She attempts to catch her breath.

“I hear someone, but I can’t tell where they are.”

Apprehension begins to radiate off of her and Tristan. The sun fades behind the treetops and makes the forest a little more haunting.

The footsteps now sound like more than one pair, but I can’t even pick up on a smell to find them. It sounds like they’re all around us, inching closer like a predator.

I pull Octavia to my chest, preparing to protect her from a bear or a cougar or something. Her heart thumps like a drum and she death-grips my t-shirt.

Damn, even I’m a little afraid.

Tristan cautiously stands up and slides closer to me too, his heart rate picking up as well.

“Hello?” He calls out to the trees.

The footsteps approach us closer and I have no idea which direction they’re actually coming from. My neck turns to my left and right, but I don’t see anything.

“Boo.”

We all three jump and Octavia screams, the pitch making my ears painfully ring.

A black and grey wolf with a brown leather thigh bag walks up to us.

“Valentine, you scared me half to death!” Octavia puts her hand on her chest and sighs in relief.

He sits on his hind legs and licks his wolf lips.

“I heard you all run outside. I was curious what was going on.”

“We were playing tag, but it’s getting kind of dark. We should probably go back,” Tristan anxiously says as he tries to fix his ratty blonde hair and wipes more soil off his arms.

Valentine stands back up and marches in circles around the three of us like a meal he’s about to eat.

“You just missed the fun, Val.” I run my fingers through Octavia’s black hair possessively. “Tomorrow, we’ll play again.”

He seems disappointed with my decision. I watch him pace one more lap around us and settle down on his hind legs again.

“Fine, but don’t forget to invite me. I may be old, but I can sprint faster than any of you.”

Octavia treks towards him and plants a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Sure, Val.” Her small hands pet the grey fur around his face and she grins. “Just don’t have a heart attack or break a hip.”

He ignores her banter and locks his light eyes with mine, a look of pure joy flooding over him. My older brother, the man who bravely took me in and assisted me in working through my darkest battles, has finally found a reason to smile.

And I must say, it’s a good fucking look on him.