Pete keeps tapping his knee in the car, anxious to get to the house. “Pete, stop. I’m sure your aunt will love me, ok? I can be pretty charming when I want to be,” I wink at him, trying to ease the tension. 

After the news about Luke, we all rushed to pack our crap and get the hell out of there. In light of the situation, we were allowed to bring Jake and Rick along with us as guards in case Luke tried to attack. I doubt he would be stupid enough to do so, but Jason felt we needed back up because he ‘has a feeling we’ll need it’. Whatever that means. Mitch told me not to argue with Jason’s ‘gut feelings’ as they have a tendency to be right so, I left it alone.

James is in the other car giving us some time to ourselves to talk about everything that has happened on the drive over. Not that we had much time, Pete’s aunt was only a two-hour drive away. We could have run here if we didn’t have luggage to bring with us.

The cars pull to a stop. The Elders climb out of the one in front and everyone else climbs out of ours, leaving me to comfort Pete. I don’t see what the big deal is, his aunt sounds like a saint.

Pete sighs, rubbing his face frustrated, “Dani, just please be nice. I want you to like her and I want her to like you, I just know it’s not going to happen. You two are too similar for there not to be fireworks.”

“What? If we’re similar won’t that mean we’ll get along better? Personally, I think you’re worrying for nothing.”

He shakes his head, climbing out the car, offering me a hand, “Just be nice, Dani.”

I don’t bother responding knowing no matter what I say, it won’t help. He’s already made up his mind about how our meeting will go.

Over by the house, the boys are already waiting for us with an older woman. She looks similar enough to Pete except for her flowing brunette hair. Her blue eyes sparkle with a wealth of knowledge. She watches us, appraising me as we approach. The Elders are nowhere to be seen so, I assume they’ve already done their welcomes and pissed off. Jake, Rick and James are all waiting by the cars, guarding us without being obvious about it.

Pete detaches from me to rush into his aunt’s arms, “I missed you Aunt Lily.”

“Oh, Petey boy, I missed you too. Have you been behaving for Laura?” she says, gripping him tight. It’s obvious they care for each other.  I wasn’t too sure what to expect after knowing about his father. Though I am definitely going to give him hell for ‘Petey boy.’ It’s too cute of a nickname not to!

They exchange a few hushed words before acknowledging me as I wait for them to finish their reunion.

“Ah, and this must be the new Alpha Queen I’ve been hearing about. It’s nice to meet you.” Lily greets me, pretending as if I’ve only just appeared.

I need to be diplomatic as possible so I greet her the way I would be expected to, “Lily Tiern of the Tiern pack. I am honored to be staying with you over the next few days. Thank you for allowing me to do so.”

I see in her eyes that she knows they weren’t my words but the diplomatic response.

She turns to Pete, “Honey, would you and the boys here mind going and getting the rooms set up? I didn’t get a chance to since you came earlier.” Oh wow! What a way to guilt them into doing as she pleases. I admire a woman who knows how to use just the right amount of persuasion to get things done.

I laugh at the glance Cam sends my way, knowing Lily wants to get rid of them to talk to me. I wink, letting him know that I can handle anything ‘Aunt Lily’ sends my way.

Once the boys have left us alone, it takes all of one minute before the bitch is released, “I don’t care who you are or what you are to Pete, if you hurt him, I will fucking kill you. I will rip your body to shreds until you can’t be identified then let my wolf roll in the mess that was once you, got it?!”

I can’t help it, I laugh, “Oh Aunt Lily, you and I are going to get along so well.”

She huffs frustrated, “I don’t see what is so funny missy. I meant every word.”

“Oh, I know you did. It’s just funny because if I were you, I would have said the same thing. Now I know what Pete was so worried about,” I grin.

A mischievous smile appears on her face making her look 20 years younger, “Oh really? What did he say exactly?”

“He was worried that we would clash because we’re alike. Now I see what he meant. You don’t let anyone mess with what’s yours, which is good because I had this whole ‘if you’re anything like his father speech’ prepared. Now I don’t have to,” I beam. This woman is going to be another great addition to the packs. I can see it in the way she holds herself, she may not be Alpha but she has the heart for it.

“You don’t have to worry about that honey. My brother was a cruel son of a bitch. He may have been blood but he wasn’t family. I’ve tried to do right by Pete, so just try not to break his heart. He has dealt with so much trauma the past few years. As much as he tries to tell me his mother’s loss no longer affects him, and that he’s moved on, I know he lives with it every day. He constantly thinks there was something he could have done, even though there wasn’t. His father made that choice and now Pete must live with the choice he made. Unfortunately, that’s life.

Now enough of the gloomy shit, how about we go get you a drink?”

“Uh, I’m only 17,” I tell her, not sure she realizes how old I am.

“Seventeen, future Alpha Queen competing in the trials, your father has died, and a sadistic mad man is out to make sure you die. If there was ever a time to start drinking, it would be now,” she challenges.

I hesitate, thinking I shouldn’t let my inhibitions down but screw it. I deserve to let go for a couple of hours.

We go inside the pack house, it’s beautiful on the outside but the inside is breathtaking. You can smell the freshly cut wood that decorates the inside. It’s only been done in the last ten years, making the smell stronger but not in an intense way, more like a homey way. It’s as if the forest is inside the house.

There’s an open plan living area with a homemade bar. It’s very cool.

“This is a really lovely home. Was it built from scratch?” I ask, curiously.

Lily walks around the bar, pulling out a couple of shot glasses. “Yeah, my daddy built it for my mom. When he found out they were mates, he had a lot to make up for so he built this as a ‘please forgive me for being a dick.’ He’s lucky mom was a forgiving person otherwise his balls would be on a stick perched lovingly at the window. The amount of times she threatened to do just that, I’m still surprised that I don’t see them out there,” she chuckles as she mixes a couple of drinks in a jug.

“Aunt Lily, please tell me those aren’t your one knockout shots?” Pete asks, coming down the stairs followed by the others. The Elders are nowhere in sight, thank god. I don’t have the energy to deal with them right now.

Lily grins wickedly, “You know they are. Dani here has had a rough couple of days. This is exactly what she needs to relax.”

Jason smirks at me across the room, “Are you sure about that, Dani? They’re called one knockout shots for a reason. Only Lily can handle more than one. These things are strong enough to knock down a dozen wolves.”

“It will be fine. Seriously what harm could one shot do?”

 

***

 

“Life is awesome! Look at all these pretty colours! They’re so cool,” I murmur, waving my hand through the air.

Nate picks me up from my seat and manoeuvres me around until I’m sitting in his lap. He tucks my loose hair behind my ear, while looking over at the Pete, “No more for Dani. She is cut off. She’s seeing things that aren’t there.”

Lily laughs loudly startling me, “Oh honey, don’t you worry about that. It’s probably just the brownies taking effect.”

Pete groans, “Aunty, please tell me you didn’t?! Dani hasn’t been around Wolfsbane before,” he shares a glance with Cam.

“What’s Wolfsbane?” I ask, a slight slur in my voice. Wow, how weird do I sound?

“It’s an herb we use. All the myths used to say that it was poisonous to us but it’s actually quite therapeutic. It calms the nerves while making you feel happy. It’ll wear off overnight,” Lily grins, watching me wave my hand in front of my face.

It’s so cool! A myriad of colors trail behind it making it appear so magical. I wonder if I can make my hand purple? I squint my eyes trying to change the colour of my hand, only to pout in disappoint when it doesn’t stick. That’s not fair. I want purple hands!

Mitch and Jonnie are both watching me, so I climb out of Nate’s lap and crawl over to them. I drape myself across their legs, giggling uncontrollably, “Hello… Why are you laughing at me? Am I funny???” I slur out, a bright smile in place.

Jonnie grins and pulls me fully into his lap, “Why, yes you are, Dani. It’s nice to see you happy.”

“And it’s nice to see you happy,” I beam, poking the tip of his nose. “Boop!” I laugh at the absurdness of booping his nose. It’s so fun!

“Mitch, come closer. I want to boop your nose!” I giggle as he shakes his head but he still comes closer. Once he’s within reach, I lean forward ever so slowly, my finger hovering at the tip of his nose, “Boop!” I laugh wildly, falling back onto the floor.

Jason hovers over me as I laugh up at the ceiling, “Alright Dani, time for us to go to bed. Say goodnight,” he says, hauling me to my feet.

“Whoa, the world is spinning,” I say, stumbling sideways before an arm swoops under my leg, cradling me in a soft embrace. “Hi,” I smile looking up into his gray eyes.

“Come on, let’s get you tucked in,” he smiles softly down at me.

I pout, not wanting to go to bed, but not feeling too good. Maybe I should get some rest. “Goodnight everyone,” I call as Jason whisks me away.

We walk up the stairs, me keeping my eyes closed to stop the room spinning. Why did I have a shot? And so much for the ‘alcohol doesn’t effect us’ myth. Shouldn’t I have been able to metabolize it by now?

“Jason. Why am I so out of it? Don’t we metabolize alcohol quickly?” I ask as he opens a door. He takes a few steps into the room, placing me onto a cloud, or what feels like a cloud.

He pulls my shoes off, slowly rubbing my feet. It feels so good. “We do metabolize alcohol quickly. What Lily gave you though was a mixture of a few home brews that have been specially made for wolves. It’s so we only have to have a small amount before getting wasted. Otherwise, it can be really hard for us to get drunk, and expensive. Lily’s pack actually makes them all here and distributes it amongst the packs,” he explains rubbing his thumb up the arch of my foot.

“Oh. That’s cool,” I smile getting drowsy. “Jason can I ask you for something? You can say no though.”

“Of course you can, Dani. Anytime you want to talk, I’m here,” he murmurs softly.

I sigh when he lays beside me, happy to have him closer to me. It feels like we never get to spend much time together. Between him teaching and the trials, it’s very hard to get time alone together.

“Will you kiss me?” I whisper, afraid he’ll deny me. Ever since our first kiss, I’ve wanted more. Now I finally have that chance.

He grins down at me with a blinding smile, “Sweet girl, do you really have to ask?” I suck in a breath, shocked to see the fire in his eyes. “I want to kiss you every day. I just don’t get too much of a chance. I don’t want you to feel exposed in front of the others.”

“Ha! I thought you didn’t want to. You know having six mates is hard. I can’t tell what the right thing to do is. Do I kiss all of you if I kiss one of you? Do I share a bed with all of you or do we take turns? What if one of you gets sick of the arrangement after the trials? Will I lose one of you? It’s all very complicated,” I state. I feel sober but I slurred a lot of that.

“Dani, you think too much. Don’t you remember us telling you a lot of our kind share mates? Don’t you think we know what we’re doing? How about you trust us to handle those problems? If a situation unnerves you, just say so and we’ll try to fix it. That’s our job as your mates. There will be times that we rely on you to settle some disagreements but it is very rare that we will ask you to sort out any problems we’re having. For instance, say Cam is wanting to spend more time with you, then we would discuss a way for that to happen without interfering with the rest of our time. Is that ok?” he asks, watching me for a sign of disagreement.

I grab him by the shirt pulling him close, “You’re so smart,” I mumble. “Now hurry up and kiss me before I pass out,” I giggle. He laughs abruptly, caught off guard by my demand.

His lips touch mine softly, a gentle caress making me moan with need. He growls, pushing me further into my cloud of comfort, climbing over me. His hand wraps around my waist keeping us entwined together until he pulls back. “Shit. Sorry Dani but we can’t do this. You’re still out of it from the Wolfsbane and I don’t want to take advantage of you,” he groans against my forehead.

“Fine. Be good then but will you at least stay with me until I fall asleep? I don’t like being alone anymore,” I admit.

Jason caresses my cheek softly, lulling me to sleep. “I’ll stay here as long as you need me. Besides we’re all sleeping in here anyway.”

He starts humming under his breath, helping me drift off to sleep. I just hope the nightmares stay away.