I woke to Austin gently stroking my hair. “Hey, Anna. We made it home,” he said softly.

I yawned and sat up. “Since everything seems good now, is it OK if I go on a run?” I asked him hopefully.

He chuckled. “You just woke up, and you are ready to go already?”

“Yup,” I told him. “After all the stress of the last couple days, I really just need to run wild and free.”

He frowned. “It’s not safe just yet. Let’s give the council time to get the word out about their decision. We can re-evaluate the situation tomorrow.”

I pouted, and he looked at me affectionately. “We do have an indoor gym. Running on the treadmill isn’t the same, but it would let you get some of that pent-up energy out. Have the twins show it to you this afternoon. They need to work out and stop causing so much trouble in the house.”

I laughed and followed him out of the limo. He escorted me into the house but went to find James for an update. I went to go find the twins. I found them in the kitchen, looking miserable.

Jason saw me first. “Anna!” He ran and scooped me up, giving me a hug with my feet dangling. I tensed up nervously but forced myself to relax; this was Jason, not a stranger. I closed my eyes and took in his scent and the warmth of his body, focusing on the fact that this was Jason.

Mason didn’t want to miss out on hug-time, so he stood behind me and wrapped his arms around both of us as much as he could. I was being smushed, so I squeaked out, “Guys!”

Mason stepped back, and Jason let me go, setting me back down on my feet.

“Anna, we missed you!” Jason told me.

“So, what happened?” Mason asked. “Are you ours forever?”

I helped them clean up the post-lunch mess and load the dishwasher while I explained everything that happened. They were both disappointed that a final decision had not yet been made but hopeful that it was just a matter of time. I was not as sure as they were, but I appreciated their optimism.

I asked them about Robbie and how his leg was doing. They told me that it was almost healed and that they had an Army medic looking after him. I was reassured by that, but I still wanted to check on him later.

After we were done cleaning and they were caught up with the day’s events, I asked them to show me the indoor gym Austin told me about.

“Oh, yeah,” Jason said. “Cody told us that we still weren’t supposed to bring you outside.”

Mason nodded. “A good workout can sometimes help if you can’t go on a run.”

I nodded. I needed some kind of outlet, because I had a lot of pent-up energy that needed to be let out.

“Oh, hey! Don’t you guys have class today?” I suddenly realized it was midday and they were at home instead of school.

“Yeah,” Mason told me and rolled his shoulders back.

“We wanted to stay here and wait for you,” Jason told me with sad eyes.

“But then James realized we were still in bed -”

“And assigned us to make lunch for all 20 of the pack members who were still here.” Jason had finished the sentence that Mason had started.

“You poor guys.” I laughed at the vision of them scrambling around the kitchen, but my heart melted when I thought about them here, waiting to see if I was going to be allowed to come back.

I was not brave enough yet to reach out and hug either one of them, but I gave Jason a gentle shove on the shoulder and reached for Mason’s hair. I wanted to muss his like he was so fond of doing to me.

He saw what I was going for and quickly had one arm around my waist, holding both of my arms pinned down and unable to reach for his hair. He used his other hand to muss my perfectly coiffed hair that Quinn had managed to put into place this morning.

“Hey!” I yelled, trying to squirm away from him.

Jason laughed, and Mason let go. I tried smooth my hair back into place and threw one of my heels at him. They had been lying on the kitchen floor, where I had discarded them when I first came into the kitchen. I decided to throw the second one at Jason since he had laughed at Mason tormenting me.

They both just caught the shoes I threw at them. “You know girls usually wear heels on their feet, not use them as weapons, right?” Jason asked me as he laughed.

“Weren’t you guys the ones who told me not to start wearing dresses and heels?” I laughed.

“We didn’t realize how pretty you would look,” Mason told me, tilting his head to the side with a grin.

“We’re going to change the rule to say you are only allowed to wear dresses and heels for approved events.”

I just laughed and shook my head. “Let go get changed and go to the gym,” I told them as I headed out of the kitchen.

My skirt was too snug for me to run up the stairs after them unless I wanted to hike it up to my waist, so I lagged behind them. I made it back to my room and noticed my phone lying on the bed, where I left it this morning.

Now would be a good time to text Kelsey, I thought to myself.

When I picked up the phone, I realized I had multiple calls from her and a text that just said, “call me.”

I was worried. I had not expected to hear from her unless I had apologized first. I called her back, and all kinds of thoughts ran through my head as her line rang. She didn’t pick up, so I sent her a quick text. Hey Kelsey! I tried to call you but got your voicemail, is everything OK?

I decided to keep my phone on me in case she called again. If I didn’t hear from her soon, I would try again. 

Before I had even made it to my closet to look for clothes, I heard banging on my door. “Anna, are you naked?”

That was definitely Jason. “No!” I yelled back.

“Well, why not?” he asked me with a grin as he strode into my room. I set the phone down on my bed and walked to the closet as Jason flung himself on the bed.

“One of my friends was trying to get a hold of me,” I told him worriedly. I chewed on my lip as I pulled out yoga pants and a tank top for working out. I shut my closet door part of the way so I could change in privacy but still chat. The closet was bigger than my dorm room had been my freshman year in college.

I heard Mason enter the room. “Less talking, more changing,” he told me.

I just rolled my eyes as I laid my new outfit down on one of the shelves in my closet; I was going to investigate if it needed dry cleaning or washing. I pulled on underwear appropriate for working out and slipped into my clothes. I brought my shoes and socks out with me so I could sit on my bed to put them on.

“I’m worried about my friend Kelsey,” I told them as I put my shoes on. “I have a bunch of missed calls from her, and she’s not answering her phone.

“She’s probably just busy. It’s the middle of the day. Aren’t most people at work?” Mason asked.

I nodded. That could be it; she had meetings a lot during the day.

After I had my shoes tied, the boys jumped up. “Let’s go!” Jason shouted.

I grabbed my phone and headphones and followed them to the gym. Like everything else in this house, the workout room was insane. There was a large area for free weights with multiple weight benches and barbells. There were racks upon racks of hand weights, pull up bars, and a variety of weight machines. There was also a mini fridge filled with water bottles. I took one of those for myself.

I was interested in the treadmills lined up on the right-hand side of the gym. They faced the wall, but all the walls were lined with mirrors. So even though my back was to the room, I would still be able to see everything going on behind me. I hopped on one of the treadmills and straddled the belt so I could familiarize myself with the controls. Mason headed for the weights, but Jason chose the treadmill next to mine.

I rolled my shoulders and flipped through my phone to find my running playlist as the belt slowly started up.

I settled into a comfortable warm up pace, and Jason eyed the speed I was running at competitively. I reached over to try and grab his emergency stop cord, but he smacked my hand away before I could reach it. Ugh, fine. I did my best to ignore him and ramped up my speed once I was warmed up.

I lost myself in my music and in my run. Running has always been therapeutic for me; it had served as an outlet for all the helpless frustration and anger that built up inside me while I was living in my uncle’s house.

Even after I had moved out, it had taken years for my anger to fade. While I was living there, fear was my primary emotion. It was only after I moved out and had a taste of freedom that I realized just how much he had polluted and warped my childhood into something ugly.

I spent years trying to repress and forget about my childhood, to no avail. After I was out of the nightmare and realized what life could be like without a constant haze of threat and oppression looming over me, I became angry.

I was angry about what I had lost. I was angry at the way I had been treated. I was angry that no one had stood up for me or stopped him. I was angry that no one had recognized the signs of abuse and tried to investigate. I thought about all the signs that should have been obvious to doctors and teachers. But most of all, I was angry at myself.

I had allowed him to treat me that way. I never stood up to him, I never threatened to tell anyone what he was doing. I just kept my head down like a little mouse and hid. I was a wolf, not a mouse! Why had I allowed it?

Because at the time I thought there were no other options, I finally admitted to myself. I didn’t know what life could be like without it because I had never experienced it.

While I was running, I could lose myself in the emotion of certain songs. I could listen to Linkin Park or System of a Down screaming out their frustrations and internally scream out my own. Running helped me release all that emotion and energy in a physical form. After a run, I would feel more relaxed, and the physical aches and pains I felt in my body matched my internal pain in a satisfying way.

I felt a lot of that anger enveloping me now. Anger that I had missed out on having a pack my entire life. Anger that someone was now trying to take my new pack away from me before I had even settled in with them. Anger that someone had succeeded in taking Evelyn away from me. Anger that Evelyn would never get to experience having a pack who loved her. Anger that she never had the opportunity to have safety and peace in her life, and now she never would.

I let my anger fuel my run, and I kept turning the speed up until I had reached a speed that could satisfactorily burn the anger out of my body.

Finally, exhaustion started to set in after 7 miles, and I turned my speed down for a cool down. I wiped my face with the bottom hem of my tank top, exposing a little bit of my tummy but not caring if anyone saw.

I slowed to a walk and opened my water bottle. I tried not to gulp it too quickly because I didn’t want a stomachache. While I had been running, the guys had been lifting weights; now that I was once again paying attention to my surroundings instead of my internal pain, I saw that more of the pack members had come in to work out.

I was a little embarrassed because my clothing was soaked in sweat and my face was bright red, but I told myself not to care.

I hopped off the treadmill with a lot less energy than when I had hopped onto it before my run. I went over to the back of the gym area where mats were laid out for stretching and gave a wave to the guys as I passed. Most of them gave me polite nods or small waves in return.

I started stretching out after my run so my muscles wouldn’t tighten up and tried to ignore that I was the only girl in here. I felt self-conscious when I caught some of the guys looking at my butt out of the corner of their eyes when I bent over to stretch.

I put my headphones back on and changed to happy pop music. That should be enough to keep me distracted and put me back in a positive mood after my run.

Jason came over to where I was stretching after a little while and plopped down on the mat next to me. He didn’t even pretend to stretch; he just lay back and laced his heads behind his head with his eyes closed, as if he were there to take a nap. If I had anything to throw at him, I would have.

Mason wandered over and tossed another cold water bottle at me. I smiled in thanks and took a couple gulps. “You almost done tormenting us guys?” he asked in a teasing tone.

I just stared at him quizzically, and Jason laughed. “Dude, she has no idea what you’re talking about.”

Mason smiled. “I know. That’s part of what makes her so awesome.”

I frowned at both of them. “Care to let me in on the secret?”

“Mason’s just teasing you because you look hot in your workout clothes,” Jason told me seriously.

I looked at him incredulously; I was hot, sweaty, and disgusting. Instead of replying, I just shrugged and said, “You guys done?”

“Yeah -” Mason started to say before my phone rang. I hurriedly glanced down; it was Kelsey. I picked up and headed for the door so I didn’t interrupt anyone else’s workout with my chatter.

“Kelsey!” I exclaimed. “I was worried about you when I saw your message.”

“Well, I was worried about you,” she replied. “What have you gotten yourself into with these shady guys?”

“What shady guys?”

“There were these guys that came by Sunday night after you left,” she told me. “They looked really rough, like bikers or something.”

“When I opened the door to see who was ringing my doorbell, they leaned close to smell me! Isn’t that weird and creepy? Then they pushed past me into my house and sniffed around like bloodhounds or something. I was so weirded out, I threatened to call the police.”

My heart was pounding. Those had to be wolves she was talking about. Austin or James never said anything to me about sending someone to Kelsey’s house. Could it have been Evelyn’s old pack? Could they have been looking for me? I felt fear creep down my spine and turned to face the twins.

They had followed me out of the gym and were listening to my conversation curiously. “Did they leave?” I asked Kelsey. “After you threatened to call the police?”

“No!” she said. “They kept asking me questions about ‘another female that lived here’. I told them that there wasn’t anyone else here but that I had a friend visit over the weekend.”

A cold hand squeezed my heart. “Are you okay, Kelsey? They didn’t hurt you, did they?” I asked, concerned for her safety.

“No, I’m fine,” she answered. “They just took your info and left.”

“What info did you give them?” I asked her as I chewed on my lip.

“Don’t be mad, Anna. I had to give them something! I was scared, and they wouldn’t leave!”

“I’m not mad,” I told her. “I just need to know what you told them so I know if I’m safe or not.”

She paused. “I gave them your address.” My heart dropped. “And I told them where you work.”

Jason grabbed the phone out of my hand. “Are you insane?! You told a bunch of men, who you were afraid of, where Anna lives and works back on Sunday, and you are just now telling her about it?!”

“Who are you?” Kelsey shouted back at him. “You have no idea what I’ve been through this week!”

I snatched the phone out of his hand before he could answer. “Sorry, Kels, that was a friend of mine.”

“Well, I don’t appreciate the way your friend just spoke to me, and since when do you have guy friends?” she said snidely. I’m sure she could hear Mason and Jason standing right next to me, cursing about her.

“I’m sorry Kelsey,” I said soothingly. “I’m sure you had a good reason for not calling before now. Is everything OK?”

“No! I was really stressed out and pissed off at you! First you ditch me on Sunday, then it’s your fault I have a biker gang show up and threaten me!” she yelled.

“I’m sorry,” I told her.

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Mason yelled. He reached for the phone, and I smacked his hand and walked away from him, holding the phone close to my ear.

“Anyway,” Kelsey continued. “Because of what you put me through, I asked my boss for an out of town assignment.”

I suddenly realized why she was calling. She confirmed my suspicions when she continued. “I’m going to be out of the country for the next three weeks or more. I need you to take the puppies.”

Even though I had worked through most of my emotion while running, I felt a tiny thread of anger rise in me. I pushed it away quickly. Kelsey was just scared; she didn’t mean to be hurtful. “Okay, Kelsey, when are you leaving?”

“In a couple hours.”

“Seriously?” I heard Mason yell from behind me.

“Um, Kelsey, I can’t come to your house right now.” Austin had specifically told me not to leave the house.

“Oh, I know,” she told me. “I figured you would be at work, so I was just going to drop them off at your house.”

“No!” I had raised my voice at her without realizing it. I tried to calm down before I continued more quietly. “I don’t think it’s safe at my house, Kelsey. Let me see if I can stay at my friend’s house with them. Give me a sec.”

“Not the rude one, I hope,” she sniffed.

I ignored her and covered the phone with my hand. “Do you think Austin would mind having two additional house guests?” I asked.

They both looked at me as if I were completely insane. “Anna, this chick just deliberately put you in danger, didn’t even warn you about it, and now the only reason she’s calling you is because she wants something?” Mason said angrily.

“Fuck her,” Jason added.

“I understand how you feel about her,” I told them, “but we are talking about two sweet, innocent puppies right now.”

“Fuck,” Jason said.

“Your heart is too big, Anna,” Mason told me with sad eyes.

“But do you think Austin would be okay with it if I told her to drop them off here?”

They looked at each other and communicated silently. They were quiet for a little too long, and I started to fidget. “Well?”

“James said yeah, have her come over,” Mason told me, with a tone I couldn’t identify.

I ignored his comment about James for the moment and held the phone back up. “Hey, Kels?”

“Yeah,” she answered.

“They said it’s okay. Can I text you the address?”

“Yeah, just hurry up, I have a plane to catch.”

I rolled my eyes when she just hung up; she was definitely still mad. I texted her Austin’s address. Hopefully, she wouldn’t be too mad about coming here instead of my house because it was closer.

I could tell that Jason and Mason were also still angry, but I decided to ignore that for the moment. “What’s up with the psychic thing you do?” I asked. “Were you just talking to James?”

Mason looked embarrassed. “Um yeah, sometimes I forget you don’t know stuff that everyone just knows.”

“So, tell me,” I said impatiently.

Jason chuckled, the wrath fading off his face. “I don’t know, Anna. We are kinda mad at you right now. Maybe we shouldn’t tell you anything.”

“I will wipe my stinky sweat on you,” I threatened.

“Oh, Anna, I would love to have your sweat all over me,” Jason teased.

My jaw dropped, and I turned red, not sure where he was going with that. Mason gave him a punch on the arm and glared.

Jason rubbed his arm. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“When you join a pack, you…bond with the other wolves. I don’t know if there is a human word to describe the process. You just become one with the pack.”

“How does that work?” I asked him doubtfully.

“So, you can magically change into a wolf anytime you want, but you find it difficult we can communicate by thought?” Jason pointed out.

“I didn’t say I didn’t believe you; I just don’t understand how it would work. I mean, are you sending out brain waves, or…” My voice trailed off as Jason snorted in amusement.

“How do you change into a wolf?” Mason prodded gently. “It’s not a physical change, your bones don’t break, your tendons don’t snap, your blood doesn’t spray everywhere. If your body had to physically rearrange itself to a wolf form, you would bleed to death before you got very far in the change.”

I thought about that for a moment. He was right; one moment I was human, and the next I was a wolf. It was a seamless, painless transition.

“It’s magic,” Jason told me seriously.

“Magic is just science we don’t fully understand yet,” I told them stubbornly.

“That’s what I said. It’s magic,” Jason insisted.

I didn’t have a better explanation, so I just nodded.

“How does it work?” I asked curiously. “Can you just hear each other’s thoughts?”

Mason laughed. “No, you have to project your thoughts to someone, and they have to let you in. It’s a little bit different for Jason and I,” he continued. “We have been able to share our thoughts since we were born.”

“Austin thinks it’s because we shared blood in the womb, like in the bonding ritual.”

Mason nodded, agreeing with his brother. “For everyone else, it takes a conscious effort. You have to reach out and make contact with who you want to speak with and then try to project a clear, concise thought or emotion.”

“It can be really difficult for some wolves who didn’t grow up in a pack that used those abilities,” Jason told me sympathetically.

“But it’s really useful to be able to speak to each other while in wolf form,” Mason added.

“So, what’s the bonding ritual?” I asked.

“It’s a ceremony,” Mason started.

Jason nodded. “You exchange blood with each of the other pack members, and the pack-master draws you into a bond together.”

“So, when do I do that?” I questioned.

The twins looked at each other.

Jason looked uncomfortable, and Mason shrugged. “Whenever Austin thinks you’re ready and the pack is ready to accept you.”

“He might just have you bond with a couple people first,” Jason told me.

Mason nodded. “That way, it won’t be too overwhelming for you and you can practice with the people you feel comfortable with.”

“That makes sense,” I said thoughtfully.

“If he asks, make sure to tell him you want to bond with us first,” Jason kidded.

Mason’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! We should definitely be first since we are your designated wolf tutors,” he said enthusiastically.

I laughed. “I’ll definitely be asking him about this pack-bonding thing next time I see him. I want to be psychic with the rest of you.”

Kelsey texted me back: Be there in an hour.

“I’ll race you upstairs!” I shouted, taking advantage of their surprise to get a head start.