Captive Mate of the Female Alpha

Chapter 6: The Pack

 Chapter 6: The Pack

Jordan walked quickly; Kit nearly had to skip to keep up with him.

The hallway was lined with doors at regular intervals suggesting he was in a wing where bedrooms were arranged. He counted four doors before they reached the end of the hallway which opened up into a massive living area. It would have been a welcoming, homey space if it weren't for the area's occupants. 

Wolves lay in clusters everywhere Kit looked. There was a mother with cubs and two young wolves curled up together beside her bed. A man wearing only a pair of shorts lounged on a couch with his head tilted down while a giant wolf -an animal too large to be believed, large enough for the man to have climbed onto its back for a ride- sat at his side. 

No one was looking at Kit. 

"They've been told to look away. The Alpha doesn't want them seeing you until you're joined." 

Kit followed Jordan more closely, trying not to look at all the animals with their heads down or eyes closed or backs turned to him. Who kept wolves in their home? What kind of wolves grew to the size of horses? Were they some kind of hybrid like a liger? 

He hadn't realized he was breathing faster until Jordan paused at the base of a set of stairs to ask him a question. 

Kit shook his head, "I'm sorry. What? I think I'm a little---"

"You're a little something, yeah. I asked if you could handle the stairs? I can carry you if you'd rather." 

Kit swept his eyes over the other man without thinking; Jordan snickered at him as if he knew exactly what he was thinking. 

"I'm a lot stronger than I look."

Okay, so Jordan knew what Kit was thinking, but it was an easy guess! 

"I can handle a set of stairs. I run trails, remember?"

"You mean you jog," Jordan quipped, still chuckling, "I wouldn't call what you do 'running' even on my worst day." 

Why wasn't anyone making any noise? Kit glared at Jordan and started up the stairs on his own. There were only two ways to take stairs and since they were at the bottom, that mean he had to get to the top. He didn't need someone to lead him this far. 

Were wolves like dogs? Could they have been trained not to 'speak' unless on command? 

Every year a therapy animal group came to visit the elementary school to show the students how working animals helped people with disabilities. Kit enjoyed the visit a lot himself and he knew dogs could be trained to do a lot more than fetch, roll over, or sit. Some therapy dogs could predict when an owner's blood sugar was low or when they were in danger of having a seizure. 

Being quiet couldn't be too hard of a command to learn, could it? 

Why would anyone have went to the trouble to teach them 'quiet' though? 

It seemed as if it would be a pretty useless skill unless the goal was to scare the poop out of visitors. 

"No. We're another level up. She prefers to be in the tower. The downstairs door is blocked to keep the young out." 

Kit watched as Jordan opened a door to reveal another set of stairs. These were narrow and dark. It was obvious they'd have to go one at a time. 

"Here I thought it was just a linen closet. I guess you've got to put the extra towels somewhere else. Remind me to ask you where. I could use a real shower."

"Do you talk when you're nervous?"

Kit nodded, "Why? Is it obvious?"

"You're asking me about linen closets instead of the room with over a dozen wolves in it. I'd say it's pretty obvious."

Kit only nodded again. He was waved forward so he was going first. His heart hammered in his chest as he gingerly climbed his way up to the door at the top. It was set back far enough for there to be a small landing for him to wait in while Jordan joined him. Why was he nervous? What could be stranger than the gauntlet he'd already been led through? 

It was only a door. 

Jordan knocked and leaned against the door frame, "We wait on an answer. I should have told you. Good thing you decided to wait. She might have been okay with you opening the door on your own, but I'd rather not chance it." 

Janus had seemed---okay. Janus had seemed a little scary to Kit, but was she really so dangerous? 

"You always wait on an answer?"

"I don't have a death wish."

Jordan was good at 'brutal honesty' if nothing else. 

"You think she would really hurt you?" 

Jordan c****d a brow at Kit as if daring him to say Janus wouldn't. 

Kit went through his personal impression of Janus to realize he was shaking his head no. She was quiet, shy almost. He had made her laugh. Her body had been a gift to touch and she had reacted as if he were the best lover in the world when he knew he had barely done anything to help her find her release. 

For Pete's sake, Janus had told him she was a virgin! 

She might be a little brusque, but Jordan couldn't expect him to believe a virginal woman was some kind of stone cold killer, could he? 

Kit moved to the door and knocked again. He wrapped hard with his knuckles to make sure whoever was in the room could hear him as much as to prove he wasn't afraid. 

Could wolves smell fear? Some animals were supposed to be able to sense a person's emotions; Kit couldn't remember about dogs and wolves were just like dogs with more teeth, right? Why hadn't he asked more questions of the animal therapists on their visits? They were always good about answering the kids' questions as if they were talking to adults. 

Being able to talk to small kids on their own level was a skill many adults didn't have or even try to learn. 

Kit didn't understand why not either because life was much more fun with children. Their imagination, sense of wonder, and joy for even small surprises made everything seem bigger somehow. 

A day with his class was better than any hour of therapy Kit had ever been in. 

"Enter!"

Jordan gave him a somewhat mocking bow as he turned the doorknob to open the door for him, "After you, luna." 

"What's a---"

"Call him that again and I'll hang you by your entrails."

Kit was plastered to the door as Janus pinned Jordan to the wall with one hand. She'd managed to lift him enough to have only his toes touching the floor. Her free hand was splayed over his belly with her nails digging in enough to pucker the material. 

"Woah, woah, woah!" Kit tried, breathing too hard, nearly hyperventilating, "I don't think he meant it. He's really just got some kind of weird sense of humor and I don't know what he called me anyway so I'm not upset. I'm not! It's okay with me so it's okay with you, right? That seems like it should be right." 

Janus lowered her arm, Jordan sliding down the wall, his back being exposed as his shirt rode up; Kit could visibly see the rough wood scratching his back as he was lowered to his feet again. 

Shaking him as if he were a rude child, Janus demanded, "Tell him what you said. Tell him what you meant. He will decide if you can speak again when you leave this room."