Winter Rose

Chapter 7: Everything is falling into place

I got two steps through the door before I was swarmed by the adult females of the pack. All the children were already in bed, and the men were nonchalantly eavesdropping from the kitchen. I explained that we had a nice time and I was ready for bed. Which did not stop Em, Britt, Crystal, and Mimi from following me to my bedroom. 

“Alright now that men’s nosey ears aren’t anywhere near, spill.” Mimi said as everyone perched around my bed. 

“There’s really not much to tell.” I laughed as I walked into the closet emerging in a pajama tank top and shorts before moving into the bathroom to scrub all the gunk off my face. “We went to dinner in a place that used to be a speakeasy. I had the most amazing pulled pork mac n cheese sandwich. Jessica found us, and Theo calmly told her she could either behave or leave. Then we went to the watchtower where we enjoyed the view before coming home. It was a nice date.” 

“You’re telling me that the boy’s scent was all over this house this morning from him sneaking in last night and you call that PG crap tonight a date?” Mimi scowled.

“Yes, Mimi. All that happened last night was he delivered the flowers” I motioned to the vase on my vanity, “We talked,” Em snorted, I shot her a glare before finishing my sentence, “and he left. And as far as tonight he was a perfect gentleman.” I explained. 

“What’s she leaving out Emily?” Mimi turned on my cousin. 

“Nothing that I know of.” Em said feigning innocence. 

“Well then you need to up the ante on your seduction missy.” Mimi wagged her finger in my face and I tried not to roll my eyes and laugh out loud. “This is a competition and you need to physically beat that Ebony girl, and win his heart. Now the fastest way to a man’s heart is?” 

“His stomach?” I asked hopefully. Only to be knocked upside the head.

“His p***s my dear. His stomach?” She scoffed, “Who the hell fed you that garbage?” I choked on my laughter. “I know I gave you the talk about the birds and the bees and it’s about time you started using some honey to catch that boy by the fly.” Tears filled my eyes. I was laughing so hard. 

“Dry hump your way right into his heart!” Em cackled. I smacked her upside the head for spilling the beans. “Hey next time you wash your own sheets to hide all the secrets you want to keep.” she said indignantly. 

“Ah. So that’s what happened last night.” Britt giggled. 

Mimi only nodded, “That’s a good start, but Britt and Crystal have enough pups that I know they can give you some better pointers.” 

“Alright. That’s enough. All of you out. I need my beauty sleep.” I made shooing motions as I tucked myself in. They all had one last giggle as Mimi opened my bedroom window giving me a wink, as they all left. Within an hour Theo had snuck in. 

“Not happening.” I said. He only chuckled. 

“I saw your grandma open the window. It was clearly an invitation.” He smirked as he kicked off his shoes and jumped onto my bed. “She even gave me a wink when she noticed me hiding in the brush!”

“Go bug your other girlfriend tonight. I’m tired.” I complained as I rolled over and snuggled deeper in my sheets. 

“Nope.” He said slipping under my blankets snuggling up to my backside as he wrapped his arms around me. “You can make me go on dates with her while you’re stuck here training, but you’re my only mistress of the night.” He kissed my neck and I felt goosebumps break out along my arms. My wolf purred in content. He ran his nose along my neck up to my ear inhaling the scent of me. 

“Stop being a creeper.” I muttered. 

“Oh like you when you were sniffing me at the watchtower?” He let out a low laugh. I snuggled deeper in my covers again and felt his body react. 

“We aren’t doing any of that tonight, so you might as well go home.” I muttered. 

“Doesn’t matter. I just want to be near you.” He answered. 

I finally fell asleep too tired to continue arguing with him. 

My alarm went off at five a.m. and I awoke to my bed thankfully empty. Stretching I went to the bathroom and began getting ready for the day. I tied my hair up after brushing it and changed into workout attire. In the kitchen no one else was awake so I made a bagel and smothered it in cream cheese before drinking a glass of orange juice and setting out for my morning jog. I jogged five miles around our yard for a warm up before I shifted to my wolf form and began running around the property. I was soon joined by a golden wolf who breached the eastern perimeter. Did you see a rabbit? I teased into his mind. 

Nope. Just a little corgi. He thought back. I picked up my pace and he followed suit. 

What are you even doing up this early? I asked. 

Well you did share your schedule. So I figured I would help you train.

Thank you, but I think my pack is enough to help me on that front. 

Fine. You’re so cocky? I’ll race you. If you beat me I’ll piss off. If not you let me run with you in the morning and at night. 

I like having alone time to think. I responded.

I’ll be a silent companion after I win. He answered by picking up his pace. I picked up mine and we were soon running at full speed around the perimeter. He crossed the invisible finish line by the pond a nose ahead of me before he shifted to human form to start the cool down jog to my house. I groaned as I shifted back. 

“So 6a.m every morning at the same spot?” He asked. 

“Looks like it.” I glowered as I set into a jog. He ran next to me, stripping off his sweat stained gray tank top. I took off my tank top as well running next to him in just my purple sports bra and running shorts. He let out a low whistle of appreciation while I almost ran into a tree from the distraction of his sweaty torso. We ran out of the treeline making our way to the back porch. 

“Put some clothes on!” Brad shouted at me. 

“Not my forte uncle.” I said panting as I made it to the porch and grabbed for the jar of sun tea sitting on the window sill. 

“You could at least use a cup and not drink straight from the jar like a heathen.” Damien said coming out and passing me a glass. 

“Thanks.” I nodded filling the cup and passing it to Theo before downing the rest of the jar. Both uncles gave me a dirty look and Theo only shrugged. I let out a belch as I put the jar back on the sill. 

“That’s not very ladylike.” Damien admonished me. I rolled my eyes and shrugged in response. “How are you planning on getting a husband with manners like that?” He asked pointedly, looking at Theo. 

“He seems to like me just fine.” I answered with a shrug as I stretched out my calves on the porch steps. Em came out followed by the pups. She tried getting them to fall into rank, but they were too fascinated by the new person. 

“Are you Alex’s boyfriend?” Morgan asked, tugging on his basketball shorts. 

“Yes” he answered, “Who are you?” 

“Morgan. Her cousin.” Morgan answered. 

“Oh and are these your sisters?” He asked motioning towards the other pups. 

“I’m her big sister,” Caudia answered with pride in her voice, “and this is our littlest sister” She said, pulling Eliza forward. 

“What about you two?” He asked Fae and Mae. 

“You think just because we are all blonde we are all sisters?” Fae asked.

“Well aren’t you?” He asked. 

Mae laughed, “Fae’s my older sister.” She said, “Marie and Darlene are our little sisters.” She added motioning towards the younger two with their light brown hair and hazel eyes. “The others are Brittany’s daughters.” She motioned towards Morgan, Claudia, and Eliza. “Crystal is our mom.” 

“What about you two? Who do you belong to?” He asked Steph and Malcolm. 

“I’m Em’s sister. Our little brother EJ is in the house with Mimi.” Steph answered. 

“And I’m Alex’s brother Malcolm.” 

“I’m Em, my dad Francis was Alex’s mom’s brother.” Em said, “So good to finally meet you after hearing so much about you.” She smiled, shaking his hand. 

“All good. I hope.” He answered nervously as the rest of the adults began streaming from the house. 

Now’s your chance to run. I said to his mind. He snorted and made his way up the porch to meet the rest of the family. 

“He’s a lot braver than your other boytoys.” Malcolm observed. 

I gave his arm a light shove, “You make it sound like I had so many.” I said rolling my eyes. “And you’re ten where did you even hear the term ‘boytoy’?” I questioned. 

“I did go to public school.” He rolled his brown eyes at me, and I stuck my tongue out at him. 

“So Theodore do you think you’re going to stick around to watch Alex train?” I heard my grandmother ask as she clung to his arm. 

“Oh I would love to if I could.” He answered smiling at her. She smiled in return and smacked his ass as she skipped down the porch steps. His face turned red as he looked around for my grandfather who only laughed at him. 

“Em be a dear and take the pups to start their run.” Mimi ordered. 

“Oh can we please see Alex train?” Fae asked. 

“Oh why not. Just this one time though.” My grandfather answered. They all scurried back onto the porch and sat along the railing. 

“Oh no pressure on me or anything.” I growled as Theo perched himself on the porch steps leaning forward with his elbows on his knees cradling his face in his hands. 

“You’ll do fine” Mimi laughed right before she shifted. Theo let out a small gasp at her solid white wolf form. Papaw shifted next his fur silver streaked with gray like his hair and facial hair. Brad’s brown wolf streaked with gray nipped at Papaw’s tail. While Damien’s black wolf with white streaks joined the dog pile. Francis laughed as he shifted into a dark blonde wolf pacing around the pile. Drew’s black wolf began pacing around Francis and they were soon challenged by Adam’s light brown form. 

I shifted as well, running to the group of women. Brittany yipped in excitement and pounced at me first. Let’s see if you really can take us both at once pup. Crystal thought to me as she paced around looking for an opening. 

Hey that was in human form! I thought back as she lunged. I dropped to my belly in time for her to launch right into Brittany who yelped in surprise. They quickly disentangled themselves from each other and began pacing around me in sync. Britt went clockwise while Crystal paced counterclockwise. I waited for them to intercept one another and charged, throwing my body into both of them before they had a chance to react. I managed to pin Crystal with my teeth locked around her throat. Britt was under me nipping at my legs. I let out a growl and kicked at her head. Crystal tried pawing at me to push my head off of her but I just locked my jaws down tighter and laid down effectively pinning Brittany under me. They both wiggled and writhed under me until my grandmother called the match with me as victor. 

“Yay Alex!” The pups cheered. Their mothers glowered at them. 

Lydia charged in next headbutting me in the flank throwing me off balance. I growled spinning on her. We paced around each other until she launched at me. I rose to my hind legs and locked my front paws on her shoulders as I bit at her cheek. She bit back as we fell to the ground. My front paws were still on her shoulders and I locked them around her head. One paw under her head the other one laying across her throat. She threw her rump in the air trying to back out but I held my paws tight. She growled but was only able to get a hold of the fur on my chest which was ineffective. Eventually she tapped out. 

“Yay Meemosh! Let’s go Meemosh!” I heard Eliza call which caused me to turn around just in time to stop Diana from pouncing on my back. She growled in frustration looking at the pup who gave her attack away. Theo chuckled as he watched my family members all coming after me full force. Diana was harder to beat today, as was Clara, but finally it was just my grandmother and I left as they tended to their scratch and bite wounds. 

“Now this is what I came to see.” Theo said, letting out a whistle. I thought of the sight we must be in coats of pure black and pure white pacing around like a living yin and yang symbol. She made the first move going straight for my throat. I turned at the last moment making it so I was able to get my front paws on her back and bite down on her scruff. She stood on her hind legs falling backwards. My jaws let go of her as the reverberations of hitting the ground shook my body. She rolled over and I stood quickly charging her exposed side. Her jaws snapped onto my cheek as I realized the exposed side was feint. I whined as she tugged me in a circle using my cheek as her axis. I pawed at her face and managed to smack her muzzle with my front paw, I pushed down as hard as I could and felt her teeth tear out of my face. I jumped back from her and began pacing back and forth trying to see a point of weakness. We both charged headfirst rearing up on our hind legs using our front paws to knock each other around like boxers in a ring. I managed to knock her over and flopped on top of her using my entire body weight to hold her in place. She used her whole body weight and slammed into me trying to throw me off but I bit deep into her throat and moved so my front paws pinned her shoulders down. She finally tapped out. We both shifted meeting the rest by the water cooler to clean our wounds. 

“You did much better this time.” My grandfather observed giving me an approving pat on the back. I lit up with pride. 

“Here let me help.” Theo said, extending his hand. I gave him the damp cloth and he started cleaning the wounds on my shoulders. 

“Great improvement pup.” Brad said, ruffling my hair. “Next round you’re with us.” 

Theo’s head whipped up, “Really?” He asked. “She barely won against Tabby.” 

“How else is she going to beat that Ebony girl?” Damien asked. “We are putting her through all the hoops.” 

“Would you feel better if I went against you first?” I asked Theo.

“Like you could handle that.” He snorted with laughter. 

“Well that settles it. Theo, Alex: shift.” Papaw said as everyone else took a step back forming a circle around us. 

“You can’t be serious?” Theo asked in shock. 

“As serious as a heart attack. Prove yourself as a worthy Alpha.” Papaw answered him. I obeyed shifting and licking Theo’s hand. “Only way out is to fight.” Papaw said sternly. Theo gave in and shifted. 

No going easy on me. I thought to him. He snorted and just stood there. I charged and he immediately went on the defensive. He had the upper hand and we both knew it. First of all he just got to watch my fighting style, secondly I just fought for an hour while he sat there drinking sweet tea. He grabbed my tail gingerly in his mouth and I spun on him using my front paws to throw him to the ground. He got up quickly and shook it off. He jumped putting his front paws on my back. I dropped to the ground and rolled out from under him. I grabbed his front leg with my jaws as I rolled, pulling him down with me. He growled in frustration. 

I popped back up and playfully nipped at his flank. He spun but I had already jumped over him and grabbed the scruff around his neck in my teeth and dragged his head down. He used his front paw to hold my head in place as he backed out leaving my mouth full of fur. I noticed with a small spark of pride that blood was starting to matt his golden fur. I raised my hind quarters giving a wiggle of my tail as I pounced on him like a giant cat. He dodged just in time for me to barely catch his hind quarters, but I hit with enough force that he tumbled to the ground landing on his back. I stood over him and he bit at my legs and wiggled trying to get free but I locked my jaws around his exposed throat. He pushed against me but I collapsed my entire weight on him until he whimpered and patted his paw on my back in surrender. I shifted as I got up and gave him a hand. He limped to the cooler and I saw a lot more blood than I was expecting. All of his limbs had open wounds and his neck was bleeding as well. 

“You fight dirty.” He said accusingly. I laughed holding my hand out for the towel. I cleaned his wounds as he had done for me. 

“So you’re not going to admit you went easy on me?” 

“I did no such thing. You fight like a damn cat.” 

“You didn’t even bite me once.” I accused. 

“That’s because you were too damn fast.” He explained. I rolled my eyes. 

“No seriously Alex look.” Brad extended his phone to me with the video he took playing. “You really are fast.” The rest of my pack nodded. As I watched the moments where I thought he had plenty of time to get the upper hand I was indeed moving just out of his reach for every counter attack. “Like super fast, even for a wolf shifter.” He showed me more videos from my previous fights. “The only reason they were able to get a hold of you is they know your fighting style and for the most part yesterday you didn’t know theirs. That’s why today you were so much more effective in beating them. You know their styles and how to counteract them and were able to react faster this time.” 

“So I actually have a chance at winning the challenge?” I asked hopefully. 

“Oh you will definitely win the challenge.” Theo said. “Especially if you continue training like this.” 

“You don’t think she’s training?” I asked. 

“Not like you.” He held an ice pack to his head. 

“You’re being a bit dramatic.” I said motioning towards the ice pack, “I didn’t hit you that hard.” 

Brad laughed, and showed me the video again, “No you definitely did. See?” I saw myself dragging his head down a lot faster than I had registered at the time and Brad slowed it to play in slow motion where I could see Theo’s head hit the ground and bounce back up. Brad rewound it and played it again laughing so hard he could barely even breathe. 

“Alright. Alright. Enough laughing at me. It’s not my fault you guys raised a hell hound.” Theo pouted. I smiled at that. We all went inside for lunch, and my grandma made sure to drag Theo along too. He milled about in the living room and stared at the job board. 

“If you and Em need jobs you can come work on our farm.”  He offered. “We pay just about minimum wage.” 

“What do you need done?” Em asked. 

“All sorts of farm work. We got crops to harvest, beef and pigs to butcher, eggs to collect, cows and goats to milk, and sheep to shear.  Not to mention stalls to muck, and the feeding of the animals. Honestly, even Steph, Malcolm, and Fae are old enough to start work. Come over to my house for supper and we will get you all set with the elders.” 

“That would be great.” Papaw said, “Now go get washed up everyone. Lunch is ready.” 

Theo took my normal place at the head of the kids table while I took my mom’s place with the adults. After lunch we trained again. This time I faced the men of the family. It was a little bit more of a challenge but just as Brad had said I picked up on their styles quickly resulting in my counter attacks being quick and efficient. 

Afterwards with Papaw’s blessing Theo took Malcolm, Em, Steph, Fae, and I over to his property. We ran in wolf form and he had an intense look of concentration on his face. I could only assume he was mentally giving his pack the heads up to make five extra places for dinner and job interviews. A sandy colored wolf approached from the opposite side of the property. My hackles raised and Em flanked my side as we met Jessica at the porch. She shot a glare at Theo before growling at me. 

“Jessie, Alex! It’s so good to see you both.” The front door stood open as Theo’s mother smiled down at us. She was tall like and lean like her son with blonde hair and brown eyes. His father stood behind her tall and broad shouldered. His eyes green like Theo’s, and his hair a light brown. I threw one final growl at Jessica before shifting to my human form. 

“Mrs. and Mr. Winter” I said, extending my hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh please, you proposed to our son. Call me Susan.” Mrs. Winter said, bringing me into a hug.