Chapter 5

This day could not get any more stressful than it already was.

I hadn’t seen Poppy since I left her in the kitchen, which could only mean that Marthe was practically up her arse keeping an eye on her so that she didn’t disappear. And for me, that was a bloody good thing. I love Pops to bits, but shit she’s distracting and she would cause hell for me.

I swear, as my punishment for evading my duties yesterday, Marthe purposely gave me the most idiotic and incapable wolves possible to somehow finish the ballroom in time for tonights extravaganza.

The reservist wolves that were pulled in for large scale events like tonights ball were less useful than a sack of shit and were making a mountain out of a mole hill. I think I got lumped with most of the fuckers and I swear I was impossibly close to combusting from anger.

I am well and truly, royally, screwed.

It is nearly twelve in the afternoon and I do not think that the fuckwads have been able to finish even one task properly. Or even any of them at all.

Today has been nothing but one giant clusterfuck so far and I am ready to call it quits and fuck off to bed, leave these pillocks to fend for themselves. If I was not so scared of Marthe, I would have pissed off hours ago. But as it is, I am absolutely terrified of that she-wolf, so here I am, being tortured. She is going to have to sort something out though, things cannot keep going on like they have been so far today or I am going to lose my shit.

And I am not a nasty wolf, but if these idiots do not pull their fingers out of their arses, then I am going to rip some heads off.

I think that after lunch, I may just ask Marthe to reassign me. It would be safer for everyone if I did, because some shithead has rearranged the cutlery, so it is no longer in the right places. Somehow there are vases missing from the tables and I have not been able to find them anywhere. How the fuck does someone even manage to lose three heavy crystal vases that are each about half a metre tall? It is just not possible! The napkins have definitely seen better days; they are either stained, folded like absolute shit or all of the above. The floor all around the room is stinking dirty and full of debris from careless wolves traipsing crap everywhere, ignorant spanners.

And through all of this, I had this pit in the bottom of my stomach. A nagging feeling that something was wrong or going to go very wrong. I do not know how I know this; it could just be my improved wolf senses. It has left me deeply unsettled though.

My guard is up, and I do not know if it is making me more paranoid or something, or if it was just a simple expected dread about something going wrong with the preparations for the ball tonight. Either way, me and Beaux were antsy and in dire need of a good run.

It also did not help that we were on edge anyway. Every time we started to scent something, just anything, our hopes would start to raise. But once we were able to identify what the scent was, and each time it was not our mate, it was a plane crash of hopes and dreams. It was just getting me more and more worked up and pissed-the-fuck-off, so without meaning to, I was taking it out on others.

The wolves from other packs had been arriving all day, adding to the already insane, bustling chaos around here. The Packhouse is rather large, spanning over six floors with an excess of bedrooms, but it was not big enough to hold all of the wolves from the visiting packs. We have it arranged so that the ranking wolves were staying here in the Packhouse, but all other pack members were staying in pack guest houses, hotels and with any connections that they had with pack members of Moonlight Pack.

Just having the ranking wolves staying here had caused bedlam and a heap load of extra work. With all the extra things to be done, there was not enough usual worker bees so others had to be brought in from the pack. In come the reservists I mentioned before.

It also meant a lot of heads had been poking into the ballroom all morning, every time getting in the way and making things impossibly difficult for me and these idiots I am trying to supervise and in doing so, were dragging in even more of a shitty mess.

Being honest, it felt like every dickhead wolf in the world was passing through here today, not just those that were arriving. Everyone was running around like headless chickens, under each other's feet, and it had caused more than a handful of scuffles. It was not just my temper running at a dangerously high level and as wolves, we get pretty nasty when were pissed. We have been lucky to have only had minor scuffles so far. But as time goes on, I have a feeling that it is not going to stay that way. Things are bound to get bloody at some point and I am not cleaning that shit up when it does happen.

The deliveries have been coming left, right and centre all day so far and are taking a small army to manage receiving and sorting through them. Food for the kitchen, more food for the kitchen, flowers, alcohol, more food for the kitchen, food for the guest housing, cleaning supplies and on and on like that they went.

Having so many of us all in one spot was not a good thing to do either. There are going to be a lot of very important wolves here, plus the amount of ordinary folk like me so the security has been amped up to the nines. I mean, there are beefed up wolves all over the place and I am about to wrestle one up to my room to fulfil some of these naughty fantasies I have been having each time I see one of them. I swear, a few wolves in the ballroom have managed to get whiffs of my arousal before I have been able to reign in my horny arse.

Personally, I blame Beaux and her constant need to procreate rubbing off on me. Her and Poppy’s constant want to screw anything with a pulse.

But then again, even with all the extra wolves on patrol everywhere, I still had this niggling feeling scratching away at me.

And with that, an almighty smashing noise brought me back to the land of chaos with a crash.

I whipped my head around to face where the disturbance had come from so fast that I almost gave myself whiplash. All just so I could see that one of the temporary hindrances had only gone and dropped a full tray of freshly polished glasses on the floor which had shattered fucking everywhere.

I snapped; the small feeble tether of my sanity left me in an instant.

“Everybody, lunch! Now! And you! The absolute dipshit. Yeh you, clean that shit up, fuck off and don’t come back.” I first screamed at a bewildered room of incompetent arseholes and turned to the male wolf that was now squatting over the mess of broken glass.

The idiot that had somehow dropped the glasses in the first place even had to question whom I was talking to, even with me pointing my index finger straight at him. He looked around himself, checking to see if I perhaps could have been pointing to someone else within his proximity, looked at me and pointed to himself as if confirming that I was indeed instructing him. What a fucking bellend. Why would I have asked someone else to clean up his bloody mess?

I did not wait to see if he was capable of following a direct instruction. I instead sent a mindlink to Poppy and briskly walked out of the ballroom as if my arse was on fire. I turned right and headed towards the main front doors of the Packhouse, weaving in and out of all the wolves that were either rushing about themselves, loitering and chatting, plus all the deliveries that were laying around everywhere. It all made me question if we would even be ready in time for the Mating Ball in just a few hours time.

‘Oi Pops, I am going out for a quick run. I'm fucked off a treat and need to get outta here for a bit. It's all way too much for me.’

‘Hey! She speaks! How come I've not been able to get through to you? Do you have any idea what it is like being stuck in your own head? Mine to be exact? And wait up, I'll come join you.’ Pops sounded excited to finally be speaking to me. We do not normally go very long without talking but today had called for it.

‘Sorry, I had to put a block on my mindlink. I needed to concentrate on the spanners I have been given for the day. Finally figured out how Marthe was gunna get her revenge on me. Plus, people kept popping up to say happy birthday and I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.’ I simply hinted to Pops at how my day has been going so far. With her knowing the person that I am, she would

understand exactly what I meant. ‘I gotta get out now, I cannot wait. Catch-up in with me in the woods, I am sure you can find me.’

And with that, I was through the oversized double doors and starting to jog across the gravel of the drive and the neatly trimmed grass that spread out towards the woods that held the greatest of natures secrets.

It took what felt like hours to reach the edge of the trees, but was in fact less than just a couple of minutes. Exactly like yesterday, I felt that instant rush of calm and weightlessness. But there was something different, I just had no idea what had changed and if it was good or bad.

I slowed my jog, eventually coming to a stop and looked around, scanning the trees to see if there was anything obviously different from usual; sniffing the air as I turned on the spot to do a full circle check on my surroundings, not noticing anything.

I am pretty sure that the warriors doing the constant perimeter checks would have picked up anything bad and alerted the pack. At this thought, I eased a bit, finding comfort in the fact that we were thoroughly protected, more so than usual because of all the extra warm bodies present here today.

Beaux however, was still itching away, still very much irritated and pacing. ‘Come on human! Let me out, I need to check myself, there’s something out there. Plus, you need a piss, so I need a piss and I highly doubt that you are gunna squat out here.’

She had a point there. I have been so distracted today that I had not even realised that I was busting for the loo. So, I undressed frantically, not even bothering to fold my clothes, just dumping them on top of my white trainers that were no longer clean but covered in thick mud from the ground as I had run through the woods.

As soon as my skin was bare and free from any clothing, I let Beaux take over and have the reigns. It felt like she needed this run more than me, but I was still going to stay present for it. I may have needed to escape from the hustle and bustle of the Packhouse but a run was just how I needed to do it.

No sooner than I had transformed, covered in the warm and soft fur that Beaux provided me with had she taken off running at a full sprint.

The wind in Beaux’s fur was soothing the irritation we had both felt from being trapped in the non-stop atmosphere that we had previously been in. The noise of the breeze rushing past her pinned-back ears blocked out the sounds of everything and helped to forget the constant buzz. The ever-changing smells that Beaux's sensitive nose were picking up as she raced through the woods, overrode the persistent scents that had come from the kitchen and all the decorations with that ‘new’ smell as you opened them.

It has been a sensory overload in the Packhouse and I am sure it is only going to get worse. The ball tonight will be hard work for any wolf; hence the amount of alcohol being brought in for it. The more inebriated we get, the less our senses will be in over-drive, usually.

As Beaux ran, I noticed a familiar sound reaching her ears through the noise of the racing wind; a rabbit that had taken flight from its burrow. Most likely because of the noise from Beaux's large heavy paws hitting the ground as she moved in a blur. Her direction abruptly changing, from running aimlessly without direction, weaving through the trees as they suddenly appeared, to having a target to chase.

Bounding over fallen dead and rotten trees, power-sliding under low-hanging branches, diving through brushes, paws smashing down on the twigs and stones; it was all exhilarating and freeing. Beaux's adrenaline had peaked, making her more focused on her target and a buzzing feeling under her skin coming alive.

As Beaux chased her prey, I could hear a small and quiet voice in the back of my mind. But the hunt was on and nothing was going to distract us from that. Especially when we had not had breakfast.

It did not help that the chase in wolf form was more of a game, another way to feel superior in a superior race. Especially when the game ends in a win for the wolf, if you catch my drift.

At this point I noticed that Beaux was no longer running at the pace she had been previously been going before finding her prey, but slower so that the chase lasted longer. The rabbit was slowing however, tiring from the constant running, dodging and weaving from an endlessly following and gaining predator.

The odd glimpses of the rabbits hind legs bending and flexing as it tried to preserve its life for just a little bit longer were become more frequent. Until it eventually stopped and circled in the crevice of a tree, as if finally resigning itself to its fate.

Beaux also stopped, lowering her head and baring her sharp teeth in warning, daring it to take flight again. She’d had her fun; the game was over to her and all she wanted now was her prize. She stalked forward slowly and menacingly, ready to take off chasing again if need be. Fully stopping about a metre from her lunch, watching the small movements of the rabbit as it looked around, its chest expanding and falling rapidly as it still recovered from its futile attempt at life, watching as its doom enclosed it.

In just a few seconds, Beaux had gone from braced and observing to having the rabbits neck locked in her jaw and snapped. The remnants of life gone in an instant. Once she was sure that it was indeed dead, she dropped it to the mossy floor at the base of the thick tree and began to tear away at it.

‘Helloooooo? You there?’ Poppy’s voice rang out in my head. A stark difference to the peaceful sounds of the woods, causing Beaux to pause eating and snarl before resuming.

‘Jesus Poppy, what?’ I grumpily answered her, feeling equally irritated at her sudden intrusion as Beaux did.

‘Forget someone? I've been following your sent for ages. How far have you gone?’

‘Not a clue, Beaux started chasing a rabbit, you know how that goes.’

‘She play with it again?’ She knows Beaux too well. ‘She’s too fast for her own good, every chase is boring to her ‘cuz it’s over too quickly.’

‘Yup, follow the stench of blood. She’s finished eating and having a rest now because she’s crashing from her adrenaline high and a ........’ I suddenly stopped talking the same time Beaux's nose went in the air. We had both picked up the faint scent of something very briefly. Neither of us recognised the scent but for some reason it was on the tip of our tongue.

We both suddenly felt like we were being watched.

Beaux abruptly rose from the cold floor, scanning her surroundings yet again to see if anything was out of place and to see if she could tell where she was being watched from, pausing at several places longer than others. Nothing obvious was sticking out to either of us, yet as it felt like it was from more than one place we were now being observed like prey. But these trees can hide many things, it was all making goosebumps appear on our skin so Beaux raised her hackles and started growling lowly in warning and as if challenging the shadows to come forward. Whatever or whoever was out there was not giving me friendly vibes and it was making us both very nervous.

‘Poppy, be quick, there’s someone out here and I don’t think that they are meant to be.’