How about we don't!
“What the actual fuck Lyn? That dipshit, ass hat, tick dipper. When I get my hands on him…” “You’ll what Keiral? Blast him away with your fart? Claw his eyes out with your nail file? Growl at him? Shave his balls with a blunt blade? You are a small wolf with no bite. I have seen you chase a cat,” My cousin Curt said from the sofa. Keiral meant well, but her gold hair that was supposed to make her some special healer didn’t. Her father’s brown wolf blood that should’ve given some extra speed capabilities missed it’s target. In the end all we got was the cutest little bunny wolf who couldn’t hurt a fly. We loved Keiral, but she had the biggest mouth in Questorian Valley. Which mostly had us Gorde wolfs fighting her battles. None of us wanted repeats but she kept em coming. For a tiny little Canus lupus she sure knew how to start a fight, just not very good at the following through part. That she left for us. After I woke up alone in my caravan, with the tiniest feeling I had hallucinated a male in my caravan— I called my family. I started with my Aunt Helen since she was visiting Ouma Wells. They came around the first two days, and Elder Amer couldn’t stop grumbling about my fight with Desiree. Uncle Max arrived this morning with my cousins Keiral, Curt and Lechandray. Not sure who else would come but I didn’t give a billy. Keiral never missed an opportunity to visit and add her two cent comments. Keiral meant well. So I smiled at my brown dough eyed cousin as Curt’s burly belly and Line-backer shoulders shook with silent laughter. After uncle Max left to see to some work stuff, Curt baked a pie he brought while Lechandray and Keiral helped me finish varnishing the outside table under the oak tree. We just finished when Curt brought the food outside. What started out as a ‘need to know recap of events’ turned out into a ‘we know too much’ “What are you gonna do Curt? Eat more rabbit pie?” Lechandray sputtered from her position under the table. “I have you know, aunt Judes rabbit pie is full of vitamins and can cure just about any sickness. Don’t blame the pie. I unfortunately can’t do nothing when I’m set to leave for the Rinks next week. Haden and John are joining and no fights with sentinels are allowed. Alphas orders. Doesn’t mean I’ma be going for hunt runs with the guy. But with all that said and done you asked for it. You once liked John.” “Correction, I tolerated John because he was my mate. But the mate bond didn’t kick in. So hilly John dilly decided to go knobbing.” “Well, mate or not, he’s still an asshat,” Keiral muttered with a sneer. Her eye brows would go into a deep frown whenever she was mad. And now she was very much so. Lechandray got up from her hunched position under the table. We only used it when my family visited. There wasn’t much space in the Caravan for the family. We were a tall bunch. Curt took most of the double seater anyway. But Lechandray was the ideal definition of a Sentinel. Her lean muscles flexing as she stretched out her tall form. Her keen slanted eyes and long neck were genetic makeups of her fathers family. Her grey wolf were ours. “We can’t wait for your fat ass to join us sweet cuz. The Sentinels are going to enjoy breaking you in.” Her words were a promise as the small smile twisted her mouth in an almost wistful grin as she stared eagerly at Curt. “That’s nasty Chan,” Keiral accused as she walked closer to Curt. “Says the girl who can’t cross a finish line without Papa growling in the background.” Lechandray's wolf wouldn’t be kind enough to let Keiral one up her. I knew it. She’s going to get us in a fight if she doesn’t shut her yap. My wolf warned me with a groan. She didn’t like fighting Keiral’s battles but we were the biggest wolf and the only black wolf apart from Ouma Wells.Haden with a bear looked meaner, his built heavier and it wasn't in a bad way, as i walked toward him I noticed the thickness of his thighs hidden behind his cargo pants. His hair was unruly like he racked his wolfs claws on his scalp. The sides of his cheek bones were refined. Gone were the days of that boy who'd joke around and shoot the shit with the rest of us. Haden was our Alpha and everything about him reminded me so. Including the dark circles under his eyes which were now a prominent permanent fixture. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a while. I understood that feeling. Understood the pressure of the people around you wanting to know you had their back. I'm not sure why Deacon filtered into my mind but he did. He might’ve been human but he had a way about making me forget for those times we were together. But with him something always felt incomplete, like he wasn't invested in something more, like the two of us were great but he knew it wouldn't be a forever thing,
Ashlyn The Den hadn’t changed. The concrete walls that resembled stone were the same. The scent of food, dirty socks, and wolf still the same except for the hint of lavender that now tasted sweet on my tongue. A pup ran out of one of the rooms, and almost bumped into me as another two were shifted, one with a white fur coat and the other in a grey and brown coat. I skillfully side stepped them and smiled. My nerves started to kick in at the realization that I was in fact back with the pack. It was a good thing but it came with rules and regulations and a fuck ton of don't. Not sure how I felt about that since I wasn't one for listening to someone tell me where to drink my coffee. I was a detective. We were the fucking law. I walked into the war room on the right without knocking. My boots hit the floor hard and steady. I didn’t pause at the threshold. Didn’t ask permission as I took a seat, crossed my denim pantsed legs and lifted my arm slightly over my shoulder. The
Ashlyn I packed before Deacon even got out of the shower. It wasn't much that I wanted to take with me. Mostly just a few clothes, some cool things I liked, like my electric toothbrush, my laptop, charger, some clothes and two pairs of boots. The rest I would have to decide whether I was coming back or leaving it behind. Deacon stepped into the room, half-dressed, towel around his neck, water dripping down his chest. "You’re leaving," It wasn't a question. But I took it as one nonetheless. "I am. The Alpha of the back needs me back. Seems like the deaths are a personal vendetta." Not exactly the truth, but I was going for that story. It was a lot easier to tell. He didn’t look surprised. “You want company?” “No. The pack is no place for an unmated human."
AshlynTwo months.That’s how long it had been since the lynx body turned up in human territory. Since the last real lead dried up and Since the case turned cold while everyone pretended it wasn’t.There were just too many other cases, not enough traction on this one. I was hoping someone might lead me to a direction, then I hoped one of the bodies might have a clue but none of them said a word. Days bled into weeks of nothing but camera logs that didn't show me anything major. There were meetings that started with urgency and ended in silence. The precinct was just too goddamn busy to let one case tie them down and nobody wanted to admit it.I stopped asking for updates. I made my own.New York wasn’t giving me answers, but it gave me access. I used it. Checked every case marked “shifter” I visited every crime scene I missed thinking maybe I would find an answer there. I worked my way through every name that had been flagged suspicious, dead or alive. But still nada. it was like fi
Ashlyn The scent hit before I even got out of the fucking car. Burnt rubber. Copper. Something… sweet and rotten. I threw the car into park, cut the engine, and stepped out into a scene that already reeked of crime. We were deep in Queens, far enough from the subway hums and overpriced americanos to remind you the city still had teeth. To think I was going to go to New Oak and ended up in New York, solving murders. Crime scene tape flicked like a yellow snake in the wind, and the uniforms standing around looked pale in a way that said this wasn’t their usual run on the streets. Something else had happened here. Something old. Something not human. I didn’t wait for permission. “Who’s lead?” I barked, already ducking under the tape. A young detective—barely shaving, badge crooked—stepped forward. “Detective Gorde, precinct didn’t say you were coming.” “Yeah, well. They also didn’t say the body was a shifter.” His eyes widened. That was all the confirmation I neede
Haden.It was nearly dawn when we returned.The forest surrounding the Den sat still, too still, like it had overheard everything and decided to hold its breath. Mist clung to the ground, curling around tree trunks and scattering like ghosts as Curt eased the truck through the gates. The scent of dew-covered moss drifted in through the cracked windows, but it did nothing to settle the weight sitting low in my chest.Curt parked outside the main compound. The engine died with a soft tick, and silence bled into the cab.Neither of us moved.I stared straight ahead, hands still on my thighs, eyes locked on nothing.Beside me, Curt shifted in his seat, then said quietly, “You think it’s the Elders?”I didn’t answer at first.Because I had thought it.Not our Elders. Not the ones sitting in the war room back at the Valley, worrying about border lines and treaty revisions.But somewhere, in some corner of this fractured world, there were Elders old enough to remember what real bloo