Finding My Pack (13 page)

Ash huffs and slouches back into his seat, so Remy continues on. “I believe Finn was just pointing out that Kitten seems to work well with each of us individually, as well as a group. He’s right about none of us having any knowledge of mates. In all our time here, we’ve never encountered a mated couple that wasn’t protected by a pack or ever encountered a mate for ourselves.”

“Honestly, it’s the most reasonable conclusion. With our instincts to covet and protect what is ours, we should be ripping each other’s throats out by now.” Kellan nods his head as he speaks.

“So what are you saying? We just pass her around like a football? Dudes, you’re forgetting the most important fact here…Kitten is human.” Reed chimes in.

Remy huffs out a breath. “Very true Reed, though there has to be some kind of explanation as to why a slip of a girl can have this reaction on eight grown wolves. My suggestion is for you, Finn, to research all that you can on this matter, but do not go so far as to speak to any other wolves about her.” Finn nods his head in agreement but doesn’t reply.

“To address your other statement Reed, I suggest that we continue on as we have been. We allow Miss Kitten to set the pace romantically and allow her to choose how many of us she is willing to take on if any at all. I also want it stated, that even if Kitten decides none of are right for her, she will remain with us for as long as she wishes. Understood?” Remy speaks to all of us while sending a pointed look at Jace.

  I look to Ash, thinking for sure he'll be against this. He seems calm, though. I mentally wipe my brow, thank God. I was sure he'd try to rip us all apart for even suggesting this.

Rem looks to each of us. No one objects. "Good, we're agreed. Logan, Tristan, go cheer our girl up." He smirks.

  I look to Logan and smile, he returns it, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. We race each other down the hall and up the stairs, getting back to our girl.

Kitten

T
ristan bursts through the bedroom, scaring the bejeebus out of me. Logan is right behind him. Both of their faces are a little flushed. "Were you guys running?" I ask.

  Tristan smiles wide. "Yeah, we were racing, and I won," He states proudly. I give him a weak smile in return. "That means I get first hug!" He says right before he plucks me off the chair I was sitting on, spinning me around. I feel dizzy by the time stops.

  "My turn," Logan whispers in my ear. Instead of spinning me, he wraps his arms around me and carries me princess style out of the room. I laugh at his playfulness. These two are so fun.

  "Where are you going?" Tristan calls after us, giggling himself. What a cute sound.

  "We're taking her to have some fun, keep up. My car's a two-seater so run and get your Charger ready." We're leaving? To go where?

Outside I see the pretty red car that was in the garage when I hung out with Ash. Logan sets me down, helping me into the back seat, buckling me in. I giggle. "You know I can do that right?"

  "Of course I know, I just want to do it for you." He winks at me before hopping in the passenger seat. Tristan messes with the radio, flipping through stations.

  "Where are we going anyway?" I ask, excitement starting to bubble up.

  "It's a surprise. You can't know yet." Logan answers.

  "You might want to tell me, dummy, since I'm driving," Tristan says playfully. Logan leans over, whispering in Tristan's ear. It's annoying. I don't like surprises.

……..

  Tristan stops the car in front a large brick building. I don't see a sign, so even though we're here I still don't know what we're doing. Logan takes my hand and we walk to the door, Tristan following behind us. We walk into a small hallway like space, the lighting is dim and the carpet is neon pink. Logan and I stand back as Tristan pulls out his wallet and talks to the guy behind the little window. He says something about full rental gear. That's not really a clue.

  "Stop biting that lip Babygirl, we're here to have fun, nothing bad is going to happen," Logan tells me in a low voice. I didn't know I was biting my lip, but I stop. He did ask nicely.

  Tristan opens a door leading further into the building. "Let's go." As soon as we enter my eyes widen. What is this place? There's a lighted area with racks of who knows what, I see helmets, so that must be the 'gear' Tristan mentioned. The rest of the space is filled with huge red and black foam shapes. Triangles, squares, circles, rectangles, some of them forming pathways. Paint is splattered all over everything. I see two people carrying guns, dressed in all black with helmets covering their faces. I stand behind Logan, gripping his shirt.

  I lean on my toes, whispering in his ear. "Logan, those people have guns, we need to get out of here. If we move slowly they might not see us." Instead of moving to leave though, Logan bursts out laughing, bending at the waist. The noise draws the attention of the gun holders.

  I keep my eyes on them as Logan keeps laughing. I feel like kicking him in the shin. Tristan gets my attention. "We are here for paintball Kitten, those are paintball guns, and they won't shoot at you." My head tilts to the side. Paintball guns? I don't really understand but this is Tristan, I can trust him.

  I'm lead to the gear area where the two of them work together to get me in all the stuff. I feel smothered with a vest, helmet, gloves, and knee and elbow pads on. When they get themselves suited up we pick out guns of our own. I'm especially happy about this, if the other people here are armed I want to be too. Tristan picks out red paintballs, Logan, blue, of course, I can't choose between lime green ones or sparkly pink ones. I end up picking the lime green. Logan shows me how to load them in while he explains how to shoot and where the trigger is.

  "Who are we shooting and why?" I ask. I get that it's pretend shooting, I won't be killing people, but why pretend to do it?

  "There are other people here too, we'll find a small group and ask them to play against us. And we're doing it because it's fun Kitten. Just give it a try." Tristan says kindly.

  "Okay."

  Logan found a group of four guys and two girls. I notice both the girls chose the pink paintballs. There's a countdown after we enter the foam shape area. Tristan told me it's so we have time to take shelter. I guess we need to make our way to our flag quickly so we can defend it against the other team. The object of the game is to shoot all the other players, taking them out of the game, or capture their flag.

  "Just stay beside me Kitten, move when I move. Got it?" Tristan says. I can tell he's excited, which makes me excited too. Also kind of scared. I give myself a mental pep talk. It's going to be okay, they don't have real guns, this will be fun, and no matter what, those bastards aren't getting my flag. That's right bitches, MY flag.

  The countdown stops and a buzzer sounds. Logan takes off immediately, Tristan and me behind him. Dang he's fast! We make it behind a tall rectangle. Tristan signals to Logan to climb the tower that holds our green and white flag. It's kind of ugly, but whatever, I'm protecting it anyway. We wait for Logan to hide behind a triangle before Tristan creeps along the wall, poking his head out. He turns waving me forward, he points to a short square then back at me. I run for it.

  A 'pop pop pop' sounds right before three purple splats of paint land right next to my face. I stop and turn, lifting my gun, I pull the trigger, aiming at the person who I think shot at me. I'm tackled to the ground before I see if my shots hit my mark.

  "Don't stop and stand there Silly Girl." Tristan laughs out. "Not if you want to continue to play." We back against the wall, all huddled together.

  We hear a "You're out, Mofo!" Called from somewhere. Tristan turns to me, a brilliant smile on his gorgeous face. I beam back at him.

  He sticks his gun above his head, two splats of paint hit it immediately, one light blue, one orange. Tristan makes a signal with his hands telling me where the two shooters are. Holding up three fingers, then two I get that he's counting down and ready myself. When all three fingers are down I jump up, aiming at the target on my side, pulling the trigger. I let out a war cry as I advance on the guy, hitting him once in the chest and once on his face mask. A popping sound comes from my left so I dive to the right.

  Whoever was shooting sounds close, so I weave through the shapes in the direction I think I heard them. As I move I hear two more 'you're outs'. I wonder if Tristan hit his mark too. That means three down, three to go. I spot a red and white flag up in a tower. This must be the other team's. The two girls are stationed up there, talking to each other.

  I decide to try to get their flag. That's one way to win the game and protect my flag right? How hard can it be? Just as I take a step forward I spot Tristan on my left, making a run for me. The girls stop their chattering and start shooting at Tristan. Something inside of me snaps. Are those bitches shooting at Tristan? MY Tristan? How DARE they!

  My battle cry is back- the one I didn't know I had until today- and I run to the tower as fast as I can. Pink splats land to the left and right of me but so far, haven't hit me. I take the steps two at a time. A head pops out, over the railing. My gun was ready for that and I release a steady stream of lime green paintballs at her face. Gottcha.

  I slow as I reach the last step. I doubt the other girl will poke her head out. I remember what Tristan did earlier and lift my gun in the air. She takes the bait and fires. Wrong move honey, now I know you're in the right-hand corner. I pull my gun back and aim it around the corner. I hear a yelp. Yay!

   I jump up, letting out the girliest squeal I've ever heard. I cough, trying to act cool as the two girls pass me on the stairs. One has her mask up, probably because it's covered in my paint. I smirk at her. I walk into the tower space and yank their flagpole out of the holder, tossing it to the ground below. I can see our flag tower from here, and I see Logan shoot at their last remaining player.

  "Game over!" Is yelled from the announcer person. I hear laughing from below me. I lean out the little window, seeing Tristan looking back at me. I smile and wave.

   Tristan and I meet Logan in the middle of the play area. I run and jump at him. He catches me, my legs linking behind his back, my arms around his neck. "We won! We won!" I say to him, giggling in glee. Adrenaline is still pumping through my veins, making me a little loopy.

  "You should have seen her man, she took out four of them. The last two in a complete rage for trying to shoot me. It was awesome!" Tristan says proudly.

  Logan kisses my forehead, making a loud smacking sound. "My fierce Sweetheart, I knew you'd have fun." He picks up a strand of my hair. "You have tiny flecks of paint in your hair." He tsks at me. I shrug.

  "Come on, let's get out of here," Tristan says. Logan lets me down. They start walking toward the exit sign. I don't follow.

  "Hey Logan, did you get the flag?" I call to his back.

  He turns around, confusion on his face. "What flag? The other team's? You got that, I saw you."

  "No, my flag."

  "I don't know what you're talking about Kitten."

  I roll my eyes at him. "My flag. You guys told me that the green and white flag was MINE. That we were protecting it. Did you grab it?"

  Both of them look like their holding back smiles. I don't know what's so funny. "No Kitten, I didn't. Let's go get it."

   We walk back to our tower, Logan runs up, bringing the flagpole with him. He unties the flag, taking the string out of the loopholes. Tristan takes it and folds it into a smaller square. "Here you go Little Warrior." I take it and clutch it to my chest, a huge smile plastered on my face. I probably look goofy, but I can't make it go away.

  Changing out of our gear takes less time than it took to put on. Some guy in a black polo shirt approaches us. His name tag reads, Ted. He smiles at me before reaching for my flag on the bench. I grab it before he can. I growl at him, narrowing my eyes. "Mine," I say simply, hiding behind Tristan with my treasure.

  Ted looks shocked for a moment before he turns to a laughing Logan. "I think the Lady means to keep it." Logan states.

  "Well…uh...I don't think..." Ted stammers.

  "We'll pay for it," Tristan says, reaching back and pulling his wallet out. I use my free hand to stop him.

  "No Tristan, I earned it. I defended it. It's mine, I own it." I say pleadingly. Why is this such a problem? They are the ones who said it was mine before the game started. Why would I leave it here?

The guy, Ted, shakes his head. "Whatever." He walks away. I watch him go, making sure he's not coming back. What a weirdo. Tristan turns around, one eyebrow raised, looking to my arms cradling my flag.

  "Let's go, we have more fun to do today. Sheath your claws Kitten, no more competition for you." Logan beeps me on the nose.

  Why no more competition? That was fun!

……..

  I'm sitting in the car as the boys discuss what to do next outside.  I think it's funny to watch them scramble for ideas. They really had no idea what they were doing. They wanted fun and set out to simply find it. There's something pretty awesome about that. Tristan is looking at his phone, doing who knows what. Logan must see something he likes because he grabs it out of Tristan's hand, jumping in the air. I hear him say. "Hell YES!"

  They get in and we speed off to our next mysterious location. I was worried before but this time I'm just excited. I'm starting to like surprises. These two seem to have good tastes in fun if paintball was any indication. I believe they are more than qualified to lead this expedition.

"You know what?" Logan asks Tristan.

  "What?" Tristan replies, not taking his eyes off the road.

  "We should text Reed and Finn, they'd love this too." I like Logan's suggestion, more of the guys need to have fun. Like us.