Kierra

I pick up more juice, some coffee for mom, a few food items, and then I'm done. Everything in the cart is going to equal out to at least six hundred dollars. Until I can get more writing done, I need to get some art prints made up before I go broke. May have to do some commissions again, been spending too much lately without getting any work done, and the boys' papers aren't going to be cheap. I'll do one of Xavier in Faline's skirt, that should be a seller. Maybe not her skirt, but definitely a kilt. Chuckling softly to myself, I head for the front of the store.

Not worried about Benjamin unable to find me, all he has to do is follow his nose. Sadly, that seems to be what another animal is doing as I catch sight of him following behind me. Inhaling deeply, I get the image of a black and white timber.

Just as he's about to come at my back, I spin around and have claws extended into his belly. Not ripping into him yet, but the threat is there as I step close, eyes having changed as I dare him to make a move. His hands raise fast, green eyes widening as he stops abruptly.

Think this is the shortest male Were I've seen, standing only a few inches taller than my five-foot-four. Then again, he does look kind of young. Being this close face to face, his belly is perfect striking distance. Narrowing yellow eyes at him, I bare my teeth.

"Word of advise kid, never come at someone's back with purpose like that, or you're likely to lose your life."

His head bobs fast, his scent spiking with his sweat.

"What do you want?"

Looks too nervous to talk, so I move my hand down lower, claws catching on his clothing. He whimpers before answering.

"I didn't know your scent, I was just curious. I haven't seen you at the Pack grounds, are you a friend of Gabriel's?"

Pack grounds?

Gabriel?

I back off the poor kid before he wets himself right there. Claws slip back into my fingers smoothly. He watches with a face that makes me wonder if he's about to say 'golly-gee-wiz'.

"I don't know a Gabriel and I've never been to any Pack grounds."

Now he really looks confused.

"How do you not know your Alpha?"

My eyes flash at him again which has him taking a step back, looking like he's either wanting to bolt or drop to his knees and present his belly.

"No one, is my Alpha."

Take it this 'Gabriel' is an Alpha for the timber wolves in the area. Good for him. Just because he's the Alpha of them, does not make him mine.

I look over the young man cowering in front of me. Looks to still be in his teens. Short, spiked black hair with random white patches, forest green eyes, faded acne scars, and a whisper of a mustache growing. Only a few inches taller than I and looking to be in the process of filling out to his adult body. Thin, but bulking up. My head cocks at him, trying to ease off looking so scary. Shouldn't be too hard.

"You're not from this area, are you?"

His head shakes, relaxing a little. Or does till the tall ass Vampire steps up to my back with a fresh flush to his cheeks. Keeping the boy on track, I ask him for his name.

"D..Dirk, ma'am."

My nose scrunches at him.

"I'm not that much older than you kid. I'm glad you have manners, but please don't call me ma'am."

His head bobs, eyes unmoving from Benjamin at my back.

"Yes, ma...um... What do you want me to call you?"

Watching him squirm is quite amusing, but we have to get going, bad enough we're cutting it so close in getting back to the house.

"Right now, Dirk, just call me Silver."

His eyes finally make their way back to me, taking in the streaks and yellow eyes bleeding back to bright green. Can tell his excitement is growing when it dawns on him who I am. Going to have to start doing my shopping elsewhere, not safe here anymore.

Leaving him to his bouncing feet, I turn and head for an aisle. This early, only the '20 items or less' lanes are open. This is going to take forever.

As I steadily put items up and watch the amount jumping higher and higher, I have to stop so I quit wincing. Takes at least ten minutes, swear they put the slowest person they have out for these early hours.

"Benjamin?"

"Yeah?"

I look over to him as we make our way to the front door.

"Two things. First, this...is yours."

Handing him the bag with the three shirts I got him, he looks at me confused.

"They're to replace the clothes I made you ruin when calling your animal. Second is I request you stay at my house today, I don't want you getting caught out in the sun."

I motion to the clouds starting to lighten. Even with cloud cover, the sun's rays are still descending, which means deadly to Vamps. He looks a little surprised at first, then motioning outside, his lips purse.

"I can guarantee your safety. Once I get the windows finished you'll even be able to hang out upstairs."

He nods but does move faster. We get my things into the back of his SUV and head out. Once confined into the front seat again, I pick up the scents he collected. One being the female Vamp, the other's a heavy perfume that isn't agreeing with my nose. Putting my hand to my nose, I open the window halfway, damn near sticking my head out of it.

"Problem?"

"Yes. You stink."

He gawks at me for a second, looking offended, till he really starts smelling himself and winces, but still has that playboy grin going on. Making a sound of disgust, I keep my head hanging out. Benjamin chuckles at me but has no shame.

"The other Vamp give you a little something extra under the table? Looked at you like she wanted to eat you alive."

I get a crooked grin as he slides it at me.

"Jealous?"

I cannot believe that just came out of his mouth, scoffing at him, I mumble 'hardly'. He tsks at me.

The rest of the drive back is spent mostly in silence till we pull into my drive where I ask him to stop and hop out. Yes, it is getting lighter and lighter, but I want to make sure we didn't pick up any hitch-hikers. All clear, so I hop back in.

"So you're fully fed, yes?"

He gives a smile and nods. Good. Last thing I need is two hungry Vampires in a house full of hot bloods.

"When we get up to the house, go ahead and go in and head down to the basement. Faline will show you where it is."

Getting a grunt, I have him pull off over to the side so my jeep can come in as well as mom's car. Reaching out to her, I warn her the sun is coming up and that Benji will be staying over since there's not enough time for him to get home. Don't actually know where he lives, but I don't figure it's anywhere near here.

Grabbing several bags while the stubborn Vamp snags up the three dressers, I huff at him. His bag of shirts gets left further up while I get the food. As Ben is walking up the steps, the door opens and Bastion comes running out.

He's polite enough to keep the door open for the other male, but as soon as he's through, he comes bounding down wanting to help. Motioning my head to the bags still in the back, I head in with the foodstuffs, putting them on the kitchen table before heading back out for the last of it and closing the back.

Wasn't paying much attention my first time in, but now when I look around, the place is damn near deserted. Benjamin is at the top of the stairs with the boxes in his arms and asking where they're to go.

"Basement for now, haven't gotten the rooms rearranged enough to get them in there."

He nods and heads down. Can hear him asking my sister for a tool kit. Woo, he puts them together too? Handy.

Don't see Asher or Xavier, so I take it they're on four legs and roaming. Kicking my new boots off, I get to work.

The newest critter must be at my sibling's side. Stopping to listen for a minute, he indeed is. Would seem he's become the regular little therapy animal.

As Bastion arranges the bags around the table, I smile at him and inquire as to the guys' whereabouts. Sure enough, they'd both said they would take outer watch since Faline is inside with them.

"Everything alright while I was gone?"

Would imagine she would have reached out to me if things weren't, but not for sure. Bastion nods as he helps me put food away, a smile creeping over his face. I look at him with a raised brow.

"Xavier was going to stay, but she wanted him to dance for her in the skirt. After that he said he'd go outside to patrol."

We laugh as I picture it. Somehow think there's more to that, but then again, how well do I really know that man? Just as I really start thinking about him, there's a scratching at the door and a nagging in my head saying he's cold. Grinning, I open the door a crack and poke my head out.

"Sorry, we are accepting no cookies at his time, but thank you for coming."

I shut it after pulling my head back in, leaning my forehead against it with a silent laugh before he starts making some weird barking noise. Loud enough to wake the dead. Opening the door, I motion for him to get his butt inside.

Go figure a South American based animal not liking the cold. The noise he'd been making was the maned wolf's 'roar-bark', a combination of just what it's called. A bark that is made much in the way a feline's roar is. When reading up on it, it was said to be a rarely heard sound.

Well, now I can say I've heard it and I have to say, it ranks right up there on the annoying sound scale, right next to alarm clocks. Well, it's not that horrible, just not something I'd want to hear all the time.