I hummed to myself as I adjusted a skull on our shrine into its proper place, taking some time to line it up with the others. A useless attempt to feel busy, I’d spent most of my time pacing our camp and straightening or cleaning things that were meant to be as was. With nothing to do, Hunter halfway across the fucking state, and me not being allowed among half-ones nearby, it was fucking torture.

  A monster hunter was apparently staying in town, which meant we needed to keep ourselves quiet for a bit. Nothing was new there, and it was something we’d dealt with in the past, though those other times I’d had Hunter. He’d gotten dragged across the state to help Chaser get Martin out of the country though, and the other three members of my pack had left before I woke up to go for a survey of the woods. It didn’t help that Hunter was far enough away we had to concentrate rather hard to hear each other, and I had to assume he was asleep currently.

  I was fucking alone at camp, didn’t have a way to watch any movies, and I was going to fucking chew through my leg if I didn’t find something to do.

  For a brief while I considered messing with my hair, long and black and just past my shoulders, but there was not much I could do. It was so knotted and matted even a ponytail seemed like it was more effort than it was worth, if it were possible. I didn’t particularly feel like changing into a new dress or anything, and even if I did it would be two minutes of entertainment at best.

  The thoughts were still turning in my head when a familiar scent approached, and I turned to see Alpha carrying a plastic bag with a wide smile.

  “Wounder and Scout are going to be out for a while, I gave them the slip early on and went into town,” the man said with a small chuckle, “you hungry? I hit up the gas station.”

  “You know we’re not supposed to go into town with a monster hunter here,” I said, raising an eyebrow as I glared down at him for his stupidity. It wouldn’t have been hard for a hunter to recognize a Purist, and Alpha wasn’t known for his subtlety.

  “I was in and out, no one cared about me,” the man said with a roll of his eyes, pulling a soda out he slowly swirled in the air, “come on, Bloodhound, I have also have a chicken cheesesteak with your name on it.”

  I tried to continue the glare, and when I could maintain it no longer slowly stepped forward and took the drink from him. We stood there for a moment, the man looking at me with a smirk, and I shook my head as I told him, “Let’s go eat at the barn. They’re going to kill us if they see we went into town.”

  “You mean if they see I went into town?”

  “They know I’m the bad influence,” I called back, and Alpha didn’t bother countering me as we headed through the woods towards the barn.

  A short walk, we reached the place in good time and walked inside where we sat against the back wall.

  Alpha handed me my sandwich and chips, and the man went about eating his own as I scarfed down my food silently. A usual procedure with the Purists, it was rarely a good idea to talk while eating for most meals. While sometimes food was plentiful, other times talking while eating just meant someone else got the serving you wanted.

  When we finished eating, I bundled the food into the bag and tossed it onto the rafters above us, and we settled back into place on the floor. A small sigh escaped my lips, and I sipped my drink as I asked, “you didn’t kill any half-ones, did you?”

  “The receipt was in the bag,” Alpha muttered defensively, sipping his own drink, “besides, a human dies the hunter stays around here longer. I’m not being the one that causes that.”

  “Gods of wolves, I want this fucker out of here,” I muttered, shaking my head in disgust, “I should be out there being a werewolf, not fucking dying of boredom here.”

  “I want to get into a fight,” Alpha agreed with a small laugh, “want to spar later? Know it might be a bad time with Martin leaving, but I could do with getting my blood pumping.”

  I nodded, a tinge of guilt at the thought even as I hesitantly told myself, “he’ll be a lot safer and happier once he’s out of the country. It’s not our fault that’s the truth.”

  “Maybe,” Alpha agreed, smiling over at me, “but, he made one Hell of a pack member while he was here. I always thought you two were rather cute together, if I get to be honest about it.”

  I snorted at the thought, thinking he was trying to be silly, and with some hesitance I removed my bracelet as I admitted, “I think Chaser’s upset it happened like it did.”

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  “Ain’t anybody’s place to think bad about it,” the man replied, and I nodded as we met eyes for a moment. He was trying to comfort me, and with a hand on my shoulder he glanced at my wrist and asked, “are you afraid of Hunter?”

  “Wolf Gods, no,” I said quickly, frowning at the insinuation as I realized why he asked. Letting out a small laugh, I held up my bare wrist and explained, “we don’t take them off often as we used to, but we do when we feel like we need to, or something is going on. Sometimes we just, can’t stop thinking things we don’t actually like, or one of us wants something the other one can’t stand, you know?”

  “I just don't get it,” Alpha said hesitantly, shrugging as he looked away from me, “I mean, mates are supposed to be one in the same, act in complete unison. Those sorts of things shouldn't feel wrong or weird once you’re used to each other. I think if you’re comfortable with each other, you should be able to keep them on through those sorts of things.”

  “You’ll get it when you get your mate,” I said, chuckling as I pat him on the back, “things are…different, when you get this close.”

  “Only way you get a mate around here is if your mentor is a Purist for decades or you’re lucky,” Alpha said rather bitterly, “they could have sent the first dame that transformed my way, but no, they get pulled into the treaties and bargaining of the older Purists. Everything I do is only me, and you and Hunter get to act like the other one is worse than you and rut away.”

  “Oh, what the fuck do you think mates are for?” I snapped, glaring at the man as he sipped his drink like it was some known truth. “It’s a serious tradition, it’s about strengthening your bonds, hunting, filling your gaps with the other’s ability. You don’t get a mate just because you feel bad being a Purist and need someone to make you feel better.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’s why you got given to Hunter, not that you were throwing up and crying every other night about being one of us,” Alpha said, and I resisted the urge to punch him for digging up the memories.

  “I didn’t get given to Hunter, we were chosen for each other,” I said slowly, feeling my claws wishing to grow.

  Alpha laughed at the defense, shaking his head as he asked, “is that how you see it? The way I remember it is Chaser came up to you and said you were getting a mate, you spent three weeks getting led through making your little jewelry through the tears and throwing up while Hunter stormed off who knows where until he had to get dragged back on the wedding day, and then Chaser said it would make you feel better before you and Hunter said some nice words to each other. It’s not really something I remember you having much choice in.”

  “I didn’t have much choice in being a werewolf,” I pointed out, pulling my dad’s coat tight around me, “besides, we love each other. We came out of this all pretty fucking happy for how things could have gone, if you ask me.”

  “Look, Bloodhound, I’m just saying,” Alpha said, leaning back on the ground with a smile, one of his hands moving forward to rest on my knee. I froze up at the touch, not sure what he was playing, and he smiled up at me as he asked, “wouldn’t you like to make a choice for yourself sometime?”

  His hand slid up my leg, under my skirt, moving to grip my thigh, and I shot up to my feet as I scrambled away from the man. I let out a low growl, and Alpha rose to his feet as I warned him, “if you touch me like that again, you’re going to be regrowing that fucking hand.”

  Alpha rolled his eyes as he stretched, acting like I’d not just threatened him as he muttered, “you don’t know what you’re missing.”

  “Oh, I know I’m not missing much,” I spat, glaring him down as Alpha looked over to me with cold eyes.

  “You know, you’re a real bitch of a hypocrite,” the man said, shaking his head as he walked slowly toward me. I grounded myself, ready to pounce, and he rolled his head as he looked almost annoyed at me for this. “You get all preachy about wolf gods, and symbolic meanings, and following the Purist ideas, and what do you do? Don’t even let a dear old friend claim the Right of the Pack.”

  I growled, my teeth grew, my eyes changed to see the world as a wolf, and Alpha seemed scared for a moment as he saw the change. Neither of us moved, and it wasn’t until a clearing of the throat came from the entrance of the barn we looked away from each other.

  Scout and Wounder stood together, naked and looking rather annoyed as they watched the two of us. The other woman rolled her eyes and, walking towards us asked, “do I even want to know what the fuck is going on here?”

  “What can I say, we’re just having a small talk,” Alpha chuckled, patting my shoulder as he whispered, “down girl,” and started out of the barn.

  We stared after him, and Wounder furrowed his brow for a moment before saying, “I’m going to go talk to him,” and leaving as well.

  Scout and I left alone, the woman crossed her arms over her chest and sighed as she said, “I won’t tell Hunter anything. I just-”

  “Nothing happened,” I growled.

  Scout raised her hands, not missing a beat as she told me, “we found signs of a campfire while out and about, maybe put out a half hour before we got there. It wasn’t hidden like you told us a hunter would, like they were trying to hide the smoke and stop a smell from traveling, but it looked tucked away and well put out. We were hoping you could come back with us, just give it a scent so we can find this guy and make sure he’s not coming our way.”

  “Yeah, I can do that,” I said, sighing as I rubbed my eyes a final time and we started out of the barn, “how far out are we?”

  “Took us ten minutes full sprint as a wolf to get back here,” Scout answered, worrying me a bit that it was so close.

  Now wasn’t the time to worry though, and I went about tossing my jacket and dress on the grass as Scout already began transforming. They needed a Bloodhound, and it was still my role in the pack, no matter how much I felt like one of my rare baths.