“Shit, no. No, it’s fine. We won’t hurt you. You’re okay, calm down.” Sniffer lowers his hands slowly.

With wide eyes, I point and say, “Why’d you do that? Growl at me. Are you going to try and take me? I didn’t hurt them.”

“God no! Where would that even come from? We won’t take you anywhere you don’t want to go. Okay, Sophia, I promise we won’t hurt you,” Michael says, looking at me sadly.

I need to get out of here. I need space. They keep coming closer, especially Sniffer. “Okay, well, I need to get going now so... how do I petition your Alpha? Is there an office I can go to or paperwork I can send in?” I ask while gathering the rest of my stuff to make my escape.

“An office.” Sniffer chuckles. “Not so much. A Den or Pack hall, yeah. We don’t need to be so formal though. I’ll take you there. You’ll meet him, and it’ll be all good. When did you want to go? Now?”

No, no, not now. “Erm, I’ve got stuff ya know today, and... school Monday, so can I just set up a meeting like on Tuesday or something?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem. I’ve school Monday, too. Let’s exchange numbers, and I’ll text you with the details. Sound good?”

Pulling my phone from the back pocket of my shorts to add his number, I hear. “Lucky phone.” I can’t help the snort that comes out.

My long hair is full of sand and tangles when I look down to add his info. “Ready,” I say after typing his name.

“Here, just let me. I’ll put the address so you can find it Tuesday.” He grabs my phone before I realize what’s happened. “Sniffer?” He scoffs. “Who the hell is Sniffer?”

My face is as red as a stop sign when I point to him. “You were sniffing me.”

Michael finally breaks his silence with a loud laugh. “Did you say Sniffer? Oh God, wait until I tell everybody that. Priceless. Sniffer.” He laughs out.

I watch as Sniffer rubs the back of his neck, mumbling. “Yeah, okay funny guy, we heard you. Shut it.” To me he says, “So, I put in my number and the pack address, then sent a text from your phone to mine so I’d have your number. I’ll text you later with a time, okay?”

Grabbing my phone back, I nod my head. “Thank you both so much. Sorry to hold up your afternoon. I’ll see you soon.” In my haste to flee, I didn’t even pick up my blanket.

Getting into bed that night, I wonder if Sniffer will help me learn more about our kind, if he could be my first real friend?

CHAPTER 2

Masen

Fuck me! Can this day get any longer? It’s only one o’clock on Saturday. I have at least four more hours of this bullshit before I can get out of here. I can’t even remember the name of the mutt in front of me begging to be let into my pack. Being the Alpha of one of the largest packs in North America has perks, don’t get me wrong, but right now, I’d like nothing more than to kick the simpering animal in the face. Yeah, I’m an asshole. You don’t become Alpha of the Northern Territories being sweet and cuddly.