Seraphina continued to give people coffee; she'd wiped her hands on her apron and smiled at each passing customer. There weren't a lot of customers, just the same ones that stayed all day long. They read in the bookstore and put the books back, only to leave. How did the owner make any money in this place?
The store was about to close until I heard the ring of the door opening, and a woman with short light hair walked in. She had the same build as Zoey. It must be her mother. The woman came up behind Zoey and gave her a hug. "How's my favorite 21-year-old?" She cooed as Zoey turned around, smiling.
"Great! What brings you in, mom? I'm coming home in a few minutes."
"Your father wanted to take you out to eat tonight since you wanted to take your friends to the bar on your actual birthday." Zoey squealed and gave her a hug.
"You are going to let me go!" Zoey's mom rolled her eyes as Seraphina walked up.
"Hello, Marline, nice to see you again," Seraphina stuck out her hand only to be engulfed in a hug.
“You are going to Zoey's party on Friday, right? To keep her in check?" Seraphina rubbed her hands together and looked toward me.
"I adopted some dogs. I don't want to leave them home alone…" she trailed off, and Zoey's disappointed face turned to that of anger.
"No, you are coming. You never come to hang out. It isn't healthy. I want you to meet everyone; they have been dying to meet you." Seraphina's face gave a look of disgust.
"Stop being so introverted," Zoey slapped her arm playfully. I didn't like it; I didn't even like females touching what was mine, so I stood up and walked toward her. Rubbing my head on her thigh, she scratched behind my ears.
After a long girl talk, they eventually talked Seraphina to a bar for Zoey's birthday. Trey held his gaping mouth open of Seraphina's commitment. Seraphina didn't like it; she shrugged her shoulders and got the time and place where she was supposed to be, a place calledMoose Dubs.A bar slash club where the whole town goes to drink, party, and hook up. She wouldn't just have the young crowd of horny drunk men, but also the older ones too.
Dimitri and I couldn't get in that place as wolves. But a grand new plan came to mind thinking of ways to get Seraphina to accept us all the more. Once our bag was retrieved, we could have many things at our disposal, including money to buy ourselves some clothes and make an appearance.
"I'll see you Friday then, Seraphina." Seraphina hummed as she searched for the keys to her SUV. "Have something sexy to wear; go out and buy something now so you will be ready." Huffing, Seraphina nodded her head again as she went to the door.
"I bet $50 bucks she won't show," I heard Trey taunt Zoey as she playfully nudged him.
Chapter Six
Dimitri
Aftergivingaquicklick to Seraphina's cheek, I dashed out the door. Probably not the smartest thing, but I wanted to feel that bit of closeness to her as I could. The bond was powerful, and the urge to show her our true selves had started to rattle my brain. How in the hell were we going to do it without making her freak the fuck out?
Then again, our mother took it with stride, but she had a bit of royal blood in her. Shifting in front of Seraphina would be a no. No human could stomach that, could they? My feet lightly hit the leaves as I continued to patter through the forest floor. My nose was in the air, twitching at any sort of familiar smell of our bag. A mixture of Dax and my scents intertwined the bag, and the scent of his leather and my whisky smell was faint but there.
It surprised me that Seraphina could depict our smells so easily. She is our mate, however. And she is damn intelligent and fucking sexy as hell.
The smell became stronger the further I ran, jumping through puddles and having the leaves fly out from under my paws. The air was clean, much cleaner than most places we had searched, and I was all the more thankful we found our mate in an area that took care of their surroundings.
I came to a clearing, one that was barren of shrubs, trees, and brush. This looked like a meeting spot for rogues, so being quiet and careful were my top priorities right now. Sneaking around each tree and sniffing for our bag, I found it. The one tree with the widest girth and the most difficult to climb. Of course, Dax would have found this tree the best. Not just anyone would be able to climb this tree; I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be me either.
Taking my nose, I used it to sniff around for any sort of rope or vine. If I could find a vine and wrap it around the tree, it could help climb up the large trunk. Coming up with nothing, I gritted my teeth and shifted back into human form. Staying naked in the forest for an extended period would be bad news. If some humans walked up, they would think I was crazy and arrest me for such a thing.
Even the Werewolves in the Earth realm had modesty; they were becoming too human conscious. Hiding shorts in every tree hole in a damn-mile radius was ridiculous. Extending my claws on both my feet and my hands, I shoved the sharp pointed ends in the tree. I hoped to master my father's incredible skill of half shifting, something royal Alphas could do. It certainly would have taken me less time to climb this fucking tree.
After a few swipes here and there, I reached the biggest limb on the tree and pulled the bag down. Landing on the balls of my feet I ruffled through the bag to find some shorts. Once dressed, pulling the map out that our mother gave us, I tried to place exactly where I was. The closest pack territory wasn't but two miles away. It was further from town, but Dax was with Seraphina, so she's protected.
Shoving the rest of the supplies back in, I headed northwest to the Red Wolves Pack. They were an average size pack for North America, with mostly darker-skinned folk and some natives of this continent. They were one with nature and shied away from most human contact, something I appreciated. Bergarian has kept most of our ways into that of nature. Still, now we are slowly using technology at a minimalist level for some comfort. Many outlying packs and shifter colonies have chosen to keep their ways more natural as well.
I kept my human form so I didn't hold a threat and held onto my royal identification papers. Being in Bergarian, I wouldn't need such things, but Werewolves that lived on Earth didn't get much information regarding our true home. As I approached, three Wolves, all red in color, gave a warning growl.
"Come in peace," I dropped my bag and put my identification papers on the ground, and stepped back. Not only was my picture, name, and lineage on the document, but also my family's smell, the royal family's smell. The one Wolf in the middle immediately bowed as the others followed. "None of that. I just need to communicate back home. Is there a resident Witch in your pack?" The middle Wolf nodded and waved his head to follow.
I jogged alongside them in human form. My human food pudge from sitting in a cell was long overdue for a good run. The bit of conditioning I had lost was there, but I continued to keep up with the well-trained warriors beside me.
A medium sized pack house stood in the middle, and several small cabins were off to the side as we approached. Some were chopping wood, and several children were running around laughing and banging each other with sticks. "Greetings," I heard a deep voice behind me.
It was Alpha Big Claw, a native to these lands. Generations ago, his family was turned into Werewolves through a mating bond. He was large, not as big as my father, but his stature would scare any human. "It is an honor to have you here," he bowed. "I never thought I would see the day to have a royal on our pack grounds. Is there anything we owe to this special visit?" His white teeth gleamed with appreciation as his Luna approached. Her long, straight, black hair dusted in front of her protruding stomach as she held onto Big Claw.