Chapter II

The truck jolted to stop, waking me from my nap I had decided to take whilst curled up in my seat. I looked out the front window to see what must have been the main house. A simple cabin with a small porch out the front that was decorated with an array of different pot plants stood hidden in the middle of a pine forest. I stretched in my seat and undid my seatbelt, hopping out of the truck to land on the grey gravel that made up the driveway.

Rowan and some other people that I had seen at the party started to unload my bags from the back and carry them inside.

I followed them into the house to be greeted by a cosy furniture setup. This must have been the living room. Three dark green couches were positioned in a horseshoe facing a nicely carved coffee table with a chessboard and a vase of flowers positioned neatly on it. A flat screen television was mounted on the wall above a wooden bookshelf that held DVDs and an Xbox system.

I received a small shove against my back and immediately jumped away from whoever was behind me. A big guy with light skin and auburn hair quietly appologised to me before continuing to carry my bag further into the house. My new home. Home. I liked the sound of that word. It gives a sense of belonging. I never really belonged with the old pack, but no one had thrown insults at me or tried to hurt me yet, so I was beginning to like this new place.

“Follow me,” the sound of Rowan’s deep yet light voice sounded next to me. My wolf senses were picking up the alluring and powerful musk that was his scent. He smelled great. Rowan led me down the hallway to the second door on the left and opened it for me.

Inside the room was a double bed, already made, and a nightstand that matched the chest of drawers that was tucked snugly in the corner of the room. My three bags were piled inconspicuously in the corner. The walls were a faint dusty pink, and the carpet was a dark chocolate brown; the same colour as the wood of the other furniture in the room.

Rowan laughed when I questioned the colour pallet. “This used to be my older sister’s room. It became the guest room after she moved out.” He explained. “Feel free to decorate it however you like. It’s your room now.” He ruffled my hair, causing me to pout and went to leave the room. “Get some sleep,” he suggested. “You have work to do tomorrow.” He closed the door behind him.

I heaved an exhausted sigh and collapsed onto the bed, not bothered to change out of my clothes, and kicked my shoes off. I buried my face in one of the fluffy pillows and curled into a ball, finally letting sleep overcome me.

~~~*~~~

KNOCK KNOCK. “Hey! Are you awake?” I groaned and rolled over, trying to ignore the continuous thumping on the wood of my door.The knocking sounded again, only this time it was louder.I pushed myself off of the bed and padded over to the door, roughly pulling it open and being greeted by a bare torso.

I frowned and looked up, meeting with Rowan’s golden eyes. This was the first time that I noticed how tall the man was. He was a good foot taller than me, and I had to crane my neck the look at his face. He only wore the same jeans he had on, and a white towel was draped around his neck. “The shower’s ready.” He grinned, shaking the water off of his head and on to me.

I smiled sarcastically and grabbed a towel as well as a spare change of clothes and crossed the hallway to the bathroom. Once I was clean and dressed, I met Rowan in the living room. With him was the tall and muscly guy from last night, a woman who looked to be in her late twenties, and a middle-aged man. I could hear the sound of playful laughter from outside, making me relax somewhat.

“I would like you to meet my older sister, Willow, my younger brother, Aspen, and my father, the alpha of this pack.” Rowan began to formally introduce me to the people.

The man stepped forward to shake my hand, which I shyly returned. “It must be hard to suddenly be taken to a new pack,” the alpha said sympathetically.

I nodded silently in reply.

“I am told you were brought here to look after children. My daughter,” he gestured to Willow, “recently gave birth to a litter, are you ready to start right away?” Alpha asked.

I was surprised by this. It would explain the laughter I could hear from outside, but did they really want me to start right away? These people didn’t know anything about me.

“Young Cole told us about you. For now, we trust you.” Willow explained to me, taking a seat on one of the sofas. She was quite a beautiful woman, with the same red-brown hair that Rowan’s little brother had and piercing sapphire blue eyes.

I swallowed, feeling slightly intimidated by the woman, and nodded. She led me outside and around to the back of the house, where we found five kids all around the age of eight or nine wrestling in the dirt. One of them shifted into wolf form, and tackled the other that was pinning him down. This caused the others to shift, and the fight became a tangle ball of struggling puppies.

“Aww...” I cooed. One of the puppies, a young wolf who was sandy blonde in colouring and had teal eyes, noticed the presence of a stranger and bounded up to me. It morphed back into its human form and ran straight up to Rowan, hugging him with all her might.

“Hi, Rose.” He said, and returned the hug to the girl.

I wanted to smile, but I averted my gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable and the naked reception.

Rose looked at me.”Who’s that?” She asked, rudely pointing at me.

“The new baby sitter.” Rowan explained.

“What’s his name?” This mande Rowan frown and look at me apologetically.

I waved off the considered insult. I had grown attached to ‘Runt’, so I had no problem having the nickname here as well. “I’m Runt.” I introduced myself.

“That’s a weird name.” Rose said.

“It’s a nickname.” I explained.

“Then what’s your real name?” Boy, this kid was difficult.

“That’s a secret.” A secret that even I didn’t know, but my answer seemed to satisfy her curiosity.

The other cubs shifted into human form and began to tell me about themselves. I learned that ‘Rose’ was short for Rosemary and she was the oldest, and seemed to already have a claim on Rowan, calling him her ‘future husband’. Next were Basil and Kale, two almost identical boys with their eye colour being the only difference between them. The boys were red-brown in fur and hair colour and Basil had orange eyes, while Kale’s eyes were almost black. Sage, like her sister, was blonde. She had dark blue eyes and a light dust of freckles across her nose, and didn’t seem keen on telling me about herself. Lastly, there was Corrie - short for Coriander - who seemed a little smaller than the others. She had the same auburn hair of her mother and brothers, and striking emerald eyes. She seemed shy, but she slowly became my favourite of the bunch.

“Do you know how to wrestle?” Kale asked, tugging on my sleeve.

I nodded and he shifted into his wolf form and bit my hand. “Hey!” I laughed, pulling my hand back. “That’s cheating!” I quickly took my T-shirt and jeans off, feeling slightly self-conscious for a moment, then shifted into my white wolf form and ran for the forest that surrounded the house. I hadn’t done this for a while, but it felt good to be running around on all fours and being able to smell and hear things that I couldn’t when I was human.

The others shifted back into their wolf forms, and began to chase me.

That’s so cool! You’re completely white! Basil’s voice sounded in my mind. I laughed and kept running. The wind in my fur felt so good, and my paws sunk into the soft dirt every time I landed on the ground.

Suddenly, I was tackled by a ferocious looking black wolf. I yelped and struggled against the weight that pinned me down and started to whimper.

Geez, calm down. It’s just me. I could hear Rowan’s familiar voice. I tilted my head up and slowly sniffed his ear. It was Rowan.

What are you doing? I asked, finally pushing him off me.

Rowan pushed his nose against my side, pushing me off balance ever so slightly and causing me to stumble. I’m playing. He stated, and my heart skipped a beat when he tackled me again. Guy’s! Come get him! Rowan called, making the litter of cubs jump on top of me as well.

The seven of us rolled around in the forest play fighting with each other. I found myself feeling warm and happy whenever Rowan touched me, but I can’t blame myself - the man was irresistible. I was beginning to enjoy the new pack, and didn’t mind if this became the place where I was most needed. I was really beginning to feel at home.