Chapter 2 Two

We spent the day avoiding Marthe and all her obedient little minions. I have got to give it to the old bat; she can still move for her age. Her wolf definitely puts a bit of 'oomph' into her getting around.

Pops certainly did not fail regarding her shenanigans. It has been so long since I laughed so much, and it was most definitely needed. All my inner turmoil was temporarily forgotten, emphasis on the 'temporarily'.

First, she practically dislocated my arm dragging me into the hall where we nearly crashed into some poor little working omega overladen with boxes that contained goddess knows what. I can guarantee that we sent their blood pressure through the roof with the scare that we gave them. I shouted an apology as Poppy pulled me further away from the chaos.

Then there were two humongous and pretty fine-looking guards right after the omega that we had stumbled into. I do not know who was more shocked, me or them. Which does not bode well for two guards that were taken by surprise by two female wolves running straight at them. I will have to speak to Alpha Brock about them later, perhaps suggest a bit more training for them because they certainly have not been a part of the Guard for long.

We went crashing through the front doors and bee lined straight for the woods. As soon as I saw them, it instantly and magically felt like a weight had been taken off my shoulders. A deep breath in and it seemed like my lungs had opened and were suddenly able to expand fully, making me realise how heavy life has been lately.

My wolf was instantly sitting at the edge, eager to come forth and take over. Her excitement was so strong, it was hard to hold her back until it was a good time to let her free.

We broke through the tree line, onto the uneven ground, but our wolf reflexes made it no problem to traverse without stumbling.

The light flickering through the small gaps in the trees as we ran, the damp mossy smell, the sound of the disturbed animals as they fled from our running and giggling that had scared them from whatever hole that they previously hid in, the dead leaves and fallen branches crunching on the ground under our fast-moving feet.

Home.

This is everything that I think of when I think of what home should be. The feeling of being lighter, less of a burden from the world, an escape.

We suddenly stopped, stripping down out of our clothes in a frenzy. I closed my eyes and willed Beaux to take over, and I certainly did not have to wait long.

The change came and went quickly and painlessly, very much unlike my first time and for a good while after. As they say, practice makes perfect. I am just glad that it is not excruciatingly painful anymore.

Beaux stretched her sandy paws and yawned, readying herself for her time to shine.

Pops' light brown wolf, Nova, appeared next to me, tongue lolling out, a small amount of slobber dripping down to the earthy wood ground.

'You ready for this, biatch?' Pops mindlinked me, a challenge in her tone.

Mindlinking is an ability that only werewolves are capable of doing. Any wolf that can speak is able to telepathically speak to others. You just think of the person you want to talk with and voilà, an internal annoying voice appears in your noggin; that being a jibe at Pops. It is not just one wolf that you can communicate with at any one time either; group conversations can be done too. This comes in handy for coordinating things between more than two wolves, such as the warriors that are on patrol, or even Alpha Brock being mithered about pack matters by many others.

'You sound cocky and full of yourself, as per usual. You know that you don't stand a chance against Beaux.' Beaux did the equivalent of a side smirk whilst trotting around Nova, playfully nipping at her paws.

'This time I'm gunna leave you eating my dust. I gotta win eventually, and that time is today my friend. So, prepare to be a sore loser.' Pops had barely finished speaking before Nova took off in a sprint.

Game on motherfucker.

Seeing the back of Nova's hide was all Beaux needed to get moving. She caught up easily, but I suppose being a bigger wolf than Nova, it was not much trouble for her.

We spent hours running, either at a trot or sprinting, play fighting and tumbling around. Every now and then we would see the odd pairs of patrol wolves that would stop and watch us fuck-arsing around. We would hear them do what I assume would be a laugh, but in wolf form it sounds more like a weird wheezing, like Muttley from Whacky Races. That is when we knew we were getting a bit too close to the border of our territory, so we would turn around and sprint away laughing, only to start tumbling around again.

At some point in the day, we ended up at a waterhole on the Moonlight territory. It is one that we have only been to a handful of times, each time only finding ourselves there by accident after spending our day pratting around just like today.

We went to the water's edge and drank; it had been a few hours since we had run out on our duties and had sustenance of any kind. And as wolves, we eat and drink a lot more than the average human.

I could see Beaux's reflection looking back from the lightly rippled water from the small spring breeze. Her beautiful light fur, sandy from muzzle to tail, all apart from a small black smudge going up between the eyes and ending before the top of her head. She was also absolutely fucking minging from acting like pups with Nova.

'You know what you need to do Beaux.' If Pops wants to act like a pup on day release, then so can I.

Beaux started meandering around, a sniff here, a squat there. Just your typical wolf behavior in a new environment. Until she picked up speed and rammed Nova headfirst into the water.

'You fucking bellend!' Pops screamed through the mindlink. She finally resurfaced, looking very much like a drowned rat, coughing and spluttering. I could not help it; me and Beaux were reduced to tears and quite literally rolling on the floor laughing.

'I'm sooooo returning the favour to you at some point' Pops threatened me.

That was all the threat that I needed to stop laughing. The only way I am going to get out of any shit from her later is to join her.

'Well fuck this, tally ho!' I shouted over the mindlink as Beaux ran and jumped, legs flaying all over the place and belly first into the water. 'Holy fuckballs! You could've warned me it was like going swimming with fucking penguins.' Beaux was instantly shivering, teeth chattering and trying to paddle her way to the bank.

Pops' laughter was deep from the belly, I love hearing her laugh like that, not so much at my expense though. I just dead-panned stare at her, secretly plotting many ways to cause her death.

There was a part of the waterhole that was sloped going into the water; I made my way to it as it is a lot easier to get out in wolf form. Four legs that are limited on what they can do make it very difficult to get out at steep edge, especially if you want to keep some of your dignity once you are out.

Pops was right behind me, still laughing as I stood just out of the water shaking my fur out as much as possible.

'I don't care how much of a puffball I look, that shit was cold and I want to warm up as quick as possible. All my nipples are so hard they hurt. Why do wolves even have to have so fucking many?' I could curse anything and everything right now, but seeing Pops surprised and soggy in the water, I still did not regret a thing.

This just gave more fuel to the fire that was Poppy, leaving her hysterical on the floor.

'Come on, I think we should start to head back. Besides, I don't think it will be long, and we'll start to see the hangry side of you two,' Pops sniggered.

'I don't suppose you remember where we left our clothes?' I suddenly realised that in all our rushing and excitement, I could not remember where the hell we had stopped to transform. The sudden look of realisation on Pops' face gave me my answer, she could not remember either.

'Well, we have two options. Option one, give everyone a show and run through the Packhouse to our rooms naked, cold and wet with worlds hardest nipples. Or option two, run through in wolf form. Both options we need to hope for the best that we don't run into Marthe.' Pops did not always have ideas that did not get us into trouble, but right now we could really do with a fucking Hail Mary. 'Penny for your thoughts?' Pops added.

'I'm completely blank. Apart from hoping that we come across our clothes on our way, the only other thing is hoping we come across one of the clothe stashes they keep hidden in trees for times like this. I just have absolutely no clue where the hell any of them are.'

'Oh well, birthday suit it is.' Pops said casually with a shrug of her shoulders. 'It's completely natural for a wolf to show off what they got. I know you're not so comfortable with the exposure like the rest of us, but there is unfortunately going to be occasions when you're gunna have to give people a peek.' Pops knows how 'reserved' I can be.

I have scars from wounds that were fresh when I was found as a pup that never quite fully healed. The Alpha and pack doctors think that they were done with something that contained either wolfsbane or silver. Wolves usually have very fast and excellent healing, even before our wolves come to us. We rarely ever get scars unless something was used, or the wounds are just too big. Wolfsbane and silver are like poison to werewolves. If either is used when cutting or whipping a wolf, the wound struggles to heal properly and in high enough doses it can be lethal.

'I know I should be comfortable in my skin and proud of how far I have come from that scared little pup, but I can't help it' I mindlinked with a shrug as we pottered on slowly side by side. 'I also feel like I should be saving everything for my mate, not just touch, but having them looking at me for the first time.'

'Fuck you're a soppy shit bag. But I do understand. Come on, let's get moving a bit quicker. I'm starving and a hangry me is worse than a hangry you.' We both laughed and kicked our pace up to a jog.

We roughly knew our way back from the times we ended up at the waterhole before, plus the pack scent obviously grew stronger the closer we got to the Packhouse. We managed to find a hollowed-out tree stump that was being used to store clothes a small distance from the edge of the woods. Bearing in mind, male wolves are fucking huge and well built, so the clothing stashed in the woods was a 'one size-fits-all' situation. Changing back to my human form, I felt like I was losing something, that weight slowly creeping back onto my shoulders, my chest constricting just that little bit. The t-shirts we put on fell to around the knees; it was not necessary to take anything else because we were covered enough.

"Oi, look" Pops' human voice erupted through the silence.

I turned to see Pops with her arms out straight as if she was a tree.

"You can see my tits looking straight through the sleeves." I burst out laughing at this clown before me, so did she. And that is how we were all the way to the Packhouse front doors.

"You know, using the front door is probably the best way for us to get caught instantly by Marthe or someone else who would be quick to tattle." I pointed out our potential mistake just as I reached for the cold metal door handle.

"Oh fuck, good point. But then they're probably keeping an eye on all the side doors thinking we'll use one of them. So, in theory, this may be our best option. I reckon we should just run when we get in, don't stop and any man that falls behind.......... stays behind".

"Oh wow, such a loyal friend" I sarcastically said to Pops, making her giggle. "I think you're right though, just go for it and hope for the best. You're still a tosser for that though."

"On the count of three, open the door and leg it. One, two......three!" Pops counted down, I opened the door at three and was gone like the wind.

As I was sprinting through the Packhouse towards the stairs, I had no idea if Poppy was managing to keep up without getting caught, until I heard her.

"Go! Keep moving!"

Laughing like a couple of hyenas, there was nothing stealthy about us as we ran with our improved speed from our wolves, up the stairs to the first floor, round the corner, down a long corridor, round another corner and a couple of doors down to my room. We were both going too fast and ran into the door, me fumbling with the door handle trying to push it down with Poppy urging me to be quicker.

We both ran into the room, and I quickly closed the door, slamming my back against it as if someone was going to try and barge through.

I looked at Pops doubled over and panting just as she looked up at me, chest heaving just the same as hers, and that was it, we fell apart laughing.

"I must admit, today has been a much better day than what I thought it would be when I woke up. And I don't know what trouble we'll be in yet, but I appreciate every laugh and speck of mud you've given me today" I said to Pops as I walked over to her before embracing her in the best hug I could muster, hoping that it conveys all my feelings and exactly how much I appreciate her.

"You're welcome, sister. I love you no matter what and I will always be there to put a smile back on that beautiful face." Pops pulled back just enough to look me in the face, straight into my welled-up eyes.

I looked back at her solid blue eyes and saw that she felt like she was speaking the truth. I suppose being abandoned so young affected me in many ways. The major effect was my confidence and the belief I had in myself.

"Right, now this is enough mush for one day. Plus, I got mud and crap in places you don't ever wanna know about or see." There is the Pops I know and love.

I smiled back at her, "you know where everything is here. Mi casa su casa, fuck face. And don't you dare think of getting my favourite pjs to wear. I may love you as my sister, but I don't love you that much." I laughed at the fake horrified and offended expression on Poppy's face.

She put her hand to her chest and did a sharp intake of breath for emphasis of the fake offence she had taken.

"Well then, now I'm gunna have to wear them just to piss you off." And that was it, Pops was gone with a laugh into my small walk-in wardrobe. She was in there for a matter of seconds before dashing out and into the ensuite bathroom without a word and closed the door.

"Love you!" I shouted to her, then waited to see what slur I would get in return.

"Love you too, you shit face motherfucker!"

Goddess that woman has some colourful language and is not afraid to express it to anyone.