2, Summer rain and leather

Tite

I listened to the sound of approaching bikes and sighed. I had no idea what was happening or why strange bikers were on the pack land. I didn’t care why or what. I only cared about the fact it meant my father would have an excuse not to talk to me, again. It had been a week since I got back from the Redheart pack. A week of trying to get some time to talk to my father and a week of him being too busy. Nothing new under the sun, I thought as I picked up my sketch pad and started working on the idea Ulf had come to me with. He wanted to surprise Amber. I liked Amber. She had only been in the pack for six months after meeting my brother, her true mate, at a joint pack meeting. For an outsider she had quickly taken to our way of life. The pack liked her. She was a good choice for their future Luna. After a string of non-traditional ones, the pack would finally get a fated Luna who was a werewolf. And I had gained a sister, one I actually liked and respected. Not to mention that Ulf was like a cute puppy whenever they were together. It was sweet and gave me a lot of good ammunition to tease him with. Best of all was that Amber took as much fun in teasing him as I did. We made a good team. Maybe I should talk to Amber. She could help me talk to my brother and maybe he could help me get some time to talk to our father. I hated that I needed to book time with him through Ulf. Like I was just another pack member. I felt myself pressing my pencil into the pad. I put it down and took a couple of deep breaths. No need to ruin a perfectly good sketch because my emotions ran away from me.

“Mommy!” Kendra shouted from three doors down. I sighed. I needed to get out of this place before I completely lost it. I put down my sketch pad and opened the door just to hear my step-mothers reply.

“Kendra, please don’t shout. Jacob has guests,” Mara told her daughter.

“Ops, sorry mommy. I just needed to borrow your card. Me and some of the girls are heading into the city to go shopping. You don’t mind, do you?” Kendra asked. I rolled my eyes.

“No, no. Just don’t spend as much as you did last time, remember how upset Jacob got,” Mara reminded her.

“Promise, thank you, mommy,” Kendra said. I walked out of my room to get away from the two of them before my eyes popped out from all my eye rolling.

“Tite, wait a moment,” Mara said. I froze and cursed under my breath that she had seen me. I spun around to face the two women.

“Yes, Luna?” I asked. I knew she hated me calling her that. I hated it just as much. That title was my mom’s. Sure, she was dead and Mara was now mated to my father, but still. I only used it because I knew Mara hated it when I didn’t acknowledge her relationship with my father. She would have much rather I called her step-mother. I knew she secretly hoped I would one day just call her by her first name so she would have a reason to tell my father how disrespectful I was. The bitch could dream about it.

“Jacob has guests, humans, so stay away from the dining room,” she told me. Like I would walk into the room and embarrass my father with my mere existence.

“Of course, Luna. I will just go down and help prepare some sandwiches and food. The runners will be back soon,” I told her. I saw the slight panic in her eyes and I let myself enjoy it. She had forgotten, as she almost always did. Two times a day, the runners who patrolled our borders came back for shift change. The change meant a horde of men and women grabbing food and water to last them twelve hours. And another hoard of men and women who had been out for twelve hours surviving on water and sandwiches were in need of real food and beer. As Luna, it was Mara’s responsibility to make sure we had everything ready. In the almost eleven years Mara had been Luna, she still hadn’t got a hang of it. I could have just let it be and watch her screw things up. My father would have been furious. But if I did that, it would mean no food for the ones going out and no food for the ones coming home. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my pack to get back at my step-mother.

“Goddess, how boring can you be?” Kendra told me and looked at me like I was worthless. I was used to those looks from her. “Just don’t go and poison the food, witch. Daddy would have to kill you if you did,” she added. I had stopped being upset both about her calling me a witch and about her calling my father daddy. I was a witch, well a half witch, half werewolf, and most of the pack didn’t have anything against it. And I knew she would never call my father daddy so he could hear it. She had tried once and that had been a memorable explosion to watch. She just enjoyed using it around me to upset me. She liked showing off her spoiled princess persona, knowing I had to work for my money and knowing my father never had the time for me. It made me do stupid shit when I was younger. Shit I regretted now, well some of it at least.

“Then I best try to avoid it,” I told her and nodded towards Mara, mostly out of habit, and walked away. I managed to catch a glimpse of how annoyed Kendra looked. When I had figured out the best revenge was not to go for her bait, I had started enjoying her attempts at getting me mad or upset. I headed for the communal kitchen.

“Hey Tite!” Anna, the mate of our Beta, called out.

“Hi, aunt Anna. How are we doing?” I asked.

“Good. We have a chilli going that could feed a small army, so I think we might have enough. The sandwiches are mostly done,” she told me.

“You are amazing,” I told her and stood next to Carl who was adding cold cuts to the sandwiches. I grabbed the bottles with mayo and mustard and started adding it. We worked as a team to get ready for the onslaught we knew was coming. “Okay, I will set things up. You have been a great help, but you can go and relax for a bit,” I told the rest of the pack members who had helped. The food was done, the kitchen had been cleaned. The only thing remaining was to set up so the grabbing of food was easy and didn’t end up in a brawl. I enjoyed the quiet kitchen as I arranged the sandwiches with water bottles and the chilli with bowls next to it. I scented something and stepped away from the chili. Summer rain and leather hit my nostrils and my wolf announced my mate was near. I froze, I didn’t want to meet my mate. I was about to flee when the doors to the kitchen opened and he walked in.