Arctic Pack (Living in a Pack book two)

Chapter Four: Old Friends Meet New Ones

I finished explaining what happened to Theo. Everything from the moment I left the Arctic to the moment I came back.

"Wow" Theo murmured quietly. "I wish I was there. We'd have beat them then, and maybe your friend wouldn't have been hurt so bad, or maybe you wouldn't have gotten those scars on your arm." I glanced down at my arm. I'd taken off my coat to show Theo and had forgotten to put it back on again. I'd forgotten about the scars I'd gotten from the battle, it's not like they affected my ability to use my arm so I didn't pay much attention to it.

"Yeah right, I would of just had to save your ass." I said pushing him over. "Now what have you been doing ?" I asked curiously.

"Well, nothing very interesting happened while you were gone really it was mostly just like before you left only lonelier. I was on vacation for the first four and a half weeks you were back, and I wasn't sure if you were home or not for the past few days. I'd seen smoke coming from your house but I didn't know whether it was you or not until I saw you leave your house this morning."

"Dude why didn't you just knock on the door." Dylas snorted from next to me.
I think he was slightly jealous over how close me and Theo were. He had no reason too though, he was my mate not Theo. Me and Theo had never had romantic feelings for each other, we'd only ever kissed once just to make sure that we weren't mates once we were old enough and then went back to being friends again. Despite what a lot of people think, a guy and a girl can just be friends without there being any romantic feelings between them.

"Because, if it wasn't Iris I'd just end up lonely again." Theo retorted. "Anyway, I want to meet your other friends so let's go." Theo said leaping to his feet and walking towards the tunnel opening. Dylas muttered something under his breath that I didn't catch.

"Don't be so grumpy." I sighed and stood up. I reached down and grabbed his hand. "You're my mate, not him, we have always been, and will always be just friends." Dylas sighed and stood up. "Come on then" I smiled and pulled him towards the opening in the cave wall. As he reached the tunnel opening Theo paused, motioning for us to go ahead. I squeezed through the opening hauling Dylas behind me.

When we popped out into the entrance cave I paused and waited for Theo. when he came through he was carrying the battery.

"Gotta charge it up." He grinned. "Now where too?"

"My house, Dylas can call our friends when we get closer to town." I said and shifted. Dylas shifted next and then Theo, holding the battery in his mouth. I reached down and took it from him, although he'd be able to carry it, it would slow him down greatly, it would make a lot more sense if I carried it for him. He nodded gratefully at me, he'd always been faster rather then stronger and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

We all took off, running out of the cave and across the snow covered ground in the direction of town. The icy cold wind whipped my face as I ran. I felt a deep purr rumble from my throat. It was kinda like a cats purr but a lot deeper and slower. I could see Dylas turn his head to look at me as I made the new noise, by the sound of it he didn't know bears could purr.

Once we got closer to town Dylas threw back his shaggy wolf head and let out a long loud howl. My ears twitched, I waited for the reply. There it was, a chorus of loud sounds, a howl, the roar of a lion, the loud shrieks of foxes and a Lynx. Dylas had informed them to meet at my house and they had agreed.

We pushed forward, running faster towards my house. Coming into town we raced along the sidewalk in the direction of my home. As we came up on my house I skidded to a halt, sliding  across the ground. I could see my friends just ahead. Dylas tried to stop next to me but he slipped on a sheet of black ice sending him sliding across the sidewalk on his belly. He sat up and looked back at me, an embarrassed look in his eyes. I padded forward and licked his cheek in affection, I thought it was cute of him. Theo came over more slowly, he had the sense to slow down earlier and had no problem coming to a stop.

My other friends came up to us, Cameron calling a loud yipping greeting. Theo shrank back a little bit, edging closer to me. I could tell he, like I was, wasn't so comfortable with so many shifters around at once, at least I had met them in human form. He growled softly and I brushed my pelt against his letting him know it was okay.

Dylas shifted and stood up unsteadily on the ice. Soon everyone else followed, including me, except Theo, he flattened his ears and drew back his lips growling a bit.

"Oh come on you're the one who wanted to meet them." Dylas snorted crossing his arms and staring down at Theo. Theo glared at Dylas but surprisingly shifted as well.

"You're correct wolf boy." Dylas growled slightly but Theo ignored him. "Nice to meet you all," he smiled reaching out a hand to shake my friends hands. "My name is Theodore Issac Jones, but you can call me Theo, I am an Arctic fox, and certified best friend of Iris." He shook everyone's hand, asking everyone's name. I noticed he lingered on Amber for just a moment. Shaking her hand for just a bit longer, almost unnoticeably. I felt my ears twitch with curiosity, I think Dylas noticed it too, I could see it in his eyes. A thought crossed my mind, could they be mates?

"Alright!" Theo said clapping his hands together. "We need something to break the ice and get to know each other, any suggestions?"

"A snowball fight ?" Dylas suggested. "What's a better way to get to know each other then pelting each other with balls of snow?"

"Perfect." Sasha grinned. "I suggest mates against mates. Me, Iris, Theo, and Dan, vs. Dylas, Amber, Cameron, and Nate."

"Hey that's no fair." Dan growled, pointing at Cameron and Amber. "I'm sorry Cam, you're my mate and I love you but it isn't fair, you guys are so close you basically share the same brain, you'll win for sure."

"NO ONE BREAKS UP CAMBER." Cameron shouted enthusiastically.

"Oh don't worry I thought this through." Sasha grinned. "They might have Camber but we have Theo and Iris and from what Theo said, they're best friends. I think that makes us pretty even. I mean, they practically look like twins anyway." I smiled, Sasha had thought of everything.

"Alright let's go then." Dylas announced flashing me a look that said you're going down. I smiled and took off towards the backyard.

Once in the backyard I dove for a large boulder that stood to the left of the backyard. I reached it and climbed on top as quickly as I could. The boulder was fairly round mostly, except for one large flat side.

"I call this as the base wall for our team. You guys get the shed wall. Now here's how everything's gonna go down. We each get an hour to build up our fort and gather our snowballs, once the hour is up, it's war. The first team to surrender, loses. Oh and one more thing, if we are going to make this official we need team names, we shall announce them before the war begins." I leapt down of the rock and stood up, crossing my arms across my chest. "Let's begin."