"Astoria Jenkins, could you please tell me where the hell you think you're going?"
Busted.
This was the sixth time I had tried running away from the place I was supposed to call 'home' for the summer. For a home, it sure wasn't homely at all. In May, my brothers and I had apparently taken our pranks to an 'unforgivable' level and our punishment was to spend three weeks of our summer locked away in the different houses that my dad owned with a set 'nanny' for each of us.
"Hate to be the one to break this to you," I said, looking at my watch. "But, its 12:01 a.m of 21st June, which just so happens to be the day that I'm relieved from my house arrest." I slung my backpack onto my back and grabbed the handle of my suitcase and rushed down the stairs. "Adios, Nanny!"
As promised, a black sedan was patiently waiting for me outside the house. I chucked my stuff in the back seat and got in along with them.
"So glad you could come, Chuckie!" I exclaimed and caught his warm eyes in the mirror.
"Anytime, Tori," He said.
"How long will it take for us to get home?" I questioned, biting my finger nails.
"Approximately two hours," Chuckie replied amusedly. "No need to get so excited; it's just been three weeks."
Unlike my brothers, my father had placed me the farthest away – the distance of two big cities between us. My brothers had all been just about ten miles or so away from home. See, growing up, my home had been crowded. There were seven of us in total, me being the youngest and the second girl. There were Ryker, Mac, Ethan and Robert, the quadruplets. Mark was after them and then me.
The other sister happened to be the oldest and most mature. She was twenty-eight and engaged to one of our pack warriors. She had already moved in with him when 'The Unforgivable Prank' took place. Our Great-Great Aunt Nimeria had come to visit our humble home and we kids had gone all out with our pranks on her, which resulted in our grounding.
And that was all unfair because every one of us were legally adults.
We were passing through the forest. The Pack was situated deep into the woods, away from human civilization so that us werewolves were able to hide ourselves.
Exactly two hours later, Chuckie pulled up in front of our huge house. A grin formed on my face. I grabbed my things, placed a kiss on Chuckie's cheek and skipped up to the front door.
All the lights in the house were on, despite the fact that it was almost two-thirty in the morning. The door was pulled open and Ryker, the oldest of the quadruplets was standing there with a huge grin etched on his face. His black hair was disheveled and his gray eyes had a crazy look in them.
"Mom's made meat lasagna. Two full dishes of lasagna. And Layla's here." He said, pulling me inside and shutting the door.
"Joke!" I yelled looking at him with wide eyes. The only time Mom made her all-famous meat lasagna was only when we had guests over or there was some good news. I dumped my bags on the couch, only to find that it was already filled with all the other boys' bags. Laughing to myself, I ran into the kitchen, to the smell of amazingness.
We were one weird bunch at that. Having lasagna at two in the morning was a totally normal thing for us.
"Tori's here!" Mac yelled and ran towards me. He collided into me, sending us both to the ground.
"Pile-up!" I heard somebody yell and there was the weight of four other boys jumping on us.
"Ow! Mark! My nipple, you idiot!"
"Rob! Get off my face!"
"Ethan! You fucktard! Your shoe is in my face!" I yell.
"Oh my BALLS!"
"MY NIPPLE! IT'S PIERCED YOU DUMBFUCK!"
"GET THE HELL OFF MY KITCHEN FLOOR!"
Of all the yelling and screeching that was going on Mom's was the loudest. We all immediately obeyed and stood up, grunting and snorting when someone hit another.
Ryker shoved Ethan once we were all standing.
"My nipple is fucking pierced. How many times do I have to remind you? It hurts when you touch it!"
"You never even told me!" Ethan shoved Ryker back.
"You're just too fucking absorbed into that slut you call your girlfriend!" Ryker punched Ethan in the shoulder.
"At least she isn't as slutty as yours!"
"Shut the FUCK UP!"
And believe me, we all did.
"All of you are going to shut up and decently sit down on the dining table and eat their lasagna without arguing. You get me?" Layla said.
We all quietly did as we said. Dad was seated at the head of the table looking at the scene with amusement in his eyes.
"Okay," Mom started. "This midnight celebration kids, is cause we all have some great news" She paused, looking at us all and then continued, "First of all, we all are back home and reunited. Second of all, Layla is getting married next month." She smiled.
There were a series of gasps and choking and grunting. I ran over to Layla and gave her a huge bear hug, which she returned.
"That's epic!" I exclaimed.
There was a chorus of congratulations and hand-shakings and hugs.
"I bet she'll get pregnant after a month," Ethan whispered in my ear. I frowned.
"I'm thinking about six months later," I whispered back.
"How much do you wanna pay up?" He smirked.
"Thirty,"
"Fifty,"
"Forty,"
"Forty, it is then." He smirked. "Remember that time you and me had to be in the room next to Layla and Zak?"
"Oh my god, don't even remind me." I said, shaking my head.
"Worst night ever," Ethan and I said together and laughed.
"Alright! Moving on," Dad said. "Our pack is being taken over."
"Taken over? That can't just happen unless there's a war, right?" I asked.
"Or if the Alpha is willing to let the pack be taken over." Dad retaliated.
"But Alphas never do that." Robert said, quietly.
"Unless it's Caine Ravenna." Mom said.
I choked on my food. "The Caine Ravenna?"
"Yup," Layla said. She looked happy. "At least the Pack will function better."
"But he owns over half the packs in America! Why would he want our pack? I just don't get the point of him taking over all the packs here." I said. "And plus it's Caine Ravenna."
"I know our pack is small, but he says that we have strong fighters." Dad said. All of us just stared at him in silence.
"So, you mean you've talked to him?" Mac voiced out. He'd been so silent all this while that I'd forgotten he was even there.
"Yes," Dad said. "In fact, he's right at the pack house now."
"Whoa,"
"So yeah, that's all there is for now, kids." Mom said. "So it's summer now and you're free to do whatever the hell you want outside this house and please do behave yourselves. Caine's going to be sticking around for a while."
After the late dinner, I'd changed out of my jeans and put on my pajamas. My room was on the fifth floor of the house and it was situated pretty high. I could see the forest and a part of the huge pack house.
I thought I saw a towering muscular figure on the wind-around balcony of the pack house looking my way, but just left the thought as my imagination and went to bed.
:::___:::
