In The Pack

Chapter 5

That night while watching movies, I learned how to tell the difference between Ian's real voice and his mind voice. It's not a difference in pitch or tone, it's a difference in direction-or lack thereof. Ian's real voice is always coming from a direction, my left, right, front, back etcetera. His mind voice is just there.

During the movie we talked; out loud and in our minds, getting a feel for the link and each other. I told him about being left in the woods by my mom and more details about the wolf pack and our current pack. In turn, he told me about life in his former pack.

His dad was second in the pack and very angry when he refused to mate the alpha's daughter. His buddy, John, was on his side and told him to try our pack. Then he told me stories about all the trouble he and John would get into that had me giggling like crazy.

We ended up falling asleep on the couch together with my head on his shoulder and him sitting up with his head on the back of the couch. However, that wasn't how we woke up. In the morning, Ian was sprawled out across the couch and I was between him and the back of the couch with my head on his chest.

When I opened my eyes, it was to see a very amused Alice looking down at us. I felt my cheeks burn and my embarrassment woke Ian up.

"And you haven't even known each other for a day," she mused with a devious grin. "You two better get up before Jason comes downstairs." She was still looking at us with a big grin on her face that made me want to hide my face.

Ian stood, pulling me up with him. "Now, I know this looks bad," he began, only to be cut off by Alice laughing.

"Don't worry, Ian!" she told him. "I'm happy Layla's finally taking an interest in a boy. This'll be our little secret." With a wink, she trotted out of the room to make breakfast.

Ian looked down at me with a devious grin of his own. "Finally taking an interest, huh?"

I laughed and playfully punched his arm. "You hush! I can be picky if I wanna be."

He laughed too. "I'm glad I meet your high standards." He kissed my cheek and ran upstairs.

You exceed them, I sent after him mentally.

I felt warm contentment radiate through the bond and headed upstairs with a smile on my face to get ready as well.

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I had training today, so I told Ian that I'd see him after and ran out the door for Dylan's house. He's a big man, though not as muscular as Nate. He has short, dirty blonde hair and slightly tanned skin. He's intense and sometimes it feels as if his pale blue eyes can see right through you.

I was the first to arrive at his house.

"Good afternoon, Layla," Dylan greeted me.

"Hey, Dylan. What's up?" I asked.

"We're practicing out in the woods this week. I'll explain when the guys get here."

I nodded. Most of the time we train in the basement. We spar in human and wolf form, in one on one or uneven fights. We also do a lot of cardio and strength workouts like push-ups and sit-ups. The only other time we'd trained in the woods was when we learned to pick a single scent from multiple scents and then track it. That was a long time ago.

Nate and Lee walked through the door together, laughing.

"Afternoon, Nate, Lee," Dylan greeted.

"Afternoon, Dylan," they responded.

"Let's head out," Dylan told us.

Lee and Nate looked confused as we followed Dylan back outside. "We're training in the woods today," I informed them.