Animal Lover

Lyssa is silent still as Ariel and Joanna guide her inside the house and up the stairs to the third floor.

Individuals in various states of dress and various forms turn, put their heads up, and sniff as she passes by. A couple of youngsters follow them down the hall, giggling.

Lyssa is led into a gigantic suite. A huge bed dominates a far corner, decked in deep blue linens, with a door beyond. A large dresser sits against one wall, tall as she was, painted matte black. Fireplace. A large desk, surrounded by an office space, cabinets, books. A computer, with three screens, sat on the desk. Windows, bordered in deep blue curtains, overlooked a wooded glade. She turns further, a table and chairs, with some clothing draped over them.

The first words she has uttered since leaving her house now leave her lips. "Who's room is this?"

"Emmet's."

"I will NOT stay here!" She turns to the two of them, incensed.

Joanna is shocked that anyone would address her mother in such a manner and her claws begin to emerge. Ariel reaches her daughter's mind. [Don't, Jo. She is not pack born and is naive of our ways. If you hurt her Emmett will be most displeased.]

[But, mom...]

Ariel turns to Lyssa. "We have not had time to prepare for your arrival. This will be the safest place for you while when prepare a room. Please stay here while we make arrangements and I'll have your things brought up from the car."

"Didn't bring anything.", Lyssa mumbles.

"Whyever not?"

"Why should I? You're just gonna kill me, aren't you?"

Emmett grudgingly returned to the house. Shifting, he strides naked to the Alpha's study. Drawing himself up to full height, he says, "Emmett Forester, Beta of the Wyeth pack, reporting as ordered."

Frowning, Randall Wyeth turns to see the glowering countenance of his friend. So, this was how it was going to be.

He inhales, exhales. "Alison has had her pups. The naming ceremony will be at the next full moon."

"Of course."

"There's been a fire as Simpson's; he lost quite a bit of stock. We need to get a secondary source."

"As soon as possible."

"We need to discuss posting of the young males."

"Certainly, Alpha Wyeth."

"Reparations will need to be made to the Ross pack." Emmett nods, curtly. "And the Macey pack implicates you in the death of one of their pack members."

"A legitimate challenge, sir."

"That has yet to be determined."

There is a pause as Randall looks at him. "If that is all, Alpha, I shall attend to my duties."

"Erich did well in your absence."

"Good."

"Emmett, my friend, we intended no harm when we came to see the human."

"The result is the same. May I go?"

Another exhale from Randall. "Yes."

"Kill you? My dear, we do not kill indiscriminately. Have you done something to deserve such a fate?"

"Emmett said..."

"Jo. Please have Anton prepare a room while I speak to our guest."

Joanna looks doubtfully at her mother but leaves the room, closing the door behind her. Lyssa watches warily as the red haired Alpha bitch sat in a chair, crossed her luxuriously clad legs and gestured to another chair. "I'd rather stand."

"What has Emmett told you about us?"

"I already told you. Werewolves. Beta. Alphas."

"There has to be much more than that for your position to have changed so completely in these few hours." Lyssa glares at her. "It is because we visited, is it not?"

"Mostly."

"As I suspected. We, unfortunately, have little experience in dealing with humans as potential additions to the pack. We were curious as to the female who had captured Emmett's heart."

She clenches her fists and blinks her eyes against threatening tears. "He said it was a test."

Ariel gives her a measured look. "I suppose it was, after a fashion. What else?"

"I asked if I had passed and he said, 'You're alive.'"

Ariel hides her amusement behind her hand. As if they would conceive of such a thing. "And how did the discussion go from there?"

Lyssa's chest is heaving. "He, he answered my questions. Told me he wanted me to be his mate. He let me think I had a choice."

Joanna hunts down Anton. "We need to have a room for the human woman Emmett has brought. Is there space available?"

"Did you have a specific area in mind?"

"Something toward the front of the house, on one of the lower floors."

"Hmm. I'll move Celia in with Constance."

"They'll love that, especially for a human."

"Give me an hour."

"Thank you, Anton."

As she makes her way to the office, the pack's nerve center, she sends a message to her mother. [Mom, Celia's room, in about an hour.]

[Thank you, dear. Please bring Stephanie back with you.]

[One stop, Mom, and I'll be there.]

She walks in and over to her father. Kissing him, she says, "Hey, Daddy, I wanna run something by you."

He listens, and nods. "I agree."

With the confidence borne of an adolescent's romantic view of the world, she walks over to Emmett, who's maintaining a low growl. The other wolves were giving him a wide berth.

"Emmmettt."

His eyes flash at her, then back to the screen before him. "Not now, girl. I have work to do."

"I talked to Daddy and we have an errand for you." [Don't tease him, Jo.]

Exasperated, he looks at her. "What?"

Her face takes on a wounded look and she begins to pout. "OK, if you don't want to help.." She turns away.

Emmett was like an uncle to her and he had a soft spot for her, but he was in no mood for games.

"Joanna." He does not see her smirk. "I apologize. What is it you want?"

"Well, Lyssa said (he sucks in a breath at the mention of her name) that she didn't bring anything from home. There's gotta be something she'd really miss. We want you to go get it."

"Someone else could collect her things."

"Nobody else would know what she'll miss if she lost it. Please, Emmett. C'mon."

"Fine." He exhales. "Not that it makes any sense."

"Goody." She gives him a peck on the cheek. "Think about it a while before you go."

[Take her car back and have someone else pick you up.]

[Of course, Randall.] The growl continues.

"We all have a choice, my dear."

"Come here or die. Not much of a choice."

"And is that the only reason you've come to us?"

"I don't want to die."

"And that is your only reason?"

"Yes!"

"Really? You weren't curious about us?"

Lyssa stops, narrowing her eyes at the bitch.

Ariel steels herself against the offensive behavior. The chair arm under her hand begins to groan. "And, how did you find Emmett?"

"I found him, hurt, on my back porch. I, I helped him. I thought he was an injured dog."

Ariel smiled again. It was very doubtful Emmett needed such help. "Do you know how he came to be injured?"

"No. I figured he was fighting with another dog."

Another pause in the conversation. Ariel waits for a question. Lyssa flops into an armchair. Ariel continues on.

"Emmett has distinguished himself in the pack. His hard work and dedication have elevated his status and that of his family. And he has endeared himself to us. Joanna counts him as a favorite and he has shown a love for her."

Lyssa grumbles. "Why doesn't he just marry her then? Why did he bother me?"

"You misunderstand. He sees her as a beloved niece."

"We've waited a long time for him to find his mate."

Lyssa jumps up again. "I don't want to be his mate." She spits out the word. "I don't want to be here. Stop torturing me. Why don't you just kill me already?"

Joanna and Stephanie walk in in the middle of the tirade. Stephanie raises an eyebrow and scents the air but makes no comment.

"Madam Alpha, you've requested my presence?"

Ariel rises fluidly from the chair. "Yes, Stephanie, thank you. This is Lyssa Baker. I want you to escort her around the grounds. She will be moved into Celia's room for the duration."

[As she is human and not pack born, she is likely to give offense. You are to protect her from the others,] "show her around, and escort her wherever she goes." [Be aware of the unmated males.] "Do you understand?"

"Yes, Madam Alpha."

"I don't need a babysitter."

Ariel strides over to stand before her. Lyssa looks her in the eye, not backing down. Stephanie and Joanna tense. [You see?] Stephanie nods. Ariel exhales.

"Stephanie will protect you from the consequences of your faux pas, until you learn our ways."

"I'm not staying here!"

"As you said before, dear, you have little choice."

"Can I help, Mom?"

"Is your homework done?"

She hangs her head. "Gotta finish my calculus."

Lyssa glances over, open mouthed. "One half hour, before you may join them, as long as you have time to finish this evening."

Joanna quickly kisses her mother and dashes out. "Thanks, Mom."

"Stephanie." Stephanie turns to Ariel. "Please show Lyssa your wolven form before you start out, that she may recognize you if the need arises."

"Madam Alpha?"

"She cannot recognize you by scent."

Emmett has wracked his brain for something she might really want but failed to come up with anything. He resigned himself to searching her house. It was beginning to get dark.

He pulled in to her garage and shut the car off as the door rattled down. He looked around the garage. Lawnmower. Rototiller. Tools. Garbage cans. Freezer.

He exits the car, sniffs, and looks around further.

Nothing out here.

In the backyard there is a statuette under a tree and her garden. There was nothing on her back porch. Well, except for the bowl of water she had left for him.

Inside the house. No need to turn on the lights as he could see quite well in the dark. Kitchen, mudroom, desk. He went through the drawers. Bills, writing materials, her high school yearbook. That she might want, so he pulled it out.

He walked upstairs. Her scent was stronger here and he inhaled deeply. He closed his eyes and felt a tightness in his chest. Best to get this done.

The bathroom. Nothing of note in the cabinet.

He steeled himself to go into the bedroom. The closet held clothing, as did the dresser. The top held candles and a couple of small pewter figurines.

There wasn't much jewelry. None of it made sense to him.

Leaving the room, he glances at the hamper and a splash of red catches his eye. It was the red bra and panties he had watched her put on for Ronnie.

The second bedroom held boxes and the dust on them indicated they were rarely disturbed. Two, however, showed signs of regular inspection.

He opened them and, after examining the contents, found items he thought were relevant.

Stephanie is a brown wolf with green eyes. Her forelimbs are lighter in color, as are her ears. A dark stripe of fur runs down her spine and tail.

Lyssa is amazed at how readily the woman strips naked and changes in front of her.

"Please come with me." Stephanie gestures, and Lyssa is brought to the roof of the building, taking stairs up from the fifth floor.

There was a parapet around the edge and Stephanie led her there. On the way to a corner, they pass a couple vigorously fucking. She was astride him, bouncing up and down, her small breasts jiggling with her movements. He held her hips, caressing them.

Stephanie simply stepped around them while Lyssa gaped. She stared, mouth open.

The woman showed her teeth at Lyssa.

Stephanie took her hand. "Don't stare, you're upsetting her."

Lyssa passes by as the man reaches for his partner's breasts.

"The property has been in the family for decades, 630 acres of meadows and woodland, wonderful to run on, full of prey. The full range of the pack, however, is larger."

"Do you all live here?"

"Most do, particularly the young ones and the pups. But some have property outside of the den. They normally don't stay away long."

"No?"

"No one can stand to be away from the pack for very long." A doubled howl indicates the couple has found their climax.

"Come."

"Wait. What's that?" Lyssa points to a clearing, rounded, with stones set in, and dirt exposed at the center.

Stephanie looks at her, thinking. "Nothing that should concern you. Come."

Lyssa is shown the dining hall, the recreation hall, the exercise hall, the gardens. Then, around the back of the house, down the stairs and beyond heavily fortified doors is the medical ward, the nursery, and its maternity ward.

A wolf lays on her side nursing pups. "Alison had her pups two days ago." Alison bares her teeth at Lyssa.

"Are you..? Are you all born that way?"

"Not all, but the vast majority." Young children are being taught in the back corner of the nursery. Others, screaming and squealing, are chasing each other around, naked as the day they were born.

Then again, maybe not.

A small boy stops abruptly in front of them. "She smells funny. Is she a strange wolf?"

"No, Paul, this is a human."

"Oh. Why is she here?"

"Emmett brought her."

"Oh." And he changes to a wolfling, dark in color, and takes off after the others.

Stephanie takes her to the store room and collects some clothing for Lyssa then shows her to her room.

"Please do not leave the room until I come to get you for dinner. It would be unwise of you to try to walk the corridors alone."

Lyssa could imagine not. She had seen many strange things as they walked around. Large wolves fighting in one room, snarling, bleeding. Wolves chasing each other through the corridors, tumbling, and coming up fucking. People walking around, some naked, others clothed, all turning their heads to look at her, sniffing. Couples kissing and fondling one another. Children stared openly and followed them.

She'd been dropped into a hedonistic den of canids.

Joanna had helped her pick out some clothing from the store room. It was huge. Apparently they went through a lot of clothes.

She chattered almost incessantly as she went through the clothing, bringing things over to Lyssa and having her try things on, her light brown hair bouncing down aisles and into cabinets. Stephanie had spent the time frowning slightly.

Joanna was 16, and third in line for Alpha. She talked about Emmett, a lot. There was obviously an infatuation there. But she also kept talking about how happy she was that he had found her and that she hoped they would be great friends.

The clothes lay on a chair, ignored now, as she sat on the green clad single bed and debated on how much she cared about any of it.

Emmett went back to his room and stopped dead as he entered, sniffing.

[Ariel], he growls through the mental connection, [why did you bring her here?]

The Alpha female stops what she is doing and turns. [We had to ready a room for her. This we did not anticipate. Is there a problem?]

[No.], he grumbles.

Her scent hangs in the air.

He placed the things he had brought from her house on his desk as his eyes flicked to the clock. Almost time for dinner.

He was surprised to find her seated at the the Alpha's table and almost turned around. But, if she was going to stay there he would have to put up with her presence in the den.

She shot him a glare as he sits at the other side of Randall and his eldest son, Roland.

Announcements are made and she was introduced. Joanna chattered away next to her as the meal progressed.

There was meat, lots of it. Rare, the way she liked it. There were also potatoes, rice, salad, vegetables. And a dessert. While Lyssa mostly picked at her food the others all ate a substantial amount. The plates were essentially empty by the time they were cleared.

Toward the end of the meal, Thomas sauntered over, put a hand on her shoulder, and bent down to say something to her.

He abruptly found himself on the ground, on his back, with Emmett's teeth at his throat.

Thomas lay there rather limply as blood began to run down the sides of his neck.

[She carries no mark. She does not sit beside you. I have done nothing wrong.]

[Find someone else to lavish your attention on.]

[Emmett.]

He sighs and changes back to human form as Randall's voice enters his mind. He looks up to find Lyssa striding from the room with Stephanie in her wake.

Emmett stands, sweeps the room with a glare, and stalks back to his own room.

Emmett sits in his room, at his desk, not looking at the screens before him. How had it all gone so wrong?

Lyssa curls up on the bed, wondering what had become of her life. She was supposed to go back to work the next day.

Emmett sleeps little, although he does pull the chair cushion on to the bed. The one she had been sitting on.

Lyssa slept barely at all, cold, with only a light blanket to cover her. Apparently, wolves didn't mind the cold.

The next morning dawns with both grumpy.

Joanna was torn as to who to go fetch. She ended up thinking that Lyssa could probably use her support moreso than Emmett.

"Lyssa, you look terrible."

"Slept like crap. It was too cold."

"Why didn't you say something?"

Lyssa makes no response. Joanna grabs her and shakes her lightly. "We're not really familiar with with the needs of humans. You need to tell us."

Lyssa sighs and turns disinterested eyes on her. "Doesn't really matter."

"C'mon, get dressed. It's time for breakfast."

She ate, sitting beside Joanna again. Thomas smirks at her from across the hall. He was shorter than Emmett, stocky, with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Joanna catches her glancing at him periodically.

As the meal ends, Joanna pulls her aside, "If you want to kill him, that would be the way."

Lyssa ignores the comment. "I should be at work. They'll miss me."

"I'm sorry, we can't do anything about that." Joanna looks a bit ashamed about the next question. "Will your, um, family, miss you?"

"No." Joanna gives her a sad look.

"I've been given permission to teach you about us."

"Great."

Emmett takes his breakfast in his room, glancing periodically at Lyssa's things. He should probably get them to her sometime soon.

[Emmett.]

He wipes his mouth with his napkin. [On my way.]

The morning was filled with meetings, mundane things, where to position the adolescent males.

Lunch was bolted quickly and he grabbed Erich and Alex for some sparring.

He overpowers them quickly, both individually and together until, bruised and bloody, both of them called for a halt. "Jeez, Em. You really need another outlet for that energy."

That afternoon Lyssa begs time for a nap and returns to her room to find a number of large, soft blankets at the foot of the bed. She gratefully grabs two and curls up beneath them, quickly falling asleep.

Joanna hunts down Emmett, who's in the command center with Erich.

She sneaks up behind him, ruffles his hair, and nips his ear. "Hey, Em."

He jerks in the seat and the chair tips over, dumping him gracelessly on the floor.

A growl rumbles in his chest and Joanna giggles uncontrollably.

She doubles over, tears coming to her eyes as he jumps up. "Emmettt... That was..."

Even Erich can't resist a chuckle.

"Joanna..", he growls.

She skips backwards, a hand over her mouth, still giggling.

He rips through his clothes and leaps at her. She shifts and takes off.

Stephanie again escorts Lyssa to dinner. In the stairwell they pass the couple they had seen going at it on the roof.

He has her against the wall as he plunges into her from below. Her nails are cutting into his shoulders, drawing blood. Her legs are wrapped around him, heels crossed over his clenching buttocks. She's growling. He's groaning.

"Don't those two ever come up for air?"

"She's in estrus." Lyssa looks at her, confused. "They're making pups."

"Oh. Uh, can I ask you something?"

"Yes."

"The guy on the other side of the room. The one who came over to talk to me. Who is he?"

"Thomas is an Omega of the Cantrell family. He works in the infirmary. He is known to be quite the lothario."

"Huh?"

"He'll fuck anything that'll stand still long enough."