I got the feeling she probably giggled a lot. She looked like a pixie with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her clothing was a bright array of pink and yellow, even her jeans were shocking pink.
The other woman walked confidently into the room and sat her tray on the coffee table, gesturing for Katrina to do the same. She was a tall woman with deeply tanned skin like Joel. Her black hair flowed like a mane down her back. She approached me with confidence.
“I’m Nate’s mate, Shawna, it is a pleasure to meet you. We’ve heard a little about you, but I believe the topic of today’s discussion was to be more centered on what you need to know about us.”
I liked Shawna and smiled broadly at her. This woman did mess around with the crap; she got down to business.
The rest of my morning and afternoon passed quickly. I tried to pool the important things I learned into a couple of simple categories. The biggest categories were definitely pack organization and etiquette. Joel was at the top based on skill and bloodlines, which I remembered he had already told me. The pack council advised him and they were made up of the oldest and wisest in the pack.
The rest of the pack was divided into three groups: betas, thetas, and omegas. The skill and strength level went down as you traveled through the levels. Someone who worked hard could move up through the ranks. However, upper mobility was definitely limited. Everyone seemed to be born with an innate ‘place’.
Etiquette and rules were in some ways more complicated and in other ways simpler than I was used to. You had to defer to anyone with higher rank than you, but abuse was not tolerated. If you had a real problem with someone you could demand to fight it out. That wasn’t typically done anymore because the stronger wolf always won whether they were right or not.
Most matters were taken through the pack council and their decisions were absolute. Fights were unofficially reserved for those trying to change their rank by entering in a series of challenges.
Rule breakers were subject to the mercy of the pack’s Alphas. In this pack that was Joel. His decisions were deemed final. Historically, the Alphas of this particular pack were not known for their mercy, Joel was no exception. It surprised the women another wolf would have attacked someone he was so obviously protecting, that was a death sentence.
As far as living arrangements, most of the pack lived in large group lodgings owned by the pack. The one we were in now was located at the edge of the national forest and sported individual apartment style dwellings. For miles around the pack owned what wasn’t national forest. This location was midway between the shipyard down south and the businesses held in town. It was convenient for all involved, but allowed plenty of room for the wolves to run which they loved to do.
Everyone had a job, whether you worked in the den or in one of the pack’s businesses. What you did depended on what you were good at, which made sense. Most revenue for the pack was generated by the import/ export shipping business.
Business was good and the pack lived well on its proceeds. Over the years they had developed substantial holdings. The financial security had allowed several adventurous pack members to start the businesses in town.
The thing that really got me was the way the pack handled sex. I hardly had a puritan upbringing, but it sure seemed like it. Katrina seemed to find my modesty humorous, but she didn’t strike me as the kind of girl that would have been modest as a human.
Sex was far from a taboo subject with the wolves. They lived to fuck was the impression I got. Sex in public places was common, having multiple sex partners before mating was common, and same sex relationships were not looked down upon even after mating.
“The men sometimes just aren’t around,” giggled Katrina. “Although Saul prefers it when he gets to join in. That totally defeats the purpose if I wait till he’s home and have a girlfriend over, you know?”
I smiled and tried to nod sympathetically, but no, I had no idea.
“What about the men?” I asked, “Do they engage in same sex relationships?”
“It’s not unheard of, but most of the men here prefer women,” said Shawna.
“Alpha Latro is very accepting of gay wolves,” giggled Katrina. “So we have more than most packs. He’s welcomed in several pack members that have been cast out of other packs for being gay.”
I felt pride in knowing my man was so forward thinking and smiled. I was glad we agreed on that. Suddenly it struck me how little I knew about Joel. Sending up a prayer, I hoped I’d made the right decision. I’d never been rash and I was feeling a little overwhelmed.
My brain felt full to bursting as Shawna and Katrina got up to leave. I was glad to see them go, because I really needed to process what was going on. On the other hand, having them there gave me something else to focus on. I ended up drifting through Joel’s rooms aimlessly.
Sniffing myself for about the hundredth time I decided I’d bathe. Of course I’d been told not to, but certainly that wasn’t for forever.
The Jacuzzi tub really called to me and I turned on the taps and then peeked out to make sure no one was going to come crashing through the door to stop me. I found some frilly girly bath oils deep under the counter and I loaded the water up with them.
Part of me wondered who had left these here and I had a large pang of jealousy. I snottily hoped it would irritate him that I had found them and bathed. Obviously his other girlfriends hadn’t walked around all the time smelling like sex.
As I undressed I noticed the well healed bite mark where my neck and shoulder joined. I stroked it gently and was surprised it didn’t hurt. It felt good to touch it. There was so much weird stuff to learn here, my brain was on overload. I shrugged it off and continued undressing.
Soon I was soaking in the tub. I let the water and jets soothe away all the tension in my muscles and was really getting comfortable when water splashed in my face.
“Didn’t I tell you something about not bathing?” Joel asked sitting on the edge of the tub. He didn’t seem to be irritated, although he was definitely enjoying the view.
“I was unaware you meant never again, Alpha Latro. Perhaps you’d like me better if I looked and smelled like Lucas,” I taunted him.
“I like it when you smell like me, not like whatever this stuff is,” he said picking up the pink bottle and inhaling. “Where did you get this anyway?”
“Under the sink,” I shrugged.
“Get up,” he ordered eyes burning with internal yellow fire, “Now.”