I wrap my arm around her petite shoulders and kiss the top of her head. “Yeah, I know. Good thing my body heals itself.” She sticks her tongue out at me.
I sit down on the ugly ass brown sofa by the pool table and drink. While TOOL plays through the speakers I set the cap to my bottle in the palm of my hand and use my telekinetic powers. First I stand it on its side and then spin it round and round.
“What’s up, Slash?” I look up as Vicktoria, DoRight’s old lady sits down next to me. “I love your little party tricks.” She’s a pretty cool fucking chick and if I had a girl like her I wouldn’t be mad about it whatsover.
At twenty-eight I have yet to find my mate, which is fine with me. I don’t want to be tied down by one pussy for the rest of my life. I’ve watched friends and family find theirs and honestly I don’t want to find mine. When shifters find their mates they become lovesick fools who follow their mates around like lost puppies.
I do not want that. I love being able to fuck who I want, when I want, and I don’t need a mate.
“What’s up with you, Vicktoria? How’s that cool kid of yours?” Her son, Rhys, is eight, and the coolest fucking kid I’ve ever met. DoRight treats the boy like his own.
The curvy redhead smiles, saying, “He’s good. Kicking ass at school.”
“Are you hitting on my girl?” DoRight comes sauntering over and picks up Vicktoria, who squeals. “Get your own girl, Slash.”
He carries her toward the hall that leads to our rooms. Most of us, especially the single brothers, live here. It’s easy and convenient. DoRight and Vicktoria have moved in together, but they use his room here for fucking.
I drink down the last little bit of Jameson and head back to my room. After shutting the door I lock it—I never used to but one of the more homely of the club whores snuck into my room and I woke up to her lips around my cock and I was not down for that.
I strip out of my clothes and crawl onto my bed. I pull a blunt out of my nightstand and light it. The fragrant smoke fills my lungs and I blow it out slowly. I repeat the process over and over until it’s gone. I’ll enjoy the high as long as I can because one of the downfalls of being a shifter is my body metabolizes any substance I put into my body quickly.
As I enjoy the high I lie on my back staring at the ceiling. The sounds of sex filter in through the door, but luckily fatigue starts to fill me and I let myself fall asleep.
I run through the woods, the rest of the pack running alongside of me. The air is cool—my fur protects me from the cold, but I’m a snow leopard and I love the cold, I always have.
Axl stops ahead of us. “There’s a bear up ahead.” We communicate telepathically when we’re in our cat form.
We all scatter so we can surround it. The bear is oblivious to us until we make it known that we’re here. Axl and I go in for the kill first. I leap onto it’s back, biting into its neck. He attacks from the front. It’s a younger bear so it’s not hard to overpower it.
When we’re finished with it we leave the carcass for other animals. We run back toward the clubhouse, staying hidden in the trees as we shift back into human form. I grab my jeans, throwing them on, and then my black thermal shirt.
We leave our cuts in the room where we meet for church with some of the old timers keeping watch. They’re the ones who can’t shift anymore, but we want them feeling useful.
I head toward the hallway to go to my room when Sarge, one of our older members stops me. “How’s it going, Slash? You guys get some good running in today?”
“Yeah, brother, we did.” I clap him on the shoulder. “You feeling okay?” Sarge formed this chapter of the club with Axl’s dad and mine.
“I’m feeling good. You know me, I’ll be a brother until I’m six feet under.” I pull him into a backslapping hug.
“We’re here for you, you know that.” I grab his shoulder, giving him a little shake. I head down the hall to my room and run into DoRight. “What’s up, brother?”
He shakes his head. “Butch just called freaking out. His old lady took off—left him and the kids, and rode off with her twenty year old boyfriend.”
“What the fuck? That’s too bad. We’ll give him some space and then make our approach. If he needs help we’ll get some of the old ladies to help with the kids.” We may be a lot of things, but we’re family, and look after our own.
Walking toward my room thinking about what happened with Butch I can’t help but hope that I never find my motherfucking mate.
230
Brenna
I grab the bottle of wine off of the coffee table and pour myself another glass. Today has been the worst day—wait let me rephrase that. This past year has been terrible. First, my grandma, the woman who raised me, passed away after a very fast battle with liver cancer.
Then my boyfriend, Jacob, was arrested for propositioning a prostitute. Apparently he’d been doing it for a long time. I was just too stupid to realize it. I dumped him—thank God we weren’t living together—then went to my gynecologist where I learned that jerkface gave me chlamydia.
Things just seemed so hopeless and I ended up slipping into a pretty bad depression. One night after I had cried myself to sleep, missing my gran, and hating life, I’d dreamt about
