The Blood Pack (book one)

~Cassy~ I look at my best friend Sanna like she has grown a second head. She wants to go to the new shifter club in town. So not my scene. All those desperate shifters thinking that grinding against the right girl or guy will send their mating senses into overdrive. It is stupid. As an alpha female I don't have the pleasure of choice. I will be mated off to form an alliance with another pack and I know it. All I can hope is that it is someone young enough to be the least bit attractive. No dream of finding my true mate. I feared if the alliance was not one my father wanted I would have to reject him. Sanna on the other hand is desperate to find her mate. We are both in our early twenties and, although our wolves are very different, she is like a sister to me. Being an alpha female my wolf is dominant, more dominant than even a beta. Only a true alpha will satisfy her need in a mate. Sanna's wolf is a submissive. I have trained her over the years, so that she only submits to alphas. Even I have to submit to a more dominant alpha. This makes Sanna a rare submissive wolf who does not have to obey the orders of every Tom, d**k and Harry which makes me feel a bit better about going to a club full of strange shifters, but not good enough to actually want to go. I roll my eyes at the childish look of glee in her eyes. "Come on Cassy. I know you won't actually find your mate but if you wait much longer to satisfy that itch you well self combust." I sighed. Shifter were tactile creatures for both friendly and s****l touch. Gone are the days of waiting for a true mate to pop your cherry. But once you became sexually active you had to occasionally satisfy that need or you would become ill. I was six months cold turkey and my vibrator was the worse for wears for it. I knew she was right. "Fine," I gritted out, taking another sip of my coffee. "But only for a few hours." Hopefully the bump and grind would satisfy my thirst enough to keep me in check for another few months. Sanna squealed and clapped her hands. "This will be so much fun. I will pick you up at 8 okay. You can get dressed at my place." I just nodded. I could not help but smile at the look of joy on my best friends face. God she owed me for this. She hugged me tight on her way out of the coffee shop we were in. I liked it here, it was quiet and unlike other coffee shops. Shifters had stronger hearing and sight than humans. We came out about thirty years ago, back then there was an imbalance between the genders but that was balanced out by a mating with the leader of the alphas. His female somehow tipped the scale and wolves even began to get some of their magic back. We weren't as strong as the witches but some had the power to heal, some had premonitions and some could do other things like commune with nature or telekinesis. I had no such gifts but the alpha strength and skill that came from my wolf, despite my small human form. Sanna could make plants grow, which sounded lame but was so cool to watch. The thought of my enhanced ears in a night club made me wince. Just one night, a few hours. I could do that for Sanna. I finished my coffee and paid, leaving a nice tip for the waitress. Doesn't hurt to be kind. I walked out and headed down the street. It was a nice hot day and the sun was warming my already hot blooded skin. I weaved through people heading about their business not having anything particular to do myself. As an alpha female I was expected to mate, that was it. My father insisted that I don't get a job so that I can learn to run a pack, but he was away on business at the moment monitoring one of his many investments. I had the day to myself. I had a feeling someone was following me. A cold shiver ran down my spine. I ducked down a side street and leapt onto the fire escape stairs, using them to volley my small form onto the rooftop where I coached behind the raised concrete wall. I peered over the top to see tweedle dumb and tweedle dee. Two of my packs enforcers, twin brothers actually names Peter and Paul. My father must have got them to tail me. Sigh. They looked at each other confused. If not for their impressive build they would not be enforcers. They were so stupid hence the nicknames. I couldn't help but silently laugh to myself as they started to push each other fighting over whose fault it was that they lost me. Soon one withdrew his phone, I could hear the faint sound of my father's booming voice on the other end. He was not a happy camper with the tweedles. Once off the phone they pushed each other again before setting off, obviously still hoping to find me. I reached in my pocket and pulled out my phone. This was a nice peaceful spot and the sun's rays caught the rooftop nicely. With nowhere to go, I started searching the wolf Web. It was a place where packs displayed their members and alliances. I looked through the list of packs I knew and clicked on a few to have a perv at the alphas. My happy mood soon sank as click after click showed old men or mated men with pups for kids. No one young. No one attractive. I sighed. Maybe I could mate into a pack far away from here where the alphas actually had something about them. Soon it was 6 in the afternoon and the heat had gone out of my roof top sun catcher. I jumped down back into the alley and walked, heading back to the pack house. Our pack was not large, it consisted of about fifty members, but we had a nice bit of territory where we all lived. Some packs like the leader of the alphas had a huge pack. Then again his mate had six other mates as well, each gorgeous. Lucky girl. We were close to human land which meant we blended in. Not the usual high walls and top security you saw surrounding our land. But the main pack house was an impenetrable fortress. Some of the pack, like Sanna. Lived on the surrounding land in a small bungalow. As I got closer to pack land, I decided to head there, instead of the pack house not wanting to pick up tweedle dumb and tweedle dee again so soon or any of the other enforcers. I sat on Sanna's door step, admiring her beautiful small garden and shot her a text. Cassy: don't bother picking me up I'm at your place. See you soon. I leant my head back against the door. Suddenly my back rest vanished and I was staring up and my best friend. "Howdy partner." I waved from my place on the floor. "Oh crap. I thought you were stood at the door not leaning on it." she covered her mouth as she giggled. "Meh, it's comfy down here." I said laughing to myself. Then I jumped to my feet brushing myself off. "So are we having pre drinks or not?" I needed alcohol to get through tonight. Sanna waved me in and shut the door. I strolled through to the kitchen and got two glasses. I rustled through her cupboards before I found the cherry flavored gin. It would do. I poured two generous servings and whirl to find Sanna studying me intently. "What?" I asked as I handed her one of the glasses. I took a deep swig as she took the glass. Her eyes looking at me from head to toe. "Are you going out like that?" she pointed to my crumpled shorts and dust filled top from sitting on the concrete rooftop all day. I shrugged. "This won't do. Come on." I took a bit swig of my drink as Sanna pulled me through to her bathroom. "You shower," she took my glass making me pout. "and I will pick out an outfit. You will be beating them off with a stick." she giggles as she threw me a towel and closed the door. I grumbled as I stripped and got in to the shower. I turned on the water and quickly jumped out. "s**t, f*****g cold." I shouted. "Oh yeah it is acting up again." shouted Sanna from the other room. Oh great. I jumped back in and quickly scrubbed at my dirty skin. I then lathered up my hair with Sanna's shampoo and rinsed before adding the conditioner. One more quick rinse and I was out in record time. I would have to tell the pack mechanic to get on this. How Sanna put up with this was beyond me. I wrapped the towel around myself and stepped out I had a few spare clothes here for when I stayed over, so I went over and grabbed clean underwear and slipped them on. I then walked through to Sanna's bedroom. She turned to me and covered her eyes. "Wow, Cassy. Towel." I laughed at my friends shyness. "We are shifters, Sanna. Got to embrace the nakedness at some point." shifters shredded their clothes when they shifted so modesty fell away pretty quickly. Well except in Sanna's case. "I have underwear on." I added rolling my eyes. "Think of it as a bathing suit." that seemed to help her to relax a little. I leaned over and grabbed my drink from the side where Sanna had put it. Taking another big swing, I watched Sanna messing with a few dresses. "Okay, what are my options." I braced myself with another swig. Sanna showed me a short black dress with cuts in the side, a purple number with no back and a red dress that looked like it was a miracle it stayed together. "You choose." I said finishing my drink." I am going to need another one of these." I went through to the kitchen and downed another glass of gin before pouring another and walking back trough to the bedroom. Sanna was waving the black and purple number in front of herself whilst the red monstrosity laid on the bed. God help me. I took another swig and examined the dress. I figured out how the bottom half fit. I shimmied it up my body very unlady like and zipped it up. The bottom was a belt by anyone's description. I could feel my ass cheeks popping out of the bottom. I wiggled it down a bit and exposed my ass crack. Frustrated I pull both ends and finally get a bit of modesty. "I will never understand you Sanna." I say as I wrestle with the strappy top half of the dress. "You blush at me in my underwear but you own a dress that is like a strange fashion torture device." I finally untangle the straps and manage to fit the boob tube around my breasts, again having to pull at both ends to fit them in. Finally I shoved the halter neck over my head and collapsed on the bed grabbing my drink for a deep swig. Sanna turned, having decided on the black dress. "Because you look hot as hell in the red dress." she said leaving to change in the bathroom. "This hardly classes as a dress." I shouted after her. I sat sipping my drink waiting for her to return. She threw me my phone and purse from my shorts in the bathroom and a black clutch to put them in. She then shoved some black strappy heels my way, I rolled my eyes at having to wrestle with more straps. Whilst I was putting on the shoes I looked up. "See your dress looks hot. I look like I should be in an s and m porno." Sanna ignored me and threw a hairbrush my way. Finally finished with my shoes I pulled the brush through my tangles hair and drew it back into a high ponytail, not caring that it was still wet. "You not even going to dry that main of yours?" Sanna laughed taking a sip of her drink. "Nope." I popped the p showing how little I gave a s**t. I glugged the rest of my drink standing, and taking a minute to adjust to the heals. "You want another one?" I asked shaking my empty glass. "Yeah sure. But then we will get going okay?" I grumbled taking her glass and mine to get another liquid courage to go through with this stupid idea. Sanna met me in the kitchen shoving eye liner, mascara and lipstick, red to match my dress, in my direction." At least put those on. "I sighed taking a swig of my drink before going to the bathroom to put on the makeup she handed me. I was not the make up and dress sort of girl, but for Sanna, I couldn't say no. Re emerging from the bathroom Sanna thrust my drink into my hand." Taxi will be here soon. Drink up." She didn't have to tell me twice. Finishing my drink and then swapping my empty glass for the black clutch I was borrowing, we headed towards the door. Sanna had matched her black dress with silver heels and a silver clutch. Like I said, she looked hot, I looked like a porn star. Giggling to myself, Sanna locked up and we walked to the waiting taxi. It was a short drive to the club. Once there we joined the line of people only to be pulled out by the bouncer. "What the hell!" my alpha female coming to the surface. "No need for a beautiful lady to wait in the cold. Come on in." he said leading us to the front of the queue. I grabbed Sanna's hand dragging her along with me. "My friend too?" I asked flashing my eyes wolf. "No problem." he smiled flirtatious. "Just need to see her ID." he said. By ID he meant see her eyes shift. Sanna's eyes flashed wolf for the briefest of seconds making the bouncer chuckle. "Okay head in. You need anything love," he said catching my arm as I moved past. "And I mean anything. You come and see me." I just smiled and patted his shoulder. Dominant males tended to get a bit OTT around alpha females. Although females were now just as common as male shifters, alpha females were still few and far between. That is why I would be a good bargaining chip for an alliance for my father. I sighed as I walked into the club, my eyes quickly adjusting to the dim lighting. I could feel the pulse of the music through my shoes. I dragged Sanna down the stairs to the dance floor and across to the bar. The barman took two seconds to notice me and his eyes lit up. I was going to kill Sanna for this bloody dress. "What can I get you lovely ladies?" he said in a coy voice. "Two double vodkas, neat." I said, no need to shout with shifter hearing even in this place. The guy winked and made our drinks putting and extra splash in each. "On the house." He said leering at my t**s. "You're choice." I said turning and giving one to Sanna. Ignoring the barman as he continued to stare at me until someone else came along that caught his eye and he went to serve them. I sighed. Sanna giggled. "Maybe if you were nicer you would have an easier time finding a boyfriend." she said. She did not fully understand the dynamics of our pack, bless. She thought I just needed the right wolf to settle down with. I just shrugged. After we finished our drinks Sanna dragged me to the dance floor.