The blood pack (book six)

Chapter seven

*Julie*

I was huddled in the corner, both mine and Elliot’s sleeping bag wrapped around me as I watched her try and start a small fire to warm us up. “Not too big, remember, you don’t want to burn the whole place down.”

“I know.” She gritted out, rolling her eyes. “Who knows, maybe the goddess herself will smite me if I burn down a church.” Elliot smirked, a small flame starting in the dried leaves that curled up, spreading on to the twigs. “Vwela.”

Begrudgingly, I let go of her sleeping bag, allowing her to take it back from me. “Goddess, really?” I pushed a bit more on her comment. Elliot usually did not talk about anything related to werewolves, so even her little off handed comment took me slightly by surprise.

She gave me a small shrug. “Yeah well, if we are going to act like wolves I guess I better start talking like one.”

“Is that all that is on your mind?” I asked, knowing it was not the only thing on mine. It had been a few days since we had met Jonny and Paul at the old hall, our plan was to go and see if they were back in a few hours once we had defrosted from the cold night. Since that day, I could not get Paul off my mind. His smile, the way he seemed to ask me questions directly, instead of assuming my answer would be the same as Elliot’s like most people did when it came to twins. Sure we were close, but we were two different people.

There was something about him. He was buff, obviously, but not over the top like Jonny was, more like he just liked to stay in shape. He had a cheeky face that told me he was probably a lot of fun once you got to know him, and his brown eyes were flecked with amber, making them seem like they were alive with wonder. I wondered what his wolf looked like? What did he smell like? What would his body feel like pushed against mine? Phew, forget about the fire, just thinking about him was making me warm in all the right places.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Elliot mumbled, not making eye contact with me. I knew, maybe more than Elliot would be comfortable with, that she liked Jonny. I saw the way they argued, watched their back and forth. Elliot only fought like that with guys she was interested in, and never with another wolf. She would just let her dominance reign out, use it to beat him to submission and then walk away. But not with Jonny.

I also knew though, not to push. Elliot would lecture me about keeping my guard up, about making sure that I didn’t let Paul get under my skin, because at any moment he could leave. Again, she was right, as always. Everyone in our lives had walked out of us or sent us away. It was always me and her, against the world, against everything. I loved my sister, really I did. But sometimes I wished I had someone else to talk to, someone else to catch up with. I guess we had Diana, but with her it was always about magic or helping to find ingredients, never just to chat about the weather.

Soon enough, I got feeling back in my extremities and so Elliot doused out the fire before the two of us walked to the front door of the church. Elliot used her little trick to be able to get in and out of anywhere seemingly without trying to lock the door behind me before slipping out a second floor window and dropping to my side.

It was a short walk to the hall, my heart beat raining in my ears only to find no truck parked outside. We were about to head back to the church and try again later when a jeep door opened up.

"Julie!" I couldn't keep the smile from my face as Paul shouted my name, waving the two of us over to the jeep.

I looked at Elliot, her eyes scanning around us, probably trying to gauge if they were trying to kidnap us or ambush us, before giving me a nod. Together, we crossed the street, Elliot stopping me from getting too close by linking her arm through mine.

"Hey." Elliot said, her voice almost void of emotion even though I could see her eyes light up slightly at seeing Jonny in the driver's seat. It was a rare thing, but it was beautiful to see.

"I've brought the plans. We thought that we could look over them at the dinner a few streets away." Jonny replied, also seeming to be trying to hide how he felt for Elliot, but I could see it, the brief moment he let his eyes travel from her face before they snapped back like he was chastising himself for letting his control slip. I had to suppress a chuckle at that, thinking just how similar the two of them were.

"Which one? We could always walk and meet you there." Elliot offered making my eyes snap to her.

It was cold, and we had spent the last hour or so warming up, but even that heat was quickly leaving my skin. I wanted to sit in the jeep and relax, not walk in the chilly air.

"Really? What do you think we will do to you?" Jonny gritted out, seeming as displeased by Elliott's response as I was.

"I don't know, that is the point." she hissed, holding me tighter.

I sent Paul an apologetic smile, noticing how he did the same, even though Jonny was right, if the two of them wanted to try and kill us, they probably could have when they had us alone in the abandoned hall, not out here on the street where anyone could walk by and see.

"Either we are working together and you learn to trust me, or we don't. I am not playing games here." Jonny sighed.

"Really, because you keep threatening to renege on the deal that you made with Diana. It really is childish that you throw your toys out of the pram when you don't get your own way."

"Like you are any better, standing there freezing your t**s off because you are so stubborn."

"Oh I'm stubborn!" Elliot yelled.

"Please." I whispered, tugging on Elliot's arm. "Can we just go? I am cold and hungry." I flashed Elliot my best puppy dog eyes, knowing how much she worried that she didn't get enough food for the two of us. Maybe it was a little manipulative of me, but this was getting us nowhere.

"Fine." She huffed. "But one wrong move and the two of us are jumping out, don't care if you stop or not."

"Great, break your neck, see if I care." Jonny grumbled as the two of us got in, closing the door just in time for him to speed off.

It honestly took less time to get to the dinner than it did for Jonny and Elliot to argue. I rolled my eyes as we pulled up in the small car park and hopped out, taking a corner booth.

"Order what you want." Jonny sighed while Paul's smile widened.

When the waitress came over, I was wondering whether it would be rude to order a full cooked breakfast, but after Paul ordered two with extra toast and pancakes, just for himself, I didn't feel as bad. Elliot and Jonny got the same with coffee, Elliot rolling her eyes like he had ordered the same as her on purpose.

"So, the plans?" Elliot pushed.

"Let's eat first, I don't want them to get ruined when the food gets here." Jonny said. Elliot looked ready to fight again, probably something about coming here to look at them but then not using the time to look at them before we ate. Before she could speak though Jonny started again. "I tried to look into the two of you." my body instantly stiffened, wondering why Jonny had done that, but Elliot remained relaxed which stopped me from completely freaking out.

"Find anything interesting?" Elliot smirked.

"Actually, yes." Jonny chuckled. "A whole lot of nothing."

"You and I have very different definitions of interesting." Elliot laughed.

Jonny stopped laughing, his eyes locked with Elliot's. "You're not from any pack, not any that is on the wolf Web anyway."

"And that is so strange?" Elliot hissed. "Your precious social media is not all it's chalked up to be. All your alliances don't give you everything you need and want in this world."

"Packs need alliances." Jonny gritted out back.

"Why? Me and Julie get by just fine on our own." Luckily just then, the waitress came with our food, the entire table covered with plates of food making us all quickly shut up.

I stabbed into one of my sausages, a small groan escaping me as I bit into it, the juices sliding down my chin. I quickly wiped off the grease, noticing Paul’s eyes on me, his pupils dilated slightly. I felt my cheeks burn slightly, trying to think of something to say.

“The sausage is really good.” I mumbled, cursing my brain for not thinking of anything better to say. Suddenly, Paul started to shuffle two of his sausages onto my plate, a wide smile on his face.

“Oh brother.” Jonny groaned.

For the rest of the meal, we ate in silence, Paul surprising me by polishing off all his food without even getting winded. He could not eat like this all the time or he would be the size of a house. Afterwards, Jonny pulled out the plans, Elliot smiling as she saw that all of our suggestions were taken into account, even down to the small outdoor play area for the kids.

“We already know what materials to use for the play area as we have built a similar one on our pack’s territory. It works a dream, the pups bounce off the ground like f*****g pingpong balls.” Paul told me. I wondered, not for the first time in my life, what it would be like to be part of a real pack.

Even when we lived at our father’s pack, from what I could remember, we were always treated like outcasts, never invited to the parties that the other families threw and always on the outskirts of pack events. I couldn’t picture Paul being like that, in fact, I bet he was like the fun uncle, probably trying out magic tricks or telling cheesy jokes that made all the adults groan.

“Looks good.” Elliot nodded, leaning back as Jonny started to roll the blueprints back up. “When do we start?”

“I have to order some of the materials in, but we should be good to go early next week.”

“Works for us.” She shrugged, pushing to her feet and sliding out of the booth. “Come on Julie, we better get going.”

My eyes slid to Paul, not wanting to leave so soon. I wanted to get to know him, see if I was right about his personality and all his quirks. “We will give you a ride.” Jonny stated, not asking for permission as he stood up as well. I could tell that Elliot was not comfortable with them knowing where we were staying, but I shot her a pleading look, begging her not to argue again.

We walked out to the jeep, all getting back in while Elliot directed them to the church. I was shocked that Elliot didn’t lead them somewhere else to throw them off.

“Are you staying here?” Jonny growled out, not seeming best pleased.

“Yep.” Elliot smirked, popping the p as she hopped out, heading to the gutter and starting to climb.