Darcingtowne Wolves: The Misfits (Book 1)

Chapter Eight: Rut Party

“Carolyn Prim, how in the hell did you sneak booze past my Dad?” Penelope laughed as she took a bottle from her the red haired friend, whose green eyes were already looking a touch glassy.

“I didn’t. I found these in one of the suites. It has a fully stocked bar and all.” Carrie said, grinning. “Bastian had already claimed a different suite when I found it. You shoulda heard him whining.”

“Finder’s keepers, Carebear. He shoulda poked around before making his call.” Penny said, giggling a little as Sebastian and Ryan came back into the foyer, the mage looking every bit as grumpy as Carrie had implied he would be - despite the fact that they were both holding bottles of their own.

“Whatever!” Sebastian called as he twisted off the top of the whiskey bottle in his hand and tossed it behind him.

“Hey, hey...we all have to live here, you know. Don’t go trashing the place. I told you, we gotta have some rules.” Penelope said, schooling her face into a serious expression. It didn’t last. Her lips quivered a little from the effort, and then broke into a wide smile. She was tired of being a serious Alpha; Serious Alpha was her father, and he’d left the building. “Though, I suppose the rules could wait until tomorrow...Pops said there’s a pool on the roof. You guys fancy a swim?”

 “With my hair? In this weather? No thanks.” Carrie made a face, and shook her head.

“How about a run?” Ryan asked. “I know it’s a bit traditional, doing a first pack run after an induction, but we are right next to the Bramble. Seems like a shame not to take advantage of it.”

“Not all traditions are bad. Cheers to doing our first pack run!” Penelope replied, lifting her bottle before tilting her head back to take a deep swig of the blush wine.

After drinking her fill, she licked her lips and set the bottle down on top of the stack of luggage that had been left in the middle of the floor. Ryan sputtered a little, not realizing that the bottle he’d picked was far stronger than he expected, and Sebastian had to clap him on the back a few times to help settle him.

The Misfits stripped down, and oddly Carrie was the only one who seemed hesitant about the whole thing. Penelope wasn’t really surprised, though. Carolyn talked a big game, and flirted like no tomorrow, but when it came down to it she really was waiting for her fated mate. The boys noticed her reticent body language, and were kind enough to turn away from her without having to be asked. They’d always been pretty in tune with each other, and now that the pack bond was in effect Penelope could tell that their synergy would only grow.

After the other three shifted, Penny opened the back door, which led on to a small garden, and shifted herself as soon as the door clicked shut behind her. She wasn’t too worried about their neighbors catching sight of her naked body, as the property was heavily enchanted, but that errant thought did give her an interesting idea.

Hey, Sebastian?

Penelope connected to the mind link between herself and her pack members for the first time, save her father - who she didn’t want to disturb. He probably wouldn’t like the idea of them going for a run their first night in the city, since they didn’t really know their way around yet. 

Holy s**t! I mean, yes Alpha? Sebastian responded, somehow clearing his throat and using a more business like tone for that last bit.

It’s kind of inconvenient to shift back naked. Know any spells that can fix that? Penelope asked, snipping at a bit at the tail of the brown wolf in front of her. They were milling around the backyard a bit, stretching and adjusting to their wolf forms. It had probably been a while since any of them, aside from Penelope, had been for a run.

The brown wolf was Sebastian, of course. Wolf forms tended to be colored similar to their human form’s hair color. So, Sebastian was a chocolaty brown mid-sized wolf, while Ryan was an enormous black wolf with grey socks, and Carrie was a petite, reddish brown wolf with a dark red stripe around her neck, like a necklace. Penelope wasn’t quite as large as Ryan, but she was big - Alpha sized as it were - and her fur shone a lustrous silvery blonde in the light of the rising half moon above them.

I can snap our clothes onto us as soon as we change back, but if you’re thinking of a permanent enchantment I’ll have to look into it. I’m sure it’s been done before, I just need to find a spell diagram for it. Sebastian replied with the equivalent of a mental shrug.

Thanks, buddy. Penelope said, surging forward. She leapt over the back gate, circled around the building and led her pack across the busy street and into the dark wood of the Bramble.

It was exhilarating to run, and even though she was tired and wine had a tendency to make her sleepy, she felt more awake than she did after drinking two strong cups of coffee. Penny wasn’t sure if it was the rich mana field that seemed to blanket the whole of the Bramble, the excitement of being in the city with her new pack, the cool wind rushing through her fur, or some combination of all three, but Penelope felt truly alive as they leapt over tangled bushes and ambled along paths where humans jogged during the day.

They’d just found a secluded clearing and settled down onto their haunches to howl at the moon - as wolves were wont to do - when Sebastian let out a low growl. His shaggy brown head snapped in the direction of a sound that the others had missed, and his lips pulled back to expose his sharp fangs.

“Whoa, man! Chill. I’m a wolf too, ok?” a stranger emerged from the overgrown brush in human form, naked, with his hands raised in the international sign of ‘I come in peace’. He was tall, dark skinned, and a bit on the lanky side. “I’m just a bit lost. Maybe you can help? I was invited to this freshman Rut Party at the Twilight Promenade packhouse, but I can’t seem to find the damn place. Y’all happen to know where it is?”

Penelope glanced around at her friends; none of them had any idea where it was, of course. Had the stranger not been so sheepish looking, nervous smelling, and obviously around their age, Penny probably would have just ignored him entirely. Carrie had other ideas, though.

I want to go to a Rut Party! Penelope could practically feel Carrie salivating at the idea in her mind as the red wolf yipped her excitement and hopped a bit.

Carrie, we have no idea where the party is, and neither does this dude. Ryan replied evenly, though Penny could feel the smile behind his words.

Oh, come on...I bet Penny could find it with her super Alpha nose. Please, Penny? Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top? Carrie let out a high pitched whimper that made the stranger wince a bit.

A Rut Party does sound kinda fun… Sebastian said, letting his tongue loll out a bit.

Penny didn’t want to disappoint her friends, and she could tell they were interested - even shy Ryan - but the thought of crashing a Twilight Promenade party on her first night in the city did not sound appealing. In fact, going anywhere near the territory of a pack that had abandoned her mother made her feel uneasy. She had no desire to confront them or get revenge, but she also saw no reason to alert them to her presence. It was better if they continued living the separate lives they always had. 

She’d sort of been prepared for the idea that she might bump into her relatives, or maybe members of their pack, at school but...outside of the university? Yuck. It was a big city; there was no reason they had to cross paths. Unless, of course, she went and threw herself in their path like an i***t. Penelope sighed inwardly.

“Uhm...I know you guys must be linking, but y’all know I can’t hear y’all right?” the stranger said. He’d put his hands down, and his eyes landed on Penny; he could probably sense she was their leader from how the others were also looking at her. “You gunna show me the way?”

I’ll take us there, but I don’t want to stay long, and no one can know about my relation to their pack. I need you guys to swear you won’t breathe a word of it, not even a sly ‘Princess’ joke. Penelope said, fixing her deep violet eyes on each of her pack members in turn. She didn’t even have to use her Alpha aura; they submitted to her easily, baring their necks briefly in her direction as she looked at them.

Penelope sighed again, and got back to all fours, tilting her head up so she could take in a deep sniff of the cool night air. She closed her eyes as she took in a second whiff, and found what she’d been scenting for. Wolves. Lots of wolves packed close together, with the sticky underlying scent of alcohol and the even stickier frisson of arousal. Penny darted away through the trees following a trail only she could see, her pack following after her, followed shortly by the stranger who took a few seconds to shift into his mottled grey wolf.

The closer they got, the louder, smellier and brighter the woods became. Apparently, the Twilight Promenade pack territory was actually located within the Bramble itself. Penny felt a twinge in the air as an enormous pack house came into view. She felt as if a guitar string twanged inside her chest, and her body reverberated with a silent chord, a single note beyond the edge of even her sensitive wolf hearing. It took a moment to register that this was the feel of crossing into another pack’s territory.

Penny took a deep breath, glanced at her packmates to see if any of them had felt what she had. It didn’t seem like it, but that was cold comfort. Penelope couldn’t help but think that if she could feel herself enter another pack’s territory then the Alpha of the pack could probably sense her crossing as well.