ˏˋ°•*⁀➷  Mika ˏˋ°•*⁀➷

Stretching a bit, I let out a yawn as I tilted my head. The sun was slowly beginning to set and I was waiting for my brother, Raven, to return to our small hut. He'd gone into the city sometime ago on an errand that I assigned him but he's had yet to get back.

"Mika, I'm back!"

Ah, speak of the devil.

"Welcome back. What's with all the groceries? We only needed milk and bread...and I surely didn't supply the funds for the extra expenses" I asked as I eyed the multiple bags that he held with ease on one arm.

"Yeah, I know. I was talking with some of the older ladies at the market and they were just being so kind~" Raven said with an innocent smile on his face.

"You were flirting with them weren't you?" I said and Raven just kept his smile.

"There's nothing wrong with a little flattery..." he said as he looked around to avoid my accusing eyes and I just sighed in turn.

This twenty two year old little brother of mine was always such a people person, he loved interacting with others as much as he could, no matter who they were. No one would believe me if I told them that when he was just a small pup, he used to cower behind me all the time.

Though those days are long over, the growth spurt he'd gone through was overwhelming, even for me. He easily towered over my 5'8 frame at six foot sharp, our difference being one of the small things he likes to tease me about. His features sharpened while mine still resembled the face of a new young adult despite already being twenty six.

I wasn't really jealous or anything though, I didn't really care too much for my looks as they weren't anything to be concerned about.

"Just remember, don't let anyone get too friendly with you. Humans are fickle things, they won't bat an eyelash to put you down like a rabid dog if they find out about your true identity" I said to which Raven just nodded quietly.

I hated to be the person to always drag us back to reality but we haven't had many pleasant experiences when it came to new people, trouble always bound to follow us somehow.

It's best to stay on our own, packs hold heavy distaste for rogues of any kind, no matter if they come in peace. We'd be attacked upon first sighting if we ended up in a stricter territory.

The neighboring territory to this one itself was rumored to be led by a beast like alpha, one with no regard for bloodshed or tears and his strength was no doubt next to the Alpha King's.

It'd be very unfortunate to have a run in with him...

We were lucky enough to have stumbled upon this free territory but every wolf knows that it isn't long before an alpha looking to expand their pack lands will come to dominate this territory. It was only a matter of time before we'd have to be on the move again.

Raven's eyes turning out the window caught my attention and he beckoned me over so I walked towards him.

"Look, the stars are so bright tonight. The full moon is getting closer" Raven said as he gazed upon the night sky.

Smiling a bit, I slipped off my sweater and nodded to the door.

"Wanna go for a run?" I asked and Raven's eyes lit up like a child's when presented with something shiny.

"You sure? I know you've been kind of against it for a while now" he asked.

"If we don't go too far it shouldn't be a problem, we've been here for months now and I've never picked up any other scent than the nature out here. We should be fine" I said and Raven grinned before rushing to the door.

"Race ya!" He exclaimed and I ran after him, not expecting him to dash off like that.

"Raven!" I called but laughing all the while.

Raven had already shifted into his wolf, the fur matching the color of his name as it shined against the moon's glow. I'd always thought my brother's fur to be such a mystery, he was the only one in our family with it but my mother had once said that he took after our great grandfather.

My fur was a simple chestnut brown, the darker tones of it giving me an advantage in shadowy areas when needing to camouflage in the night.

However, that wasn't what I was focused on right now.

I was a pretty fast runner, Raven always has a hard time catching up to me so it's no wonder he pulled that little stunt back there. It took me no time at all the catch up to him though and I tackled my brother in a playful manner.

We tumbled around for a bit, Raven nipping my ankles and trying to make a run for the lake, which had been long ago decided as our meet up spot should the hut ever be invaded.

'You're such a cheater!' I called through our mind link and Raven's boisterous laughter rang throughout my head.

'I'm at a disadvantage here, brother. I've gotta do what I can to win!' He cheered but little did he know, I was always prepared.

As the two of us got closer to the lake, I decided then to do my great leap, Raven watching with wide eyes as I successfully jumped over him and landed right in front of the lake.

My brother shifted back, the pout on his face resembling that of a child as he pointed an accusing finger at me.

"Okay, maybe I cheated but that was totally a disqualifying move right there!" He exclaimed but I simply just shifted and showed him a cheeky grin.

"I was at a disadvantage" I said with a shrug.

Raven huffed.

"So not cool" He grumbled.

Thanks to these neat little magical pendants we'd bought some time ago, there was no need to stash changes of clothes anymore. Whenever we wore them, the pendant protected our clothing from getting ripped to shreds which saved us a whole lot of money considering that Raven loved going on runs.

"Let's get back. If you weren't hungry before, then I know you've gotta be by now" I said and Raven nodded.

The two of us headed back to the hut and once finishing up dinner, I served it to Raven who as usual dogged the food in five seconds.

He's a growing boy, as Raven says.

The guy is 22, I don't know how much growing he has left but its surely to have stopped by now.

"Hey, can we stop at this diner tomorrow? The owner there said she'd give us complimentary dessert on the house if we ever came for a meal" Raven said and I tilted my head.

"And just what did you do to get such a generous gift?" I questioned.

"Mm...nothing really? I just complimented her cooking, I guess that was enough to get in her good graces" Raven said.

Sometimes I wonder if my brother was aware that his face usually does most of the talking for him.

"How...nice. Sure, we can go" I said and Raven beamed as he took up the plates.

"I'll wash everything, you can go to bed early if you want. I know you've been up since the crack of dawn" Raven said and with that, I nodded.

"Thanks. Goodnight" I said and Raven bid me one as well.

~ the next morning ~

Waking up early came as natural as breathing to me, I may not have something to do at this time every morning but most times I'd usually just do quick sweep overs of our area to make sure it's still safe before making breakfast.

However, since Raven wanted to stop by that diner, I figured we could just eat breakfast there since it wasn't often that we ate out. Despite our frugal living, we still had a lot of money from what was left to us by our sister and mother.

Keeping well track of it has done us good these past few years, being able to get by without much struggle but there were still times where I'd refuse to purchase things that seemed even the slightest bit overpriced.

However, Raven usually picked up small jobs in town so that he could also help out so that usually came in handy too.

It was a little past nine and I figured now would be an okay time to go and wake my brother up but to my surprise, just as I opened the door, Raven was already up and in the process of getting dressed.

"You? Up? At a reasonable time?" I asked dumbfounded and Raven frowned.

"Is that so surprising?" He asked.

"Hm, no. Just wasn't expecting it. I'm ready whenever you are" I said before leaving Raven to finish getting himself washed up.

Once he was finished, the two of us set out on foot to walk to town. It wasn't too far of a walk, maybe twenty minutes at most but nothing we couldn't handle. However, I was much at a directional loss once we entered the town as Raven was the one who knew where the diner was so I quietly followed behind him as he led the way.

We finally reached the diner, the outside looking very stylish as it kept up with paint patterns of today's era which was a surprise to me considering that a lot of diner's here kept to their retro aspects.

Tulip's, was the name of the diner, simple and straight to the point.

As soon as we walked in, some eyes were on us but the diner wasn't crowded enough for me to get anxious or anything.

"Oh heavens me, you actually came!" There was a woman at the counter who looked at us in surprise before approaching with a gleeful smile.

"Yeah, it wasn't hard to convince him at all" Raven said with a small smile and I had to give him a short look at that.

I surely hope he wasn't making me out to be some kind of fussy and stubborn person to others...

"Who knew you and your brother were both such lookers! Please, come on in" the woman who greeted us, Tulip as her name tag stated, was a young girl probably in her late twenties and her smile could most likely put the sun to shame.

As Tulip led us to our table, I looked to Raven who shrugged his shoulders.

'What? Humans like pretty faces, why not get some free food out of it?' He reasoned and I ignored the urge to sigh in exasperation as Tulip sat us.

'I didn't raise you this way. Who did you get such a bizarre logic from?' I fired back and Raven continued to play coy as he always did.

'Mm, no one in particular~' he said before looking up to Tulip with a smile as she rambled on about this morning's breakfast special.

"I will leave you two gentleman to decide your meals, just holler my name when you're ready to order" she said, flashing one more kind smile before moving on to help another table.

As we picked through the menu, pretty much everything sounded appealing but my decision making time was interrupted by a storm of new scents entering as the door opened.

I found myself still as I watched the four men walk through door, the reflection from the silver napkins holder providing me with a blurry picture of them.

'What the hell are pack dogs doing here? I thought this was a neutral area' Raven question as he let his eyes wander and despite wanting to tell him to not make eye contact, it wouldn't matter in the end.

They probably smelt us from a mile away after all.

I didn't think we would need to use that scent masking potion in this city so I didn't bother to waste it, apparently you can never be too careful.

My brother let out a low growl as they approached us and I held his arm, gripping it to remind him to have some control. It's only natural that they're treating us as hostile, it's what all pack members do even when they're not in their own territory.

Which brought me back to Raven's earlier question, what were they doing here in the first place?

The only reason I could come up with was them checking the area out with the intentions of expanding here which wasn't good news for us.

"Dogs eating at the table? That's new" the man who was at the forefront taunted us with his horrible quip, the irony falling on him as he also was basically a dog.

Whatever.

"Fuck off" Raven spat without a second thought and the man narrowed his eyes at him, disgust filling them as he did so.

"Someone here doesn't seem to care for his life" the man said and now it was my turn to glance at him with a cool stare.

These guys wanted nothing more than a reason to be crude and disgusting towards us, his intention being obvious from the very moment he opened up his mouth.

"Is there a reason you're causing such a fuss here? This is neutral territory, what we do is none of your business" I stated and the guy smirked.

"Do you think I need a reason? Even filthy mutts like you have good enough senses to know their place. You should be on your way back to whatever flea infested place you were born in before I get the itch to start some fun" the man said and I knew Raven was just barely holding his canines in with how strong his glare was.

'This fucker is so irritating, I could just claw his eyes out. Mika, just say the word and he's good as dead' Raven said and I shook my head with a sigh.

'His blood isn't worth it, it probably reeks anyways. But now my question to you is, do you want to stay or do you want to go?' I asked and Raven raised a brow.

'You'd never ask something like that...what are you implying?' He asked.

'I'm willing to look the other way if you want to rough them up. But we should take it outside if it does get to that, we don't need to cause this woman and her customers any unnecessary trouble' I stated as I folded my arms and crossed my legs.

Raven tried to hide his obvious glee at the thought of letting loose on these guys with a small clear of his throat before looking to me with admiration as he grinned in my direction.

'Brother, you're so cool!'

'Oh geez, get a grip...but thanks'

"You're the ones who should be on your way. First come, first serve after all. I'm aware common sense doesn't apply to wild animals so I can forgive your unruly behavior just this once" I said and that likely struck a chord in this guy as he was now sending a glare that could probably send me six feet under if it actually bothered me.

"You have some nerve—"

"Ulysses, what the hell are you doing?"

The new voice that interrupted our passive aggressive argument had all the men turning and baring their necks out of respect.

"Alpha"

Even I began to grow uneasy as my senses were being quickly over taken by an intruding yet lovely scent that infiltrated my being without my permission.

'Mika...?' Raven tried to talk with me, I'd even felt him trying to nudge me but it was as if I couldn't even move.

It was like I fell into some sort of trance, my eyes only focusing on the man who walked closer to us. He looked so refined you could tell me that he was some sort of businessman or model and I'd believe it right away.

His features reminded me of a snake honestly, the cold stare that came from those sharp grey eyes was like that of a predator readying his attack on his next prey. I felt as if they were looking right through me, to the very depths of the heart that I long locked away to strangers, the only time it ever saw the light was for Raven.

'Oh you've got to be kidding me...' I heard Raven groan.

"I was just cleaning some trash up" Ulysses said, his eyes not daring to look up at my mate who in turn gave him a stare that could only be given to someone who had likely severely pissed him off.

"So why are you still in here?"

The men were all stunned by his words but their ring leader was first to compose himself as he barked at the others to get out of the diner, glancing back at us as he followed them out.

"I'm not sure what they said to you two but whatever it was, I apologize" he said, his voice having that feel of smooth silk as it came out and I felt my ears twitch just the slightest bit.

My wolf was extremely pleased by every little thing our mate was doing but I did my best to ignore him, keeping up an indifferent look.

"It's fine, it was all that fucker's fault anyways" Raven grumbled and I nudged him with my foot under the table to watch his mouth.

"How about we head back to my pack lands? We can sort everything out there" my mate offered and even though I myself was personally not sure on the decision, my wolf was clawing at me to basically jump in his arms.

'Are we really going?' Raven asked as he looked to me.

'Unfortunately, I don't think we have much of a choice' I said, glancing back to him.

"Uh...we'll meet you outside" I said and my mate nodded, giving me one last lingering look before stepping outside.

From out the window, we could see that he was saying something to those guys from earlier and whatever it was had them shaking in their pants.

"I can't believe your mate just up and showed hisself out of the blue" Raven exclaimed as he leaned in towards me.

"Yeah...me either" I trailed off.

"But that means we have to abandon the cabin right? I really liked that area" Raven said with a sigh.

"Let's not think that far ahead yet" I said and Raven looked to me with a confused expression.

"Are you thinking of rejecting him?" He whispered

"..."

Unsure of how to respond, I remained silent and Raven seemed to be thinking that he made me upset as he rushed to put a hand on my shoulder.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to ask a question like that. Whatever you do, I'm totally with you" he said and I gave him a small smile.

"It's fine. Thanks" I said and Raven nodded, his eyes glancing out the window and then back to me.

"We should probably get going, at this rate his stare is gonna cut right through the glass" he said and I nodded.

I guess we shouldn't keep him waiting...